This story is from Aurora, Colorado, but could apply to nearly any state’s sex offender registry.You’ve probably either heard about the list or you’ve seen it.
It’s an online compilation of every person in Colorado convicted of what most people imagine are only the most heinous sexual crimes, revealing who they are, what they look like and where they live. Only the Colorado Sexual Offender Registry is not that simple. .
Experts say the person you think you should fear most might actually be no more of a threat than anyone else.
Or they could be a serious reason to worry.
Or they might have been trouble at one time, but are no longer be a threat, and instead are being punished for whatever crime they committed long after they are released from prison.
But they’re one of about 18,000 people, about 800 in Aurora, thousands in the metro area, on a list that was created to help protect people from incorrigible sex offenders.
But critics say it’s nothing more than an inaccurate and misleading website that needlessly causes worry among Colorado residents and cruelly and dangerously continues to punish convicts long after they’re released from prison.
Read more here.