A man in Washington state just surrendered himself after killing 2 convicted child molesters. The two victims had been convicted of their crimes and spent time in prison before the state of Washington decided they had paid their debt to society and set them free. Nothing justifies murder.

That said, I can understand why the murderer felt compelled to do what he did. Their crimes were among the most heinous there are. The two men who were murdered were monsters who caused lifelong trauma and pain to their young victims. They were truly the scum of the earth.

Online sex offender registries are problematic for this reason. Their benefit is that community members can protect their families by knowing which homes and individuals to tell their children to avoid. The case in Washington state illustrates the need to do more aggressive education about the purpose of these registries. It's illegal to use them to commit a crime, no matter how justified one might feel in doing so.

There a lot of other issues to consider here: increasing prion terms to appropriate lengths so violent child rapists serve more than 5 or 6 years; stronger rehabilitation programs in prison that could help cut the recidivism rate; and most importantly, more effective and widespread primary prevention programs to stop that kind of violence from being committed in the first place.

I hestitate to do this, but Arizona also has an online sex offender registry.