Sexual predators

Lately I've taken a real liking to watching "Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator". I've even went as far as to add Dateline to my DVR so I don't miss an episode of it, even though it's the same thing over and over.

On that same note, I heard something on the news about Ohio looking to identify sexual predators of children with flourescent green license plates. As much as I hate child molestors, this just doesn't make sense to me. I've heard arguments that if they drive to the park, you can see if they drove to the park by looking at their license plate...but what if they walked???? I live near a few parks/playgrounds that can easily be walked to.

I think a better solution would be a tattoo right on their forehead, so that wherever they go, people can see who/what they are. But then again, what if they are wearing a very wide headband, or a hat with the bill pulled way down???

I am making light of this in order to show just how ridiculous this idea is. It seems to fall under cruel and unusual punishment, as well as punishing someone twice for their crime (as most of the time they will serve some sort of jail sentence). Can you imagine the ridicule/danger a sex offender could be in if a group of people decided to be vigilantes????

There's also a big difference between different types of sexual predators. There is the middle aged man chasing 13 year old tail, and then there is the 15 year old guy who gets charged with statuatory rape for having sex with his 14 year old girlfriend. Do we treat all of these the same?

Besides, does the system really work as it is now? They have to report that they are convicted sex offenders, and you can see their names on the internet now. But does that stop people? I'm sure that there is a high number of repeat offenders.

If they really want to get tough on this, they need to change the punishment. Hit these monsters where it will hurt. Castrate them in a very painful way (like unleasing a hungry wolf on their genitals). I guarantee you that this would start to have an immediate effect.