Today, out of the blue, I got a message from KIRO Radio in Seattle wanting to interview me about the sex offender registry. I went on shortly thereafter, the hosts John Curley and Rachel Belle were great, and I was able to get across a few good points. What I failed to relate, however, was what I did to get the label. Explaining how my drunken advances resulted in a lifetime registration would have taken a much longer show. Instead I referred listeners to the Stranger article on my blog sidebar for a critical interpretation. For the record: I did not molest a child, kidnap or rape anyone, as people often assume given my Level 3 classification.
Here's the Radio Show post and Audio Link on MY NORTHWEST.COM
Many thanks to KIRO Radio and the whole newsroom crew!
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Dear Mr. Mart,
ReplyDeleteI have never had a moment in my life when something on the radio caused me to stop everything I was doing and listen completely... until today.
As I heard you speak reasonably and openly about what life is like for a registered sex offender, I felt a tug at my heart and thought only of my youngest brother. When he was 19 years old he befriended and started a relationship with a 15 year old girl. One thing led to another and she ended up giving birth to my brother's child 9 months later. Naturally her parents were extremely upset by the situation. They pressed charges against him. He served his time in prison for the crime he was convicted of and he is now 25 years old. His daughter is 6 years old and her mother is 21.
Although my brother did his time, pays his taxes & child support and is on good terms with his daughter's mother, the requirement for him to register has made his life undeniably difficult. He is unable to simply pick up where he left off and to college because most of the career fields you can study for in school frown upon hiring sex offenders. He is also unable to serve in our military and he accepts any minimum wage position who will take him for as long as they will have him.
My brother is a good person. His mistake was exactly that: A mistake that he has paid for and will continue paying for.. for the rest of his life unless the public sex offender registry law is changed.
Anyway, I want to thank you for having the guts to make your blog and speak about your experience. I have been unable to share my brother's story outside of our family because others do not wish to understand that the crime does not define the human being. It felt good to realize someone out there gets that.
Kind regards,
- Charlene
Charlene~
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your brother's tragic situation, and your own painful feelings surrounding it. Those who would eternally condemn ex-sex offenders often overlook the dark reality that the social stigma is not only incredibly counter-productive to an offender's rehabilitation, it also hurts the people who love them as well. I don't feel your brother should ever have been put on the registry in the first place, but I hope he continues doing the best he can. Sadly, it's taken twenty years of government-sanctioned discrimination, forced unemployment and homelessness, isolation, attack and murder to indicate this method is not helping, but new studies like Amanda Agan's prove it. And many, many others like yourself are helping initiate rational and humane changes to the policies soon.
So Erik I read about your radio interview then I checked out your blog. Front and center you state for the record I did not molest any children ... why the disclaimer? I molested a child in 1993. Spent 5 years in prison 3 years on parole. Spent $15000 in treatment after parole and moved from Oregon to Tennessee with only the belongings I could fit into a ranger pickup truck, to a halfway house. 9 years later I'm married own my own home worked at the same job for 7 years 2 cars 401k ... as a level 3 dangerous an violent sex offender. For life. The point is the seriousness of the crime, the depravity of the crime have nothing to do with rehabilitation. You are no different than I am. Except for 1 thing. I don't care what people think of me and my past. I don't minimize my past because my future depends on never forgetting the hurt and pain.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, ROY~
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry my simple statement prompted you to make assumptions about me. The truth is that I support the rehabilitation of ALL sex offenders wherever possible, regardless of the type or severity of their crimes. Many of my posts speak to this, so I invite you to read further.
Like it or not, severity is an issue in our society. It’s an important aspect of my offense history (to me) and everyone who knows me. For us, appearing as if you’re about to commit a heinous sex-crime is not the same thing as committing one. Society recognizes this difference, and the Court recognizes this difference, but the Sex Offender Registry does not. You and I both know that the classification system measures risk, not severity, but you must see the injustice for people that committed minor transgressions on the scale of “sex-crimes” being classified with the same level as offenders who kidnapped and violently raped. I feel this is wrong, for obvious reasons, and sends the wrong message to communities. And speaking about risk, the U.S. Constitution is supposed to protect people from being punished for something they might do.
My statement was not meant to imply that my trespasses were reasonable or acceptable in any way. I am deeply sorry for the fright I caused my victims, and the trauma they may carry as a result. I truly hope they are not scarred for life. I wish I could go back in time and treat them with the respect they deserved. But I can’t. What I can do is learn from those mistakes and go forward with a productive, offense-free life that allows me to love, heal, respect and help others rebuild their lives like you have. Congratulations on your success!