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Should NYC Display Sex Offenders' Photos In Subway Stations?
By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 11, 2013
Modified Mar 11, 2013
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This subway perv remains at large.
By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 11, 2013
Modified Mar 11, 2013
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An unfortunate truth about riding the subways is that if you are woman you will, sadly, at some point come face to face with our rogues gallery of grinders, flashers and general pervs (also this guy). And while the NYPD is happy to put up wanted signs looking for alleged rail riding perverts, one City Council member thinks that isn't enough. Peter Vallone Jr. wants the faces of local sexual deviants to decorate our subway stations. A "wall of shame," if you will.
Vallone, chair of the Public Safety committee and a father of two girls, has made his distaste for mass transit harassers known for some time. But today is the first time he's putting a resolution before the City Council to try and shame criminals off the subway. He is proposing that the faces of serial sex offenders and child molesters be posted in the entryways to subway stations—specifically ones near the convicted offenders' homes and in stations where they were known to have operated.
"The impetus is I think it works," Vallone tells us. "If you look at Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, he does something similar in Staten Island malls around Christmas time, where he puts the faces of those convicted of shop lifting in those malls. You know, in the past we've published the names of johns as a deterrent to prostitution and I think it is time we used every tool at our disposal to help protect women on the subways. Because you cannot find a woman who has not been the victim of some sort of harassment on the subway. Whether it be a grinder, a flasher, a groper, it's a huge problem."
Vallone, who points out the high state of recidivism among sexual offenders as an impetus, says the reason the MTA has frowned at the idea previously was that they "worried about vigilantism." But he points out that the wanted signs already up don't seem to have inspired any subway Batmen, so "I don't see any problem with putting up pictures of those actually convicted."
As for how long the signs would stay up? Vallone will leave that to the MTA. And for those who say this will make commuting harder for those reentering society? They can just "buy a bike," he says.
On the one hand, much of the information regarding sex offenders that Vallone is proposing posting is already freely available online. On the other hand? This seems like an arguably unnecessary way of making a person's difficult return to society even more difficult. It'll be interesting to see if the City Council takes this idea seriously.
Tagged
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pervert
perverts
peter vallone
peter vallone jr.
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subway flasher
subway groper
subway perv
wall of shame
Garth Johnston
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