sex crime investigator commits sex crime

A detective with the San Jose Police Department will serve a minimum of six months for communicating with a minor online, requesting and receiving a nude photo from the teen.

This detective worked in the sexual investigations division. Law enforcement officers are not impervious to temptation.

If this man has a family, they, too, will suffer from the extreme humiliation and exposure that comes with arrest for a crime like this. They will be as frightened by the circumstances and the consequences as any other family would be. Perhaps more. Law enforcement often go tougher on their own.

man burned alive after being accused--and cleared!--of being a pedophile

In the UK,

A man wrongly accused of being a pedophile was beaten unconscious, set on fire, and killed by two neighborhood "vigilantes."  

Investigators say the brutal violence in the Bristol, England neighborhood appears to be the result of a vicious rumor mill and a misguided police investigation. 

According to the Daily Mail, 44-year-old Bijan Ebrahimi was arrested in July after being accused of taking "inappropriate" images of neighborhood children. 

But after an investigation, police determined that Ebrahimi was actually taking pictures of kids he suspected of vandalizing his prized garden. 

Despite being released by police with no charges, the Daily Mail reports that two neighborhood men decided to enact their own justice against the disabled Ebrahimi. 

Just two days after his release, Ebrahimi was viciously beaten by two 24-year-olds. The two suspects then dragged the unconscious Ebrahimi outside, where they set him on fire and killed him. (via http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com)

This is what comes of instilling a fear of sex offenders and pretending that all sex offenders are dangerous.

If you are one of those who thinks there is a need for a publicly available sex offender registry, you share responsibility for this man's death.

If you are one who thinks sex offenders are to be feared, you share responsibility for this man's death.

If you are one who doesn't question why we have a sex offender registry, you share responsibility for this man's death.

When we encourage an unreasoning fear--and that is what the registry does--vigilantism is a natural outcome. When we force hundreds of thousands of people to register, pretend they are dangerous, tell them where they can and cannot live, push them to the margins of society, it is a natural outcome that their lives will be in danger from vigilantes.

Shame on those who support the registry.