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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Sex offender registry alternative
Caleb Spinner, NCC News: Thanks, Vinaya and Kay. In 2012, Ryan Pontello assaulted a three-year-old girl, earning him a place on New York’s Sex Offender Registry. But as a Level 1 offender, Pontello’s information was not shared with the public, meaning Central New York was caught off guard when police say he assaulted a five-year-old girl last week. Convicted sex offender Ryan Pontello’s recent arrest has revealed a scary truth.
David Prescott, mental health practitioner: Registration and notification on their own just don’t seem to put much of a dent into risk. They don’t seem to deter offending, and they don’t seem to prevent offending.
Spinner: Sexual violence educator David Prescott has been treating trauma victims for more than 40 years, and has written 25 books on the subject. He says the best way to prevent re-offenses is for people to look out for each other.
Prescott: We as neighborhoods and as communities and societies don’t do a good enough job of saying, “You know what? There’s people out there with bad intent. There’s people out there who might be just a flip of the switch away from committing a really serious crime.”
Spinner: Social cooperation can take many forms. Prescott says this awareness can be as simple as talking to people around you.
Prescott: We need to do better, in terms of, neighborhood watch activities, to talk about what kinds of things concern us. I can point to study after study, finding that actually, when you get people into groups talking about what’s acceptable, that that actually has a lot more impact.
Spinner: In Syracuse, Vera House provides support to victims of domestic and sexual abuse. Precott says resources like this are all over, but the drive to use them is in short supply.
Prescott: Violence, including sexual violence, is preventable. We have the knowledge, we need the will.
Spinner: For more information on Vera House, visit our website: NCCNewsOnline.com. In studio, Caleb Spinner, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – The arrest of a convicted sex offender in Central New York last week is raising concerns about the effectiveness of the state’s sex offender registry.
Ryan Pontello was charged in 2012 after police say he assaulted a 3-year-old girl, which placed him on New York State’s Sex Offender Registry. But as a Level 1 offender (the category deemed least likely to re-offend), Pontello’s identity and whereabouts were not sent out to the public.
That changed last week when police arrested him again, this time for allegedly assaulting a 5-year-old girl.
David Prescott, director of the continuing education center for the Safer Society Foundation, has spent more than four decades treating sexual violence victims and researching prevention. Prescott said situations like Pontello’s recent arrest expose a flaw in the current system.
“Registration and notification on their own just don’t seem to put much of a dent into risk,” Prescott said. “They don’t seem to deter offending, and they don’t seem to prevent offending.”
Prescott has written than 25 books on sexual abuse trauma. The long-time mental health practitioner believes real power to prevent harm lies with ordinary people, whom have a greater sense of responsibility to one another.
“We as neighborhoods and as communities and societies don’t do a good enough job of saying, ‘You know what? There’s people out there with bad intent. There’s people out there who might be just a flip of the switch away from committing a really serious crime,’” Prescott said.
That kind of awareness starts with simple conversations and collective attention, according to Prescott. It doesn’t have to involve confrontation, just communication.
“We need to do better in terms of neighborhood watch activities, to talk about what kinds of things concern us,” Prescott said. “I can point to study after study, finding that actually, when you get people into groups talking about what’s acceptable, that that actually has a lot more impact.”
In Syracuse, organizations like Vera House offer support and shelter to survivors of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Resources like these are widespread across the country, but Prescott believes there needs to be a willingness to use them that often falls short.
“Violence, including sexual violence, is preventable,” Prescott said. “We have the knowledge. We need the will.”