Alabama Legislators Further Endear Themselves to Ignorant Constituents

Alabama Senate passes bill to require: weekly registration for homeless sex offenders, sex offenders convicted of having sex with siblings to move out of the house AND charging sex offenders a $250 registration fee whenever they register.

Much like the Chinese government who charge the family of executed criminals for the cost of the bullet required to blow-out their brains, Alabama joins other states who insist that the cost of sex offender registration must be borne by the sex offender him- (and occasionally her-) self. In this case, Alabama will charge R.S.O.'s $250 for the privilege of being degraded citizens with starkly fewer rights than anyone else, including, say, those guilty of homicide or attempted murder.

Presumably, the homeless R.S.O. would be hit especially hard in the pocketbook if they are having to register once a week. Let me guess: the State will run a tab continuously on that person which will likely lead to an eventual conviction for failure to pay. Hah! Another neat trick to get sex offenders back into prison which is what all of these bills are really about.

This seems to be Constitutionally problematic given that sex offender registration is ostensibly in aid of protecting the public and not a form of punishment. But somehow, I don't think that our current Supreme Court would see it that way.

As for forcing siblings out of the same home where one is the "victim" and the other the "perpetrator", I guess it should be quite obvious that they are talking about kids living in a family home. In other words, the family will be forced to split apart.

Now that's family-friendly, isn't it?

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