Your signature is very important because it will help build momentum to reform sex offender laws, reforms that are desperately needed. We are focusing our efforts on gaining the support, on the one hand, of professionals like psychologists and psychiatrists, lawyers and social workers, university professors and doctors, especially those who work with sex offenders and young people. We believe the leadership of people in these areas is essential to generating real change on these issues. We also seek the signatures of concerned citizens everywhere since we think this issue impacts the rights of everyone. We have made a conscious decision not to seek out the signatures of sex offenders. The bitter irony of excluding those we seek to include in society is not lost on us, and we have made this decision regretfully. But at this point, we feel we must focus on building critical awareness among non-sex-offenders. We do want the friends and family of those effected by sex-offender policy to sign up, and we invite sex-offenders to sign up to our non-signatory email list and participate in other ways.

Some people have indicated that signing this statement would be risky for their career, and you may feel that way as well. You may be thinking that while you agree with the Reform Sex Offender Laws Now! statement, actually signing the document is a little scary. We believe that this fear is itself all the more reason to sign, because it indicates how bad things have gotten. When educated professionals cannot speak out, free speech is at stake. The regime of sex offender law is something we all need to be talking critically about. The small risk you take will make the way safer for the next signatory, and together we will be able to ensure the debate takes place. See below for ways you can still be involved even if you do not want to sign the statement at this time.

Having decided to sign the statement, here's the sort of information we need. First, give us your real name, and a short descriptive phrase which indicates your professional attributes, such as teacher and writer. These will appear on the website under the statement as the signature. You may also give us more specific information, such as director of such-and-such institution, with a comment on whether we can make this information public also. Second, we will need an email address, telephone number, and any supplementary information which will help us confirm your identity and your self-description. This information will not be made public. All our signatories must be real people, with real connections to actual communities and professions. For that reason we will verify the identity of every signatory to ensure the statement is not signed pseudoanonymously. We will keep in touch with you via monthly email digests and coordinate future discussion forums and conferences.

There are a few ways of sending us this information. Please call Paul Shannon at 617-487-5273 if you prefer that method of communication. You may also email Alex Marbury at alexm60@fastmail.fm. If you do, remember to put your name, a descriptive phrase, your telephone number and email address. Finally, you can use the following convenient web-form to send the information to Alex Marbury directly. Whichever method you prefer, the ReformSexOffenderLaws.Org group thank you for your courage in taking this very important stand.

You may be one who regretfully cannot sign, but still agrees with the spirit of the statement. We want to keep in touch with you. Send us your email address and we will put you on our mailing list. Don't worry, we will limit mailings to monthly digests of articles and updates about the ReformSexOffenderLaws.Org site, so it won't fill up your inbox. In the coming months non-signatories like you will be contacted about the possibility of meeting others in their area for face-to-face discussions on the subject of sex offender law reform. Your email address will not be forwarded to anyone without your permission. Participation on this less public level will ensure the message gets out in other ways, so we do encourage you to send us your email address via the form below. Thank you!