Hello everyone,

First of all I like to wish our Professors a very Happy Mother’s day.

To all of you, thanks so much for such a great class, everyone was wonderful, with so much to contribute to the topic. I was so glad so what an ardent topic this is and that everyone fells as passionate as I do and that you all had so much to say about it.

The topic of immigration is one that provokes many heated debates and one that will probably not be resolved any time soon. The reality is that immigration affects us all, whether we ourselves are immigrants or our families migrated to the United States or because we find that in some economic or social aspect, immigration affects our lives and our society. The question in reality is, how does the government deal with the issue of immigration and how can it be done in a more humane, civilized and non-discriminatory manner? I do not know that this question can be answered or if the solution is evident and if we can get there.

As we began our class I asked everyone to give their definition of an “illegal immigrant.” The interesting thing, (not really surprising), was that almost each one of us said an “illegal immigrant” is a Hispanic/Latino, probably a criminal, who crosses the border (Mexican border, obviously). We all agreed that most people do not consider those who overstay their visas as “illegal”, nor do most people consider immigrants from other, non-Latino nations, as “illegal.” My question then is: Is the immigration issue really about the economic hardship that immigration, (legal or otherwise), inflicts on our nation and our citizens?

Given the New York Times article, Professor Stein read for us and the views of some “highly educated” individuals regarding Hispanics and our IQ’s: Do we seriously believe there can be any real change to the immigration policies and the way immigration laws are enforced?

My last point, which is the reason I chose this topic, is the criminalization of immigrants and the inhumane manner in which immigrants,(legal or unauthorized) are treated, detained, imprisoned and punished for offenses that are not categorized are ‘criminal offenses.” In the Parenti reading we learned about many instances in which laws were bent and even broken in an effort to crack down on immigration and to prevent, “illegal immigration” and the crimes provoked by said immigration practices. What I do not understand is how we justify breaking the law and circumvent around the civil rights, imparted by our Constitution, in order to justify certain illegal actions perpetrated by many governmental offices and officials. To this point I do not really have one particular question but rather I would like to hear what your opinions or views are on the following: the retroactivity of the 1996 immigration reform, IIRIRA, the deportation of legal residents as well as US citizens for previous crimes already convicted, sentenced and punished for, the Double Jeopardy clause of our Constitution and also the manner in which many immigrants are held without hearings and deported without the right to contest deportation. What are your views on the US government willingness to circumvent so many or legal rights and violate human rights to protect national security and control immigration.

Reevaluation of the "Sex Offender"

Hello Everyone,

Thank you all for a great class! We dove into many different layers of the meaning behind a “sex offender” and analyzed the various perspectives of the stakeholders. I will start off by giving a breakdown of what happened in the seminar. For those of you who were unable to make it, make sure you share your opinions in your post :) We began class by going around the room and having everyone state their definitions of a “sex offender,” where/how they developed that meaning, and whether their definitions changed after the readings and videos. Joe stated that his definition is someone who “violates a personal sexual space,” while other Verons made references to the media for how they developed their definitions. Shows such as “To Catch a Predator” and “Law and Order” made such influences. After the definitions and a brief discussion, we then did a workshop in which everyone was divided up into three groups, the policy makers, the reentering sex offender, and the victim’s families. The purpose of the workshop is to evaluate the current sex offender laws. The groups were required to present a three minute speech stating why they feel the current sex offender laws should stay the same, or change. To start off the official blog post, we will dig into an idea that Meiner’s highlights in her article… the actual sex offender registry and who it is meant to protect.

In the Meiners’ chapter, she speaks about the social construction of "children" and "childhood." She highlights that the image of a child is constructed by adults and their memories of their own childhood experiences, fears, fantasies, etc. The social construction of the child currently revolves around the idea of their innocence and vulnerability. They are “pure, unpolluted beings free from sin and guilt.” My first question to you is: Does our notion and understanding of “children” shape our views on sex offender laws and what we believe to be “effective?” What defines a “child?” Do our personal views play a role in shaping what we believe their protections should be?

A second point that stood out during our discussion was in regards to sex offender registries. The issue was brought up about how we have sex offender registries, but no registries for murderers, rapists, etc. We spoke about the stigma and negative connotation that the “sex offender” labels place on the individuals. Profession Waterston even mentioned how labeling demonizes. There is a lot of distortion in the registries and as we discussed in class, there is a disparity between the “sex offender” who urinates in public versus a father who molests his daughter throughout her childhood, but people of the community don’t always recognize this. My second question to you is: Do you believe that there should even be a sex offender registry and how “effective” is it? What do sex offender registries even do?

My last question to you all deals with “treatment.” Do you feel that there is an effective treatment program for sex offenders? If so, what is it? If you do not believe there is an effective treatment, why not? 

Feel free to express any other thoughts on the class. Once again, thank you for a great class!