Where are All the Sexual Predators Coming From?

The LA Times recently reported on the explosion of sex offenders in California. The list keeps expanding, but the list of those assigned to deal with these offenders is actually shrinking. A study in December reported about 20,000 sex offenders on parole in California alone showed about 9% with a “high risk of re-offending.” Worse, there were 45,000 on the state registry in 1994, but today it’s ballooned to 90,000 – the size of a small city. My question is, where are these people coming from?
Is it media coverage? I don’t know. Because of budget cuts, California has been cutting back on officers assigned to monitor their activities on the outside. So I doubt it’s just better enforcement because those doing the enforcing are shrinking. I’m wondering what it is about our culture that’s causing sex crimes to literally explode. Could it be the tidal wave of free, easy to access online porn that available to everyone including kids? Or the easy to access porn on cable TV or the local video rental store?
Or how sexual most of television and general advertising has become? When I was a kid, finding pin-up shots was tough. I remember the Saturday my best friend got caught by his mother while he was trying to buy a Playboy at a drug store. And that stuff was tame by today’s standards. It doesn’t take a prude or a conservative to believe the mainstreaming of pornography will continue to have catastrophic effects on future generations.
What do you think?
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http://danielhahn.me/blog Daniel Hahn
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Jameson Sheppard
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shasta
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Dwacon
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Sal
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http://twitter.com/gapmin Justsayin




