http://abcnews.go.com/US/sexual-predators-hidden-federal-witness-protection-program-report/story?id=29559093 by Jack Cloherty.
You know, we in America like to think that we deal with sex offenders pretty well. After all, we have sex offender registries, right? South Dakota has one, and so does the FBI. These registries help warn people about sex offenders (particularly pedophiles) so they can take care around them. Unless you're in the Witness Protection Program, in which case, you may sexually assault and rape in complete and utter anonymity. According to a new report from the Department of Justice Inspector General, the Federal Witness Program has failed to protect people from offenders who were or are currently in the program. Fifty-eight offenders were found to have been in the program- ten were convicted of sexual crimes before entering, thirty-eight after they left, and ten during the program.
So let me clarify this for you. When you go online and check for people guilty of child rape in your area, some of them may not be on there. This is either because they're in the program or are about to be. I highly doubt that those who committed sexual offenses after the program did it for the first time, so we can probably add them to the list of invisible pedophiles too. These people can be hired at schools, hospitals, as babysitters, or even become married and have children without anyone knowing their true identity. That, to me, is terrifying. This program's flaws do not end here, however. The program was criticized in an earlier report for not alerting the FBI and Terrorist Screening Center about potential or known terrorists. So basically the government is hiding secrets from itself (no big surprise). I'm glad the program has been ordered to make changes, because this is seriously messed up. Yes, we protect people through the Witness Protection Program, but it should not be at the cost of others' safety.
This is actually really scary. I have never really thought about people who are in Witness Protection being criminals themselves, so it kind of creeps me out that pedophiles could be hired at a school because they are in this program, and nobody knows who they really are! I hope that the changes that are being made to the program fixes this problem.
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy! I know many people in Witness protection have criminal records, but they agree to testify against the "bigger fish" and then get put in witness protection, however, I never thought the system would protect those accused of and/or likely to harm children.
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