Get Involved!

Yesterday, Kentucky CFR launched our first bulk mailing to almost 3,000 registrants and their families. If you are at this site, you more than likely received my letter. To put your mind at ease and take care of your curiosity, let me tell you more about myself.

My husband is a former registrant in the state of Kentucky. Up until a few months ago, he was registered here for an offense that occurred over 25 years ago in the state of Arizona when we has 18 years old. His teenage offense is explicitly labeled non-dangerous in the record and was consensual. He has had no other convictions in that same quarter century, and completed a bachelor's degree, pursued a successful career in sales, and now runs a small business with several employees. We have two beautiful children and he is a terrific father and husband. He was a lifetime registrant, implying that he somehow presents a clear danger to the public, which is simply untrue. For years, we silently complied with the requirements of the registry, until we were forced to move from our home we owned and lived in for over 10 years due to the unconstitutional, retroactive application of the residency restrictions. Although my husband has since been removed from the Kentucky registry for having been deemed to have met the KY requirements, I continually worry about the lasting impact on our children and potential harassment and bullying they may face because of truly misleading information from the registry and other sources. It is ironic that I worry most about my children being harmed and victimized by a system designed to protect them. In reality, my children and I already are collateral victims of that system - that home was ours too.

So rather than sit in silence and wish that things were different, we have decided to speak out about the insanity that has gripped our state and nation in regard to sexual offenses. Please don't misunderstand. I believe that sexual offenses should be dealt with to the degree of the severity of the crime. I also believe that children should be protected. But the registry and the resulting hysteria do nothing to protect children. The widening range of sexual (and some non-sexual, like kidnapping) offenses that require registration is trapping young and old alike into a web of complex restrictions and post-conviction sanctions that leave many with very few options for employment or housing, the primary things that make their lives more stable and all of us more safe.

So I hope that you will join us in this fight. All our children deserve better.

Jennifer
Kentuckycfr@yahoo.com