Special License Plates for Sex Offenders

On January 13, 2004, WTAP News in Parkersburg, West Virginia broadcast the following: "The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing a West Virginia Lawmaker's proposal to create a special license plate for convicted sex offenders. ACLU Executive Director Andrew Schneider says the special plates that Hancock Delegate Randy Schwartzmiller proposes do nothing to make the public safer. He says the plates amount to nothing more than a scarlet letter. The bill Swartzmiller plans to introduce when the legislature convenes tomorrow would make it a crime for a sex offender to drive any vehicle unless it has the special license plate." This proposed legislation by Delegate Swartzmiller, not only doesn't make the public safer, it actually makes it more volatile. By having public identification in the way of special auto license plates, it sets the ex-offender up for serious injury and even death at the hands of a society already incensed by media and political attention to sex offenders. It also places the ex-offender's family members in jeopardy, especially if they drive the vehicle with the identifying plates. These men and women who are registered as sex offenders have done their time and all they want is to be left alone and become productive members of society again. Sex offender recidivism on the average is very low. We've already bent the boundaries of the Constitution by placing these individuals in a National and State Sex Offender Registry, and by putting their picture and names on the internet. The sex offending recidivist will find their way back into the system. However, for those who register and do those things required by state law to stay out of trouble should not have to go through further harassment and subjected to bodily harm by having their status displayed for the public every time they leave their driveway to go to the corner store. My e-mail: celdoc2001@yahoo.com