The ads should say "Reformed Child Molester". This gives hope and a degree of pride to those who may have overcome their antisocial behavior. At the same time, it provides adequate warning to the community in case they haven't.

I don't know. I hate to sympathize with them, but I think that having them put a sign on their home is not so much justice as ridicule. I think that it is a violation of their rights, although I'm not sure how...

I think it's a great way to keep the community informed. There's no cure for pedophilia. A person who has a sexual attraction to children is never going to become "normal" and suddenly start being attracted to adults, it's a sexual preference just like being homo or heterosexual. Someone who has molested children in the past is very likely to go right back to the same behavior once they are released. These people are sick, and should be required to tattoo the word "sick freak" on their heads, so that way we know who they are even when they aren't at home with a giant sign on their lawn.

I say all that information is available on the internet and if you have children, check to see where the sexual predators in your neighborhood live. Be aware of who your neighbors are and be aware of your surroundings! Most people don't pay any attention to yard signs anyway, especially this close to an election. :)

If they don't have a sign to tell us, we can't tell. Someone who would do that to a child should not only have to carry around a sandwich board, but should get a big, fat "S" tatoo'd or burned onto their forehead, just in case he forgets his sign that day.

I think that the public has a right to know about certain things, but it should be on a case by case basis. I know a guy who's gone to jail for "having sex with a minor" where the "minor" in question lied about their age and her parents caught them in the act. They pressed charges against him (he was 20, she said she was 18) and he is now listed in a sex offender registry. I don't think that he should be, but that's now on his record for the rest of his life. Maybe, to make it fair, it should depend on what the sentence was. I think that I have a right to know, for instance, if I'm staying next door to a man who has been to jail more than once for inappropiately touching little girls under 10. One interesting thing that I heard on Montel before was that the offenders that we want to watch out for the most are the ones who haven't been caught yet. Most of the offenders that are actually listed on the list are "reformed" (if you believe that possible) or, at the very least, being exra careful about what they do around children. I think that, as a parent, if I see anyone doing anything I consider suspicious around my daughter, I'm pulling her and myself out of that situation. If she tells me that someone made her uncomfortable, touched her, made a comment....you can bet that I'll handle it myself, list or not.

The fact is, a 19-year-old who sleeps with a 16-year-old who looks older and lied about her age is branded a "child molester" just the same as a 40-year-old who sleeps with a 5-year-old. Should this person have to humiliate himself as well as serving jail time? I don't think so. Also, there are plenty of ways to identify a child molester living in your area -- you can look it up without it having to be posted. In America, at least, we claim to embrace a system of everybody having rights, even criminals. If a person is not in prison, we are giving that person permission to attempt to live their lives. Convicted pedophiles are already given limits on where they can live or work. Also, imagine that a man has a sign posted in his yard saying, "convicted child molester." Forget ridicule -- that man is not safe in his home. If people want capital punishment for pedophiles, they should pursue that, but doing something like that just encourages teenaged vigilantes to break into the man's home or key his car.

Yeah i do think it is going to far. It sort of the same thing they did to jews during world war 2 when they made them wear the star of david on their arm

This is a scarlet letter situation. A person made to "wear" their past so they stand out. Something America isn't about. It leaves stupid people open to assume. (makes an a$$ out of you to me) They don't think of the sentence already paid to BE a registered sex offender. They think they have to do something more. Even at the cost of lessening themselves. This also compounds the legal situation as people commit crimes against them. From purgery to assault to murder they forget that it is infringing on people in the world of laws.

I don't. I think allowing them to return to any community is itself going to far. A life sentence is what needs to be given to them so that the community they live in is not mine but the prison cell they sleep in.

Among other things, I think it lends a false sense of security. As if we should only be careful of those who are identified. Let us not forget there is always a first time and not all offenders have been found and convicted...

maybe these protesters should ask the children they molested? wasn't that going to far? I pretty much guarantee these people don't have kids, or they'd want these warning too. if someone who had previously abused children ever happened to live near their houses when they have kids, would they want no warning?

I think that would only serve to make them angry, hopeless, and more pro-active (which means more children being kidnapped, raped, and killed). And, that's if they even would do all that to identify themselves. A lot of them have trouble even registering.

these are just safety measures to ensure they don't do it again, and to warn people. in my opinion, this is taking it easy on these sick demons

The immediate punishments should be much stiffer. the lingering punishments just entice future felons to believe they would be justified in commiting crimes because they were against molesters.

I don't know about posting a sign in the offender's front yard, or posting his picture around the neighborhood because that isn't how it's done where I live in central Texas. In my town - and probably you could do this anywhere! - you can go on-line and ask which addresses are those of child molesters. I am all for doing this because it is out of concern for the past, possibly present, and future child molestations.