Donald Robinson's home, the sign reads (as best I can tell): "Please help save our women of the community"
Donald Robinson, who served 25 years in prison for two rapes, was released from prison and moved into a neighborhood on the San Francisco peninsula the day after Phillip Garrido was arrested and the 18-year-old imprisonment of Jaycee Lee Duggard was uncovered.
In addition to the 25 years in prison, Robinson spent the last 11 years as part of a state-sponsored, out-patient rehabilitation program. As part of his release, Robinson wears a tracking bracelet, has a curfew, is randomly tested for drug and alcohol use, needs permission to drive a car or walk through a neighborhood, and is forbidden to use the internet. Local police even distributed fliers to all the neighbors to alert them to Robinson’s presence in the neighborhood. (source)
The Protest
Despite all these state-sponsored interventions, the mayor of the community in which Robinson recently moved contacted everyone listed in the town’s phonebook and personally organized a protest outside of Robinson’s home to have him removed, which has now become daily picketing. As a result, the state pays two security guards $800/day to protect Robinson from threats and attacks.
Is There a Better Way?
The whole situation makes me wonder if there is not a better way to go about keeping people safe from violent sexual predators. With the Garrido case, we’ve seen the results of isolating sex offenders from society. The measures taken by the mayor and local citizens in this case—although with the goal of community safety—serve to further stigmatize the offender and breed resentment, frustration, and anger, the very emotions that Robinson has been working to overcome through the last 11 years of rehabilitative therapy. Emotions that led to his violent offenses in the first place.
I understand that residents do not want to live next door to a sex offender—especially a rapist. As one neighbor told the associated press: “The judge said that if Robinson weren’t here, he’d be homeless. We don’t want him to become homeless. We just don’t think he belongs among families.” But, if not here, where?
Building Safe Communities
To play devils’ advocate for a second, maybe living in a concerned and vigilant community is the best place for Robinson. In a community with an active neighborhood watch, a vigilant mindset, and a strong desire to keep their area free from crime, Robinson would have little chance to re-offend (especially considering the protective measures that have already been put into place).
Instead of spending all the time and energy to remove Robinson from the community, might it be better to put that time and energy to work educating the community and organizing a dedicated and informed neighborhood watch? Keeping Robinson in the neighborhood lets citizens have power over him. Moving Robinson to an isolated area lets him keep power over the community through fear and the ability to hide his actions from them.
Thoughts? Leave a comment—I actively welcome debate on this topic, and would like to work toward a better way to deal with sex offenders in our communities.
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Look the Supreme Court just ruled on sex offender laws where some factions of our government think by some inert reasoning that sex offender should be quarantined like some virus steaming from draconian/Islamic law sex offenders should be executed. I have seen for myself, video taken in another country where a sex offender is placed on a pole much like the Catholics use to use a pyramid shaped object and have them sit on it and spin, the pole travels through the body looking for the throat but if not found its ok cause the sharpened end of the pole will come out somewhere. The heritage of the act is in its self a throwback to troglodyte’s who are so obsessed with sex they can find that the way to deal with the issue is as revolutionary, as war, and two wrongs don’t make a right but has in fact called up deep rooted issues of people who have had to put up with this kind of “hierarchy” of historic hysteria far to long. A word taken from hysterectomy, hysteria is tied to castration used to make animals less threatening right? Good old Monty Hall. Well no wonder it’s wrong, right?
Anyway we are supposed to be the most advanced nation and we still have a death penalty when the rest of the world except for nations we are still warring with, {think!} While other nations went home our weapons dealers and torture lovers support death simply because they don’t know how to get money with out taking it from someone by force that includes mutilations
The truth about the sex offender registry will come out soon enough. When it does, People will see how the use of the registry was created, and by exactly who and why and the devastation it has created and the worthlessness of the use it. It’s origin in the Crow laws that brought disgrace to our nation allowing thieves and murderous societal bigots who have trashed any shot at making good of a program in its design to make money destroying our nation and its people. You can not play god and you can not survive using this behavior model because you are compounding the problem.
It’s a ruse designed by people who are getting rich off the castration/hysterectomy/health care/physic care of people thrusex laws that have gone bonkers. What about the people who are being used by the Medicare programs that requires these mutilations for both men and woman after they take their means of support? Can’t you see? You have created the model and it is worthless! Why don’t you just indiscriminately kill people you don’t know that’s statically the next sex offender because over 90% of all new offences are people not on the sex offender registry and the numbers are increasing not decreasing so as a behavior model the chumps put together is really screwed up and they were told before they tried it.
Hey just wanna let everyone know that here in billings montana on september27th 1:00p.m. at terry park we will be staging a peaceful protest and march against sex offenders living near our schools and parks. plz help us to protect the most vulnerable in our little community. plz come if u can otherwise we would love for you to send letters or e-mails or phone calls to various city officials. If u e-mail me I can get you more info