I just got a call from the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry. 7:20am seems a little early for them to be calling, but I suppose they wanted to catch us at home. They wanted to let me know that a sex offender had moved into my zip code.

I’m somewhat torn by this. On the one hand I spend my days helping people get their records cleared, which I consider to be good and honorable work. On the other, we won’t take sex offenders as customers. Nor will we take anybody who has committed a crime involving a minor. Even in states where record relief is an option for folks with these kinds of crimes. (If, indeed, that’s anywhere. I’m not sure.)

But calling all your neighbors on the day that you move in, and telling them that you’re a sex offender, seems like the perfect way to make someone alienated from the moment they arrive. They’re unlikely to have any friends, or any opportunities to have a normal life.

On the other hand (I think I ran out of hands a while back) I understand the desire to be aware of dangers, so that you can protect your kids – the assumption being that when someone does something like this once, they’re probably going to do it again, whereas if someone committed securities fraud, and then moves into your neighborhood, the worst they can do is help you find tax loopholes.

I don’t know what I would do if one of these notifications was for someone moving in next door. I honestly don’t know.