Labelling Sex Offenders

I had to write this in response to something Phillip DeFranco recently said on his YouTube channel. I'm a huge fan and I have a lot of respect for him, but I have to disagree with him on this.

Here is the video:

Phil's source: http://bit.ly/WVHeve

While I am a strong supporter of seeking justice and strong penalties, I do oppose the Sex Offender Registry. I also disagree with announcing the release of sex offenders via local media.

Especially in Canada, our Criminal Justice system is moving away from punishment and towards rehabilitation. I support this movement. I believe that justice is having an offender honestly seek forgiveness and make amends to his victims, and then reintegrate back into society to be a productive member. A more punitive system isn't so much justice as vengeance. Don't get me wrong, I believe vengeance has its place, but as a society, we haven't really figured out where that place is, yet.

If you keep to my theory of rehabilitation and reintegration, labeling and registering criminals is counter-productive. If someone is convicted of a crime and does his time, he should be able to reintegrate into society. He cannot reintegrate back into society if he is labelled as a rapist and shunned by society. If we aren't prepared for him to reintegrate fully into society, then we shouldn't be allowing him in society at all.

Of course, before you can even attempt reintegration, you must successfully rehabilitate. You can't reintegrate if you haven't rehabilitated. If the offender hasn't been completely and successfully rehabilitated, he should remain institutionalized and we shouldn't even try to reintegrate him. In fact, if he has been deemed incapable of rehabilitation, he should be put down like the dangerous animal he is.

In a Criminal Justice system of my design, you would have to meet certain criteria before being reintegrated into society.
1) Be deemed to have been successfully rehabilitated by a an unbiased panel of experts.
2) Have made amends directly to the victims of his crimes.
3) Have received sincere forgiveness from his victim(s).

I think as a society, we would ultimately benefit from this school of thought. How do you feel about it? Please feel free to comment.