What's Happening in the World of Sex Offender Issues?

6-29-2010 National:

A few items to report:

NEW Supplemental Guidelines: Folks please remember the deadline for comments is 7-13-2010 11:59 PM and not a second later! In case you haven't read why and what folks should be commenting on, see SORNA: New Supplemental Guidelines.

At the end of last week a reader mentioned something which is requiring a new Commentary which will be in a day or two. This one is quite important and deals with Congress preventing folks (that includes registrants and their families) from going to court over the use of the DOJ "Checking System" -under certain circumstances-, which if folks remember, that is the system used by social networking sites to, errrrr, kick registrants off their websites; clearly a system operating under the color of law. More in the new commentary.

National Issues: For some time now I have provided folks with a review and summary of bills in Congress affecting sex offenders. In addition folks can find various news reports and other articles on my Research & News Blog. I have also provided other speciality blogs dedicated to special subjects related to sex offenders and the harm caused them by today's laws, and vigilantism subtle and otherwise.

Today I am announcing a NEW blog which is being added to the family of blogs. It is "Congress, Courts and National Legislation." The focus of the blog is simple "Whats Happening in Washington DC that Affects Sex Offenders and Sex Offenses." All national news, articles etc. will be posted there; national is its focus.

A second focus is to be a "learning Resource" for persons who want to get involved -in these issues- (esp. families of newly convicted offenders) and how to get around Washington DC and find information relevant to their issues. Today the blog is locked as I put the finishing touches on it, and I also would like everyone to suggest ways to make it better once it is unlocked.

It is important to get more and more folks involved, each doing something, and it doesn't matter what that is, just get involved, and focus efforts on Washington DC, because whatever happens there trickles down to the states. The Adam Walsh Act began there and it is certainly affecting the states today, the Supplemental Guidelines is proof of that.

RSOL Conference: RSOL held their Conference in Washington DC last week and on Monday they were visiting a few lawmakers. See "UD study says state wastes millions of dollars on treating low-risk juvenile sex offenders." Norm Pattis, a Connecticut lawyer also attended the RSOL conference and summarized his thoughts "Sex Offenders, Lawyers and the Burden of a Voice." I'm sure when folks get back home from their trip to Washington DC, we will hear more reports.


SMART Office: On the 24th the SMART Office announced, 38 more states were granted extensions, they are: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virgin Islands, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming. They also claimed that 3 are in compliance, they are: Ohio, Delaware and Florida. They also mentioned that, 80 Tribes were granted extensions. See SMART Office Notice.

Apparently failing to comply with the Adam Walsh Act classification scheme -100%- does not cause a state to be OUT of Compliance. Remember, the Ohio Supreme court has declared the classification scheme, as to certain offenders, invalid because it violates the classification level given those offenders -previously- by the courts.

Maine News: Apparently 400 registrants in Maine have been removed from their registry. See "More Than 400 Convicted Sex Offenders Now Off State Registry." I also noticed that "Maine" is not in the list of states that were granted an extension (see above) by the SMART Office. I can only guess that the SMART Office is looking to find a way to get the 400 back under SORNA's umbrella. But, AWA does have terms of registration, and those terms will end one day. Hopefully we will NOT see another retroactive application of AWA in some fashion to get folks back into that snare.


New Acronym: In a news release I found this "CNSORNA" which apparently is SORNA preceded by CN means Cherokee Nation. Cherokee Nation Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“CNSORNA”). Now, if you noticed the SMART Office granted extensions to 80 Tribes, boy have we got a pile of acronyms to learn. One reason why I do not follow Tribes. Now, will each state begin to use similar coding ALSORNA, TXSORNA, MASORNA, etc.? I hope not.


New Research: This is an excellent paper by Dr. Levenson (and others) titled: "Residential Proximity to Schools and Daycares: An Empirical Analysis of Sex Offense Recidivism." The paper concludes "There was no significant relationship between reoffending and proximity to schools or daycares."

Have a great day and a better tomorrow.
eAdvocate