Few stories truly capture the insanity of sex offender registry laws than that of Charles Mader of Albuquerque, who became the subject of a manhunt by Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies when he moved from his current residence without satisfying his registration obligation. 

From KOB :

Charles Mader listed his address as a dumpster at 8th and Central in Albuquerque. As a convicted sex offender he must give the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department a physical address where he stays, so detectives can keep track of him.

Mader lists the dumpster because he is homeless, but BCSO detectives say Mader moved from the dumpster and didn’t report the move within ten days. That violates his sex offender registration requirements.

Mader didn’t end up on the sex offender registry for some innocuous conduct; he was convicted of trying to rape a six year old boy.  But this isn’t a matter of being sympathetic toward him.  Rather, it’s a product of creating laws that circumvent criminal law process by facile language (it’s civil, not criminal, so it doesn’t count) that are destined to produce outcomes that make it essentially impossible to comply.

It’s unclear why Mader moved from the dumpster.  Maybe he didn’t like what was happening to the neighborhood.  Maybe the business that owned the dumpster decided it no longer wanted a tenant.  But the idea that someone could live in a dumpster, A Dumpster, and use that as a registered address is absurd. 

How, exactly, he satisfied his registration requirement by listing the address of a dumpster is unclear.  Did his mail go to “Dumpster behind 1245 Main Street?”  Was this what legislatures intended in their zeal to protect the public?  Does the registration of a man living in dumpster protect anyone?

What can’t be forgotten is that no matter what Mader did to put himself in this position, he was arrested, convicted and sentenced for his crime.  He received the punishment that society has determined is appropriate to impose.  And then, when it’s all over and his “debt” is paid to society, he gets the right to live out his life in a dumpster, provided he registers with the local police.

On Monday, five deputies hunted for Mader and found him at a homeless facility north of downtown. Detectives on the scene were frustrated with Mader saying they have told him over and over again to register.

Mader told us on scene he wasn’t familiar with some of his registration rules.

Detective Pat Burke, who helped arrest Mader, says he has explained the rules to Mader at least a dozen times.

There’s a good chance that there’s something very wrong with Mader on all levels.  Is he intellectually challenged?  Is he psychologically impaired?  Is he just one really sick guy?  He could well be, and it would hardly come as a surprise to anyone in the system.  So many defendants are truly, sadly, very sick guys.  Even convicted sex offenders don’t ordinarily end up living in dumpsters unless there are other problems as well.  Under bridges, yes, but not dumpster.

Sheriff’s officials say Mader now could face up to 3 years in jail because this is his third offense for failing to register.

In a bad way, this may well be the best Mader has available, three squares and a bed for an extended period of time.  Of course, it’s an expensive proposition, since prison isn’t cheap, and it may not be the way he would choose to live.  And the chances of any problems he might have, psychologically and intellectually, being addressed are nil.  This is warehousing.  He was already warehoused, and that didn’t do much to turn him out on the street better than he went in.

The stories of people who have no business being on a sex offender registry, such as the 18 year old convicted for sex with his 16 year old girlfriend, or the guy urinating outside the bar, present on level of absurdity.  This guy, Mader, presents an entirely different level.  If the issue is that he should be sentenced to life imprisonment because the underlying offense involved molestation of a six year old, an outcome I find wrong but your mileage may differ, then it should be addressed at sentence.

Here, we have just another examples of the permanent underclass created by ill-conceived laws that are embraced without the slightest thought of unintended consequences and the new problems they cause.  Even assuming the worst, did Mader’s being duly registered in his dumpster home make any child safer?

Will anyone be better off three years from now when Mader goes in search of a new dumpster to call home?

H/T Doug Berman