Normalcy, hype, and sex offenders: Internet ban may be too handicapping

New Jersey has recently passed a law banning some sex offenders from using the internet.

Under the legislation, anyone who has been convicted of a committing a sexual offense and used a computer in that offense will not be allowed to use the internet.

The law makes exceptions for work use and job hunting.

Convicted sex offenders whose crime did not involve a computer may see their internet usage on home computers monitored by the government and find themselves subject to surprise checks of their computer equipment.

New rules created by NJ's state Parole Board follow in the same vein, according to the New York Times. They stop specific registered sex offenders who have been sentenced with "lifetime supervision" from accessing social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, whether or not their original crime involved computers.

Megan's Law is a federal law that requires anyone who has been convicted of a sex offense to register their address in a publicly available database. Included under that umbrella of sex offenses are the big crimes, like rape and molestation, but also smaller ones, such as indecent exposure, misdemeanors, and charges relating to pornography, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Web site.

Clearly, the New Jersey legislation is aimed at keeping offenders from circumventing the community awareness Megan's Law promotes in a local neighborhood by anonymously chatting with unsuspecting victims online.

Taking away access to social networking sites may eliminate or at least seriously reduce that risk. But how does taking away access to the entire internet, or entire computers, help? It seems rather like taking away an entire dictionary from someone because they might look up a bad word and use that to hurt someone.

I've never been an advocate for censorship. But in this case, it seems that carefully-selected online activities and Web sites can be banned or censored in such a way as to keep people safe... without seriously handicapping someone.

And really... though the internet is a virtual place... it does nothing if not provide just another tool to interact with the world. It would be nearly impossible for me to function normally without the internet in today's world.

When you hammer your finger instead of a nail, you don't blame the tool; you blame the operator. It would be a serious handicap to someone if, because of their crime, they weren't allowed to touch tools of any kind.

If New Jersey is really willing to handicap sex offenders so much... why let them out of jail at all?

"Let the punishment fit the crime." Lawmakers, the Parole Board, and community members need to be careful about punishing crimes in a big way. Let's hope they can step back from the hype surrounding sex offenders and give them a fair chance at normalcy.