Topical Blog Due Thurs 1/26 @ midnight

I first looked myself up on the Iowa courts website. I knew that I had been pulled over for my tint being too dark, but I didn't realize it would be online. I wasn't shocked by the fact that my name was there. I looked up some other people that I knew just because I was curious and learned some things that I didn't know about them.

I looked up my small town on the sex offender website. I was actually surprised that there wasn't more than three. Another thing that I found interesting was that they all lived in the same area, the trailer park. I decided to look up a bigger town like Cedar Falls and was a little shocked by the large number. I looked for the youngest person on the list and was really surprised to find a nineteen year old.

This whole experience was kind of eye opening. When I have to find a town to live in one day I think I will take into consideration the sex offender website.

Although I my self am not from Iowa, I still found this assignment fairly enjoyable. I did try to look myself up regardless, just in case I got some sort of citation since I've been here that maybe I didnt remember (I have not Im proud to say) but I didn't come up. I am very surprised though at the number of Brandon Michael Robinson's there are in Iowa. It's kind of cool.

I went ahead and looked up some friends of mine that I knew I would be able to recognize their birthdays. It's pleasantly surprising when I do find them with citations. Sounds bad I know. It's just funny especially when I know they have citations.

I also looked up random people and random names of people in Iowa. I found that most people have at least one, especially the younger Iowans who are just now driving alone, driving citation. It's almost as if once you hit the driving age you dont go a couple more years without getting some kind of ticket and even more so with the red light cameras and speed cameras we have today. From doing these background checks you can see that most people are breaking the same kind of petty laws that dont do any real damage or harm to anyone, besides their wallets.

I was somewhat surprised by what I found, yet not. I have received two tickets, and they were both on there. The thing that surprised me was that the one I received when I was 16 is still on there. I also looked up some of my family members. I found it interesting that not only were there traffic violations listed, but also cases like divorce. It showed me that there are a variety of things that can be listed, not just minor incidences, or major ones either!

I used the sex offender registry when I first moved to my new house, so the results weren't very surprising. What was interesting was that my hometown is very small and there are 4 listed within one mile of my parents home. That was really crazy to realize! This showed me that it doesn't matter how large or small a town is, law breakers can be anywhere!

When I searched myself, I wasn’t surprised by anything about me because I already knew that I had a clean record, so there wasn’t anything to find out. There are, however, a number of other people with my name who have a long history of cases.

I also looked up one of my old classmates whom I know has gotten into some trouble in his time. He’s received various tickets for speeding in under 55 zones, along with various citations for things such as driving an unregistered vehicle and having too dark of tint, both of which he was dismissed for. He also received a ticket for smoking in a prohibited zone and was brought forth on charges of 3rd degree burglary, though that was dismissed as well.

Upon using the sex offender registry site, I was not surprised about the proximity of an offender to my house, because I was made aware of his presence upon my family moving to that house. I was surprised, however, to find that there are 24 pages worth of offenders who live within 10 miles from my dorm. I think this was so surprising because although I'm aware sex offenders coexist with us, it's definitely not something that I think about on a day-to-day basis.

It’s nice to know that I have these resources available to me should I ever need to use them. Looking at these sites also made me realize that many people break the law in one way or another and it's probably only a matter of time before they get caught. As for sex offenders, it's only natural that towns with smaller populations generally have fewer sex offenders, but they can really be anywhere.

I was fairly intrigued when I read the details and components of this assignment. I knew I had a couple of run ins with the law when I was younger, and I was interested to see what was on my record. The one thing that I knew for sure would be on my record was my charge I got last year for being underage and possession of alcohol. Sure enough it was their staring me in the face, almost as if it was mocking my character. The only other charge that was listed was one from my hometown in Des Moines: Urbandale Vs. Ross Curnow. I have to admit that my heart sunk momentarily due the fact that I thought there was some criminal charge that I had subconscioulsy blocked. Fortunately, it was just the speeding ticket I recieved only a day after I had gotten my drivers license. Looking at my own personal record certainly sparked my curiosity into what I could uncover about others criminal record.

Once I got the hang of the criminal report search I almost became obsessed with looking into all the people I know. I started with my family members just in case I needed a little backup leverage for holiday get togethers in the future. I was almost on the floor laughing looking at some of my cousins records. There were numerous traffic violations that included unlawful passing of a school bus, failure to make a complete stop, and excessive speed through a crosswalk area. Despite my familys apparent lack of concern to driving etiquette, I fortunately didn't discover any terrible criminal actions. In fact, based on the records I am actually the main devient in the family with a underage possession of alcohol charge.

I also had time look into the sex offender registry. Fortunately, there were only two offenders within a two mile radius of the house that I grew up in. However, looking at my friend address who lives in Dubuque did not prove as favorable. There were seven listed offenders within a five mile radius of his street. After looking through both the criminal records files and the sex offender registry I definitely have a broader understanding of the presence of crime in my life. Although most people may appear perfect on the outside, everyone probably has some criminal charge on their record, most likely traffic related. Additionally, observing how common the occurence of sex offenders are in even the most family oriented neighborhoods broadened my perception on the composition of societies urban setting. I really enjoyed digging deep into these various legal databases to uncover a more realistic idea of how the legal system interacts with its citizens.

I enjoyed browsing the Iowa courts website. I wasn’t aware this information was online and available to the public for free. It was an eye-opening experience for me and I’m likely to use this website in the future if I think I need to. I searched my name, but unsurprisingly nothing came up. I searched a few friends and relatives, but didn’t find anything too crazy. Most things I found were just traffic violations.

I was more surprised by the things I saw on the sex offender website. There are a lot more registered sex offenders in my small town and in Cedar Falls than I had thought. There were several sex offenders just in a mile radius of my apartment. At first I was shocked, but then I remembered the circumstances of the example you talked about in class and figured there could be a lot more situations similar to that. I looked at some of the details of the cases and a lot of people were on the website for something they did when they were 18 or 19, or they were on there for indecent exposure. I think it’s important not to judge somebody for their crimes unless you know all the information and the circumstances surrounding the incident.

I think it’s great that this information is available to the public, as long as we use it responsibly and don’t abuse these privileges.

When I looked at the Iowa courts online I was not surprised to find absolutely nothing about myself. I am from Illinois and have not gotten into any trouble in the state of Iowa...yet. I attempted to go to the Illinois case search but it proved to be a bit more difficult and stressful than Iowa was. I did eventually find my speeding ticket and no proof of license fine, both of which are supposedly off my record. The tickets I received unrelated to traffic violations when I was a minor are not on there which did surprise me a bit but not too much.

Looking at the Iowa sex offenders I was shocked to see how many live in such a close proximity to UNI, as well as other school zones. I clicked on some people to get a bit more insight to their crimes and found myself disgusted with them. The ones that seemed like they just had sex with an underage girlfriend or boyfriend I almost felt bad for them. I noticed that the greater majority on the list were men which is not surprising to me. I also noticed it seems as though the sex offenders tend to live close to each other as if in "perverted smurf communities".

First, I looked up my record on Iowa courts. I wasn’t surprised to find anything I did. However, I was surprised not to find a ticket I had received in Nebraska. Obviously, it makes perfect sense why it isn’t on this record under the Iowa courts; however, this realization has brought up a great point. When I began to search and my search on my friends, I expected to see everything they had bee charged with and didn’t consider the fact that other things are hiding in other states. It makes me leery to know what else people have committed that isn’t available through this search.
Next, I went to the sex offender registry. I have done this in the past for other classes, or just on my own time, so some of it was not a surprise. I live in a new development relatively out in the country, so I expected to find many registered offenders. However, I only found a few. The ones I did find were not in my development and actually a good distance from my house. I was also very surprised to find that not very many offenders live in my city at all. I was expecting a large number due to being a large city.
I learned that their are many people with traffic violations, especially speeding. When I got my first speeding ticket, I felt awful because it would be on my record and various other things. After looking through records, I am reassured that it is almost the norm to have a driving violation. It also reminded me to keep an open mind about tickets because even though my tickets are very simple, I wish I could explain my case on a few of them.

When I looked myself up on Iowa Courts, I was not shocked to find my one ticket I have received for speeding. I have been pulled over and given warnings and I was worried maybe those would also be on the online courts website because they still wrote up some sort of citation, although it was only a warning. The warnings were not a big deal, but I didn't want it to look like more if I did not receive actual tickets for the matters. I was happy to see that they do not go on my record.

I did look up others I know and found some things I did not know about them (not like I should), but they were all pretty similar in nature. Many people have been pulled over for speeding. I am sure many of those tickets have been from the cameras and not from actual police officers anymore which is sad. I understand the state needs money, but I feel they are taking the lazy route instead of doing it themselves.

The Iowa Sex Offender Registry made me very angry. I looked up my hometown address and found out a sex offender lived a street away from me. I had no idea there was a sex offender living near me. It made me very scared because my younger brothers play outside and ride their bikes around the neighborhood and they have probably ridden by that man's house numerous times. The man could have even talked to them before acting nice and it scared me. I also saw a sex offender lived a street away from the school my brothers and I attended. I thought every sex offender had restrictions on how far away from a school he or she could live, but apparently not. This made me angry. My brothers and I used to walk home from school and to know a man lived right next to the school and we have probably walked past it made me sick. I also looked up my address here in Cedar Falls and found out I live near sex offenders as well. My roommates and I go on walks a lot, especially in the summer and I found out we have probably walked by numerous sex offender's houses was eye opening. We would sometimes go on late night walks, not even thinking about the fact we could possibly live near and walk by a sex offender's home who may have psychological disorders. What irritated me the most was how none of the sex offenders in my neighborhood had restrictions on where they lived. There was a 36 year old man who had many charges against him such as assault with intent to commit sexual abuse 2 counts, lascivious act solicit, indecent contact with a child, and another charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. How could he not have limitations on where he lived?

This assignment made me realize I am not always in a 'safe' environment. I have always taken for granted how safe I have felt living in Cedar Falls when in reality, anything could happen to me anywhere I live. Not everyone is in the right state of mind and anything could happen at any time and I need to keep that in mind. I am also now going to take that into consideration before I move to a certain town or to where I am going to raise my children. I also learned many people with charges against them on the Iowa Courts website is mainly for speeding charges or other laws that the majority of the population has broken at least once.

I searched my name in both Illinois and Iowa for courts because I'm from Illinois. I had nothing show up for my name in Illinois. However, I did for Iowa. I have a public intoxication and a minor in possession charge on my record in Iowa. Since my phone was destroyed from a creek when I was trying to get away from the cops I could call anyone to get picked up after they wrote me a public intoxication ticket so I had to stay in jail over night until I was let go after court in the morning. The jail had no long distance calling on their phones so I couldn't call anyone. If I was able to get a ride I wouldn't have had to gone to court and I wouldn't have had to plead guilty. I could have just paid the ticket. On the website it says I pleaded guilty. My minor in possession charge says the clerk handled the fine instead of me being guilty. By looking at my information on the court website if a future employer were to look at the information by seeing GUILTY under the description would probably negatively effect my chances of getting the job. Therefore, I wish Iowa police stations would have long distance out going calls!!!

I searched for sex offenders in both Iowa and Illinois and couldn't believe how many of the sex offenders flea from where their addresses were posted. There were many that were wanted in Iowa and it's kind of creepy to know that we don't know where they are living. They could be anywhere. I looked up sex offenders in chicago where my dad lives and found 7 that live near by. My sister is going to start walking to and from school soon and it kind of worries me to know that there are that many in the area. Also that one of them is MIA and moved with out notifying the authorities.

Some of the laws that were broken are not that bad or are perceived as that bad. Like window tint, speeding, or rolling a stop sign. People know that doing those things are illegal but do them anyways. Some of the crimes I saw were pretty gross. For instance, the description of the sexual assault charges. Most of the people on the sex offender list looked very weird but there were a few who looked like everyday people who you would never expect would do something like that. But I'm glad they caught those sick peole and I hope they can monitor them properly so they don't go MIA and commit more disgusting acts.

I have checked my background before a long time ago. I knew there was things on it from my childhood with my mom, but i was surprized on what I found. I found out that all that stuff was not on there, but there were things on there that I didnt know were on there. For example I didnt know that my incidents with covenat hospital were on my record, but they are there for everybody to see. I looked on the sex offender registry and I found out that one of the people i graduated high school with is a sex offender and I didnt know. I also dont know what he did to get on this registry as well. I was so shocked to find someone from the high school class because we all grew up in a small town, everybody knew everybody. With all this information I have found that everybody can be a law breaker because we all break the law from one time to another in some way. I was surprized that I had anything on my record as to my friend and neighbor was on the sex registry. It just show that it can happen to anybody.

This was a very interesting activity to do. I never knew you could look up all of this criminal and civil information online. It makes me feel a little on edge to see that this type of information is so easily available. Don't take that the wrong way I just have one petty violation on my record now but it makes me not want to do anything wrong in the future. Future employers can see this information and having a laundry list of violations can hurt you. None the less I found it kind of entertaining to look at a lot of the different people I know and what records they had if they had any at all. Some of the people that never got into trouble in high school did once they got into college. What I notice in doing this assignment was that most of the law breakers were cited for petty things such as speeding, parking or seat belt violations. This whole assignment just kind of brought to reality of what law enforcement is picking people up for.

It was also interesting looking up the sex offender list. I sort of take for granted the people I see of a dailiy basis. I work at a grocery store where I see a lot of people. There were a few of the people on the list that I noticed I have seen before at the store. It was just kind of stunning some of the things I found out about these people. There was one who made inappropriate contact with a 10 to 13 year old. Thats messed up! I'm not going to be able to look at him the same when I see him next. One trend that really stuck out was that an overwhelming amount of the people on the list were men. There were like 2 women of the 50 or 60 that I saw on the list I looked at. Overall I found this activity informing and a little shocking.

I found both of these websites very interested. Before looking at the criminal information on the first website, I knew that there would be at least one thing on there. A couple of years ago I was in a car accident and I got a ticket for it. So, I wasn't surprised that I saw that. That one thing was the only thing on there because I have never gotten pulled over for a speeding ticket. Because my record was not that interesting, I looked up my family. I couldn't find anything on my mom, but there were quite a few for my dad. He would never wear his seat belt and got pulled over for it a few times. Also, he got caught speeding a few times too. It was hard to tell on the website just what everything was for. The language that was used was confusing. It's scary to know that anyone can access this information...not that I have anything to hide...but employers look for these kinds of things. If they see that you have a "record", that could possibly hurt your chances of getting a job, even when it is something as simple as a speeding ticket.

I have never thought to look at the registered sex offender list. There are 5 of them located within a mile of where I live in Cedar Falls. That is scary. Even though there are different reasons for being on the sex offender list, it is still scary to think about because you don't know what they did to get on there. I searched my hometown address and there were 3 people listed within 3 miles. There was one man I knew and who is still to this day really good friends with my family. I grew up around and still see him a lot. My family and I have even gone to the last three Iowa football bowl games with him. It makes me so upset that he is on that list. There is a long story behind it, but basically, he niece is a brat and wanted him to buy her something really expensive and he said no. After he told her no, she told her parents that he touched her or something to that extent. There is no way that that was true. My dad has known him for years and years, and if he thought it was true, he would not let me and my sister around him. It frustrates me so much! It is stupid that people can do absolutely nothing wrong, but because of someone else statement or accusations, they ruin the other person's life. The man that I know who is on the registered sex offenders list is so nice and he would never do anything like that.

Before looking through this website I knew I wasn't going to find anything about myself being that I'm from Wisconsin and I've also never gotten a ticket of any kind (knock on wood). I thought it would be interesting though to look up my friends to see what kind of trouble they've gotten into and how much as well. I knew one of my friends was going to have a lot of tickets but it blew my mind to see how many were actually on the computer that you can see. It's crazy to think that you can look this stuff up online. It kind of makes you wonder that since this information is so accessible, you wonder if employers look at this stuff and if they see that you have all these tickets even if they are just traffic tickets they might think twice about hiring you.
I also typed in my address here at school on the sex offender website and found out that at least three people on the sex offender registry lived within a one mile radius of me, which is really scary to think. I also looked up the convictions of all three and found out that all three were sexual abuse. It also shows whether or not they have living restrictions or work restrictions and also when the year they committed the crime. I think it's important for this kind of information to be accessible on the computer mostly for safety reasons because if you are trying to raise a family and you find out that there are ten registered sex offenders living in the neighborhood you want to live you might rethink living there.
For the most part I thought the information regarding Iowa State Court Cases and the sex offender registry was a little alarming and very interesting to look through.

I have actually used this website before more for fun than anything serious. I find it shocking that that post so much information that they do about what someone was charged with or even goes into if they have payed their fines. I feel that on some of these things they should keep them private, but things like sexual offenders should definently be on there.

Now I personally would want to know who the sexual offenders are in my community. I would want to know that for reasons for protecting my family or friends from possible offenders. on the other handI feel like they go to far in some ways because some of these people have served there time might be reabilitated. for that reason it in a way labels them and allows them to live a life of always having to be judged. I dont know how they would change it but I think its a good thing they have to register for the site but they put to much info up.

I had mixed reactions to the Iowa court records search and at my glance through the Iowa sex offender registry. I started my search with the Iowa court records search. I typed my own name in first. I was a little surprised at the listings of tickets that I received in high school – I had forgotten about them. And I remember how little I like the local cops in my home town! After I typed in my own name I started looking into my close friends and family. I also entered in the name of my friend’s fiancé. I quickly realized that there is more than one person with that name! Otherwise, I was looking an awkward/difficult conversation with my friend. I also searched Ashton Kutcher (Christopher Ashton Kutcher) and found out that he does not like wearing seatbelts or hunting regulations. It was a little discerning to realize how easy it is to find out such things. It also makes me wonder about those who are under 18. Are they still listed? Or how about those who are tried as adults?
Then I started looking through the Iowa sex offender registry and was just plain freaked out. It makes me feel uncomfortable seeing their pictures. They will probably be showing up in my nightmares. That in combination with reading the Jeffry Dahmer case and I’ll be losing a lot of sleep. I kept in mind our discussion in class about the misunderstanding of sorts. When the 18 ½ years old was accused of taking advantage of a 17 ½ year-old. But, I cannot simply forget all of the crime shows I have watched (i.e. NCSI, CSI, Law and Order SVU, Criminal Minds etc.) They exaggerate and make us assume we will all be murdered if something suspicious happens.
This tells me that laws are pretty strict and any kind of violation (even parking tickets or failure to yield) are noted and kept track of. It gives me a better understanding and appreciation of the definition of discretion that we discussed in class. As for my view of law breakers this research makes me think that just about anyone could be listed on these sites. It also reminds me of yet another items we discussed in class – we hugely overestimate the amount of crime is around us. This has been very interesting to say the least!

When I looked myself up I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t find, because up to this point, and hopefully until I get too old to drive, I’ve been a pretty decent person who tries to obey the laws, big emphasis on tries. But when I looked up people I knew, it made me have some good laughs because a lot of their crimes against the law were dealing with tickets, but a few dealt with jail time when they were caught for being underage with alcohol beverages. Which I already knew about, but still wanted to look it up to see if it was put on their records. It did surprise me how many tickets a person can have on their record, a few of my cousins I looked up seemed to run into the law mostly dealing with speeding tickets.

When I visited the sex offender’s webpage, I scrolled down the page and saw the creepy pictures of people. I’ve never been a big fan of seeing complete strangers faces, especially ones who are listed under offenders around the cedar valley. I use to live by a few sex offender’s growing up, and with the information from class we discussed, I know some who are listed as sex offender’s aren’t necessarily bad, but the ones I lived by were definitely more on the creeper side and definitely did some inappropriate stuff to get on that list. I knew a guy and he seemed normal, but turned out to be a complete pervert towards younger kids. Seeing these random photos of the sex offenders not just in the cedar valley, but all over, is a little unsettling.

I’m glad that these sites are available to go to on the go, at least for the most part, because you never know when looking someone up will come in handy. This definitely does open your mind up to the crime that’s around you, but living next to Waterloo all my life, which honestly hasn’t been bad at all, you know there has to be some sort of crime whether it be hidden or found, going on. What this tells me about laws is that they are still intact and enforced where the police are concerned to hand out tickets to those who love to push on the gas pedal a little more freely then others. But we really shouldn’t judge the person whose accused of committing the crime, unless we have the full facts, or close to because who knows they could be one of the innocent ones. Overall, though I think as long as we use these sites for good intentions and don’t over abuse our rights, then I’m happy to have them around to help determine which areas are safer to live at or near.