12-30-2007 National
BOSTON - The loss or theft of personal data such as credit card and Social Security numbers soared to unprecedented levels in 2007, and the trend isn't expected to turn around anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information.
And while companies, government agencies, schools and other institutions are spending more to protect ever-increasing volumes of data with more sophisticated firewalls and encryption, the investment often is too little too late.
"More of them are experiencing data breaches, and they're responding to them in a reactive way, rather than proactively looking at the company's security and seeing where the holes might be," said Linda Foley, who founded the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center after becoming an identity theft victim herself.
Foley's group lists more than 79 million records reported compromised in the United States through Dec. 18. That's a nearly fourfold increase from the nearly 20 million records reported in all of 2006.
Another group, Attrition.org, estimates more than 162 million records compromised through Dec. 21 — both in the U.S. and overseas, unlike the other group's U.S.-only list. Attrition reported 49 million last year.
"It's just the nature of business, that moving forward, more companies are going to have more records, so there will be more records compromised each year," said Attrition's Brian Martin. "I imagine the total records compromised will steadily climb."
But the biggest difference between the groups' record-loss counts is Attrition.org's estimate that 94 million records were exposed in a theft of credit card data at TJX Cos., the owner of discount stores including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. The TJX breach accounts for more than half the total records reported lost this year on both groups' lists.
The Identity Theft Resource Center counts about 46 million — the number of records TJX acknowledged in March were potentially compromised. Attrition's figure is based on estimates from Visa and MasterCard officials who were deposed in a lawsuit banks filed against TJX.
The breach is believed to have started when hackers intercepted wireless transfers of customer information at two Marshalls stores in Miami — an entry point that led the hackers to eventually break into TJX's central databases.
TJX has said that before the breach, which was revealed in January, it invested "millions of dollars on computer security, and believes our security was comparable to many major retailers."
With wireless data transmission more common, hackers increasingly are expected to target what many experts see as a major vulnerability. Eavesdroppers appear to be learning how to bypass security safeguards faster than ever, said Jay Tumas, the head of Harvard University's network operations, at a recent conference for information security professionals.
"Within a year or two, these folks are catching up," Tumas said.
The two nonprofit groups' 2007 data also show rising numbers of incidents in which employees lose sensitive data, as opposed to cases of hacking.
Besides TJX's problem, major 2007 breaches include lost data disks with bank account numbers in Britain, a hacker attack of a U.S.-based online broker's database and a con that spilled resume contact information from a U.S. online jobs site.
"A lot of breaches are due to inadequate information handling, such as laptop computers with Social Security numbers on them that are lost," Foley said. "This is human error, and something that's completely avoidable, as opposed to a hacker breaking into your computer system."
Attrition.org and the Identity Theft Resource Center are the only groups, government included, maintaining databases on breaches and trends each year. They've been keeping track for only a handful of years, with varied and still-evolving methods of learning about breaches and estimating how many people were affected.
Despite those challenges, the two nonprofits say it's clear 2007 will end up a record year for the amount of information compromised, because of greater data loss and increased reporting of breaches.
Both groups acknowledge many breaches may be missing from their lists, because they largely count incidents reported in news media that they consider credible. Media coverage has risen in part because of the growing number of states requiring businesses and institutions to publicly disclose data losses. Thirty-seven states, plus Washington D.C., now have such requirements.
Because of proliferation of such laws, "it may take a year or two before things stabilize and we can see what's really happening," Foley said. "If that's the case, then we'll know whether businesses are practicing better information-handling techniques." ..more.. by MARK JEWELL, AP Business Writer
December 30, 2007
Record data breaches in 2007
Murder May Be Tied to Online Sex Offender List
All Things Considered, December 28, 2007 · When 67-year-old convicted sex offender Michael Dodele moved to the northern California town of Lakeport, he might have thought he could leave his past behind. But that didn't happen.
Dodele's neighbor, a 29-year-old construction worker with a young son, is charged with killing Dodele.
As prosecutors prepare for a hearing in January, they're looking into the possibility that Dodele was murdered because he was in the Megan's Law database of registered sex offenders. ..Listen to Story.. by NPR
See all cases of:
murders of persons related to sex offenses:
suicides of persons related to sex offenses:
Poverty costing sex offenders their freedom
12-30-2007 Indiana:
VALPARAISO | Gary Branham was released from prison Dec. 5 after completing a two-year sentence for molesting a young girl at his apartment and at the Salvation Army in South Haven.
The 48-year-old lived with a friend for a week and then found himself without a home, according to a report completed by his probation officer, Katty Holland.
Branham called multiple hotels and apartments, but was unable to find a place he could afford on his disability income of $542 a month, Holland said. He also is unable pay for other living expenses or fees associated with his probation and sex offender treatment.
As a result, Branham was placed back behind bars at the county jail and Holland is asking that he be sent back to prison to complete the three-year balance of the sentence he was supposed to spend on probation. The request is based on accusations Branham will be unable to comply with probation and the Project PRO sex offender treatment and monitoring program.
"It is this officer's opinion that these circumstances create an environment that is unsafe for both the defendant and the community," Holland wrote.
A hearing on Branham's fate is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 12 before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper.
The dilemma involving Branham is not new for the county probation department, according to Adult Probation Chief Neil Hannon.
The county has had similar cases, including repeat child molester Edward Drlich, who was sent back to prison last fall after he was unable to find a place to live. Drlich had no income and suffers from physical and mental ailments.
Harper sentenced Drlich to the entire five years remaining on his sentence, saying he poses a serious threat to children if left unsupervised or untreated.
"We're going to have more of these," Hannon predicted.
Rental properties in Porter County are not cheap and the more affordable units are far enough out to require that offenders have reliable transportation, he said. This challenge is fueled further by various hardships created by fearful neighbors and a state law prohibiting sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, park or youth center.
Hannon said he has heard of homeowners applying for day-care status in order to keep a sex offender from moving into a neighborhood and vigilantes vandalizing an offender's vehicle.
The problem could be addressed in part by doing away with a section of the law that prohibits sex offenders from living together, Hannon said. This would allow these individuals to pool their resources.
Yet if they live together, their treatment may be placed at risk by allowing them to brag or share stories, he said.
"They need to have supervised housing," Hannon said.
The Indiana Department of Correction is starting a sex offender containment and accountability program at the Plainfield Correctional Facility on Wednesday, according to Porter County PACT.
If Branham were enrolled at Plainfield, he would take part in a re-entry program designed to work on transition issues and establish resources well in advance of his release, PACT said. He also would receive assistance once on parole with polygraph testing, treatment and possibly housing costs. ..more.. by BOB KASARDA
December 29, 2007
John B. Doe challenges law
12-18-2007 Indiana:
A Tippecanoe County judge must decide whether a state law that ordered a sex offender to move from his Lafayette home provides protection for neighborhood children or punishes the offender.
It will be the key factor in whether a lawsuit filed by the man, a registered sex offender known only as John B. Doe in court documents, can proceed in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2.
Attorneys for the defendants, Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington and Sheriff Tracy Brown, requested a hearing to dismiss the complaint. The hearing was Monday morning.
The attorneys argued that a recent Indiana statute prohibiting those convicted of sex offenses against children from living within 1,000 feet of a school, youth program center or public park is in the community's best interest.
"If the law saves one, two or three children from being molested in a year, then that's rational," said Deputy State Attorney General Robert Wente, who represents Harrington.
John B. Doe -- convicted in 2000 of child seduction and released from near a church that offers programs for youths.
He has three more years until he no longer must be listed on Indiana's Sex and Violent Offender Registry.
His lawsuit is one of three complaints filed in Tippecanoe County questioning the law that forced 28 offenders here to move or be charged with a Class D felony. Deputy Prosecutor Laura Zeman said Monday that all the offenders have relocated.
A hearing for one of the other Tippecanoe County lawsuits, this one filed by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union under the alias John Doe, also was held Monday in Tippecanoe Circuit Court.
John B. Doe's attorney, Earl McCoy of Lafayette, questioned the logic of the law, which took effect July 1, 2006. His client is allowed to visit his home, where he had lived with his wife and stepchildren for about six years, any time of day.
That includes daytime hours when children are headed to school, and afternoon when they are coming home.
"He can be there all day. He just can't sleep there," McCoy said. "Nothing about this law is protecting the children."
He also argued that the law constitutes punishment because, if John B. Doe settles in a new home, nothing in Indiana's statute would prevent neighbors from hosting youth programs such as Boy Scout or Girl Scout meetings.
"They can create a situation to oust a neighbor if they want to," McCoy said. "There's no guarantee. That's our concern."
Judge Thomas Busch, who is presiding over the complaint, also questioned whether the law is a step too far.
"Of course, there's extreme punishment where we could banish all of them to Australia or if you were to cut off the hands of a thief," he said. "But isn't there some point where even though the motive is protection of children, the action is punishment?"
Another hearing is scheduled in January. ..more.. by SOPHIA VORAVONG
Sex offenders test housing restrictions
Lawsuits challenge restrictions on living within 1,000 feet of certain places
12-21-2007 Indiana:
LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- A judge will decide whether a state law that can force sex offenders to move protects children or unduly punishes offenders.
The issue is key to a lawsuit filed in Tippecanoe Superior Court by a registered sex offender identified in documents as John B. Doe.
Doe, who was convicted of child seduction in 2000 and released from probation the next year, was forced to move from his home near a church that offers youth programs. The move was dictated by a state law that prohibits convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, public park or youth program center.
His attorney, Earl McCoy of Lafayette, argued the law unfairly punishes sex offenders while doing little to protect children from molesters. McCoy said Doe is allowed to visit his home, where he had lived with his wife and stepchildren for about six years, any time of day.
"He can be there all day. He just can't sleep there," McCoy said. "Nothing about this law is protecting the children."
Attorneys for the defendants -- Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington and Sheriff Tracy Brown, who had moved to dismiss the lawsuit -- argued in a hearing this week that the law serves the community's best interest.
"If the law saves one, two or three children from being molested in a year, then that's rational," said Robert Wente, a deputy attorney general representing Harrington.
But McCoy argued the law is unfair because Doe could be forced to move again if his new neighbors decided to host youth programs such as Scout meetings.
Judge Thomas Busch, who will decide whether the lawsuit can proceed, asked during Monday's hearing where the line between punishing offenders and protecting children lies.
"Of course, there's extreme punishment where we could banish all of them to Australia or if you were to cut off the hands of a thief," he said. "But isn't there some point where even though the motive is protection of children, the action is punishment?"
Doe's lawsuit is one of three filed in Tippecanoe County challenging the law that forced 28 sex offenders there to move. Deputy Prosecutor Laura Zeman said all of them have relocated.
In a summary judgment hearing involving a different sex offender Monday in Tippecanoe Circuit Court, attorney Ken Falk of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana said his client has become homeless since he was forced to leave the childhood home he had shared with his mother.
"Even if there is not a punitive purpose behind the statute, it does have a punitive effect," Falk said.
Neither judge ruled immediately on whether the respective lawsuits can proceed.
A month ago, the Georgia Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a state law restricting where convicted sex offenders may live.
It forbade offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, playground, church, school bus stop or other place where children might assemble. The court said the restrictions amounted to practical banishment. ..more.. by Associated Press
Sex offenders sue over residency laws
12-3-2007 New York:
ALBANY - A group of convicted offenders have filed a lawsuit against the counties they live in.
The attorney who represents the sex offenders, Terry Kindlon, says they're suing over county laws that state where they can and can't live. Kindlon says laws that say how far a sex offender has to live from schools and day care centers is unconstitutional. He says it's doesn't help and that if anything it's causing more problems.
Five sex offenders are suing the counties they live in -- one in Albany County, three in Rensselaer County and one in Washington County.
Kindlon won't reveal his clents' names, but says the majority are Level 3 sex offenders. He says they've all had trouble getting their lives back on track since these laws have been put in place.
Kindlon says his client in Albany County is a Level 3 offender who's now elderly and disabled.
"He's diabetic and he needs some place to keep his insulin and it turned out under the Albany County law about the only place he'd be able to live is in a motel out on Central Avenue in the town of Colonie," Kindlon said.
Kindlon's client in Washington County has a family and recently bought a home.
"And after he moved in he discovered there was a day care center with no sign within 900 feet of his home he told them and their response was, 'Sorry, you'll have to move,'" he said.
"It's like the Sheriff of Nottingham banishing you from the kingdom. You're being driven out," Kindlon added.
Kindlon argues that there's already state law that regulates where sex offenders can live. The county laws, he says, conflict with the state law and make it more difficult for sex offenders to live a normal life.
"Ultimately the people we're trying to protect, the children, aren't protected because what you do is you drive the sex offenders underground," Kindlon said. ..more.. by Subrina Dhammi
December 28, 2007
Stark County sex offenders challenge law
12-28-2007 Ohio:
CANTON Sex offenders living in Stark County who challenge the state’s new registration law won’t be bound by its regulations for at least three months.
Common Pleas Judge John G. Haas put enforcement of the law on hold Thursday after hearing arguments and consulting with his fellow judges.
At least 27 convicted sex offenders in Stark County have challenged the law, which takes effect on Tuesday. More challenges are on the way. The Stark County Public Defender’s office has interviewed at least 30 people and is in the process of preparing those petitions.
COURT RULES
Haas granted a preliminary injunction on the community notification and registration requirements, saying that county prosecutors and attorneys for the sex offenders need more time to gather information before dealing in March with arguments that the law violates several constitutional principles and is unfair in its retroactive application.
The order only covers sex offenders who challenge the law before Dec. 31 or within 60 days of their notice of reclassification, whichever comes later, and they must continue registering with the sheriff as if the old law is still in effect, Haas said.
Ohio changed its classification system earlier this year to bring it in line with the federal Adam Walsh Act. The attorney general’s office has been reclassifying all sex offenders who didn’t complete their registration requirements before July 1.
The old categories of sexually oriented offender, habitual sex offender and sexual predator are out, replaced by three tiers. Instead of a judge deciding which tier to place an offender, the new law assigns offenders by their crime without considering the risk to the community or likelihood of re-offending.
Judges do have discretion when it comes to ordering community notification.
As a result of the change, some sex offenders are finding themselves in more restrictive tiers, including those now requiring lifetime registration and community notification.
CHALLENGES MOUNT
Defense attorney Rick Pitinii, who filed some of the first challenges last week, argued that if offenders are reclassified and made subject to community notification, and later the law is found unconstitutional, they would be irreparably harmed. He was backed in his argument by other local defense attorneys.
Assistant Stark County Prosecutor Chryssa Hartnett asked the court to enforce the law. If there were concerns about community notification, the judge could stay that provision, while letting the rest of the law go forward, she said.
Haas said it was his job to make sure the rights of sex offenders weren’t being overlooked, and he could only imagine the uproar if some other law — like a zoning code — were being changed.
Also, the sheriff hasn’t received a list of local sex offenders and their new classifications from the attorney general.
“That’s another reason why I don’t think this thing is ready to go as of the first of the year,” Haas said.
Earlier this month the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed a constitutional challenge to the law without comment. Defense attorneys around the state have taken that to mean the court wants to see the issue work its way through lower courts before weighing in.
Amy Borror, public information officer for the Ohio Public Defender, said judges in Franklin, Hamilton and Licking counties have granted injunctions but those decisions dealt with individual cases.
..more.. by Reach Repository writer Shane Hoover at (330) 580-8338 or e-mail shane.hoover@cantonrep.com.
OLD LAW
Sexually oriented offender: Annual registration for 10 years
Habitual sex offender: Annual registration for 20 years
Sexual predator: Lifetime registration with verification every three months
NEW LAW
Tier 1: Annual registration for 15 years
Tier 2: Registration every six months for 25 years
Tier 3: Lifetime registration with verification every three months
Sex Offender Won't Pay School Tax
12-28-2007 Florida:
SPRING HILL - When Stephen St. Laurent went to re-register as a sex offender Thursday, an informal chat at the sheriff's office set his mind to thinking.
First he mulled over the growing restrictions against his kind: the limited jobs he can take, the bi-annual registration, the new stamp he'll get on his driver's license in February.
The penalty for breaking some of the conditions means immediate imprisonment.
Then it dawned on him. For the past nine years, almost half of his property tax bill has been dedicated towards the county's schools. If he can't have anything to do with children, does this violate state statute?
"They're trying every way they can to entrap a sex offender," St. Laurent said Friday.
The answer was clear to him.
When he sent in his $1,100 tax bill this week, it was $400 short. A clerk at the tax collector's office was quick to respond and phoned to say the check would be returned if he didn't pay the school tax.
St. Laurent, 65, expects that. When the check shows up in the mail, he will march down to the courthouse and file a lawsuit against the county and state for fraud and discrimination.
He's prepared to take his fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Tax Collector Juanita Sikes said roughly 5,000 people out of the 112,000 property owners in the county refuse to pay their taxes each year.
"It's a small percentage," she said.
A lien is placed on the property if taxes aren't paid by the deadline, but citizens have about a two-year window to pony up.
If the accrued interest and past taxes aren't paid in that time, the house is put on the auction block.
St. Laurent has been a faithful taxpayer up until this point, Sikes noted.
Occasionally, people will gripe about the school tax because they don't have any children attending classes. St. Laurent said that's not the point.
Those people can still visit the schools and see their taxpayer dollars at work. St. Laurent can't.
The school district's safety and security director, Barry Crowley, confirms as much.
Any sex offender who steps on a campus is trespassing. Parents who are sex offenders are given limited access to their children. For example, they can pick up their kids after school and attend parent/teacher conferences.
But even that access is closely guarded and if the parent's offense was a sexually violent crime against a child, permission to step onto school grounds is denied.
St. Laurent was convicted of committing a lewd act in front of children when a pair of teenagers looked through his window and saw him masturbating. Like other sex offenders without children in school, St. Laurent is explicitly banned.
"There are no special allowances," Crowley said.
The school tax portion of the bill is applied towards debt, the general fund and capital outlay. That includes operating costs, teacher's salaries, construction projects and textbooks. Even if residents don't have children, the money is going towards the education of tomorrow's lawyers, doctors and plumbers, said Joe Vitalo, president of the teacher's union.
"Indirectly, it pays for the services of the future," he said.
St. Laurent has authored an autobiography about the isolation and treatment he has received with the label of sex offender. He sees the growing restrictions on sex offenders as a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which protects citizens against cruel and unusual punishment.
The knee-jerk legislation and rules "have got to come to an end and maybe this is the way to do it," St. Laurent said of his protest. ..more.. by Reporter Kyle Martin can be reached at 352-544-5271 or kmartin@hernandotoday.com
New Ohio Sex Offender Law Challenged In Miami County
10-28-2007 Ohio:
MIAMI COUNTY, Ohio -- A Troy attorney filed a series of lawsuits Friday afternoon with the clerk of the Miami County Common Pleas Court challenging the constitutionality of Ohio's new sex offender law, more commonly known as the Adam Walsh Act.
Defense attorney Jose Lopez filed the legal challenges on behalf of a half-dozen clients, claiming that the law's reclassification of previously convicted and sentenced sex offenders, and new registration requirements for those offenders, are unconstitutional.
The new law was enacted this past summer by the Ohio General Assembly.
The lawsuits filed Friday in Miami County are believed to be the first in Ohio since the Adam Walsh Act was enacted.
Lopez will file similar legal documents next week in Common Pleas Courts in Shelby and Auglaize counties on behalf of other clients. ..more.. by Steve.Baker@WHIOTV.com
Constitutionality of sex offender law challenged
12-28-2007 Ohio
TROY — Ohio's new Adam Walsh Act was challenged Friday in a Miami County court by lawyers arguing the law's reclassification of previously convicted sex offenders and new registration requirements for those offenders are unconstitutional.
Troy lawyer Jose Lopez filed injunction requests on behalf of six people in county Common Pleas Court and said he plans to file similar complaints for others Monday in Shelby and Auglaize counties.
The challenges are believed to be the first in Ohio against the law passed this summer by the Ohio General Assembly.
Miami County Prosecutor Gary Nasal said he knows of no other challenges of the law. "We fully expected we would face a constitutional challenge," he said, pointing to challenges still in the courts of previous sex offender registration and residency laws.
Nasal said he expects the Walsh Act challenges to make their way to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Prosecutors will be in court Monday in Troy for a hearing on Lopez' request for a temporary restraining order against any court hearings on proposed reclassification of offenders who have been notified by mail of their new classification and registration requirements. Letters sent to offenders in late November with the new classification and requirements gave 60 days to file a challenge.
Nasal said the Walsh Act allows longer registration periods and classifies offenders in three classification tiers based only on the charge for which they were convicted.
"If you commit an offense, you fall within that tier," Nasal said.
Previously, judges determined classification — sexually oriented offender, predator, etc. — after looking at a number of factors.
Lopez said he sees two "chief problems" with the new law. He said making the law retroactive changes the penalty for crimes that occurred years ago.
For one client he represents, notifying the community of his residence would now be required when it was not following his conviction in 1999, Lopez said. He said the law also penalizes juveniles who may be required to register for life instead of a shorter period under previous requirements.
"If they had simply enacted (a law) and said. 'From this day forward we are going to do this,' that's a whole different ball game," Lopez said. ..more.. by Nancy Bowman, Staff Writer
Topless Woman Lured Perverts in Police Sting
Firefighter Busted for Exposing Himself to Sunbather Appeals 'Entrapment' Conviction
12-27-2007 Ohio:
Robin Garrison, an off-duty 42-year-old firefighter, was walking in Berliner Park in Columbus, Ohio, in May when he saw a woman sunbathing topless under a tree.
He approached her and they started talking and getting comfortable, the woman smiling and resting her foot on his shoulder at one point.
Eventually, she asked to see Garrison's penis; he unzipped his pants and complied.
Seconds later, undercover police officers pulled up in a van and arrested Garrison; he was later charged with public indecency, a misdemeanor, based on video footage taken by cops who were targeting men having sex or masturbating in the park. While topless sunbathing is legal in the city's parks, exposing more than that is against the law.
The case is just one of the more extreme examples of police stings aimed at luring people into committing crimes, a tactic that has resulted in hundreds of arrests, many convictions and plenty of controversy.
Law enforcement officials say that such sting operations are an extremely effective means of lowering crime rates and stopping the criminally minded before they commit worse offenses. From early 2006 to the spring of 2007, there were 160 citations for public indecency in the city, according to an investigation by 10TV News. Among those who were caught in the stings: an Ohio State University doctor, government employees and a retired highway trooper.
But such operations veer dangerously close to entrapment, say lawyers, civil libertarians and defendants who've been caught in sting operations.
At Garrison's trial, his attorney argued that it was a case of entrapment. "Columbus police utilized this topless woman to snare this man," said Sam Shamansky. "He sees her day after day. He's not some seedy pervert."
The argument failed to sway a Franklin County Municipal Court jury that found Garrison guilty of public indecency last month. He was ordered to stay away from the park, placed on a year's probation and fined $250. Currently, Garrison remains on paid desk duty while the fire department conducts an internal investigation into his behavior.
"We want to be held to a higher standard, we are in the community every day and we put our best foot forward, but sometimes we stumble and make a mistake," said Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Doug Smith.
Garrison could not be reached for comment.
Shamansky plans to appeal the verdict on the grounds that the jury wasn't instructed on the definition of entrapment.
Other police departments across the country have dangled other temptations, from big-screen plasma TVs, Xbox 360 consoles and a shopping bag containing a cell phone and an iPod to catch people breaking the law.
In New York City, nearly 300 people, many of whom had no criminal record, have been snared this year through the NYPD's Operation Lucky Bag, in which undercover officers leave a wallet, iPod or cell phone in a subway station and wait to see who picks it up.
Although deputy police Commissioner Paul Browne says the program has helped cut subway grand larcenies by half, critics say that the police have gone too far.
"It's pretty straightforward that this is a police-created crime," said Legal Aid Society lawyer Alex Lesman, who defended a man arrested for taking a bag containing an Xbox video game box, a Sprint cell phone and cash. "The police set this whole thing up. They shouldn't be doing that and luring people in that situation, especially in this age of terrorism where the transit system is always telling you to be on the lookout for suspicious bags."
The judge agreed with Lesman, acquitting his client, Antonio Arroyo. "The police should concentrate their noble efforts on behalf of the city on countering real crimes committed every day," wrote Kings County criminal court judge Matthew A. Sciarrino Jr. "They do not need to manipulate a situation where temptation may overcome even people who would normally never think of committing a crime."
Other lawyers have argued on behalf of their clients that the operation may also violate New York's personal property law, which allows someone who finds property worth more than $25 10 days to turn it in to the owner or the police.
An NYPD spokesperson emphasized that Operation Lucky Bag does not use abandoned property; rather it is property actively left by an officer who is still in the vicinity. In addition, it is used at stations where similar crimes have been reported.
Another sting operation that made headlines involved police in El Paso, Texas, and U.S. Marshals sending out messages to wanted felons stating that they had "won" free Xbox 360 consoles and/or big-screen plasma TVs. The operation led to 115 arrests last month and the police picked up more than $25,000 in traffic fines.
This ploy, which has been used in other cities in recent years, is a new twist on an old trick, because sting operations involving drugs and prostitutes have been around for decades. And though defendants often claim entrapment, that argument rarely works in those kind of cases.
"The definition of entrapment is police activity that induces somebody to commit a crime that they otherwise wouldn't do," said Gabriel Chin, law professor at the University of Arizona. "It's not entrapment to give somebody an opportunity to commit a crime."
Chin explains that entrapment involves an officer cajoling and persuading someone who's resistant to the idea of committing a crime. "Just preying on a predisposition is not necessarily entrapment."
But he said that Operation Lucky Bag seemed to cross a line, especially when compared to longstanding police operations involving officers posing as drunks to lure muggers to take their wallets or jewelry.
"Very few people who see a drunk with gold chains or an old lady with money sticking out of her purse succumb to temptation and assault that person," he said. "But lots and lots of people wouldn't turn in a wallet when it's full of money. You could ask whether it's an appropriate use of police resources. If we really want to criminalize people who do what we don't want them to do, a lot of people would be in jail."
The temptation may just be too powerful. "I've found $5 on the street and put it in my pocket," said Chin. "If I found $5,000 on the street, I hope I would do something different." ..more.. by MARCUS BARAM
New Jersey Bars "Some" Sex Offenders From Internet
The new law prohibits anyone convicted of using a computer to commit a sex offense from using computers or accessing the Internet for part or all of their parole.
12-28-2007 New Jersey:
New Jersey has banned some sex offenders from using computers or accessing the Internet.
Acting Gov. Richard Codey signed bill S1979 into law Thursday and announced that it will provide the state with nearly unparalleled authority to monitor or restrict Internet access by convicted sex offenders.
The law prohibits anyone convicted of using a computer to commit a sex offense from using computers or accessing the Internet for part or all of their parole. It also allows the State Parole Board to impose Internet restrictions on sex offenders who did not use a computer to facilitate their crimes.
The law requires the parolees to allow unannounced examinations of their computer equipment and the installation of monitoring hardware or software. It also would require convicted sex offenders to tell authorities if they have access to a computer or other devices that can access the Internet and obtain written approval to use computers or the Internet.
Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein, D-Middlesex/Mercer, a primary sponsor of the legislation, said the federal government has not enacted laws limiting Internet access for sex offenders. Florida and Nevada have enacted restrictions. Greenstein said the bill gives New Jersey residents some security.
"When Megan's Law was enacted, few could even envision a day when a sex offender hiding behind a fake screen name would be a mouse-click away from new and unwitting victims," she said in a statement. "Sex offenders cannot be given an opportunity to abuse the anonymity the Internet can provide as a means of opening a door to countless new potential victims."
Sen. John Girgenti, D-Bergen/Passaic, a co-sponsor of Megan's Law, said that "by taking computer and Internet access away from those who use these devices to commit sex crimes, we are reducing the risk of them being tempted to be a repeat offender."
Codey said in a statement that the law will give the people of New Jersey "some of the toughest tools in the nation to crack down on the growing threat of Internet predators."
He added, "Hopefully this law will help a lot of parents sleep easier at night." ..more.. by K.C. Jones, InformationWeek
Woolwich Man Says His Name Doesn't Belong On Sex Offender List
12-27-2007 Maine
WOOLWICH (NEWS CENTER) -- A Wiscasset woman says the state has harmed her family by putting her son on the sex offender list. Cathy Onorato and her son Daniel are trying to get the legislature to change the sex offender law.
Daniel Onorato, who lives in Woolwich, was convicted of criminal restraint against his girlfriend ten years ago. He was 18 years old at the time and she was 17.
Three years later, the Maine legislature added criminal restraint to the sex offender list. They made the new law retroactive, so that Daniel Onorato's name was added. Since then, both Onorato and his mother say being on the list has made life miserable for all of them. She says it's unfair, because his crime had nothing to do with sex.
"His close family knew he wasn't a sex offender. But outside of close family, you can't explain to somebody he's on the sex offender registry but he hasn't committed a sex offense. Cause they don't believe you," said Cathy Onorato.
"I think there are several laws that don't belong on the sex offender list. That's just one of them," said Rep. Stan Gerzofsky from Brunswick.
Rep. Gersofsky is co-chairman of the legislature's Criminal Justice Committee. He says the sex offender law needs some changes, so that some people are not unfairly labeled.
Daniel Onorato's name is scheduled to come off the list next month. ..more.. by Web Editor: Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer
December 27, 2007
Report on New Jersey’s GPS Monitoring of Sex Offenders
December 5, 2007
Peter J. Barnes Jr., Chairman, New Jersey State Parole Board
BACKGROUND
New Jersey’s “Sex Offender Monitoring Pilot Project Act” became law in August 2005, authorizing the New Jersey State Parole Board to subject up to 250 of the State’s most dangerous registered sex offenders to round-the-clock Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring. The statute was retroactive in calling for GPS monitoring of all Tier III sex offenders who were not incarcerated or subject to civil commitment.
The statute also allowed the State Parole Board Chairman to subject non-Tier III sex offenders to GPS monitoring, based on established statutory criteria and an assessment of their risk to the public. The Act requires the Chairman of the State Parole Board to “submit a report evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot program to the Governor and the Legislature within 90 days upon completion of the pilot program. The report shall recommend whether the pilot program should be continued as a Statewide program.” Based on his review of the pilot program, State Parole Board Chairman Peter J. Barnes Jr. strongly supported extending GPS monitoring indefinitely, prior to the program’s expiration on August 11, 2007. GPS monitoring now continues under the “Sex Offender Monitoring Act,” which was enacted before the pilot program ended.
As explained in this report, only one of the GPS program’s total 225 sex offenders has been implicated in a new sex crime. This initial data suggests the State Parole Board’s GPS monitoring has contributed to a significantly lower recidivism rate than nationwide data indicates for high-risk sex offenders. Moreover, the GPS monitoring data was available to aid the investigation, by placing the sex offender at the time and place of the new crime.
The State Parole Board’s caseload of more than 4,300 sex offenders is one of the largest in America, mainly due to the advent of Supervision for Life sentencing guidelines for sex offenders. Under state law, the vast majority of sex crimes committed on or after October 31, 1994 will result in Supervision for Life. Prior to the introduction of this sentencing guideline, sex offenders made up less than 5 percent of the State Parole Board’s caseload. Today, they make up nearly a third of the caseload, with a net increase of about 45 new sex offenders each month. The Legislature has designated the State Parole Board as the body responsible for managing all sex offenders sentenced to lifetime supervision.
The goal of the State Parole Board’s supervision of sex offenders – independent of whether a particular sex offender is subject to GPS monitoring – is to prevent further victimization. The agency employs Evidence-Based Practices, drawn from the most effective supervision practices in New Jersey and elsewhere, for sex offenders and other offenders on the State Parole Board’s caseload. Due to the compulsive and secretive behavior shown by sex offenders, however, these offenders require specific, intensive methods of supervision. Following guidelines recommended by the National Institute of Justice,1 the State Parole Board has adopted a “containment” approach to sex offender supervision.
This approach includes intensive parole supervision and information sharing with partner law enforcement agencies; sex offender-specific treatment to help control sex offenders’ impulsivity; and will soon include polygraph examinations in certain cases, to obtain sexual history information and monitor offenders for behaviors that increase the risk of re-offense.
The GPS monitoring of New Jersey’s highest-risk sex offenders is a vital component of this model. It helps parole officers verify sex offender behavior; allows law enforcement agencies to share information and intercept new violations; encourages sex offenders to accept responsibility for their actions; and provides data that can serve as invaluable evidence for police and courts.
THE RESULTS
A total of 225 sex offenders have been subject to GPS monitoring in New Jersey since the program began. Significantly, only one of these high-risk sex offenders has been charged with a new sex crime while under GPS supervision. The sex offender was arrested at the crime scene, a rape that occurred in April 2006. Even if the sex offender had left the scene, however, GPS data was available to pinpoint his presence at the time and place of the crime, and was ready to serve as a vital aid to the investigation.
During the pilot program, 19 other sex offenders were charged with non-sexual new crimes or technical violations of the GPS statute or other supervision conditions. Violations of the statute include refusing to maintain the GPS monitoring equipment, failing to carry it, or physically tampering with the equipment.
A nationwide study by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 5.3% of sex offenders were arrested for a new sex crime within three years of their release from prison, with 40% of new sex crimes occurring within the first 12 months of their release2. Consistent with the fact that many sex crimes are not reported to law enforcement, a separate analysis indicated sex crime recidivism levels two to three times higher than the re-arrest rates in the BJS study3. In addition, research indicates a small subgroup of extremely dangerous sex offenders has a much higher recidivism rate, estimated as high as 50% to 80%4.
It should be noted that research indicates sexual assault is a vastly underreported crime, for a variety of reasons5. However, the State Parole Board’s initial data suggest GPS monitoring has contributed to a lower recidivism rate than nationwide data indicates for high-risk sex offenders. ..more..
December 26, 2007
A List of research papers by Dr. Jill Levenson, Ph.D.
UPDATED: 3-20-2009
Levenson, J.S. (2009). Sex offense recidivism, risk assessment, and the Adam Walsh Act. Sex Offender Law Report, 10(1).
Levenson, J. S., & Tewksbury, R. (2009). Collateral damage: Family members of registered sex offenders. American Journal of Criminal Justice.
Levenson, J. S., & Zandbergen, P. & Hart, T (2009) An empirical analysis: Residential proximity to schools and daycare centers: Influence on sex offense recidivism..
Levenson, J. S., Zgoba, K., & Tewksbury, R. (2007). Sex offender residence restrictions: Sensible crime policy or flawed logic? Federal Probation, 71(3), 2-9.
Tewksbury, R. & Levenson, J.S. (2007). When Evidence is Ignored: Residential Restrictions for Sex Offenders. Corrections Today, December 2007.
Brannon, Y., Levenson, J.S., Fortney, T., & Baker, J. (2007). Attitudes about Community Notification: A Comparison of Sexual Offenders and the Non-offending Public. Sexual Abuse: A journal of research and treatment 19(4) 369-379.
Levenson, J.S. (2007). The new scarlet letter: Sex offender policies in the 21st century. In D. Prescott, Ed., Applying Knowledge to Practice: Challenges in the Treatment and Supervision of Sexual Abusers, p. 21-41. Wood and Barnes Publishing.
Levenson, J.S. & Prescott, D. (2007). Considerations in evaluating the effectiveness of sex offender treatment. In D. Prescott Applying Knowledge to Practice: Challenges in the Treatment and Supervision of Sexual Abusers, p. 124-142. Wood and Barnes Publishing.
Levenson, J.S, D’Amora, D., & Hern, A. (2007). Megan’s Law and its Impact on Community Re-entry for Sex Offenders. Behavioral Sciences and the Law (25), 587-602.
Fortney, T., Levenson, J.S., Brannon, Y., & Baker, J. (2007). Myths and Facts about sex offenders: Implications for practice and public policy. Sex Offender Treatment 2(1), 1-17.
Levenson, J.S, & Hern, A. (2007). Sex offender residence restrictions: Unintended consequences and community re-entry. Justice Research and Policy, 9(2), 59-73.
Levenson, J.S, & D’Amora, D. (2007). Social policies designed to prevent sexual violence: The Emperor’s new clothes. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 18(2), 168-199.
Prescott, D. & Levenson, J.S. (2007). Youth who have sexually abused: registration, recidivism, and risk. ATSA Forum, Volume XVIII, No. 2, Spring 2007.
Levenson, J.S. (2007). Residence restrictions and their impact on sex offender reintegration, rehabilitation, and recidivism. ATSA Forum, Volume XVIII, No. 2, Spring 2007.
Levenson, J.S., Brannon, Y., Fortney, T., & Baker, J. (2007). Public perceptions about sex offenders and community protection policies. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 7(1), 1-25.
Packard, R.L. & Levenson, J.S. (2006). Revisiting the reliability of diagnostic decisions in sex offender civil commitment. Sex Offender Treatment, 1(3).
Levenson, J.S. & Morin, J.W. (2006). Factors predicting selection of sexual offenders for civil commitment. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 50(6), 609-629.
Levenson, J.S. (2006). Sexual harassment or consensual sexual relations? Implications for social work education. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics 3(2).
Levenson, J.S. (2006). Sex offender residence restrictions. Sex Offender Law Report, 7(3), April/May 2006, p. 33.
Levenson, J.S. & Morin, J.W. (2006). Risk assessment in child sexual abuse cases. Child Welfare, 85(1), 59-82.
Kokish, R., Levenson, J.S., & Blasingame, G. (2005). Post conviction sex offender polygraph examination: Client perceptions of accuracy and utility. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research & Treatment, 17(2), 211-221.
Levenson, J.S. (2005). Sex offender residence restrictions: Report to the Florida Legislature.
Levenson, J.S. & D’Amora, D. (2005). An ethical paradigm for sex offender treatment. Western Criminology Review. 6(1).
Levenson, J.S. & Cotter, L.P. (2005). The impact of sex offender residence restrictions: 1,000 feet from danger or one step from absurd? International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 49(2), 168-168.
Levenson, J.S. & Cotter, L.P. (2005). The impact of Megan’s Law on sex offender reintegration. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. 21(1), 49-66.
Levenson, J.S. (2004). Sexual predator civil commitment: A comparison of selected and released offenders. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 48(6), 638-648.
Levenson, J.S. (2004). Reliability of sexually violent predator civil commitment criteria. Law & Human Behavior, 28(4), 357-368.
Levenson, J.S. & Macgowan, M.J. (2004). Engagement, denial, and treatment progress among sex offenders in group therapy. Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research & Treatment, 16(1), 49-64.
Levenson, J.S. (2004). Policy interventions designed to combat sexual violence: Community notification and civil commitment. In R. Geffner & K. Franey (eds.) Identifying and Treating Sex Offenders: Current Approaches, Research, and Techniques. New York: Haworth Press.
Levenson, J.S. (2004). Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex Offenders but Were Afraid To Ask: ATSA's Role in Public Education. ATSA Forum, Volume XVI, No. 2, Spring 2004
Levenson, J.S. (2003). Community notification and civil commitment of sex offenders: A review of policies designed to combat sexual violence. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 12(3/4).
Macgowan, M. J., & Levenson, J. S. (2003). Psychometrics of the Group Engagement Measure with male sex offenders. Small Group Research, 34(2), 155-169.
Levenson, J.S. (2003). Book Review of Inside the Brain. Social Work in Health Care, 36(3), 97-99.
Morin, J.W., and Levenson, J.S. (2002). The Road to Freedom. [A workbook for sex offenders in treatment]. Distributed by Wood & Barnes Publishing, Oklahoma City, OK.
Levenson, J.S. and Morin, J.W., (2001). Treating Nonoffending Parents in Sexual Abuse Cases: Connections in Family Safety. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Levenson, J.S. and Morin, J.W., (2001). Connections workbook for non-offending parents. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
December 24, 2007
FBI Prepares Vast Database Of Biometrics
$1 Billion Project to Include Images of Irises and Faces
12-22-2007 Global:
CLARKSBURG, W. Va. -- The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.
Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.
Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.
The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.
The use of biometric data is increasing throughout the government. For the past two years, the Defense Department has been storing in a database images of fingerprints, irises and faces of more than 1.5 million Iraqi and Afghan detainees, Iraqi citizens and foreigners who need access to U.S. military bases. The Pentagon also collects DNA samples from some Iraqi detainees, which are stored separately.
The Department of Homeland Security has been using iris scans at some airports to verify the identity of travelers who have passed background checks and who want to move through lines quickly. The department is also looking to apply iris- and face-recognition techniques to other programs. The DHS already has a database of millions of sets of fingerprints, which includes records collected from U.S. and foreign travelers stopped at borders for criminal violations, from U.S. citizens adopting children overseas, and from visa applicants abroad. There could be multiple records of one person's prints.
"It's going to be an essential component of tracking," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's enabling the Always On Surveillance Society."
If successful, the system planned by the FBI, called Next Generation Identification, will collect a wide variety of biometric information in one place for identification and forensic purposes.
In an underground facility the size of two football fields, a request reaches an FBI server every second from somewhere in the United States or Canada, comparing a set of digital fingerprints against the FBI's database of 55 million sets of electronic fingerprints. A possible match is made -- or ruled out--as many as 100,000 times a day.
Soon, the server at CJIS headquarters will also compare palm prints and, eventually, iris images and face-shape data such as the shape of an earlobe. If all goes as planned, a police officer making a traffic stop or a border agent at an airport could run a 10-fingerprint check on a suspect and within seconds know if the person is on a database of the most wanted criminals and terrorists. An analyst could take palm prints lifted from a crime scene and run them against the expanded database. Intelligence agents could exchange biometric information worldwide.
More than 55 percent of the search requests now are made for background checks on civilians in sensitive positions in the federal government, and jobs that involve children and the elderly, Bush said. Currently those prints are destroyed or returned when the checks are completed. But the FBI is planning a "rap-back" service, under which employers could ask the FBI to keep employees' fingerprints in the database, subject to state privacy laws, so that if that employees are ever arrested or charged with a crime, the employers would be notified.
Advocates say bringing together information from a wide variety of sources and making it available to multiple agencies increases the chances to catch criminals. The Pentagon has already matched several Iraqi suspects against the FBI's criminal fingerprint database. The FBI intends to make both criminal and civilian data available to authorized users, officials said. There are 900,000 federal, state and local law enforcement officers who can query the fingerprint database today, they said.
The FBI's biometric database, which includes criminal history records, communicates with the Terrorist Screening Center's database of suspects and the National Crime Information Center database, which is the FBI's master criminal database of felons, fugitives and terrorism suspects.
The FBI is building its system according to standards shared by Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
At the West Virginia University Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), 45 minutes north of the FBI's biometric facility in Clarksburg, researchers are working on capturing images of people's irises at distances of up to 15 feet, and of faces from as far away as 200 yards. Soon, those researchers will do biometric research for the FBI.
Covert iris- and face-image capture is several years away, but it is of great interest to government agencies.
Think of a Navy ship approaching a foreign vessel, said Bojan Cukic, CITeR's co-director. "It would help to know before you go on board whether the people on that ship that you can image from a distance, whether they are foreign warfighters, and run them against a database of known or suspected terrorists," he said.
Skeptics say that such projects are proceeding before there is evidence that they reliably match suspects against a huge database.
In the world's first large-scale, scientific study on how well face recognition works in a crowd, the German government this year found that the technology, while promising, was not yet effective enough to allow its use by police. The study was conducted from October 2006 through January at a train station in Mainz, Germany, which draws 23,000 passengers daily. The study found that the technology was able to match travelers' faces against a database of volunteers more than 60 percent of the time during the day, when the lighting was best. But the rate fell to 10 to 20 percent at night.
To achieve those rates, the German police agency said it would tolerate a false positive rate of 0.1 percent, or the erroneous identification of 23 people a day. In real life, those 23 people would be subjected to further screening measures, the report said.
Accuracy improves as techniques are combined, said Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's biometric services section chief. The Next Generation database is intended to "fuse" fingerprint, face, iris and palm matching capabilities by 2013, she said.
To safeguard privacy, audit trails are kept on everyone who has access to a record in the fingerprint database, Del Greco said. People may request copies of their records, and the FBI audits all agencies that have access to the database every three years, she said.
"We have very stringent laws that control who can go in there and to secure the data," Bush said.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the ability to share data across systems is problematic. "You're giving the federal government access to an extraordinary amount of information linked to biometric identifiers that is becoming increasingly inaccurate," he said.
In 2004, the Electronic Privacy Information Center objected to the FBI's exemption of the National Crime Information Center database from the Privacy Act requirement that records be accurate. The group noted that the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2001 found that information in the system was "not fully reliable" and that files "may be incomplete or inaccurate." FBI officials justified that exemption by claiming that in law enforcement data collection, "it is impossible to determine in advance what information is accurate, relevant, timely and complete."
Privacy advocates worry about the ability of people to correct false information. "Unlike say, a credit card number, biometric data is forever," said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology forecaster. He said he feared that the FBI, whose computer technology record has been marred by expensive failures, could not guarantee the data's security. "If someone steals and spoofs your iris image, you can't just get a new eyeball," Saffo said.
In the future, said CITeR director Lawrence A. Hornak, devices will be able to "recognize us and adapt to us."
"The long-term goal," Hornak said, is "ubiquitous use" of biometrics. A traveler may walk down an airport corridor and allow his face and iris images to be captured without ever stepping up to a kiosk and looking into a camera, he said.
"That's the key," he said. "You've chosen it. You have chosen to say, 'Yeah, I want this place to recognize me.' " ..more.. by Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post Staff Writer
Minor Sex Offenders
12-24-2007 Montana
HELENA - Recent changes to state laws dealing with juvenile sex offenders are creating debate. According to the Departments of Corrections and Justice. The Montana Sex Offender Registry currently includes 12 juveniles under the age of 19. Six of them are still on parole or probation.
In Montana's Pine Hills Youth Correctional facility 21 of the 80-to-85 juvenile males are in the residential sex offender program, an 18- month treatment program.
Bob Anez, Mt. Dept. of Corrections says, "I think there's a recognition in the program that these are kids. These are individuals that haven't developed as far as adults have in terms of their thought process."
The treatment program focuses on cognitive thinking and the process that leads to the offensive behavior.
"To link up their thought processes with their actions. Thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions. So they understand what's happening inside their heads and how to deal with that, it's one thing to get them to understand what caused them to act the way they did in the past. But there's an effort to get them to a point where they don't fall into that trap again."
Since May of this year, juvenile sex offenders have been required to register with the state's online sex offender system, outing many of them to neighbors and classmates. The change is, in part, due to laws like the recent Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act and the 1996 Megan's law. Ali Bovingdon, Asst. Attorney General of Mt. said, "They basically direct the state as to what a state needs to do for its registry laws to be in compliance with the federal laws."
eAdvocate Comment: However, the Adam Walsh Act (choose 'Text of Legislation' then '#5')does allow for excluding certain juveniles and minors (Sec 111(8) and 111(5(C)), but officals always fail to tell folks, or act on that.end.
Despite the age of the offender or the specifics of the crime officials say sex offender registries are not meant to consider the possible embarrassment of the perpetrator.
"It does talk about registration being in the interest of public safety and registration is generally not about rehabilitation of an offender, it's about notification to the community of sex offenders who are living in people's neighborhoods."
eAdvocate comment: Nowhere in the act do they provide a dime for treatment when it is known to reduce recidivism. Clearly PREVENTION of future offenses is not the goal of lawmakers!.end
Juvenile offenders can be taken off the sex offender registry if a judge finds that the youth has no prior sex offenses, registration is not needed to protect the public and that it's in the best interest of the public, not the offender.
December 23, 2007
December 22, 2007
National database of problem teachers is flawed
12-22-2007 Florida:
Before a teacher gets hired in Florida, state education officials run the candidate's name through a database called the Clearinghouse.
A match on the name sends up a red flag, because the list contains roughly 35,000 teachers from across the country who have been disciplined for professional misconduct.
The list, created by the nonprofit National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, or NASDTEC, is considered the best existing tool for education officials to prevent problem teachers from jumping state to state. cont. below:
»Search the database
»Search for Florida educators
The number of reported cases in a national database of educator misconduct varies greatly by state*:
| State: | State | State: | State |
| Alabama: 498 | Alaska: 176 | Arizona: 375 | Arkansas: 106 |
| California: 5,997 | Colorado: 427 | Connecticut: 114 | Delaware: 13 |
| District of Columbia: 0 | Florida: 3,922** | Georgia: 2,904 | Idaho: 175 |
| Illinois: 204 | Indiana: 164 | Iowa: 143 | Kansas: 171 |
| Kentucky: 532 | Louisiana: 78 | Maine: 58 | Maryland: 315 |
| Massachusetts: 138 | Michigan: 233 | Minnesota: 434 | Mississippi: 71 |
| Missouri: 476 | Montana: 85 | Nebraska: 174 | Nevada: 148 |
| New Hampshire: 104 | New Jersey: 539 | New Mexico: 160 | New York: 897 |
| North Carolina:353 | North Dakota: 90 | Ohio: 1,021 | Oklahoma: 122 |
| Oregon: 953 | Pennsylvania: 704 | Rhode Island: 90 | South Carolina: 896 |
| South Dakota: 92 | Tennessee: 200 | Texas: 2,124 | Utah: 301 |
| Vermont: 96 | Virginia: 117 | Washington: 941 | West Virginia: 255 |
| Wisconsin: 338 | Wyoming: 30 | Hawaii: 2 |
Unknown or from outside the U.S.492. *People can be reported by multiple states. **According to NASDTEC, as of February 2007.
But the Clearinghouse is flawed and incomplete, according to a review by the Herald-Tribune, the first newspaper to gain access to the list.
The number of cases reported by each state underscores problems. California has nearly 6,000 entries, while Hawaii has 2.
The relatively small states of Washington and Oregon have more cases in the database than more populous states, including New York and New Jersey. South Carolina has more cases than Pennsylvania.
Beyond population differences, the wide range is explained by the fact that some states report infractions as minor as failure to repay a college loan, while other states may report only misconduct cases that result in a criminal conviction.
In those states, a teacher who gropes a student and has his or her license suspended, but is not convicted of a crime, would not appear in the Clearinghouse.
NASDTEC has no official relationship with the U.S. Department of Education. Membership by states, school districts and private schools is voluntary, and so is reporting cases to the Clearinghouse.
As a result, there is nothing stopping states from signing settlement agreements with teachers that keep their names out of the Clearinghouse.
NASDTEC executive director Roy Einreinhofer acknowledged that he had heard of such agreements, but he said he has addressed it with members and does not believe it still happens.
Einreinhofer said that despite any limitations of the database, it is still a powerful tool to protect children.
It is unclear how many cases in the database deal with minor issues and how many involve allegations of physical abuse, sexual abuse or other crimes because that information is not included in the version obtained by the Herald-Tribune.
The newspaper used public records law to obtain the database from the Florida Department of Education, which has used it to screen job candidates since the mid-1980s. The newspaper sought the database as part of a two-year investigation that revealed earlier this year how lax oversight and shoddy investigations allow abusive teachers to keep their jobs in Florida classrooms.
The series, which also examined how abusive teachers are able to move undetected from state to state, has prompted an attempt to create a federal tracking system and has led to sweeping changes in how the state regulates teachers.
The Associated Press brought more scrutiny to the issue in October with the publication of a three-day series exploring sexual abuse by teachers nationwide. AP reporters sought the NASDTEC database but ultimately were forced to compile data about abusive teachers one state at a time.
The Herald-Tribune first requested a copy of the NASDTEC database more than two years ago from Einreinhofer and from several states, including Florida.
Although membership bylaws prevent NASDTEC members from releasing information from other states, the Herald-Tribune argued that Florida's public records law trumped any such contractual agreements.
NASDTEC director Einreinhofer asked the Herald-Tribune not to publish the contents of the Clearinghouse. He said some states have laws prohibiting disclosure of the information, and he fears NASDTEC members in those states will no longer report problem teachers if they know the information might be made public.
"Honestly, I don't know what's going to happen," Einreinhofer said. "I'm afraid it may cripple the one tool we already have to protect kids."
Herald-Tribune Executive Editor Mike Connelly said the Herald-Tribune is publishing the database on the Web so organizations besides school districts have access to the information.
"A parent should have the ability to check whether their child's nanny, or youth league coach, appears on this list," Connelly said.
The NASDTEC data the newspaper received contains about 24,500 names, about 10,000 fewer than NASDTEC officials said existed in the complete database early this year.
About 4,000 of the missing names are teachers from Florida. Those names were not included in the newspaper's copy because of how Florida accesses and saves the data, education department officials said. However, a partial list of Florida teachers who have been sanctioned is available at www.heraldtribune.com/brokentrust.
Every other state is represented in the database obtained by the Herald-Tribune.
The states with the most reported cases in the database are California, Georgia, Texas and Ohio. According to Einreinhofer's figures, Florida is second.
Georgia, with nearly 3,000 reported cases, is so high because it takes action and reports teachers who fail to repay college loans, Einreinhofer said. Other states may only report cases that result in a criminal conviction, he said.
Some states report people whose licenses are restored after a revocation.
The lack of a uniform reporting requirement likely means that an untold number of physically and sexually abusive teachers are not flagged by the NASDTEC database because the teachers are only reprimanded or placed on probation.
A federal law proposed by U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam in response to the Herald-Tribune's investigation is designed to establish more uniform reporting requirements.
Putnam's plan calls for, among other things, the first government-backed national database of teachers accused of sexual misconduct. Under Putnam's plan, those names would be available to the public.
A spokesman for the Polk County Republican said Putnam's bill, the Student Protection Act, was filed with the education committee in March but has yet to receive a hearing. ..more.. by CHRIS DAVIS and MATTHEW DOIG
Sex Offenders and Supporters Rally in Ohio
December 22, 2007:
What some are calling the first public demonstration in America for sex offender rights took place last week. More than 50 sex offenders and their families as well as other civil liberties advocates rallied on Saturday, Dec. 1, on the steps of the state capitol in Columbus, Ohio. The groups present were protesting what they call, "Draconian, unconstitutional laws that undermine the whole American legal system," commented one participant in response to an email interview question.
In particular, the demonstrators singled out public sex offender registries where offenders must post their photographs and personal information online, leading to humiliation and sometimes to vigilante actions that result in injury or death to the offenders. They also opposed new Ohio laws that severely limit sex offenders' movements and residence, so that there are very few places offenders can live in the state - like the laws recently exposed in Florida where sex offenders could only live under a bridge in the middle of a river.
"Such laws do nothing to protect children," said Tom Madison, founder of Soclear, an organization supporting rights for sex offenders. "But they harm thousands of family members, including children, and they undermine the rights of all citizens. Only parents can protect children. And when offenders have served their time, they should be left alone," continued Madison - himself a registered sex offender from Oregon.
For more than three hours, speaker after speaker exposed the humiliation and public harassment suffered by offenders and their families. Speaking to another law the groups want to reform, the public registration of children for alleged sex with other children, 16-year-old Ali Metz spoke on behalf of her older brother, currently serving a prison term for sex with his slightly younger girlfriend when he was himself under age, and specifically for "pandering explicitly sexual material" with her. "He's just a teenager, and even when he gets out of prison, he'll have to be publicly registered for at least fifteen years. The laws have to be changed so people like him can live a normal life. All he did was fall in love with a girl!" Ali told the rally, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
For weeks before the rally was held, opposing groups urged a counter demonstration. Absolutezero, a group that says it "fights pedophiles on the web," said the rally was organized by sex abusers and their supporters who are "cognitively distorted." Among other groups opposing the sex offender rights rally was "Women Against Sexual Predators."
Altogether, fewer than 25 people were in the counter demonstration. One of the speakers carried a sign saying, "Cry me a river, sex offender." She told her crowd, "Sex offenders should have no rights!" She expressed surprise that so many came out to support the rights of the more than 16,000 registered sex offenders in Ohio.
Though state after state, including Maryland, has rushed to make sex offender registries more punitive, more comprehensive and more invasive of privacy, there may be some change coming. The Supreme Court of Maine recently allowed a sex offender there to challenge posting of his picture and address on the web in the light of a recent vigilante killing of a sex offender in that state. The Court noted that such laws harked back to the public humiliation putting people in stocks in colonial Puritan New England.
Meanwhile, as reported recently in OUTloud, sex offenders detained for lifetime civil commitment in California, continued their protest inside Coalinga State Hospital. According to their support group, a public rally will be held outside the hospital in early January. At Coalinga, a survey of about 600 detainees has indicated that more than half are gay men convicted of nonviolent offenses.
Jackie Sparling, chief operational officer of Soclear (www.soclear.org) was pleased with the crowd. Though she praised police attitudes and helpfulness before the rally, some felt there were far too many police. "There were eight cruisers at one point, encircling the demonstrators. This intimidated some sex offenders and their families, with several people not braving the police line," a participant told this reporter.
Three different groups had speakers at the rally: Soclear, SOSEN (a group which works with families of sex offenders) and Roar for Freedom, which is an anti sex abuse organization that also opposes what it feels are counterproductive sex offender laws. Although the counter-demonstrators booed loudly, speakers could be clearly heard by those who watched from the capitol and nearby streets. ..more.. by Alex Marbury writes for Reformsexoffenderlaws.org.
Sex offender fired from job as Salvation Army bell-ringer in Newburgh
12-21-2007 New York:
NEWBURGH — The Salvation Army has fired a Level 2 sex offender who was ringing a bell for the kettle drive at Wal-Mart in the town of Newburgh.
Capt. James Brennan said he fired the man Monday after learning the man was a sex offender.
"He admitted it and said he was sorry," said Maj. John Hodgson, who works in the Manhattan office.
The sex offender is John Jones, 46, who lives in the City of Newburgh, according to his profile on the state's sex offender web site.
Jones was convicted in December 1997 of first-degree sexual abuse of a Port Jervis woman. He was sentenced to 30 months to five years in state prison.
Brennan said Jones was hired the second week in November as a bell-ringer at $8 an hour.
The Salvation Army did not have a full background check done on Jones because bell-ringers are only employed for a short period of time. That might change. The hiring will start much earlier to allow time for lengthy background checks, Hodgson said.
Members of a sex abuse and sex offender watchdog group spotted Jones ringing the bell for the kettle drive outside the Wal-Mart on Route 300 and alerted Brennan. Jones saw the handwriting on the wall. He could not be reached for comment.
"He just left. He knew he was not going to continue working," Brennan said.
Up to that point, no one had complained about Jones. In fact, Brennan said, "We had received a couple of positive reports. He was actually bringing some Christmas cheer."
The Salvation Army does not hire sex offenders, but it does work with them, Hodgson said.
"This doesn't disqualify Mr. Jones from any services we offer," Brennan said. "We offer these to everyone." ..more.. by Paul Brooks, Times Herald-Record
December 21, 2007
The Leonard Lopate Show 12-20-2007
Underreported: Are Sex Offender Laws Working?
US sex offender laws may do harm than good, according to a recent report from Human Rights Watch. Strict notification laws and residency requirements don’t reflect the reality of the risks children face, may not protect victims, and violate the basic human rights of former offenders.
Sarah Tofte is a researcher at Human Rights Watch; Linda runs a support group for families of registered sex offenders. Elizabeth J. Letourneau, Ph.D. works with juvenile sex offenders. She's Associate Professor at the Family Services Research Center of the Medical University of South Carolina.
Weigh in: What do you think about current sex offender laws? Are they working? We’d like to hear from people associated with both victims and offenders.
Read HRW’s report "No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the United States"
Visit Linda’s blog, "There IS Life After Sexual Abuse"
Visit the Sex Offender Support and Education Network (SOSEN)
Comments from listeners:
======================================
[1]
Posted by: equal justice December 20, 2007 - 11:55AM
Florida
It is pretty obvious that the current laws are not working and common sense tells us that they actually place children in MORE danger, rather than less. We NEED to listen to the experts. We MUST stop creating laws just to "look tough" on sex offenders and appease a public that has been misled for years about the facts regarding sex offense.
Until we truly place our childrens saftey FIRST and not REVENGE, we will never make a dent in this ongoing problem
[2]
Posted by: Geoffrey Birky December 20, 2007 - 01:16PM
Denton, MD
Current sex offender laws actually harm children by branding many of them as "sex offenders", often for normal childhood sexual experimentation, underage romantic relationships, or pranks. What few people realize is that "sex offenses" are not the same as "sexual abuse." There are a lot of statutory sex offenses (illegal because of age, not because of coercion of abuse) and offenses that are indecent rather than abusive. Yet, for these acts, kids are being placed on registries, imprisoned, tracked, banned from their homes, schools, and jobs, and sometimes placed in abusive "treatment" ...
read more
[3]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 01:29PM
Georgia
These laws do not work, read more of my thoughts from my blog, here:
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-thoughts-sex-offender-law-issues.html
[4]
Posted by: hjs December 20, 2007 - 01:34PM
11211
like the "war" of drugs another failure of an over reaching government pandering to get votes
[5]
Posted by: equal justice December 20, 2007 - 01:38PM
Florida
In Florida we have many dead, moved out of state, deported, offenders on our registry, just to inflate the registry and get more Federal money.
Many States and the AWA stipulates that the employer be listed on the registry. Many, many are losing their jobs because employers do not wish to be listed on the registry.
[6]
Posted by: sue December 20, 2007 - 01:42PM
new jersey
How many of these men were abused themselves?
[7]
Posted by: Anonymous December 20, 2007 - 01:44PM
NJ
Abuse IS totally out of control today.
Look at the Boy Scouts, and how they attempted to purge themselves of all "Gay" leaders.
This kind of abuse is quite common, not only among girls abused by fathers/family members, but
also boys at the tender age.
Maybe in about 10-20 years, we wont have as many mid aged victims that were never reported, or were ACTIVELY REPRESSED.
[8]
Posted by: tom sheckler December 20, 2007 - 01:45PM
bklyn
Georgia Court Overturns Sex Offender Law
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 21, 2007
Filed at 2:09 p.m. ET
ATLANTA (AP) -- Georgia's top court overturned a state law Wednesday that banned registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, churches and other areas where children congregate.
[9]
Posted by: ruth December 20, 2007 - 01:45PM
Hillside, New Jersey
Overly restrictive residency laws are a real problem, like Miami's law requiring sex offenders to live 2500 feet from any school, playground or day care center which is rapidly creating a colony of homeless sex offenders who are being told by their parole officers which bridge they may live under. There simply is nowhere else in Miami Dade County (other than the middle of the Everglades) where they can live. Check out a story in the Miami New Times by Isaiah Thompson, "Sex Offenders Set Up Camp" published December 13th. Sex offenders are a mixed group, of course, but many committed their offenses years ago and have lived productive lives since then; many have families who care for them, but they are not allowed to live with them. (Disclosure: Isaiah Thompson is my son.)
[10]
Posted by: Laurie December 20, 2007 - 01:45PM
New York
Hi,
I'm wondering if your guests think that the program "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" (which seems to be on cable at least twice a day) contributes (negatively or positively) to public thinking about sex offenders and/or related public policy.
Thanks
[11]
Posted by: Anonymous December 20, 2007 - 01:46PM
NJ
SUE:
Regarding perps who were also victim of this?
I'd say LARGE amounts!
I know of one personally.
And interestingly enough, I too, was abused when young, and surpressed memory for over 40 years.
[12]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 01:47PM
Georgia
I have also been attacked by these vigilantes who call me pro-pedophile or pro-sex offender, just because I have a blog about these issues.
These people are "terrorists" IMO, and are not helping anything but making things worse.
Go to Corrupted-Justice, here, to see who PJ and the vigilantes they have linked on the bottom of their page, are really like.
http://www.corrupted-justice.com/
I have also had to move from my fathers home, which I've lived with my whole life, and have had to move 8 times within 1 1/2 years, due to churches, schools or day cares ...
read more
[13]
Posted by: tom sheckler December 20, 2007 - 01:49PM
bklyn
Georgia Justices Overturn a Curb on Sex Offenders
By BRENDA GOODMAN
Published: November 22, 2007
ATLANTA, Nov. 21 — The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously struck down a state law Wednesday that limited where registered sex offenders could live, ruling that the statute was so restrictive it unconstitutionally deprived the offenders of their property rights.
This article includes a map showing there is almost no place in dekalb county where an offender can live.
[14]
Posted by: mike December 20, 2007 - 01:51PM
I cant see why a man that is 22 having a consensual relationship with a 15 year old can be a risk when that guy is 40 years old, even if he has 20 psychiatrists saying hes not a risk. They tricked a lot of people in the beginning to being a registered sex offender because if someone took a plea in 1995 the judge or district attorney did not say anything about being on the registry. Then in 1997 most got a letter in the mail saying that they had to register or go back to jail. That to me is cheating by the state. Nowadays the judge has to tell the person to register BEFORE they take a plea. ...
read more
[15]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 01:55PM
Georgia
Read about the Georgia sex offender law being shot down from the Southern Center for Human Rights, here:
http://www.schr.org/aboutthecenter/pressreleases/HB1059_litigation/HB1059_litigation.html
[16]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 01:58PM
Georgia
The registries need to be taken offline, like they were before, the public cannot handle the online registries.
Youths who are not adults, need to NOT be charged as adults for these crimes, and not be on the registry and their lives ruined forever.
Repeal the laws, fix them, so they do NOT violate the United States Constitution....
[17]
Posted by: Anonymous December 20, 2007 - 02:00PM
NJ
And don't forget about YESTERDAY's teaching momemnt.
Britany's sister (Jamey-Lynn) a wholesome sweet 16, mother to be.
And her 19 year old BOYFRIEND.
Now in SOME states, that is a sex offense.
in some states they have a romeo exemption if the
male is within a few years of her
(he better hope it's a three year difference, and not only TWO years!)
Ahem...
comments from the pro-profilers here?
MHHHH
[18]
Posted by: julie December 20, 2007 - 02:06PM
long island
The public's outrage against sex offenders is appropriate. while girls who are raped as children don't tend to go on to become offenders themselves, they do sometimes go on to kill themselves, or become suicidal, and/or to suffer throughout their lifetimes. So the likelihood of perpetrator recidivism isn't relevant. Anyone who rapes a child once should be put away forever.
[19]
Posted by: LindaWa December 20, 2007 - 02:06PM
OK
Residency Restrictions should be limited to the few who are known to be a danger. U.S. Department of Justice says 3.5% recidivists rate and the registry should reflect only those who are a risk and certainly one who crime is 10/20 years old should be removed since the contract with the court has been fulfilled. In short, abolish residency restrictions and put the registry into the hands of the police only.
[20]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 02:20PM
Georgia
Julie,
You are assuming everyone labeled a "sex offender" is a "child molester" which is incorrect.
[21]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 02:21PM
Georgia
Bureau of Justice study quoted by Linda is here:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#recidivism
[22]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 02:46PM
Austell
No, Z, there are also those who are guilty of sexual battery and assault and rape.
But if you take a plea bargain you don't plead UP you plead DOWN.
Of course, as a man convicted of child molestation who took a plea you would know this.
[23]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 02:56PM
Georgia
And speaking of vigilantes, here they come....
Stitches,
You are correct, there is sexual battery and assault and rape, why are you distorting what I say, as usual???
For people who don't know all of my case, seeing "child molestation" they assume the worse.
Like I've told you MANY times, I did not touch, have sex with or rape ANY child, period, yet you continue to assume I did.
Get a life, quit stalking and harassing me and others.
You see folks, this is one of the vigilantes I was talking about...
He and others pick and chose what they report to people and distort the truth...
Again, check out Corrupted Justice, they are ex-PJ staff, and will show you what the REAL PJ and these vigilantes are ALL about...
I'm sure I can expect more BS on your blog, which I'm sure will be all lies, like usual...
[24]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 02:56PM
Georgia
Also Stitches, I was not talking to you, now was I...
[25]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 02:58PM
Georgia
Just Google STITCHES77 and see the BS this person is spewing...
[26]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 03:06PM
Austell
Why are you calling me a vigilante? I'm a blogger just like you.
You said you took a plea deal. You were convicted of child molestation. What I'm saying is that if your story is true that a little girl looked INTO your bedroom and saw you nude and you then took a plea deal you would not be on the Georgia SOR for child molestation it would be something far less. So stop lying and accusing ME of lying. If it's not true go accuse Georgia of lying.
I'm not stalking or harassing. I'm uncovering your lies. If you want to be an activist you need to be honest otherwise it will come ...
read more
[27]
Posted by: Stella December 20, 2007 - 03:06PM
Austell
Wow what a shock (insert sarcasm)! All the people whining about sex offender registries and complaining about laws regarding sexual child abuse/torture are either Registered Sex Offenders themselves (like Zman and the commenting ilk) or their partners/families.
So, riddle yourself this average reader...would child molesters, like the ones responding here, complain and whine about child abuse laws if they weren't successful? They WANT them to be unsuccessful. They want laws that have loopholes and that offer them the easiest access to children with the least amount of accountability and consequences. That's the reality.
[28]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 03:07PM
Austell
Do you need to be speaking to me for me to respond to your statements Z?
That's a new one on me. Nevertheless I WAS addressing YOU.
[29]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 03:19PM
Georgia
Once again, you distort the truth, that is NOT what occurred.
You could kill every single sex offender right this second, and more would follow. So how is anything about these laws working?
You are just people who "get off" on doing what you do. That is the MO of PJ and others like them.
When will people ever realize no matter how tough on crime, all the zero tolerance, all the registries in the world will not prevent a murderer from murdering, a thief from stealing, a dealer from dealing, a user from using, a rapist from raping....accusations on any sex crime, ...
read more
[30]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 03:19PM
Austell
Sex Offenders and their sympathizers certainly want sympathy because the sex offender *paid his dues* to society, and now has to be on this *list* which makes life hard on *them*.
Lets look at this from the victims side first, because the victim is an innocent person, who was brought into being a victim because of the sex offenders' actions. Now this victim has repercussions from being a abused. They suffer for life and are forced to become something they were not meant to be: Victims just to start with.
Because of the sex offender's actions, the victim suffers for life in ...
read more
[31]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 03:30PM
Georgia
Just check out my blog and you can see the insanity of these laws for yourself folks, don't listen to these idiots, they distort everything and provide disinformation.
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/
I think my not reoffending in almost 20 years speaks for itself, and my blog as well. I was also a victim of sexual abuse, so I know both sides of the story.
[32]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 03:35PM
Austell
You didn't REOFFEND in 20 years??? I thought you said you never offended?
THIS isn't what happened either. Tell the truth Zman.
http://thumbsnap.com/v/9L45tNdj.png
[33]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 03:38PM
Austell
Zman
You say you were a victim well shame on you for not breaking the cycle.
There is no excuse!
[34]
Posted by: LindaWa December 20, 2007 - 03:40PM
OK
I wish you people would take your "personal" feud else where.
The broadcast was thoughtful, intelligent and informative. Thank you Leonard
[35]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 03:42PM
Georgia
http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/search/label/%2BIntroduction
I am NOT pro-pedophile or pro-sex offender but pro-Constitution. I am totally against any form of abuse to any animal or human being. Anybody who commits any crime should be punished. But, once that person has done the time they were convicted under, via contract, and is off parole and/or probation, they should be able to get on with their lives without all the rules and regulations. No other criminal has to live by such draconian laws, so why sex offenders? If we must do this for sex offenders, then I think, to be fair, all criminals must be under similar rules and regulations.
[36]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 03:42PM
Georgia
When an ex-offender is forced to move from his/her home, thus having to sell it, cannot find another home within the law due to the residency "buffer" zones, get fired from their jobs due to being on the registry, cannot find a new job due to being on the registry, their husband/wife lose their jobs due to a significant other being on the registry, their children lose their friends and are harassed and bullied in school due to a family member being on the registry, thus destroying the children's lives, ex-offenders are forced into homelessness and to live under bridges, harassed ...
read more
[37]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 03:45PM
Georgia
Thanks you, this proves what I said...
http://thumbsnap.com/v/9L45tNdj.png
It was a MISTAKE, and I did not molest, rape or have sex with ANY child.
I say I offended, because I did, it was a mistake, which I am sorry for, and admit it was wrong, and I paid my debt (based on the contract), and my lawyer told me to plea, I was young and stupid. If I had to do it over, I would NEVER PLEA, period...
[38]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 03:45PM
Austell
Linda I am a listener I guess you only want people who agree with you to be your audience?
I do not have to agree and not agreeing doesn't make me the bad guy.
Children and abused adults who are these people's victim s deserve to be heard and spoken for.
I am that voice for now. I deserve to be heard.
[39]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 03:48PM
Georgia
Violet,
I did break the cycle. I got help, forgave the person who did that do me, and moved on and became a survivor, unlike many other sexual abuse people.
Everyone is entitled to how they react to a situation, I chose to believe in God and forgive and forget, well, I will never forget, but I will NOT remain a victim my whole life, sorry.
You can either remain a victim forever, or move on, get help, like you and many others really need.
I don't think this is a place to attack each other.
I'd love to hear how you and Stitches would help eliminate the sexual abuse problems in this world, which have been around since day 1.
[40]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 03:49PM
Austell
Oh no, it is far less than what you need. What you need is to not get off with a slap on the wrist and registration. Child molesters should get 25 years to life. I think you just can't be satisfied. Would you rather have 25 to life?
Draconian laws? I don't think you really believe that, you're just repeating garbage you have stored in your files to use for comments. Yeah, yeah, I've seen how you guys do that. See it's like this, if you think these laws are draconian just wait till you see what's next. You need to stop whining and admit that you got far less than what you deserved. ...
read more
[41]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 03:56PM
Georgia
See, more lies and threats. I did not molest a child, get that through your thick skull.
No more comments from me, this is getting out of hand, like usual...
Peace & God Bless
[42]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 03:57PM
Austell
Zman you aren't making sense. You have claimed it was the little girls fault for looking into your bedroom window and spying on you. And now you say you made a mistake that you offended against her.
STOP LYING. A little girl passing by did not look into your bedroom window........you get charged with child molestation..........you take a plea bargain and plead DOWN to child molestation. Surely even as a pathological liar you can see that your story doesn't fly.
What's interesting is that Equal Justice Cheryl Griffith says the same thing happened to her son and that's why he's listed as a violent sexual predator.
[43]
Posted by: Linda December 20, 2007 - 03:59PM
I am the Linda that was on the show. As I mentioned on the show, I a being attacked and harrassed by a vigilante group. Plese ignore these people. They are not worth our time. All they spew is hate and violence, no solutions. They have no lives. They follow me whereever I go. See what these laws are doing? They are making my point for me
[44]
Posted by: Concerned December 20, 2007 - 04:02PM
Indiana
The point of the broadcast was to point out that Megan's Law - community notification - does not work. The recidivism rate has not significantly decreased (actually in some cases it has increased) in the 12 years since the inception of Megan's Law. Its feel good legislation that has done nothing to prevent sexually based crimes. A study by Moore (2006) found that over 90% of those convicted of commiting sexual crimes against children and teens were first time offenders. So while we claim to be so concerned about protecting children, why are we not focusing more on stopping those first-time ...
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[45]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 04:02PM
Austell
Zman, you don't want to know how we would eliminate sexual abuse....."that has been around since day 1" That's just one of the arguments the blame gamers use. "You can't stop murder, you can't stop theft and you can't stop sexual abuse"
Now you see that argument doesn't sit well with people who have been abused or have a loved one who was murdered or who was robbed. Everyone knows that there will always be some evil sicko who comes along and hurts someone else. But you use this argument in a way that says to people "don't put us in prison, don't put us on a register because YOU CAN'T stop us!!!!!!!!"
[46]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 04:06PM
Austell
Zman
No one is arguing here. We just do not agree with what your complaining about.
Being a survivor is more than living to be 50 yrs old.
On your description of a *victim*...you would offend a child in some way or another and you would end up on the SOR. Or... maybe you would be dead, a drug addict, a prostitute..destitute..destructive.
I don't fit that description Zman.
I have a voice and a will and a right to speak my mind about such matters and with this voice I will
speak. With my fingers I will type and I will say the truth and I will ...
read more
[47]
Posted by: Victim & Supporter December 20, 2007 - 04:20PM
Indiana
After reading comments by Stitches77 & Violet Leaves, I'm a little frustrated. I was a victim of repeated sexual abuse when I was young by a family friend. I am now over 40 years old and it has been almost 20 years since I suffered because of the abuse. I've forgiven the man who abused me and understand the pain he felt for commiting his crime, which could have been worse than mine. Yah, I was a little mixed up as a kid but was that because of the abuse or bad parenting - who knows? What pains me is the direction these laws are going in - because they will not prevent another case like mine. THEY are a disgusting example of how the government works to manipulate the vote. Being on the registry, bound by residency restrictions, etc would not have prevented my abuser from touching me, not in a million years.
[48]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 04:23PM
Austell
I don't know why Linda keeps claiming she's being attacked and harassed. We're doing the same thing she's doing which is speaking our minds.
And of course anyone is free to correct me if I'm mistaken but I searched this entire website over and no where do I see where it says that the only people who can leave comments are people "who got back into bed with ______ after he groomed and molested their daughter"
I have just as much right to say what I think about this issue as she does.
The Lopate Show responds: Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please review our comments guidelines.
[49]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 05:01PM
Austell
Victim & Supporter
If the person who molested you was caught before you... you bet it (the Laws) would had stopped him from molesting you or the victim after you.
And by chance if the Law is that ineffective then lets lock up sex offenders for life! Make them live it out as their victims do.
[50]
Posted by: Stella December 20, 2007 - 05:01PM
Austell
The above claim (I'll paraphrase) of a supposed survivor who claims they were sexually abused but forgive their abuser and understand the abusers pain was greater than the abuse they, as a victim, suffered and they can't be sure if their screwed up childhood was a result of sexual abuse or bad parenting...
This is typical pedo propaganda. These are the stories that abusers use to try to mitigate the effects of sexual abuse. See, ya all don't think that sexual abuse is harmful and if it is, you don't care. The suffering of the child is inconsequential to child molesters ...
read more
[51]
Posted by: ZMan December 20, 2007 - 05:02PM
Georgia
Moderator, can you remove the other names they posted in their blogs as well?
You see what we have to live with? Constant harassment from people who don't help solve the problem, but make it worse.
[52]
Posted by: Stella December 20, 2007 - 05:15PM
Austell
Zman, there is no cure for pedophilia, remember that. The problem, as you put it, will be solved when pedophiles are kept away from children. Society has an obligation to protect the innocent. Child abusers and child molesters are far from innocent.
[53]
Posted by: Concrete Sailor December 20, 2007 - 05:46PM
For those of you defending registries:
Do you argue that laws stop crime? If so, you're exactly the kind of voter the politicians love - mindless.
The DOJ's report shows the recidivism rate to be at 5.2% , far lower than any other category of crime with the exception of murder. (Murderers who are caught don't usually get an opportunity to repeat their crime.) If you disagree with this statistic, perhaps you should take that issue up with the DOJ.
Violet Leaves: you say that anyone who harms a child should be locked away forever, even after a single incident. ...
read more
[54]
Posted by: equal justice December 20, 2007 - 06:35PM
Florida
PLEASE STOP telling our precious children that they will never heal, never be whole again, and will suffer their entire life. That is just cruel. Just because YOU didnt, does not mean THEY won't. Take your hate and put it where it belongs (if you can't get over it). Put it on the person who abused YOU. You are destroying the lives of over one and a half MILLION people, a MILLION of whom are innocent of any crime, with your hate and hysteria and are left with laws that do NOTHING to protect your children.
[55]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 07:07PM
Austell
To the confused sex offender supporter she's making a statement that the registry or restrictions would not have stopped her abusers in a million years. But how can she possibly say that? The chances are that the person did it before her and if this persons parents had known who they were and kept her away from them it very well could have prevented it. So what if it were her uncle, or cousin or step father or father for that matter....he should not have been around children.
This person making those outrageous statements is someone who supports 'not telling' if you are ...
read more
[56]
Posted by: Tracey G December 20, 2007 - 07:10PM
It does seem funny that the only people complaining about the registry are the people who are on the registry, and their families, who, of course, believe they're all innocent. Well, not funny, it actually makes sense. Because everyone in prison is innocent as well.
Basically, we will never know how many children the registry has saved. I live 3 doors down from a sex offender who raped children the ages of my children. Because I keep track of who lives in my neighborhood, I will never let my children go near that house. Even though there is a swing set, trampoline and a cute puppy there, even though no children live there.
Quite chilling, no?
[57]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 07:31PM
Austell
Concrete Sailor
Our legal system is set up to convict guilty people not innocent.
To get locked away *forever* .. hrm well that would have to include some criminal evidence.
A *single incident* is one too many incidents for a sex offender.
Their victim doesn't get another chance at life.
The Lopate Show responds: Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Please review our comments guidelines.
[58]
Posted by: Terry December 20, 2007 - 07:44PM
Florida
Good show. Thanks for getting this info out there. These laws are not working and in some cases make things worse for all.
Not a popular subject to address either. But maybe little by little the public will hear the truth.
[59]
Posted by: Stella December 20, 2007 - 08:04PM
Austell
Equal Justice, what kind of equal justice is there if a child molester can offend without a solid measure put in place to prevent another victim? You violate children all over again -- by suggesting the molester is the victim. Nobody believes that, except people on the RSO registry and the real irony is, that the SO's and their families wouldn't be complaining so much if the SO registry didn't make their lives more difficult (and miserable). See, child molesters and rapists can't go back to their old way of life, the life you advocate for perhaps. That's what caused a child to suffer to begin with. Left to their own devices isn't safe for society.
Also, remember, survivors heal in spite the world of odds and suffering inflicted upon them that no human should ever have to experience. They survive in spite of it, not because of it. Got it???
[60]
Posted by: Concerned December 20, 2007 - 08:11PM
Indiana
Tracy G - correct me if I'm wrong but Sarah Toft does not have a family member who happens to be an RSO does she? And what about Jacob Wetterling's mother who now says the laws go too far. Her son was the victim. I'm not sure if she has an RSO in the family either. To Violet Leaves - how many people, including Genarlow Wilson, have been released from prison because years later they were found to be innocent? The legal system doesn't always work and does convict innocent people.
Many disagree with the laws. I don't think anybody supports child molestation - that is not ...
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[61]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 08:26PM
Austell
PS Genarlow Wilson wasn't found to be "innocent." You don't seem to understand the decision, do you?
[62]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 08:35PM
Austell
Concerned
I am sure there are a few innocent people in prison.
I have no idea about the stats but I am positive that the guilty out weigh the not guilty.
We have the Laws to protect our children and they do work and they do protect children.
Sex crimes happen because the offender perpetrates a crime.
Once a crime is committed the offender should in sexual cases pay with his life in prison or the death penalty.
Freedom to roam the streets afterwards and to have a family and *start all over* should not be considered.
Yes life changes ...
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[63]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 08:36PM
Austell
I also wonder why the concreete sailor would complain that there is "no doubt Anti's are Christians"
I find that to be the strangest comment here. Is that a bigot speaking? Is that bias speaking? Do you understand that people wanting their children protected from those who use them for selfish sexual kicks crosses all lines. Religion isn't the issue, political affiliation isn't the issue, race certainly isn't the issue. The issue is about good and evil. You might can cure a mentally disturbed individual, but you can't cure evil. There is no cure for dumbass either.
[64]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 08:46PM
"Its about protecting children which these laws do not do"
No. All it's about, to people like Linda and her husband, is about stopping people from finding out what he did to Lindas daughter.
[65]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 08:55PM
"PLEASE STOP telling our precious children that they will never heal, never be whole again, and will suffer their entire life."
It's interesting that you're saying the exact same things that pedophile activists say "It's all societies fault..." NO, Cheryl it's all the abusers fault, they're the only ones who're responsible.
Sexual abuse can effect people for the rest of their lives, trying to invalidate victims feelings of being used and abused is completely insensitive, but so typical of someone who makes excuses for sexual abusers.
[66]
Posted by: Brad December 20, 2007 - 08:58PM
NY
Wow... what did I walk into here?
Anyway. I just wanted to say, I think there is one issue with these laws that isn't really being brought up. Every time Sex Offender laws are brought up, there is a ton of emotional arguments over what the victim went through. And when it comes to child molesters and rapists, I can't disagree with this.
I'm sure when the Sex Offender laws first came to be, they only included such people who deserved it, but not anymore. I know a guy who is a registered offender now, because he met a girl at a college party who threw herself at him ...
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[67]
Posted by: Concerned December 20, 2007 - 09:03PM
Indiana
Violet Leaves - the laws making sexual assault a crime are good laws. Megan's Law - community notification, residency restrictions do more harm than good. This is what the fight is about. Sexual abuse against anyone is wrong and people who commit such crimes should be punished. But the research shows that Megan's Law does nothing to prevent new sexual crimes from occuring. The recidivsm rate has not changed since the establishment of these laws. It only shames and blames and that wasn't the original intent of the law (which was to reduce recidivsm - which it hasn't).
[68]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 20, 2007 - 09:12PM
Austell
Concerned
Did you *just now* figure out what this fight is about?
I really hate repeating myself, read my posts again.
[69]
Posted by: Black Widow December 20, 2007 - 09:15PM
Zman and the others....why do you defend yourself to a group of cyber thugs who lie and spread lies because their own pathectic lives are such a mess? Why waste your steam arguing with people who have the attitude that it is their way or no way?
[70]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 09:17PM
Austell, Georgia
"Concerned" Stop lying, we've been all through your groups for months now and you're all a bunch of broken record; What it comes down to is that you don't want people to find out what these people have done in their past.
Anyone which has a sexual attraction to children and has acted on that attraction before, is a threat to every child which that person comes into contact with and people have a right to know this before they let them into their house/school or anywhere near their children.
[71]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 09:32PM
Austell, Georgia
"Black Widow" says:
"why do you defend yourself to a group of cyber thugs who lie and spread lies because their own pathectic lives are such a mess?"
Why do people like you make excuses for people who abuse kids? You work to enable sexual abusers, because you don't want someone to take responsibility for their own actions.
[72]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 09:52PM
Austell
I wonder why they keep going to their file section to pull out quotes to use. Like "these laws do more harm than good. And research shows...." When the research doesn't show that at all.
Example the Minnesota recidivism report that they are all linking to that shows a recent a decrease in recidivism. They didn't read the entire report obviously. They should read the CONCLUSION in which they state clearly that they don't know if the decrease was due to the increased restrictions, GPS monitoring, or community notification among other things. In other words.......the very ...
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[73]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 10:03PM
Austell, Georgia
I notice Sarah Tofte mentions that each year 13% of new sex offenses are committed by people who have committed previous sexual offense. Sex offenders make up roughly .2% of the U.S population, but are accounting for 13% of all new sex offenses, per year.
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Posted by: Simon December 20, 2007 - 10:14PM
Queens
Good segment, Leonard. Seems I walked into a war zone though. Is it just me or does it look like there is a group of Sex Offender advocates that jump on these kind of pages, and then a group of anti-offender advocates who come running in to counter them? No matter, good points on both sides hidden amongst all the personal bickering that I'd rather not know the history of.
I do agree a lot of the offender appear to only want a change in the laws in their favor, with no real input as to what would be better ways to avoid child abuse.
But I can't ignore that the whole sex ...
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[75]
Posted by: Simon December 20, 2007 - 10:14PM
Queens
Also, I would like to hear more about treatment attempts with sex offenders. I have heard the common claim that they can't be cured, but I have also read a story about a treatment program at one prison that appeared to lower rearrest rates. A true pedophile might not be curable, but what about people who offend because of other psychological issues, like an underdeveloped sense of age-appropriate relationships? If there are treatment options that have some success, even a small percentage, then why aren't we developing a program to help people with those desires seek help before they offend? Why not run TV ads like the depression awareness ones urging people to seek help?
This issue isn't as simple as some think. And honestly, I think some calm, thought out dialog, even between the waring groups here, is needed.
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Posted by: kiokwus Roarforfreedom December 20, 2007 - 10:16PM
WV
With all the arguments here, the focus has been lost. The registries slowly but surely have been found to be unconstitutional in one form or another. They have been abused by the very same who swore to uphold the "laws of the land" and the "Constitution" Instead, these registries are a sure step to re-election or a higher office within the judicial system. From the original intent, Megan's Law, has been lost in the haze of feel-good, knee-jerk legislation to such a point, those who are to enforce these laws do not know what they are to enforce and do not have the funds or man power to do so if they did.
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Posted by: kiokwus Roarforfreedom December 20, 2007 - 10:17PM
WV
Subsequent laws, The Wetterling Act, was to insure all states have a sex offender registry though Jacob Wetterling has never been found nor is there any evidence of a sexual crime. The AWA, Adam Walsh Act, where Adam has never been found except his head, focused on sexual predators with no evidence of any sexual crime.
Registries, residency restrictions, zoning ordinances, being forced to move again an again, loss of employment, forced to live away from the family, many times in a car, has not stopped any sexual crime. For any of the advocates who believe RSO's should never have a ...
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[78]
Posted by: Black Widow December 20, 2007 - 10:17PM
Jacey said:
"Why do people like you make excuses for people who abuse kids? You work to enable sexual abusers, because you don't want someone to take responsibility for their own actions."
People such as myself do not work to enable those who have ACTUALLY molested kids. People such as myself work to help others fight those who are self-righteous, arrogant, and harassing and help them deal with cyber terrorists such as your group.
What is sad is that you help victims stay victims. Locked in a cage to forever live as a victim.
[79]
Posted by: Bill December 20, 2007 - 10:25PM
Washington
Well after reading some of these comments I find it funny how little most of you know about what now days makes you a sex offender. A few of the recent cases I have come across are as follows. A 13 year girl gets pregnant by 12 year old boyfriend. She is now a RSO. A teenage girl moons the opposing schools team bus, she is now a RSO. A guy urinating in an alley, he is now a RSO. A 16 year old guy who impregnated is 14 year old girlfriend, who by the way later married and 2 more children with is a RSO. A 14 year old boy who took playboy magazine to school is now a RSO. Are you people getting the picture yet, I wonder how many of your parents or grandparents would be RSO's under todays standards. Oh and by the way, I am not an RSO, just someone who has alittle common sense.
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Posted by: kiokwus Roarforfreedom December 20, 2007 - 10:27PM
WV
Society must stop the hate. We see more of it everyday in the media or by those elected to govern us. The fact that the majority of "sex offender laws" do nothing short than forget who they are protecting, do more harm to the innocent, subject millions to hate and harassment or worse, gives an idea just how wrong these laws are. If they are to protect "the innocents, the children", why have the innocents and children of RSO's been forgotten? Does this fit into the scheme of how the registries and restictions are to work?
More needs to be done, a meeting of the minds of those concerned, to ever get a fair and just system for both the victims and those who offend. Otherwise, push to far, to much, and fear the results of being cornered with no place or hope left.
[81]
Posted by: Black Widow December 20, 2007 - 10:31PM
That is absolutely right, Bill. And it is sad that those such as Stitches77 and Violet Leaves actually think those examples are sex offenders and deserve jail time.
But then again Violet Leaves also said:
"“Sex Offenders”/Pedophiles have the highest rate of recidivisim in the nation. This lie is often spouted out of the lieing mouths of the likes of many in the news media, especially the GREAT SATAN-John Walsh. Look Johnny Boy… I’m sorry that your son got kidnapped and killed (just where were you when it came to protecting your son you _________), but the FACTS are that “...
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[82]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 10:31PM
Austell, Georgia
"The registries slowly but surely have been found to be unconstitutional in one form or another."
People who are criminals in prison don't have any constitutional rights, only human rights; As for the constitutional rights of people who abuse kids, they should count themselves lucky they've been let back into society at all.
"To give guidance and counseling to those who have committed a sex crime and seek help,"
It's like you don't even consider justice; There's no justice if people who abuse kids are given a day in counseling and are set free again, sexual abuse victims have to live with what happened to them for the rest of their lives; Child molesters should have to pay more so.
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Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 10:32PM
Austell
Oh Michael Michael Michael. The only focus that has been lost is not constitutionality it is this.....Children deserve to not be abused. People who offend against children are not sympathetic victimized creatures.
Children are the innocent.
Children are our concern.
Children are the focus.
Children, Michael.
Children.
That includes daughters.
Both of them.
[84]
Posted by: Black Widow December 20, 2007 - 10:32PM
More laws are never going to help. Education and services will.
[85]
Posted by: David H December 20, 2007 - 10:36PM
Rochester, NY
I want to give some clarification to the statistic that Sarah gave on 87% of sex crimes being committed by someone not previously convicted of a sex crime. The population under study were actually those released from prison in 1994. 87% of sex crimes committed by these former prisoners were committed by someone not previously convicted of a sex crime. Figures for the general population would be much higher. The vast majority of sex crimes are committed by someone not on a sex offender registry. This study may be downloaded from http://theparson.net/so/DOJ_Report_on_Sex_Offender_Recidivism.pdf
[86]
Posted by: ChesterC December 20, 2007 - 10:37PM
Austell Georgia
Forgive me if I don't give a damn about a sex offender's rights. What about my children's rights? What about mine?
As a parent I have a legal and moral obligation to protect my children's emotional and physical well-being....I have the right to know if Z is moving next door to me for God's sake. Yes, I absolutely believe my rights as a law-abiding, tax-paying parent trump your rights as a *sex offender*.
As far as "all antis being Christian", this is hilarious. There was an infamous sex offender who recently claimed that "all antis are Pagans" LMAO. Hey Linda, wasn't that one of your pals? Bigotry is an ugly thing and certainly not a point of view I would think a *sex offender* could afford to adopt.
I am agnostic.
[87]
Posted by: ChesterC December 20, 2007 - 10:39PM
Austell Georgia
Uh DavidH, you might want to read through this sentence and amend LOL!
"87% of sex crimes committed by these former prisoners were committed by someone not previously convicted of a sex crime."
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Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 10:42PM
Austell, Georgia
"People such as myself do not work to enable those who have ACTUALLY molested kids."
Which is why you work with groups which want to do away with sex offender laws. What next you'll be signing up to BoyChat and GirlChat, claiming that people blogging against them is "harassment" and "cyber terrorism?" Take some responsibility!
"What is sad is that you help victims stay victims. Locked in a cage to forever live as a victim."
No, what is sad is that you're so disconnected from how sexual abuse victims feel that you fail to see that the only person who locks a victim ...
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[89]
Posted by: Stella December 20, 2007 - 10:49PM
Austell
LOL.
I see all thes RSO's and their family and friends sticking up for the girls that are on RSO for mooning their classmates. How sensitive the child abusers are, eh? (How many of those are actually on there?)
MORE IMPORTANTLY, that doesn't make it a failed/flawed system. It doesn't negate a child molesters proper place on the RSO. And truth be told, if our society has to place pranksters on the RSO, isn't that the fault of the child molesters to begin with? We wouldn't even have to have this registry if there weren't predators trying to rape our children to begin with.
...
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[90]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 10:51PM
Austell, Georgia
Black Widow said:
"Look Johnny Boy… I’m sorry that your son got kidnapped and killed (just where were you when it came to protecting your son you ______),"
So typical, blaming and attacking the parents of sexual abuse victims, blaming everyone aside from the person who committed the abuse. Stop making excuses Black Widow!!
[91]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 10:54PM
Austell, Georgia
"Who do you direct this to? Anyone we know? Makes it kinda hard when you throw out a generic common name..... huh?"
No Michael, you know exactly who we're talking about and that's all that matters.
[92]
Posted by: kiokwus Roarforfreedom December 20, 2007 - 10:59PM
WV
Jacey.... Be so kind as to let everyone know. Or do you intend to keep secret since you cannot answer it?
[93]
Posted by: Black Widow December 20, 2007 - 11:03PM
Jacey said:
"So typical, blaming and attacking the parents of sexual abuse victims, blaming everyone aside from the person who committed the abuse. Stop making excuses Black Widow!!"
EXCUSE me? That quote was taken directly off Violet Leaves blog. Does she also believe this BS? Quoting hogwas like that on blogs only hurts your cause.
I dont blame victims for anything but REMAINING a victim.
[94]
Posted by: Simon December 20, 2007 - 11:06PM
Queens
So I decided to check back and see if a worthwhile discussion might have started, I guess not. The segment was on the effectiveness of sex offender laws, and their effect on non-offending family members and dumb kids who run afoul with the laws but aren't really predators. But apparently the discussion can't move past establishing how bad child sexual abuse is (something I figured would be a given.)
So I'm gathering that there's a group of sex offenders, and a group of people who're sworn to fight said group of sex offenders. And the two of them go around to internet forums ...
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[95]
Posted by: Black Widow December 20, 2007 - 11:06PM
How little you know about me, Jacey
But the bottom line is that new laws will not stop this vicious cycle. Only education will.
And education does not include harassing SO's, their families or anyone else assocciated with them.
[96]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 11:12PM
Austell, Georgia
"I dont blame victims for anything but REMAINING a victim."
Black Widow, when are you going to learn that no one chose to be a victim, people can't just forget a traumatic experience or years of sexual abuse that happened to them, overnight. Who are you to tell people how they should feel about sexual abuse or blame them for "remaining" a victim?
[97]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 20, 2007 - 11:13PM
Austell
Yeah Reverend Hess pulled that quote out of the "I like to look at naked babies being abused and not have to pay the consequences" file located 2 doors down on the next hall to the left. Known as the Hall of Shame for Blame Gamers. Otherwise known as "Sosen's comments for future use file."
He messed up the sentence Chester because he doesn't understand what it is he's saying. He got several different things confused with the fake statistic eadvocate has been spreading around. In other words he's trying to claim a conviction rate can be determined by subtracting a ...
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[98]
Posted by: kiokwus Roarforfreedom December 20, 2007 - 11:19PM
WV
Simon... you make a very good point. It is not about which group can out insult the other, or who is in the wrong, it is about those affected by the SO laws. Far too many innocents are affected by the actions of another. There is no quick an easy solution to this problem, education for both sides is the key to understanding and finding away to end these crimes. There can never be a hundred percent end to this or any other subject, but there can be a drastic reduction.
For those who have committed a sex offense, but have not been "found out", but seek help, need to be able to get that help without fear of arrest. This also goes for the victim. They do not need to be badgered to the point that they feel as though they are the criminals. Compassion and education is paramount, as a first step to ending sexual crimes.
[99]
Posted by: Jacey December 20, 2007 - 11:35PM
Austell, Georgia
Black Widow said:
"How little you know about me, Jacey"
I know that you don't like people knowing who rapists, child molesters and sexual abusers are and that you think that people who were abused so badly that they struggle to deal with the abuse they suffered as children are "choosing to remain victims." I know that you've got problems empathizing with people who were sexually abused.
[100]
Posted by: a mom December 21, 2007 - 12:04AM
anywhere usa
wow What a thoughtful insightful program. Thank You Leonard for an open and honest dialog about a sociatal problem. I see by your comments section that Linda was not kidding about being harrassed by vigilantes. I am almost afraid to leave a comment.
I am a mom of 2 children. One of my children sexual abused the other. My family has been through hell and back to get through this. My one child was removed from the home for a while but is now back with us after therapy for all of us. My son is now labled a sex offender. My daughter(victim)LOVES her brother and wants him in her life. My daughter is now being harrassed and taunted at school because of this. The registry has made an already horrible situation a million times worse. Will our nightmare ever end?
[101]
Posted by: Jacey December 21, 2007 - 12:08AM
Austell, Georgia
"Quoting hogwas like that on blogs only hurts your cause."
By showing the twisted things pedophiles and people like Shirley Lowery are saying, makes us look bad? Only a pedophile or a blame gamer would say it makes anyone look bad aside from the person who said it.
[102]
Posted by: a mom December 21, 2007 - 12:33AM
anywhere usa
I really wish these vigilante people would just stop this nonsense. This is a place for an open, honest dialog. There are real people that are trying to find solutions that work for society. What does someone in my situation do. I love both of my children. Now my daughter is being harrassed because her brother is labled a sex offender. My son has been evaluated at low risk.
My heart is broken
[103]
Posted by: Jacey December 21, 2007 - 01:21AM
Austell, Georgia
"Far too many innocents are affected by the actions of another."
You molested a child, your crimes are nothing like the teenagers which had consensual sex and are on the registry, you're just using them.
"For those who have committed a sex offense, but have not been "found out", but seek help, need to be able to get that help without fear of arrest."
No! People who molest kids have to pay! Any psychological counselors which is aware their patients is abusing should be required by law to report it, if it hadn't been for that Linda's husband would still be abusing her daughter.
"Compassion and education is paramount, as a first step to ending sexual crimes."
What ever happened to justice? Child molesters need to pay for the lives they ruin, anything else isn't fair on their victims.
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Posted by: Jacey December 21, 2007 - 01:27AM
Austell, Georgia
"I really wish these vigilante people would just stop this nonsense."
Vigilante people? for leaving comments on a public radio website... right.
"There are real people that are trying to find solutions that work for society."
Not people like you, all you want is your son's and husbands names off the sex offender registry. As much as your groups like to state that you're concerned with stopping sexual violence, anyone only needs to take a peak at what you say when you think no ones looking to realize that you're people who blame victims, society and everyone else except the abuser.
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Posted by: Stitches77 December 21, 2007 - 01:41AM
Austell
Well mom, you should seek help for your daughter. You've said that she was the aggressor towards your son, and I'm sure you also realize that she was very very young when she first started being sexually abused, which of course led to her acting out that way with your son after you adopted her. And of course as the good mother you are you had taught your son about appropriate behavior but he was overcome by his adopted sister coming onto him that way and he just couldn't help himself. Why, that should be easy for anyone to understand.
[106]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 21, 2007 - 02:01AM
Austell
a mom said "I really wish these vigilante people would just stop this nonsense"
So I would just like to point out to you that on page one at the top where you can't miss it it says quite clearly
"What do you think about current sex offender laws? Are they working? We'd like to hear from people associated with both victims and offenders."
Why do you believe this space belongs to sex offender apologists? Why does my willingness to spend my own time and my own resources to make the world a safer place make me a vigilante? If the fact that I make my ideas known means that I'm a vigilante then what are you? Or Linda? By the same token CJ BLack Widow's goal in life is to wreak havoc upon Perverted Justice. Does that not make her a vigilante?
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Posted by: Stitches77 December 21, 2007 - 02:17AM
Austell
Michael said "It is not about which group can out insult the other, or who is in the wrong, it is about those affected by the SO laws. Far too many innocents are affected by the actions of another."
Sorry pal, you're still clueless. It is about what's best for children and what's best for society. Society is better off with safe and happy children. Children are better off not having dirty old men using, abusing and exploiting them.
The mods here on this site made an interesting observation in one of my previous comments here in which I called someone _____. They apparently ...
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Posted by: anon December 21, 2007 - 03:06AM
CA
Stitches77 notes: as being criminals in general sex offenders DO INDEED have THE highest rates of recidivism when measuring all crimes."
However, as the Department of Justice reports: "Of the 9,691 male sex offenders released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, 5.3% were rearrested for a new sex crime within 3 years of release.
Of released sex offenders who allegedly committed another sex crime, 40% perpetrated the new offense *within a year or less from their prison discharge*." Thus, the period of greatest concern is not "5-10 years out" as noted.
Further, "In ...
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[109]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 21, 2007 - 03:43AM
Austell
Well, no anon you are mistaken. Here is what you said.
"Of released sex offenders who allegedly committed another sex crime, 40% perpetrated the new offense *within a year or less from their prison discharge*." Thus, the period of greatest concern is not "5-10 years out" as noted."
The DOJ didn't watch these men for 5- 10 years. In this particular study, they watched them for THREE. Therefore the period of greatest concern is indeed 5-10 years out as previously stated AND continuing on through out their lives.
That is why the ...
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[110]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 21, 2007 - 03:50AM
Austell
Oh 'scuse me ... thieves have the highest rate. Sex offenders have a 47% recidivism rate. My bad
[111]
Posted by: Jacey December 21, 2007 - 04:03AM
Austell, Georgia
"The DOJ didn't watch these men for 5- 10 years. In this particular study, they watched them for THREE. Therefore the period of greatest concern is indeed 5-10 years out as previously stated AND continuing on through out their lives."
It reminds me of Karl Hansons 2002 meta-analysis on Sexual Offenders, where he noted:
"Although the observed sexual recidivism rates are only 10% to 15% after 5 years, the rates continue to increase gradually with extended follow-up periods."
[112]
Posted by: Jacey December 21, 2007 - 04:08AM
Austell, Georgia
Anon, Child molesters like Zman, should never be allowed the opportunity to re-offend at all, we need one strike laws which wouldn't give them a second chance to.
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Posted by: Mike Oconner December 21, 2007 - 04:31AM
These laws have gone too far. It's a shame people have allowed themselves to become literally "brainwashed" and live in a "plastic" world. Like most of our society, "if it doesn't touch me, I don't care". Well, they better start caring, at some point, I'm certain a child in their family or husband, wife, etc., will end up on the registry for some petty offense. It's got to the point of where they've literally made a mockery of what the registry was initially intended for, and have abused the use of such. In a way, it's funny what these registries even stand for today. It's a joke. I myself ...
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[114]
Posted by: Jacey December 21, 2007 - 05:22AM
Austell, Georgia
"I myself am more afraid of a drunk driver hitting and killing me than I am of a sexual offender. IMHO, a drunk driver poses more of a public safety risk to society than some sex offender;"
Well you can stop your child from riding in a car with someone who is drunk, it's clear to see when someones intoxicated and knowing who the drunks are isn't going to make you any safer. However, what you can't see is when someone has a sexual interest in children, which is what the sex offender registry helps identify.
"What we have is an ineffective registry system that gets an F-, and seriously question the sanity of politicians who have enacted and allow this to get out of hand."
I don't understand why you think it's insane for politicians or anyone to want to know who child molesters are.
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Posted by: Stitches77 December 21, 2007 - 05:48AM
Austell
I imagine Mike would be more afraid of a drunk driver than a sex offender. He's a grown man.
Considering that 0.02% of America's population are registered sex offenders I seriously doubt anyone except a sex offender will agree with Mike's conclusions.
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Posted by: David H December 21, 2007 - 08:10AM
Rochester, NY
Posted by: ChesterC December 20, 2007 - 10:39PM
Austell Georgia
"Uh DavidH, you might want to read through this sentence and amend LOL!
'87% of sex crimes committed by these former prisoners were committed by someone not previously convicted of a sex crime.'"
ChesterC, the sentence was correct. To further clarify, most people in prison are there for crimes others than sex crimes, eg. robbery, murder, drug trafficking, etc. It is these other prisoners that commit 87% of sex crimes within 3 years of release.
I repeat my point: The vast majority of sex ...
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[117]
Posted by: Violet Leaves December 21, 2007 - 08:11AM
Austell
We need to expand Megans Law so that RSO's should not be able to access the internet as well as the other restrictions that already apply.
So many sex offenders are registered on and regular posters at pedophile message boards.
They network, and make friends with people such as themselves which serves no one but their sexual perversions.
Pedophile message boards are full of sex offenders who are actively going to therapy and tell each other not to go to therapy and how bad the therapy is and how terrible the laws are. They are full of active abusers too.
How many times we have witnessed these sex offenders talking of child porn and supporting the use of it.
[118]
Posted by: Stitches77 December 21, 2007 - 08:30AM
Austell
"87% of new sex crimes are committed by someone that is not a previous sex offender."
Are you sure you want to stand by that statement "Reverend"?
I'm quite sure we can put that into context for you if you'd like.
Oh lookie here! There it is already.
absolutezerounited.blogspot.com/
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Posted by: an observer December 21, 2007 - 09:36AM
usa
What is wrong with you people? Did you not listen to the show? Now you are saying that HRW is wrong. That the goverments stats on this subject are wrong. That YOU, a bunch of vigilante nutcases are right. My Lord people get a life You seem RABID, OBSESSED, NOT CREDIBLE
I am NOT an sex offender, do not have a sex offender in my family. What I do have is a brain. GREAT SHOW LEONARD! THANK YOU These laws have gone to far
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Posted by: Stella December 21, 2007 - 10:14AM
Austell
Roar said, "It is not about which group can out insult the other, or who is in the wrong, it is about those affected by the SO laws."
Actually it IS about who is right and wrong and what is right and wrong, it's fundamental. When somebody murders a child, we don't sit there and say, "It's not about whether that murderer was right or wrong."
Do we need to visit to "Captain Obvious" here?
Child molesters and child rapists are wrong. The child is innocent. The abuser is wrong.
Part of the problem is that child abusers and ...
read more
[121]
Posted by: Stella December 21, 2007 - 10:15AM
Austell
con't from previous message:
----------------------------------
Your motivation is abundantly clear. What kind of monster believes that sexual abuse should go unchecked and unpunished? We need not look very far, those monsters are amongst us, right here on this thread.
Captain Obvious says, "We cannot count on these monsters to protect our kids."
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Posted by: Concerned December 21, 2007 - 10:19AM
Indiana
Stiches77 wrote: "Although the observed sexual recidivism rates are only 10% to 15% after 5 years, the rates continue to increase gradually with extended follow-up periods."
Harris and Hanson wrote: "When the whole sample was examined, it was found that within the first five years of release, 14% had a new charge or conviction for a sexual offence. This percentage represents an overall average for a mixed group of sexual offenders. In the following five years (between years 5 and 10) an additional six percent (6%) of sexual offenders failed and in the five years following ...
read more
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Posted by: Concerned December 21, 2007 - 10:25AM
Indiana
These studies Adkins, Huff, & Stageberg, 2000; Fitch, 2006; Levenson & D’Amora, 2007; Schram & Malloy, 1995; Walker, Maddan, Vasquez, VanHouten, & Ervin-McLarty, 2005; Zevitz, 2006; Wakefield, 2006 each found no SIGNIFICANT differences between the recidivism rates of those sex offenders required to register and those who were not (comparison groups varied by year arrested & thus being subject to Megan's Law and were comparable on type of offense as well as other demographic characteristics).
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Posted by: Keith December 21, 2007 - 10:50AM
For 8 years I was considered a sex offender. I got to see what it is like to be one...and I can assure you that the stigma and outright shaming can cost an offender and his family everthing. Because my case was a "frame job", it should have been disposed of years ago. Because the of the Stingma, it took 8 years, 4 lawyers, and 250 thousand dollars. The prevelant attitude was: "he's a sex offender, we can do anything we want to him and nobody will care". I saw this attitude and corrupt pandering from everyone to our elected officials on down to my employers. This anything ranged from ...
read more
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Posted by: Stella December 21, 2007 - 11:10AM
Isn't it funny how every Registered Sex Offender is innocent? Just like how everybody in prison is innocent? (Uh, huh. Sure.)
You know there's an easy way to stay off the SOR - don't rape/molest little kids! What a novel idea!!!
This thread is closed.
