Mapping Offenders

Ever wonder if you live near a convicted sex offender? Probably not...unless you are a parent of a small child. Few things unsettle parents as much as the prospect of a sex offender living in their midst. But in the U.S. there is now a web site to tell those worried parents (I am not particularly concerned, as I think this problem is way overblown and highly unlikely to be brought to fruition).
It's mapsexoffenders.com. It was recently launched in cooperation with 34 of the 50 U.S. states to identify where sex offenders are living. Not only that, the service is free to use, and very easy. Yes, I tried this after reading of it and found there were no known sex offenders living in my neighborhood. In fact, the closest is several miles away. I typed in my address and zip code and immediately a map popped up showing my home marked with a blue balloon. Since there were no red balloons in my subdivision and moved out and saw two red balloons marking the home of two separate sex offenders.
After clicking on the red one, a picture and description of the sex offender appeared. It was simple for anyone to do, and I understand there are more such sites ready to go one line. But what is the value of this? Suppose one found a sex offender lived on the same street, or perhaps even next door?
What next? Well, other than assuring that no child is left alone with one of those predators, I do not know what other value there is in outing those creatures. In fact, might a parent over-react and hysterically over-protect the child, maybe even stigmatizing the child by the over reaction? But this identification tool is another way the Internet can be a more immediate and useful medium that older electronic and written medium predecessors. (Radio , TV, newspapers, magazines).
One question regarding that comes to mind. Will such informational sites be used properly and for public welfare, or will this be another technological innovation like cell phones, where the user is so utterly dense and rude the technological benefits sometimes become technological liabilities. And what about the privacy right of the sex offender (Yes, criminals, even scurrilous ones like sex offenders, do have rights). Is it fair, for instance to target that criminal , but not , say...drunk drivers.
Why not an internet mapping of the residences of drunk drivers. They cause far more injury and death than do sexual predators.? Any opinion about this?
Another person who would like to keep as low of a profile as those sex offenders is the unidentified 87 year old woman from Janesville , Wisconsin. No, no. That granny didn't molest anyone. But if people knew her identity she might be visited by a few house burglars.
Police tried to awaken the sleeping granny from her perch on a recliner in a Big Lot's store, after the store owner reported that Granny had been snoozing there for hours and was unresponsive when store employees tried to awaken her. After police arrived and had as much trouble getting granny up, they searched her purse in an attempt to identify her and found $60,000 in cash! That's right! Granny was loaded with six 100-bill stacks of $100 bills, After police checked to see if this granny was a drug dealing granny, they discovered the money was legitimately hers and returned it to her the next day. Haha But police said granny was a sourpuss and understood why she had so much money. "She kind of reminded me of a female Scrooge. She was very unappreciative, " said one of the officers.
Because Granny apparently has no current fixed address, a social worker has been assigned to her and the money placed in a bank account.