[PCWorld]

Post your comments for New York Removes Sex Offenders From Online Video Games here

[Papaspud]

So now the 19 year old, that had sex with his 17 year old girlfriend, not only ruined his life, but now he can't even play games online?????? How about the lewd conduct guy that was urinating in public???? I don't think this law will make it through the courts.

[teldara]

Isn't that operation against the 14th Amendment? Under the Equal Protection Clause.

[cdavidhess]

It is notable that the only case mentioned in the Attorney General's press release is that of "Richard Kretovic, a 19-year-old man from Monroe County, [who] pled guilty to sexual abuse charges after meeting a 12-year-old boy on the popular online video game system Xbox LIVE." Mr. Kretovic was not a registered sex offender at the time of his crime, and this announced action would not have prevented his crime. Apparently, the Attorney General's office is unable to point to any incident in New York State where a registered sex offender victimized someone using a gaming network, or they would have mentioned it. I make it a point to stay on top of such things, and I have never heard of any such case.

The primary risk is not from offenders we know about but those we don't know about. In New York State, 95% of those arrested for sex crimes have no prior convictions for sex crimes and thus are not listed on any registry. Training workshops were held across New York State last week that were attended by hundreds of law enforcement officers, probation and parole officers, etc. Research presented there indicates that New York's sex offender management policies have not made our communities safer.

“Operation: Game Over” is made possible by New York's eSTOP law which requires registered sex offenders to report their e-mail addresses and other Internet identifiers. They are then excluded from Facebook and other networks. Of course, this also prevents them from posting the true facts about registered sex offenders and "Operation: Game Over" because many news and media outlets require Facebook accounts in order to post comments.

Who is playing the real games here?

[uservhh0]

This seems like changing the punishment after the fact, which is unconstitutional. The whole sex offender registry business is more of a PR scheme than a law enforcement tool. Far too many people are on it for minor offense like soliciting a prostitute, urinating in public and things with no relation to sex at all in some cases. Too many people think it's all rapists and child molesters, and even those are far less likely to repeat there crimes than popular myth. Child molesters are actually less likely to reoffend than the average non-sex-crime ex-con. Stop with the misguided or politicaly motivated attempts to seem tough on crime and put the resources into real crime fighting.