I am writing to you as a survivor, a mother, and someone who has lived with the lifelong consequences of childhood sexual abuse.

 

I am begging you to reconsider the current law that allows certain sex offenders who were sentenced before 2011 to eventually be removed from the sex offender registry. I do not believe that the passage of time should erase the record of a serious sexual offense, especially when the person who committed that offense can still pose a potential threat to others.

 

I was sexually molested when I was only seven years old. What happened to me did not disappear when I got older, and it did not disappear because years passed. The pain, fear, and lasting impact of what happened to me cannot simply be erased. If my pain does not have an expiration date, neither should the record of the person who caused it.

 

I am especially afraid for children and women who may unknowingly live next door to, work with, or come into contact with someone who has been convicted of a serious sexual offense. People deserve the ability to make informed decisions about their own safety and the safety of their children. When an offender is removed from the registry, families can lose that information and may never know who is living in their community.

 

I also personally feel unsafe knowing that I cannot easily know where the offender who was convicted in Kalamazoo County on first-degree CSC charges is located. I should not have to live with that uncertainty. As a survivor, knowing that information is available is not about revenge—it is about safety, awareness, and having some sense of control over something that once left me completely powerless.

 

I understand that laws have to balance many considerations, but I am asking you to listen to survivors and consider the lifelong consequences of these crimes. A conviction for a serious sexual offense should not simply disappear from public awareness because it occurred before a particular date.

 

Please fight to change this law. Please consider the children who deserve protection, the women who deserve to feel safe in their communities, and the survivors who carry the consequences of these crimes for the rest of their lives.

 

My childhood was taken from me at seven years old. Time did not erase what happened, and removing information from the registry will not erase it either.

 

Please help make sure the law does not give an expiration date to accountability.

 

Thank you for taking the time to hear my story and, I hope, to stand up for survivors and the safety of our communities.

 

Sincerely,

Amanda