You are a major of a city, and a high profile rapist who finished his jail time is going to be released from prison next month. He is deemed to be of high risk to reoffend once he is free. The word is that he is considering relocating to somewhere near your city and possibly adopt a new identity.
There is tremendous public pressure to increase police surveillance on him, make his new identity public, or at least warn the public of his imminent release.
What would you do?
The most important point to remember in a cases like this, is that every single person, whether they are a regular person or a convicted felon, has rights and is protected by the law. The man committed a crime, served his punishment, and now deserves the right to re-enter society. Although he will be required to register as a sex-offender and live under those restrictions, any further breach of his privacy is unethical and unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, I could not legally and ethically impose upon his freedoms any further.
I would also like to mention that it is legal to announce through the media that he will be released and give information on his conviction. He was tried in a public court, therefore this information is available to the public.
ReplyDeleteSince this is the case, this would be the only amount of information I would share. I would do this as my duty to keep my citizens informed (and possibly recommend people practice vigilance and safety in the city)
I would first consult the authorities than trying to take charge on my own. This is more a criminal ethics situation than of medical ethics. The justice department already has extensive protocol in handling a high risk repeated offender. This would be gps tracking, offender registry, etc. I would be careful in being too proactive in this as the police should be in charge and I do not want to intrude with another person's autonomy.
ReplyDeleteFirstly I would not to let the public pressure push me into making an irrational decision. Since he is deemed to be of high risk of reoffending, I do think putting surveillance on him is important for the safety of the people. The fact that he might adopt a new identity is also really suspicious and a big indicator that he will commit more crime.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it’s necessary to make his identity public as he still has rights to privacy.
I think surveillance and tracking his whereabouts should be done in a private manner by the police. Warning the public about his release seems fair as it may help them behave more cautiously and be mindful of anything suspicious.
On the flip side I do understand it’s not right to just automatically assume he’s guilty of crime when he hasn’t done anything, but based on the information given about him, his chances of reoffending seem quite high and protecting the public is the number one concern. Better safe than sorry in my opinion.
There’s also a chance that the rapist has changed his ways and become a better person which is the ideal scenario, but I don’t think you can take that chance and just assume he’s changed for the better. If he is changed, however, it is imperative his identity be kept private as it may prevent him from reintegrating back into society due to stigma.