Drunks to be treated like sex offenders?


In the blog Bills promote digital scarlet letters for drunks and sex offenders, Grits For Breakfast talks about how HB 23, a bill by Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer, would require sex offenders on social networking sites to make sure that anyone who visits their page would be fully aware of the following information: that the person is a sex offender, their full name, address, city of their conviction, date of birth, eye color, height, weight, hair color, sex, and race. Grits For Breakfast states that there is a law that already requires registrants to report online pen names, but this bill would prohibit them from doing so. I agree with keeping the public aware of sex offenders especially those that are online predators, but who's to say they won't create fake pages and use their pen names. There is no way to ensure this will not happen. There is already a public sex offender database, so as the author of this article says, forcing registrants to post all of this information on any social site including ones where they are trying to find work only creates more harm than it prevents. Jobs already do background checks and depending on the job have their own criteria for who they hire. So this all just seems pointless.

Grits For Breakfast also talks about how HB 133, by Rep. Richard Raymond, would require DPS to create a website for people convicted of intoxication related offenses that would publish their name, address, and a recent picture for 10 years after their conviction and it would be made available to police during a routine traffic stop. I believe the author of this article makes a valid point when he states that this bill has little to with public safety and is mostly about shaming people because police can already access the criminal history of anyone they are pulling over. I also agree with this because how is publishing a DWI offenders picture going to protect anyone from a drunk driver or keep people from drinking and driving period? It seems to me that doing this will only cause more problems for the offender and prevent them from getting the help they need. I just feel like what's the point? Besides humiliating them and allowing people to just be nosy.

I believe that the authors intended audience is towards lawmakers so that they may propose bills that would do more to help offenders not to commit these offenses again. To help them get back into society, find jobs, and lead a more productive life so that they are less likely to commit new crimes. I don't see how these bills have anything to do with public safety and any money spent on this would just be a waste.