The National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse Accuses McDonald’s of Hiring Convicted Sex Offenders
The National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse (NFPCSA) is calling for a boycott of McDonald’s restaurants after Nashville station NewsChannel 5 WTVF uncovered that nationwide, McDonald’s restaurants have hired "dozens" of convicted sex offenders.
According to the WTVF report, "McDonald’s says it has a policy against hiring sex offenders at its 8,000 or so company owned stores. But at the 18,000 franchise stores that operate under the golden arches, they’re free to hire anyone they want."
WTVF’s investigation revealed nine sex offenders in Delaware, thirteen in Indiana and sixteen in Louisiana working in McDonald’s restaurants. But, unfortunately:
"We can’t tell you how many other child molesters or other sex offenders are working at McDonald’s restaurants here in Tennessee or anywhere else. That’s because in most states, including Tennessee, sex offender registries don’t have information about employers. So the public can’t find out — until something bad happens."
No response yet on McDonald’s Corporate site.
(Photo sources: Happy Ronald McDonald here and sad Ronald McDonald here.)
“…So the public can’t find out — until something bad happens.”
Technically, not quite though. One workaround would be to check pictures of registered offenders on all state’s registered offender database websites. You will be surprised how many offenders live closer to you than you think. See one at your local McD’s or anywhere else, at least you know. Granted, not all offenders comply with registration, most do though.
MTLB: You’re right, that’s a way of finding out — although not fool-proof. But I don’t think most parents and caretakers think of doing that.
Perhaps a nasty question, Andrea: what’s your stance on this? You give us the situation, but I was wondering why you did just that and did not let us know how you would go about it. Could it be because it’s not as black and white as some people might think? Perhaps even child offenders deserve a second chance? Perhaps it’s nice that McDonalds gives even such people a chance to reintegrate into society? Just being the devil’s advocate here, but…
Serge:
I think you are being more than just the devil’s advocate :-).
Ok, my position in this is that — in addition to meeting all state and federal requirements — all employers, at a minimum where there is interaction with the public or in this case with children, should conduct a background check on their prospective employees (that would include a review of the sexual offender/predator lists). People with a questionable background should simply not be hired into certain positions.
The merits of reintegrating offenders into society depend on numerous factors such as the severity of the offense, the specifics of the case, the ability to “re-educate” the offender and a host of other things.
There have been a handful of cases where an offender was labeled as such when the victim was a minor, the offender a legal adult, and the minor’s parents pressed charges for unlawful sexual conduct because the minor wasn’t of legally consenting age. This would be an example of a gray zone where society, or at least the jurisdiction in question, decided that the line needs to be drawn somewhere and that this behavior between two seemingly consenting individuals who are close in age and maturity would not be tolerated. But such cases, at least on the surface, appear not to create a risk to society at large and therefore, I would argue, would not prevent the offender from being hired into positions dealing with the public & minors.
Judging by your comment, it seems you are in favor of a perhaps more liberal approach.
Not necessarily. I just think this is not a B/W issue, and there is a large grey zone. But that’s what you, in your comment, have pointed out too. So: I think we would agree on the subject… Imagine that.
Serge: I’m happy we agree, let’s mark this in the books