Online vigilante site like Absolute Zero United and affiliates are dangerous in more ways than one. In recent months there has been an explosion of vigilante violence against Former Offenders. The most recent high-profile case of "Angry Tammy" (Tammy Lee Gibson of Puyallup, Washington) shows us how depraved our society has become.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008020283_assault27m.html
"While police and prosecutors have condemned Gibson's actions, the attack has made her a hero among bloggers and commentators on Internet message boards. When the attack made the news, many in the blogosphere lauded her for protecting her daughter."
That is just sick. People are applauding vigilante violence. Surprisingly, AZU has been largely silent about this while dealing with some internal strife and whining about how SCOTUS upheld the US Constitution in a sex crime case; however, as recent experience has shown us, Absolute Zero United is notorious for sticking up for people who use vigilante violence (see http://absolutezerounites.blogspot.com/2008/05/azu-encourages-vigilantism-so-does.html).
"He's gonna do it again," she told people. "Are you OK with that?"
When people didn't seem panicked, she said, she became upset.
"I was just thinking to myself, 'Man, I'm not gonna stop,' " she said.
So her hue and cry didn't alarm the neighbors. Is it possible that her neighbors didn't think it necessary to beat the guy with a baseball bat?
While some have criticized Gibson's arrest, prosecutors said citizens should not take the law into their own hands regardless of the circumstances.
"Obviously, the purpose of notifying neighborhoods of sex offenders moving in is not so they can be targeted for persecution, but to put them [neighbors] on notice," said Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor Phil Sorensen. "This is not the intended result of notifying a neighborhood."
And yet, Crazy Tammy did it anyways. It makes a strong case for abolishing public registries.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattle911/archives/142080.asp
Although the bail bonds company isn't releasing the source of the money, a "Free Tammy" movement to raise money for Gibson's bail was organized after she was charged with second-degree assault and a felony harassment on June 20.
I'd've paid to keep her incarcerated myself. By the way, Second Degree Assault is a Class B felony (up to 10 years and a $10,000 fine) , and Felony Harassment is a Class C Felony (up to 5 years and a $5,000 fine). See: http://www.societyofcounsel.org/crime_classifications.htm for Washington sentening guidelines. By thew way, Washington has a three-strikes and your out law; Gibson has a decades long rap sheet which includes ASSAULT and DRUG charges. I hope she gets a mandatory life sentence.
http://cf.kirotv.com/sea/sh/con_surveycontest_display/displaySurveyResults.cfm?contentid=16665640&sitekey=SEA&questionum=1&answer1=2
In a poll conducted by KIRO-TV in Washington state, as of this writing, 496 voters (42%) call crazy Tammy a "hero," while 584 (49%) call her a "criminal." Forty two percent of the public commend this crazy bitch!
E-advocate found over 110 murders of Former Offenders as of September 2007 (http://sexoffenderresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/%28.Murdered%20RSOs%20in%20the%20U.S.). This doesn't include incidents like Crazy Tammy beating a Fomer Offender with a ball bat. But the prevailing theme is society is obsessed with revenge rather than rehabilitation, and vengeance rather than justice. This is why places like Absolute Zero United continue to exist. I always believed Absolute Zero United to be the extreme form of terrorism, but they are merely a gauge of how depraved our society has become.