First, an article that appeared on CNN.com last night - followed by a few of my first thoughts about it.  Thanks to the seemingly always well-informed Jolly Old Saint Nick for bringing this to my attention.

No Internet for some sex offenders in New Jersey

EWING, New Jersey (AP) — Convicted sex offenders who used the Internet to help them commit their crimes will be banned from using the Internet under a measure signed into law Thursday.

The bill applies to people who, for example, lured a potential victim through e-mail or other electronic messages. It also affects paroled sex offenders under lifetime supervision, but exempts computer work done as part of a job or search for employment.

"We live in scary times," said Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who signed the bill because Gov. Jon S. Corzine is vacationing in the Caribbean.

Under the law, sex offenders will have to let the state Parole Board know about their access to computers. Those caught using the Internet would face 18 months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Convicted sex offenders will have to submit to periodic, unannounced examinations of their computer equipment and install equipment on their computers so their use can be monitored.

Parole officers can also order polygraph tests for convicts suspected of violating the Internet ban, said Parole Board Chairman Peter Barnes.

The Parole Board currently supervises about 4,200 paroled sex offenders whose sentencing guidelines call for lifetime supervision — regardless of whether their offenses involved the Internet.

The board last month approved new rules banning those convicts from using Internet social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

The Parole Board imposed the new restrictions after state officials discovered, after subpoenaing several sites, hundreds of profiles registered to convicted sex offenders.

No federal law restricts sex offenders' Internet use. Florida and Nevada are the only other states to impose such restrictions.

Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Mercer, said the new law provides a needed update to Megan's Law, which requires sex offenders to register with the state after being released from prison.

"When Megan's Law was enacted, few could envision a day when a sex offender hiding behind a fake screen name would be a mouse-click away from new and unwitting victims," she said.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/27/internet.sex.offenders.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press

My thinking aloud at the keyboard in response to the article:

My first response is to say "If someone uses the Internet to commit a sex crime, then fuck 'em - they shouldn't be on the Internet.  Case closed."  Seems perfectly reasonable....

Then I remembered my friend Brian (not his real name), a gay guy who was in prison with me.  He had met a guy online in a chat room.  The guy told Brian he was 19 (Brian was in his 20s).  They hooked up and went on a couple of "dates" in real life.  Turns out the guy was 17 - though he never told Brian this.  Also turns out that the older brother or uncle of the "victim" was a police lieutenant/captain/something and extremely homophobic....  The police relative read the 17-year-old's e-mail, learned of an upcoming date with Brian, and caught them in a car together. The 17-year-old caved in, said they'd had sex, and (to make a long story short, though I elaborate in the comments) Brian went to prison for two years (and is currently on parole for five). I know this Brian personally - we've worked together, become acquainted with each other's families. Good guy, honest guy, not at all a threat.... And it seems unfair to ban a guy like Brian from the internet forever, when he only committed a "crime" because he was "duped" by his victim. But in the eyes of "the law," he "lured a potential victim through e-mail or other electronic messages."

I think this law sounds like a great idea in some ways. Yet the "one size fits all" and "forever" application of it (with apparently no allowance for redemption) troubles me.

I very much feel I need to read the entire text of the law before I come to any firm conclusions about it.  Let me see if I can find it online. If I can, I will post a link in the comments to this blog - in order to allow everyone who's interested to read it and draw their own conclusions as well.

Currently watching : The Blue and the Gray (The Complete Miniseries) Release date: 06 November, 2001