tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post3908994569120405515..comments2023-08-25T05:18:29.312-06:00Comments on Madville Times: Legal Question: Who Should Be on the Sex Offender Registry?caheidelbergerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-38369617254272542612010-05-14T14:37:45.269-06:002010-05-14T14:37:45.269-06:00Please excuse all the typos. I was rushing to kee...Please excuse all the typos. I was rushing to keep an appointment.David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-78479711425935649672010-05-14T14:34:22.793-06:002010-05-14T14:34:22.793-06:00This sending of a document listing a sex offender ...This sending of a document listing a sex offender for publication is very peculiar. South Dakota changed its procedures for the sex offender listings and included a felony penalty for using them purposes of harassment. Now the listing is kept by the Attorney General's office, and you have to register online to obtain access to it. Do you know just who sent you the document? I would be strange if someone connected with the AG office did so.<br /><br />As for the journalistic aspect, I can't see any news value unless the subject poses an imminent threat to someone's well-being or safety. It seems to have only gossip value.<br /><br />As far as journalistic policy, the AP Stylebook and Libel Manual provides the typical policy: "In a society in which standards of right living are recognized by most people, any accusation that a member of society has violated such standards must be injurious. Members of a community establish in the minds of others an estimate of what they are believed to be. Injury to that reputation may mean business, professional or social ruin." So any pubication of such information must be justified on the basis of whether the threat the person poses justifies damage or ruin of his ability to function as a member of the community. There seems no news value in the publication of the document you were sent.<br /><br />The Supreme Court, in the case of a former prostitute who was a rehabilitated motherkl and member of a community found that when her past was publicized the publication of past incidents violated her right to pursue and obtain happiness. I don't think the use of sex offender listings has been challenged on this basis, but I am sure this ruling is what the North Dakota AG has in mind and why the South Dakota law was made more restrictive.David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-2698662771257025482010-05-14T12:18:37.018-06:002010-05-14T12:18:37.018-06:00I'm being sent the document in the hope that I...I'm being sent the document in the hope that I will publish that document. I'm trying to figure out whether publishing that document is newsworthy. The individual concerned is not involved in any pending sexual-offender litigation or investigation. The only news angle I can think of to the story is the state government side: if the individual should indeed be on the list, then the state is asleep at the switch, demonstrating favoritism, or bound by some ruling or exception that I haven't been able to determine yet. Dr. Newquist, your journalistic and legal thoughts?<br /><br />The FAQ explanation from ND gives me pause; it backs up your statement that lists like these do more harm than good. People who commit crimes still have to live and work... unless they are such threats to social order that we should lock them away and feed them on the state dime for the rest of their lives.caheidelbergerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03261598066395322681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15329279.post-40278420431999927262010-05-14T11:21:12.169-06:002010-05-14T11:21:12.169-06:00In what capacity are you being sent such a documen...In what capacity are you being sent such a document? What are you expected to do with it?<br /><br />Like many of our laws, the sex offender laws in South Dakota are stupidly capricious. Teen-age misadventures are put in the same category as serious predations. They do more damage than they prevent. <br /><br />Obviously, they need some intelligent revision. But in South <br />Dakota.....David Newquisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04937837001343753140noreply@blogger.com