Should Sex Offenders Get U.S. Passports?

Why do sex offenders have drivers liscenses? If they didn't, they woudl not be driving around grabbing our children. I say we ban all sex offenders from getting or having drivers liscenses, we'll be much safer then.

If there's no legal basis for denying a U.S. citizen state-issued identification, then there's really very little "ethical" argument to be made. Further, for heavens sake, let them leave if they want to leave!

I think they should be allowed passports. Having a passport is a right, not a privilege. Generally speaking, your country should not be able to deny you exit or entry. It should be denied only in very limited circumstances. Most sex crimes are committed by new offenders. Although these crimes are extremely serious (in my opinion), they do not justify the removal of the right to a passport, because the mere fact that a former sex offender leaves the country does not suggest an imminent danger to a child or other person. In the example you cite, the offender went to Mexico. Despite the severity of his past actions, I cannot see how an American visiting Mexico would necessarily imply sex tourism, given its proximity to the U.S. and its attractiveness as a tourist destination for Americans.

Of course, former offenders should be allowed passports. As the report indicated, there was no evidence that any former offenders used their passports to commit new crimes. I am more concerned about sex offender hysteria and the politicians who use it to manipulate voters.

No Way!!

As one of the SO's listed in the article and in the case study I can honestly say that my trips were for legitimate business travel, so I need a passport for my employment.

SO's returning to the country face tougher scrutiny than most and although not a pleasant experience I do understand the need for it. I simply know to allow for additional time in customs and adjust my flights accordingly.

As the State Department indicates there is no evidence to indicate that any of the SO’s in the case study used their passports for illegal activity; so there is no basis to revoke their passport or to deny a person a passport solely on the basis of being a registered sex offender.

Abbie,

I have one question: What is the purpose of this particular report? If the ultimate purpose is to ultimately deny all registered sex offenders from obtaining passports, then your report makes sense. Otherwise, you are leaving out a lot of pertinent information that otherwise would make the issuance of passports to sex offenders a complete non-issue.

I am Eric Knight, media liaison for the Sex Offender Solutions and Education Network. For years, we have been monitoring the fallout from the development of the sex offender registry, as well as recidivism statistics for registered sex offenders. In fact, the likelihood of a registered sex offender from committing a sex crime overseas is actually less than that of someone not on any registry.

I do understand the reasoning behind your story. Sex offenders = high ratings, particularly when presented in an alarmist manner (disguised as an "unbiased GAO report."). However, the bulk of now-substantial documentation have proven that the registered sex offenders who are off probation or parole, and have led lawful lives since their sentence was completed, have no inclination nor desire to reoffend. Unfortunately, laws that make it harder and harder for registered sex offenders to participate in society create danger in itself by injecting instability not just in their lives, but in the panic it sets off among non-sex offenders.

If you REALLY want to hear the actual statistics and methodologies that WORK, please contact our CEO at http://www.SOSEN.org. That is if you are more interested in creating a safer society for everyone, in particular those who are our most precious citizens: our children. But if you just want to "report" on "unbiased reports" to "let your viewrship/readership" decide, and not provide the actual tools for a rational decision to be made, than keep on trucking. Fortunately, society is starting to see through this hysteria.

This is a great exampe of how CNN has increased its shock and awe journalism by headlining stories that encourage viewers to click on a story so they can sell more advertising.
The question is not fair in the first place. It brings out feelings that are raw, memories for many that are painful but still do not provide adequetly for the understanding of our court system in an inpartial way.
Thank you CNN, it is clear you desire to equal other news agencies in being "fair and balanced" in your non biased reporting.

We would be better served not issuing passports to multi millionaires and prevent them from taking their assets and companies out of the US than this nit. GAO gets paid for this, geeze.

The report fails to outline that a young man of 18 can be on this list if his 17 year old girl friend's parent press statory rape on him.. Why should this person denied a passport?

I say, let them leave.. and stay out! If they are a SO then a special computer tag should be in the passport to alert authorities if they enter a country known for under-age sex tourism... There are many countries to visit and a person healed shouldn't be banned from leaving.. I'd love for them all to go away!

If a felon can't get one why should we allow a sex offender to? Personally i think the justice system takes it way too easy on sex offenders only to allow them to commit again. Majority of our trouble adults are troubled due to sercumstances in their childhood that were preventable but not prevented. I say we buy an island and put them all on there and let them rape each other or we could reopen alcatraz to sex offenders. The baby Alisa that was just kidnapped from missouri(?) was luckily found alive and well the next day but was taken by a man that was released from prison only two weeks earlier for a sexual offense. There is also a 4yr old little girl that was raped by a man that was out on bond for a previous molestation. I'm sorry but these individuals are sick if they can find pleasure in a child there is nothing we can do to change that. It is just like a homosexual or a hederosexual(?) if you are attracted to men then you are attracted to me if you are attracted to women you are attracted to women and unfotunatedly and as sick as it is if you are attracted to kids then you are attracted to kids and you have something wrong in your head, you never fully grew up and never will you need to be lock away and have the keys put into a locked box and dropped into the deapest part of the ocean! Maybe if we get rid of these scumbags it will give our future a better opportunity not to become drug dealers/addicts, prostitutes, child molesters and muderers. stop the hate and the hate will stop! If you talk to most criminals most of them had a very troubling childhood and though it is not an excuse for what they did, in their mind is the reason. Banish them! If we give these mosters passports we are only enabling them to take a trip commit a crime the return home undetected and most likely never caught since nobody expects the tourist over the neighbor.

Sex offenders are dangerous criminals that have destroyed children and adults lives and futures. "Rehabilitating "sex offenders is about as effective as "praying the gay away" for a homosexual man. There is very little reason these horrific example of humanity should ever be let out of prison, let alone given the opportunity to inflict similar damage on persons outside of the US. Anyone who claims we should "just let them leave" is falling victim to the "not my problem" syndrome. Once these individuals have been identified it is our duty as people to the rest of humanity to make sure they can never re-offend.

What's the point of this "special investigation?" Why shouldn't someone get a passport? This is just alarmist sensationalism to drive up ratings. Can I expect a hard hitting exclusive follow up story about sex offenders having a bus pass? ("Is the person sitting next to you on the bus a sex offender? Find out tonight, only on CNN!")

This is pathetic. You could have been looking in to BP. You could have been looking into the MMS, and how our entire regulatory regimes, health, safety, and financial have been gutted and coopted.

You could have even followed up on Vincent Bugliosi's investigation that Andrew Napolitano said had more than enough evidence to bring indictments against Bush and Cheney for torture and illegal writetaps.

You could have done real journalism, but instead you've done nothing of any value at all.

I hope you're proud.

The last time I checked, this was still the United States and not North Korea. And the United States I know doesn't block it's citizens from traveling to other countries for no reason other than what they MIGHT do. Of course, the United States I know doesn't keep people in prison after their sentences are completed because of what they MIGHT do either, but that's a different rant. Of course those on the Sex Offender Regiser should be able to get passports.

Yes, they should. That way they can commit sex crimes in a foreign country and be convicted and subjected to sub-human conditions and abuse in a prison system unlike any they have ever experienced before.

Seriously Meeee? The lack of spelling in your entry above. sercumstance[sic] is amazing.

This helps prove that education is severely lacking in most individuals who are saying comments like your own.

Take some time to educate yourself before you make comments on something that you do not know about. ie; you are assuming everyone is a felon – there are misdemeanor sex offenders, you assume everyone is a child sex offender when they are not, you assume that every person committed an act against another (urinating in public multiple times). Also read about recidivism rates of sex offenders versus other crimes. Maybe drunk drivers should be denied them as well. We wouldn't want them going over to England or somewhere and driving drunk there.

Unless you're trying to advance a particular bias, why on earth would or should any sex offender (with the exception of those convicted of sex tourism etc.) be denied a passport? Since when did any convicted sex offender lose his personal liberty to travel beyond the U.S.?

If other countries don't want to grant entry to convicted sex offenders from America or elsewhere, they're certainly free to refuse visas or entry. That's a matter within the purview of the destination country, not the U.S. State Department.

This hysterical trend toward summarily denying convicted sex offenders every right except the most basic necessities to sustain life is ludicrous thinking born of ignorance. The only value I could have possibly found in any article on the matter would have been to cite the ridiculous waste of resources compiling these meaningless statistics in an effort to foment a non-issue.

I think what meeee said was pretty stupid, buy an island and let them rape each other...not all SO are rapist you moron, if u get caught peeing outside and people are around you can be on that list to, sex offenders should be limited to stuff they can and can't do. But if they want to travel then so be it, sex offenders should be classifed in different titles, like non violent,violent,extremely violent etc. I'm a sex offender and all I did was have sex with a girl that wanted to have sex with me but I was 18 she was 15 so I now have to register, but because I'm a sex offender doesn't mean I'm out scoping little kids out, and if I seen someoe doing that id try my best to beat the hell out of them

They do not deserve a passport. So, they get the passport and leave the US for a sex trip. They go to a different country and they commit a sexual crime and get arrested. They will then demand the US to protect them. Or the other they committed the crime deports back to the US and we taxpayers pay for his/her trip back.

Do you think our Government (United State of America) really cares about American sex offenders leaving the country to satisfy their sick habits in another country? I don't think our Government really cares!

Absolutely, incredibly amazing. Why don't we ban them from grocery stores because there are children there? Why do we allow them medicare, or unemployment benefits, of FHA loans....oh, wait, they are trying to stop that too. Convicted felons can get a passport once they have completed their sentence. Why can registered sex offenders get a passport? Because we live in America. Once someone completes their sentence they are given a chance to have their freedoms restored. The list is not a hitlist nor is it a checklist to deny people their inherent rights to travel. Where did you go to school? How did you ever get employment with CNN? Wow, unbelievable. The registry is a civil responsibility to simply notify the public of their location, not a checklist to be used by attention grabbing journalists, such as yourself, or politicians looking to make a name for themselves to constantly erode the rights of those who have had them restored. You may not like it, but in America, once someone has served their time, that's it. Perhaps you would prefer China?

What people fail to realize is that a sex offender has already been a felon and has served their time. If they are on parole or probation that is another story.
I, myself, ama female registered sex offender. When I was 21 I answered phones for a legal escort service to pay for school. When one of the girls was found to be 17 and using a fake ID, I was part of the arrest round-up. I have two children, work full-time, have a wonderful husband and beautiful home. I have been a contributing member of society ever since- with no issues in any way. Registration (at a tier 0) is a life-time commitment even though my charges were ultimately dropped. Should I REALLY be denied a passport?? And yes, I did recieve a passport in 2008 to travel to Italy for work.

they should have not been released from prison 0 tolorance tell the victoms who where raped or exploited you aprove of there means to have the fetish there are countries who sell childres as prostitutes for these freaks

They should not be allowed to have passports or drivers licenses. They are sex offenders and should lose their rights to have the access to leave the country. They need to be monitored since the laws are not strict enough on them. They are not going to stop offending so why give them freedom to do so. This is my opinion and others may think differently. Those who do think differently, I hope your children are safe.

It is unreasonable to continue punishing people after they have sufficiently completed their sentence. The argument that sex offenders are prone to repeat their crimes is used to induce people to approve ever-increasingly outlandish punitive measures. Alcoholics who get DUIs, or even DUI w/death/injury, are also highly likely to keep drinking and driving, yet they are not registered, tracked and excoriated after completing their sentence. I think in the name of "child safety theater", all these penalties for even the most minor of sex-related offenses indicates that this country has some weird preoccupation with sex. Such conflicting messages and teaching confuses kids in early years and no wonder they're nut jobs later on.

While I agree with many of the laws against serious violent sex offenders people need to realize that many people are falsely accused in family disputes. Thier lives are ruined forever and they cannot gain meaningful employment. My partner is in this situation and has been for over twenty years. I know he hasn't done anything to deserve this. After living with someone for over twenty years you know the person you are with. You know how they think, what they like, and you see the pain they feel. Most real offenders don't feel guilt or shame, they don't understand the laws and why they have been passed and they reoffend. The prosecutors in this country are like a dog pulling on a ball of string. Once an accusation has been made, they threaten and attempt to get a plea bargain – especially on weak cases. My partner took a plea bargain after his sister accused him of mollesting a 5 year old as a result of a dispute they had when he was eighteen years old. Facing twenty years, having no money for meaningful representation and family pressure to "get this over with" forced him to accept a plea. This was before the sex offender laws were passed. Nobody could have realized how serious this decision could have been at the time. The fact that these laws were passed "post facto" has been ignored by the supreme court. This was not part of his sentence but since they gave him a lengthy probationary term of ten years, he was still under supervision when the laws were passed. The court has used the "general welfare" clause to justify this. This is a situation where there was no violence, no evidence, only a simple accusation that a rogue prosecutor used to gain a plea. The constitution states that no "post facto" laws shall be passed. Just as we shouldn't legally be able to pass retroactive laws against BP for the oil spill, these laws should have only been passed to affect those with new convictions. So, a person who is intelligent, driven to want to succeed but can't work shouldn't be able to vacation? We are not sex tourists. He wants to see the wonders of the world, to meet people from other cultures and to get a break from his pathetic life. Now, the hysterical people want to take that right from him? What about the father who was falsely accused who can't live in their own home in Florida anymore because it's too close to a school, park or church? There are stories of families who own homes but can't live in them and wind up on the streets living under a bridge because of these laws. It's a hodge podge system without any risk assessments. For those who've been convicted with DNA or other physical evidence I fully support these laws including restriction of passports but I will be heartbroken if he suffers another setback such as having his passport revoked. We simply want he opportunity to travel to adult resorts, relax on a beach and leave our troubles behind and pretend that we don't have these problems for a few days a year enjoying each other's company without the stressed we face every day.

This is such a mis-leading article, that the entire point, if it has one, is simply CRAZY!

I have no love for TRUE sex offenders, but, even so, there has to be some sort of limit to the number of penalties, loss of human rights, particularly after they have served their mandated prison sentence! We already take away their ability to have housing, a job and in many communities they are physically attacked, with impunity, simply because the have registered as a SEX OFFENDER...

We need to remember that the term: SEX OFFENDER applies to a wide variety of human behavior, and we simply cannot lump all of these folks together.

A coach at my HS, during a football game had to go to the bathroom, he urinated under the stands – a hasty and perhaps poor decision – and was unfortunately observed by an adolescent girl and her mother. He was charge with a sex offense, convicted, terminated as coach and must now register, for the rest of his life, as a sex offender!

At the other end of the spectrum are the child molesters, rapists and people who traffic in the sex trade.

Let us just remember that when we use the broad term SEX OFFENDER, it all depends upon what state in the USA you are in, in order to EARN that TERM, and the behavior involved is extremely varied and broad from region to region.

I think we need to look very closely at denying a SEX OFFENDER a passport; conversely, would we not want child molesters, rapists and people involved in the sex trade to get a passport and get OUT of the USA!

I hate those people, however, they're still U.S. Citizens,

A constitution was written to protect the minority from the majority,

So to the people who want to cut their ball off, I don't blame you, however we are a nation of laws and we have to live under them.

Well if a sex offender gets a passport to Mexico he is going there for sex....so everyone going to Mexico must be going there for sex. So we should track all travelers to Mexico, because they are Sex offenders that have not been caught....What a dumb new report. Anything to Get the words Sex Offenders in a story. How about report real news and maybe someone will watch. I know this is my last show i will watch, just because you are only looking for sensationalism. Here is a story for you tomorrow.. Sex Offenders are working and paying Taxes... Do we really want taxes from Sex Offenders? Sex Offenders are buying TV's..and probably watching Sex Shows!! Sex Offenders should not be allowed to watch TV... I seen a Sex Offender buying food at the store, I bet he is using the food for SEX... You people make me want to vomit,... did these people who traveled out of the country do anything wrong...?? you have no proof... do you know how many people go to mexico each year? It is a Vacation Destination... At the Rate people are getting the tag Sex Offender soon they will be the biggest population in the USA.... then what....

In a country where our finest young men and women are lawfully dragged from their families to go fight in wars half a world away...to kill and to die...to suffer horrific wounds either physical or mental...with (often well documented) failure of support from their fellow countrymen or their Veteran's Administration upon their return...while the country's worst and violent offenders sit in air-conditioned cellblocks...many with their own TV's...plus 3 healthy meals a day...gives me great pause.

It comes as no surprise to me whatsoever of this new story with the word "Sex" in it to sell news. Politicians play this game even better to win votes despite the overwhelming research which contradicts their laws aimed at "Sex Offenders."

Sure Sex Offenses are truly troubling...as is the "belief" that implementing one more law to heap upon a registered sex offender (who I might add is Law-Abiding by the very nature of the term) is somehow going to keep children safe...when the fact of the matter is that thousands upon thousands of sex crimes against children are committed by people every year in the United States who were not previously sex offenders...is just a plain fact.

And might I ask you...Miss Boudreau...how is it that the very second that a registered sex offender completes his registration period that he or she is any less dangerous than the day before? Some states already have an answer for you...sex offenders have to register for life.

I think that the problem is with everyday people like you whose worst fears are worse and more sick than the troubled mind of a sex offender. The same everyday people who send our finest young men and women to WARS without a second thought. The same everyday people who ignore and shun our veterans (if they have problems) when they come home. Ever read about the number of Veterans who are Homeless???

The War on Sex Offenders is misguided. Your hyper-vigilance is tragically narrow-minded for such a talented journalist such as yourself. Thank God we're not talking about who chooses who lives or who dies.

Or Are We???

Thank you once again CNN for creating a new fear mongering story. Of course, once again we assume if someone on the registry gets ANYTHING, it MUST be for illegal purposes. Give me a break! CNN, is there no REAL news to cover?

Truth about sex offenders @ http://www.oncefallen.com/

Of course they should be allowed to get passports. What irks me is that this story merely serves to fuel the runaway pedophilia hysteria engulfing this nation. We not only force sex offenders to live under bridges, but we render them unemployable. Now the courts have validated civil commitment, in which we arbitrarily decide to keep someone locked up past the expiration of their sentence. Even the sanctimonious, self-righteous John Walsh, who launched this wave of pedophilia hysteria, now says enough is enough.

Sex offenders are merely being used as a test bed by government to see how much oppression the American people are willing to take.

I think it depends on the crime. I'm not even sure how one would decided. I'm thinking about the 15 year old girls who's parents decide to press charges against the 17 or 18 year boy who took the girls virginity. Then the boy gets labeled as a sex offender. It does happen, and really, it's not the same as molesting kids. What do you think?

WOW!!!! Give a passport to a SO but deny someone for owing child support. Better to rape kids than miss a few support payments.

Welcome to America, home of the paranoid, land of the retarded.

If you are against Sex Offenders having Passports and also Driver's Licenses, how can they be identified, since they are being denied identification?

Also, lets not forget that if crime did not pay, there would be very few criminals so in doing this, what's to stop offenders from getting forgeries?

I cannot beleive some of the comments here! Is everyone that reads these stories some sort of sex offender? There are reasons that they are saying they should be denied a passport – such as – they go to another country to commit the crimes they were charged for here in
America. One person stated that there should be limits to the sex offenders punishment - WHY? - do they limit the amount of abuse they commit? Do they limit the amount of children they harm? I understand that there are 18 year olds with 16 year olds who have been labeled SO and I agree that is wrong – but outside that there are FEW people who are charged with these crimes that are truly innocent in any way. The statistics they have claimed here are also misleading or false. Bottom line – NO PASSPORT – is my vote.

It is a shame to see such mixed answers on here. Personally I think that there is a simple answer to this question if a person has sexual relations with anyone under the age of 18 or rapes someone then there simply is no excuse for not executing them. We show so much compassion for the guilty that we seem to have lost what is important, the victim. In most cases children who are sexually abused never recover and have to deal with it for the rest of their lives same thing with women who are raped. Simple answer execute those who commit these crimes and we will see a sever decrease in the number of these crimes.

"Gee, I don't see why they shouldn't have passports – they did their time!"
To think that I once considered CNN to be a news organization; apparently, journalism now consists of waiting with bated breath for some under-exposed pols to come up with Another Shocking Revelation; Nancy Grace can shriek her outrage on video and Abbie can elicit opinions from the Concerned Public. Well, Abbie, hope this response helps justify your salary and keeps your knowing smile pasted on the page for another week. Populist news rocks!

Most sex offenders have served their time and should be able to travel freely. Most of these people have family (wife & children) and should be able to enjoy traveing abroad with them. The majority of sex offenders never offend again. It is only a small minority that should be excluded from travel. We should support and welcome sex offenders back into our community and stigmatize them to a life of shame and hardship.

The USG should deny any person coming into this Nation a US Visa who has been convicted of any Sex Crime and as well Deny any US Citizen a US Passport and Card if that person has been convicted of any Crime not just a Sex Crime. The issuance of a US Passport is a Privilege not a Right, and when the USG issues a US Passport or Card it means you represent the US as an Ambassador of good character.

I think it is important to remember there are 4 levels of sex offenders, and the majority are not level 3 offenders which is what many people think of when hearing "sex offender" meaning rapists, pedophile ect. After being involved in the juvenile court I saw many boys who were forced to register after their girlfriends parents press charges on them and so on. Even as an unclassified offender you are required to register for 20 years even though Sorb see's you as having pretty much a 0 chance of re-offending. Personally I'm not standing up for sex offenders, but classification is extremely important if you are 15 and dating a 13 year old you can be charged with indecent assault on a child under 14 and that will show up even when your 30 even though it happened when you were 15. We need to focus more on level 3 offenders and properly classify people... but to deny a level one or unclassified offender a passport is ridiculous.

sex offenders...passports?? so we need to import them?

Castrate them all than put them in jail. These are all very sick people who need to be locked up. If anyone of these sickos would touch my grandchildren I would kill them .

Well, as the U.S. Congress has been trying to pass a bill that would require all registered sex offenders who have a passports alert the foreign destination that they are a registered sex offender prior to and when they enter that country.

This is just another way for for our elected official to use media hysteria to take the focus away from the real issue of wall street reform the BP oil spill and other vital news that affects all of us tax paying citizens.

Well duh.....how else are they going to get to Thailand and other 3rd world countries to spread the love.

Of course...there is no public safety issue in many of our Sex Offender laws many of which are based entirely on hate and do nothing to protect us. Congress loves to make these laws because it gives the false impression that they are "protecting" us when, in fact, they are not. They are either ignorant or don't bother to tell the public that a former sex offender has a lower recidivism rate than most other criminals. The fail to tell the public that well over 90% of sex offenses are committed by people who have never been arrested before and are not on any registries. Most are committed by a family member or a friend. Not some stranger.

The registration web sites have become so bloated with people who do not represent a threat that citizens can no longer sort the wheat from the chaff. Some very few are dangerous...most are not. Some were arrested for having had sex with their own high school sweethearts whom they married but can't get jobs or housing.

The house just passed ( sent to Senate ) a bill to extend unemployment payments to families...to which some Republican amended that no sex offender against a minor can receive unemployment. I guess their spouses and children are also fair game for those idiots. How does starving a family protect the public from crime?

In the proposed FHA bill, the house version says now that sex offenders cannot get home loans. Again..how does denying them credit to buy a home make anyone safer from crime.

These types of laws are illegal and will lose in court because the are based on hate and not on any public safety benefit. We already pay millions in taxes for useless internet registries and we are paying court fees to defend losing causes all because politicians are more interested in votes than actual protections.

This is similar to the way Congress treats gays, and they are losing ground on that in the courts for some of the same reasons.

There is no common sense in these laws that amount to banishment after a person has paid their debt to society. A majority of these people have families, spouses and children who are also made to pay and pay....

So Yes...let them have passports...why not?

Erectile dysfunction pill advertisers love this kind of story. So CNN panders to get the bucks. Bottom line is money, a cheap easy story... low overhead, high return...
Motivated by all the profit and power this sexually exciting button produces, as simple as shooting fish in a barrel, making an easy buck at CNN illustrates the slothful, trashy "journalism" at its yellow best. Nothing new about it. It built the Hearst Castle, and I am sure there are many palatial estates founded upon hysteria that draw pharmaceutical advertising dollars that aid women whose husbands have lost all interest in cottage cheese thighs.

I am not sure who "andrew jackson was talking about here,was it the Idiots who get upset over nothing events like this or is it the morons in brainwashing-ton who decided this was an issue at all

"Andrew Jackson July 14th, 2010 8:36 am ET
Castrate them all than put them in jail. These are all very sick people who need to be locked up. If anyone of these sickos would touch my grandchildren I would kill them ."

If captain genius AKA andrew jackson really thinks his rant is even remotely connected with the facts of such situations, then he has a form of mental impairment known as Conservative Putz Syndrome.It makes you want to put every body in jail, hate the poor and any other minority. According to a usdoj study all sex offenders only have a 5% recidivism rate. Facts like this are not included in the REAL story. You are being lied to.

Yes of course they should. Someone who was in his twenties and was with a girl under 15-18, which is actually 80% of the offenders on the list, who wants to travel to see Europe, why should we care. The countries of the world have their own visa and entry requirements. Let them be the judge and stop the US from being in everyone's business. Maybe they genuinely want to see another country. Just because they do doesn't mean they want to have sex. If you were busted for grand theft and you went to France would the only possible reason you want to go there is to steal? Wake up this hype is only so the government can scare us so they can take freedom away. These kinds of things is exactly how Hitler used power of persuasion to cause genocide.

Do you think registered sex offenders should be allowed to receive U.S. passports? Well yes, Abbie Boudreau, I do !
It's WRONG to keep causing 'ALL' our citizens caught in these MURDER laws/concocted sex related offense; more hardship , pain, suffrage, discrimination, and disability because someone other then them KILLED Megan, Jessica and Adam, and of course your token predator, you yourself, Abbie Boudreau had to dig up to justify these MURDER Laws and your opinion of denying ALL the sex offender registrants their right to travel! Why not, it's legally and constitutionally acceptable in this country to use someone else's horrific crime to convict, punish, banish, hunt , annihilate, mistreat and destroy all our civil prisoners for crimes they 'DID NOT' commit ; That's mandatory justice, American style! Why not, it's entertaining , gains votes and sells!
Everyone's who is marked a sex offender of course is titled a "dangerous sexual predator" ; including the boy who went to 2nd base, any males who participated in the teenage Megan's 'MURDER' forbidden relationships ; anyone , everyone and whom ever, can be gathered , grouped and prosecuted for anyone of the invented and concocted registrable Megan's MURDER offenses are all titled as one criminal, "The SEX OFFENDER" under America's politically, invented 'MURDER' Law!
What's I find extraordinary is how this government's regime chooses not to follow OUR Supreme Court's opinion in Smith v. Doe? The government itself is actually in violation of their own MURDER LAWS , BUT, American held prisoners have NO representation ; legal ,human, humane , constitutional means to protect themselves from these over encompassing, dishonest and deceiving Government abusive 'MURDER' Laws! Especially, a government who brands OUR America's children and youths predators because for their youthful indiscretions based on MURDER; You have got to be kidding , Abbie? WE do NOT have the right to deny someone a passport for merely being registered as a sex offender , NOT with these dishonest laws!

The Supreme Court of the US in Smith v. Doe :
Excerpts: The Act imposes no physical restraint, and so does not resemble the punishment of imprisonment, which is the paradigmatic affirmative disability or restraint. Hudson, 522 U. S., at 104. The Act's obligations are less harsh than the sanctions of occupational debarment, which we have held to be nonpunitive. See ibid. (forbidding further participation in the banking industry); De Veau v. Braisted, 363 U. S. 144 (1960) (forbidding work as a union official); Hawker v. New York, 170 U. S. 189 (1898) (revocation of a medical license). The Act does not restrain activities sex offenders may pursue but leaves them free to change jobs or residences.

How hidious,and evil are the US news, crystal cathederal crying liberals and catholic gov officials, while in their hightened state of sex offender pyronoia.

apparently it dosent matter to these people that the thousands of convicted priest never go to jail, and god forbid if we ever stopped them from flying to rome, and it dosent matter to them if they sit next to a convicted time served killers that want to fly abrard thats ok.
It also means nothing that a survey found that xes offenders are the most UNLIKELY not to re-offend, we need to get off their back, once time is served and stay out of their life, the sex registry does not stop sex crimes, it just creates more pyronoia in minds of idiots.

I am an X military man officer and helicopter pilot and fought in the Viet nam war for my country with 3 honorable discharges. I also was a Los Angeles Police officer for 12 1/2 years. I was arrested in 1986 for child molest and unlawful intercourse and convicted in 1987. I served an 8 year jail term actually 4 years in jail and 3 years parole. The crimes all occurred at or before 1983. Thats over 25 years ago. I served my time completed my parole and my rights as an american citizen were restored and i also am allowed to vote. Approximately 10 years ago I went to the Philippines and married a woman that I fell in love with. When I met here she had a son that was 10 days old. In the 10 years i have adopted the little boy and both my new son and wife are now american citizens. By the way I was convicted on crimes against aa female and my adopted son is a boy. We have lived in and out of the USA and i have over 40 round trips in and out of the Philippines with my family. We moved to the Philippines so my wife could get a second degree in nursing to further her education. She was just starting her 3rd year when we traveleed in and out of the country. I was denied entry back into the Philippines because the State dept homeland Security notified the Philippines I was a convicted sex offender. Now my family is split in half with my wife and son over there in the philippines going to school and I am stuck in the usa. It has caused us tremendous mental strain and financial break down to almost collapse. I have had no further confrontation with the law since 1986. How can this be fair? To blanket all sex offenders with this blanket is not fair. I am considering a law suit as this just isnt right. How can my rights be violated just like that when there is no law and I have led a very good life and have no other arrests of any kind

I say shoot all of them then you wouldn't have to worry about it!

In order to try to set the sex offender hysteria straight the state of Michigan released statistical figures regarding "re-offending" by these offenders. Turns out that between 5-7% re-offend..........while over half of all drug, robbery and other violent criminals re-offend and go back to jail or prison. It's this 5-7% that the media latches onto and you hear about........and they love to report these stories!! Why? It makes them money!! With a figure as low as 5-7% of people re-offending I'd say people need to wake-up and realize that you've been brainwashed by the media and the law enforcement communities and let it go and move on.

What most of the public doesn't know that when a Sex Offender travels via airlines within this county or international, Dept of Homeland Security is tacking their movements. Most if not all Sex Offenders are on the TSA Watch list, which means they have to check-in with the ticket agent. If the Sex Offender is married, the spouse is also placed in this Watch list. By not allowing a Sex Offender to have a Passport it could be considered double jeopardy, which means be charged for the same offense twice.

Think about this: If we start denying Sex Offender passport, who's next? What the general public doesn't know is that the Dept of Homeland Security tracks anyone who travels outside the United States. As a former military personnel, I learned many things that our government does under the cause National Security. Example, if you see a white jet plane without any marking flying your city, guess what – it's the government spying on you.

Be care for what you ask for. If the government starts denying passports to certain citizen who is next and what other freedoms could be taken away.

no they should not, except in rare cases. What is to keep other countries from sending over all their sexual offenders, if we sent them ours?
Anyone with a criminal record should be ineligible to travel with a US passport out of the country, not just sexual offenders.

It truly brings tears to my eyes to watch where our country is headed. We have elected people into our Government who's only reason for running is to get power and money. Why on earth would we deny a passport to a US citizen? I thought this was a fundamental right.
Unfortunately education in our Country is now so poor that our average citizens can't even think for themselves, and now believe the hype of the media.
I thought this country was created for freedom from oppression, and yet we are turning in to exactly what we ran away from. It scares me to think that the people blindly accept things that are presented to them without thinking critically about them.

NO WAY IN HELL....... Instead of getting passports they need to get somthing permanitt on them to show they are a sex offender why LET THEM HAVE ANYTHING oxegen is too much for them already why anything else? If you dont agree with me screw you.

What I think... You, as responsible journalists, must stop bandying about the term 'sex offender' as if it had some encompassing meaning. You, as responsible journalists' must begin to report on the facts with respect to who is on the registry and how easy it is to end up on the registry and how ineffective registration and residency restriction are and that over 95% of all sex offenses are committed by persons not on the registry and the those on the registry have the lowest recidivism rate of all classes of crime.

As responsible journalists, your story should have slanted towards banning any travel to any country 'know for sex tourism'. After all, the slant of your story is that the only reason for traveling to those places is for illegal and or illicit sex and therefore, given that 95% of all sex crimes are committed by persons not on the registry, it is more likely than not, any person traveling to these countries is traveling there to commit a sex crime.

We are not all idiots. Please quit pandering to those that are.

You have a nice professional appearance, try some professional journalism. You might find it sells as much soap as sensationalism.

Kelly R Piercy
Georgians For Reform
http://www.gasorr.org

give it a rest, if it's legal in another country, then it's legal.

issue passports to everyone -

First of all sex offenders are not a homogenous group. THere are many labeled as sex offenders who pose no risk to society. Teens accused of sexting, having consensual sex or urinating in public are some who pose NO risk that are being put on the registry. Please stop putting everyone in the same category when reporting it's irresponsible. Andrew Jackson and Chris and a few others your comments are not helpful and do not solve anything. We as a country need to step away from our emotions when it comes to sex offenders so that we can make our communities and children safer. The media is LYING to you about sex offenders! Here are some real facts with the research to back it up. The research was done by our own government. First time offenders commit 93% of sex offenses.(USDOJ).90% of sex offenses are committed by family members already known to the child(USDOJ)The recidivism rate in 3 years without therapy is 5.3% with therapy it's 3.%%. Here are the facts about other re-offense rates:auto theft 78%, burglary 74%, robbery 70.2%, larceny 74.6%, SEX OFFENSES 3.5% (USDOJ)....So let's review we are paying to monitor sex offenders who have a low recidivism rate and most are first time offenders. Also most sex offenses are committed by someone known to the victim. Do not believe the media hype that offenders will always reoffend and are untreatable....The empirical data is out there to support the facts I posted...

Yes sex offenders should be given passports. Please read my above comments stating the real facts about sex offenders. Once a sex offender has paid their debt to society they should not have to pay over and over again. The justice system states that being on the registry is a status not a punishment....well when you start restricting where people can live and work and where they can go that sounds an awful lot like punishment to me.
Now ask me if those who have been convicted of human trafficking or sex tourism should be issued passports...HELL NO!
Please in the future show some responsibility in reporting and stop putting all sex offenders in the same category.

Where has common sense gone to? Giving a passport to a registered sex offender, a predator of children opens the door for them to go and seek now flesh internationally. They can serve time and come out squeeky clean, but thats the name of the game! Behave and do good and you will get out. But have they really changed? NO and they will return to their vomit as soon as they have the opportunity...... Again I ask where has common sense gone to?

1. This lady said "registered sex offenders". Not "convicted sex offenders". Learn the difference, people.

2. Not all offenders went after children.

3. Not all offenders purposefully committed an offense against another person.....some have been falsely accused and the system refused to drop the charges.

4. If they have been listed by the registry as a no- or low-threat, then yes they should be allowed a passport just like everyone else.

Why shouldn't someone who used to teach Math to high school students be allowed to travel to Scotland with his wife and 8 year old son,....when all he did was talk to a student after class because that student was acting up during class, and the student decided the teacher was full of it, and opted to falsely tell the principal that the teacher kept her after class and that he fondled her......? Now how fair is **THAT**????

After reading these comments, it is clear that America has lost more than its intelligence in the last 25 years.

For the Government to refuse a passport to ANY free citizen is wrong. Once a person, no matter what their crime, ahs been freed, and is not longer under sentence, there should be nothing stopping them from traveling.

What I find most shocking, and ignorant, is that everyone with a no vote believes that the only way a sex offender gets on the list is by harming a child.

What is even more shocking is that when presented with the facts, they still harbor that thought. One person on this board even goes as far as to say that most registered offenders are on the list due to offending against children. I am sorry, but you are not only wrong, you are completely and totally wrong. Less than 33% of offenders on on the list for child charges. Of those 33%, Over 90% of those offenders are on the list due to assaulting a family member or a friend. The sex offender is NOT the guy in the bushes, he/she is a person you see everyday. Denial isn't just a river in Egypt it seems.

As for the several posters here saying "sure let them get a passport so they can go rape other kids".. You are the most ignorant of the lot. 5 to 7% of sex offenders will re-offend, that leaves 93 to 05% that never will! The tools are there to identify that 5 to 7%, yet YOU support your governments crusade to continue punishment on 100% of them.

Here's a hypothetical for you. If the State and Federal governments were to pass new legislation tomorrow stating that if you have ever driven drunk, you would lose all rights to operate a motor vehicle; Would you support it? Or if you have ever committed manslaughter, even 20 years after you completed your sentence, that the offender would now have to go back to jail? Would you be OK with it? How about an easy one, if you have ever been convicted of using, selling, or distributing ANY drugs illegally, that you now must be put on a list no matter when your crime was committed, would you all be happy for this to occur?

In the last several weeks, we have seen two bills that states that sex offenders cannot receive FHA loans, nor unemployment benefits. Would you be OK if it also said Drunks, Druggies, spousal abusers? Because in the negative comments it sounds like that is what you are for. the would encompass many of those that scream the loudest on these boards by the way. The fact that every year, there are 2,788,000 Drunk Driving related INJURY accidents, and another 47,000 people are killed every year in drunk driving accidents. Why is no one screaming for Drunks to have their license taken forever? Drunks have the HIGHEST reoffense rate of any criminal. But seeing that some of you, on these boards, are probably a drunk driver, or have a family member that is, it makes sense that you wouldn't want that to happen. 0.5 percent in this country are drunk drivers (once a drunk always a drunk), versus 0.002333333 are on the sex offender registry. Of these drunks, 49% of them re-offend atleast once, while 5 to 7% of registered offenders will re-offend. The tools are there to find these 5 to 7% and THOSE are the ones to watch, not the other 95 to 97% that will never re-offend.

What people don't understand with their castrate them posts, and their send them to an island posts. Registered sex offenders have one of the lowest reoffense rates, period. only murderers re-offend less, which seeing as they're in prison is a weighted determination. Yet, you are all for taking all rights away from people that attempt to return to society after their sentence and try to become someone that wants to give back as a responsible citizen.

So make a choice America. Do you want an ex-con who takes responsibility, returns to work, gives back to society, is stable, and has a low re-offense rate as a whole; or do you want 700,000 unemployed ex-cons who lose all rights and become so depressed that they start marching back to their old ways, or worse? There is no getting it both ways....

you know what i find is funny? if you think about it. i bet everybody that made these stupid laws are prob S.O's themselves! you can't sit there and tell me back in the day not one person or another as teenager's did not have sex hell i bet all of them have up to and including the people who wrote this dumb story had sex with a 13 14 or 15 year old themselves you know as well as i do that as teen's you had raging hormones come on now back in the 70's i know i did i was 17 my g/f was 16 so if you want to put the brand of S O.on people now and you want to make it retroactive then the lawmakers and hell even most of America should be on that list as well it is just back in the 70's you did not have the word SEX OFFENDER shoved down your throat by the media and for the lawmakers to use it to scare people into thinking that a S O is lurking around every corner.and if they have done their time they should be left ALONE!that is what our LAWS say but oh no they found a way to get around that.and for the people who follow blindly into thinking that these SO laws are just.remember why we had the AMERICAN REVOLUTION? because the people in this country got tired of being told what to do by someone in charge hence THE US CONSTITUTION and why do you think it was written?? and before any of you self righteous hypocrites start yelling at me or calling me a SO or if i know one before you do that you better sit down and think back to when you were young in love as a teen and you did it or think about if you got in trouble with the lay did your time and wanted to be left alone you paid your debt so now you don't think its fair that they paid their dept and they are still walking around.the point i am trying to make is if THEY (the SO's) can lose their right to live and work were they want or be barred from parks and things think about what can be taken away from you? so go on follow these laws blindly freak out every time you see SEX OFFENDER blasted all over the place and i was reading a couple of comments on here to take away their drivers license?! are you mad?? why do that? whats to stop someone really? if they wanted to do the crime? they don't need a driver license for it. so i say yes let them have a passport

Yes. Now to qualify my answer. The laws in this country do not delineate between a sex offender who urinated in public, visited a prostitute, had sex with a teenager who was a couple years younger, or someone who has raped a toddler. Because of this , all of the current laws are unfair and do nothing but create a sense of security where there is none. Sex offenders should be like any other criminal. Once they've served their time, they should have all their rights restored to them – including passports. And sex offenders who have committed horrible crimes need to serve long, long sentences.

What a wonderful article – NOT. As a register Sex Offender, it has been over twenty years since my conviction. I have gone through many years of therapy so that I don't recommitt. What I did was wrong. I strongly believe that a sex offender should register for the rest of their life. But and it a big but. what about of us who have a spouse, have children, own our own home, work and pay taxes. These laws have put my spouse in harms way. What is next – we can't own a home, we can work, we can't travel. Many states tried limited where sex offenders can lives and have regretted the laws. Most all the staes have had trouble track the sex offenders who moved and didn't their new location. When California enacted where sex offender can lives they have lost track of at least 20,000 sex offenders.

Regarding denying unemployment, I can see major federal lawsuits against this. When we work, we pay our taxes. Not allow a person to file unemployment when they pay into could be slippy slope the government should think very hard on. If I can't collect unemployement
I pay into, then I shouldn't have to pay the taxes. Sounds fair to me.

The reporter and CNN are counting on thne public fear in reporting on this type of article. But think about this. If this reporter and CNN or another other reporting agency puts my family or another sex offender family in harms way, they could sue and win. There are laws that protect Innocent people when a another person or company puts them in harms way. What a excellent way for my spouse to pay for a new house because this reporter and CNN choose to this type of reporting.

With this type of reporting from Abbie Boudreau and CNN the government is sure to created laws so that sex offerender can't get married, have children, have a job, own a home, can't travel. Hey, what a great idea. Lets recreate interment camps to place sex offenders and their family. That wasy we will know where they are. It worked during WWII.

If anything type of harm comes to my spouse because of this type of reporting, I think Abbie Boudreau of the Special Investigations Unit and CNN should be held responsible. Maybe then Abbie Boudreau and CNN will think twice before putting Innocent people in harms way.

EFF NO. Giving a sex offender unmonitored access to foreign countries could be the same as handing a gun permit to a convicted killer. Why should a law breaking citizen be given any rights that might compromise the safety of others? I mean really, if a sex offender needs to travel let him or her travel within his or her country for safety and monitoring. In fact these selfish animals should have a tracking chip inserted beneath the skull. if they feel its too inhumane then give them the choice of tracking chip or execution. I do not care what urges one might have, sexually offending anyone young or old should be punishable by death. Killing or interrupting ones soul is murder and should be punishable by death! This country needs a wake up call! the excuses of urges are out dated and no longer acceptable. Society is formal for those who understand,accept and follow the law. Child protection laws are clearly in place for children! What makes a sex offender think that he or she could compromise with such a law by breaking it. I was sexually offended and one day i may decide to rid of the filth bag who offended me. It would be my right to rid of all of you excuses for humans! Sex crimes should be punishable by death! If you kill a cop, you could be sentenced to death. So, why are we failing to protect the children? I say kill all of the sex offenders.

Abbie, please please continue running these and related reports for the term of your profession. These excuses created by sex offenders only shows that they can never become rehabilitated. They believe that they acted on natural impulse. Clearly murder can be considered a natural impulse however laws are established to help us see that it is not okay to be wild minded! STEVE you are a sick man!!!!!!!! you should never be allowed around children. in fact you should worry more about yourself as opposed to retaliation against your wife. People like your wife only enable wild minded persons like yourself. Shame on her for allowing you to feel as if you made a mistake. You willingly chose to offend, you are wild and not ever fit for society. I hope that you actually rid yourself! You were caught, so what makes you think that you are not an animal? Had you not been caught you likely would have continued your self excused offenses. I would not be surprised if you have other victims? Yes your right, i do not know you yet i know your kind!

Isolate these sick humans, put them all on an island and keep them there. sex offenders of (children) cannot be fixed. Better choice would be to youthinize them but moral majority wouldnt allow this. so isolate them, no they should not have passports, most criminals cant even vote after their crimes. so why are we handing out passports to perverts? so they can take their sick ways to use on poor children in 3rd world countries forced into sex slavery. like giveing a criminal an emmy? nothing like having yr cake and eating it to?.. NO PASSPORTS, NO JOBS IN OR AROUND CHILDREN, NO HOME IN A FAMILY NEIGHBORHOOD, NO CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN STERILZE THEM! WAKE UP AMERICA

CAN WE STOP POLICING THE WORLD??

IF ANOTHER COUNTRY HAS A AGE OF CONSENT BELOW OURS, THATS LIFE, DON'T LIKE? DON'T GO THERE.

IF SOMEONE WANTS TO GO THERE AND HAVE SEX WITH SOMEONE THAT IS "OF AGE" THEN HE / SHE CAN.

WE WOULD FREAK IF ANOTHER COUNTRY HAD AN AGE OF CONSENT SONEWHERE IN THE RANGE OF 25, AND ARRESTED ALL AMERICANS THAT HAD SEX WITH A 18 TO 25, WE WOULD BE SCREAMING.

IF YOU DONT LIKE A COUNTRYS LAWS, DONT GO THERE.
W.T.F

There is no reason why sex offenders should be allowed to obtain a passport when clearly all they want to do is travel to other countries to commit their crimes. Third world nations have little to no real interest in policing these types of activities and often look the other way knowing full well where the sex clubs are located. More disturbing, we should not allow sex offenders inside our country. There should be a world wide tracking system so that all governments can enter their sex offenders and we can keep the undesirable out.

why should sex offenders get special treatment, they shouldnt have a drivers license, nor should they have or be able to get a passport, the only thing sex offenders are good for is to be shark bate, put every sex offender on a barge and set out to sea about 15 miles and let them swim with the sharks, and then we dont have to worry about them anymore..or have them hurt our children..too many sex offenders being released from prison just so they can hurt or harm or even murder another child..its time to put a stop to this..just turn them all into shark bait..no more sex offenders..

To all of you sex offenders defending yourself and each other,

Sex offenders are the lowest form of life on this earth; lower than a cockroach or maggot. Thinking of you even sharing the same oxygen as my child nauseates me. The crimes that you have committed are inexcusable, and the system’s punishment and response to your crimes is even worse. You should all be locked up and the key thrown away. Castration of a child molester should be the minimum sentence. How any of you can justify the atrocities that you have committed against innocent women and children is beyond my comprehension. Nobody cares about your recidivism rates or how you have paid your debt to society. The emotional scars that you have left on others never go away. Their sentence never ends. Most of you get slapped on your wrists and minimal sentences while your victims are forced to spend the duration of their lives TRYING to recover from the damage you have caused. Many of you are solely responsible for many of the problems that your victims experience in adulthood, such as alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and depression etc. Innocence is snatched away from so many due to the disgusting desires and impulses of you lowly beings. How can anyone look at a child and want to have sex with them? For those of you who think that these desires are natural, excusable, or forgivable, maybe you should read the following article and follow suit:

Sex assault suspect apparently hangs self in Dakota County jail cell
http://www.twincities.com/ci_15540156

NO, they should be castrated and kept in jail, but no we allow them to run free where ever they please...tell me why its considered cruel and unusual to put them away forever (where they will not be missed) when they themselves do cruel and unusual things to our precious children who in return grow up all jacked up in the head because of the horrible unworthy freaks.

The answer to the question is "NO!"

AND, for all you "compassionate bleeding-heart liberal " idiots out there, chew on this article for a while. It just might "possibly" knock some sense into your THICK SKULLS!

From "The Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence" :

"Prentky, et al. (1997) examined recidivism rates on 115 child molesters and concluded that: (1) child molesters remain at risk to re-offend long after their discharge, in some cases 15-20 years after discharge; (2) there is a marked underestimation of recidivism rates.

Likewise, a review by the American Psychological Association (2003) concluded that "the research demonstrates that even sexual offenses against children that occurred long ago evince a continuing risk of recidivism by the offender."

Another perspective on the problem is offered by Anna Salter, one of the foremost experts on sex offenders in the country. She writes the following in her popular book Predators:

"The dry research figures only confirm what I have seen over and over in this field: there are a lot of sexual offenses out there and the people who commit them don't get caught very often. When an offender is caught and has a thorough evaluation with a polygraph backup, he will reveal dozens, sometimes hundreds of offenses he was never apprehended for. In an unpublished study by Pamela Van Wyk, 26 offenders in her incarcerated treatment program entered the program admitting an average of 3 victims each. Faced with a polygraph and the necessity of passing it to stay in the treatment program, the next group of 23 men revealed an average of 175 victims each."
-References-American Psychological Association. (2003, February 19). Amicus Curiae brief submitted in Stogner.

Absolutely scary! KEEP THEM ALL LOCKED UP FOR GOOD!!

To HEYZEUS:

I'm positive I read the same ridiculous stats on recidivism you reported on "that "5 to 7% of sex offenders will re-offend, that leaves 93 to 05% that never will! The tools are there to identify that 5 to 7%, yet YOU support your governments crusade to continue punishment on 100% of them."

These statistics are based only on studies conducted on "sexual predators", of which the crimes of sexual predators that are actually"reported, arrested, and convicted" again.

Read my last post and you'll see how ludicrous these "statistics" actually are, and HEAR THE REAL STORY.!

NICE TRY, "MR. EX-SEXUAL PREDATOR". So much for you theory:, huh?!!

I think that most countries deny entry if a person has been charged with a felony ? The inherent flaw: Criminals are not honest. I think that issuing a passport is no problem.. but if they have a criminal history.. it should be listed on their passport.

I think some of you have missed the point!! People who have raped or
have touched a child in a sexual way, should lose ALL rights!! I'm not talking about a 18 year old boy who sleeps with his girlfriend and she's 16 years old, I mean RAPE! Why should we let offenders go out of the US just to rape a child in another country? Does this not seem wrong to you? The children in 3rd world countries feel the pain just as much as kids in the US. Why do we as human beings let this happen. Why won't the people of this great country do something? Should we go back to hanging people by the neck from trees? (Yes, sounds good to me) That may be needed, but the US acts like people that have commited a crime have more rights than the people they hurt. They will not come out and say it, but it's true!! You see it all over the news, they get a slap on the hand. If we let these attackers get away with rape of a child in the US or out of it, we as women and men should be SHOT!! We should be keeping children safe, not let the sick minded get away with hurting children's minds and bodies for their whole life.. and I know for a fact it does. So PLEASE don't ask me to feel sorry for the offenders..they made their bed, so let them sleep in it!!!!

wow just reading some of these post harken back to ww2 when the natzi's put jews in concentration camps did you know that you can become a SO just by peeing in public? or teens for "sexting" what do you want to do? go out and murder teenagers? or what about someone who was accused? but really did not do anything? what about the SO that payed his debt and just because someone gets a passport that is a SO it really does not mean that they will go overseas to hurt a child why don't all of you STAND in line and start shouting "HEIL HITLER"? because that is really what some of you sound like.our laws were suppose to be if you do a crime you go to jail.you do your time you get out.unless you are on probation or parole YOU HAVE PAID YOUR DEBT!look at some of the people that have been convicted of drunk driving some of these people do it over and over and over again sometimes the even KILL other people while driving drunk or high and sometimes they KILL KIDS and whole families but i don't hear you screaming for their heads on a platter oh now it makes you think huh? but yet they can get drivers license and go out and kill again.some even go to prison let out they PAID their debt and they expect to be left alone well IMO you people are screaming for the wrong heads to be cut off.i say again being a SO does not mean someone raped a child or a woman think about it i bet some of you on here screaming for microchip implants i bet you would not be screaming so loudly if you were out drinking and could not hold it anymore and a cop came by and saw you and you were made to register you would be crying about how not fair it is and we are all human i bet some if not all of you went to the bathroom outside more then once.or how about this one? if you have a teen who was caught "sexting" and was placed on a SO list would you be screaming for their blood as well? or will you be screaming about how so not fair it is? i am still trying to see the point in not letting someone have a passport or drivers license? do you see how insane that sounds? once paying their debt all these people want to do is get on with their lives some of them even have families think about their kids and what they have to live with.and yes you can say well what about the woman and or child that was scarred for life? no matter what you do or say the pain will still be there but they do CARRY on it is very sad thing but that is the truth so lets all light the fires get out the hangman"s noose sharpen our pitchforks for someone who had to go to the bathroom outside let's all drag the teen's out by their hair burn them at the stake for "sexting" lets get someone who was falsely accused and string him up.one last point to make.REMEMBER THE JEWS FROM WW2? enough said

HEYZUES- I got you confused with another poster who said he was a "reformed" sexual predator. My mistake,

The US Government needs to focus more on securing our borders from criminals coming in than criminals going out. We have much bigger problems in this country.

I do not understand why this is so controversial.

Presumably, these people have been convicted, sentenced and served their time. If they have run their course through the justice system, let them have their passports. Though if the State Department wants to flag them as potential sex tourists, that's not such a horrible compromise.

This issue is so wrought with emotion and irrational bias that it's next to impossible to have a reasonable debate about the application of the law to sex offenders. The bottom line is however, justice should be cold and emotionless otherwise you can just call it vengeance.

NO, THEY SHOULD ALL BE PUT IN THE SAME PLACE AND KEEP EACH OTHER COMPANY. FAR AWAY FROM GOOD HEARTED LOVEING PEOPLE....

I believe that journalist shoudl educate themselves on the term "registered sex offender". The media equates sex offenders with pedophiles and predators when this is most often not the case. The laws should offer a tier for serious sex offenses vs less serious. When men and women are placed on this life time registry they are discriminated agaisnt for life. They have become our modern day lepers. Even murderers get the opportunity for parole and a chance to rebuiold their lives. Someone on the sex offender registry has a life sentence and no chance of parole. It is very very obvious that this is for political clout. What politician would vote for a bill in favor of a sex offender? It would be political suicide. However, having a registry that is glutted with all levels of offenders in a disservice to children and parents. As the law presently stands it is a danger to the welfare of all children.

Jack of all trades: Your "semi-coherent" ramblings and comparisons of other offenders to S.O.'s are inane. So, we're all Nazi's if we disagree with you, according to your way of thinking, huh? I rest my case, you nutjob.

As far as S.O's are concerned, I think the Fed and state laws are WAAAY to lenient, given the life long damage and victimization of the people on the "receiving" end.

I agree with "Sex Offender Hater" in his post that said: "Nobody cares about your recidivism rates or how you have paid your debt to society. The emotional scars that you have left on others never go away. Their sentence never ends. Most of you get slapped on your wrists and minimal sentences while your victims are forced to spend the duration of their lives TRYING to recover from the damage you have caused."

You "defenders" forget that the only thing God really gave us is FREE WILL. I'm no "religious zealot", I just believe in a God, so don't go there.

At some point during childhood we are taught that their are CONSEQUENCES for our inappropriate actions. After that, (usually around pre-teens) it is the persons own "free will" that governs their lives. Criminals don't seem to get that rule of "Do the crime, Do the Time", while others could care less about other humans ( the habitual criminal). People moaning about their "excuses" that: "it was 20 yrs ago, I've changed", etc., should have thought about the CONSEQUENCES beforehand, whatever their circumstance was at the time (drunk, couldn't help it, or just no regard for another human life). In our society, their so-called "discrimination" outside prison, was brought upon THEMSELVES. Too bad for you, huh? Ever heard of "think before acting out"??

Given the current laws, I feel that given the crime, S.O. sentencing is WAAAY too lenient. It should be 25yrs minimum, without possibility of parole for a violent sex crime (Rape and on up). A sex crime with the result of a death deserves the "Texas way". The stuff like statutory rape of 2 consenting 17yr olds, or kids "sexting" back and forth is a totally different matter, in my belief, although I DO believe some punishment is warranted.

Let S.O.'s have their passport, drivers license, or whatever, with a big red stamp that says "Convicted Sex Offender". Then it's up to the other country to let them in or not.

Unbelievably, though, S.O. sentences are relatively light, given the crime. This HAS to change immediately!

And lastly, for all you "Defenders", you would probably feel differently if you were a victim, or family of the victim. For for you "Defenders", it's sooo easy to speak so "cavalierly" about matters such as these if you've never actually BEEN A VICTIM!!

First of all "sex offenders" are lumped into one group by the media when in fact there are levels of transgressions and everyone seems to think they are all predatory. That is not the case. Having NO distinction from looking at pictures on the internet to actually having contact with a minor. Actually the punishment is more severe to looking than to have contact. The stigma that follows is incrediblely destructive our system does not work in rehabilitation it says lets punish them over and over again. Murderers have less of a stigma. This seems to be the NEW crime so its pounded down our throats constantly and ways to repunish the offenders is non stop. Once they have paid for the crime isn't that enough or should we just stone them all.

The decision to allow a sex offender to visit other countries depends on his threat. Some States have sex offender threat assessment tools and other don't. There should be standardized testing and evaluation process to isolate those 5.3% of sex offenders who should not be allow to travel to other countries.
We should not condemn those offenders who are low risk, non-contact and non-violent to a life of constant harassment, punishment and condemnation.

Dave r ok i'm a nut job you say? well tell you what go back and read the US bill of rights also the US Constitution these were laws set back way before anyone even heard of the words SEX OFFENDER they put those laws there to make SURE the US GOVERNMENT did not trample all over peoples rights now if you do go back and read it i suggest you look at ex post facto law it may open up your eyes also yes i can make make a reference to Nazi Germany in this case point in fact the Jews were stripped of their rights point in fact the Jews were shunned by their government they were FORCED from their homes shunned by other people put in concentration camps(as in the sex offenders living under julia tuttle causeway.) don't you see now? so just because i point all of these facts out it makes me a nut job? what will you do if suddenly some law was changed and YOU had to move out of YOUR home? and what would happen if you did a crime? i am not saying you would but let's just say you did you were tried and convected and you did some time you got out you PAID your debt would would you do if someone came along and said no no you may do it again so we have to place you on a list for the rest of YOUR life.would you think that was fair? after you have done your time? would you not want your life back? these LAWS are not doing anything if someone really wanted to do it they would and some people after doing their time learned their lesson(again i must bring up peeing in public and teens sexting) no one and i mean no one can tell me that when they were little that they did not play "doctor" well now even 8 9 and 10 year olds are being put on this list FOR LIFE! we must learn from history if not then we are doomed to repeat it(hence the Nazi reference and if you were not so closed minded you would have understood that i was only making a reference to the Nazi regime and the SO list i am not trying to make you "think they way i do" im just saying if you give government too much power saying who can go where live work and do whatever your rights could be taken away just as easy.(so much for the nut job)

sex offenders should loose their rights, their discusting i cannot even call them human beings. what in the world goes through their heads. they should be restricted from their rights, they should be tortured in jail, they should recieve the death penalty in my believe.

not all sex offenders are child molesters or monsters some are people who have made very bad choices. not all sex offenders prey on women either. despite the legal system they are all group together, unlike murders with different degree of murder. Yes offenders that are not considered a threat and abid by thier state's probation and registrey should be allowed passports. just a reminder if you sexting some one with your phone you could be considered a sex offender, if you flash your breast on spring break you can also be considered a sex offender.

Speaking as someone who was charged with a sex crime 16 years ago, I can honestly tell you that leaving this country is ALWAYS on my mind. I was told that since I had ordered 2 video tapes, that supposedly were of 16 and 17 year olds (which they weren't......they can be found on major internet sites right now) that I would be charge with child porn. I was also told that I would have to register as a sex offender but they I would be off the list in 3 years. Not having the $20,000 to $40,000 required to fight (I was barely able to pay my bills) I agreed to plead guilty. I was told I would be placed on probation, but instead I was sent to prison for 10 months, resulting in me losing my job of 10 years. I was then told when I got out, that I would have to take classes for sex offenders 3 times per week at an out of pocket cost of $125 per session. In addition, I had to take a polygraph exam once every 3 months at a cost of $150 per session. I was told I could not work within certain jobs and that I had to tell, in WRITING, any employer that I was talking to, what my offense was. Oh, the best part? The sex offender laws changed while I was on the list. The change was retroactive, so NOW, 16 years later, I will finally be eligible to leave the list in 2011. My picture has been published in a local paper, along with other sex offenders. I am now diabetic, have kidney and liver failure, and live with stress each and every day, wondering who is going to bomb my house or set it on fire. To say that I am innocent is an UNDERSTATEMENT. I NEVER did anything wrong, unless you consider a 30 year old single guy ordering a porn tape wrong. Should I get a passport if I need one?? You BET. My life has been taken from me. This is SUPPOSED to be America, where even the weakest among us are protected and have rights. the rights of thousands of people convicted of sex crimes (many, many which are innocent) are being tossed out the window. It may sound good to do it to a SEX OFFENDER, but YOU could be next.

Read Carl in Alaska's Comment. THIS is the truth. You folks that are raging about killing, hanging and all that crap just can't see it coming:

July 13th, 2010 10:27 pm ET

Of course they should be allowed to get passports. What irks me is that this story merely serves to fuel the runaway pedophilia hysteria engulfing this nation. We not only force sex offenders to live under bridges, but we render them unemployable. Now the courts have validated civil commitment, in which we arbitrarily decide to keep someone locked up past the expiration of their sentence. Even the sanctimonious, self-righteous John Walsh, who launched this wave of pedophilia hysteria, now says enough is enough.

Sex offenders are merely being used as a test bed by government to see how much oppression the American people are willing to take.

sex offender should be executed period.

Regardless of whether they have a passport or not, these sickos
will still find a way to get to young children. Be it Japan, Italy or elsewhere. They will find young children. WHEN is America going to WAKE UP and change the laws to protect the little victims of these sick, vicious creeps?? Now THAT is a good topic to help find some answers to

give them passports to Iraq or Iran they know how to deal with sex offenders over ther

As someone that was molested, sex offenders should not have rights. They have taken away from those who are inocent and will never be "saved" or "healed". It is a sickness that they will not ever overcome. They will always crave the control they get from molesting small children. If I were a mother in China I would not want to worry about an American sex offender coming to abuse my child. Nor do I want to have to worry about a Hispanic person coming here to do the same to my child. Sex offenders do not have rights. They lost that right when they decided to RAPE and take away the innocense of a child. They are the scum of the earth and deserve far more intense punishment than they get. Strike them off the face of the earth and we are beginning to solve the earths population problem.

HELL NO! They shouldn't even have driver's licenses.

These people shouldn't even be on the streets let alone issued a passport.

YES, sex offenders should be allowed to have passports.

I am shocked and appalled at some of the poster's comments. As someone who experienced being molested as a child, I know the kind of long-term damage that can occur, but I would never advocate the wholesale destruction of over 700,000 people's lives (plus their families and children)!

To advocate the elimination of rights guaranteed to all US citizens under the Constitution for any group is unpardonable. By so fervently arguing for and supporting these constraints, you are moving to remove those rights from everyone. Government never stops at just one group of people, and we all will eventually fit into some group that is objectionable to those in power.

Pedophiles are those who can only be aroused by pre-pubescent children, and rehabilitation is indeed problematic. But by far the majority of people now labeled sex offenders are NOT pedophiles.

It's time for the citizens of this country (and the media) to learn about a topic before expressing an opinion, and to base decisions on facts and not on knee-jerk reactions to an incendiary topic.

What a joke. You are forgetting that most sexual offenders have never hurt ANYONE in their life. Most of them had a consensual sex relationship with a 17 year at age 18, or chatted online with a fake minor, or received a sext from a minor, or downloaded child porn on kazaa or limewire, or streaked, or flashed, or mooned, or prostituted, or picked one up, or had oral sex which is a sex crime in all southern states, or peeping tom, or something else where there was absolutely no victim at all.

The sexual offenders should only focus on VIOLENT sexual offenders, who have a real victim, such as molesters, rapists, kidnappers, and murderers.

I mean not even murderers or former terrorists have to register their face on the internet. BUT someone who got caught urinating in public does. How is that fair? That is such an injustice. They should be able to do their time and complete their sentence and be free like any other person convicted of a crime and finished their judicially mandated sentence. What has America become?

People complain and take issue to Homeland Security infiltrating their lives, watching them behind the scenes, tapping into their personal lives. Yet those same people think it's ok to remove rights from a minority that is unjustly portrayed and perceived. If you actually do your homework you find that sex offenders are on of the least likely to reoffend. The sex offender hysteria gets ratings and votes, that's why it is a popular topic.

Debate me on the subject, I can back up my statements with fact, not the biased kind used by major media, the unbiased kind that never gets any attention. The bottom line is in the United States people need someone to hate. It was blacks, then it was gays, todays new hated minority are sex offenders. The new laws in place can place almost anyone the registry, even for non-sex offenses. It's a bloated politically motivated list.

before dening someone a passport because they are on the sex offeneders list, that list needs to change to level of the crime. you can get on teh list if you are at adult only party and expose yourself, or children can get on the list for sex-texting. I'm sorry but if I am at a party with adults only and a woman flashes me she should not be on the same list as a person convicted of sex with a child. totally different situations with the same list that will destroy your life.

Paul you are very much in need of a reality check if you think that most sex offenders are not likely to reoffend. I am not talking about minor offenders like an 18 year old that has to register as a sex offender for consensual sex with a 17 year old. I don't think that someone like that deserves to have their rights/liberties taken away and I definitely believe they need to be judged by a different set of rules than those that are not minor offenders.

I am talking about rapists and anyone that contributes to the sexual abuse of a child such as child molesters and viewers/distrubors of child pornography. These people have a sickness that is not going to go away after being locked up for a few years. And being forced to register as an offender will not keep them from reoffending. I don't care what the media has to say on the subject....my opinions don't stem from anything I've seen or heard on tv. They come from being a victim of sexual abuse as a child....and I can tell you that I was not the first child this man abused. I honestly believe that we need some serious reform on how these people are dealt with. It's not an issue of hate...blacks don't hurt anyone, gays don't hurt anyone, and minorities don't hurt anyone. Child molesters and rapists have a clear victim that is left with hurt for the rest of their lives.

Yes, they should ALL be able to have a ONE WAY passport to a lovely deserted island far away from all children...

NO NO NO 9\10 sex offenders repeat there acts. why would u give a sex offender the option to go to anohter place where he is unknow as a sex offender and give him that chance to do so again that is pure stupidity. it should be illegal they shouldnt be released from prison they ruin people lifes theres a reason for the neddle why not use it i know i sound harsh but they destroy lifes on a daily bases and people are mentaly killed by this situation they need to be stoped we need tighter laws aginst these things its not right to the people> PAUL i couldnt disahree with u more sex offenders are the most likly criminals to reoffend 9|10 reoffend there crimes and yes most of them dont go as far as actually do it but the ones downlading kitty porn and picking iup prostitues need to be delt the same hand as a first hnad case with a victim and the victimes dont always come to sum1 with what happend they fell inferior to the offener so ur forgetting to other couple thousand peoiple out there that never come forward that means there are more than what we think. once again i say we have the option to use the needle and we need to use it these people arnt normal there sick shall we say they need to be put to death b4 they reoffend

Give them the passport. But once they leave, deny them re-entry.

absolulty not!

Wow, this is disgusting! Wonder who is debating this? Oh, maybe the same people that keep money away from school taxes and funding activites? Possible and likely, the scumbag attorneys and lobbyest who spend over-costly client fees to go overseas while hiding in the closet? And the other so-called moral intellects that take advantage of innocent lives and desperate people for a means of their own pleasure (you know who you are). All I can say is, "scumbag, scumbag, scumbag"
There was an attorney that took advantage of me, almost the day I turned 16 years old and got away with this and he knows he was wrong. Unfortunately, he was an attorney and I was a child in foster care. This problem with child molestion has ballooned to epic proportions; no longer in the home, no longer someone familiar, and likely it's no one next door! Closing our eyes and ears doesn't mean it goes away. Speak up! Listen to your children and those who have bee devastated by childhood sexual abuse.
Hum, should I say his name? Would I have received credibiilty if I had been the mayors daughter-younger, or better yet a younger boy.

believe me this m-f is still an attorney....go figure. Good boys club. I am now 38 years old and have not only been destroyed by my family, but people who were representing me for my own interest and protection. Thank you DFS of Missouri

now there is an idea! we can send all of the sick ass sex offenders over to fight the war and die for us instead of the good men in the military that sign up to protect us with go intentions in life and wonderful families.

David R. I dont know what backward, hillbilly town you grew up in, but apparently its far away and out of touch with reality. Liberals defend the freedoms of Americans and ones right to choose, etc.... – which is a good thing and if you think about it is also supporting your right to freedom of speech right now. However, liberals don't support people who molest children. Careful what you say, it would be good for you to actually research what you say before making such a derogatory statement like that. Are we to suppose that your the epitome of everything "right' in America? Sounds like a comment that a KKK member would say, or someone from the movie "The Deliverance"

Oh, in case you already lost the point this is in regard to your July 18th posting and name calling and finger pointing, "compassionate – bleeding heart" idiots. Your misguided rage reeks. However, if you want to put liberals in the same class with child molesters than I would just like to point out that REPUBLICANS use of trickle down economics has RAPED us all.

It should be on a case by case basis. If you have someone that is clearly a threat to others, they probably shoudn't be give one, but if it is like a kid that 17-21 when it happened and now he is in his 30s or 40s, that should be ok. They have some real stupid cases where kids have to register because of stupid technicalities and rules. You can't keep punishing people over and over again for things, especially when they are trying to do better.

They should not be out of jail if they are a sexual offender. ALL sex offenders should be locked away for life. They should have ALL rights taken away, they are garbage. Put them away and keep our children safe!

Just tatoo child molester or sex offender on thier forehead that way everyone will know. They will not be able to hide the truth.

Camy,
I feel for you having been a victim. It should never happen to anyone, but all circumstances are not the same. As you mentioned teenagers having consensual sex with each other should not be on a registry. Nevertheless it's rape when the guy is 18 years old and the girl is 17 or younger. He gets a lifetime registry sentence.

Kids sexting should not be on the registry, but they are and as young as 11 years old. Many young children have been placed on the registry for innocent acts. Think that's bad? A 5 year old child got a sexual harrassment charge for smacking a girls but. Kids do that, or they did when I was a kid.

The guy that removed his kids from their mothers home because she was wiped out on alcohol and drugs should not be on the registry, no sex involved. He was protecting his kids but charged with kidnapping that involved children. Didn't matter the mother was passed out with a cigarette burning the chair. He's on the registry.

The registry as it is now is a political tool to get votes, nothing more.

True predators, real pedophiles, repeat offenders and violent/forced rapists, should be on the registry for life, and those are the only people that should be there. That group of offenders should have no passport and probably should remain in prison for life. In fact if the monies used for the bloated registry were used to actually police those people we would have a working system that actually protected our children.

I could give you thousands of cases where the law has failed concerning the registry. Case by case with all the facts considered should be the only way to be placed on the registry, not this hysterical drive to add as many people as possible so politicians can say I'm tough on sex offenders.

All to often I see in peoples comments ALL sex offenders.

Lisa: "ALL sex offenders should be locked away for life. They should have ALL rights taken away, they are garbage. "

If the registry had only real sex offenders, the ones that should be on it, your comment would make more sense.

That's the biggest problem with this situation. ALL people on the registry are not predators or child molesters or even sex offenders, see my previous comment. The majority of them are no threat whatsoever and are there because of the broadness of the law and the addition of tons of non-sex related crimes as warranting sex offender registration. Many registrants are actually victims of this law.

Registered Sex Offender does not equal pedophile, rapist, or predator. Not within the current law system.

Having only the real sex offenders on the registry would not generate votes because having 10 real sex offenders does not look as good as having a 10,000 sex offenders when campaigning for election. Politicians count on the fear of your children being harmed to garner votes. Let's not forget that federal money states get for each person registered.

John Walsh said, “Let’s get rid of the 700,000 on the sex offender registry and focus on the 10,000 that are real violent threats to society."

I agree for one agree with him.

I grew up in a home where my step father repeatedly molested me while my mother watched. My personal opinion, he should have been shot (he died from alcohol abuse).

I have a friend who is required for the rest of his life to register as a sex offender because he took a leak in a bush, while hiking and some female park ranger saw him. He was 5 miles from the nearest bathroom on the Pacific Crest trail. He was mortified and embarrassed that this woman walked up on him while he was urinating, off the path and out of sight of the path. Not thinking a soul was around. But yet, he is now a registered sex offender. For life. In my opinion, that is wrong and he should never have been charged at all. He didn't wag himself at the woman or anything like that, her own testimony stated the sex offender was embarrassed that she had caught him urinating in nature.

The laws don't differentiate between the predator (my step father) and the guy that had to take a leak miles away from the closest facility on a hiking trail (my friend). Both are banded sex offenders, but only one, really is.

I think violent sex offenders (against adults [forceable rape]) need to be registered for the rest of their lives. Child molesters need to register and be forced to wear a tracking device as well (though I myself would prefer a more permanent solution to that type due to my own victimization). Repeat violent or repeat child molesters should not be allowed out of jail for the rest of their lives.

My own experience as a child scarred me and even now, 45 years later, I still bear those wounds but I am not a knee jerk reactionary even though I have more right to be than some who post here.

Our laws are screwed up and do not reflect the realities or situations of the crimes, yet so many are willing to brand anyone with the label of 'sex offender' a child molester and a terrible and horrible person unworthy of even the basest of human rights, even if that person was just caught pissing in a bush in the mountains and has no interest (and never had any interest) in having sex with children, nor committed a violent sexual crime.

Feel free to continue reacting with your gut instead of engaging your brain. The media loves people like you. I call you fools.

No one likes to see garbages in the back yard. No one wants to see foreign criminals coming to visit/stay in his/her country and no country on this world ever wants to host them if knowing.

Bottom line – - Do not allow sex offenders to travel abroad to prevent their inflicting inhuman harms upon kids from other countries where technology and laws are commonly weak and lagging than the USA.

I am a registered sex offender. My "sexual offense" was on Christmas day 1986. I commissioned the service of a prostitute. I was 26 years old, she was 26 years old. I have not been convicted of a crime, any crime, since. I would like to receive legitimate, intelligent and informed feedback to the following question: Do you feel, knowing all of the restrictions and requirements pertaining to convicted sex offenders, that I should, after nearly a quarter of a century of full compliance, continue to have my face and names permanently plastered on the internet for all the world to see? I lost my first marriage because of the registration and public notification requirement, as my wife couldn't bear the shame it brought upon her. My older children (over 18) have likewise abandoned me. My youngest child, (of whom I have custody) doesn't know (yet) about my past, or how society has branded his father as a monster. Thanks for your time.

TL .. I beg to differ. Just like registry laws which are grossly flawed, so is your response. People are not garbage in our back yards, they are living breathing beings. They walk, talk and interact in society. Perhaps some of them are dangerous and should not be allowed too. Those individuals should be monitored/watched 24/7, I fully agree.

Your response mirrors many others, THEY as you say, should have nothing, no rights, no freedoms, lock them all up. Do you think people in other countries don't take a leak behind a bush? Do you think teenagers in other countries don't have sex? Do you honestly believe that there are really 700,000 predators in the U.S.? If that were really true we'd have a lot more violent abductions and murders of children and teenagers.

If you believe so, please do your homework and find the facts. I challenge all of you to really research the sex offender issue, read everything, then post your comments.

If you or your family members, or friends have been harmed by these insane sex offender laws, contact us, we have been fighting the insanity for years.

Citizens for Change, America
http://www.cfcamerica.org

Collateral Victims of Laws in America
http://www.collateralvictims.com

Together, one by one, we are gathering an army of workers and voices. Will your voice be heard?

I don't think sex offenders should be allowed to have a passport. Nor should convicted murderers or voilent offenders. Our problems are our problems and we don't need to share the ills of society with the rest of the world. For those men who are convicted and there is proof that they committed the crime; they should be given the choice either 20 mandatory years in prison or chemical castration. Once they are out of prison, then they should be tracked by having a tracking device planted somewhere in their body.

I think to solve this all we should round up all people who have mooned, urinated in public, anything that today would qualify them as a sex offender and use our so called laws wisely. Since some states have no statute of limitations on felonies, let's charge them, let them all live on the registry and see how their mind changes. Only true idiots would generally put all sex offenders in one category. All it takes to get the necessary reactions to correct this monstrosity the media and congressmen have created is find a way to let them see what damage it does if not properly handled. After a while being on the news and humiliated for a college streaking event, maybe being caught urinating in public, or the mooning that most of these probably have done, it will open some eyes as to how easily something innocent with no victim can be so harsh because of our ignorance.

the only people who should be on the list are child molestors
should be for the worst of the worst not boyfriend girfriend type etc

If we arent going to lock up these sickos and keep them away from our children then I say let them go to another country where the laws are stricter and see how it goes for them then.

First, sex offenders should not receive passports. Sex offenders should not receive anything but jail time and lots of it. There is no rehabilitation for these individuals, and yet when I read some of the other posts my blood pressure rises. To the follow people: Ipaidmydebt; so we should just be so glad you paid your debt, you should not have committed the crime. In my opinion, you will never pay your debt, Eric Knight; you are very, very wrong. You talk about how non offenders make it hard for sex offenders to participate in society; they had their chance! Honestly, I do not want them participating in my society. Oh, the likelihood that a sex offender will offend overseas, few words for you “Thailand, Australia, Cambodia”, James; if most crimes are being committed by new offenders then sweetie the old offenders just aren’t getting caught. I know the sex registry maybe flawed, but there are casualties in every war. And make no mistake, this is a war for the safety of women and children and I will emphasize- children.

1 out of every 2 sex offenders repeats their crime, especially after long periods with no sexual opportunities. i think that sex offenders should not be allowed into sex tourism countries nor countries without a sex offender registry, and they should only be allowed to visit other countries under very close supervision after 5 years. their passports/drivers liscences should also be red flagged. whatever means necessary should be taken to prevent the ruining of any more lives.

Sex offenders get passports? Negative. Nyet. Non.

Hell no sex offenders should not be allowed in this country. US citizens can't even get into Canada if you've had a DWI. Why should the worst criminals on the planet get into US ?

Yes they should!

I think Abbie Boudreau is an Fing idiot as weel as many of these people saying the Sex offenders should not.

First of all these "Sex Offenders" have served thier time.... and to continue to punish them is unconstitutional... the number of sex offenders that recommit are far less than the number of Drug Dealers and Robbers. hell people cinvicted for domestic violence reoffend more than a sex offender does.

Abbie Boudreau has started a little track record for targeting sex offenders... First they shouldn't be allowed to get jobs... basically what she implied in her las piece about the the "Sex Offender" working for an Oil clean up crew.. now they shouldnt get pass ports..

I hate to point out to all the people who believe that stupid rules like this actually do anything... like gun laws taking away a persons right to get a passport or, as someone else suggested a Drivers licence does not prevent a person from commting an offense. Trust me if i wanted a gun I could get one without having to go through all the background checks and waiting periods.

There are so many people who have been labled a Sex offender that have paid their debt to society but continue to be punished even though they are doing nothing but trying to be good citizens. Maybe Abbie just needs to become a real journalist and try to report on something more newsworthy.

"Most sex crimes are commited by new offenders." I dont know where you get your stats James but that is not accurate. I work with re-offenders everyday. You cannot rehabilitate a sex offender.

Did you know that treatment for former offenders has been proven effective and that most sex offenders never commit another crime? Did you also know that making it more difficult for former offender to reintegrate into society increases recidivism?

Would you like more *FACTS* ? If so, look at this website and please sign our petition:

CanadiansForAJustSociety [dot] webs [dot] com

I feel really bad for most of you that have no idea what it is like to be a so.
I was convicted, and there was no victim.......seriously
I could prove my innocence, and still can, but bias plays a serious role in the justice system.
I have a passport, and a CDL, a TWix card, and hazmat endorsements...
and I'm sure at least one of you have passed me on the highway, or met me in the store.
I assure you i am no threat of any kind, I wont even stop to help you if you are broke down on the side of the road, or give you the time of day ever.
I keep to my self, read, and listen.
I lead my life with caution, because YOU want me to live in a 8 by 10 cell that I'm sure most of you deserve......
I made my mistake, now let me live, and have a passport to visit family no matter where they live.
remember you can be a so, (sex offender) and not even realize what you have done wrong......think about it.

Give them a passport.
I think if you understand that a predictor is different then the blanket term sex offender this can be understood beter. First of all the hype is over predictors. Ok given that makes up less then one percent. Don't give passports to them. Repeat offenders are listed as predictor. Kind of easy if you look at it that way and stop trying to make blanket laws that effect almost a million families. The one that said she works with sex offenders. I think you have no clue. If you really do then you know that the small percentile that you say can't be helped is not a representation of the whole.We fail to mention that this is not a male specific crime. One wrote she was molested while her mother watched. She made no mention that her mother was as much a sex offender as the step dad because she watched. Women are viewed as non sexual in maters of molestation. Meaning they don't become sexually excited. this is not true and I'm sure most would fall back on the old line that women couldn't because they nurture children and it's not in them to do that. Not true. they also make up excuses for the women that they were afraid or they were forced someway to participate. Given that Canada has done studies on women and molestation they find that most get away with it just because who would think they could. So when you use your double standards remember one day they will go looking at the women and you had better be ready. this offender list will triple in a mater of a few years. Male bashing is a sport for some. Sex offender doesn't equal male.

My husband was in a bar 10 years ago and met a woman there. They decided to go back to her house to be alone. He fell asleep and was woken up by the 'woman's' mother. And found out the person was actually an extremely developed 15yr old girl. What the hell she was doing in a bar was a big question. He was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct with a girl 12 to 15. How did this happen? He also learned while in court that the girl was also the local tramp. At the time she was also 2months pregnant by a man almost 20 years older than her! That guy was never convicted but my husband was? He had no clue she was so young as she was in a bar drinking beer! No one in the bar bothered to ID her. Now he is out, but has to register forever. And of course ppl think he is some big bouncing predator child molestor. I can assure anyone that he is not. He is shy, scared to go out, and permanently damaged from this. We want to travel. Why should he be denied?

I must say that coming across this site has been yet another scary moment for me. I read about all the troubles an issues that people are having and I wonder what it is that I am going to face in the future. I have been charged with knowingly possessing child porn and in Washington State that caries the damning epitaph of sex offender. I am still awaiting my trail but I fear that with the abhorrent nature of the charges and the fact that I am male, I am doomed despite the reality which as brought me to this point.

I will not get into it much except to say that I discovered that my wife was cheating on my for the past three years, I finally decide on divorce, she threatens me with the sons (7 & 4), I threaten to use the proof I had gathered of her infidelity in court if she threatens me with the kids again. Unbeknown to me, two days later, she calls the police saying she discovered child porn on the computers at home and starts vilifying my character.

Since my arrest in February 2010, I have seen first hand the discrimination and unfair treatment that awaits me if convicted. It seems no matter what I speak nor what I provide as evidence toward my case, I am pariah and a threat to society. I can not have any contact with my two sons, she got to keep the house, the Jeep, the dog, and I can not even get an apartment, I am prevent from specific places and I have even recently had my computer use threatened by a seemingly over zealous probation officer. As it is, I am being treated as guilty until proven innocent and from this experience, I can only imagine the horror that awaits if I am found guilty. I couldn't even get the police to listen to me objectively. Yes, I was stupid and spoke to the police without a lawyer but I didn't think I has anything to hide or worry on.

What disgusts me the most is that I am currently a professional, I have a degrees from a prestigious schools and I have lived my life without hurting or harming anybody. I took all kinda of sociology classes in university so I could be a 'modern man' with an understand of women issues, etc. Heck, the week before I was arrested I was in Texas taking a Victim advocacy course for sexual assault victims for my work. I took my sons to mass every Sunday, religious education, I took the out into nature and doing father and son type of activities. I have friends with children who I have been around and babysat, I've worked around children at the beginning of my career and I have never had one complaint or anything to indicate impropriety; I have lived my life trying to protect and help people. Yet, all of a sudden I am this threat to society that needs to be placed on a list, removed from housing areas and labeled a sexual offender. The truth may be politically inconvenient for those with agenda but the blanket labeling of sexual offender is an injustice!

I have never done anything to anybody, I wasn't goggling internet child porn, I don't even know a child porn site. All I wanted was normal sex with my wife and for her to stop sleeping around. Yet, here I am with a definite threat of being labeled a sexual offender, locked in prison, considered a pariah and have future so bleak that I will never be able to get my sons back.

This law is over kill and focuses on the wrong people; it makes no sense to me especially when it doesn't take into account that there are those who are charged with the crime that are innocent and have never nor will ever be a threat to anybody.

I am damned and robbed of my children because my wife got ticked off that I found out about their infidelity.

Really somebody in positions of trust need to look into the use of child porn during divorces and outrageous trials and consequences that follow.

Most of the people that think they should get a passport are probably sex offenders themselves. Also, to Eric Knight, it's not for ratings, it's reality. I am not sure who you spoke with that says most of them pay their dues and don't do it again. I think most of them do it over and over again. Whether it's to them physically or if they can't get away with it again, then watching child's porn on the computer.

Idiots out there that say why can't they travel, well it's known lots of them travel to other countries but it's MUCH easier to sexually molest children because there are kids that are forced to do this. They are kidnapped or parents are threatened and forced to give up a child for this. Google it, it's a global problem, so of course they would want a passport to be able to go some where else to do this easier and then come back without worrying.

What about what they took away from the child forever, why can't they have things taken away from them, like a few rights too. They are only getting material things taken away like a passport, it's not like we are taking something from them emotionally like they did.

Absolutely NOT.

Until June of 2009 this man could have driven into Mexico or walked across the border without a US Passport. Is this the best example the writer could come up with for this story?

I think sex offenders should not get passports....I think they should die

Perhaps a law should be passed so that when a registered sex offender receives a passport or drivers license, the document is marked to note that they are a registered offender. Then other countries they want to travel to will at least be informed and can make their own decisions about whether or not to admit them.

Why don't we send all molestors to Alcatraz Island?

Abbie Boudreau • Special Investigations Unit – give it a rest with the story. Why do you continue with the story – people are not interested if Sex Offenders get a passport. If you want to do a story – do a story as to why that is important to people. If you did you research like a good reporter, you would find out that you are sex offender or a convicted felon, the Department of Homeland Security automatically tracks your travel. In fact, any person who travels outside the United States is automatically tracked and that includes you.
Also, certain countries don't allow convicted felon in there country. Martha Stewart wanted to go to England but the refuse her entry. Paris Hilton wanted to go to Japan and they refuse entry. Australia doesn't allow convicted felons in their country.
So stop with the story – Department of Homeland Security is doing there job of tracking people.
Maybe you could go work for Fox News – they are know to falsely news reports. You would fit right in.
Get a live lady.

I've read that those owing child support in the US cannot get a passport. How did this guy get one?

My husband is a conviced sex offender,though not a guilty one.All of the hysteria reguarding sex offenders is the reason we are in the situation we are in in the first place. He was guilty before he ever even entered the courtroom.It makes people unable to defend themselves!If you cannot prove that you didn't then you did and it is as simple as that.This story and others like it that have no reason to be reported on at all are a big part of the problem. It's like a never ending lynching.Seriously!What the hell was the point of this story?Just gives people another thing to get worked up about!

Reading the "lynch Mob" mentality, ogers driven by hate and misinformation. Sad state of affairs.

Is anyone tired of politicians waving the so called "sex offender" in our faces ALL THE TIME, just to get voted in.

Not only sex offenders, but any cause using a child to get vote or a dollar!!

We ought to vote in a law using a child exploitation for political and financial gain as a criminal offence. Like all the other 1,000,000 laws being made up by some of the people. But the lynch mob voted them in tightening the noose on themselves and everyone else be sheer ignorance and stupidity. Problem is, there are so many lynch mob personalities that we dont have enough bullets to rid them. So we let them procreate us out of existence. Stop breeding damn it!

Sex offenders are the least of the problem. Raise your children and that wont be a problem! Love your wife and she will stay beside you.

I think sex offender shouldn't get anything just put them in jail not 5 years, not 10 years, for life. No passport for them iether but i know if we denied them the passport. They are going to plea is my right as an american to get a passaport. We need to change our law and put this people behind bar for ever. Someone who hurt a little kid or young teenager don't deserve to be outside free on the public.
Sexx offender should lose all their rights as an american citizen and get the death sentence.

Having read a few of the comments above, I'm afraid to say it seems the focus of the topic are the SO that have been labeled as such for legit or false accusation. You seem to forget the crimes that are committed by the ones who have not been processed through the penal system. I believe there are more SO out there that because of perhaps not being caught are committing crimes. Its pretty naive to think that the only ones likely to commit these crimes are the ones we are going to watch and monitor because they have been accused before. Like it has been said, not all those already labeled are SO in the true hard core fashion ie; rapists or child prowlers, often they can be mislead, falsely accused or lied to and trapped in this title which may more fit their neighbor who has NOT been caught. Chances are ones you wear a label, you know you are begin watched and if its a false label to begin with, there is no worry of re-offence.

Oh hell yes,we don't have enough of our own brutal child murders and rapists..go ahead and import another 2500 a year to help our system..I can't even imagine a govt. that can do any damn thing they want to to American citizens and get away with it..such as handing immigrants a social security check and medicaid,when our own citizens are dying from lack of benefits... that CANNOT put a stop to allowing immigrant sex offenders into OUR COUNTRY THAT WE WORKED AND FOUGHT FOR YEARS ..please it makes me sicker every time I think about it !!!!!!!

I'm all to familiar with the kinds of angry and ignorant rants on display here, but it's still often hard to credit that so many people are operating on a totally emotional, visceral level divorced of all reason and common-sense. So many of these kinds of comments, like people shouting with supposed authority that sex offends can never be rehabilitated, that they'd only ever want to travel somewhere else to commit more crimes, etc., have actually absolutely zero real scientific/hard data to back them up. They're just angry, hysterical people spewing the first words that come to mind, which in most cases is the crap they're continually fed by news outlets like this one.

Did it ever occur to you people that the MAIN reason many offenders want to go to another country is to get away from people like YOU? (Yeah, now, go ahead and say good riddance, you'd be happy to get rid of them, blah blah – they've heard it all before ad nauseum. And they'd be very happy to oblige you if only the laws didn't make it so difficult for them!)

And by the way, for those who are asking why sex offenders can get a passport while other convicted felons can't...Umm, hello, other felons CAN get a passport, with rare exceptions, like treason.

How about a One Way Passport for those guys , no re-entry to the U.S. or any of its possessions. Seriously felon offenders should be allowed to leave the U.S. for good and forever no chance for returning after they have served their time for the crime.

The term "sex offender" has become term that presumes someone who is like the person in the example u gave. I do see the great concern with people who have done those acts having the ability to travel abroad. However, how about those who are on the list for, in lack of a better phrase, a "no so bad" reason. For example, a man who is 18 and has a sexual relationship with his 17 year old girlfriend. The father finds out and presses charges on him and is convicted of statutory rape and registered as a sex offender. Should the 18 year old have the same shame as the person in your example? I think not. I think not because i do not believe, youthful mistake is logically equivalent to sadistic, premeditated crime. In essence, I do not feel all sex offenders should be denied passports. Now if there were, and i believe there are, levels of "the list" then by all mean apply it specific levels.

the vast majority of sex offenders deserve a second chance. remove all the obsticales so they can become productive normal people again. 90% will never sexually reoffend.

And did it ever occur to you James that people are just fed up with the so called "rehabilitated" sex offender. Who is rehabilitated and then commits another crime. No one wants them as a neighbor around themselves or their children. People get tired of having to look over their shoulder all the time to make sure they and their family are protected. AND sometimes, that isn't enough. BUT this is about getting a passport, and if there isn't a law against it, then they can get one. Doesn't appear to matter if we like it or not.

Heck yeah, give em a passport, one way. If ya want to leave, fine.....we'll be glad to accomodate you, but if you want to come back sorry....go be boil on the butt of some one elses' society.

Having been the victim of a sex offense as a child I have no sympathy for child sex offenders. HOWEVER so many of you here don't seem to be able to separate a child sex offender or rapist, from the HUNDREDS of other 'crimes' that are classified as sex offenses, when they are not.

I have a personal friend that was tried and convicted of a sex crime for urinating in public. He was hiking the Pacific Crest trail. was 5 miles from any facilities and needed to relieve himself. He stepped OFF the trail and was not visible from any point on the trail when a female park ranger walked around the rock he was using.

He didn't do anything suggestive. Didn't do anything but turn away as quickly as he could to hide himself from her view. He was tried and convicted of indecent exposure and is required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Where did my friend do anything wrong to deserve such a heavy penalty? Where did my friend commit any crime that warrants the unreasoning hatred towards him by people who have no idea what he was actually charged with but saw his face and name on a registry website and send him hate mail, vandalize his car and house, have gotten him fired from several jobs, cost him his marriage and have made his life a living hell. All because he is classified as a registered sex offender for peeing on a rock, on the pacific crest trail, off the path where he thought nobody would be able to see.

I have legitimate concerns where child sex offenders and rapists are concerned. I question their abilities to be brought back into society as 'normal' people. But I also question this unreasoned and unreasoning drive to classify every thing to do with the human body as a sex offense, and to brand people with that label.

I ask you this. Have you ever gone camping and peed in the wild? Ever mooned anybody? Ever flashed your breasts at a guy?

If you have. Your a sex offender by some states and jurisdictions standings and if caught you will have to register as a sex offender and bear the weight and the hate of unreasoning people.

For all of you reacting with your guts instead of your minds, I suggest you do some research in your state and see just what constitutes a sex offense. Chances are you will be surprised and abhorred at how many 'crimes' are classified as such and require registering on a sex offenders list.

Use your mind and think. Not your gut reaction.

if you can detain a foreign man in cuba for an indefinite period of time, or an american citizen for an indefinite period of time, then why can't you take similar rights away from sex offenders? traveling to different countries and ordering 13 year old boy prostitutes is bad too.

whatever, i vote for the execution squad on these dudes, let's bring it back america!

Are you kidding me! why in the world would they be allowed to get a U.S Passport? our govenment needs to wake up! oh but then again the little people don't matter, because if they did this wouldn't even be an issue.

Ohmyword. Fearmongering much? Sex offenders include people convicted of statutory rape or picking up a prostitute. Not all registered offenders are rapists or child molesters. So, until we reform our sex registry laws, maybe we could not go trampling on civil rights further?

No. Enough said.

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Dont these parasites do enough damage here.Sex offenders should not be allowed to travel across boarders.Most of these parasites get probation they should evoke passports.So, then it would make it harder to run.they dont need to travel abroad to hurt others and they do not deserve vacations!!!!!Sex offenders should also have thier licenes in requirements section that they are offenders why should the victim live with all the shame.

For the sex offenders who molested/raped: they gave up their rights when the decisions they made took the rights of their victims away..How does one think to themselves..oh poor sex offender so sorry you are forever labeled?..but what about the victims who never forget..or the children who may possibly never be who they were meant to be? I don’t think the words sex offender, rights or privilege should be in the same sentence..No passport for them..They should feel lucky they are still breathing..

Pretty sad they even let him out of jail... That's the problem the law is letting him do whatever he wants. These offenders are sick in the head and no they shouldn't get a passport. Some people get denied just because they don't pay for childsupport, but then sex offenders can get one? Man they need to band that... We need a better system!!!

No they should not!!! They all should rott in jail!!!

Convicted/Registered sex offenders what is the difference? Most of them only want passports so they can exploit children and women in countries that don't have the same laws that we have. In most 3rd world money will allow you to just about anything including molest and rape children. The only rights we should be concerned about in this case is the rights of children and how we can further protect them.

Sex offenders definitely should NOT be allowed to get US passports. I mean seriously?! We require sex offenders to make it know within a certain area around where they live, but if they go somewhere else know one is going to know who they are or what they have done. People say that trafficing women for sex slaves is so bad, then why is the US contributing to that!? We have guide lines and laws to keep us safe here, but in other countries sex offenders may not get caught until they have hurt many innocent people, and thats if they ever get caught.

They should get it i mean some ppl are by mistake say ur 19 and ur gf is 17 then its not a true sexy offender so some of u people should really know the person before u guys start judging

I was behind in my child support payments which was 3000 since I was hurt on the job, I received a letter saying I was not able to get a passport app. So how is that a sexual predator can get a passport vs someone who has bad luck and cant get one!!!!!!!!!!! That is FUBAR!!!

10 years ago I would have said no, these monsters do not deserve any joy in their lives, at all, ever. Period. No travel, no jobs, no birthday presents and you can forget about that christmas dinner with the family. TODAY, however, I realize that people make mistakes. Sometimes really big, sometimes not. Who am I to judge them? I have suffered for years with PTSD... my battle scar from joining our great military. Sex offenders are people too. Let them pay their debt, then leave them alone. Hard as it is to grasp, there is something to be said about the mistakes that people make. We all make them, God forbid anyone accept the fact that no one is perfect. I would give anything to change what happened to me, but to punish that man for the rest of his life would kill any chance that he has to actually make a positive impact in this world. Monitor and counsel them at their expense for a period of time, make sure they are no longer a danger to society then LEAVE THEM ALONE! They are people too.

SEX OFFENDERS DO NOT DESERVE ANY RIGHTS!!!! KILL THEM ALL, PROTECT OUR CHILDREN!!!!

If they are American Citizens and have served their time by golly they should be allowed to travel about anywhere they please! Do we do the same to people who have murdered people or sold drugs to children? I have heard we now don't only put rapists and pedophiles on the registry, but CHILDREN and MINORS on the registry and people who have a girlfriend that is just a bit too young to "consent", since when did we start putting non-violent crimes on a public registry to ruin more lives?? What's up with that? We're going to ruin their lives because the Supreme Court cannot see the injustice going on in the country? Next it'll be me and you on some sort of registry. Would you want to be denied traveling or even leaving the country to find peace? I don't think so. This sex offender mess needs to be studied by everyone; it is not what you think it is (and no I am not a sex offender)

We don't want "sex offenders" in the country yet now we don't want them to leave either?? Come on. Pretty soon they will outnumber us, just the online solicitation junk science is winning and it's proven WRONG! Find the truth out – don't listen to the media as the legislators do to make such ridiculous laws like "online solicitation" – ha! What a joke that is. I know a young man caught up in that and there are many many more coming out of prison now – it's a HUGE money-making opportunity and they never committed a crime in my opinion!

Once we make talking on the computer a crime, we're all gonna go down for something. BUT if we TALK in person the exact same way, and no one hears it (because it's consensual talk, the young lady or young man isn't going to run away) – they are not criminals, just the typed word is enough to convict someone; doesn't anyone find that a bit scary?? (and the guy I know never left his computer screen, he never attempted to meet her! I had no idea that could happen!)

There's mass incarceration going on in California – but they'll let out drug dealers and arsonists early but won't let out a young man who had sex with his girlfriend whom he loved; something is wrong.

How many more times does a child need to be violated or murdered by a sex offender who has access to wherever he wants to go whether in or out of the U.S.

The fact is, these people will never stop offending and the longer we protect their rights we enable them to commit more crimes. Stop protecting these people and protect the innocent unsuspecting children who are bound to be hurt by another offender whose oblivious to his/her problem. WE need to stop enabling them or we can keep reading about sex crimes against kids.

No they should be issued passports. My ex husband could not get a passport to go on a Bahama cruise with his mother just because he owed 10k in child support. The country is going to allow sex offenders and sex offenders who owe 21k in back child support to get a passport. No, this is wrong, and anyone who thinks that sex offenders who travel oversees aren't harming children, is not living in reality.

I feel the stats in the article are misrepresentative of the situation. Please note, that to be a sex offender, you don't have to have touched anyone (adult or child) in a negative way. People can be put on the list for streaking, flashing (college football games.... need I say more), and even for being 18 and having sex with a 16 year old boyfriend or more typically, girlfriend. Or even 19 and 17. If the parents want to press charges, technically it is a sex crime and the person is put on the sex offender list.
However, for violent offenders and pedophiles, they have no business even being out of prison, so I feel the passport issue would be a moot point if the justice system worked like it should.

Sex Offenders should not even be on the streets, yet be able to have passports. Next to murder, this is one of the worst crimes. Especially if its against a child. Lock them in a deep hole and throw away the key. Just think how much of the taxpayers money is saved!!!

I am disgusted that the country allows people who have been proven to be sexual offenders time after time a passport to offend overseas.This is ridiculous. Yes everyone has rights in this country but I feel when you molest or rape a child you have given up your right to be a decent law abiding citizen. The only solution to this problem is to fit each and every offender with GPS tracking as soon as they are released out into decent society so you can have all the rights you want after you do your time but remember someone would alway be watching your every move!!!!

@ Eric Knight

I am not going to ridicule you for doing your job, But I am going to say you are only repeating the words, thoughts and ideas of a sex offender. I lived with a sex offender for 4 years and I know for a fact he re-offened though every case is different you must know that this is a mental diesase that has no cure. No amount of therapy that is going to stop a pedophile from having inappropriate thoughts about a child. I applaude you for trying to make a change and looking past ones flaws but honestly you truly believe your own hype and that is scary. I live in a city filled with a large population of sex offenders. Probation and parole is a joke that holds no weight in the real world where children are routinely exposed to the manipulative shady characters. I don't think it's about ratings I think it's about time that we revamped the system built to protect the rights of someone who purposely violates others that can't defend themselves from the attack. Btw when I live with this sex offender he Probation officer only visited once during our 3yr relationship??? That is our justice system at it's best!!!

I do believe they should have a right to a point. I dont think that they should not be allowed to travel to countries that do not have a sex offender registrey. Some sex offenders do change when they are in jail. maybe 1 out of 10. but you cant punish all sex offenders because of others faults. I do believe that before they get a pass port they need to research into why that sex offender needs a passport.

I do not believe sex offenders should be allowed to leave this great nation just to find another lesser nation that allows young ones to be molested. I don't think we should even only give sex offenders probation for their crimes either. I believe that sex offenders do not get over their need to molest kids. I believe that they should be permanently imprisoned or, for cost sake, shot directly in the face. A sex offender would have just a hard time to get over the need to have sex as someone who has no religious drive to just stop having sex with a partner. I don't know too many people who swear off sex and stick to it and it is just as unlikely as a sex offender to stop doing what he is in need of. I do believe in people changing and adjusting and adapting. However that is like if a straight man were to only have sex with woman 2 times a year and told to stop doing so. Can you tell me ANYONE would stop? I would say i doubt it and it is only time that tells WHEN a man were to have sex again.

As a mother, veteran, public servant and citizen I am outraged, the continued consideration that offenders "have rights" is appauling! These animals don't have rights, they gave that up when they decided to take away the rights of another. We as a society are so worried about protecting this one and that one, well what about the children, small, innocent and volnerable when do we put them before the animal who kidnapps, assaults and destroys? SO's should not have passports! Personally I think we should just fit them with ankle bracelets and put them in an area away from our communities and keep them out! Let's take back our neighborhoods and put the rights of our children first! The right to be childre, safe from predators! Stop pampering these people and worrying if it's politically correct or not and take back our streets and make them safe for our kids to be kids!!! Remember once a dog gets the taste of blood they'll always want more, SO's are no different, once they offend no matter how long in between victims they will reoffend it's just a matter of time!!!

Each case should be reviewed & judged individually. Of course there are people on the list who only has sex with someone slightly younger than they were, yet still not legal (16 & 18 is normal, but illegal).
To all those who say, "let them go" – how unchristian! So, it's OK for a child molester to rape an eight year old in Thailand or Mexico, but as long as your child is safe, no worries? Shame on you.

sure!! give them a passport on the condition they lose their citizenship if they are convited of a sexual cime abroad

One .22 shell would cure the whole argument, no pass-port, no more little kids hurt, no feeding the dude for ever and no more worries......pow

No person with a sex offender record should be able to get a passport! It is a typical example of being too light of a punishment to extend this right to anyone who has taken a position of abusive behavior.

@ipaid my debt~ you ruined someone's life so your debt will never be truly paid. i believe there should be harsher penalties than the current laws allow. children are resources far more important that twisted dysfunctional pervs.

Okay...where do I begin? There are a few comments I would like to comment on... But first I ask the question: What does having a passport have anything to do with being a sex offender? Shall we revoke their driving privleges next? What does any of this have to do with their convictions? Everyone is talking about how awful child molesters are and how they should be punished and they are scum and everything...while I agree that they are a detriment to society, please keep in mind that not every sex offender is a child molester. I think people think sex offender and they automatically assume child molester. Not always the case.

To Ipaidmydebt: Good for you for having a job, but I must pose the question, what do you expect from society? There is much ignorance in the world, and people do not think that a person who commits a crime should have the chance to move on with their life...

To Lawstudent: What you are proposing sounds great on paper, but you are asking for it. Society will take that and run with it. Castration? We are a civilized society and do not abide by the "eye for an eye" mentality. We start there and before you know it, all you self righteous types will be demanding amputation or limbs as punishment for thefts. Tracking systems? WOW I can't begin to express the many ways thats a terrible idea. There isn't enough time or space in this comment box for me to even start on that one...You are asking for manipulation of the person's body... i.e. cruel and unusual punishment. Perhaps our great criminal justice system (and we do have the best in this world!!) should come up with a better way of tracking them that is humane and just. If we spent our money reasonably and responsibly, we could solve the problem of what to do with these "people."

I think this whole passport debate is just another way to take a right away from a sex offender. We're reaching. Sure, take certain rights away, but the ones that make sense. Lets not just take them away for the sake of doing so.

...all that being said, ignorance breeds ignorance...lets not be ignorant about it just because this is a topic that upsets people. Again, we are a civilized society which does not believe in cruel and unusual punishment, and thank the GOOD LORD for that!!!

Every sex offender should be castrated before being released back into the population, period. They should be given a passport to Mexico, sounds like a fair trade for all of the illegal immigrants here in the US.

You know, people should get a grip!! I am sick and tired of this witch hunt on sex offenders. First of all, not all sex offenders are dangerous. Alot of these people are guilty of nothing more than consensual sex with a minor when they too were barely over the legal age. I get sick and tired of people's arcane mentality .........classifying ALL sex offenders as subhuman. While it is true that there are many very dangerous sex offenders out there the majority of the sex offenders are no more dangerous than most people and are only trying to get on with their lives. They have paid for their crime and persecuting them over and over again is idiotic. Why not begin a crusade against murderers,...........or wife beaters..........or hey, how about a crusade against parents trying to discipline their children.......oh wait, I know......how about lynching people who are ugly or say something that we don't agree with. Where the hell does this all end??. There are REAL PROBLEMS in the world........hunger........homelessness.......unemployment.........why not channel our energies to solve some of those problems instead of looking for scapegoats to blame all societies problems on. These people have paid for their crime and if you like it or not.......under the constitution that you all swear by, .they have the right to enjoy the same rights as the rest of you paragons of virtue, Get a grip

Poolchick you are a truly ignorant person. It's the mentality of morons like you that feed the hysteria running amok in this country. People like you are constantly saber rattling against people who have done their time and want nothing more than to move on with their lives. To suggest that all sex offenders come out of prison and immediately hide behind bushes looking for another victim is totally stupid. Most of these people whether you and ignorant people like you want to admit, DO NOT re-offend. Most of them have families and just too busy trying to move on with their lives. If we were to start persecuting them by keeping them from having passports or driver's licenses, which you need to drive a car and get a job, then we should not complain when we leave them no choice BUT to commit new crimes. Hopefully they will commit new crimes on you and on people like you who share your ignorant views and are living in a time warp in the days of the inquisition.............get a life!!

People need to make up their minds. So much legislation is passed against sex offenders with regards to their activities outside of imprisonment, that they can essentially get no job, have no life. People with no job and no life will just become depressed and commit crime, this is fact.

I personally have no problem with locking up sex offenders for life. I think it would be a great idea! But if you're going to say that the penalty for molesting a child is a couple years in prison, and oh-by-the-way go ahead and kill yourself because society does not welcome you back... here is a huge issue with hypocrisy. Get rid of all of the stupid, unenforcable restrictions on sex offenders out of prison (minus grandfathered in ones for the ones free and about), and make the penalty for molesting children life in prison. Problem solved

why can't the worst offenders be shipped to an island to live?!

NO! They should not be issued passports, nor oune convicted of such a crime bellowed to interact with society.

HE_ _ NO

No. America is one of the most PROTECTIVE nations for our children and womens' rights. Of course they'd rather go elsewhere. Read further and you find out that the majority of the first trips? To places that openly traffic children!!!!

I wanted to say about the way Sex Offenders are brought up on the News, it shows that it's a one sided issue trying to show the worst of the worst of Sex Offenders. I'm not denying that Sex Offenders at least some of them have a high re-offense possible to them but however, as we only see the worst of the worst on tv and don't show all sides of the spectrum then you'll understand each sex offender is rated differently.
If you don't understand what i'm talking about being rated differently i'll explain. There are three classifications of sex offenders if you do your research. There is 1. A Low Risk to Re-offend
2. A Moderate Risk to Re-offend and 3. A High Risk to Re-offend
Not Everyone is a high risk to re-offend. About Sex Offenders that can't be rehabilitated, you can't speak for every sexual offender because for one not every sexual offender re-offends.
There is a very small likelihood of a low risk offender of ever re-offending ever in his life. Not allowing sexual offenders opportunity to re-enter into society to be able to at least get a factory job, where of course there aren't any children in daycare centers at, nor any underage teenagers 10 years old working last i checked with U.S. laws you have to be 18 years old to work in a factory. So those that would argue about my statement needs to check laws. Companies where children won't be present should by no means should at all be a problem working at. Some will say construction jobs there will be children around, yes that is true depending on where the job is located and where the work is going to be at. So to overall pull the plug on all sex offenders from being able to get a job what will that do to his or her family. That puts a burden on the family of the Sex Offender. You have to understand a lot of Sex Offenders do have families, some supportive and some not so supportive. The families where they are supportive help the Sex Offenders more so then the ones that don't have a family to go to, which in fact could increase the risk to re-offend a bit from what i read in research. Before we pass new laws that are tougher on people of sex offenses why don't we look at the current laws that are on the books now, some aren't even being enforced. If your saying that they all are being enforced think again. Some laws on the books in some states aren't fully enacted/enforced. One thing you need to look at why serial rapists or serial child molesters re-offend, i'll tell you from what research shows it's all about 1. power and control 2. the sexual desire and 3. deviant sexual behavior
Those three things to look at. One thing also i will bring out, which actually has done more benefit to society for Israel for Sex Offenders.
Each Sex Offender in Israel is required to get a shot, in which cuts off all sexual desire altogether from what i read. With this done the sexual offender in a lot of cases has no desire, cutting down the re-offense ratio dramatically. Some i'm sure will argue your nuts that won't work in the U.S. Well have you seen it being tried yet?
In some cases possibly it's been tried but not throughout the whole U.S. I have explained some good ideas and some good information.
Yes with any comment there are many that will always not agree.
However i will say this before making a comment why don't you educate yourself first. Most of the legislators passing the laws pass them for one simple reason to not only make it harder for sex offenders but to also make it to a point where they will go back to jail instead of staying in society. It's leading that way if they keep passing stupid laws. Most Sex Offenders that re-offend will travel outside of their community to re-offend. So having a community notification act in place doesn't necessarily cut down on people that re-offend. It only makes the neighborhood aware of the person in the neghborhood.

People that have been convicted of crystal meth i believe in some states now have to be on a registry list. I think that is good because they are doing bad to society by putting out a drug that ruins many lives and destroys not only many communities, children, and neighborhoods but also makes it hard for anyone to fully quit and fully recover.

I think people that have been a repeated drug dealer/offender should have to register as well so we know where all these people are. A drug dealer has a higher likelihood of selling drugs again compared to a sex offender reoffending. So think about that for once people.

We have to decide as a society whether or not sentences handed down by juries are in fact a part of our judicial process or not. Continuing to punish anyone who has committed any crime after having served the sentence handed down by a jury of our fellow citizens violates the US Constitution. It is illegal, unethical and immoral.

We're supposedly a Christian nation, yet we fail to adhere to the Biblical command that if we refuse to forgive another for a crime, then the GUILT of that crime falls upon the heads of those who refuse to forgive.

I am a teen myself and don't think sex offenders should have the Opportunity of any kind. If we must forgive and forget i don't believe is possible at my age. I believe if your a Sex Offender now it was always inside of you and just came out, its not a mistake you made that is to be forgiven. Its how you are and it is not right in this society for you to be that way. You have to find it in you to control yourself otherwise your just as worse as a criminal.

Sure let them go out of the country. If they get into trouble in another country let them sit in thier jails. We have more than enough foreigners in our jails.

as a parent of a victim i think ALL sex offenders should be forced to live like lepors on a desrted island and fend for themselves .they should suffer at each others hands the same way their victims suffered i have no sympathy for offenders and dont feel like the diagnosis of an offender being sick minded is valid. these pieces of crap know and knew exactly what they were doing is and was wrong,otherwise theywouldnt be so secretive while doing it.burn em castrate them torture them.it still wouldnt be enough to take back the scars put on these innocent children.The sad thing about my situation is that it was my step son and my daughter.she was 8 he was 15.he has been disowned and banished from our family.juvinile offenders do not even have to register and they make up a huge percentage of offenders.lock em throw away the key once an offender always an offender!NO SYMPATHY FOR OFFENDERS!!!!!!

no i don't i think they should all have to be forced to live like a stray animail my daughter was malasted we she was 5 unitl i don't no ithink they shoul be casterratd he never had to serve time because of it his name is Harvey trull he will pay one day last i heard from him he had a little girl i pray his not touched her I hate him for what he done to my daughter all i he lives in NC I never new what he had done to my daughter jail wouldn't have not been good enought for if i would have found out

Deny these Americans their rights. And after that, deny narrow-minded Christians a passport, because they might try to proselytize Muslims or people of other faiths in other countries. And then, deny oh, let's say...any person of Jewish faith or bloodline, because they might possibly be in harms way somewhere in the world. After all, there was a holocaust once, so it might happen yet again. And then, let's deny women a passport. Everyone knows their place is in the kitchen. And deny anyone who ever purchased a Toyota...they might have made a bad judgment call, and Lord knows what they might do overseas. And then...deny anyone a passport who cannot properly say the Pledge of Allegiance without error. What kind of Amuricans would we want to be ambassadors outside the great fortress of America being led by such upstanding politicians who make these fine laws...you know the ones...the ones they exempt themselves from.
It's a start. America did not get so big from being completely small minded, ya know. (It has taken a lot of practice through trial and error.) Oh, and can we deny anyone who served in the military a passport? They might have killed someone in one of the simultaneous wars that this great nation prides itself on. If they killed in the name of God, ok. But what if they actually secretly switched over to Allah? They could be subversives.
Oh, and anyone who ever peed on Sunday. Isn't that against Christianity, the Bible, and cocaine snortin' presidents rules? C'mon...let's burn em all to hell...and just leave the good citizens to tell the rest of the world how wonderful it is to live in America.
Whatever happened to the dictum: America: Love it or leave it?
How can you expect the people who can't work or live a decent life after "paying for their crimes" to leave if they are denied a passport?

hey lets take away all drivers license for speeders to after all they dont care about our children and then we should prosocute all parents who let their child become fat after all they dont care about the children right? and lets just start going for it any crime they should pay forever even if they didnt really do anything becausew after all they might
before commenting pls get the facts and not the one you can find on the news it may stun you but most sex offenders are not child molesters. they dont own vans and want nothing to do with children. remember this by the laws in our great nation we (males) are all sex offenders. females are considered victims rarely sex offenders

Of course they should be able to have a US passport. The are US citizens protected under the constitution. Have we all forgotten that USA is a great country because of its constitution? I think we should worry more about terrorism against the country as a whole, as well as all the illegals stealing our way of life here in America. Too much time is spent making the publice paranoid regarding sex offenders. Over 97% of sexual molestation is committed by family, friends or aquaintances. It's very rare that a child is snatched by a stranger!

Yeah. One-way, out-of-the-country passports.

Upon reading this article about sex offenders recieving passports, I was torn between two opinions. I believe that if you are guilty of this crime you should have certain restrictions, for the sake of innocent children. Then I had to wonder about so many men who are in prison because of false allegations, and it's a "their word against his sort of deal". I really hate the fact that there are people so wicked that would harm anyone in this way, especially an innoccent child. Yet again, what about the men who serve their time, all the while innoccent, and they come out of prison, with nowhere to live in peace, and they can't even live with there own wives and children because of a hideous lie that has put them in an impossible position. No one really thinks about it in this way until someone they love is falsely accused.

I strongly believe that sexual offenders should be allowed to receive a passport. Most people do not understand that sexual offenders and sexual predators are not the same thing. Sexual offenders were convicted of a crime (e.g. statutory rape) which involves sexual activity but they are not expected to commit another sexual crime. SEXUAL PREDATORS are people who have committed a sexual crime and ARE AT HIGH RISK OF COMMITTING ANOTHER SEXUAL OFFENSE. Because of the general public's ignorance about this a teenager who has sexual with an underage girlfriend will be labeled as a sexual offender and that label will follow them for life, including being registered on the internet,, prevented from obtaining a business license, prevented from obtaining financial aid to go to school to better themselves, prevented from entering any profession because they cannot be licensed (even to be an accountant), prevented from renting an apartment, or for that matter prevented from getting promotions or any raises (even as a waiter). I would like to know why a teenager having sex with his girlfriend should have his entire life ruined! I think it would be kinder to just kill them the minute they are convicted rather than pretend they can ever have a normal life.

Hi. I read your article re: scammers. I was scammed in 2009.
Met on a dating site. He (they) were from Nigeria. They have many working in the USA to get the money to Nigeria. I had a police report and detectives on my case. I had an emotional breakdown, and
financially have been suffering to this day. My credit is wrecked, and
my savings acct was depleted. Four of them called me via phone. One to this day still calls. I dont understand why the police cant
contact the one that still calls me. I have almost been homeless due to this scam. I wish i knew that this was happening on the internet.
If i had, I wouldnt be so financially devasted.

NO! Please stop issuing them passports...they'll just go to other countries and violate someone else and get away with it because of the countrie's lax laws. For the sake of those who would be victimized, do not issue them passports.

The biggest problem is the over reaction most people have to the term sex offender.

I have a friend who is now a registered sex offender; he was arrested for peeing in public.

Because he peed in public you think he shouldn't have a passport?

Anyway, he still has to register as a sex offender, and idiot neighbors harrass him every time he moves because they are too ignorant to find out what his crime actually was.

Put simply, not all "Sex offenders" actually commited a bad act against a minor, some didnt do anything to anyone and are still labeled a sex offender for the rest of their life.

Restricting passports from people known to be sex tourists is one thing, restricting passports to EVERY sex offender is just stupid, theres too many ways to become a sex offender that dont invovle hurting anyone for there to be a need to punish them all further

No passports for sex offenders. They should not be allowed to travel out of the country. Sex offenders are the most evil human beings on earth!

Stupid. Irrational. Tyrannical. Ignorant. That's what I'm saying to all of you who've stated things like ALL sex offenders should be locked up for life. ALL sex offenders should be shot, ALL sex offenders should live like outcasts. Really? So some guy who when he was 19 had consensual sex with a 17 year old, he should be locked up for life? Or some dude who was walking in the woods, had to take a leak and got caught by some park ranger, he should be shot? Because in the eyes of the law they too are sex offenders. The registry is little more than a tool for politicians to keep people scared so they can proudly proclaim they are protecting the public from monsters out to get their children. Plus its a great source of revenue for the state, seeing as sex offenders have to pay to be a social pariah. The only thing these registries protect is the employment of the politicians keeping people scared.

This is tyranny period take there homes no where to live take there jobs put them under bridges. Over 700,000 sex offenders in usa could turnout to be one big army right in your back yard watch out just 100,000 could ruin your day.

we need peace and understanding not more laws we need to find the root cause of these crimes treatment and intervention not revenge healing for the victims this is not the dark ages we are civilised people.

i am a registered sex offender. I commited my offense when i was 11 years old on a 13 year old. I am 23 now and I am registered as a predator. I was sentanced to one year in ODYS (Ohio Department of Youth Services) (juvenile prison), I was 13 at the time of sentancing. I turned my own self in by the way. I spent 2 years in DH until i turned 13 and could be sent to ODYS. I was only sentanced to a year. I didnt get released until i was 19. I was fully responsive to the treatment. I have never reoffended. You people act like its an innevitable side effect of a sickness that people like me have.... I admit that some people need to be monitored much closer than others.... but why me? I have a 2 year old daughter. I have not nor will i ever offend her... I did something as a child that i didnt understand. the only thing i understood clearly after i had done it was that it was wrong. I got the treatment for it. And did i mention that i had been being sexually abused by my next door neighbor for over 4 years previous to my offense? do any of you people who get on here and blast sex offenders stop to think that sex offenders are usually created by other sex offenders, most of whom you arent catching in your efforts to catch the ones who come to you as i did when i turned myself in? I admit that i was sick at the time of my offense. But i got better. most sex offenders have been victims of sexual abuse prior to their offenses. in a way, sex offenders are creating other sex offenders. and it starts while you are at work and you leave your 6 year old son alone with the pot smoking babysitter. im registered as a predator for something that happened when i was 11. i feel like you people did this to me. i was only acting out what was being acted out on me. something at the time i could not control. so please. please. shut up. you dont know anything. you dont know anything about terror. fear. horror. the things that happen to an 13 year old sex offender in juvenile prison. i say i have paid my dues. they put me in a wheelchair my first year there. i will never walk again. but I'M the predator, right? yeah, right. i say give me a passport so i can get the hell out of this country. a place that lets this kind of thing happen to a little boy. a place that lets an 11 year old become what they call him now as a man. let me out of here.

Nothing society can do can stop a sex offender from committing an offense if that is what he/she wants to do. Registration does not work. Denying a passport definitely does not matter. It simply comes down to the individual. Most people assume someone who is a sex offender will always be a sex offender; or that they were molesting children. The truth is almost anyone could be classified as a sex offender for doing a range of simple things that 30 years ago they would have never done anything about. Urinating outside. Changing clothes in a car at the beach. Making out in a car. And are we serious; sexting? Everyone is lumped together into the same category. Not look at the statistics of re-offense. 8%? Seriously, we are creating all this hysteria and programs for 8%. That is a very low number indeed. You can't stop someone from offending if it is their intent. And you can't lump everyone together. Most sex offenders realize they made an error in judgement and have the capability to move on and lead productive lives never to repeat the mistake again. However, it is society who refuses to let them move on. Instead of persecuting sex offenders. Why don't we educate the public; counsel the offender; and find ways to help them? It would save money. Decrease the homelessness. Decrease the amount of people in prisons. And numerous other advantages,

I say that since you sex offender haters don't want sex offenders to have a house, drive a car, have a job, or visit their families in foreign countries, all sex offenders should kill everybody that is against them. Since you don't want them to have a life, they got nothing to lose by killing you. Leave the sex offenders alone. Take that damn worthless unconstitutional sex offender registry and shove it.

What is a sex offender? Who qualifies for a sex offender? Is it different in each state? Is there a national status? Does it only concern children?