4-30-2008 National:
Lenore Skenazy, a columnist for The New York Sun, caused quite a stir earlier this month when she wrote about letting her 9-year-old son take a subway and bus by himself across Manhattan. The boy had been begging her to allow him to test his big city commuting skills on his own, and she finally agreed, handing him a map, a subway token, some quarters, and a $20 bill.
She didn't give him her cell phone, nor did she secretly tail him as he sallied forth across Gotham alone.
Within days Skenazy was on various television news programs, explaining why she was not, contrary to the opinion of many commentators, America's Worst Mother.
Skenazy pointed out that for a child to be abducted by a stranger is literally a one-in-a-million event (there were about 115 such abductions in the U.S. in 2006, of which about 50 resulted in the child's death. There are about 75 million children in America).
She emphasized that New York is a very safe city, with the same crime rate as Boise, Idaho. And she insisted that not allowing children to go anywhere without adult supervision is bad both for the children themselves, and for parents who give free rein to their neurotic obsessions with risk and safety.
These are excellent points, and reminded me of something a friend told me recently. She lives in an upscale Denver neighborhood, with her husband and two small children.
Another of the neighborhood's young mothers (needless to say discussions of this topic always focus on the responsibilities of mothers, as opposed to parents) had asked her if she had checked the Internet to confirm the precise location of the neighborhood's registered sex offenders.
My friend had not, but she soon realized that failing to do so could well mark her as a negligent mom among her hypervigilant peers. And of course by doing so her own anxiety level regarding her children's safety was raised, even though at a rational level she realizes (she's a lawyer) that a sex offender address registry doesn't tell you much of anything about actual risk.
All this reflects a more general problem: the many cultural and political forces pushing us to behave like a nation of hysterics.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the typical American suburb is just about the safest place that has ever existed in the history of the world - yet it's full of terrified people.
Statistics have little power in the face of a media environment in which extraordinarily rare events, such as strangers kidnapping children, are presented as commonplace by profit-hungry "news" outlets, for whom the bottom line is that fear sells.
Politicians realize this too. The ongoing overreaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks is only the most vivid example of how our leaders cynically exploit our fears by making wildly exaggerated claims, such as that Islamic terrorism poses an "existential threat" to America.
Indeed, the reactions to Skenazy's column are a nice example of how the personal is political, and vice versa. Skenazy notes that one acquaintance told her that he requires his daughter to call home after she has walked the one block to her friend's house, even though they live in a typically crime-free suburb.
Other parents informed her they don't allow their children to walk alone to the mailbox.
This kind of thing encourages children to see the world in fear-ridden terms, and to grow up to become the sort of people more interested in having their government protect them from largely imaginary threats than in preserving their civil liberties.
At this point, we should be more afraid of having our children stolen from us by Republicans than by kidnappers.
Paul Campos is a professor of law at the University of Colorado. He can be reached at paul.campos@colorado.edu. ..more..
April 30, 2008
CAMPOS: A nation of hysterics
April 29, 2008
WI- Wisconsin gets grant to enhance sex offender registry
It never ceases to amaze me how public officials drool over getting money, especially to update a glorified phone book. FREE Google blogs could be used as registries and save taxpayers tons of money, but to do so would put many state workers out of a job. Further, there is no proof that any registry reduces crime or recidivism, but there is proof that it provides a false sense of security.
4-29-2008 Wisconsin:
Madison -- Wisconsin has received a federal grant to make further improvements to its sex offender registry, state Department of Corrections Secretary Rick Raemisch said today.
The state will get a one-year grant of $204,780 to be able to make faster updates to the Web site and expand a system for verifying address information. It will also allow the state to work with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's criminal justice program to evaluate the state's existing operations in the context of new federal laws on sex offender registries.
"Wisconsin is leading the nation in strategies to tighten the net around sex offenders and prevent them from becoming anonymous in our communities," Raemisch said in a statement. "But keeping our kids safe is a never-ending job."
Read the full statement in the attachment here. ..more.. by Stacy Forster
Has US abstinence policy failed?
4-29-2008 National:
US lawmakers are investigating whether to cut government funding for health education programmes that promote sexual abstinence until marriage.
The move follows a report earlier this year from America's leading health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which revealed one in four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease.
Opponents of abstinence education say the approach ignores the fact that teenagers are sexually active and fails to give them accurate medical information or advice on safer sex.
"We get sex-ed classes in school and that should be where teens get the right information - but that isn't happening," says 15-year-old Mildred, from Arizona, who volunteers as a peer educator with the pro-choice organisation Planned Parenthood.
"They don't touch on subjects like sexuality, STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), birth control - it's not allowed because of abstinence-only education. It leaves you on a cliff-hanger - and a lot of teenagers become sexually active in their middle school years."
"Teens are curious and they want to experiment and if they know what's out there and they have the correct information, they're going to know how to protect themselves and prevent an unwanted pregnancy and an STD," adds Maryland high school student Melissa.
"Putting up a wall and saying 'don't have sex' makes them more curious and wanting to know what it is. But if you tell them the straight facts they're going to know how to protect themselves. It's about taking care of yourself."
Teen pregnancy
Planned Parenthood estimates that two thirds of teenagers will have experienced sexual intercourse by the time they leave school.
And with some 750,000 teenage pregnancies a year, America has one of the highest teen birth rates in the developed world.
"This national programme which has wasted $1.5bn (£750m) of tax money is a failure and our teens are paying the price," says Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood.
We've been wasting money on programmes that don't work and we're seeing the consequences every single day."
State governments receive federal money they must match to fund abstinence programmes.
At least 17 states have opted out of the system and others have suspended funding while Congress investigates whether such programmes work.
Critics say there is no evidence that they delay sexual activity and teenagers who have taken a vow of virginity are less likely to use protection if they break their promise.
Religious right
Roger Norman, a Texas lawyer, describes himself as being part of the religious right.
He runs an organization called Wonderful Days which does not receive government funding but teaches abstinence as part of the health curriculum in some local schools.
"I am convinced that abstinence is the only way for kids," he says. "You begin by teaching the consequences of bad behaviour and the benefits of proper behaviour and you do that in a way that a child can grasp.
"Self control leads to a happy, joyful life. If we can learn to control the most basic of drives - the sex drive - for good, then we can control drugs, gangs, alcohol and abusive anger."
His lessons promote marriage and virginity - for both partners - as an ideal.
They emphasise disease as a consequence of sex before marriage.
Some of his former students say that sexual abstinence is sensible and beneficial.
Eighteen-year-old Ashley says she believes teenagers who experiment with sex are laying the foundations for troubled relationships later in life.
"At some point everybody ends up getting married. Everybody wants commitment at some point and nobody likes to be cheated on.
"But a lot of the young people I know who go around have experiences with lots of different people are just preparing themselves for not knowing how to be committed to somebody.
"Once you get into the practice of doing whatever you want, it's hard to change when you're older."
Sixteen-year-old Josh says he relies on friends to help him stay abstinent.
"I have a lot of close friends and we pretty much agree on the same thing so we keep each other in line most of the time. Yes, it's difficult, but my friends are there and I'm there for them, and it gets easier if you have friends who agree with you."
"I'm pretty confident I can keep my abstinence vows," says 15-year-old Kirsten. "It was pretty hard reaching that decision, because living in this world today, it's almost expected of you to 'do it'. But with my religious upbringing and convictions and commonsense, it's really not that hard."
"Secondary virgins"
Teenagers who do have sex before marriage are given another chance by becoming "secondary virgins".
"Of course, if you view virginity as number one, and you've slept with someone, of course it's going to be different and you can never go back - but that doesn't mean there's no tomorrow," explains Ashley.
"Every day is a new decision and abstinence is not one you make once. You're going to have to make this decision over and over again. So if you fail once, you get back up and you try again."
The row over abstinence education is part of a much wider debate in the US about "family values".
Many conservatives are concerned that "American values" are being eroded.
But their opponents believe that the conservatives have an overly influential political voice, particularly within the current Bush administration.
For liberals, the campaign to roll back the abstinence programmes is part of a broader struggle against what they regard as reactionary elements in the US government.
Pro-abstinence campaigners say it is unfair to blame abstinence programmes for America's teenage health crisis.
Valerie Huber, chief executive of the National Abstinence Education Association, says only one in four schools teaches abstinence - the vast majority use comprehensive sex education.
That, she says is the real reason for the rise in STDs and teenage pregnancies.
"We would argue that abstinence education is not an ideological approach. We know that in the area of teen sexual activity, abstinence is the optimal approach.
"Compare this with healthful eating. We know that obesity is rising in America. That doesn't mean though that we minimise the optimal health message."
"We still stress good eating habits, we still stress exercise, knowing that, unfortunately, many Americans are not going to listen."
If Congress does decide to cut government funding for abstinence programmes, they will still continue.
Many enjoy public support and will likely find money elsewhere. ..more.. by Jane O'Brien
BBC News, Washington
NC- Judge rules in favor of sex offenders' rights
4-29-2008 North Carolina:
RALEIGH --Four sex offenders hooked up to satellite tracking systems had ankle bracelets and signal boxes removed after a Wake Superior judge ruled they couldn't be subject to the lifetime monitoring.
The recent ruling by Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand was the latest court decision to reject the state's attempts to track sex offenders who have finished their prison or probation sentences. Across the state, 122 people are under the tracking systems and many are contesting the satellite monitoring.
Ultimately, these court decisions in North Carolina and other states may result in a more definitive ruling by a higher court, experts and lawyers say.
"The courts, us, everybody is a little confused," said Hannah Rowland, who manages the monitoring program for the state Corrections Department in North Carolina. "We're all trying to work this out as best as we can."
The four men - David Wayne Rudder, 46, of Knightdale, N.C.; Ricky Coe, 44, of Wendell, N.C.; and Bruce A. McKoy, 38, and Kyle A. Cornelius, 35, both of Raleigh - had ankle devices and the transmitters that hung around their waist removed after Rand's decision. They joined 21 sex offenders who have fought North Carolina and had judges side with them.
The state legislature passed laws in 2006 and 2007 requiring lifetime satellite monitoring for sex offenders classified as repeat offenders, aggravated offenders, sexually violent predators, or who victimized children. The N.C. Department of Correction was assigned to attach the $1,400 units to the ankles of offenders who fell under those criteria. The Corrections Department spends nearly $3,000 a year tracking a single offender.
Defense attorneys around the state have raised questions about the constitutionality of the program, with the latest round of petitions aired in Wake County after an earlier ruling in Cumberland County. They argue that the sex offenders have served their punishments and shouldn't be subject to the close monitoring.
North Carolina started its sex offender registry in 1996, requiring people convicted of certain sex crimes - particularly repeat or violent offenders - to register their address and have their image and conviction data available to the public. Since then, the legislature has steadily created more oversight as public concerns about sex offenders increased, said John Rubin, a University of North Carolina professor who has studied the programs.
The Corrections Department and district attorney's offices around the state have asked for clarification from the N.C. Attorney General's Office, said Julia White, a spokeswoman for that office.
In his recent ruling, Rand skirted constitutional issues brought up by Charles Caldwell, a Wake public defender. Caldwell had said the monitoring violated the four men's constitutional rights.
Caldwell also questioned why the Corrections Department purchased a system that required daily charging, forcing an offender to stay home at least six hours a day.
Rand ruled that the state couldn't force the sex offenders to be monitored because their offenses occurred before the law took effect Dec. 1.
Rowland said the Corrections Department will continue to screen offenders to see which ones should be subject to the monitoring.
After that, it's up to judges to decide if those offenders should be subject to satellite monitoring. ..more.. by Sarah Ovaska - McClatchy Newspapers
CA- State widens DNA scanning in cold cases
Near-match a hint offender related to person in database
4-29-2008 California:
The California Department of Justice will help crime investigators identify new suspects in cold cases by scanning its DNA database for near-matches to crime-scene samples after an attempt to find an exact match fails.
A partial genetic match could suggest to police that the person they're looking for is a relative of a past lawbreaker whose genes are already in the system.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown announced the initiative this week at a meeting of state district attorneys, who have been clamoring for possible family leads to unknown offenders whose DNA was left at crime scenes. Until now, the state has released only exact matches between DNA evidence samples and individuals in its database of more than 1 million people.
The new program contains rules designed to protect genetic privacy, but civil rights organizations raised concerns that the enforcement tool would expose innocent family members to police surveillance and investigation.
Brown made the announcement the same day the U.S. Senate passed a genetic anti-discrimination act that would shield Americans from loss of medical insurance or job opportunities based on DNA tests that reveal their health risks. Genetic watchdogs say the same attention should be focused on the impact the expanding forensic use of DNA may have on privacy.
The sharing of partial DNA matches will provide only investigative leads, which will have to be buttressed by normal police evidence gathering before charges can be brought against a family member of the DNA donor in the database, Brown said.
The investigating agency would have to attest that all other avenues to solve the crime have been exhausted. The DNA near-matches could result in the arrest of a violent offender who might otherwise commit more crimes, the attorney general said.
"It's not (for) a parking ticket," Brown said. "We're talking about an unsolved murder or an unsolved rape where we have a technology to give us a lead to go further."
Policy discussion advocated
Tania Simoncelli, a science adviser for the American Civil Liberties Union in New York, said the expansion of DNA as a crime-fighting tool should be the subject of a broad policy discussion of its effect on society. "This isn't a decision that should be made only by law enforcement," she said.
State and federal agencies have been broadening DNA collection policies to include not only the convicted but also people accused of crimes, Simoncelli has argued. In January, California will begin taking DNA samples from anyone arrested in a felony case.
To a growing extent, criminal databases permanently retain DNA from people never convicted, Simoncelli maintains. In addition, she says, experts are developing ways to predict the appearance of people based on their genes, and some law enforcement agencies have surreptitiously collected DNA samples from cigarette butts and used coffee cups.
Simoncelli said on Friday that DNA databases contain disproportionate numbers of minority members because they are a greater focus of law enforcement than whites. Releasing family DNA matches would expose those communities to even wider genetic surveillance, she said.
Under California's standard for a partial match between crime scene DNA and genetic profiles in the state database, only relations as close as parents and siblings would usually be identified, said Brown's spokesman Gareth Lacy.
However, such near-matches might point to more distant relations or even nonrelatives, said Sheldon Krimsky, a Tufts University professor who is writing a book on forensic use of DNA.
Brown's chief assistant, Dane Gillette, said familial DNA leads would not be released unless testing were conducted beyond the routine genetic profiles created for the state database. The additional tests would have to confirm a family relationship between the DNA donor from the database and the unknown offender, he said.
Beyond that, Gillette said, a mere partial DNA match would almost certainly not be enough to justify a search warrant for DNA samples from the donor's relations. However, he said, police might request voluntary samples from family members.
'DNA dragnet'
Michael Risher, an attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, said police might pressure relatives who have never been in trouble with the law to give DNA samples to clear themselves. Civil rights advocates call this approach a "DNA dragnet" that could undermine the constitutional shield against government searches of individuals without a reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. The civil rights advocates say law enforcement agencies would be tempted to keep those samples for future genetic investigations.
Familial DNA searches can now cross state lines. The FBI, which collects data from all state DNA databases, allows states to share DNA partial matches with each other. California will accept requests from other states. Brown said he knows of no other state except Colorado that has a formal policy to release partial DNA matches.
At California's DNA forensics lab in Richmond, experts will also conduct customized DNA searches for family matches to specific genetic characteristics of unknown offenders in cases with "critical public safety implications."
Sharon Terry, president of the Genetic Alliance in Washington, D.C. , said the release of partial matches to law enforcement agencies "doesn't sound ethical at this point." The nonprofit supports the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which was passed by the Senate this week with strong backing from manufacturers of DNA-based diagnostic tests for health risks. Such companies fear their products will go unused if patients think the results would cost them a job or their medical insurance.
Terry said the relatives of criminal offenders have no equally powerful contingent to speak for them. "I think it's up to the rest of society to guard their interests," she said. ..more.. Bernadette Tansey at btansey@sfchronicle.com.
Department of Justice Announces $11.8 Million to Help States and Tribal Governments Comply With Adam Walsh Act
4-29-2008 National:
WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Justice today announced more than $11.8 million in grants and assistance to state, local, and tribal governments to assist with developing or enhancing programs designed to implement the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. These awards are made through the Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant Program.
"Protecting our most vulnerable citizens from dangerous predators is an intrinsic duty," said Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. "These grants will provide states, units of local government, and tribal communities with the resources they need to protect communities and fully implement the Adam Walsh Act."
The grants are administered by the Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). Funding will be used to develop or enhance sex offender registration programs; improve law enforcement and other justice agency information sharing as it relates to sex offender registration and notification; develop or enhance local absconder apprehension efforts; collect, store, and analyze sex offender biometric and DNA data for investigative purposes; and implement other efforts aimed at furthering the objectives of SORNA.
The Adam Walsh Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006 and is designed to protect children and vulnerable adults from sexual exploitation and violent crime. The Act also aims to prevent child abuse and child pornography, promote Internet safety, and honor the memory of Adam Walsh and other crime victims. SORNA, Title I of the Adam Walsh Act, was enacted to protect the public from convicted sex offenders and offenders against children by establishing a comprehensive national system for the registration of those offenders.
To further the Justice Department's efforts to assist state, local and tribal governments with the implementation of SORNA, the SMART Office will host its annual Symposium on Sex Offender Management and Accountability on July 30--August 1, 2008 in Baltimore. The 2008 Symposium will address a wide variety of topics relating to Sex Offender management and the implementation of the Adam Walsh Act. In addition, the Symposium will include specialized tracks focusing on policy, enforcement, emerging issues and Indian country issues. ..more..
ID- Idaho lab develops a quicker way to catch a thief - The New DNA
4-29-2008 Idaho
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Federal researchers say they've developed a human identification test that's faster and possibly cheaper than DNA testing. It would be a handy new weapon in the arsenal for detectives, forensic experts and the military, though no one expects it to replace DNA analysis — and its promoters say it is not intended to.
The new method analyzes antibodies. Each person has a unique antibody bar code that can be gleaned from blood, saliva or other bodily fluids. Antibodies are proteins used by the body to fend off viruses or perform routine physiological housekeeping.
"DNA is a physical code that describes you ... and in many ways so are your antibodies," said Dr. Vicki Thompson, a chemical engineer at the Idaho National Laboratory who's been working with other researchers to perfect the test for the past 10 years.
The scientists say an antibody profile can yield results faster and more cheaply and be performed in the field with minimal training. National lab administrators have licensed the technology exclusively to Identity Sciences LLC in Alpharetta, Ga.
The Georgia startup plans to begin rolling out test kits and training to law enforcement, the military and forensic and medical labs around the globe by fall of 2009. Ken Haas, vice president of marketing, says the test is not intended to supplant DNA testing, the recognized gold standard in human identification.
But Haas says the value of antibody profiling is as a screening tool to help make sense of a crime scene, sort out the blood trails or spatter from multiple victims or more quickly identify body parts on a battlefield or at the scene of a disaster like the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
It may also reduce the number of DNA tests required in an investigation, potentially saving time and money and easing the growing backlog, he said. Results from tests on blood serum or dried blood can be ready in two hours, a fraction of the time it takes to run similar tests for DNA matches.
However, a major drawback for now is the lack of a national antibody database. That's one of the reasons antibody testing is not likely to be used at the outset of an investigation to link suspects to crimes or establish probable cause to justify issuing an arrest warrant.
Company officials say beta testing by forensic scientists at simulated crime scenes at seven locations across the country has produced positive results and reinforced the notion that an eager market awaits. The company declined to say where the testing occurred, citing nondisclosure agreements with participants.
The company has not yet put a price tag on the field kits. But executives say their product will be significantly cheaper than DNA analysis, which can run anywhere from $500 to $3,000 per sample because it requires sophisticated equipment and lab time.
"We don't see this yet as a product to take to court," said Gene Venesky, vice president of Identity Sciences. "But we do see this as a way to get the case moving forward toward a final, legal resolution."
Still, some forensics experts say that kind of scrutiny may be unavoidable, especially if the test takes on a bigger crime-fighting role.
"There is a lot of potential here," said Lawrence Kobilinsky, a DNA expert and chairman of the Department of Forensic Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "Any time you can develop a quick and easy screen for something ... that is a good thing."
But Kobilinsky and others caution that it takes time for any new forensic test to gain acceptance where it matters most — state and federal courthouses. If the new tests begin appearing in police reports, defense attorneys can be expected to challenge their validity.
"If these tests are going to get to the courtroom, which I think is inevitable, they are not going to be admissible as evidence until they can be proven reliable, accurate" and trustworthy, Kobilinsky said. "My bet is that a crime scene unit is going to be very careful about using this if it's not going to be of any benefit in litigation." ..more.. by TODD DVORAK
Idaho National Laboratory: http://www.inel.gov/
Identity Sciences: http://identitysciences.net
April 28, 2008
MI- Oakland Co.'s handling of sex case charges raises concerns
4-28-2008 Michigan:
Oakland County prosecutors have won convictions in just 55% of the sex cases they have argued in front of juries since 2005, according to a Free Press review of court records.
About 35% of cases brought outright acquittals while the rest have ended in mistrials, hung juries or dismissals. By comparison, Wayne County juries convicted, on average, in about 80% of cases during that same time period. A comparable statistic was not available for Macomb County.
Defense attorneys contend the numbers indicate overzealous charging policies that can ruin lives over things like child custody disputes. One man spent almost $100,000 on legal fees and another spent 80 days in jail before their cases were dropped. Several legal experts say a 35% acquittal rate is a sign prosecutors are bringing cases that don't hold up under the scrutiny of a jury.
"That's high and that should give them concern," said Abbe Smith, the former deputy director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School who now teaches legal ethics at Georgetown University. "The charging decision is a critical decision. You should not prosecute every case."
Neither Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca, nor anyone in his office, would speak to the Free Press about his office's charging policies. The claims of negligent prosecutions come at a time when Gorcyca faces increased scrutiny for his handling of sex cases.
Earlier this month, the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission filed professional misconduct charges against Gorcyca for his handling of the case against James Perry, a former Oak Park kindergarten teacher charged with raping two boys. Perry was granted a new trial last year; the second trial ended in a hung jury this month with 11 jurors voting to acquit and one holdout.
Last month, Gorcyca dropped charges in a high-profile case against a West Bloomfield father accused of raping his autistic daughter after the man spent 80 days in jail. The case collapsed because the court could never establish the girl, who cannot speak, was the author of the rape claim allegedly made with the help of a teaching aide through a widely dismissed method known as facilitated communication.
And last fall, an Oakland County jury took less than 30 minutes to acquit an Oxford Middle School teacher accused of groping his daughter, who later recanted her testimony.
Watching for red flags
Michigan law does not require corroborating evidence, such as DNA samples, before sex charges can be filed.
Still, "some cases you just don't prosecute," said Therese Tobin, chief trial attorney in the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office. "Sometimes you have a 3-year-old victim, and you don't think you can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. You don't put the child through that."
Similarly, Tobin said, custody disputes raise questions about allegations children make against a parent.
"Divorce is always a big red flag," Tobin said.
Nancy J. Diehl , head of the felony trial division at the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, agreed.
"In cases where there is a motive, we take an even harder look," Diehl said.
Legal experts say a decision to not charge is almost as important as deciding to charge.
"As a threshold matter, prosecutors have tremendous discretion over what charges to bring," said David Uhlmann, a former federal prosecutor and current law professor at the University of Michigan. "The notion that prosecutors are automatons, who must pursue cases simply because allegations have been made, ignores the role of prosecutorial discretion and the obligation all prosecutors have to do justice in their cases."
Risks for prosecutors
Sexual assault cases, by their nature, are difficult to prove, since they typically hinge on one person's word against another's. Michigan law instructs jurors that they may convict on a victim's claim alone if they find it credible enough to remove any reasonable doubt. But experts say relying solely on victim's claims creates risks for prosecutors.
Gerard Wilson had been searching frantically for more than a day last May for his 14-year-old daughter when sheriff's deputies found her in a motel room with a convicted pedophile from Texas whom she met on the Internet.
The girl told police she had sex with Richard Carrasco, 27, who was arrested with a loaded gun, sex toys and thousands of images of child pornography. But the girl also told police her father had touched her inappropriately, too.
Wilson, an Oxford Middle School teacher, had not slept in more than 24 hours when investigators began an hours-long interrogation. He was in tears when they asked him to write his daughter a letter apologizing for the things she said he'd done: brushing his hand over the top of her breast, and once hugging her while partially aroused. Wilson wrote the letter, was immediately arrested and jailed on a $4-million bond.
The girl later testified that she made up the claims to shift police attention to her father instead of Carrasco, whom she said she wanted to marry. Jurors deliberated for less than half an hour before acquitting.
"I was glad the police interview was taped because it showed the progression, his state of mind, how they befriended him," said Wilson's attorney, Lawrence Kaluzny. "The jurors saw that and found it outrageous."
Since the ordeal, Wilson has returned to teaching and his daughter is back in school.
Patrick McCarthy tells a similar story. He was battling for custody of his two daughters in 2005 when they accused him of fondling them.
Police arrested McCarthy, 50, at his engineering job and jailed him. The Auburn Hills man spent nearly $100,000 on lawyers during the next five months, preparing for a trial that would never happen. The girls, who were 10 and 11 at the time, began recanting. Investigators pressed ahead anyway.
On the eve of trial, the girls met privately with the judge and confessed to fabricating the claims because they preferred living with their mother. Only then did Oakland County prosecutors drop the charges that McCarthy insists should never have been filed.
"They had no witnesses, no evidence and still they went forward," McCarthy said. "They do this, and they're not held accountable. They have to be held accountable when they destroy lives like this."
McCarthy has since spent all of his free time suing everyone involved in putting him in jail on false allegations, including the judge, the prosecutor's office, and the social workers he says failed to adequately question his daughters. All of the suits have been dismissed for not meeting the threshold of malicious prosecution, but he pledges to appeal. And he continues to fight for custody.
"I have to do this; I have to do this because of what these people did to my family," he said.
Protecting children, the innocent
In the case of the West Bloomfield man accused of raping his autistic daughter who cannot speak, the girl allegedly made the accusation through a controversial method known as facilitated communication, where a teacher's aide helps a nonverbal student type answers to questions on a keyboard. A prosecution expert testified that investigators violated protocols by not having a second facilitator verify the claim. Defense experts testified that scientific studies of facilitated communication show the facilitator, consciously or subconsciously, authors the messages.
During two days of demonstration in 48th District Court in January, the girl was unable to correctly answer a single question on the keyboard if the question was asked out of earshot of the facilitator. That raised doubts about whether the girl wrote a lengthy statement about sexual abuse.
Other evidence also seemed to contradict the girl's statement, including a physical exam that showed her hymen is intact, despite claims of repeated rapes since age 6. At one point, the girl's statement said she feared going to hell for lying, but her family is Jewish and doesn't believe in eternal damnation. The girl also claimed she feared her father, who kept guns in the house, but a police search of the home found no weapons.
Even after the courtroom demonstrations, Assistant Prosecutor Andrea Dean argued the man should remain in jail. But on Feb. 21, prosecutors reversed course and agreed to release him on personal bond with an electronic tether. On March 11, they asked District Judge Marc Barron to dismiss the case, claiming the girl was too afraid to testify. The judge dismissed the case.
"It is important to protect children, and we understand that," said defense attorney Robyn Frankel, who helped represent the girl's mother. "But it is equally important to be sure you're not putting innocent people in jail."
Perry's case has caused problems for prosecutors since the beginning. When he was accused of raping two boys at Oak Park's Key Elementary School in October 2005, prosecutors refused to charge, in part because the second boy denied any attack. Four months later, they reopened the case and charged Perry with rape after the second boy's mother told them her son had disclosed an attack. But the second boy's accounting conflicted with the first boy's and their accounts continued to change even through the second trial.
In September 2006, a jury convicted Perry, but Judge Denise Langford Morris threw out that conviction, saying police never interviewed three key witnesses who could have aided the defense.
A retrial concluded April 1 in a hung jury. Gorcyca now must decide whether to try Perry a third time, though Morris said that based on her conversations with jurors in the second trial, there was a "low probability of conviction."
During the case, Gorcyca called Perry "a freak" and a "pedophile" and publicized evidence excluded by the court, according to the charges filed against him by the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission. Gorcyca faces a hearing next month before the state's Attorney Discipline Board on the charges.
He said in a statement that he looks forward to defending himself. ..more.. by L.L. BRASIER at 248-858-2262 or brasier@freepress.com
April 27, 2008
FL- Eviction from shanties leaves homeless looking for new spots
Take note of my comments below, a blind society is creating its own slums in an effort to protect itself.
4-27-2008 Florida:
Darlene and Michael Downs might sound like a lot of struggling couples.
He is chronically ill; she doesn't work so she can take care of him. And now they're faced with losing their home -- a four-room place where they hang their wedding photos and snapshots of the grandkids and snuggle up before their 27-inch color TV.
Except home in this case is a shanty in the woods off John Young Parkway. And the Downses, like their neighbors amid these vine-covered oaks, have just gotten notice that they're about to be evicted.
"We're not bothering anybody," Michael Downs said. "And the doctors told me I can't take no more stress."
These days, even the woods are no haven for the homeless.
Orlando police officers, who first handed out trespass warnings in mid-April, said the crackdown stems from a nearby neighborhood group that "bombarded" police with complaints about registered sex offenders living in the woods.
"There were probably two or three out there, but even one is too many," Orlando police Lt. Robert Anzueto said. "There's no way to regulate them if they're in the woods. . . . And there is trash and debris all over the place. If I were a neighbor, I would be concerned."
Owners of the land -- a local investment group and an Ohio-based bank -- say their hands are tied. Orlando's code-enforcement office sent them notice about three weeks ago that they needed to clean up the property or face stiff fines.
--It is natural for people to have trash from normal living, and the difference here is, there is no trash pickup service where this group could place the trash for pickup. A blind society!--
"There's also a potential liability issue from people living on the property," said Steven Bechtel, a local attorney for Key Bank in Cleveland. There are no plans at this point to develop the property.
Darlene and Michael Downs admit they're not as neat as they were before Michael got sick. But they're not sex offenders, either. She is a 54-year-old former dog groomer who has a daughter and grandchildren in Delaware. He is a 60-year-old Vietnam veteran who lost his way after his two infant sons were killed in a car crash some 30 years ago. He met Darlene in the woods, where she has lived for nearly seven years.
He built her a home, such as it is, out of scrap wood and tarps and remnants of carpet. They have a generator, a pair of TV sets, a radio and a kitchen. Once, they had a nice front porch with wooden planters out front -- complete with geraniums that Darlene nestled in the soil -- but a bad storm knocked that down. They still have a sanctuary in the back -- a small bench before a trio of crosses. Each cross marks the grave of a dog they lost in recent years.
"We can't leave our babies," Darlene said.
The police say there are several camps and at least 60 homeless people in these woods, which flank John Young Parkway between W.D. Judge Road and West Princeton Street. Some of the people have lived here nearly 20 years, surviving on disability checks, military pensions or odd jobs. There are few rules outside of respecting others' privacy.
The Downses' place is marked by a gate to a path through the trees. But some of the campsites are well-hidden.
The Downses' closest neighbor is Sheryl Miller, a tidy 53-year-old woman who lives with her 28-year-old son. You won't find her place unless you know where to look.
"We have an agreement that we'll take care of each other," Miller said of her son, who works at the flea market on occasion to make money. Her place is a complex of tents, a stone fire ring, a bathroom and a shower.
For six years she has lived here, at the end of a winding path amid a heavy canopy of oaks. She is bright and well-spoken and spends much of her time cleaning, organizing and fetching water. She has read all of the 1,000 books she keeps in a tent at least once.
"I could understand if they were going to develop the property," she said. "I wouldn't have a problem with that. But they're not. You can't hear me, you can't see me, and all I want to do is sit here and drink my coffee and read my books. One guy -- he's been living here 18 years."
The Downses have a friend who will help them move to another camp, though what they've built will have to stay behind. But Miller and her son have no transportation, no money and no plans to move.
The initial trespass notice said people here would have 10 days to leave or they would face arrest. But last week, at the urging of homeless-outreach workers, police agreed to give the people more time to find other shelter.
"We've got a number of homeless veterans -- who have been homeless for 10 or 12 years -- we've got folks with mental illness who need treatment . . . We have folks with developmental disabilities," said Cathy Jackson, executive director of the Homeless Services Network. "There's a retired New York City police officer who lives out here. There are a lot of folks here who represent the failure of our system."
The retired officer, Richard Colligan, is 67 now. He wears thick glasses but seems healthy. When he talks about leaving his home of 11 years, the words start to stick in his throat and his eyes fill with tears.
"I've done nothing wrong," he said, though he knows he is trespassing. "I'm happy out here."
Some of the people already have accepted transitional housing, and a few have been reunited with family in other cities.
But for Colligan and the Millers and the Downses, there is no place like home in the woods.
"We'll find another spot," Michael Downs said. "God only knows how long before we get thrown out of there, too." ..more.. by Kate Santich can be reached at 407-420-5503 or ksantich@orlandosentinel.com.
April 26, 2008
CA- California takes lead on DNA crime-fighting technique
A few days ago I mentioned how DNA can be used in new evolving ways, well here we go! So if you have not yet entered your "Public Comment" to the DOJ request it is time to think about it.
4-26-2008 California:
The state will search its database for relatives of unidentified suspects in hopes of developing leads. Critics voice privacy concerns.
California will adopt the most aggressive approach in the nation to a controversial crime-fighting technique that uses DNA to try to identify elusive criminals through their relatives, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown announced Friday.
Employing what is known as familial or "partial match" searching, the policy is aimed at identifying a suspect through DNA collected at a crime scene by looking for potential relatives in the state's genetic database of about a million felons. Once a relative is identified, police can use that person as a lead to trace the suspect.
The new plan makes California a leader in such searches, which several states permit but do not vigorously pursue. Colorado has recently begun to examine its database for relatives of unknown criminals as part of a research project.
Brown said the new approach was justified by violent crime plaguing the state. He emphasized that it would be used only when all other leads had been exhausted.
"We have 2,000 murders a year in California -- that is 10,000 since the Iraq war started -- and that is a lot of killing," Brown said. "When you see it and see the victims and have to go to funerals, it is pretty serious stuff."
But Tania Simoncelli, science advisor to the American Civil Liberties Union, called Brown's decision a disappointment and said the organization is exploring its legality. The group has not decided whether to challenge the policy in court.
"The fact that my brother committed a crime doesn't mean I should have to give up my privacy," she said.
At a recent FBI conference on familial searching, Jeffrey Rosen, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, warned: "I can guarantee if familial searching proceeds, it will create a political firestorm."
The policy, which takes effect immediately, is designed to work like this: The state's crime lab will tell police about DNA profiles that come up during routine searches of California's offender database and closely resemble, but do not match, the DNA left at a crime scene. (Previously, the state refused to tell police about these partial matches.)
The lab will then perform calculations and tests to determine the likelihood of a biological relationship between the person found in the database and the unknown offender believed to have left DNA at the crime scene.
When such partial matches do not surface or fail to produce a lead, a more customized familial search can be done in which computer software scans the database proactively for possible relatives. The software measures the chance of two people being related based on the rarity of the markers they share.
California appears to be the first state in the nation to use this second technique as a matter of policy. Drafted with the heavy involvement of lawyers, the new policy requires a series of meetings with police and prosecutors to ensure that the relative's name is vital to the investigation and that all other leads have been exhausted.
Once a relative has been identified, police can interview him or construct a family tree based on existing records. If a suspect is identified, police can obtain a warrant for his DNA, or even gather it surreptiously from an abandoned drink or cigarette butt. The suspect's DNA sample would then be compared to the crime scene sample and possibly used as evidence.
"The people of California will know that we are using the database to try to solve as many crimes as we can, unlike virtually every other state in the country," said retired Alameda County Dist. Atty. Rockne P. Harmon, who consulted with the state on the policy.
Civil libertarians oppose using DNA databases to search for relatives of unknown offenders, saying it puts family members under "genetic surveillance" for crimes they did not commit. For now, all the people in the state's database are convicted offenders, but the state plans to expand the database next year to include arrestees, heightening concerns over privacy.
Critics say familial searching could expose sensitive and secret genetic relationships. A son, for example, could learn that his father was not his biological parent. DNA databases also reflect the racial and ethnic biases of the justice system, exposing minority communities to more surveillance than others, critics maintain.
FBI officials in charge of the national database network have also expressed concerns, making them unlikely allies of civil libertarians on familial searching. They urge a cautious approach, worrying that the courts will balk at this type of sleuthing. No law specifically authorizes it, and some legal scholars consider it unconstitutional because they say it amounts to an unreasonable search.
Brown called such objections hypothetical. The policy forbids the release of the names of relatives until genetic tests and analysis convince the state that the person is indeed a relative.
"It is still not going to be a fail-safe system, and we are going to make mistakes," said Simoncelli, the ACLU science advisor. "We are opening the door to using the database in such a fundamentally different way than the purpose for which it was established."
No one knows how well the state's plan will work. Harmon said he was absolutely convinced that it would provide at least some new leads for police.
Lance Gima, the state's top forensic scientist, agreed. But he conceded that the search for relatives would be a longshot because many unrelated people share genetic markers. He said he hoped the state's decision would spur technology to improve the accuracy of such searches.
Britain has done familial searching for years, using more sophisticated software. With a 10% to 14% rate of identifying perpetrators, Britain's searches have had limited but dramatic results, cracking some sensational crimes.
A serial rapist whose DNA was not in Britain's national database was caught because he was genetically similar to his sister, whose DNA was taken after a drunk-driving arrest. The so-called shoe rapist had a fetish for stiletto heels. When police captured him, they discovered scores of high heels he had stolen from his victims.
Police in the U.S. have used genetic relationships to help catch criminals in a different way, and on a much smaller scale.
After Kansas police zeroed in on the serial killer who dubbed himself BTK -- initials for bind, torture, kill -- they obtained a court order for the pap smear of his daughter. Without her knowledge, police performed a DNA analysis of the specimen, obtained from a medical laboratory.
The genetic similarities indicated they had the right man, Dennis Radar. ..more.. by Maura Dolan and Jason Felch, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
WA- How effective is GPS to track Sex Offenders?
4-25-2008 Washington:
GPS, just another system to make policitians sound good, like they are doing something great, so they get the votes for reelection. Its true, GPS works great, except, as this case shows, until it is removed. GPS has many other problems associated with it. Finally, as even the vendors will tell you, it will not PREVENT crimes, it merely follows someone to and from the crime scene, unless they cut it off beforehand.
OLYMPIA, Wash. – They're supposed to be a great tool to track dangerous sex offenders. But ever since a Level 3 sex offender was able to ditch his Global Positioning Satellite ankle bracelet this week, questions are arising over how effective the devices are.
Convicted child rapist David Torrence just got out of prison Sunday and now is nowhere to be found.
In the wake of the brutal killing of 12-year-old Zina Linnick of Tacoma last July by another convicted sex offender, Gov. Chris Gregoire advocated spending millions of dollars to better track offenders on the loose. A big part of the program is tethering the most violent criminals with satellite tracking devices.
"We must be tough but we must be smart to ensure this new tool actually works to keep our families safe," said Gregoire.
It didn't take long for a Torrence to outsmart the system. He cut his GPS device and ditched it at a Lynnwood apartment complex.
The family of his rape victim tells KING 5 News they're outraged.
"Obviously, the ankle bracelet doesn't work," said the victim's husband.
Roxanne Lieb of the Washington state Institute of Public Policy says research is still unclear as to whether GPS devices are effective in preventing criminals from committing crime again.
"I think if people looked at GPS and says that solves all of our problems, I think yes, that's a false sense of security," said Lieb.
Anna Aylward of the Department of Corrections says the Torrence case shows the system works because officials were alerted hours after the GPS device had been tampered with. Without the system, it would have taken law enforcement more than a day to realize Torrence had gone missing.
--How many crimes can be committed in the HOURS AFTER the device was tampered with? I guess its all in how you define WORKS? Just like recidivism rates have been proven to be low, but when states need for them to be high, they simply redefine RECIDIVISM.--
"In this case, the system worked well. We were able to respond to and work with local and state officials very quickly without the GPS system," said Aylward.
--Right, HOURS AFTER the device was removed.--
Torrence is now the subject of a nationwide fugitive alert. Anyone who knows of his whereabouts is asked to call 911.
Level 3 sex offenders are considered especially dangerous because they are most likely to re-offend.
In the first three months of this year, the Department of Corrections released 34 level three sex offenders. Of those, 15 were listed as homeless. ..more.. by BERNARD CHOI / KING 5 News
Why rapist got put under Snohomish bridge
High-risk sex offender had no place to go, now on the lam
4-26-2008 Washington:
SNOHOMISH -- They tried motels. They tried relatives. They tried homeless shelters.
When a high-risk sex offender was about to be released from prison, he had no place to stay. The state told him to sleep under a bridge beneath U.S. 2 near Snohomish.
"That's not an acceptable place to be living," Snohomish Police Chief John Turner said. "There is an issue. Where do sex offenders live? Where can they live?"
There's another issue, too.
Three days after being released from prison, David J. Torrence, 43, on Wednesday cut off the electronic monitoring bracelet he was issued and stopped reporting to his parole officer.
A nationwide no-bail arrest warrant has been issued for Torrence. He's a level-3 sex offender and considered at the highest risk of reoffending.
State Department of Corrections officials started working months before Torrence's release to find a place for him to stay, said Mary Rehberg, the officer assigned to Torrence's case.
"We'd rather them have a home and know where they're at than have them wandering the streets," she said. "The only reason he was there under the bridge was so we could know where he was."
The bridge near Snohomish was selected because it was convenient for Torrence to check in with parole supervisors and get transportation to other services, Rehberg said, adding there were no other alternatives for the homeless offender.
"I didn't want him under that bridge either," she said.
In 1995, Torrence pleaded guilty to second-degree rape. He was accused of grabbing a 16-year-old Snohomish County girl off Fifth Avenue near Casino Road. He threatened to shoot her and then sexually assaulted her, according to court records.
"He's a stranger rapist, which is the worst of all kinds," Snohomish County sheriff's detective Joseph Beard said. Beard tracks sex offenders in the county.
Torrence was sentenced to more than seven years in prison. Since completing that sentence, he's been arrested several more times.
"He has a history of failing to register," Beard said.
On Sunday, he was released from prison after serving a one-year term for failing to register as a sex offender.
People cannot be kept in prison once they've served their time even if they have no home, Snohomish County Sheriff John Lovick said.
"We can't really protect everyone from everything. We're doing our absolute best. That's all we can do," he said. "I believe we will find this guy."
Finding a place for high-risk sex offenders to live can be difficult, officials said.
State laws prevent them from living within 800 feet of a school or other places where minors come together to play. Local police must notify neighbors when a sex offender moves into a neighbor.
In Torrence's case, local motels and homeless shelters refused to give him a bed, Rehberg said.
He has relatives in Lynnwood, but he declined to live with them, she said.
Torrence's case isn't unique.
In the first three months of 2008, the state Department of Corrections released 34 level-3 sex offenders. Of those, 15 were homeless at release, said spokeswoman Anna Aylward.
State lawmakers said there needs to be a better solution for homeless sex offenders.
"We're going to have to get some facility, state-operated, to house them until they find permanent housing," said Rep. Al O'Brien, D-Mountlake Terrace. "It is not acceptable that we'll put them under a bridge."
Offenders determined to be sexually violent predators can be locked up in the civil commitment center on McNeil Island, said Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe. That's not easy. Mental health professionals must diagnose the offender as being among a narrow category of people geared toward sexual violence, and a court must agree.
Most sex offenders coming out of prison don't fall in that category, he said.
"The state should have some transitional place where they should be and if they do not comply with terms of their release they should go back into the slammer for a very long time," Pearson said.
There are about 55 homeless sex offenders in Snohomish County, Beard said. Each week, the offenders must check in with his office and let them know where they're sleeping.
"They're higher risk, they don't have any stability," he said.
For many of the men, it's all a game of trying to shrug off supervision, he said.
"They'll do anything to manipulate the system to avoid detection," the detective said.
O'Brien, the chairman of the House public safety committee, said he will push for a new law imposing a sentence of five years to life in prison for sex offenders who disable their GPS-monitoring devices.
Officials said Torrence's GPS system worked exactly as it was intended. When he cut it off, a warning was sounded and within hours police knew he was on the run.
"It gave us a head start," Beard said. "Nobody can follow them around 24-7."
As the search for the fugitive continued Friday, Pearson said he was frustrated with the state's handling of sex offenders.
"I am pretty irritated," the ranking Republican on the House public safety committee said. "What terrifies me is this person is very highly likely to re-offend.
"I am praying there is no catastrophe here." ..more.. by Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
April 25, 2008
KS- Court rules for Lowery
This is a rather interesting case, note, his conviction was overturned AFTER he had served his sentence based on DNA evidence.
4-25-2008 Kansas:
A federal appeals court has ruled against a group of former Riley County Police Department officials who are being sued by a man who served 10 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the bulk of the defendants' appeals in which they claim they are immune from the lawsuit of plaintiff Eddie Lowery.
Lowery, a soldier at Fort Riley at the time, was convicted in 1982 of raping a woman in Ogden. He served 10 years in Lansing State Penitentiary and another 10 years as a registered sex offender. On July 26, 1981, Lowery was involved in a traffic accident in Ogden, the same night a 74-year-old Ogden woman was raped in the vicinity of the accident. Law enforcement suspected a connection and took Lowery into custody; he was questioned for about eight hours.
In 2003, DNA testing proved he didn't commit the crime and on April 4 of that year Riley County District Court Judge Meryl Wilson declared him innocent. Lowery had been paroled in 1991, but only after he agreed to confess to the crime for a second time to be able to complete a sex offender treatment program as a mandatory condition for release.
Seven months later, Lowery filed a lawsuit, seeking $15 million in damages from various police officers and governmental agencies for violation of his civil rights. He alleges that his "confession" was coerced in part and fabricated by some Riley County Police officers.
Monday's ruling keeps alive most of Lowery's lawsuit against Harry Malugani, Douglass Johnson, Steve French, Alvan Johnson, and Larry Woodyard in U.S. District Court in Wichita. They had appealed a decision by Judge J. Thomas Marten, who denied their contention that they are immune from the lawsuit and their request for a summary judgment in their favor without a trial.
The appellate judges dismissed most of the officers' appeal, stating that a summary judgment wasn't appropriate because key evidence was in dispute. Other defendants are the Riley County Commission, Manhattan City Commission and Ogden City Council.
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was one of the three judges who issued Monday's ruling for the Denver- based court. O'Connor has sat in with various appeals courts across the county in recent months. The other judges were Deanell Tacha of Lawrence and Robert Henry of Oklahoma City.
Barry Clark, one of Lowery's attorneys, said in a published report that the ruling moves the case into a discovery period where each side can obtain evidence from the other side. ..more.. by Staff Reports
The Department of Justice is asking for "Public Comments" on a Proposed Rule concerning DNA
4-25-2008 National:
On Friday April 18, 2008 the Department of Justice posted the following in the Federal Register: The Department of Justice is publishing this proposed rule to implement amendments made by section 1004 of the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005 and section 155 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 to section 3 of the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000.
It might be a good idea to print the PROPOSED RULE from the Federal Register so you can read it before posting your comments: CLICK (it is a PDF file)
This rule directs agencies of the United States that arrest or detain individuals, or that supervise individuals facing charges, to collect DNA samples from individuals who are arrested, facing charges, or convicted, and from non-United States persons who are detained under the authority of the United States.
Unless otherwise directed by the Attorney General, the collection of DNA samples may be limited to individuals from whom an agency collects fingerprints. The Attorney General also may approve other limitations or exceptions.
Agencies collecting DNA samples are directed to furnish the samples to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or to other agencies or entities as authorized by the Attorney General, for purposes of analysis and entry into the Combined DNA Index System.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 19, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to David J. Karp, Senior Counsel, Office of Legal Policy, Room 4509, Main Justice Building, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20530. To ensure proper handling, please reference OAG Docket No. 119 on your correspondence.
In addition: You may submit comments electronically (That is done from the Regulations.gov website) . Here is the procedure to get you to the proper document on the Regulations.gov website:
1) Click on this link: http://www.regulations.gov/
2) In the SEARCH box enter: DOJ-OAG-2008-0009-0001
3) Near the bottom of the page you will see "View this document" and just above that is this Docket ID: DOJ-OAG-2008-0009 CLICK on that link
4) Now you will see a full page, where you can "add your comment," or see the comments that others have already entered.
Note: To add your comment click on the yellow balloon
which is on the PROPOSED RULE line over to the right side.
CAUTION: BEFORE ENTERING YOUR COMMENTS read the following which explains how to stop your PERSONAL or BUSINESS INFORMATION from appearing online, although your comment will still appear.
Posting of Public Comments:
Please note that all comments received are considered part of the public record and made available for public inspection online at http://www.regulations.gov. If you wish to submit a comment, the public posting will include voluntarily submitted personal identifying information (such as your name, address, etc.).
If you want to submit personal identifying information (such as your name, address, etc.) as part of your comment, but do not want it to be posted online, you must include the phrase ‘‘PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION’’ in the first paragraph of your comment. You also must locate all the personal identifying information you do not want posted online in the first paragraph of your comment and identify what information you want redacted (not printed online).
If you want to submit confidential business information as part of your comment but do not want it to be posted online, you must include the phrase ‘‘CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION’’ in the first paragraph of your comment. You also must identify prominently any confidential business information to be redacted within the comment.
If a comment has so much confidential business information that it cannot be redacted effectively, all or part of that comment might not be posted on http:// www.regulations.gov.
Personal identifying information and confidential business information identified and located as set forth above will be placed in the agency’s public docket file, but not posted online. If you wish to inspect the agency’s public docket file in person by appointment, please see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT paragraph.
Please remember that DNA is an ever evolving science. The articles I have recently posted here here and here show that more and more information can be learned from a person's DNA.
Another major point, where can DNA be collected from, the articles above show that when a person gives a blood sample or other body fluids for medical reasons, can the government obtain those to add to CODIS. Far fetched today, but ask any registered sex offender how those rules have evolved since their inception. Many questions remain.
Today this rule basically covers COLLECTING DNA but I see nothing in the rule that prevents lawmakers -in the future- from doing anything they want with the CODIS data base where all DNA information is stored.
This is a complicated proposed rule and honestly I don't have answers to many questions that my own mind conjures up. I am not sure that I can even take in the Acts that are involved here in time to enter an intelligent comment before the DEADLINE of May 19, 2008.
I suggest that, since multiple comments are permitted, when you think of something, make it a comment by itself.
Good luck, and I'll try my best to answer questions, but I am not an authority on this Proposed Rule.
Have a great day and a better tomorrow.
eAdvocate
April 24, 2008
Genetic Nondiscrimination Bill Clears Congress
What will prevent Lawmakers from misusing genetic information. i.e., DNA (More to come)
4-24-2008 National:
A bill to protect Americans from discrimination based on their genetic makeup has passed the Senate by a vote of 95-0, sending it to the president's desk via a final vote in the house that is considered a formality. President Bush is widely expected to sign the legislation into law.
The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act, aka GINA and S. 358, had been bouncing around Congress for a decade, but this is the first time it has passed through both the House and Senate.
"After a very long wait, Americans can now be confident that their genetic information cannot be used by health insurers or employers in harmful or hurtful ways," Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center, said in a statement.
The legislation's passage could make consumers and patients more willing to have their DNA tested for disease-indicators, which could swing the door wide-open for so-called personalized medicine in which genetic and genomic data is used to tailor treatments. It could be a major win for genomic testing companies like 23AndMe and Navigenics, who are collecting and analyzing unprecedentedly large amounts of genetic information from their clients.
Genetic testing advocates worried that the adoption of testing would be slowed by the lack of government protection. Surveys appeared to back that sentiment with an overwhelming number of Americans saying they wanted their genetic data safeguarded from employers and insurers.
GINA, specifically, would bar employers and insurance companies from using genetic information in human resources decisions or determining insurance eligibility.
The bill appeared on the verge of passing into law last year before it got held up by Tom Coburn, a Republican Senator from Oklahoma as detailed in a Wired.com story last year, "Genetic Non-Discrimination Bill Stalled in Senate."
Coburn's press secretary, Don Tatro, said that a clause was added to the legislation that removed Coburn's concerns.
"Dr. Coburn supported the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act the whole time," Tatro said. "We just wanted to make sure that we didn't create unintended consequences." ..more.. by Alexis Madrigal
DNA - A Special Report
4-24-2008 National:
Remember this report: From DNA of Family, a Tool to Make Arrests
Scenario: Suppose a prosecutor could allege in a criminal proceeding for say robbery, that the defendant's DNA contains a marker which places him in the group of convicted felons who are known to commit robberies, and even though the defendant's DNA was not at the scene of the robbery, it is highly likely that he has committed the robbery because he was in the vicinity of the robbery.
Today this is not possible but stay tuned, because later today I will present a Special Report on DNA. The horizon is changing and it is getting scary.
ChoicePoint(R) Nonprofit Audit Finds Five Percent of Applicants Have Prior Criminal Convictions
Nonprofits Must Be Vigilant on Background Screening for Potential Employees and Volunteers
4-24-2008 National:
ALPHARETTA, Ga., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Every day, 144 individuals with criminal records seek employment or a volunteer opportunity with a nonprofit, according to a background screening audit conducted by ChoicePoint, a leading provider of background screening services to the nonprofit sector. Many of these nonprofits serve many vulnerable populations including children, the poor, the elderly and the disabled.
In data compiled from 2002 to 2007, ChoicePoint completed more than 3.7 million background screenings and found that more than 189,000 individuals who had at least one criminal conviction attempted to gain employment or volunteer with a nonprofit organization. The audit also found:
-- More than 2,700 registered sex offenders;
-- 3,900 sex-related crimes;
-- 37,400 drug-related offenses; and
-- 651 murder convictions.
"I hope this audit raises awareness and inspire nonprofits to partner with us in protecting vulnerable populations, so that we may all work together to ensure a safer, more secure society," said Derek V. Smith, chairman and CEO of ChoicePoint.
The audit also found that the top-10 most cited criminal offenses include (in order):
1. DWI/DUI
2. Theft/Larceny
3. Simple Worthless Check/Bad Checks
4. Drug Possession(2)
5. Assault
6. Burglary
7. Sex-related crimes (including rape)
8. Disorderly conduct
9. Criminal trespass
10. Forgery
While the majority of individuals who apply for volunteer or employment positions within the nation's 1.47 million nonprofits(1) do so to serve, nonprofits must also balance the needs of their organizations by remaining vigilant about the risks some individuals pose to the safety of the clients they serve.
According to a recent report by the National Center for Victims of Crime, the nation's leading advocacy group for crime victims, one in three U.S. nonprofit organizations do not conduct background checks on volunteers, and roughly one in eight do no screening at all. Although the majority of surveyed nonprofit human service organizations conduct some screening, most agencies that serve vulnerable populations could benefit from more thorough and comprehensive volunteer screening practices.
"For nonprofits that serve vulnerable people, failure to screen volunteers may prove far more costly than background checks," said Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. "To protect their reputations, their resources, and-above all-those who depend on them, nonprofits should review their screening practices and fill any current gaps."
The ChoicePoint audit is available at http://www.choicepoint.com/nonprofit/white_papers.html and the National Center for Victims of Crime report Who's Lending a Hand? A National Survey of Nonprofit Volunteer Screening Practices is available at http://www.ncvc.org. ..more..
OK- Shawnee residents mad over sex offender treatment center
4-24-2008 Oklahoma:
SHAWNEE — City officials said they can't prevent a sex offender treatment center from opening near a residential area, but promise to keep a close eye on its inhabitants.
City commission chambers here were packed Monday night with residents who live in the neighborhood around 1401 E Highland, where Chandler and Associates is planning to open the treatment center.
Residents voiced concerns about sex offenders being within close proximity to Horace Mann Elementary School, children who live in the area being targeted for abuse and the affect on those in the neighborhood who are former victims of abuse.
Resident Faith Jacoway said she isn't against sex offenders getting treatment, but doesn't think the center should open near a school.
"You wouldn't put an AA meeting next to a liquor store," Jacoway said.
She suggests the business find a location away from residential areas or move downtown near the police station.
Reggie Neal trembled with anger as he told commissioners he would not allow his children to play in the neighborhood where a sex offender could see them.
Another woman cried as she told the commissioners her daughter, a victim of sexual abuse, was having problems at school since her family learned the treatment center would be opening a few blocks from her house.
City Manager Jim Collard tried to cool tempers by telling the angry crowd that Chandler and Associates' owner, Holly Chandler, was now planning to put the building up for sale as soon as possible. City officials are helping her look for an alternative place to hold the treatment sessions, he said.
In the meantime, there is nothing in the law that could prevent her from temporarily opening, Collard said. The business meets the area's commercial zoning requirements and if its remodeling meets city code requirements, then she will be issued an occupancy permit, Collard said.
"I assure you the police department will monitor activity there closely," Collard said. "If one thing out of line happens, then we will do what we can to close it down immediately."
Chandler was not at the meeting, but spoke to The Oklahoman on Monday.
Chandler said the group sessions are for less than a dozen low-level sex offenders and last for one hour, once a week. She said she has been holding the classes for about 10 years at various locations in Shawnee with no complaints. She also holds similar classes in 23 counties in all.
"Now my clients are scared to come to treatment, because they think someone is going to attack them," Chandler said.
Chandler said she's sunk more than $80,000 in the building with intentions of having classes for substance abuse, sex offenders and to teach anger management.
She said she eliminated the substance abuse treatment classes after getting bad information from city officials. She said she was told the building met the required 1,000 feet distance from the school. After buying it, she learned she was 320 feet from the school and couldn't treat individuals for substance abuse.
"This whole thing is financially and emotionally devastating to me," Chandler said.
State Rep. Chris Steele, R-Shawnee, said state law prohibits sex offenders being within 300 feet of a school, park or childcare center, but it doesn't apply to medical or treatment centers that treat sex offenders.
Steele said he'll investigate amending the law to increase the distance and possibly include treatment centers.
"There is a loophole that has been raised here," Steele said. "We need to tighten that loophole." ..more.. by Ann Kelley, Staff Writer
MA- Bill bars gangs from 'safety zones'
This sounds all too familiar, is this the start of a new registry?
Initiative seeks fines, jail for loitering in parks, neighborhoods
4-24-2008 Massachusetts:
Gang members seen talking to one another or standing together on public property could be fined or jailed under a new bill being pushed in the Legislature and supported by some prosecutors and Boston police.
more stories like thisThe bill would give broad authority to police and prosecutors to bring civil lawsuits against reputed gangs or their members, forbidding them to hang out together in the neighborhoods and parks that police say they terrorize.
Such a law has been hailed as a successful crime-fighting tool in cities such as Fort Worth, San Diego, and Los Angeles, which has been imposing civil injunctions against gangs such as the Crips and the Bloods since the 1980s.
But the approach has drawn the ire of civil libertarians who say it is too sweeping and violates the constitutional rights of people who have not been charged with any crime and may be wrongly identified as gang members.
Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis, who estimated that Boston has about 2,000 gang members, said he believes the injunctions would help neighborhoods.
"These groups of kids that hang around together that sell drugs, that run guns, if you're able to separate them, that's a huge benefit," said Davis, disputing assertions that the measure would violate the rights of some individuals.
"People will argue that not allowing people to stand together in a place is wrong," Davis said. "But no one has a right to commit a criminal conspiracy and hold a community hostage, and that's exactly what happens in some of the areas where gangs are well established."
Under the bill, suspected gang members would be barred from parks, neighborhoods, and other areas designated as "safety zones," and police could order groups of three or more gang members found there to leave. The restriction, which would not extend to church or school events, would also impose a 10 p.m. curfew on gang members.
Police said the theory behind the measure is that disrupting gangs will reduce crime and restore peace to neighborhoods plagued by violence. The legal enforcement tool would be civil injunctions against identified gangs and gang members who have been involved in a "pattern of criminal activity."
Gang members would face criminal contempt charges, fines, and possible jail time if they violate the order barring them from congregating in certain areas. They would have 10 days to challenge the injunction in court.
Gang members would be identified by police, based on prior convictions or intelligence linking them to gangs, according to law enforcement officials.
The bill, which was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee this month, has the support of numerous politicians, including Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi. ..more.. by Maria Cramer and Shelley Murphy
