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I am looking for an accurate website to look and search for registered sex offenders in my area. I am in Richmond/Sugar Land TX area. Any help is appreciated.

http://www.familywatchdog.us/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.criminalcheck.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and
https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/DPS_W ... index.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I checked the DPS site above and WOW There are 80 recorded sex offenders in just my Zip Code....many are within 1 mile of my house....one of them lives on my street and is a guy I have known for years.

It really makes you think doesn't it.

I would advise you take those lists with a grain of salt. Getting on them is surprisingly easy. Some 19 year old kid getting "caught" with his 17 year old girlfriend can land him on that list. Getting drunk and getting caught urinating in some alley will get you on the list.
I looked at one list a couple years ago and was surprised at the number of people that were simply just not a threat.

If you are looking at people in your area, take the time to find a website that lists the details of the crime.

And no, I'm not on the list. :)

TDDude wrote:I would advise you take those lists with a grain of salt. Getting on them is surprisingly easy. Some 19 year old kid getting "caught" with his 17 year old girlfriend can land him on that list. Getting drunk and getting caught urinating in some alley will get you on the list.
I looked at one list a couple years ago and was surprised at the number of people that we're simply just not a threat.

If you are looking at people in your area, take the time to find a website that lists the details of the crime.

And no, I'm not on the list. :)

I agree, if you want to really know, you should look at their offense in the penal code, and read their birthdate and age of victim at the time of the crime. Did you know mooning someone is a sex crime?

Pinkycatcher wrote:I agree, if you want to really know, you should look at their offense in the penal code, and read their birthdate and age of victim at the time of the crime. Did you know mooning someone is a sex crime?

21.08. INDECENT EXPOSURE

Captain Matt wrote:

Pinkycatcher wrote:I agree, if you want to really know, you should look at their offense in the penal code, and read their birthdate and age of victim at the time of the crime. Did you know mooning someone is a sex crime?

21.08. INDECENT EXPOSURE

Which requires years of therapy for you and your "victims," loss of your rights, constant registration and upkeep with a probation officer, and learning to dance a "no-mooning" jig for the town. Sometimes lawmakers go overboard...Actually I think this was the judiciary applying a probably decent law (you can't flap your front half around to random people) to a stupid idea (mooning)

TDDude wrote:I would advise you take those lists with a grain of salt. Getting on them is surprisingly easy. Some 19 year old kid getting "caught" with his 17 year old girlfriend can land him on that list. Getting drunk and getting caught urinating in some alley will get you on the list.
I looked at one list a couple years ago and was surprised at the number of people that were simply just not a threat.

If you are looking at people in your area, take the time to find a website that lists the details of the crime.

And no, I'm not on the list. :)

I'd like to see an example of that. The way I read the Penal Code this is not a crime.

I was looking around, and found one woman who looks to have been 24 and got in trouble with a 17 year old boy. I was dating women in their 20s when I was 17 and I was no victim.

But there are plenty of skeeze balls on that list too. You just have to look at the details and know something about the cases. Some of them aren't at all open to interpretation, like when the victim is pre-teen.

Take all of the list with a grain of salt, even those whose conduct appears to be worse. I never gave this much thought until I had to go to Cotula to interview an inmate that used to work for one of my clients. He was a witness to events that were the basis of a suit against my client, a corporation that provided marine surveying services at the Port of Houston.

He was doing 5 years for allegedly fondling a ten year old girl, a friend of his daughter. After hearing the whole story, I am convinced he did nothing of the sort. He was set up by his wife who was planning to file for divorce. He had no money, living from paycheck to paycheck. His court appointed attorney who gets paid a pittance for court appearances told him to take a plea bargain deal for 5 years probated, with no jail time. When the guy said he didn't do it, the attorney told him a jury won't believe you and you'll get 20 years. So with no money and scared to death, he took the deal.

Part of his probation terms required that he never be left alone with any children, including his daughter. During Thanksgiving visitation (supervised by the guy's mother/kid's grandmother), grandmother ran out of something she needed for cooking. The guy on probation was outside and didn't know grandmother left to go to the store. Ex-wife was parked two or three houses down from grandmother's place and she called the police as soon as she left for the store. When she got back about 20 minutes later, her son was in handcuffs. Probation was revoked and he did his 5 years.

I was incensed that a blatantly obvious set-up would be allowed to destroy this man's life, so I talked to some attorney friends who practice criminal law. To a man they all said this happens all the time. Sexual predators, especially child molesters, are so hated by society including inmates that defendants are terrified of trying their cases, so they take plea bargains even when they are innocent. If anything good will come out of the new "Megan's Law" or whatever title Texas decided to give it, it will be the fact that defendants will now have to try their cases. The minimum sentences are so long, fear alone will not force someone to take a plea bargain.

If you want to hear something really scary, just ask an attorney that does family law how many times a spouse (usually the wife, but not always) throws in a bogus allegation of child abuse or sexual abuse of a child in a petition for divorce.

People who truly do these crimes should go to prison for the rest of their lives, and so should people who make false allegations.

On a related note, did anyone see the report on TV (KHOU Ch. 11 - Houston) about a study (I think it was done by the National Academy of Sciences) on the fallacy of forensic evidence? It was scary, very scary. It determined that fiber analysis, hair "matching," tire prints and most other forms of forensic "evidence" other than "perfectly performed DNA testing" were unreliable. There simply is no evidence, or insufficient evidence, of reliability and too much is left to personal opinion or speculation. The study even called fingerprints into question! If this study is legit, it's going to turn forensic science on it's ear and it'll take criminal jurisprudence with it.

I guess I'd better throw this disclaimer in also; neither I nor anyone in my family, nor any of my friends are on the so-called sex offender list.

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:T If this study is legit, it's going to turn forensic science on it's ear and it'll take criminal jurisprudence with it.

Chas.

Do you truly believe that will happen? I hope it does, but I would not ever seeing it happen unless something like DNA, but can be applied to every case comes along, and it is incredibly accurate.