I just finished watching "The Lovely Bones" which seriously left me with chills. I'm a mother of a toddler, and I fear for the future we have ahead of us - for all. If you haven't seen the movie, watch it. It reminded me of Chelsea King - a 17 year old student from San Diego (where I reside). She went missing not nearly a month ago - she had gone jogging at the park in the afternoon, and never made it back home - her body was found in the lake. They arrested a sex offender who lived in the area, as some clues led to him. While I was reading more and more into this, I clicked on the ever so infamous Meganslaw.ca.gov (OR meganslaw.gov for a broad search). If you haven't heard of that page, VISIT it - i get naucious everytime I see updates on that page,it lists all the sex offenders that live by your home, school, work. Literally, a sex offender living in the SAME street as an elementary school. You see all these faces, unfamiliar - FAMILIAR ones.

I get off school at 10:30pm, I have a gym and the Chula Vista police department right next to campus. I go to the gym 10:30pm - Midnight. I don't go alone, I go with my best friend and her boyfriend BUT... really, you just NEVER know. It really does NOT matter where you are. This sort of things happen and sometimes you can't stop it - I've been held hostage, in my aunt's own home, I was 16 years old. It makes me SICK, how some people could feel like it's OKAY to have so much power over someone's life.

I'm not much for the saying "an eye for an eye" but where do we draw the line for these people? Our prisons apparently don't hold enough space to keep all of them in, so they set them free, they reduce their sentence... how about we castrate these motherfuckers? how about we amputate their legs? Let's see how superior they feel after...

There's not one single safe place out there anymore people, it's pretty sad.

alice sebold's books aren't pretty. and i think she writes them that way because of her rape in college (she actually wrote a memoir about her entire rape experience) kidnappings are a definite real danger but you shouldn't live your life in fear of them. all you can do is look after your own and be careful.

you're right, you deffinately cannot live in fear - but of course, always try to be aware of your surroundings.
i didn't know about alice sebold, i'll have to check those out.

girl we have a listed sex offender living down the fuckin street from our house!!!! 6 houses down!!! he cant be living there b.c we have a private school at the end of our block. idk how he was able to sneak by that!!

having any one of our kids taken is my biggest fear in life. when i 1st found out that sick fuck was living there, i was unable to sleep for days! hailey cant go anywhere. she isnt allowed outside with anyone but a family memeber. she cannot play outside with the neighbors at all!! thats just the way it is.

I couldn't find a local "megans law" but we have a watchdog thing that's pretty general for all areas also. www.familywatchdog.us - it's pretty good too.

There are sexual offenders every where, there are rapists, murderers, etc. That's just the world we live in. All you can do is protect yourself and your daughter to the best of your ability, and as she gets older teach her the dangers of the real world.

My daughter is 8, but I have been working with her since she was about 3 or 4 on "stranger danger", what a pedophile is, and what she should do in the event that someone tries to grab her, etc, etc, etc. She is young but this is stuff that she needs to know.

I'm also a firm believer in the fact that if you always talk about something with your child, and it isn't a "taboo" in your house hold, they will be much more comfortable talking to you about it. Heaven forbid, but should someone ever touch her inappropriately, I want her to know that it's inappropriate, and to tell someone.

yeah my daughter knows the dangers of strangers. we've been telling her since she was 2 1/2, she understrood a little. now she understands a lot b.c we've been telling(almost drilling it in her head) that if she talks to a stranger, more or less they'll end up taking her. she knows that if someone were to grab her *knocks on wood*, she needs to kick and bite as hard as she can and scream as loud as she can.

Familywatchdog.us, GOOD STUFF! Apparently Meganslaw.gov is only for california, but that website you provided is GREAT, you guys should all check it out! some doesn't provide sufficient info (like pictures) but it's something - it almost had all the info that my state website had.

And you're right, TALK to your children!!

At the Federal level, Megan's Law is known as the Sexual Offender (Jacob Wetterling) Act of 1994, and requires persons convicted of sex crimes against children to notify local law enforcement of any change of address or employment after release from custody (prison or psychiatric facility). The notification requirement may be imposed for a fixed period of time - usually at least ten years - or permanently.
Megan's home state of New Jersey passed the first so-called "Megan's Law" in 1994.[5]

Federal legislation followed in 1995. 42 U.S.C. § 13701, entitled Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and amended May 17, 1996, included provisions requiring community notification. Authored by Congressman Dick Zimmer, it required every state to develop a procedure for notifying the public when a person convicted of certain crimes is released near their homes. The law has been amended several times since the original bill, and different states have different procedures for making the required disclosures.

By the way I watched that movie & I hated how it ended. I wanted her daddy to beat him to death with that bat!! lol I sound so morbid but I have no sympathy for creeps like that.

I know, me too! I was thinking he'd get what he'd deserve, but i tried to take comfort in how bad the fall must of really been, LOL! I get really into movies sometimes...

Wow, you sound pretty pessimistic! There are lots of safe places, and there are no more bad people out there than there ever were. You'd be surprised at how many people don't want to kidnap and rape you! ;D

However, with today's media and the immediacy the internet gives us, you hear about it so much more often. This is why I don't watch the news; I think it can make people feel very dissatisfied with the world we live in. I'd rather be alive today than in say the world wars or times before that when simple things like poor sanitation killed people in developed countries!

I could never see that film as I read the book and hated it. It had a horrible story line. I only read and watch films to be entertained!

Pessimistic is a little far off, how about realistic? Of course not EVERYONE is wanting to do that to you, I am mainly talking about the offenders that live around us, that... DO IT AGAIN! lol I don't watch the news anymore either, I hate it.

You can't live your life thinking everyone is out to get you/your child! I think that's very sad :(
Of course protect them as much as possible, but worrying about it won't change anything.

Yeah you can't live like that, especially because they are not all trying to do it. But, for what it's worth - yes, protect them as REASONABLY possible. Life goes on and on to be sitting here worrying about it, but I guess when you hear about it - when it happens close to you or someone close to you, it hits home.

I guarantee my safety by way of a CCW and a Glock 9MM. I dare ANYONE to try and do something...LOL

Amen! Same here CJ. They are always locked, loaded and ready.

Same here. I need it in my job. You'd be amazed how many people get into my cab with an attitude and talking shit and then when they see the gun strapped to my side...shut the hell up. LOL

Haha!! I like this :)

Amen.

I believe sex offenders should have harsher punishments. If they get 25 years make them serve 25 years! Not let them out on parole after 10. In my opinion it should be life without parole AT LEAST. Especially in cases of children being sexually abused. You can not cure a disgusting, twisted bastard like that. So they shouldn't be allowed out in the public to harm innocent people. It's ridiculous. I worry all the time about my daughter. I am a victim of sexual abuse at the age of 12 & then again at age 16. I am determined to protect my daughter from that. If anyone ever hurt my child I would put a bullet in their head no questions asked. I just couldn't control myself.

trust me there are plenty of people who would go to jail for my kids. and i would as well. we have one mission in life and its to protects our kids!!

Ugh, I used that watchdog thing a few years ago, and there was only one person within a mile and ironically, he lived in a duplex next to a family friend with lots of small children. but he came by and introduced himself before he even moved in and made them aware of his past. which they said they were okay with (he had sex with a 17 year old when he was in his 20s.)


But now I searched it, and there are a TON of people around my neighborhood now. No one within a few blocks, thank god. And no one within six of my nephew. Which makes me very happy to see.

There's just so many more. I can't believe it. And they're all red (crimes against children.) dots, and one blue (rape.) I'm just in shock.
I had no idea that many people were hurting kids like that.

Yeah, it's gotten ridiculous.

Haha he had sex with a 17 year old?! Jesus that's legal here! I had sex when I was 17 with someone in their 20s!
And that made him a registered sex offender? See things like that just spoil the system.

I agree. I know a guy who urinated in a public park behind a tree, got caught, and how has to register as a sex offender. Seriously?! While I know that it probably wasn't the BRIGHTEST idea he's ever had, I don't think he should be lumped into a group of pedophiles and rapists, either.