going back to the sex offenders...i would like to try and shed some light on the subject from a slightly different point of view. i have been sexually abused, it was 9 years ago, and it was by my brother, it happened numerous times. i havent ever told anyone (by that i mean the law, or family etc) but the debate i have in my mind is should i tell the law about my brother. i am undecided whether he will do it again, he shows no guilt for what he did, no remorse, so should he punished. does he deserve to be on that list. the 'one time offenders', in some cases, should be, and are correctfully on that list because even though they might not commit sexual behaviour again, the fact is they did it once, they should be punished.

i truly believe, going back to the bus driver story, he was treated unfairly,and i do feel sympathetic towards him. plus, it is near on immposible to look at incidents on the list and judge them as though they are all the same circumstances etc, they are all diferent, but a reason why the offenders list is good is because it can be a detterent to offenders who may offend in the future...sure...if they are going to offend, i seriously doubt a list (and the thought of being on it) will stop them doing it, thoughts like that only exist in rational minds, and the minds of offenders, IMO, are not rational.

but it does shed more light on the fact that someone in this thread said it doesnt highlight the offenders that will offend in the future...true...but, like in my case, i am currently living at home with my dad and my brother, so i am living with somebody i know deserves to be on that list, he should be punished for what he did, BUT, this raises the question, does he deserve to be punished 9 YEARS after the offence and do i feel safe knowing theres that slight chance he could re-offend (by that i mean its happened before, but will it happen agin to someone else), and could i, by telling the law about him, could i stop someone getting abbused by him in the future.

every case is different, and i do agree with the list, and i do not belive people should have the objectives to try to convict one time offenders out of revenge for a failed relationship in which sexual consent did occur.

i think the list of offenders is a fall-back for the government because if (god forbid) a previous offender who is on the list moves to a small town (for arguements sake) and commits a sexual act on a young child, and the list did not exist, there would be alot of anger within the community and alot of resentment towards the government for not letting the residents of that town know there was an offender amongst them.

its easy for a victim of abuse, like me, to judge offenders and feel hatred for them all, but i dont, because i know each case is individual and different from the next, with these type of things they have to be taken very carefully and individually because otherwise, as the bus driver person is aware, the wrong people can be accused of commiting a crime they didnt even commit.