Should Teachers Be Flagged As Sex Offenders Before Conviction?
Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-District 34, has proposed legislation that would identify and flag teachers that have been accused and/or charged with sexual or violent crimes. The bill is designed to protect administrations that may hire a teacher being investigated for sex crimes without their knowledge.
But doesn’t this throw away the rights of the accused? Obviously, no one convicted of such crimes should be able to work in the school system. But making accusations that result in charges is not that difficult in today’s world, even if the accusations are false and baseless. Also, what violent crimes are we talking about?
The idea behind the bill is noble, and one look at Senetor Jacobss website will show you that she is a strong advocate for Jessica’s Law and strong sex offender laws. But is this bill a little too aggressive?
More can be read at The Examiner.
Okay- I’ll bite as a proponent of civil liberties but with a touch of my own distaste. Let’s be up front- sex offenders certainly should not be working in the school system. What Senator Jacobs is overlooking in this case goes beyond simple rights of the accused. The Harford County School board already has procedures in place to deal with any misconduct percieved or proven. this method is placing the accused individual on administrative leave while an investigation is pursued by the school board. These investigations, if based in suspicion of criminal wrongdoing are conducted in coordination with the criminal investigation.
This leads me to my next point. the issue here is the result of the criminal investigation and due process in the courts- the fact that a person is employed in a high risk arena, considering the crime, is something that must be dealt with by their management. Let’s not forget that such an accusation is usually a death sentence for the teacher regardless of outcome.
While I believe that the Senator’s intentions are noble this smacks of much sound and fury resulting in nothing. The procedures have been in places for decades to deal with individuals under criminal investigation while under the employ of Harford County Public Schools. If a law were to be passed it should be to standardize these procedures into the private school arena as well. Which also would face legal challenge due to the nature of public vs. private funded schoooling.
In either case what Sen jacobs suggest would not stand up to Judicial review. While the crime is heinous and without, in my view, any method to repay society, the rights of the accused are just that- rights. They are guaranteed at the most basic of federal levels and even in the current tone of federalist approaches to instituting part and parcel legislation by state- we are governed under basic national rules. As we are reminded so frequently, we are a nation of law and to ensure equality we must observe them not alter the ones we find distasteful.