8-7-2010 Ohio:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Neighbors routinely get a picture and a name when a sex offender moves next door. In a turnabout, an Ohio sex offender has received private information about his neighbors, including their Social Security numbers.
The material was shown to The Associated Press by convicted rapist Pearly Wilson, who was mistakenly given the information by a prosecutor. The data also contain the names, addresses and birth dates of nine of Wilson's one-time neighbors on Columbus' east side.
There was no indication Wilson misused anything in the files. Wilson, 80, says he came forward because he recognizes the irony of it falling into the hands of someone like him.
"Someone with a criminal mind could really use that information the wrong way," he said.
The case also offers a view into a massive and controversial database designed to track criminals with the help of a raft of background information, including data on people whose only connection to a criminal is a similar address.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien took responsibility for the error, which he believes to be isolated.
Wilson's former neighbors, meanwhile, are wondering why the government has data about them at all.
"They don't need to be running my personal information," said Don Hickman, 47, who still lives on the street where Wilson once worked as a live-in church groundskeeper. "I'm not a sex offender. I've done nothing wrong here."
Neighbor information is useful to police when serving warrants, making family connections and finding fugitives, said Shannon Crowther, who heads technology services for the Franklin County Sheriff's Office.
The information was released to Wilson last summer, as prosecutors were grappling with more than 7,000 lawsuits that sex offenders had filed against Ohio's first-in-the-nation implementation of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The offenders' challenges contend the federal law's stricter classifications and longer reporting periods can't be applied retroactively.
Wilson spent 23 years behind bars for raping a woman in 1976. He went back for six months in 2005 for failing to report an address change to the state sex offender registry.
A voluminous litigator who acted as his own attorney, Wilson said he has an otherwise clean record. He waited almost a year to reveal what he had for fear it would jeopardize his ability to get off the registry. His obligation to stay on the registry expired in July.
O'Brien said Wilson had zealously sought records held in his county sex offender file. After Wilson threatened to take the issue to federal court, an assistant prosecutor turned over the documents.
"They feared he'd say, 'See, you're still hiding stuff,' so they released everything in the file, lock, stock and barrel, and didn't properly review it," O'Brien said. "They gave him things they shouldn't have."
According to the documents, the data on Wilson's neighbors was part of a background check on him run through Matrix, the Multi-State Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange. Wilson also received a copy of another confidential report created by Central Ohio Crime Stoppers, which contained no neighbor information.
Matrix drew the ire of privacy advocates after the U.S. Department of Justice adopted it shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Dubbed the largest database on the planet, it merges private and public data sources — including criminal histories, driver's license information, sex offender listings and real estate records — and sells the information to government agencies, private investigators and debt collectors, among others.
"Even if government organizations were collecting this data for legitimate purposes, we don't know what some of these documents are being used for," said James Hardiman, legal director for the Ohio branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, which led protests of Matrix. "There is this humongous database being kept of all kinds of information and the public has no idea it's being collected."
The federal government terminated funding to Matrix in 2005 amid privacy concerns, but two states — Ohio and Florida — continue to use the service, now known as dFACTS, without the interstate sharing.
Seisint Systems Inc., the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company that created Matrix, was purchased by LexisNexis in 2004. LexisNexis did not return a call seeking comment.
Social Security numbers are part of a state criminal database that feeds dFACTS, said Kim Kowalski, a spokeswoman for Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray.
Kristen Anderson, director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's case analysis division, defended the value of such information but said it is generally sanitized before release.
"From a law enforcement perspective, it's great that in this country there is so much information available about people," she said. "From a personal standpoint, there's just an awful lot out there about all of us, and with a little bit of digging you can get it, use it, post it online."
Some former neighbors said the Matrix report Wilson received was inaccurate or outdated.
Hickman's mother-in-law, Gloria Ward, said it listed an arrest for her daughter that would have had to occur when her daughter was 4.
Denise Sinkfield said she hadn't lived on the street for two years.
"I mean me and my husband, we've never bothered anybody," Sinkfield said. "So that's kind of weird, kind of scary." ..Source.. JULIE CARR SMYTH
Saturday, August 7, 2010
In turnabout, Ohio ex-con gets data on neighbors
Georgia’s sex offender registry a mess, state auditors say
Huummm, if they can't get the basics right, what the chance that it is secure? How many hackers have gotten into the system?8-7-2010 Georgia:
Georgia’s sex offender registries are inaccurate, outdated and incomplete, potentially misleading the public about the threat of offenders living or working in their communities, state auditors say.
An outdated and inflexible computer system is the cause of many of the troubles, State Auditor Russell W. Hinton said in a report released Wednesday (PDF). The system “is not easily adapted,” so it doesn’t contain all the information that the state’s 11,000-plus registered offenders must report and does not easily accept data transfers from state prisons and other agencies that often have more up-to-date information, the report says.
Auditors also found:
•The state’s 159 sheriffs, required by Georgia law to maintain their own separate registries, often have information that conflicts with and is more current than the statewide registry kept by the GBI.
•The registry has inadequate controls to check the accuracy of the information once it’s entered.
•Data is not updated in a timely manner, particularly descriptions and photos
•Data entry errors abound, including incorrect street addresses and cities that many people use to search for offenders in their communities.
•The state’s online registry, used for 8 million searches a year, reports where offenders reside but not where they attend school or work, information the law also requires the offenders to report.
Auditors also observed that the state registry is missing “contextual information important to the public’s perception of risk.” What’s missing? It doesn’t inform the public “that most sex crimes are committed by acquaintances of their victims, not unknown registered sex offenders.”
GBI officials agreed with many of the auditors’ findings but cited funding and staffing as major obstacles to improving the registry. ..Source.. JIM WALLS
Court Says GPS Surveillance Requires Warrant
8-7-2010 Washington DC:
A Washington appeals court today struck down a man's conviction and life sentence in a drug case on the grounds the police unlawfully tracked his movement with a GPS device that had been installed without a warrant on his vehicle.
The unanimous three-judge ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said that law enforcement officers must obtain a warrant to use GPS tracking equipment. The appeals court said the government violated the Fourth Amendment and reversed the conviction of the defendant, Antoine Jones, former co-owner of a night club in Washington.
"We're gratified that a unanimous D.C. Circuit agreed that protecting civil liberties requires that the technology of the 21st Century be evaluated on its own terms, and not as if it were still the technology of past decades,” said Arthur Spitzer, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Capital Area, which participated as a friend-of-the-court. “That principle needs to be applied in many other contexts as well.”
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, William Miller, said the government is reviewing the opinion. Miller declined to comment further. Prosecutors could decide to ask the full court to review the case. The government can also petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case. Two federal appellate circuits—the 9th and the 7th—have found that the use of GPS tracking over a long period of time is not a “search” under the Fourth Amendment.
Federal prosecutors argued the police did not need a warrant to track the travels of the drug trafficking suspect, Antoine Jones, because he was moving freely about in a vehicle on public roads in the District of Columbia and in Maryland. The authorities initially had a warrant, but it expired. The GPS device was re-attached to Jones’s vehicle in violation of a court order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The appeals court, in a 41-page opinion written today by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, rejected the government’s position. Click here for the opinion and here for earlier coverage of the case.
Ginsburg, joined by Judges David Tatel and Thomas Griffith, said the “whole of a person’s movement” is not “exposed” to the public because the whole reveals more about a person than individual movements. Ginsburg drew a comparison to a person’s rap sheets, suggesting that one crime in a person’s papers does not compare to a full understanding of the person’s criminal history.
“It is one thing for a passerby to observe or even to follow someone during a single journey as he goes to the market or returns home from work,” Ginsburg wrote. “It is another thing entirely for that stranger to pick up the scent again the next day and the day after that, week in and week out, dogging his prey until he has identified all the places, people, amusements, and chores that make up that person‘s hitherto private routine.”
A single trip to a gynecologist‘s office “tells little about a woman, but that trip followed a few weeks later by a visit to a baby supply store tells a different story,” the judge said. “A person who knows all of another‘s travels can deduce whether he is a weekly church goer, a heavy drinker, a regular at the gym, an unfaithful husband, an outpatient receiving medical treatment, an associate of particular individuals or political groups — and not just one such fact about a person, but all such facts.
Jones , co-owner of the “Levels” nightclub, became targets of a Metropolitan Police Department drug investigation. The authorities arrested Jones and Maynard in October 2005 on charges that included conspiracy to distribute cocaine. At trial, a jury acquitted Jones on a number of counts but could not reach a verdict on the conspiracy charge. A mistrial was declared.
Prosecutors brought Maynard and Jones to trial in late 2007, and a jury found the men guilty in January 2008. The government’s case was largely built on the GPS evidence—allegedly showing Jones driving to and from a drug stash house in Maryland. Prosecutors did not have any evidence showing Jones was involved in any drug transaction. The government relied heavily on statements from co-conspirators who claimed Jones was a ringleader in a trafficking organization.
Jones's trial counsel, A. Eduardo Balarezo, a solo practitioner in Washington, said, "Mr. Jones always said that all he wanted was for the law to be applied fairly, today he got his wish."
Stephen Leckar of Washington’s Shainis & Peltzman, who argued for Jones in the D.C. Circuit last November, said that requiring investigators to adhere to the “modest requirement” of obtaining a warrant will not burden law enforcement.
“Judge Ginsburg’s eloquently-written opinion recognized the increasing importance in a high-tech age of requiring law enforcement agents to seek the approval of a neutral judge before surreptitiously installing a device that records relentlessly your every movement in time and space,” Leckar said. ..Source.. Mike Scarcella
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signs law changing CORI system
8-7-2010 Massachusetts:
BOSTON - Gov. Deval L. Patrick on Friday signed a new law that allows employers to obtain criminal records of job applicants over the Internet for the first time, overhauls the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws for certain drug offenses and bans sex offenders from driving ice cream trucks.
The new law makes significant changes to the state’s Criminal Offender Record Information system and expands the number of people who can use the system. In a key move to help ex-offenders, the bill cuts the time for sealing felonies from 15 years to 10 years, and for misdemeanors from 10 years to five.
“This legislation brings our outdated criminal history database into the 21st century, ensures law enforcement agencies, employers and housing providers have access to accurate and complete records in appropriate circumstances and helps people get back to work so they can support their families,” said Patrick, who was cheered by hundreds of people when he signed the new law at the Freedom House in Boston, which offers education and anti-poverty programs.
According to the new law, employers, public and private housing providers, volunteer organizations and state and municipal licensing authorities will be cleared to use a credit card over the Internet to access criminal records of applicants for a fee. The new state Internet site must be ready in 21 months. The fee, currently $15, could be $20 with discounts for large employers.
Right now, certain employers and others need to apply to a state board to obtain criminal records. Only 3 to 5 percent of private-sector employers currently have access to the data base, with use largely limited to nursing homes, schools and others dealing with vulnerable people said John Grossman, undersecretary for the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. The system is so cumbersome that most private employers use outside agencies to obtain criminal records and the information can sometimes be outdated or inaccurate, he said.
A change in the state’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws will cover only people convicted of lower-level drug offenses and serving 2.5 years or less at a county jail, not anyone in a state prison.
Under the change, these offenders will be eligible for parole after they serve one half of their sentence, ensuring that they receive supervision and training when they leave prison, Grossman said. Such convicts currently serve the mandatory sentence and are released with no restrictions or training because they have no parole, according to Grossman.
Offenders won’t be able to obtain parole if they used violence or guns, directed drug activities of others or sold to minors.
Barbara J. Dougan, a director in Massachusetts for Families Against Mandatory Minimums in Washington, praised the change, saying the current law frequently punishes low level offenders the same way as drug kingpins. The organization said it is the first easing of the state’s rigid drug sentencing laws since they were established nearly 30 years ago.
The new law, given final approval by the state Legislature a week ago, prohibits employment applications from including questions about someone’s criminal record, but employers are allowed to ask about that during job interviews. This “ban the box” provision is seen as a way of giving ex-offenders a greater chance at obtaining a job.
The state House of Representatives voted 131-22 in support of the law; the Senate, 30-9.
In cracking down on sex offenses, the law requires GPS tracking of homeless sex offenders and requires such convicts to verify registration data and appear at local police departments every 30 days, down from the current 45 days.
According to Grossman, the law calls for new regulations on ice cream truck drivers and bans sex offenders from becoming drivers.
Drivers and ice cream truck vendors would need to place a municipal permit on the vehicle’s windshield. Fines would be $500 for each day the permits are not displayed. Drivers would need to have criminal background checks and would need to be fingerprinted to obtain a municipal permit.
Kimberly A. Desy, owner of an ice cream business in Sturbridge, said all drivers of her trucks must pass state criminal background checks, but not all drivers undergo the same checks.
“There’s a lot of what we call rogue ice cream trucks out there,” Desy said.
Activists from the Springfield area said the new law will give offenders greater opportunities for finding jobs and improving their lives. During recent years, the local activists joined others around the state in a major push for the new law.
“This new law is going to change lives, especially for young people,” said Daniel Perez, 50, of Holyoke, who was among about a dozen members of Neighbor to Neighbor in Springfield attending the signing ceremony. ..Source..
Letter writing campaign
This really is a GREAT idea, folks should join the group and see what can be do with this "Letter Writing" campaign.8-7-2010 National:
Super Idea from Member of: Families of Sex Offenders Support Group
"Everyday I meet people who have a boyfriend or a son in the same situation as my son. A teenager who had consensual and mutual gratification with a classmate, only to have the classmate yell 'assault'. In my son's case even the judge and DA claimed that the only crime he committed was 'consensual gratification with someone LEGALLY too young to give consent, altho the texts do show she did'.....they have an age difference of less than 2 years. This is a case of her writing pages (55 of them) of texts over hours enticing, encouraging and inviting over a period of more than 9 hours.
My question....has there ever been a massive letter writing campaign to the nations congressmen to look into these types of cases? I can't help but wonder if we all took a stand and wrote letters and flooded their offices with them, would that made a difference??
So many of us believed in the ERA in the 70's, but I believe it's time for a new ERA....EQUAL RESPONSIBILITY AMENDMENT. If they are truly waging a war on sex crimes then they need to have some 'rules of engagement'.....the person who FIRST sent the text, or picture, or ???, should be the person charged. In too many cases, the "victim is often the predator".
From what I understand Congress will soon be let out for the month of August (?) and the congressmen/women will be heading back to their home states. I plan to write, I hope we can organize this into a national event for families of sex offenders. How do we start? Any Ideas??" ..Source..
Friday, August 6, 2010
Sheriff busts breast-baring teens, photo taker
Unbelievable! Fact: "Among high school students nationwide, 34.2% were currently sexually active,.." Source: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. Why are these youngsters not arrested, its not like they are unknown?8-6-2010 Florida:
The photo-taker could be deemed a registered sex offender
CHARLOTTE COUNTY - A lawman's work is never done, apparently even for a sheriff in an unmarked cop car who sees girls flashing their breasts at passing motorists.
That very thing happened last night to Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron, who was driving around to National Night Out community safety events when the girls exposed their breasts at him, according to a sheriff's press release.
Cameron was driving on State Road 776 near County Road 771 around 7 p.m. Tuesday when he saw the girls flash him and other drivers. He turned around to confront them when he saw a motorist drive up and snap a photo on his cell phone of the naked girls, the release said.
Cameron detained all three people, and all were later arrested.
The two girls, who turned out to be 15, were arrested on indecent exposure charges; their names were not released, though the release pointed out that one is a local girl and the other is from another state. They were booked and released to parents.
Meanwhile, 33-year-old Robert Lee Blevins of the 6500 block of Coliseum Boulevard was arrested and charged with felony possession of photos of sexual performance by a child and a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Authorities confiscated evidence, including Blevins' phone that held the photo of the girls, the release said.
If convicted, Blevins could face five years in prison and could be deemed a registered sex offender.
The sheriff's office press release concludes with a message to the media: “Don't even ask as the evidence photo will NOT be released since they are juveniles.” ..Source.. Hearld-Tribune
No easy answers
So what is the actual problem here? Fear and nothing more, statistics will not change fear, nor will education about sex offenders. But, one thing will, look to other communities to see if their crime rates or sexual crimes have gone up, reality is, crime rates have gone down as have sexual crimes. Find the source of the fear because its not the actual sex offenders, its what the politicians are saying. Seek them out and demand an answer to the simple question, why should I fear sex offenders like you tout all year long? I doubt anyone will get an answer, because they would have to tell the truth. Truth and politics simply do not mix!8-6-2010 Oregon:
Residents object to sex offenders as neighbors, but what is the alternative?
Residents of Ashland's Quiet Village neighborhood are making noise about convicted sex offenders living among them, and it's hard to blame them. But there is a larger issue here, one that raises questions about how our communities deal with those who break the rules.
Sexual abuse is a frightening topic, and movies, books and television shows can make it seem there is a rapist lurking behind every bush.
Consider the primary objection from the Quiet Village neighbors: Our children are at risk.
The statistics about child sexual abuse — a specific category of sexual offenses in general — are clear: Between 30 percent and 40 percent of child victims are abused by a family member. Half are victimized by someone they know. Children abused by a stranger amount to 10 percent of all victims.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, 5.3 percent of convicted sex offenders commit another sex crime after being released from prison — lower than the rates for selling drugs and burglary.
What's more, the three men living in the home in Quiet Village are not classified as predatory offenders. If they were, the law would have required police to notify neighbors that they were there.
Eugene Haag, the owner of the home where the men live, is a regional chaplain for the Oregon Department of Corrections. He has rented rooms in his home to sex offenders and others on parole for 36 years, and he says no resident has ever committed a crime while living there.
Haag says he rents to offenders to give them a place to live and to help them avoid repeating their crimes. He says further that he has no intention of changing his rental policy.
Haag has a point when he asks where offenders are supposed to live. The worst situation for anyone released from prison is to be homeless, living on the street exposed to active criminals who are not behind bars.
If these men should not live in Quiet Village, where do the neighbors suggest they go? Some other neighborhood in Ashland? Some neighborhood in Medford? Talent? Phoenix? And who gets to decide?
Residents are entitled to be concerned about the security of their neighborhoods and the safety of their children. But so are the residents of every community in Jackson County.
Some Quiet Village residents who attended a public meeting about the issue Monday night said they plan to ask lawmakers to toughen sex-offender laws. That's an appropriate step if you are convinced the current laws are inadequate.
But unless Oregon decides to impose a life sentence for every sex crime, similar situations eventually will occur. Then what? ..Opinion of: Mail Tribune
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Sex offender? Former Catholic school employee tells his story
8-5-2010 Michigan:
Are school employees always guilty when children or teenagers tell stories of sexual abuse?
Take the case of Shaun Webb. A few years ago, Webb was accused of sexually abusing a young teenage girl at a Catholic school in Michigan, where he was employed as a trusted and respected building custodian.
Webb has now written a compelling book called A Motion for Innocence. While this book is a work of fiction, it is based on the true story of a teenage girl who accused Webb of the unimaginable and changed his life forever.
Why do I care about this particular story?
The book really hit home for my family and many of our friends. We knew Webb, as my daughter was attending the school while Webb worked there, and during the time he went through his criminal trial.
In addition, Webb's wife was (and still is) an elementary teacher at the same school. She was my daughter's drama coach, and Webb often helped his wife with the after-school drama duties.
Also, at the time of the incident, I was working out daily at Curves with Webb's first wife. During our workouts, I found out that she was his childhood sweetheart and on good terms with him, and that they shared parenting their adolescent daughter. Webb's former wife told me that despite the charges, she would absolutely still allow her daughter to see Webb regularly.
Because of my concern for the school, the family, and for the truth, I did an investigation of this case for a local newspaper. In fact, the newspaper story that I wrote about the case is referenced in Webb's book. ..For the rest of the story.. Donna Gundle-Krieg
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
DA drops sex-offender-registration charges against man accused in Motel 6 murder
8-4-2010 Pennsylvania:
The charges against his wife and his son, which were related to their allegedly helping him avoid registrating, were also dropped.
District Attorney Tom Kearney has had to drop sex-offender-related charges against a man charged with murder and two of the man's family members.
Tracey Bradley, 46, is charged in the strangulation death of Lee Choppin, 72, of Roanoke, Va. Choppin was killed May 24 in his room at the Motel 6 on Arsenal Road in Manchester Township.
Bradley also is a convicted sex offender subject to lifetime registration with state police. Bradley reportedly had been living in the 100 block of North Queen Street. York City Police learned he had been evicted in July 2009. In February, he was found living in the 100 block of East Philadelphia Street. Police charged him with failing to report his change of address within the required 48 hours, police said.
Authorities also charged his wife, Deleanmus Bradley, and their son, Taray Bradley, with hindering apprehension and obstruction related to Tracey Bradley's failure to register.
Kearney said Wednesday he was compelled to drop those charges because of a Pennsylvania Superior Court ruling earlier this year regarding registration of out-of-state sex offenders.
"I'm sure that will be corrected by the Legislature, but I'm told it can't be retroactive," Kearney said. "I'm not happy about it, but that is what the Superior Court has said."
The dismissal of the charges does not affect the murder charges against Tracey Bradley, Kearney said. ..Source.. RICK LEE
Judge commits George Edenfield to mental hospital in Barrios slaying
Original Story HERE8-4-2010 Georgia:
BARRIOS CASE Doctors have 90 days to further evaluate his mental ability. NO DONE DEAL If his status changes, he could still face trial in boy's killing.
BRUNSWICK - Convicted child molester George Edenfield won't stand trial anytime soon in the sexual abuse slaying of 6-year-old Christopher Michael Barrios Jr. nearly four years ago.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett ruled Edenfield was mentally incompetent Tuesday and ordered him committed to a state mental hospital for further evaluation at the behest of prosecutors and defense lawyers.
The lawyers cited recent evaluations by state and defense psychologists, who agreed that Edenfield has a diminished mental capacity and is unable to assist in his own defense.
They also gave Scarlett copies of six reports beginning in 1980 from Glynn County school system and social service agency psychologists who classified Edenfield as mentally retarded. Edenfield graduated high school with a special education diploma.
"Both the defense and the state agree the defendant, George Edenfield, is incompetent to stand trial at this time," Scarlett said.
Scarlett ordered Edenfield transferred immediately to a Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities institution, where he will undergo an extensive examination by psychologists and other mental health experts. He will be examined at Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah.
"They are to conduct an evaluation in 90 days of the defendant's mental capabilities and issue a prognosis as to whether there is a substantial probability that he will become competent to stand trial," Scarlett said.
Edenfield, a blank expression on his face, sat hunched forward with his hands clasped in his lap in a chair between his lawyers, Gerald Word and Charles Nester, as his future for the next few months was set. He said nothing.
Prosecutors previously conceded Edenfield has a diminished mental capacity but insist he is competent. They agree with the defense that Edenfield needs an in-depth evaluation.
That is the beginning, however, not the end of the issue, Acting District Attorney David Perry told the Times-Union.
"I honestly believe he is competent now," Perry said. "The problem is, the first doctor who examined him in jail says that he is not competent."
Edenfield's lawyers, however, maintain he is incompetent, incapable of understanding the seriousness or consequences of his actions and has an IQ well below normal.
"My personal belief is he's not likely to be restored to competency," Word said.
The evaluation is not legally binding on prosecutors or the defense. Because it's an opinion, either side could reject it and state law allows a jury trial to determine his competency.
If he's ever tried, Edenfield faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering the kindergartner.
Word doubts his client understood Tuesday's hearing or its implications.
"He knows he's going to a hospital. We explained that to him, but I'm not sure he really understands what that means," Word said. "I'm not sure this won't be a lifetime [process] for him."
'You never get over it'
Christopher's grandmother, Sue Rodriguez, left the courthouse disgusted after the hearing.
"He ain't crazy ... He's smart as a darned whip. He's got them all fooled. He's putting on a good show," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said three years and five months have passed since Christopher was abducted, molested and killed.
"As time goes on, you learn to live with it but you never get over it," she said.
Not a day goes by when their family does not remember his loving nature, his gap-toothed grin, she said. Not one day goes by when they don't grieve for the unfulfilled promise of the man Christopher might have become, she said as tears welled up in her eyes.
"You think of Christopher as a baby trying to talk and laughing ... You miss him coming home from school, bringing you his pictures that he made. That's important to a grandmother," she said.
It took mere minutes to end her grandson's life, but more than three years later, only one of the three family members charged with his slaying has been tried, convicted and sentenced to die, Rodriguez said.
"It's too long. Too, too long ... Christopher might have been a doctor or a lawyer and had a family of his own by the time they get done dragging this all out," Rodriguez said.
Christopher's father, Mike Barrios, did not attend the hearing. He has buried himself in his work and keeps his grief bottled up, his mother said.
"Mike goes by his grave and just sits there by himself. He doesn't talk about it a lot. The mention of Christopher, you can tell it upsets him," Rodriguez said.
Parents blame their son
The night Christopher disappeared, George Edenfield told Glynn County police he killed Christopher because the devil told him to do it, investigators testified during his father David Edenfield's trial last year. He later recanted.
Edenfield's parents told police their son knows right from wrong although he is mentally retarded and unable to care for himself. Both also blamed him for the slaying.
Christopher disappeared while playing outside at Canal Mobile Home Park on March 8, 2007. Police recovered his body one week later stuffed inside black plastic garbage bags and dumped in woods about two miles from the park.
Edenfield and his parents, David and Peggy, were neighbors of the kindergartner. All three were charged with his killing.
In October, a jury found David Edenfield guilty of murdering and molesting Christopher and imposed the death penalty.
In a recorded confession played for jurors, David Edenfield said he and his son sodomized then choked the boy to death. George Edenfield had brought Christopher into their home under the pretext of playing video games, Peggy Edenfield testified during her husband's trial.
After their arrests, George Edenfield and his mother talked about what they had told police and what each would say in the future, police clandestinely made video recordings show. He also explained bail procedures to his mother, who, unlike him had never been arrested before, the videos showed. Her son, however, is a convicted child molester.
David Edenfield, 61, is appealing his conviction and death sentence.
No trial date has been set for Peggy Edenfield, 58. She will not face the death penalty because she testified against her husband, and agreed to testify against her son. ..Source.. Teresa Stepzinski
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
International Megans law EXPOSED! Part-2 of the truth about HR 5138
8-3-2010 Washington DC:
You may remember my commentary of 7-30 "International Megans law EXPOSED! Now, hear the truth about HR 5138."
The essence of that was, What evidence did speakers present to support the passage of "International Megans Law (IML)" HR-5138? Reviewing the speakers testimony all I could find was a singular comment about 73 crimes, and a rhetoric implying/accusing U.S. Registry folks as being a major cause of Sex Tourism crimes.
The comment by Ms. Berkley (D-NV-1), and she said:"Between 2003 and 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cooperated with INTERPOL and foreign law enforcement agencies to investigate cases of the sexual exploitation of children abroad, obtaining 73 convictions for such crimes committed in other countries."Those 73 crimes were all that could be found to support what the speakers were saying, excepting rhetoric accusing or implying U.S. RSOs were the bad guys. Today we have the answer, the real truth why the speakers were vague about the number of crimes committed and who commits them.
Yesterday the "Department of Justice Released First National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction" (Click link to read). They also released a Report (279 pages 2.77meg VERY LARGE) which is the subject of this commentary. Within that report is our answer as to why the Congressional Speakers were vague.
The Report: The National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, A Report to Congress, August 2010 (PDF 279 pgs). Essentially this is a "Threat Assessment" report to Congress, and is explained as follows:"This Report attempts to marshal a massive amount of information about the nature of the child exploitation problem and the significant efforts being undertaken by federal, state, and local agencies to address this epidemic. To evaluate the extent and forms of child exploitation, between approximately February 2009 and February 2010, the National Drug Intelligence Center (“NDIC”) prepared a threat assessment (the “Threat Assessment” or “Assessment”) that is summarized in this Report.
In conducting the Threat Assessment, NDIC interviewed over a hundred prosecutors, investigators, and other experts in the field, conducted interviews to collect information, reviewed thousands of pages of documents from investigations, cases, relevant research, and analyzed data from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children." p-2 Report
Now their definition of "Sex Tourism" the crime Congress implied all U.S. RSOs of:Child Sex Tourism: “Child sex tourism” refers to Americans or U.S. resident aliens traveling abroad for the purpose of sexually abusing foreign children (usually in economically disadvantaged countries). Americans, capitalizing on their relative wealth and the lack of effective law enforcement in the destination countries, easily purchase access to young children to engage in illicit sex acts, sometimes for as little as $5. Like child pornography and other Internet-facilitated crimes against children, the Internet has revolutionized the child sex tourism industry.
As a result, a new, emboldened crop of offenders are finding the navigation of travel in developing countries much easier than in the past. Additionally, the Internet allows like-minded offenders to gather and exchange information on how and where to find child victims in these foreign locations, making the offenders better informed about where sex tourism is prevalent and where law enforcement is lax. Numerous countries in Southeast Asia are so well-known for child sex tourism that there are entire neighborhoods which are considered brothels, and there are open-air markets where children can be purchased for sex. p-11 Report
Folks, that is a terrible implication which causes further hysteria over registrants, especially when it is not true, and even Romeo & Juliet crimes were being accused of that, as they too are part of the U.S. Registry.
Yesterday's Report covered eight different types of crimes, child sex tourism (CST) was one. CST is our concern because that alone was the basis of Congressional Speakers that FAST-TRACKED IML through the House on 7-27-2010 under the "suspension of the rules."
Accordingly, IML is based on "beliefs" of experts and "data" from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). That is the evidence behind IML, beliefs and data:NCMEC data: Cyber Tipline, tips alone, not just those that resulted from some sort of investigation or criminal prosecution; tips alone. Anyone can call that Tipline and claim something happened, and whether or not there was truth behind that tip, it formed the basis for IML. This is unbelievable, tips are not crimes nor are they evidence of one!
Expert Beliefs: Here again, not specific cases or a specific number of convictions, just the beliefs of these experts. Prosecutors, investigators and other experts in the field. Their beliefs only!
Doesn't anyone believe in real evidence? Some numbers that can be verified, something tangible and verifiable! I have no doubt sex tourism is going on, but, by who, doesn't evidence count for something in Congress? I am getting the feeling that the U.S. is trying to become the savior of the world, and who they destroy in the process means nothing. OK, lets see charts from the Report:SEX TOURISM (Appendix D-25)
Nature and Extent Among NDIC interviewees:• 50 percent of respondents reported that their agency has not investigated or prosecuted any sex tourism cases.
• 25 percent of respondents reported that they encounter sex tourism cases very infrequently.
• 15 percent of respondents reported that sex tourism is a major vulnerability and there is potential for it to become a huge industry. The area deserves more attention than it has received.
U.S. Citizen and Resident Alien (RA) Involvement in Sex Tourism
Among NDIC interviewees:• 35 percent of respondents reported that it is believed that the extent to which U.S. citizens and RAs are engaging in sex tourism is significant.
• 35 percent of respondents reported that the extent to which U.S. citizens and RAs are engaging in sex tourism is unknown because there is no data available on the topic.
Locations where U.S. Citizens and RAs are Engaging in Sex Tourism
Among NDIC interviewees:• 67 percent of respondents reported that Thailand is a popular sex tourism destination.
• 56 percent of respondents reported that Mexico is a popular sex tourism destination.
• 44 percent of respondents reported that the Philippines are a popular sex tourism
destination.
• 44 percent of respondents reported that Asian countries are popular sex tourism
destinations.
• 33 percent of respondents reported that Cambodia is a popular sex tourism destination.
• 22 percent of respondents reported that third world impoverished countries and
developing countries are popular sex tourism destinations.
Folks, you can read, there is no need for me to repeat what is above, Congress doesn't have a shred of evidence that U.S. registrants are causing, or even participating in, sex tourism. So everything said before the U.S. House was hogwash, at least as to implying sex tourism is caused by registrants of U.S. registries.
The credibility of speeches made in the U.S. House on July 27, 2010 are definitely questionable, as they pertain to former registered sex offenders of U.S. registries! Now, a few times within the Report is mentioned, that, it is believed that 25% of sex tourism emanates from the United States. Assuming the truth of that statement, its is not coming from registrants of U.S. registries; is it possible these are new sex offenders, never before convicted of a sex crime? Not according to Congress.
In Part-1 of this "Expose" the Congressional Budget office estimated (estimated, again no evidence) that, some 10,000 RSO are likely to travel internationally annually. Congress also mentioned that, 4,500 passport were issued to registered sex offenders in 2008. Congress used those figures to imply that, RSOs travel for the purpose of criminal activity.
Well folks, how come they cannot come up with any documented cases of RSO convictions for sex tourism crimes? Congress was vague because the truth is RSOs are not involved in such crimes, they merely took vacations. Vacations, simply do not enter the minds of Congress when thinking about RSOs.
Have a great day and a better tomorrow.
eAdvocate
PS: There are links to everything above, and folks can read the Report, all 279 pages. Enjoy.
Man Found Dead In Car Was Sex Offender
8-3-2010 Florida:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The man found shot to death Sunday night in a vehicle parked near a Westside park was a registered sex offender who was released from prison less than two years ago.
Police said the body of 35-year-old Isaac Bradley was found in a vehicle in Melvin Park, off Jade Drive West. Homicide detectives have not released details, but did say at the time they did not have a suspect in the case.
Florida Department of Corrections records show Bradley had served three sentences in state prison in the past decade on various crimes, including lewd and lascivious battery on a child in 2005.
Bradley was listed as a sexual predator on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement sex offender database.
As of last month, Bradley's registered address was near the intersection of Lake Shore Boulevard and Park Street -- less than five miles from where his body was found.
Anyone with information about the victim or any suspicious activity in the park Sunday night is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS. Information leading to an arrest could earn the caller a cash reward. ..Source.. News4jax.com
Federal officials tout new strategy to crack down on child predators
The latest federal trend is a mixed bag of offenders, now being drawn into sex offender registries. These crimes are very different than those committed by family, friends and close acquaintances of victims. A goodly portion of these "Sex Trade" type crimes can be termed predatory, as offenders often travel to commit them. Once they draw these offenders into today's registries, it will be even harder to distinguish who are the most dangerous registrants, and who has tinkled in the park or the Romeo & Juliet offender.8-3-2010 Global:
See also: "Department of Justice Releases First National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction" Quote: "U.S. Marshals Service to Launch Nationwide Operation Targeting Top 500 Most Dangerous, Non-compliant Sex Offenders"
Detroit -- A new national strategy to fight child exploitation builds on successes already seen in the Detroit area, officials said at a news conference today.
The Internet and digital photography have emboldened child predators by making it easier for them to manufacture and distribute child pornography and make contact with like-minded people, said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade. But the Internet has also become a vital tool for law enforcement in catching those same predators, she said.
As Attorney General Eric Holder unveiled a National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction at an event in Alexandria, Va., McQuade and other federal and local officials highlighted recent cases in the Detroit area in which child abusers have received sentences of 30 to 60 years in prison.
Andrew Arena, special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit, said a multi-jurisdictional Southeast Michigan Crimes Against Children Task Force, formed about three years ago, is the most successful task force of its kind in the nation.
Since formed, the task force has rescued 138 children from the sex trade, Arena said.
Part of Holder's new strategy involves a nationwide hunt for the 500 most dangerous and non-compliant sex offenders.
Five of those worst offenders are sought on warrants from communities inside the eastern district of Michigan, said U.S. Marshal Robert Grubbs.
"We will definitely get these five people," Grubbs said at the news conference in Detroit.
"We are going to mix old-fashioned police work with our new technological advances," he said.
"We never give up. We are relentless." ..Source.. Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Monday, August 2, 2010
Not all sex offenders the same, advocates of changing Texas list say
8-2-2010 Texas:
Richard Calderon was a 23-year-old student teacher in 1994 when he made "the most regrettable decision in my life."
He became sexually involved with a 14-year-old female student.
He was sentenced to five years' probation for sexual assault of a child. He completed his sentence, went on to earn a master's degree, start a career in computer technology and get married.
Now 39, he believes he has earned the opportunity to put his shameful past behind him for good -- by ending his mandatory lifetime presence on the state's registry for sex offenders.
"I am not a predator," Calderon said. "I am in no way, shape or form a threat to society. I'll never be proud of the person who made that terrible decision, but I am proud of the person I have become."
Calderon is among the people advocating for changes to the state's sex offender registry, including using a more risk-based classification system and allowing offenders who are not deemed public threats the possibility of getting off the list.
The current registry has swelled to 62,000 names and is becoming too bloated to perform its purpose of protecting the public, they say.
In agreement is the Texas Council on Sex Offender Treatment, which formed a task force in 2008 to study the efficiency of the registry. Council members say the current registry treats too many offenders as equally dangerous and inundates law enforcement agencies tasked with keeping track of them.
"The registry is not really accomplishing what we wanted it to accomplish," said Liles Arnold, council chairman and a licensed professional counselor. "If we spread ourselves too thin, we are not keeping the community as safe as we like."
At a hearing in June before a state Senate committee on criminal justice, a handful of convicted sex offenders and their relatives objected to the current registry.
Among the complaints was that the system does little to differentiate between dangerous predatory rapists and young adults who showed terrible judgment in having sex with underage people.
Some offenders told of their children being ridiculed at school. Others told of difficulties finding jobs and places to live because of the public scrutiny.
Sixteen to 19 percent of families of sex offenders report harassment, according to the treatment council.
"The argument is you have some very low-risk offenders, and the ramifications are very destabilizing for them," Arnold said.
Burgeoning registries
Allison Taylor, the council's executive director, told the committee that the registry's rapid growth affects local law enforcement agencies. Fort Worth has more than 1,500 registered sex offenders; Arlington has almost 500.
Police resources are being used to track low-risk offenders, diluting the agencies' ability to monitor the dangerous ones, she said. Removing low-risk offenders from the list would not only free up officers to focus on high-risk offenders, but also better inform the public about true threats in their neighborhoods.
Some efforts to refine the registry have failed in recent years.
In the last session, Rep. Todd Smith, R-Euless, proposed legislation known as the "the teenage lovers bill." He said it would have given judges discretion not to place defendants who are 18 or 19 on the registry when the victims were no more than four years younger.
Despite broad support in House and Senate, Smith's bill was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.
Smith intends to reintroduce the measure next session, according to his office. However, as for possibly removing some offenders from the registry, the state should first focus on granting judges discretion for teenage consensual relationships before considering any other potential changes, he said in a statement. Changes to the registry can provoke public backlash. One speaker at last month's hearing who advocates for the rights of sex-crime victims accused the committee of giving too much speaking time to offenders.
Committee member Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said that public reaction to proposed changes is critical.
"The public attitude is very important," he said. "The public will not tolerate any softness or leniency regarding crimes against children involving sex and violence. Nor should they."
Politics will also play a role. After discussing allowing some offenders to seek removal from the registry, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, acknowledged at the hearing that supporting such a measure could lead to political problems.
"I'd do it because I hear the facts and that's what guides me," he said. "The political reality is you vote to take a certain category [off the registry] and that's what your opponent will put in the mailer at campaign time."
Deadline approaching
A looming federal deadline to comply with new national sex offender registration standards could force state lawmakers to decide during the next legislative session to make decisions about the registry.
States are required by July 2011 to implement the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which seeks to create uniform methods of tracking sex offenders nationwide.
But the treatment council recommended that the state not comply with the federal classification system, which determines an offender's threat level based on the title of the offense.
Plea bargains that result in convictions for lesser charges can mask the true nature of an offense, Arnold said. Using a scientifically supported risk assessment is a more accurate way of determining who poses a larger threat.
The new system would also lead to a retroactive re-tiering of sex offenders in the state registry, moving some offenders down in threat level and others up, the council reported.
Calderon said the new system would, for example, catapult him into a higher risk category. Instead of registering with police once a year, he would have to do it every three months, he said.
Noncompliance would cost Texas about $2.2 million in federal funding, Arnold said. However, the cost of enacting the federal system would likely be substantially more. ..Source.. Alex Branch
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Missing Sex Offenders: Numbers Grow According to Senate Committee
8-1-2010 Washington DC:
In a Senate Report (111-229) supporting S-3636 "Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2011" we find this new FEAR-BASING comment from the Senate Committee on Appropriations:Sexual Offender Apprehension- The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-248) gives the U.S. Marshals Service the authority to treat as fugitives convicted sex offenders who fail to register. It also directs the marshals to assist jurisdictions in locating and apprehending these individuals. There are roughly 135,000 non-compliant offenders in the United States.
The Committee commends the U.S. Marshals Service for annualizing $50,985,000 of prior year supplemental and annual funds into its 2011 budget request for enforcement of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. To date, the USMS has hired 170 new deputy marshals to assist States in locating and apprehending sex offenders who violate sex offender registration requirements. The Committee is concerned, however, that the administration requests no additional resources to expand this program beyond the current level of effort. The U.S. Marshals Service estimates it needs a dedicated force of at least 500 deputy marshals to fulfill its Adam Walsh Act responsibilities. Therefore, the Committee appropriates an additional $10,000,000 above the budget request for the Marshals Service to hire an additional 50 deputy marshals to expand Adam Walsh enforcement activities in districts across the country, with the goal of hiring and equipping 500 new deputy marshals in total by 2015. The Committee would also urge the Department of Justice to submit a reprogramming request in 2011 that would reallocate funds from lower priority programs across the Department to enable the Marshals Service to enhance its Adam Walsh enforcement mission.
This funding will also continue support for the National Sex Offender Targeting Center, improve the agency's information technology backbone, and reinforce the agency's infrastructure so that deputy marshals have timely, accurate investigative information to track down and arrest those who prey on our Nation's children.
No real support just a conclusion. The OLD "unregistered sex offenders are preying on children," and former number 100,000 (for the truth about that number) wasn't getting attention, so how do they fix that? Make it grow! Must have been feed some sort of fertilizer! Right, the fertilizer of "Job Stimulus," latest method of creating an even bigger federal work force. Soon someone will be claiming "More jobs have been created!"
All this to keep an "Address Book," a list of addresses where former sex offenders sleep for a few hours of the day or night. This is absolute insanity! Knowing where someone sleeps does nothing to enhance public safety, except make them a better target, for some wacko.
However, not a DIME spent on sex offender therapy -in prisons or the community- therapy is known to reduce recidivism, hence, future victims. But, billions continue to be spent on drug offender programs. "Anything to save one child" uttered by so many politicians, is but a _____!
Knowing where former offenders sleep, is hogwash. TRACKING does not PREVENT new victims, but, THERAPY and REENTRY programs, do!
Worse yet is, all the following additional money is being dumped into the already failing Adam Walsh Bucket, which states -while they want the money, don't support the principle of parts of the Act-:Fighting Crimes Against Children- The Committee has provided substantial resources to protect our children from predators. The recommendation includes $399,100,000 for Department of Justice efforts to prevent, investigate, and prosecute crimes against children. This recommendation fully supports the critical Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.
Exploited and Missing Children- The Committee provides an additional $1,500,000 above the request to enhance INTERPOL's efforts to establish a dedicated global unit to fight child exploitation. These resources will assist in enforcing requirements outlined in the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-248) and assist in other initiatives to combat child sexual exploitation.
Adam Walsh Act Implementation.--The Committee expects EOUSA to continue to focus on investigations and prosecutions related to the sexual exploitation of children, as authorized by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Public Law 109-248. Not less than $38,460,000 shall be available for this purpose in fiscal year 2011.
This is in-addition to what is being proposed ($252 million PLUS Unfunded Mandates for States and the Private-Sector) for the International Megans Law disaster. Never forget, "vigilantism -severe and subtle-" exists, International Megans Law will make it worse, as will continued FEAR-BASING legislation!
For now, have a great day and a better tomorrow.
eAvocate
National sex offender registration struggles to take hold
8-1-2010 National:
Earlier this month, the state of North Dakota received another extension from the federal government, putting off for another year compliance with a 2006 law setting national standards for sex offender registration.
Earlier this month, the state of North Dakota received another extension from the federal government, putting off for another year compliance with a 2006 law setting national standards for sex offender registration.
It’s the last extension allowed by the feds and, the thing is, the state may never comply with the law the way it’s written.
The law is better known around here for creating the Dru Sjodin national sex offender website, named after the UND student who was kidnapped and killed nearly seven years ago.
Unlike several of the states and American Indian nations that haven’t complied with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, also known as the Adam Walsh act — only three states and two nations have — North Dakota doesn’t have funding problems. It has a difference of opinion.
“We’re in full compliance except for a couple of areas, and those areas are where I have policy disputes with the one-size-fits-all federal approach,” said North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. The state, he said, is “99 percent” in compliance.
One of those areas of differences is how sex offenders are assessed for risk. The federal law says risk should be based on the statute the offender was convicted of. North Dakota has a committee that evaluates not just the crime, but factors that could increase the risk of reoffending.
Stenehjem’s not alone. Some law enforcement experts feel the same way and have told Congress so.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who wrote the part of the law creating the Dru Sjodin website, said he understands many states feel they have a better way to deal with sex offenders, but that can be addressed after they’ve come into compliance.
“The reason the Adam Walsh act, and the Dru Sjodin part of it, exists is because hasn’t been anything on the national level that works,” he said. If 47 states won’t comply, he said, there still won’t be national system that works.
Deadline 2011
SORNA, as the law is called in the federal jargon, consolidated a patchwork of national standards for registering sex offenders and extended them to American Indian reservations.
The law memorializes two well-known victims, UND student Dru Sjodin and Adam Walsh, the son of John Walsh, host of “America’s Most Wanted.” The son’s 1981 murder inspired the father to become an anti-crime activist, eventually landing on TV.
Starting July 27, 2006, states, U.S. territories and reservations around the nation had three years to comply, and may seek two, one-year extensions, meaning the drop-dead deadline for compliance is July 27, 2011. Reservations may choose to have the states they’re in take the lead.Jurisdictions that that don’t comply risk losing 10 percent of their annual allotment of the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant, a major source of federal grants to state and local law enforcement agencies.
For some states, such as California, the cost of compliance far outweighs the loss of funding. The state’s Sex Offender Management Board said in early 2009 that compliance would cost $31.3 million a year, not including $6.8 million in one-time costs. Noncompliance, on the other hand, would risk just $2.1 million a year.
For North Dakota, which is already mostly compliant, the loss of funding would amount to $78,000 in fiscal year 2010. Stenehjem said it’s just not worth it to make the state, in his opinion, less safe.
Approaches to risk
What SORNA does is expand the kinds of offenses that require registration — for example, some juveniles who aren’t tried as adults must still register — and it requires offenders to provide more information about themselves and update that information, including their whereabouts, more frequently.
By and large, Stenehjem said he considers SORNA a good law. Sex offenders aren’t required to stay in one place and a national law will do a better job tracking them, he said.
Even within North Dakota, he said, it’ll help the state work better with tribal governments. Reservations don’t have the same kind of registration and tracking requirements as the rest of the state and, sometimes, sex offenders will head for reservations and disappear from the radar, he said.
But Stenehjem has a real problem with SORNA when it requires the state to base the risk level of sex offenders on the offenses they’re convicted of. This is the so-called “offense-based” approach, which contrasts with the “actuarial” approach of some 20 states, North Dakota among them.
The actuarial approach bases the risk level not only on offenses committed, but also factors such as the person going through sex offender treatment and holding steady jobs. States argue that this is a more accurate method of assessing risk, allowing authorities to focus finite police resources only on the sex offenders that are truly likely to reoffend.
In North Dakota, Stenehjem said, the state’s Sex Offender Risk Assessment Committee is made up of psychologists, law enforcement officials and victims’ advocates who go through every sex offender’s case to determine the risk level.
He faulted the offense-based approach because a conviction alone can give a false impression of a sex offender. For example, if the sex offender managed, through plea bargaining, to attain a conviction on a lesser charge, his risk level drops simply because it was negotiated that way between prosecutors and the defending attorney.
Plea bargaining is extremely common in the U.S. justice system with most cases never going to court.
The state committee considers the circumstances of the offense, Stenehjem and Assistant Attorney General Jon Byers said, for example, the age of the victim, the offender’s criminal history, what police said happened along with the evidence gathered compared with what the victim and the offender said. The committee also looks at other factors that raises or lowers risks, they said, for example, going through sex offender treatment or drug abuse treatment lowers the risk, as is having a steady job and a consistent place to live.
Crude instrument
There is disagreement among law enforcement experts about which approach is appropriate at the national level. In early 2009, that disagreement came before Congress again when the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security held a hearing to find out why so few states had complied with SORNA.
On one side are those that, like Stenehjem, think offense-based risk assessment is too crude an instrument to be effective.
“One of the fundamental problems in our field is that we tend to paint all sex offenders with the same brush,” Madeline M. Carter, director of the Center for Sex Offender Management in Silver Spring, Md., told the subcommittee. “Professionals have long recognized key differences among them. These differences relate to the types of crimes they commit, to the victims they target, to their risk for re-offense, and to the types of interventions that will most likely reduce their risk.”
SORNA may even impede states from effective management of their sex offender populations.
In Washington state, authorities may raise the risk-level of a sex offender if there were indications that he was engaging in risky behavior, said Bob Shilling, a detective in the Seattle Police Department. “This helps put precious public safety resources where they are needed the most, monitoring the highest-risk offenders.”
SORNA, he said, would not allow this.
National approach
On the other side are those that think the actuarial approach is too subjective and varies too much from state to state to work at the national level. How could there be a national system if a sex offender might be a moderate risk in one state and a high risk in another?
“Individuals who do not have a national perspective do not understand the significance of the jurisdiction-specific modifications they seek,” Laura L. Rogers, the former director of the Justice Department office charged with implementing SORNA, told the House subcommittee in a statement. The law already has flexibility for different jurisdictions, she said, and changes to make it more so would only create problems.
“There is little consistency to these various programs,” complained Rep. Louis B. Gohmert Jr., R-Texas, the subcommittee’s ranking member and a former judge. “They are not uniform in the criteria they apply or in who performs the assessments. This creates discrepancies over which sex offenders should be tracked nationwide.”
Nevertheless, states do want SORNA modified and North Dakota is among them.
Stenehjem said he’s contacted the Justice Department, which says its hands are tied by the language of the law, and congressional leaders who “listened politely” but have yet to take action.
Dorgan’s office said the only correspondence with the attorney general is a copy of a letter requesting this year’s extension.
The senator said he’s sympathetic. If states think they have a better approach, he said, Congress may address that, but the first priority is to establish a consistent national system. ..Source.. by Tu-Uyen Tran, Grand Forks Herald
With open arms and open eyes, churches minister to sex offenders
8-1-2010 National:
Within days of attending a Sunday service at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, a Johnson County man received an unexpected e-mail.
Security officials at the Leawood megachurch wanted to see him immediately. They told him this summer that some rules needed to be set if he wished to come back to worship.
He must go straight to the sanctuary before service and leave immediately after it ended — no dawdling. There would be no direct contact with church staff.
Only a single-stool restroom on the church campus could be used.
And under no circumstances could he enter the children’s wing of the church.
The man is a registered sex offender, convicted seven years ago of possessing child pornography. He’s also one of a special class of worshippers whom most churches across the country want to welcome — but very carefully.
“While we’re a very inclusive church family, at the same time, we feel we have a responsibility to have a safe environment for our members and visitors,” said Peter Metz, communications director for the Church of the Resurrection. “It’s a practical solution, much better than denying them access to the church.”
Sex offenders across the country face laws and regulations that keep them from living near schools, parks, bus stops and pools. Some neighborhoods created association rules banning offenders from residing there.
Now churches are in the mix, trying to welcome parishioners while draping a protective cloak over the children and others in the next pew.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church added wording to its manual last month that sex offenders can restore their memberships but never hold a post involving unsupervised contact with children.
Earlier this summer, a Georgia law took effect allowing sex offenders to volunteer in church only if they’re not around children.
In New Hampshire, a man has sued for the right to attend a Jehovah’s Witnesses church with a chaperone. Jonathan Perfetto, who served about eight years in prison for 61 counts of child pornography, has been welcomed by the congregation. A church elder volunteered to chaperone.
But being around anyone under the age of 18 is a violation of his probation, and a judge denied his request. Attorney Barbara Keshen of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union argued his case last month before the state Supreme Court.
“On the one hand, every citizen has the freedom to exercise their religion,” Keshen said. “On the other hand, churches want to make sure no member of their congregation is in danger.”
Sara Totonchi, executive director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, said: “I think churches are struggling to find that middle ground.”
•••
By nature, and God’s word, churches welcome all people. Hate the sin, love the sinner, the belief goes.
But many churches say open arms have to come with open eyes. In the past several years, churches have done everything from requiring limited access agreements to prohibiting some from coming inside the church at all.
“We believe they have spiritual needs that could help them on their path to recovery. We want to be part of their rehabilitation,” said Jim Bradford at the Assemblies of God national headquarters in Springfield, Mo. “But we have to be proactive. The stakes are too high.”
His church leadership recommends that its 12,000 churches adopt some restrictions but doesn’t mandate them. In the past, Bradford was lead pastor at Central Assembly of God in Springfield, where several sex offenders had attended.
First, Bradford said, he and other leaders would find out what the circumstances of the offense were. Then they would tailor the restrictions.
Sometimes, offenders would get offended, but the church stood firm. In one case, a man was told not to come back because leaders felt he wouldn’t obey the restrictions.
“By ministering to them, it’s not necessarily saying, ‘We trust you,’ ” Bradford said. “It does say that ‘within Christ, we have hope for you.’
“We don’t want to close the door. … Jesus wouldn’t.”
Janet Taylor, a minister at Kansas City’s Unity Temple on the Plaza, agrees. Her church makes sure children and other members are safe by monitoring security cameras set up throughout the church.
Anyone working with children goes through a background check. But the front door is open for offenders wanting to turn their lives around.
“From my perspective, it’s important to have someone attend church if they were in that situation,” Taylor said. “Even though they acted inappropriately in the past, we would still strive to see the Christ-like essence within them.”
Churches are most cautious with volunteers. Some routinely check sex offender registries.
At Lenexa Christian, church leaders make sure volunteers working with young people have no convictions of a sexual nature. If they do, that doesn’t preclude them from being involved in other areas of the church.
“We’re trying to reach out to them in love, also,” said pastor Kirk Ruchotzke, who oversees Christian education at the church. “Just because there’s something in their background doesn’t mean God can’t use them in some type of ministry.”
•••
For the last several years, the Johnson County man attended a weekly group for adults sponsored by the Church of the Resurrection.
Some members knew his status. He wasn’t hiding.
That’s why he expressed surprise at the e-mail and the requirement to sign the agreement to be allowed to return. He felt his rights were violated, but he has declined to discuss the episode further.
Metz, a church spokesman, said the man remained under the radar until recently.
“Our safety and security folks were not aware of him,” Metz said. “Every offender we become aware of, we ask them to sign our agreement.”
Restrictions are a good security tool for churches — as long as they’re accompanied by support, said Steve Vann, who helps run Keeping Kids Safe Ministries, based in Tennessee.
The group helps churches make proactive decisions regarding sex offenders in their congregations. What worries Vann are the churches that don’t address the issue at all.
“When you ignore it, abandon or shut off these people, it makes it more likely for them to reoffend,” Vann said.
As a prison minister in central Kansas for 20 years, Lynn McBride has offered his services to criminals and offenders for years. To him, the importance of religion in rehabilitation is clear. He offered the example of one sex offender who remade his life once out of prison. He is now remarried, has a good job and is active in his church.
“He turned to God in prison,” McBride said. “He’s just a wonderful young man. He’s doing great.”
Through another offender, McBride knows what can happen when the support and counseling isn’t there.
The prison minister didn’t meet one inmate until he was imprisoned after a second offense. Between prison terms, the child molester went to a church, volunteered in the nursery and abused a child there. The man is no longer behind bars and, through ministry and support, appears to be obeying the law.
“There are good stories. There are tragedies,” McBride said. “It’s important for them to be able to call someone, to have a church, a pastor who understands.
“That’s the bottom line. They need counseling. They need people there for them.” ..Source.. by LAURA BAUER, The Kansas City Star
Restriction on sex offenders makes us less safe
8-1-2010 Florida:
The problem of sex offenders who lived in a shantytown under the Julia Tuttle bridge in Miami-Dade County -- before getting housing that most now are about to lose -- demands resolution.
Contrary to Homeless Trust Chairman Ron Book's claim that there is no answer to this problem, there is a simple step that the County Commission can take -- without spending a penny of taxpayer dollars: Rescind its 2,500-foot sex-offender residency restriction, and let the state's 1,000-foot restriction govern where released offenders sleep.
More than a year ago, when the shantytown under the Julia Tuttle bridge brought Miami worldwide negative attention, state Department of Corrections Secretary Walter A. McNeil wrote to the Homeless Trust stating: ``[U]sing the 1,000-foot criteria, most of the sex offenders living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway would be able to find a place to live in accordance with state law.''
The area covered by the county's 2,500-foot restriction is more than five times greater than the state's exclusionary zone. By overrunning the boundaries set by the state, the county has created homelessness for released offenders who require stability and monitoring. Lack of social support and unemployment are the major factors in recidivism.
If the county followed the state's 1,000-foot restriction, most offenders could find a place to live because more low-cost housing would be available. Those who are unemployed and cannot pay rent could move in with family or friends. They would then get government IDs with real addresses, removing a major barrier to employment.
A year ago, the ACLU urged commissioners to rescind the 2,500-foot restriction so that state law could set the limits. Instead, commissioners acquiesced to the temporary, costly Band-Aid backed by the Homeless Trust. Now Book, who was responsible for creating the problem in the first place by lobbying to create the 2,500-foot restriction, has announced that the Trust will no longer provide housing for these people, turning them out onto the street once again.
Certainly, allowing the state's 1,000-foot restriction to operate is a far better alternative than creating a new shantytown under a bridge, the clustering of sex offenders in a few neighborhoods or having sex offenders sleep on the streets.
It is time for commissioners, who have the power and responsibility, to remedy this problem. ..Source.. CARLENE SAWYER and JEANNE BAKER, www.aclufl.org
