Manhattan's Registered Sex Offender Map
Oh look! Family Watchdog lets you enter an address and pull up a map dotted with the home and work locations of various types of sex offenders. Just so you know, you can imagine them whispering. Some patterns emerge: the cluster of bright red squares uptown is where many of the sexual offenders against children live. That sends an uncomfortable message—that many of the sex crimes against kids occur in the poorer areas above 96th Street. A map of Manhattan's ghettos—congratulations! But what does the map do, other than make people hysterical? It certainly isn't going to rescue anybody from sex crimes. (The key for the other types of sex crimes follows.)