<div dir="ltr">I think most of us here have had the experience of being somewhat an outsider, which results in some sympathy toward the individual who's application would be rejected.<div><br></div><div>That said, while it may suck to be someone trying to live down a conviction like that and having a hard time getting jobs or entry into hackerspaces,<i> it probably sucks a lot more to be a victim of a sexual assault</i>. If I were to make a list of the different kinds of vulnerable populations that I would like my space to be a haven for, I think I'd rank "young women with a desire to learn technical skills" far above "sex offender who may or may not be reformed" in terms of my priorities, especially knowing that I can't support both at the same time.</div><div><br></div><div>Our society still has a lot of mismatched expectations for when a particular individual is reformed. In my experience, we seem to underestimate the reforming capacities of young black men with drug offenses (who are typically given maximum sentences) and white male sex offenders, who are often recommended for early release, but have very high rates of re-offending.</div><div><br></div><div>I do support rehabilitation and reintegration, but with my space's limited resources, I'm going to put others at a much higher priority.</div><div><br></div><div>-Sam</div><div><div><br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 8:01 AM, Randall Arnold <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:randall.arnold@texrat.net" target="_blank">randall.arnold@texrat.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
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<p>The point's been made though: hackerspaces are not equipped to solve problems of mental illness. Who among the leadership is going to judge whether or not the offender will repeat, and accept the liability? How do you tell if he's "still a creeper"? Is the determining factor for "kicking his ass out" another molestation, this time in your hackerspace?</p>
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<p>Sorry for risking What If recursion.</p>
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<p>Anyway, like Matt said, there are mistakes and then there are 'mistakes'. One has to draw a line somewhere, and I go with the thread consensus on this one.</p>
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<p>Randy</p>
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On February 18, 2015 at 1:48 AM Derek H <<a href="mailto:dh405okc@gmail.com" target="_blank">dh405okc@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
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I'm really happy for you and I. We're lucky, Matt. We aren't afflicted with a mental illness that causes inappropriate sexual attraction to those who are incapable of forming consent. That's fantastic for us, but I recognize that some are not as lucky as I in that matter. Perhaps, Matt, the only reason you haven't molested a child is because you're not mentally ill in that particular way? None of us can know for certain how we would behave if we were in someone else's shoes.
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<br>At any rate, my only point is that the guy may well have gotten his life together and his mental state under control. As we are all just collections of flaws in a roughly bipedal shape, maybe we can be human even to those who have screwed up?
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<br>That said, if he's still a creeper, kick his ass out. Nobody has time for that kind of disruption and risk.
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