Members of the Ohio General Assembly have proposed legislation to require repeat sex offenders, sexual predators and violent sexual criminals to display fluorescent green license plates. While this proposal comes with noble intention of informing the public about the presence of sex offenders, the proposal would do little to prevent sex crimes and also violates the civil liberties of sex offenders who have served their sentence and paid their debt to society - which outweighs any potential benefit from this legislation.
The proposal has garnered political support from Republicans and Democrats alike and the approval of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. The bipartisan political support suggests that politicians are using this proposal as nothing more than political pandering. But in the process of gaining positive media attention, politicians are branding sex offenders wherever they drive - in a modern day Scarlet Letter group that appears to be fundamentally unfair to sex offenders who are supposed to be trying to be productive members of society again.
Ohio currently does issue yellow license plates to people who are convicted of two DUI offenses but there is no comparison between repeat drunk drivers and sex offenders. In the instance of a DUI, the crime committed is intimately linked to motor vehicles - such is not generally the case with sex crimes.
There are examples, however, when these fluorescent green license plates may prove useful. With a green license plate spotted near a playground or a person walking the streets alone at night seeing a car with a fluorescent green license plate slowly trailing behind, then the potential victims have valuable knowledge about a sex offender in the area. In such scenarios the license plates may be a good idea.
Yet this only illustrates the greatest concern with this proposal - it creates an obstacle for a convicted sex offender to reintegrate into society. As sex offenders drive around the state of Ohio, they will be viewed with disgust and contempt. Despite the unfathomably heinous nature of all sex crimes, it is simply unfair for the government to forever punish those who have been convicted - the state should be trying to rehabilitate them - not cast continual judgment. And for the repeat offenders who show no sign of progress and continue to commit sex crimes, no green license plate is going to prevent them from committing another sex crime - it's only a trivial obstacle.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.