New La. law raises ethical question

For once, my old home state of Louisiana is about to be on the cutting edge of an issue. Who knew?
   In July, a new law will take effect that will require all registered sex offenders in the state to indicate their status on Facebook and other forms of social media. While this might sound draconian and unfair to civil libertarians, I believe the state is doing exactly the right thing to protect its children.
   This isn't an easy question to answer, whether sex offenders should be required to identify themselves on social media. A very strong argument could be made that the law is unconstitutional because it amounts to double jeopardy. Under this argument, once a sex offender pays his debt to society, he should be free to carry on with his life, not be continually penalized because of one past mistake. Under most circumstances, I would find myself firmly in this camp. I do believe criminals can be successfully rehabilitated, and I believe once most criminals are out of prison, they are entitled to a second chance to become a productive member of society. Not this time.
   The problem with sex offenders is that they don't get better. Sex crimes -- rape and pedophilia -- aren't like other crimes. They aren't motivated by financial gain. They aren't crimes of passion. Sex crimes are cold and calculating. They are motivated by one thing -- power. Pedophiles especially are mentally ill. Simply locking them away isn't enough. Without the proper intervention and intensive therapy, they are almost guaranteed to re-offend upon their release. Numerous studies have proven it.
   Requiring registered sex offenders to reveal themselves on social media might sound like unfair double jeopardy. It might seem like we're preventing the offender from being able to move forward with his life. But the fact is, lots of kids use Facebook every day (despite a prohibition against minors having accounts). Today's busy parents don't always have time to closely monitor their kids' online activity. So anything the state can do to make that important job easier is welcome.