9-30-2010 California:
The Fourth District Court of Appeal yesterday reaffirmed its ruling that an order requiring a defendant to register as a sex offender subject to Jessica’s Law’s restriction on residency within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children gather must be based on facts found by a jury.
The California Supreme Court had ordered Div. Three to reconsider the 2008 decision in light of the high court’s opinion earlier this year that the restriction was not additional punishment when imposed on parolees already registered as sex offenders.
Steven Lloyd Mosley challenged an Orange Superior Court judge’s order that he register as a sex offender after a jury convicted Mosley of assaulting a 12-year-old girl in the carport of an Anaheim apartment, but acquitted him of committing a lewd act on the minor. Judge David A. Hoffer based the ruling on factual findings he made about Mosley’s motivations for the 2003 assault.
California’s sex offender registration laws grant a judge discretion to order sex offender registration for “any offense” if the judge finds that the offense was “committed as a result of sexual compulsion or for purposes of sexual gratification.” Mosley appealed Hoffer’s order, arguing that those findings needed to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to the jury, and Div. Three initially agreed in an opinion by Justice Raymond J. Ikola.
Joined by Justices Kathleen O’Leary and Eileen C. Moore, Ikola wrote that sex offender registration, by itself, was merely “regulatory” and “remedial.” But he reasoned that voters’ 2006 approval of Jessica’s Law, which imposed a residency requirement potentially banishing registered sex offenders from whole neighborhoods or cities, increased the punitive effect of registration beyond the statutory maximum penalty, effectively constituting punishment.
The U.S. Supreme Court held in in Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000) 530 U.S. 466 that a defendant has the right to a jury trial on any facts—other than a prior conviction—that increase the penalty for a conviction beyond the statutory maximum. The high court relied on that rationale to strike down mandatory federal guidelines for sentencing in 2005 and a feature of California’s Determinate Sentencing Law in 2007.
The California Supreme Court directed Ikola and his panel to reconsider in light of the state high court’s opinion in In re E.J. (2010) 47 Cal.4th 1258. Reviewing the imposition of the residency restriction as a parole condition, the justices there held that the restriction applied prospectively to four registered sex offenders paroled after passage of Jessica’s Law.
But the court in E.J. did not address the 2,000-foot residency limit’s application to registered sex offenders not already on parole, leaving unanswered whether the restriction constituted increased punishment for an offense when a trial court imposed discretionary registration as part of a sentence.
Focusing on that question, O’Leary wrote on behalf of the appellate panel that the restriction was punishment due to its effect, and she ordered the sex offender registration requirement stricken from the judgment against Mosley.
“We leave the substance of the sex offender registration scheme untouched,” she said. “Courts may impose discretionary sex offender registration; registered sex offenders may be subject to the residency restriction. We hold only that imposing the residency restriction through discretionary sex offender registration as part of the sentencing on the underlying offense increases the penalty for that offense beyond the statutory maximum. Accordingly, the facts supporting the imposition of the registration requirement must be found true by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Ikola and Moore joined O’Leary in her opinion.
The case is People v. Mosley, 10 S.O.S. 5606. ..Source.. STEVEN M. ELLIS, Staff Writer
September 30, 2010
C.A. Reaffirms Ruling Requiring Jury Findings to Impose Sex Offender Registration Requirement
September 29, 2010
Court: Sex offender’s carpentry job at daycare center OK
9-29-2010 Arkansas:
LITTLE ROCK — Working at a daycare center is not necessarily illegal for a convicted sex offender if the work does not involve direct contact with children, the state Court of Appeals ruled today.
The court overturned a Jefferson County circuit judge’s decision to revoke the probation of Joe A. Newman, a Level 4 sex offender.
The state asked the judge for the revocation after Newman’s probation officer learned in August 2008 that Newman was doing carpentry work at a Pine Bluff daycare center.
At a revocation hearing, Newman’s attorney argued that Newman did not violate a state law prohibiting Level 3 and 4 sex offenders from taking positions that require direct interaction with children. Although Newman was working at the center while children were present, he did not interact with them, his attorney said.
The state did not present any evidence that Newman interacted with children, but his probation officer, Lashondra Brown, testified that as she understood the law, he was “not to be around kids, period.”
Circuit Judge Berlin Jones concluded that Newman’s interpretation of the law was “downright ludicrous” and sentenced Newman to six years in prison.
Today a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals reversed Jones’ ruling, finding that the state law cited in the case — which was the only reason Jones gave for his ruling — was not violated.
The law states that it is unlawful for a Level 3 or 4 sex offender to “engage in an occupation or participate in a volunteer position that requires the sex offender to work or interact primarily and directly with a child under 16 years of age.”
The court said the law clearly is not so concerned with where a sex offender works as it is with making sure that the work does not involve direct contact with children.
“Had the Legislature intended for Level 4 sex offenders ‘not to be around kids, period,’ they could have said so, and if that was a condition of appellant’s probation, the probation office should have produced a copy of that condition at the revocation hearing,” Judge David Glover wrote in the appeals court’s opinion. ..Source.. John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau
Registered offender fails to report bridge address
This is insane, just insane! All this to know where he sleeps for a few hours of the day/night.9-29-2010 New York:
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. (AP) - A New York man who served a year behind bars for attempted sexual abuse 14 years ago is heading back to prison for failing to report his new address under a bridge.
Police say John Printy, a registered sex offender, started living under a bridge after he was forced to move from his Hudson Falls home because it was too close to a school. He didn't register his new address with police or state officials as required by law.
The 41-year-old Printy pleaded guilty in Washington County Court to a felony count of failing to register as a sex offender in connection with his Aug. 16 arrest. He faces one to three years in prison as part of the plea deal. ..Source.. by NBC12.com
County says law limits sex offender e-mail notification plan
If anyone understands EXACTLY what law prohibits what they want to do, please contact eAdvocate. Whatever this prohibition is, it may also affect ALL the iPhone type Offender locator programs, hopefully stop them.9-29-2010 California:
San Diego County is launching a one-year pilot program to inform neighborhoods by e-mail whenever the status of a registered sex offender living near them changes.
County Supervisor Bill Horn had proposed a more extensive notification that would have provided the offender's name, photo and address.
That was scuttled, however, when the state Attorney General's office told county officials that such detailed notification regarding a specific offender being disseminated by county e-mail violated state law.
County Counsel John Sansone said Tuesday discussions between his office, the county District Attorney and the Attorney General made it clear the law prohibits what Horn wanted. More precise information on how the law prohibits dissemination of that information by targeted e-mail was not immediately available.
"We are protecting the wrong people and the law needs to catch up with technology," Horn said. "The penal code is behind technology, really. We have some dangerous predators out there."
What the county can do, said Greg Thompson, a senior policy adviser with the Sheriff's Department, is send out an e-mail alert that an offender's status has changed, directing recipients to the California Megan's Law website that tracks registered sex offenders.
San Diego County has about 4,000 registered sex offenders with roughly 25 percent of that number under some form of supervision such as parole, Thompson said.
Supervisors unanimously approved spending $20,000 to develop the e-mail system and agreed to review how it's working after a year.
They also agreed to make it a priority to lobby to change that aspect of state law that prohibits the detailed, targeted e-mail. ..Source.. by Mark Walker
September 28, 2010
Va. court reconsiders police GPS use
While the Virginia court rehears this case, the 9th Circuit has already done so with a similar case. see: USA -v- Juan Pineda-Moreno. This may be the reason why the Virginia court sua sponte decided to rehear their case.9-28-2010 Virginia:
Two weeks after the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that it was fine for police to use portable global positioning systems to track criminal suspects, the court has now decided to rehear the case, according to an order entered on Thursday.
The court ruled in the case of David L. Foltz Jr., a convicted sex offender whom Fairfax County police suspected might be assaulting women in the Falls Church area. Detectives placed a global positioning system device inside the bumper of his work van, then reviewed his movements and found he had been in the vicinity of a recent assault.
Then police followed him and actually arrested him in the process of attacking another woman.
Foltz was convicted of abduction with intent to defile and given a mandatory life sentence for his second sex-related conviction. His lawyers appealed, challenging the use of the GPS to track Foltz.
Earlier this month, a three-judge panel of Chief Judge Walter S. Felton Jr., and Judges Randolph A. Beales and James W. Haley Jr. found the use of the GPS did not violate Foltz's Fourth Amendment right to privacy.
But on Thursday, the appeals court declared "on its own motion" that the full 11-judge court would now hear the case, and instructed both sides to file briefs.
Foltz's appeal was reinstated, the brief order notes. ..Source.. Tom Jackman
Sex Offender Treatment Programs
9-28-2010 California:
For the first time, the country got a closer look at a case that gripped San Diegans this year. Dateline debuted its season premiere Friday night with the case of John Gardner -- the sex offender who raped and killed Amber Dubois and Chelsea King.
We learned chilling details about the investigation that we hadn't heard before, including what happened the day Gardner was arrested, the jailhouse interview Amber's mom had with Gardner and the day he was let out to show detectives where he buried Amber's body.
In the days following Gardner’s arrest, details of his criminal history were talked about statewide. State parole agents were heavily criticized for not doing enough to stop him from striking again.
Sweeping changes were made, but a critic says parole agents still refuse to cooperate in the treatment of domestic violence and sex.
Gardner will spend the rest of his life behind bars. But every year, thousands of sex criminals and domestic violence offenders leave prison. They remain on parole, and must attend intensive therapy sessions, to help keep them from hurting new victims.
"If you're going to reduce his risk, you have to know what his baseline risk is, and you cannot do that without the offense report," sex offender treatment expert James Reavis, Psy.D. said.
Reavis treats sex offenders and spousal abusers. He says intensive counseling can help violent offenders acknowledge their crimes, learn compassion for victims and stop the cycle of violence. But he says state parole agents refuse to provide important information about the offender's crime and his criminal history.
"It's a huge problem," Reavis said.
He says those documents include details about family history and drug and alcohol addictions, which helps the therapist build an effective treatment program.
"So instead of treating him here and also treating him at a substance abuse rehabilitation to make him sober during the time he's in treatment, we would miss that aspect and theoretically miss a major aspect of the case," Reavis said.
And miss the opportunity to keep violent offenders from hurting others.
Reavis also says, when parole officers don't cooperate, public money and resources are wasted because violent, high-risk offenders like John Gardner need more supervision, more counseling and more drug screening, compared to low-risk, non-violent molesters.
“If you get someone who's low-risk, you could communicate that to parole and parole could then spend less resources on that offender than they would on a high-risk offender. But we get no collaboration from parole on that," he said.
In contrast, Reavis and his colleagues get complete cooperation from the county probation department, and the state courts.
The state parole department told NBC San Diego that some of the information in its reports is confidential and cannot be disclosed, even for treatment. But as a result of our questions, the parole department says it will discuss this issue with Reavis in detail. ..Source.. PAUL KRUEGER and MICHELLE WAYLAND
Sex offender admits email violation
In this case we see a complete miscarriage of justice, the sentence. Whether the sentence is for "failure to register the e-mail" or "for the probation violation," the length is excessive. Hopefully the lawyer will appeal the sentence, even if the sentence is the remaining sentence from the original charge. Then the issue would be what triggered the probation violation, which is nothing more than a technical violation not warranting return to prison.9-28-2010 New York:
Note to Commenter: When we comment it is based on what can be seen in the article, if the journalist fails to include facts, obviously we cannot construe them
A convicted sex offender who created an email account without advising law enforcement officials, as required by law, was sentenced to state prison today for up to three years.
Dutchess County Court Judge Gerald V. Hayes imposed a one-to-three-year sentence on David Lawson, 56, of Mill Street, City of Poughkeepsie
Lawson acknowledged he created the email account between May 1 and 13 without notifying the proper authorities. He also admitted he had violated the terms of a probationary sentence Hayes had imposed in 2005 after Lawson admitted he had child pornography in his possession. ..Source.. by Poughkeepsie Journal
September 25, 2010
More pervs getting busted again
The message this sends has nothing to do with GPS, because GPS doe s not prevent crime, it says, that, there are so many constraints on former sex offenders that they must resort to crime to exist in todays society! My comment would exclude the assault and battery type crimes. i.e., Can laws be so oppressive that they cause crime?9-25-2010 Massachusetts:
Data comes on heels of SJC’s GPS ruling
The number of sex offenders who have been busted again since being removed from GPS devices has doubled in the past five months, with suspects facing new charges for drug dealing, armed robbery, assault and battery - but not new sex offenses.
“I suspect that would not have happened if they had the GPS on,” said Essex County District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett. “Sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated.”
The 22 new arrests include five charges of assault and battery, one armed robbery and one assault and battery on a correctional officer, according to the Office of the Commissioner of Probation. That figure is twice the 11 new arrests reported by probation in April after an inquiry from the Herald.
The new arrest figures also come a week after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled to block new GPS regulations and bans against sex offenders lurking around schools, libraries and playgrounds unless they break the rules.
Probation, which administers the GPS monitoring program, did not identify the offenders who were rearrested.
However, all are among a group of 222 sex offenders who were charged with a sex crime before Dec. 21, 2006, said probation spokeswoman Coria Holland. Those sex offenders can petition the court to go off GPS monitoring because of a 2009 SJC ruling, but probation officials could not say how many were cut loose from the program because of that decision.
“My position is that means 10 percent of those who had been taken off (GPS) got caught,” said Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. “These cases are the hardest cases to bring. They are underreported and very often the reporting doesn’t come until well after the additional offense has occurred.”
In all, 730 sex offenders are currently on GPS monitoring, Holland said. She added another 612 sex offenders went off GPS between Aug. 19 2009, and Aug. 21, 2010, for reasons including new busts and the end of their probation.
The Level 3 sex offender at the center of the SJC ruling, Ralph W. Goodwin, 49, of Lowell, is due to appear for a probation surrender hearing next month after he failed again to comply with the mental health conditions of his 10-year probation, Holland said. ..Source..
State Supreme Court says former Lewis County convict can’t be forced to take lie detector about his sexual past
9-25-2010 Washington:
The Washington State Supreme Court yesterday issued a ruling (and dissent) saying a Lewis County judge’s order to make a man undergo a polygraph examination about his sexual history is invalid.
Jake Hawkins is the subject of an attempt by the state to label him a sexually violent predator so the state can commit him to civil detention following his sentence for a sex crime.
Hawkins was convicted in 1993 of attempted rape.
In 2006, after the trial court found probable cause to believe Hawkins was a sexually violent predator but before a jury had been asked to determine the issue beyond a reasonable doubt, he was taken into custody for an evaluation, according to the ruling.
Then-Lewis County Superior Court Judge H. John Hall ordered the polygraph. Hawkins refused and appealed the order.
Hawkins remains locked up at the McNeil Island Special Commitment Center where he has been waiting the involuntary commitment trial, according to Jodi Backlund, one of the two Olympia attorneys who took the question to the Supreme Court.
The Community Protection Act of 1990 allows the state to civilly commit some sex offenders after they have completed their criminal sentences. They remain there until a court determines they are ready to be released to a less restrictive living arrangement.
In yesterday’s decision, the justices noted the difficulties of polygraph examinations, which courts have consistently recognized as unreliable and are inadmissible unless stipulated to by all parties, they wrote.
In addition, they are invasive of one’s private affairs, and this inquiry is into one of the most private affairs of a person, the court noted.
Six of the nine Supreme Court justices agreed on yesterday’s ruling.
The majority author, Justice Susan Owens, wrote the law does not prohibit the use by an evaluator of voluntary or previously existing polygraph examinations, and even without one, an expert is still capable of reaching an opinion as to whether an individual is a sexually violent predator.
Backlund said yesterday’s decision doesn’t mean Hawkins gets to go free.
The decision vacates the order compelling Hawkins to under the polygraph and the commitment trial in Lewis County Superior Court can go forward. ..Source.. Sharyn L. Decker, Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Jury acquits man in costume 'flashing'
9-25-2010 Florida:
DELAND -- A jury on Friday acquitted a 22-year-old man accused of exposing himself in front of a school bus filled with DeLand High School honor students, finding the act was a prank gone wrong.
James Richmond did not expose his genitals as police, prosecutors and angry parents said he did, the jury found. Instead, he used a Halloween costume that featured a large fake penis he said was intended to get a laugh.
It was a joke no one found funny.
Richmond, an engaged utility worker from Sanford, erupted in tears of joy when the verdict was announced.
He faced 30 years in prison if convicted of lewd and lascivious exposure in front of the two 14-year-old boys who saw what they thought was a real penis. Richmond, who was arrested in November 2008, also faced being labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life.
"We are thrilled," defense lawyer Aaron Delgado said after the not-guilty verdict was announced in Circuit Judge James Clayton's courtroom.
"Two years of unconscionable hell for James and his family. With the thought of being labeled a sex offender hanging over his head. Today, for the first time in two years, this nightmare is over," Delgado said.
Prosecutor Ryan Will opened his case Thursday by telling the jury of three women and three men that the evidence would show Richmond to be "a sexual deviant."
Will said that between Nov. 3 and Nov. 17, Richmond repeatedly drove past the DeLand High School bus on its route in DeBary. "He would expose himself to the people on the bus," Will said. "And he would masturbate for his own gratification."
An appellate court earlier this year ruled it was legal for a Hernando County man to put a sex toy "resembling a penis" into his mouth in front of a 7-year-old child.
With that precedent in mind, prosecutor Will conceded that in order for Richmond to be convicted of a crime, he would have to prove the two boys saw a real penis.
The boys, whose names are not being published because of the nature of the crime, were among 50 high-achieving students who were on the bus for DeLand High's International Baccalaureate and engineering programs.
Each of the two boys testified that on more than one occasion, they saw the man in the dark Volkswagon Jetta drive up and appear smiling and rubbing his genitals.
Will criticized the defense lawyers' story that Richmond was simply using a costume he'd worn to Halloween parties as a joke.
The defense lawyers showed jurors pictures snapped of Richmond wearing the costume -- given to him by a co-worker who said it was made by a 90-year-old woman -- weeks before his arrest.
"Just because Mr. Richmond owns a device that appears to be real," Will said. "There is zero evidence that the costume was in the car."
The boys, Will said, were outraged by Richmond's act, and wanted to see him punished. During his closing argument, Will asked the jury "not to laugh at Richmond's joke."
Delgado reinforced the key thought that led to the jury's decision.
Richmond, he said, was guilty of nothing more than a bad joke.
"We have the Halloween costume; we have testimony that Jim got a lot of attention wearing it at Halloween parties," Delgado said. "No one is laughing; it's clearly not funny." ..Source.. JAY STAPLETON, STAFF WRITER
September 24, 2010
Police Arrest Sex Offender During Sunday Mass at St. Alexander
This is unbelievable...9-24-2010 Illinois:
A parishioner's complaint prompted police to arrest a convicted sex criminal from Orland Park during Sunday services on Sept. 19.
Police arrested a registered sex offender at St. Alexander Church's Sunday Mass after a parent noticed the man among the worshipers.
___, 38, of the 13600 block of South Howe Drive in Orland Park, was inside the Palos Heights church but outside of the sanctuary when police took him into custody on Sept. 19, police said.
The same main entrance is used for both the church and St. Alexander Elementary School, and that was grounds for arrest, police said.
___ is charged with unlawful presence within a school zone.
"At no time were any kids harmed," said Palos Heights police Detective Gerard Wodka. ..Source.. Dan Lambert
September 22, 2010
Sex Offender Magazine? Sacramento man publishes sex predator listings
Before this magazine even gets to the stores, it will be out of date and spreading incorrect information. The only place where timely and accurate info is available, is, the state registry. Once you put this info into print, the magazine will become something that is kept around the house and folks will think they know, but the reality is, one minute after press time, it is out of date.9-22-2010 California:
How long does this man think he will be able to do this for FREE? That alone should tell folks, he isn't facing reality and his goals are foolish. Producing anything on paper costs money, what is his source? He wants his 15-minutes of fame and at some point reality will sink in, likely when he sees the first bills for this effort, and then goes bankrupt. The general public will ultimately pay for his foolishness.
Finally, will it contain what the Adam Walsh Act requires? Warnings to the public about the use of what is printed in the magazine. Registrants are entitled to that as a minimum. Further AWA also requires the name and address of who to contact should the information be incorrect. Is he going to be ready to print retractions, explaining his magazine was incorrect at the time it was printed?
The magazine also enables registrants to violate the law, as folks should know, registrants in California are not allowed to view registry information, how will he prevent registrants from obtaining these magazines? He clearly has not thought this out at all, his goal is 15 minutes of fame and he doesn't care who gets hurt in the process.
SACRAMENTO, CA - A Sacramento man decided information on sex offenders isn't accessible enough -- and his solution was to create a magazine that makes it all more public than ever.
Corey Wright of Sacramento was browsing the sex offender database created when Megan's Law passed, listing all the area sex offenders, their addresses and offenses.
While clicking through, Wright said he realized not everyone has access to the Internet and eventually, children could be harmed.
"It's overwhelming how many sex offenders there are in Sacramento," said Wright. "I kind of wanted to move the listing of the offenders from the Internet to the coffee table."
To do that, Wright created the 916 edition of Predator Magazine. The pages have color photos of offenders and all the information available on the online database.
Every pages lists at least six offenders.
"You've got the small boxes, but some of them I had to put in big boxes because there were so many charges," he said flipping through the pages.
The first edition is due out in January. Wright said he hopes to distribute 10,000 copies a week -- and that every copy should be free.
While many residents applaud Wright's efforts, others say the magazine puts targets on those who have already served their sentences.
"It's going to harm a lot of people," said one man convicted of molesting his daughter. "It's going to profile people and everyone's going to start looking for these people."
However, when asked if he saw a positive side to the magazine, he said, "It probably has an aspect of doing good. Maybe warning kids to stay away from the type of people like that."
Either way, Wright said he is not promoting vigilantism.
Clearly he is not able to understand the consequences of his actions, vigilantism comes when the public is incited by what they learn. To say this will not incite the public, tells me he simply he does not understand how vigilantism begins.
"We're not telling anyone to go out and hurt these people," Wright said. "We're just trying to keep you informed as to where these people are. Please don't do anything to them."
Wright said he is making every attempt to avoid publishing low-risk offenders -- for instance, those convicted of public urination.
He also said he hopes the 916 edition is only the beginning and will expand across the state region by region. The next project is the 415 edition, focusing on the San Francisco Bay Area. ..Source.. Nick Monacelli
See also: Man On Personal Mission Launches Sex Offender Magazine (Indiana 3-2010)
Just Busted Magazine Sued For Sex Offender Listing (Tennessee 9-2010)
September 21, 2010
ACTION ALERT: The Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010, HR 5297, is about to be voted on by the House
9-21-2010 Washington DC:
As I'm sure most folks know the Senate has passed HR 5297 "the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010," this is the bill with the offensive language in it and will deny any RSO convicted of a crime against a minor (person less than 18), any opportunity for a small business loan for the rest of their lives, if they find a need for such a loan, if the FULL House ultimately passes this bill.
However, before the bill goes to the FULL House, the House Rules Committee must set the rules for considering the bill when it goes before the FULL House. The Rules Committee is set to meet on Wednesday evening at 5 PM EST. The Senate did amend the bill, but not the sections covering sex offenders, and the Senate Amendments are what the Rules Committee will be reviewing. The current text of HR 5297 can be reviewed here.
As folks well know, it is not possible to contact lawmakers by e-mail because their filtering systems will exclude all but constituents. With that said, all lawmakers suggest that you contact them by Phone or Fax, which gives you the opportunity to talk to their aides and POSSIBLY get a message to lawmakers to REMOVE this OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE affecting certain sex offenders as that language is not based on any public safety reasoning, but is based on PURE HATE, which is unconstitutional.
Here is the FULL list of the Rules Committee members. However, reviewing past actions of the committee I have found not all members will vote on every action before the committee, and each vote seems to have different members voting. So my suggestion is this, everyone should contact the following Rules Committee members. Asking them to REMOVE the OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE affecting certain sex offenders:
Louise M Slaughter, Chair (New York)
2469 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3615
Fax: (202) 225-7822James P McGovern (Massachusetts)
438 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6101
Fax: (202) 225-5759Alcee L Hastings (Florida)
2353 Rayburn Office Building
Washington D.C. 20515
Tel: (202) 225-1313
Fax: (202) 225-1171Doris O Matsui (California)
222 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
p: 202.225.7163
f: 202.225.0566Dennis Cardoza (California)
1224 Longworth Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6131Michael Arcuri (New York)
127 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202)225-3665
Fax: (202)225-1891Ed Perlmutter (Colorado)
415 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.2645
Fax: 202.225.5278Chelli Pingree (Maine)
1037 Longworth HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-6116
Fax: (202) 225-5590Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Florida)
2244 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202)225-4211
Fax: (202)225-8576Virginia Foxx (North Carolina)
1230 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2071
Fax: (202) 225-2995
Next, since HR 5297 will go before the FULL House as soon as the Rules Committee finishes their work, and that we have no idea if the Rules Committee will remove the offensive language, it will ALSO BE NECESSARY for everyone to contact their personal Representatives and ask them to REMOVE the OFFSENSIVE LANGUAGE when the bill goes before the FULL House.
Hopefully these actions can spark some lawmakers to act and save a lifetime of harm to the registrants affected by this bill.
For now, have a great day & a better tomorrow.
eAdvocate
Teen pregnancy, incarceration rates major issues for Oklahoma
Comments by Wayne Bowers: This editorial emphasizes two serious embarrassments to Oklahoma which also have a negative impact on the social structure. Oklahoma locks up more women per capita than any other state. The birth rate for girls 15 to 17 is the sixth highest in the country and the rate for girls 18-19 is now second in the nation.9-21-2010 Oklahoma:
This editorial gave the reason for these unfortunate figures in part due to the poverty level, which has a direct correlation to education. With so many children of incarcerated parents, a difficult time with developing high esteem occurs and a high dropout rate is a high result for teen mothers.
These are difficult facts to face and for a state, like practically every other state, facing a severe budget crisis, it gives a grim look for lawmakers when they re-convene in February 2011.
Another factor indirectly may be influencing these sad social issues, and it is one that the editorial writers of The Oklahoman have consistently criticized. That is the 2000 ft. residency law away from various places where children may be located by persons who are listed on the sex offender registry. Various studies are showing this law is ineffective and is actually harmful.
This law has banned most registrants to rural residency and in many instances, away from their families. Many have ended up homeless. A majority are not working. Many families end up on welfare due to the circumstances. Families feel shamed and shunned as much as their loved one on the registry. This is a growing problem. The impact on children in these families has a high potential for falling into the previous categories.
Fellow advocate David Hess of New York sums up this false fear very well: “All the attention given to registered sex offenders gives a distorted perception of the more likely perpetrators of sex crimes against children. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 93% of children who are victims of sexual abuse are victimized by family members or acquaintances. 94% of those arrested for the sexual molestation of children in New York State are first time offenders who are not listed on any registry. To put it another way, if a child has been the victim of sexual abuse, the odds are 4 in 1,000 that the child was victimized by a stranger who is a registered sex offender. The odds are far greater, 874 in 1,000, that the child was victimized by a family member or acquaintance that is not listed on the sex offender registry. The primary effect of sex offender registries is to give the public a false sense of security or, conversely, to raise hysteria.”
Solutions need to be presented and developed for the tragic circumstances listed in that editorial. It is just a part of the solution, but removal of the residency law can indirectly be one of those. It would also help in many other ways.
AS Republican leaders huddle in the coming months to lay out their plans for Oklahoma, excited about potentially controlling all three branches of government for the first time in state history, they would do well to distribute a few news stories that made the paper last week.
One dealt with the state's high incarceration rate, and the effect that has on the children of those locked up. The other focused on the staggering number of Oklahoma teenagers — girls — who are having babies.
Serious fiscal issues await the next Legislature, and those will certainly demand the time and attention of the governor and the leaders of the House and Senate. Yet these two social issues deserve serious time and attention as well, because of the dire impact they have on the fabric of our state.
We lock up more women, per capita, than any state in the land, a dubious distinction we have held for many years. A good many of these women are mothers. In fact a University of Oklahoma professor and researcher estimated there are at least 4,500 Oklahoma kids younger than 18 who have a mother in prison. The number of children who have either a mom or dad locked up isn't known, although it stands to reason it's significant.
Linda Terrell, head of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, told a House committee that trauma, anxiety, guilt and shame are but a few of the psychological problems experienced by these children. "Incarcerating parents affects children deeply and profoundly," she said.
Some legislative work in this area has begun. House Speaker-designate Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, authored a bill last session to create a program that places nonviolent female offenders in recovery programs instead of prison. Two Democratic House members, Jabar Shumate and Jeannie McDaniel, want to form a task force to help the children of incarcerated parents. Their effort to do so last session was rejected.
The state's birthrate among 18- and 19-year-olds is now second-highest in the nation. Among girls 15 to 17 it is sixth-highest. Overall our teen birthrate of 61.5 per every 1,000 teens is fifth in the country. The national average is 42.5 per 1,000.
These figures no doubt relate in part to our state's poverty level, which is tied to education. Improve the latter and you reduce the former. Moms and dads and churches and schools must do all they can. But so must the Legislature, led by Republicans. Leaders need to shove aside ideology-driven bills that do nothing but divide, and focus instead on policies that might have a tangible, positive impact on our state.
The teen birthrate "is a direct path to high school dropouts, a direct path to unemployment and a direct path to poverty," said Sharon Rodine, director of youth initiatives for the child advocacy institute. "This is not Oklahoma's path to prosperity." ..Source.. THE OKLAHOMAN EDITORIAL
Va. facility for sex predators to exceed limit in 2012
If sex offenders are the only danger to society, requiring them to be held beyond their criminal sentences, why have lawmakers defined other conduct as criminal and requiring a prison sentence, but not to be held beyond that? I do believe, that recidivism rates of non sex offenders prove they are a far more dangerous group after prison than sex offenders are. If this is not discrimination then why was it necessary to integrate schools, to have equal rights for both men and women, to require employers to treat all employees equally, to trteat all religions equally, etc etc etc?9-21-2010 Virginia:
The number of Virginia criminals labeled "sexually violent predators" is growing at such a rate that it's straining both the budget for treating them and the capacity of a two-year-old facility built to hold them after they finish serving their sentences.
Built to hold 300 people, the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation in Nottoway County currently holds 214. By mid-2012, its population is expected to hit 356 and, five years after that, to 738, members of the House of Delegates Appropriation Committee were told Monday.
Offenders are sent to the $62 million rehabilitation center through a process known as civil commitment, which allows the state to confine certain criminals even after they've served their time. Before the center opened in 2008, some resided in a 48-bed treatment facility in Petersburg.
Now that the center is reaching its occupancy limits, there is talk of reopening that unit or another state building, possibly an old correctional unit, for more space.
Officials project that escalating costs will leave the facility with a roughly $25 million budget shortfall over the next two years. The current annual budget is nearly $16 million, up from less than $3 million in 2004.
Growth in the program appears to be linked to a 2006 law change. That year, the list of crimes that qualified someone as sexually violent was expanded from four - rape, forcible sodomy, object sexual penetration and aggravated sexual battery - to 28.
That increased by 350 percent the number of people eligible for civil commitment, explained James W. Stewart III, commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. The number of people referred to the center jumped from about one a month to five or six times that.
Once there, residents remain at the facility until a finding is reached that they no longer pose a public threat, Stewart explained. Patients are assessed once in each of their first five years at the rehabilitation center and every other year thereafter. So far, seven have been released.
That indefinite term of confinement gives state Del. Rosalyn Dance the impression Virginia effectively has "set up another penal system."
"If we're going to give them life, let's call it life," said the Petersburg Democrat, who wondered if the state is "throwing these people into a dark hole" and then sinking money into it.
Mary Devoy, an advocate for modifying some of Virginia's sex crime laws, believes some statutes designed to punish offenders go too far. She argued that in their zeal to target pedophiles and rapists - "the true threats to society" - lawmakers have enacted rules which can leave a lifetime stigma on teens convicted of underage consensual sex, for example.
House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith defended Virginia's laws - including the 2006 expansion and the 1999 civil commitment statute he successfully carried - as tools designed to punish and reform repeat offenders with a pattern of aberrant behavior.
The commitment process has been an effective vehicle to determine which offenders have a high likelihood of committing new crimes, said Griffith, a Salem Republican and advocate for curbing sex crimes against children. "Releasing them out on the street is not an option for me." ..Source.. Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
Judge hears arguments on whether homeless sex offenders should be allowed to stay in shelters near schools
Opinion: The problem here, is the shelters have no duty to interpret and enforce the law, they are using the law as a pretext to deny RSOs entry because they do not like having RSOs. The law -as written- is a mandate on the registrants, and if they have violated it, then the police should arrest them. I'd love to see a judge tell someone, they cannot come in out of the sub-zero weather in wintertime; that, will not happen. This judge is telling lawyers to resolve the problem for him, and I do believe he is siding with allowing RSOs to stay at shelters during such weather.9-21-2010 Michigan:
UPDATE: From the Michigan Messenger: "This challenge comes after a homeless sex offender froze to death last year after being turned away from shelters. It also follows a state appeals court ruling that determined homeless sex offenders don’t have to register because they do not have a place of residence." (Note: Homeless court decision was 2-2-2010 Mr Pauli died in January of 2009, therefore court decision was not yet applicable, but now muddies the water.)
UPDATE July 2011: " Michigan Supreme Court rules homeless sex offenders must report addresses to authorities" and they never resolved the Shelter Issue!
GRAND RAPIDS -- A federal judge on Monday told attorneys to resolve issues over a state law that has prevented homeless sex offenders from staying at city shelters -- all within school-safety zones.
Advocates for the homeless filed a lawsuit against state and county officials, saying homeless sex offenders have nowhere to turn.
"In the meantime, your honor, we are moving into winter on the horns of a dilemma," attorney Norman Pylman, representing Mel Trotter Ministries, told U.S. District Judge Gordon Quist. The judge said he would issue a written opinion in two weeks if both sides cannot reach an agreement.
Homeless advocates said a law that prevents sex offenders from residing within 1,000 feet of a school puts the offenders at risk on the street -- and at risk of prosecution if they stay at a shelter.
Attorney Miriam Aukerman argued that homeless people, who only spend the night at shelters, are not residents. A state appellate panel, in another case, said it was not possible for homeless sex offenders to register addresses because they do not have a residence.
"I just think that the defense has an uphill battle trying to get around the word, 'residence,'" Quist told attorneys.
This lawsuit came after the January 2009 freezing death in Grand Rapids of Thomas Pauli, 51, who reportedly was turned away from a shelter because of a 1991 conviction involving a pre-teen girl.
Assistant Attorney General Margaret Nelson said shelters were under the mistaken belief they faced penalties if they allowed entry to sex offenders.
"They have no obligation under the statute to determine if the person is a sex offender or not."
She acknowledged the Court of Appeals said homeless don't have to register, but said it should be up to local police departments and prosecutors on determining if sex offenders violate the law. If a sex offender lists an address in a school-safety zone, authorities can't ignore it.
Nelson said not all of the plaintiffs are still homeless, or even living in Grand Rapids.
She said a challenge should come in a criminal case, with an actual defendant challenging the law.
Quist said: "I don't think that a person staying overnight has to worry about prosecution."
"I don't either," Nelson said.
But when he asked if "there would be no prosecution," she replied: "I can't assure you of that, your honor."
Enforcement of the law is a challenge, Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk said in an affidavit.
"Among other things, it is unclear whether registered individuals can stay in Grand Rapids' shelters, which are all located within 1,000 feet of a school," he wrote.
Linda Howell, representing Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth, said Forsyth isn't willing to ignore the law -- nor does he want to audit shelter books to determine if a sex offender is staying at a shelter temporarily or living there.
Pylman, attorney for Mel Trotter, and William Farr, representing Degage Ministries, said their clients are committed to helping the homeless. They also work closely with police. Pylman said the law "puts us at odds with the very people we're trying to service."
Aukerman said her five clients, identified in court records by pseudonyms, have not been convicted of serious sex offenses. Three of them were convicted of high-court misdemeanors, she said. One of them was 19 when he had sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend, who told him she was 17. ..Source.. John Agar | The Grand Rapids Press
September 20, 2010
Ky. Law Shields Some Sex Offenders From Registries
In all states juveniles are handled differently in the criminal justice system. However, this article suggests, if a juvenile is convicted of a sex offense, then they must be handled like an adult. What happened to reviewing the facts of a case before DECLARING the person GUILTY, which is exactly what is being suggested here. Further, simply being required to register and placed on the public registry DOES NOT automatically mean the person is dangerous, again suggested in this article.9-20-2010 Kentucky:
(LOUISVILLE) -- Sex offenders -- their crimes are heinous, and the chances they will strike again are disturbingly high. Usually, sex offender registries let you know who to look out for. But WAVE 3 Investigator Eric Flack has uncovered one group of sex offenders whose identities are protected. In fact, someone from this list could be living right next door, and you would never know.
Sex offenders are seen as such a threat, such a danger to you and your children, websites allow you to find out where they are, right down to the street number.
But there is a group of sex offenders hidden from the public. A group of rapists, pedophiles and child molesters, that get special protection from the law.
Juvenile sex offenders.
Bridget Skaggs Brown, Commissioner of the Department of Juvenile Justice, says Kentucky's laws for Juvenile sex offenders are much less strict than the adult offenders.
In Kentucky, there are at least 232 sex offenders under the age of 18, and 38 in Louisville Metro and the surrounding areas. But because they are juveniles, their trials and records are closed to the public. All convictions are kept secret.
"People could be living next door to a sex offender, and have small children, and they won't know that," Brown said in an exclusive interview with WAVE 3.
She went on to say that problems in the system go even deeper than that. Under current Kentucky law, the maximum sentence a juvenile sex offender can receive is just three years in a youth detention center.
"That's not much," Brown admitted.
Three years for crimes that can carry sentences of up to life in prison for adults.
In 1993, Jeremy Gipson was 15 when he was convicted of raping a 7-year-old boy in Louisville. But secrecy laws kept Gipson's past hidden from everyone, including the parents of 12-year-old Jessica Thornsberry.
Two years after his rape conviction, when he was 17, Gipson raped, sodomized and strangled young Jessica, then dumped her body in Iroquois Park.
Unaware of his dark secret, Jessica's family willingly let her go to Gipson's home the night of the murder.
"Oh yeah, we're all bitter about it," said Jessica's grandmother, Louise Hume, in a 1998 interview. "And it doesn't get any easier."
Driven by cases like Jessica's, the Kentucky Coalition Against Sexual Assaults, a task force co-chaired by Brown, wants to strengthen the state's laws for juvenile sex offenders.
The proposal includes provisions to:
•Eliminate the 3-year limit on sentencing and treatment.
•Automatically waive the most serious cases to adult court.
•Adding juveniles convicted of the most serious sex crimes to the public sex offender registry.
The third provision is raising controversy, and Dr. Charles Thomas, a psychiatrist who treats sex offenders, has serious concerns.
"I really have a strong objection to treating youth who offended as adults," Dr. Thomas said.
He says while teens are capable of committing the same acts as adults, they are often unable to understand the seriousness and consequences of their crimes. Treat juvenile sex offenders like adults, he says, and you lose any chance to rehabilitate them.
"If you label youth who sexually offend with that scarlet letter, and if they are permanently stigmatized for the rest of their life with that, they are not going to have the opportunity to re-integrate back into society," Thomas said.
The debate hits home for Steve and Susie Hiland of Germantown.
"Anytime that there is somebody out there that can hurt your kids, that you don't know about, you're at a disadvantage," Susie said.
With four young kids, the Hilands say they are torn between the need to protect their own, and the need to preserve laws protecting juvenile sex offenders.
"Hopefully, most juveniles given a second chance, once they become adults, wont be recidivists," Steve said.
But those calling for change say: history proves otherwise.
"Just because they're a juvenile, doesn't mean they're not dangerous," said Brown.
The Kentucky legislature will have to vote on and pass any changes to the state's juvenile sex offender laws. That debate is expected to take place next year.
In 2003, Indiana changed its laws, and now puts juveniles convicted of sex offenses on its sex offender registry. Other states across the nation have done the same. ..Source.. Eric Flack
September 18, 2010
Divided SJC bars new probation limits on some sex offenders
9-18-2010 Massachusetts:
A divided Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that new probation restrictions cannot be imposed on sex offenders – such as wearing a GPS device or banning them from playgrounds -- until after they violate the rules.
The 4-3 ruling came in the case of Ralph W. Goodwin, a Level 3 sex offender convicted of kidnapping and raping a 7-year-old boy in 1990.
Goodwin was released from custody in 2009 after a Superior Court jury concluded he was no longer sexually dangerous. He was ordered to get sex offender counseling and maintain mental health care, but no limits were placed on where he could go, and no judge required a GPS device to be used to monitor him.
The probation department and Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr., however, wanted Goodwin to wear a GPS and to be banned from playgrounds, schools, and libraries. But a Superior Court judge – and today the majority of the SJC – said that was not legally permissible.
"We conclude that, unless a judge finds a violation of a condition of probation, a judge does not have the discretion to impose GPS monitoring as an additional condition of probation where there is no material change in the defendant's circumstances and where GPS monitoring, paired with geographic exclusions, is so punitive as to increase significantly the severity of the original probationary terms,'' Justice Ralph W. Gants wrote for the majority.
He was joined by Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall and justices Robert Cordy and Margot Botsford.
But Justices Roderick Ireland, Francis X. Spina and Judith Cowin disagreed.
Ireland wrote that new probation limits can be imposed on sex offenders without violating their constitutional rights. Ordering them to wear GPS devices is "remedial rather than punitive and therefore properly may be imposed,'' he wrote. ..Source.. Boston.com
September 17, 2010
Lead plaintiff removed from sex offender registry
9-17-2010 Georgia:
The lead plaintiff in a high-profile federal lawsuit that sought to overturn Georgia’s sex offender law is no longer required to register as a sex offender.
A recent court order relieved ___ of the requirement, which severely restricts where offenders can live or work.
“I’m so glad this is over,” she said Friday. “It’s been a torment, a struggle. … I am so relieved that this horrible roller coaster is finally ending.”
Georgia's registered sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of child care centers, schools, school bus stops, swimming pools and other places where children congregate. It places similar, though less severe, restrictions as to where they can work.
In 2008, ___ had to obtain a court order to prevent her from being removed from her home on Thanksgiving because deputies had determined she was living within 1,000 of a church with a child care center.
Lawyers for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta said they picked ___ as the lead plaintiff in the 2006 federal suit to show that the sweeping registry law was too onerous.
“This is someone who was not a threat to anyone and did not deserve the public humiliation of being placed on the state’s sex offender registry for 12 years,” Sarah Geraghty, a Southern Center senior attorney.
___ was convicted of sodomy, then a felony, for having consensual oral sex 12 years ago with a fellow high school sophomore on school property. She had just turned 17; he was three weeks short of his 16th birthday.
If ___ had committed the same act today, she would not have to register as a sex offender. The Legislature has since passed the so-called “Romeo & Juliet” statute, which makes such an offense for teenagers of like ages a misdemeanor.
___, who lives in Thomson, was released from the registry because of a law enacted this past session of the General Assembly.
It allows certain designated sex offenders, such as those who were convicted of offenses now considered misdemeanors, to petition a Superior Court judge to gain their release from the registry.
Other exceptions are allowed for offenders convicted of kidnapping or false imprisonment of a minor and whose crimes did not involve a sexual offense, and disabled or incapacitated individuals, such as elderly offenders living in a hospice.
All those applying for exceptions must convince the judge they do not pose a substantial risk of committing any dangerous sex offenses in the future. In ___’s case, McDuffie County Judge Roger Dunaway Jr. made such a finding.
The federal lawsuit is still pending before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Cooper in Atlanta. Its primary challenge is against the residency restriction that requires sex offenders to live more than 1,000 feet away from school bus stops. ..Source.. by Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just Busted Magazine Sued For Sex Offender Listing
This is the likely result of local registries that fail to update EXACTLY when the state updates. Further, the iPhone type Apps (Offender Locator, etc) who use private data bases may also see lawsuits because of their private data bases. In fact, all Secondary Disseminated sites are now targets for lawsuits!9-17-2010 Tennessee:
The magazine "Just Busted" that prints photos of recent local arrestees has been sued in connection with one listing under sex offenders.
___ is asking $200,000 in damages.
He also asked that a retraction be run for the next six months.
The suit says he was pictured in the Aug. 3 edition of Just Busted under the heading “SEX OFFENDERS NEAR CARVER OUTDOOR POOL."
His attorney, Robin Flores, said he had been taken off the Sex Offender list on July 28. Pamela E. Beck, a TBI Sex Offender Registry official, "notified plaintiff that he was no longer listed on the Sex Offender Registry as required by the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification and Tracking Act of 2004," it was stated.
The suit says, "A person listed in the Registry may apply to TBI and is entitled for removal from the Registry and no longer register as a sex offender in Tennessee if such person has not has not been convicted of any additional sexual offenses or violent sexual offenses during the 10-year period and that such person has substantially complied the Act."
It says, "Plaintiff had actively worked over the past several years to rehabilitate himself including participation in the Eastdale Community Center, worked on three films about fifth graders, one included Plaintiff’s grandson, in their active participation in politics and the importance of youth’s participation in citizenship on the local and national level. This work resulted in a letter from President Obama to plaintiff’s grandson congratulating the grandson on his work.
"Plaintiff had the help and assistance of one state representative, two professors from Chattanooga State College, and two friends (Greg Walton and Robert Johnson) in the production and development of these films.
"The acts and omissions of the defendant directly resulted in plaintiff’s loss of the level of assistance from Walton and Johnson, diminished plaintiff’s standing in the community, and places in jeopardy the success of plaintiff’s film efforts.
"The acts and omissions of the defendant directly led to plaintiff’s mental anguish." ..Source.. by Chattanooga.com
NH court: sex offender can't attend church
Hummm, I'm not so sure their decision is correct.9-17-2010 New Hampshire:
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) ” The New Hampshire Supreme Court has denied a sex offender's request that he be allowed to go to church with a chaperone.
Jonathan Perfetto of Manchester was convicted in 2002 of possessing child pornography. Though a condition of his release is that he have no contact with children, he had asked to attend Jehovah's Witnesses services chaperoned by a church elder.
The state Supreme Court on Friday agreed with a lower court ruling denying that request. It said the probation condition does not violate Perfetto's constitutional rights to religious freedom and that Perfetto can still practice his religion in other ways.
Perfetto also served time when he was 17 for molesting a young male relative and again when he was older for assaulting adult women. ..Source.. by NewsOK
Pentagon to investigate hundreds of suspected child pornography fans in its ranks
9-17-2010 Washington DC:
In a reversal, the Pentagon says it will reopen hundreds of cases of alleged purchases of child pornography by Department of Defense employees that Pentagon officials previously declined to investigate, The Upshot has learned.
Earlier this month, The Upshot reported exclusively that in 2007, investigators for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service obtained a list of 264 military service members, civilian employees and contractors for the Department of Defense who had used credit cards or PayPal to purchase access to a child pornography website. But the DCIS, citing scarce resources, pursued only 52 of the names before closing the project -- known as Project Flicker -- in 2008. Since no further public information on the cases was made available, it appears that the other people on the list of suspected child-pornography patrons were able to continue their careers without any interruption that stemmed from the investigation.
But today, the Pentagon official in charge of DCIS told The Upshot that he has ordered the remaining cases reopened. "I have tasked Defense Criminal Investigative Service representatives with reviewing each and every Project Flicker and related referral DCIS received so as to ensure action was taken regarding these allegations involving employees of the Department of Defense," Deputy Inspector General for Investigations James Burch said in the statement Wednesday.
Burch announced his decision to revisit the cases, which had been abandoned for two years, in response to inquiries from The Upshot.
Project Flicker began in 2006 as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau investigation targeting overseas processing of payments for online subscriptions to child pornography websites. In the course of the inquiry, ICE agents obtained a list of names and account information for more than 5,000 U.S. residents who had purchased subscriptions to such sites using their credit cards or PayPal accounts. Some of them used .mil e-mail addresses, or physical addresses on or near military installations, so in 2007 ICE handed the list to DCIS agents to identify and investigate any military members.
DCIS came up with 264 active-duty and reserve military members, civilian employees and contractors on the list, including more than 70 with security clearances and 22 with Top Secret clearances. Among them were a contractor for the super-secretive National Security Agency, a staffer in Defense Secretary Robert Gates' office, and a program manager for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But DCIS only opened investigations into 52 of the names, according to investigative documents obtained by The Upshot under the Freedom of Information Act, and only 10 were ever charged. According to the documents, the project was closed in 2008 "due to the need to focus more resources on other DCIS investigative priorities." DCIS is primarily concerned with contractor fraud, and generally doesn't pursue child pornography cases.
A source familiar with the investigations confirmed to The Upshot earlier this month that DCIS simply "didn't have the resources to run with it," so the agency picked the most sensitive cases -- individuals with Top Secret clearances, or people who worked at sensitive military installations -- and ignored the rest. According to the documents, there no systematic effort to alert the individual military service branches' criminal investigative commands, or even superiors or commanding officers, to the presence of hundreds of alleged child pornography patrons in the Defense Department. (The Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which investigates criminal matters for the Air Force, says it received no referrals from DCIS, but did launch three investigations based on names received from ICE. The Army's Criminal Investigative Division says it doesn't know how many, if any, names DCIS referred. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service did not respond to inquiries.)
Based on the documents released via FOIA, it is impossible for DCIS to have pursued every purchaser with a security clearance -- 76 of the names had Secret clearances or higher, and only 52 were investigated. Kenneth deGraffenreid, one of the nation's top former counterintelligence officials, told The Upshot last week that the Pentagon's failure to run down at the very least every name with a clearance was "absurd," and that foreign intelligence services are actively seeking people who have both access to America's secrets and terrible secrets of their own that make them vulnerable to blackmail.
In his statement, Burch said that even if criminal charges were not pursued against the remaining names on the list, DCIS would take steps to alert their superiors for administrative action. Here's the full statement:
I have tasked Defense Criminal Investigative Service representatives with reviewing each and every Project Flicker and related referral DCIS received so as to ensure action was taken regarding these allegations involving employees of the Department of Defense. If circumstances dictate, additional appropriate steps will be taken to ensure allegations involving DoD employees are thoroughly explored. In situations whereby criminal charges will not be pursued, relevant information will be referred to the leadership of appropriate DoD organizations for administrative action deemed appropriate.
The Boston Globe first reported the existence of Project Flicker in July; The Upshot was the first to report the existence of hundreds of names the Pentagon had declined to investigate. ..Source.. John Cook
SMASHED FROG has moved - UPDATE bookmarks
9-17-2010 Florida:
From Smashed Frog's NEW HOME comes the story as to why the old Frog Site disappeared, it goes like this:A year ago, [Frog] decided to buy a domain name from Google for ten dollars.So the NEW Smashed Frog site is HERE. Folks need to UPDATE Bookmarks. OH YES, please advise all your friend of the change as well.
All went well until a couple of months back. Google emailed me a notice to renew as I had not selected automatic renewal via a credit card with my initial purchase.
Sounds easy enough. Wrong.
I've struggled with Google since August in attempt to renew my domain name. Once logged into my account, I was unable to simply choose automatic renewal as apparently, past a certain date, such an action is no longer an option. Communication proved next to impossible and when contact was made to the person beyond the Q & A forum, I was simply passed off to someone else.
As a result, Smashedfrog.com went quietly into that good night (although still readable by cache), the address now owned by eNom and available for me to repurchase for reportedly close to $100.
For now have a great day & a better tomorrow,
eAdvocate
Indiana girl loses 14th Amendment argument to show us her breasts
Unclear is, whether these acts will cause one to register as a sex offender, whether a minor or an adult?9-17-2010 Indiana:
A girl accused of exposing her breasts on an Indianapolis street cannot argue that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution gives her the freedom to do it, the state's appeals court ruled today.
Indianapolis metropolitan police on June 16, 2009, responded to a report of three females exposing themselves to passing vehicles.
One of the three, a 16-year-old Indianapolis girl who is identified only by initials in court documents, could have been charged with a misdemeanor charge of public nudity if she were 18 or older and classified as an adult.
The 14th Amendment's equal protection clause says no state "shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
The girl's appointed public defender, Joel M. Schumm, argued Indiana's nudity law was unfair because it covers the nipples of women, but not men. Schumm is a clinical professor of law at Indiana University School of Law -- Indianapolis, and director of its Judicial Externship Program.
Schumm said he was disappointed with the appeals court ruling and its decision not to hear oral arguments in the case. He will discuss with the girl the possibility of moving the case to the Indiana Supreme Court.
The public defender said his written arguments to the appeals court outlined traits shared by both genders' breasts. But, Schumm said, history, stereotypes and public sensitivity appear to be defining Indiana's nudity law.
The girl said the justification of public nudity laws often "appears to be the vague notion of public or moral sensibilities," court documents showed.
An Indiana law gives one definition of nudity as "the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of any part of the nipple."
The IMPD officer testified in juvenile court he saw the girl's nipple.
In the appeals court decision, Judge Cale Bradford wrote, "In the end, (the girl) would have us declare by judicial fiat that the public display of fully-uncovered female breasts is no different than the public display of male breasts, when the citizens of Indiana, speaking through their elected representatives, say otherwise.
This we will not do.
"We conclude that Indiana's public nudity statute furthers the goal of protecting the moral sensibilities of that substantial portion of Hoosiers who do not wish to be exposed to erogenous zones in public."
The appeals court decision, affirmed by all three judges, upheld an earlier ruling in a Marion County juvenile court.
The juvenile court discharged the girl to her mother, court documents said.
Laws in some states and localities -- including ones in Hawaii, Maine, New York, Ohio and Texas -- allow public display of women's breasts, according to law sources. ..Source.. Gregg Montgomery
September 15, 2010
Police say IPhones can store a treasure trove of incriminating evidence
9-15-2010 National:
DETROIT -- Got an iPhone in your pocket? Then you might be storing even more personal information than you realize.
And some of it could be used against you if you're ever charged with a crime.
A burgeoning field of forensic study deals with iPhones specifically because of their popularity, the demographics of those who own them and what the phone's technology records during its use.
Law-enforcement experts said iPhone technology records a wealth of information that can be tapped more easily than BlackBerry and Droid devices to help police learn where you've been, what you were doing there and whether you've got something to hide.
"Very, very few people have any idea how to actually remove data from their phone," said Sam Brothers, a cell-phone forensic researcher with U.S. Customs and Border Protection who teaches law-enforcement agents how to retrieve information from iPhones in criminal cases.
"It may look like everything's gone," he said. "But for anybody who's got a clue, retrieving that information is easy."
Two years ago, as iPhone sales skyrocketed, former hacker Jonathan Zdziarski decided law-enforcement agencies might need help retrieving data from the devices.
So he set out to write a 15-page, how-to manual that turned into a 144-page book ("iPhone Forensics," O'Reilly Media). That, in turn, led to Zdziarski being tapped by law-enforcement agencies nationwide to teach them just how much information is stored in iPhones -- and how that data can be gathered for evidence in criminal cases.
"These devices are people's companions today," said Zdziarski, 34, who lives in Maine. "They're not mobile phones anymore. They organize people's lives. And if you're doing something criminal, something about it is probably going to go through that phone."
It's an area of forensic science that's just beginning to explode, law-enforcement and cell phone experts said. Zdziarski said the focus of forensics recovery has been on the iPhone over other smartphones in large part because of its popularity.
Although some high-stakes criminal cases have used cell phone towers to estimate a suspect or victim's whereabouts, few have laid out the information that iPhones have to offer. For example:
Every time an iPhone user closes out of the built-in mapping application, the phone snaps a screenshot and stores it. Savvy law-enforcement agents armed with search warrants could use those snapshots to see if a suspect is lying about whereabouts during a crime.
iPhone photos are embedded with GEO tags and identifying information, meaning that photos posted online might not only include GPS coordinates of where the picture was taken, but also the serial number of the phone that took it.
Even more information is stored by the applications themselves, including the user's browser history. That data is meant in part to direct custom-tailored advertisements to the user, but experts said that some of it could prove useful to police.
Clearing out user histories isn't enough to clean the device of that data, said John B. Minor, a communications expert and member of the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners who has written articles for law enforcement about iPhone evidence.
"With the iPhone, even if it's in the deleted bin, it may still be in the database," Minor said. "Much is contained deep within the phone."
Some of that usable data is in screenshots.
Just as users can take and store a picture of their iPhone's screen, the phone itself automatically shoots and stores hundreds of such images as people close out one application to use another.
"Those screen snapshots can contain images of e-mails or proof of activities that might be inculpatory, or exculpatory," Minor said.
Most iPhone users agree to let the device locate them so they can use fully the phone's mapping functions, as well as various global positioning system applications.
The free application Urbanspoon is primarily designed to help users locate restaurants. Yet the data stored there might not only help police pinpoint where a victim was shortly before dying, but it also might lead to the restaurant that served the victim's last meal.
"Most people enable the location services because they want the benefits of the applications," Minor said. "What they don't know is that it's recording your GPS coordinates."
Bill Cataldo, an assistant Macomb County, Mich., prosecutor who heads the office's homicide unit, said iPhones are treated more like small computers than mobile phones.
"People are keeping a tremendous amount of information on there," he said.
Cataldo said he has found phone call histories and text messages most useful in homicide cases. But Zdziarski, who has helped federal and state law-enforcement agencies gather evidence, said those elements are just scratching the surface when it comes to the information police and prosecutors soon will start pulling from iPhones.
"There are some terrorists out there who obtained some information about a network from an iPhone," he said.
Even people who don't take pictures or leave GPS coordinates behind often unwittingly leave other trails, Zdziarski said.
"Like the keyboard cache," he said. "The iPhone logs everything that you type in to learn autocorrect" so that it can correct a user's typing mistakes.
Apple doesn't store that cache very securely, Zdziarski contended, so someone with know-how could recover months of typing in the order in which it was typed, even if the e-mail or text it was part of has long since been deleted.
Apple did not return phone calls or an e-mail seeking comment. ..Source.. Amber Hunt
