So recently here in Spokane there have been lots of media regarding Dylan's law. Dylan's law is to stop repeat sex offenders and came about after the kidnapping of Dylan and Shasta Groene. For those who don't know Dylan and Shasta Groene were kidnapped and taken across state lines by a repeat sex offeneder. Dylan was killed and Shasta was raped and later found.
There are basically two opinions here in Spokane and the state is pretty split. The people in society are either for or against the law. It seems that there is more harm being done in the argument to decide wether to pass it or not. People are picketing and being nasty in the news and around town, tearing down signs and painting over them.
In my opinion if a law is that important to people they can respect others opinions. I believe that the law should be passed and that it will save a lot of people being in harms way. Yet all people should have the right to their own opinion but if it comes to other peoples safety then they should be for it. Many parents ought to want to have the law pass so that they don't have to worry about their kids as much.
What do you think should this law be passed or not? Should our society respect others opinions when it comes to politics and the safety of society and our future?
I totally agree with you!!! The way I see it is that mistakes are made for you to learn from them. It appears that a key word (repeat) is being ignored. We have all made mistakes-its those who do not learn from them who we need to punish more severely. Once we start giving the idea that if you commit a sex offense you can do it again, we will have many people who will serve time for a sex offense and turn around and do it again. Just as if I robbed a bank, and the next time around didnt receive a worse punishment I would turn around and do it again-after all what have i got to loose. The thing people need to understand is that if you commit a crime you basically give up rights and privileges. My brother can never own a gun, leave America, etc. because he is a felon. Was that a wise choice? Probably not. I absolutely agree with you. How do you like Spokane, I am moving there to go to SFCC and then to EWU?
My name is Mike Schuler, and I'm the Spokane Area Coordinator for Citizens For A One Strike Law, and I'm also the largest contributor and am the one who paid to have the Dylan's Law petitions printed and shipped out to the rest of the state.
In Spokane, I have seen absolutely no opposition to Dylan's Law. Nobody has made any public statement against it, so I don't get what you are saying here about people being nasty in the news or tearing down or painting over signs. Just exactly what are you talking about here? Can you give a specific detail of an event that occurred?
I did once here a bar bouncer say he was against Dylan's Law because it would put a person in prison for life just for pinching a girl's ass when she walked by. Once I explained to him that his assertion was not true, and what Dylan's Law really does, he was all for it.
If you have any questions about Dylan's Law, please ask them, don't go telling stories based on ignorance and lack of facts.
As I drive down Trent I see alot of the signs for dylan's law on the ground and they are torn.
As well people that I have talked to are against it. They think that the law is a way for people to justify calling sexual harrasement falsly because they think that innocent people will be put away for no apparent reason because someone said that they were injured sexually.
There are only two signs in existence, at the corner of Mission and Greene, which is not far from Trent. They were blown over by the 50 mile per hour wind gusts the other night, and I just haven't repaired them yet, I've been very busy.
Dylan's Law does not cover sexual harassment. It only covers a few of the most serious violent sex crimes. False accusations are a fact of life. It takes a conviction by a jury of peers before somebody can be sentenced. The jury has to be unanimous beyond all reasonable doubt. An accusation of sexual harassment, by itself is meaningless. I think people who make false accusations should be prosecuted as well, but they are never gong to do that. I know many people who were falsely accused when they wen't through child custody disputes with their ex wives, but the prosecutors are hip to that. Now that we have DNA testing to verify a rapist's identy, false convictions are a thing of the past, because DNA evidence can clear an innocent person right away.
Also, it is not logical to give only lenient sentences for fear of false accusations. If we did that, there would be no way to protect society from any crime.
The crimes covered by Dylan's Law are 1st and 2nd Degree Rape, 1st and 2nd Degree Rape of a Child, 1st Degree Child Molestation, Indecent Liberties With Forcible Compulsion (same as 2nd Degree Rape), 1st Degree Kidnappng, and Escape of a Violent Sexual Predator. No lesser sex crime is effected by Dylan's Law. Nobody has been able to show me any case either real or hypothetical, where somebody convicted of any of the above crimes should be given leniency. Nobody "accidently" rapes or kidnapps somebody, and if a violent sexual predator escapes, goes fugitive, and is recaptured again, why should they again be released?
To see pictures of the criminals that would be effected by Dylan's Law, click the link. You have to scroll to the bottom of the page and click to agree not to harass the sex offenders. Look at their pictures and the descriptions of their crimes, and see if you think society is going to lose anything by locking these criminals up for life.
http://scso.spokanesheriff.org/