"My name is Carl Peterson. I'm the level 3 sex offender all of you have been talking about," said the 48-year-old Bernard Road resident as the audience sat in rapt silence, several holding a hand to their mouth, others sitting forward in their chairs, all waiting on each sentence.
It is extremely rare that a convicted sex offender will speak freely about their crime and the life they are attempting to live in a new community.Many former offenders will speak to state legislators or to Senators and Congressmen. Standing up at a town meeting and explaining--not excusing--his crime? Rare, indeed.
I admire this man's courage in confronting people he knows have been saying terrible things about him, people he knows will never trust him.
This man, his wife and daughter moved to Belmont in July, where he is currently the only level 3 registered sex offender. Level 3 indicates that someone guesses he is at risk of re-offending.
I hope he and his family are able to live in Belmont free of fear.
1 comment:
I too noticed this story and thought it was very interesting. I hope this man is a trailblazer for other sex offenders. Dialog seems like a very important thing and might help people realize that even the offenders judged most dangerous are real people who might only be a danger under very specific circumstances, if at all. This guy's answers were not as clear as one might like, but he was trying to say that when it comes to young kids or anyone on the street, he posed no more danger than anyone else. It makes sense that the parents of his daughter's friends know about his past, because a girl of that age who was known to him was the sort of person he abused. Whether this justifies a large state bureaucracy is debatable.
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