Va court upholds police use of GPS attached to sex offender's car

See earlier story. Hummm, so if I find something attached to my car which I did not place there, am I allowed to destroy it, if I so desire? Or, maybe attach it to a roving police car? Better a local wild dog... Enough is enough, this is getting crazy.. Folks need to sweep for bugs nowadays... See also "How to Detect GPS Tracking Devices"

9-7-2010 Virginia:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia Court of Appeals has upheld the use of a GPS device to track a sex offender's movements.

The court unanimously ruled Tuesday that Fairfax County Police did not violate the privacy rights of David Foltz Jr., a registered sex offender, when they attached the device to the bumper of his work van and tracked him as he drove around.

The GPS log put Foltz near the scene of a sex crime, which prompted police to follow him in person the next day and arrest him during an attempted assault.

The court rejected Foltz's claim that use of the GPS device amounted to an unconstitutional search and seizure and violated his privacy rights. The judges said there is no expectation of privacy on public streets. ..Source.. by ctPost.com

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Hypocritical Legal Crusade Against Craigslist Will Not Solve Violence Against Sex Trafficking Victims

9-7-2010 National:

AG Richard Blumenthal's obsession with Craigslist does nothing to end the exploitation of people trafficked for sex.

For years, Connecticut state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (and his dozen or so allied AGs across the United States) have aggressively attacked Craigslist's Adult Services section. This weekend, Craigslist opted to self-censor that part of the site. Perhaps now, Blumenthal and his allies in law enforcement might abandon their counterproductive crusade against Craigslist and take steps to confront the issues that actually contribute to violence against people involved in the sex trade.

If these lead prosecutors are truly concerned about ending violence and exploitation, then their focus on one intermediary advertising Web site, among dozens of other sex ad venues, could be considered criminally shortsighted. There’s a tremendous amount the attorneys general could do to actually curb the suffering of people within the criminal and legal systems in which they have power. This is what some of us have elected them to do.

People involved in the sex trade, whether by choice, coercion or circumstance, all still face criminal records after a prostitution conviction – even people who have been trafficked. These convictions can prevent a former sex worker or trafficking survivor from obtaining future employment, housing or retaining custody of their children. The collateral consequences of conviction vary from state to state, and can be severe. In Louisiana, Women With a Vision advocates for women who are charged under a 200-year-old “crimes against nature” law when suspected of being involved in the sex trade. Such a conviction requires them to register as sex offenders. They group asks how a young woman of color is supposed to make a living outside the sex trade when her driver’s license is stamped “SEX OFFENDER” in large block letters -- as is the case with hundreds of women convicted of prostitution in Louisiana.

But these collateral consequences of conviction can be changed, even without removing laws against prostitution. In 2010, through the advocacy of the Sex Workers Project (based at the Urban Justice Center), New York became the first state in the nation to adopt legislation allowing trafficking survivors to vacate prostitution-related sentences, removing these convictions from their criminal records. This is a human rights victory that even those who consider prostitution to be intrinsically harmful can and ought to support. ..For the remainder of this story: by Melissa Gira Grant

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Human trafficking, exploitation is on the rise in Michigan

9-6-2010 Michigan:

Theresa Flores will have knots in her stomach when she comes to Grand Rapids later this week.

“It’s hard to come back to Michigan,” she says from her home in Ohio, where the carpet cleaning company runs its whirring machine and her teen daughter rings in from her cell phone.

Flores was a 15-year-old living in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham when she was held captive in a nightmarish sex slave operation for two years.

She lived in a nice house and went to school every day, where she was a member of the track team.

Almost every night, a black Trans Am picked her up, and she was taken to the basements of houses, where groups of men would rape and torture her while her family slept. They threatened her and her family if she told.

Flores, 45, will be the main speaker Friday at a panel discussion on human trafficking, joined by area experts with a mission to shed light on a dark subject.

“It happens here,” Flores says, “to white, middle-class teens who live in the suburbs. It’s easy to think that because you live in a nice neighborhood, you’re safe. Well, you’re not. We’ve let our guard down.”

What is human trafficking?

Experts say many people aren’t even sure what human trafficking is, often assuming it means smuggling illegal immigrants across borders.

Its real definition: when a person is recruited or transferred through some form of coercion or deception and exploited, mainly for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Women and children are the primary targets, but men also are trafficked.

While much of the illegal trafficking involves bringing women and children across international borders to be sold into sex industries, the number of girls exploited this way is on the rise in Michigan, according to a report released last month by the Michigan Women’s Foundation in partnership with Women’s Funding Network. The May study included the most popular outlets for domestic commercial exploitation: the Internet and escort services. ..For the remainder of this story by Terri Finch Hamilton

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Cyberbullying and Electronic Dating Violence

9-6-2010 Global:

Our cyberbullying work continues to take our research agenda in new and interesting directions. One phenomenon which we have been exploring in recent months is “electronic dating violence,” which we define as: “emotional or psychological harm in a romantic relationship perpetrated through the use of computers, cell phones, or other electronic devices.” The number of persons who have been victimized offline by romantic partners range from 10% to 47%, depending on how it is defined and measured in research studies. Research has also shown that teenagers are at a higher risk than adults when it comes to abuse by intimates. Since the vast, vast majority of teens have embraced the use of computers and cell phones, we believe it is important to consider how dating violence might be occurring via such devices.

There are some similarities between cyberbullying and electronic dating violence that should be mentioned. First, both naturally employ technology. Second, cyberbullying is largely perpetrated by and among known peers, as is aggression in romantic relationships (where youth typically select dating partners among their peer group). Third, both lead to specific negative emotional, psychological, physical, and behavioral outcomes. Finally, both also may have similar contributing factors such as personal insecurities and a need to demonstrate control. With regard to differences, cyberbullying tends to occur between individuals who do not like, and do not want to be around, each other. Electronic dating violence transpires between two people who are attracted to each other on some level. ..For the remainder of this article by Cyberbullying Research Center

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Sheriff's sex crimes registry a 'model'

The analogy here of equating a one horse town system, programmed by a systems analyst, with one terminal entry to a statewide system with hundreds of entry points is laughable. Considering this one horse town system a model for the state without addressing the logistics of statewide needs, is more than proof that this should never happen. While I have no love for either system, nor any registry, I do know that system analysts should never make such claims without considering all the facts. 118 to thousands, and multiple entry points which also means many different folks are involved...

9-6-2010 Georgia:

A recent state audit gave the Georgia Sex Offender Registry poor marks, but it dubbed the Glynn County Sheriff's Office registry a model for surrounding counties.

Glynn County Sheriff Wayne Bennett said the Georgia Crime Information Center audited the county's list and asked his office to help surrounding counties get their registries on track.

"We had an audit in June of 2010, and we were found to have no errors," Bennett said.

There were 118 convicted sex offenders listed on Glynn County's website as of last week. Bennett said their addresses and places of employment are verified by a sheriff's deputy four times a year.

The website is updated weekly to add new offenders or remove those who are taken off the offender list or move out of the area, he said.

Homeless offenders are required to report at the sheriff's office every week to check in. If they fail to show up, they are locked up, Bennett said.

Glynn County deputies are now aiding sheriffs' offices in Appling, Brantley, McIntosh, Ware and Wayne counties. They're helping to set up more effective registries, he said.

The audit of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's registry showed the bureau's list had errors, outdated information and incomplete listings.

Lack of funding, staffing and cooperation with county agencies were the major contributing factors to the state list's shortcomings, according to the audit.

A bureau response to the audit revealed the state had only two full-time staff members monitoring Georgia's nearly 20,000 sex offenders.

Sheriff Bennett said watching so many offenders with so few people is asking for disaster.

"To me, that's unacceptable," Bennett said. "I know they're in a budget crunch. We are too. But it's unacceptable to only have two people monitoring all those offenders."

In its response to the audit, the GBI noted that many small counties had trouble getting information to the state because they had old technology.

That's not the case in Glynn County.

"I could just assume the majority of the problem is (surrounding counties) have outdated software and technology," Bennett said. "We have a programs analyst who created our software."

With the county's program, sex offender information is transmitted electronically to the state's crime center, so there is no paperwork to lose, he said.

The sheriff's website, which was updated at the beginning of 2010, can also show people a map of all the offenders registered in the county by zip code.

The state mandates the registry be kept but does not fund any aspect of it, Bennett said. ..Source.. LOUIE BROGDON, The Brunswick News

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Georgia town to residents: Uphold the law -- uphold your pants

Will this cover exposed diapers? If so, Moms watch your little ones, they may be considered a sex offender... Just when you've thought you have heard it all...

9-6-2010 Georgia:

(CNN) -- The town of Dublin, Georgia, is putting saggy, baggy pants in the category of indecent exposure, with violators facing fines of up to $200.

Dublin Mayor Phil Best said he plans to sign this week an amendment to the municipality's indecent exposure ordinance. The amendment, which Best plans to put into immediate effect at the City Council meeting, prohibits the wearing of pants or skirts "more than three inches below the top of the hips exposing the skin or undergarments."

"We've gotten several complaints from citizens saying the folks with britches down below their buttocks was offensive, and wasn't there something we could do about it," Best said.

The mayor said after about a year of fielding complaints, he put the city attorney to work researching how other localities have dealt with the derriere dilemma. The result was that council members decided to put exposure due to baggy clothing in the same category as masturbation, fornication and urination in public places.

Interesting, because if butt-cracking is equivalent to "masturbation, fornication and urination in public places," then butt-cracking is a crime requiring registration as a sex offender; along with showing ones diaper in public. Right?

Patrolling for offenders will be left to local police in the town about 140 miles southeast of Atlanta. Violators could face fines ranging from $25 to $200, or court-mandated community service.

"That's not our intent, we'd (rather) not fine anybody but we are prepared to," Best said.

Dublin residents are divided on the issue.

Lashika Haynes supports the push to force folks to pull up, "It's just disrespectful by showing your drawers to people," she said.

But there are those who feel that the ordinance singles out a specific group of citizens.

Jean Wolf, who volunteers with young black men in the community said, "They're the ones wearing the saggy, baggy pants."

Wolf said she believes the ordinance will lead to profiling by authorities.

Mayor Best said that accusation is "ridiculous."

"It's for white, black, man, woman. The ordinance is for everyone, and I've seen it violated by all races and sexes," Best said.

Dublin is not alone in its pull-up-the-pants campaign. Riviera Beach, Florida, and Flint, Michigan, passed bans against sagging pants in recent years, but the Riviera Beach legislation later was declared unconstitutional after a court challenge.

In the non-judicial realm, a state senator in Brooklyn, New York, announced plans earlier this year for a series of billboards featuring young men wearing low-hanging pants and the catchphrase, "Raise your pants, raise your image."

And up the road from Dublin, 62-year-old Atlantan "General" Larry Platt made it all the way to "American Idol" and became an online one-hit wonder with his song "Pants on the Ground." (Sample lyrics: "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground/looking like a fool with your pants on the ground.")

It is not lost on the mayor and the City Council in Dublin that this ordinance opens the door to what could be a pretty tricky debate over what is indecent exposure. For instance, how much is too much cleavage, and are certain tattoos indecent? The mayor seems to welcome the discussion as a natural part of the law-making process.

"I don't know a law or ordinance that doesn't stand scrutiny by the people and the court system. So time will tell. There have been plenty of laws that have gone all the way to Supreme Court," Best said.

According to the mayor, the local high school already enforces a strict dress code which puts a tight belt around students and their saggy pants, sending violators home for the day.

"It's time we all have a mutual respect for each other ... what a person does in the privacy of their home is fine," Best said. "But if I had an 8-year-old daughter, I don't think she needs to be subjected to looking at someone's rear end." ..Source.. Dina Majoli, CNN

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Court ruling undermines sexual predator law

9-6-2010 Washington:

The state Supreme Court’s message Thursday to state lawmakers might as well have been: Try again.

In a 5-4 decision, the high court ruled that legislative efforts to retake the reins of the state’s sexually violent predator law went too far.

That law – which allows the state to involuntarily commit the state’s worst sex offenders after they serve their prison sentences – requires predators vying for release to show that they have “so changed” as to no longer pose a threat to the community.

In 2004, one particularly notorious offender – Andre Brigham Young, a six-time rapist who fought the state’s civil commitment law all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost – argued that he had “so changed” merely by aging.

The Court of Appeals sided with Young, ordering a new commitment trial based on little else than a demographic study of sex offenders leaving Canadian prisons that included seven persons over the age of 60.

The Legislature responded in 2005, unanimously amending the law in an attempt to restore its pre-2004 meaning.

Lawmakers said that before a predator gets a shot at release, he should present evidence of more than advancing age or other demographic factor. The 2005 amendments called for a predator to show proof of a physiological change rendering him unable to commit a sexually violent act or a treatment-induced change in his mental condition.

On Thursday, five state Supreme Court justices declared those amendments an unconstitutional violation of due process, finding them too narrow.

The court’s ruling stemmed from a Pierce County case brought by David McCuistion, a convicted rapist with a history of sex crimes dating back to 1980. McCuistion had requested a trial to consider his release based solely on the word of an out-of-state expert who essentially argued that it would be impossible for anyone to prove an offender has a mental defect that makes him a risk to reoffend.

Justice Susan Owens, writing for the minority, said that in backing McCuistion’s request, the majority itself had gone too far. The court’s decision will greatly expand the ability of predators to argue for their release – even when there is no evidence of a change, demographic or otherwise.

“Under the standard that McCuistion advocates, any expert anywhere could force a new release trial for every (sexually violent predator) every single year by declaring that the defendant never met the commitment definition in the first place,” Owens said.

She predicted that the the costs and administrative burdens that could result from the majority’s holding would be “unacceptably high.”

Owens also cautioned that the court has eliminated a big incentive for offenders to undergo treatment – one of the ways they have won release hearings in the past.

The Legislature should look to repair the damage done – and restore the balance of the state’s civil commitment law – when it reconvenes next year. ..Source.. By Kim Bradford

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Sex Offender Register is a Waste of Money

9-5-2010 United Kingdom:

Major criticism has recently been expressed with regard to the UK Sex Offender Register. Many senior police officers think it is a waste of time and money and nobody really believes it has ever prevented an offence from being committed.

Only yesterday, a man was convicted of organising the distribution of child porn on Facebook. What is more interesting is the fact that it was the Australian police who discovered the link with the UK not the much vaunted Child Exploitation and Online Protection branch of the British police. Indeed, if one looks closely at CEOP, it is clear that they, like most other branches of the UK police rarely actually detect anything; they simply wait for people to be ‘grassed up’ by other members of the public who may have a personal axe to grind.

The Sex Offender Register, as operated in the UK, is regarded by France, Spain, Italy and many other EU states as being unlawful. Futhermore, one must remember that it is another import from the US put in place as a knee-jerk reaction to a particular offence. The countries that do not follow the example of the UK seem to have many fewer problems than we do when it comes to managing risk. They also recognise that people can change for the better whereas the Bitish believe the opposite.

This site is of the opinion that the 2 million people who now earn a very good living as part of the UK Child Protection Industry are only allowed to continue to do so because they are also 2 million voters that no government wants to upset. Everyone in power is afraid to speak the truth of this ridiculous situation for fear of being citicised by the press.

What they should all realise is that the majority of sexual offences against children are committed in the family environment by people who are not on the register and who have not yet been caught. It is also the case that most of them are in fact never caught and so never appear on the Register. One reason for this is that the government and charities who rely on other people’s money are terrified of criticising families. Newspapers too are afraid of criticising those who buy their publications.

The very fact that the man convicted yesterday was already on the Sex Offenders Register – as well as the Visor register – and yet was still able to commit his offences, proves that the Register is useless, expensive, stigmatises people, prevents them from ever getting any sort of job again and, worst of all, protects no one.

The Opinion Site shares the view of the police chief who said the Register should be torn up and thrown away. The trouble is, our pathetic politicians are a bunch of total cowards who are afraid to do or say anything which may attract criticism and threaten their overpaid political positions of power.

It was recently suggested that there may well have been paedophiles in Tony Blair’s inner cabinet; strange how that didn’t get much publicity and more strange still that nobody allegedly involved was ever investigated. Well actually, it is not that strange. After all, there was no one to ‘grass them up’ was there? ..Opinion of: Andromeda

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Couple charged with attempted murder

9-5-2010 Oregon

A Philomath woman and Silverton man have been charged with attempted murder and other offenses, including kidnapping and beating an Alsea woman to keep her from reporting an alleged sexual assault on a child.

Peggy Tennessee Watkins, 35, of Philomath, and Bryan Eugene Dover, II, 32, of Silverton, have been charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, four counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count each of unlawful use of a weapon and third-degree assault.

Secret indictments against them were issued by a Benton County Grand Jury on Aug. 10. Both already were in jail for unrelated charges.

The two are accused of kidnapping Christina Sawyer, 31, from her home on May 4, driving her to a remote location and assaulting her with a tire iron and a handgun. According to an affidavit filed with the court, the events of May 4 unfolded like this:

Watkins drove to Sawyer’s Alsea residence and lured her into the car with the promise of getting money that Watkins owed Sawyer. Soon after she and Sawyer drove away, Watkins picked up Dover, who was waiting along the road. Sawyer, who believed Dover had sexually abused a 5-year-old girl related to her, asked Watkins to stop and let her out. Sawyer couldn’t get the door open, and Watkins kept driving, eventually traveling up a logging road.

After the car stopped, Dover told Sawyer he wasn’t a child molester. When Sawyer told him child molesters “act just like you,” Watkins struck Sawyer in the head several times with a tire iron, and Dover hit her on the head with a handgun.

As Sawyer was vomiting because of her head injuries, Dover and Watkins injected methamphetamine. They then told Sawyer they would take her to the hospital, but threatened to hurt her and her children if she “said anything” or contacted police. They picked up Sawyer’s boyfriend and dropped him and Sawyer off at the emergency room at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center.

Sawyer, who later said she was frightened by the attack, initially explained to emergency room doctors that she’d fallen while trimming branches and had hit her head on a fence. She had numerous skull fractures and had to have surgery.

But a few weeks later, Sawyer told a doctor in Alsea that her story about falling into a fence wasn’t true. She reportedly told a Benton County sheriff’s deputy that she came forward because she wanted to report the sexual assault and because she was scared that Watkins and Dover were still “running around.”

But by then, Watkins and Dover already were jailed, having been arrested after a car chase in Salem. On May 18, they were spotted by a Salem police officer as they were driving a stolen Pontiac — the same vehicle, investigators believe, they were driving when they reportedly kidnapped Sawyer.

The officer tried to pull over the vehicle, but Watkins, who was driving, continued onto Interstate 5, driving south. Another officer tried to put a spike strip across the freeway to stop the car. Before he finished, he saw the Pontiac approaching and tripped. The officer said the car swerved toward him and never slowed, missing him by inches.

The vehicle was finally stopped when an officer intentionally hit it with a patrol car.

Watkins had been in Marion County Jail since that arrest. Dover had been lodged in Linn County Jail since May 20 on an unrelated parole and probation violation.

At Dover’s arraignment Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Karen Stanley said Dover, a convicted sex offender, faced life in prison if arrested on new sex crime charges. She added that there is “grave concern” for Sawyer’s safety if Dover and Watkins are released.

Watkins and Dover are both scheduled for court appearances Thursday with court-appointed attorneys. They are both now in Benton County Jail. Watkins’ bail is $1,075,000; Dover’s is $1,675,000. ..Source.. Rachel Beck, Gazette-Times reporter

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Is Sex Offender Listing Too Tough For Some Offenses?

9-5-2010 Iowa:

A Drake University law professor questions the stringent punishment of being listed on the sex offender registry in the case of a 24-year-old non-licensed youth counselor convicted Wednesday for kissing a 16-year-old.

“Her chances for employment just dropped to zero,” Robert Rigg, also director of Drake’s Criminal Defense Program, said after the verdict came in. “Everybody in the world will know. It’s the kiss of death.”

Two legislators defend the sex offender laws they helped revise, saying they're not harsh because they protect children.

“Those laws prevent harm to a child who already is a victim,” Sen. Keith Kreiman, D-Bloomfield, and chairman of Judiciary Committee, said Thursday regarding counselors, therapist or social workers who have inappropriate contact with clients.

Amanda Jones, a former Four Oaks youth counselor, was convicted by a jury in Linn County Associate Court Wednesday for sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist for kissing a 16-year-old client who was in residential treatment for behavioral issues in June 2008.

The teen testified he initiated the kiss that happened at Four Oaks, but after the incident, he never replied to e-mails sent by Jones, who wanted to pursue a romantic relationship.

Jones faces up to a year in prison. She also will be listed on the sex offender registry for 10 years and be ordered to the 10-year special parole after serving her sentence. She will be added to the list of about 110 women out of 5,164 sex offenders on the registry.

Mark Brown, Jones’ attorney, said Wednesday he believes the registry laws are too harsh for the lesser sex-related offenses and he will ask the court for a deferred judgment, which would eliminate the mandated 10-year special parole.

“I think the legislators should have trust in the judges to decide who should be placed on the registry in cases like this,” Brown said.

Rigg said the legislators decided they wanted to be the “super judge.”

“This is a common criticism of mandatory sentences – it doesn’t take into account the facts and circumstances of individual cases," he said. "The mandatory sentencing is addictive – once you have it, you get hooked. No politician is going to change it because they would lose the next election. They would be a friend of pedophiles. They get politically stuck in it.”

Rigg said the judges in these cases are concerned about the lack of flexibility in the law, so the only one left with any power or control in a situation like this is the county attorney or prosecutor.

“If you think about it, there’s no downside for them,” Rigg said. “If they win, great. If they lose, they can say they did their best and they don’t look soft on sex offenders.”

Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, who worked on the bipartisan revision of sex offender laws, said Jones “got a bargain.”

“She was undoubtedly pursuing this juvenile,” Baudler said. “I was for tougher laws as in the federal guidelines (based on risk factor) 15 years, 25 years and life.”

The lawmakers made the decision to stay with 10 years of less serious and life for more serious and violent offenders, he said.

Baudler, a former state patrol officer, said there was some discussion about giving judges the discretion regarding the registry requirement, but that idea was shot down because after considering how crimes are charged and then how they are pleaded down, the legislators opted against it.

Kreiman, also a practicing attorney, said Jones’ actions were wrong and the laws aren’t too harsh for someone like her to be on the registry for 10 years.

“These (offenders) need to be monitored. If she has a proclivity for this, she could go to the next place to work with kids,” Kreiman said.

The registry may seem unfair for someone who is convicted for a minor sexual offense if it’s a one time incident, but “the problem is we don’t now who’s going to re-offend,” Kreiman said.

There is a provision in the law which would give someone who may not have that tendency to re-offend a “slim chance” to shorten their time on the registry, Kreiman said.

Ross Loder, legislative liaison for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said the modification provision in the law enacted in 2009 allows an offender to ask a district court judge to modify or shorten their time on the registry, but there is stiff criteria that must be met.

Loder said the offender must have: a recommendation from a probation or parole officer; be released from jail or prison; have approval from assigned community based corrections; must be on the register so many years based on level of offense; and must complete sex offender treatment and risk assessment, ranking as low risk to re-offend.

“There have been no successful modifications since (the law) went into effect,” Loder said. “There may be some in the works now…. those are ones with minor offenses committed as juveniles.”

Loder said the number of women on the registry has remained about 3 percent of the total for the last decade or so.

The Iowa registry started in 1995, and major revisions were made in 2002, 2005, 2009 and this year. ..Source.. Trish Mehaffey, Reporter

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Prisoners have the right to safety, whatever their crime

9-5-2010 United Kingdom:

Prison Officers at Grendon prison are cynically blaming budget cuts for the death of a sex offender this week. According to the warders, the cuts have ‘put pressure’ on the system. That cynicism is bad enough but it pales into insignificance when compared with the vitriol that was poured out on BBC Radio 5 live by participants in the phone-in dealing with this incident.

Predictably, the people calling the program had nearly all had some personal experience of being abused. Their words betrayed their lust for vengeance and revenge rather than justice, a trait that is regularly encouraged by tabloid newspapers in order to sell more of their obnoxious copy.

The number of convicted sex offenders in the UK doubles every 5 years. Very few re-offend. The percentage of violent offenders who re-offend is 65%. Apparently, it is OK to bash people on the head and leave them as vegetables for the rest of their life just so long as you are not a ‘nonce’.

So be it. If that is the society that people want in this country then allow all the skull-crushing, maiming thugs out of prison after short sentences in order that they can seriously injure more people whilst, in the interests of public protection, you incarcerate more and more people who are probably not going to re-offend anyway.

Don’t forget too that it is apparently OK to allow sex offenders to be killed in prison. After all, that is what civilized people want, isn’t it? ..Opinion of: Andromeda

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Sex offenders find home, fresh start in Oklahoma City mobile home park

9-5-2010 Oklahoma:

The Rev. David Nichols started Hand Up Ministries in 1996 with the intention of helping convicted felons get a fresh start. It has since evolved to help mostly sex offenders who have no other place to go.

There is an unusual warning posted outside a common-looking mobile home park in southeast Oklahoma County.

It reads "No women or children allowed past this point," in large, red assertive letters, as if on the other side of the gate exists a danger as deadly as toxic waste or an atomic bomb.

The sign wasn't hung for the protection of visitors, but for the 227 convicted felons — 215 who are registered sex offenders — living there.

A man is stationed at the entrance to enforce the rule, and there are video cameras in the driveway to document the comings and goings. These are precautions the Rev. David Nichols insists they must take against "enemies" who have tried to destroy what's been built here. Nichols wouldn't put it past "some law-abiding citizen" to wage a false accusation against one of the men living in the park in an effort to shut it down.

The pastor founded Hand Up Ministries more than a decade ago and has fought his share of battles to defend it, even landing once in the county lockup, accused of violating a sex offender housing law.

There is a website passionately against the organization. Attempts by The Oklahoman to contact the administrator of saveokc.com by e-mail were unsuccessful.

"He shows no concern for our safety. Only building his ministry of rapists and pedophiles," the website states.

The program is designed to help convicted felons transition from prison to mainstream life again, but has evolved to help mostly sex offenders.

"As you can imagine, it hasn't made me too popular with a lot of folks, but I decided a long time ago that wasn't going to stop me," Nichols said.

His reasoning is simple: "No one else is going to do it."

A home, a neighborhood

The mobile home park is at 2130 SE 59, adjacent to the town of Valley Brook, notorious for its many men's clubs and a view of Oklahoma City's mountainous landfill.

Hand Up Ministries bought the property about three years ago after being forced out of an Oklahoma City apartment house determined to be too close to a school. The organization's loss turned into a blessing when a developer bought the apartments for $500,000. Nichols said the money was used to buy the 41-acre mobile home park that at the time had no homes.

Since then, it's become a close-knit neighborhood with 69 modest mobile homes and 38 travel trailers. Despite the absence of women and children, it looks like any other. Men arrive home during the late afternoon from work and school, lugging their lunch pails and book bags. In the evening, dog walkers and bike riders travel its few streets.

Chris Hollrah said he and most of the men living in the park were facing homelessness before arriving.

Hollrah, a former business executive, waiter and fiction writer, was convicted in 2009 of exposing himself to a teenage girl over the Internet. As part of a plea agreement that kept him out of jail, he agreed to register as a sex offender. He then lost his job, ran out of savings and was 36 hours from living on the street when his probation officer recommended Hand Up, he said.

"I'm not trying to make excuses for what I've done," Hollrah said. "I'm just trying to get my life back together, but in a better way."

He said living there gives him and other sex offenders an address to register to stay in compliance with the law. Nichols makes sure they keep up with their probation requirements and stay current with court fines.

Hollrah said since he's been at Hand Up he's actively attended Bible study and church services, and volunteers in a food pantry.

No free ride

The park has emerged as a self-sufficient community, appearing as tightly run as a military base with Nichols as its commanding officer.

Residents sign an agreement to follow Hand Up's rules, which include a midnight curfew. Fighting, drugs or alcohol are grounds for immediate expulsion.

Nichols claims the mobile home park is safer than others around it, and that might be true. In the past nine months, there have been no complaints or reports of criminal activity, said Jennifer Wardlow, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City Police Department.

Wardlow said it's not been identified as a problem for police.

Nichols said Hand Up is supported by the men. Those who can, pay $100 a week in program fees. That support carries those who can't pay until they find work or are OK'd for Social Security benefits.

Most of the men possess talents, education or a trade, but have trouble getting jobs because they're sex offenders. Those not working are usually assigned duties in the park as a way of earning their keep.

Hand Up has several blossoming ventures aimed at job training and providing work for the men. There is a mechanic shop, tree and lawn service and welding and T-shirt screening businesses.

Sex offender dilemma

For three years, the mobile home park has managed to operate somewhat under the radar. "We are one of the best-kept secrets in the Oklahoma City area," Nichols said.

"Once the truth about what's going on here gets out, it's probably going to cause nothing but problems for me."

Hand Up is the only organization of its kind in Oklahoma, with the exception of Chandler resident Tom Wright's LOVE Foundation.

Wright last year was housing as many as a dozen sex offenders before neighbors' protests nearly shut him down. As of this month, only three are enrolled in the foundation's program.

Still Nichols chooses to speak up for the men he's trying to help, in hopes the more people learn about Hand Up Ministries, the less fear will resonate from it. He said lawmakers, the criminal justice system and society have made it increasingly difficult for sex offenders to live.

"A guy convicted one time of indecent exposure is clumped into the same category as a predator that violently rapes little kids," Nichols said. "Society sees them all the same, and lawmakers perpetuate that to create laws that would otherwise be considered unreasonable."

Bernard LeGrow, 50, convicted in 1997 of lewd molestation, said it's nearly impossible for a registered sex offender to find affordable housing in neighborhoods that aren't drug- and crime-infested.

A law prohibiting them from living within 2,000 feet of a park, school or church bars them from most of Oklahoma City.

Even the words "sex offender" are printed in red across their driver's licenses and state identification cards, he said.

"It's like we're constantly being told we can never change, but that's not true," LeGrow said. ..Source.. ANN KELLEY

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Housing group files lawsuit against property owners who evicted families

9-4-2010 Florida:

Families out; sex offenders in

LANTANA, Fla. - Tara Whyte remembers the stress. "Every day it was a knock on the door. Have you found somewhere yet? Have you found somewhere yet? Have you found somewhere yet?"

The knocking came after a letter that Whyte and other families living in Pelican Lake Village near Pahokee received in December of 2008. It said anyone with children under the age of 18 had to be out of their homes by January 1st.

"I thought it was just nasty. It was over holidays. No Christmas for the kids. All of my belongings were packed in boxes," said Whyte.

Friday, the Fair Housing Center of the Palm Beaches filed a lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Whyte and five other families who lived in Pelican Lake Village.

"How many people are ready to move at a moments notice?" asked Vince Larkins with the Fair Housing Center.

"My husband, he had to work overtime so we could get the money to move," said Shirley Campbell.

After the families moved out, many of the units were rented to a ministry group called Matthew 25. It in turn, provided housing to registered sex offenders and predators, more than 60 at last count.

Attorneys say whether or not to give sex offenders a place to live without children nearby is beside the point.

Attorney Reed Colfax said, "It does not excuse the fact and certainly not permissible under the law to evict all the families with children because you decide you have a better use for your property."

At Alston Management in South Bay, the company named in the suit, no one inside could comment on the litigation which was filed within the two year statute of limitations. If the case does go to court, a trial date could be at least a year away. ..Source.. by Jon Shainman

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Florida Sex Offenders Must Register With New Permanent or Temporary Address

The insanity of law. Follow the highlights, if a RSO visits their parents home for an aggregate days in a calendar year, then s/he is deemed to live there. And, must change driver's license and any other ID's they may have (like Internet ID's etc.) for each visit? Courts should deem this unconstitutional because it is over breadth and more control of lives than generally, probation or parole of other crime types. The "key" is the word "routinely."

9-2-2010 Florida:

There are certain crimes in Florida that require the defendant to register as a sex offender for the rest of his/her life after a conviction. This sex offender status confers fairly rigid requirements on a person, and failure to comply can lead to an additional serious felony criminal charge in Florida. For instance, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will likely send an annual letter to a person's registered address asking the person to verify that he/she still resides there. If the letter is not answered in time, the police may come looking for that person. If the police determine that the person has changed his/her address, permanently or temporarily, without notifying the proper authorities, that person will likely face a new third degree felony charge.

Under the Florida career sex offender law, a person must register with the Department of Corrections within two days of establishing a permanent or temporary residence. The definition of a permanent residence might sound a lot like a temporary residence. A permanent residence is a place where the person "abides, lodges or resides" for 14 or more consecutive days. A temporary residence will include any trip of four days or more or just about any series of trips to the same location. A temporary residence is defined under the Florida criminal laws as a place where the person "abides, lodges or resides" for 14 days in the aggregate in any calendar year that is not his/her permanent residence or a place where the person "routinely abides, lodges or resides" for a period of 4 or more consecutive days or nonconsecutive days in any month which is not his/her permanent address. For example, if a person likes to visit a friend at the same location one weekend each month, that would qualify as a temporary residence and need to be reported.

Any time the person changes or establishes a permanent or temporary residence under the Florida law definitions above, he/she needs to report that information to a Florida driver's license office within two business days.

The residency definitions are very strict in terms of reporting. If a person goes on vacation for four days, technically, he/she has to report that address as a temporary residence. Basically, any time a person visits the same location for four consecutive days or spends four or more separate days at a particular location in a month, the safe thing to do is to follow the reporting requirements in order to avoid the additional felony charge. ..Source.. Shorstein & Lasnetski Lawfirm

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New Pilot Program to Nab Sex Offenders Being Tested in Phoenix Schools

Obviously these alleged geniuses have never read the reality of face scanning: "Airport Face Scanner Failed" (The system failed to correctly identify airport employees 53 percent of the time) Wired News. Then the cost WOW!!!!!!!!!!

9-3-2010 Arizona:

We are a nation focused on eradicating sex offenders from the lives of our children. They are in and near our schools, at the local parks, living next door, and even in some of our churches.

The Phoenix schools, as well as their teachers, administrators and parents, want to protect their children from sexual attacks and abductions. Together with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office, the Phoenix schools have devised a pilot project to apprehend sex offenders and alleged abductors before they can do harm.

The plan of the Phoenix schools is simple. Two cameras are now located outside the school office of the Royal Palm Middle School, scanning the faces of people who enter. Each camera uses face-scanning technology, designed to compare the scanned faces with the state and national databases of registered sex offenders, missing children, and alleged abductors. If a match is found, a police officer is dispatched to the Phoenix school.

Law enforcement and the Phoenix schools are hopeful that the project succeeds, knowing that anything that protects the children is worth any cost and inconvenience.

Civil libertarians, however, are concerned with privacy more than protecting the children from attack or abduction. They are vocally opposing the Phoenix schools project, citing the potential issues of privacy violations.

Others say the technology is unproven and not reliable. According to Chengjun Liu, professor and researcher of facial recognition technology at New Jersey Institute of Technology, the technology is very promising but currently is not foolproof. Many variables, such as lighting, shadows and facial expression, can affect its accuracy.

Ken Kaplan, engineering director at Hummingbird’s Phoenix location and who provided the equipment and software for the Phoenix schools pilot, disagrees. He is confident that facial scanning technology can be used to accurately compare scanned faces with mug shots and snapshots stored in the databases. He believes that false positives are rare situations.

Making Matches
For nearly two years, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has worked with Phoenix-based Hummingbird Defense Systems, which donated $350,000 worth of equipment to the office for pilot projects. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his team tested the company's facial recognition technology to verify identities of suspects booked into county jails, and for various other programs designed to monitor inmates, according to Lt. Tim Campbell, Sheriff's Office spokesman. More recently, the Sheriff's Office and Hummingbird's CEO concocted the idea of using the technology in schools. Source: A Face in the Crowd.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for instituting chain gangs and issuing pink underwear to county inmates, believes that if it only catches one sex offender at the Phoenix school, then it is worth it. Protecting children from attack and abduction – or worse – takes priority.

If the pilot project is successful, both law enforcement and Phoenix schools educators hope to expand it. The Phoenix schools want the technology in all of their schools. According to Arizona Schools Superintendent Tom Horne, the Phoenix schools may very well get their wish. If the project succeeds, he plans to seek funding for cameras for all schools within the state. ..Source.. by This information on Phoenix schools is brought to you by www.schoolsk-12.com

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Afghanistan's dirty little secret

9-2-2010 Afghanistan:

Western forces fighting in southern Afghanistan had a problem. Too often, soldiers on patrol passed an older man walking hand-in-hand with a pretty young boy. Their behavior suggested he was not the boy's father. Then, British soldiers found that young Afghan men were actually trying to "touch and fondle them," military investigator AnnaMaria Cardinalli told me. "The soldiers didn't understand."

All of this was so disconcerting that the Defense Department hired Cardinalli, a social scientist, to examine this mystery. Her report, "Pashtun Sexuality," startled not even one Afghan. But Western forces were shocked - and repulsed.

For centuries, Afghan men have taken boys, roughly 9 to 15 years old, as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means "boy player." The men like to boast about it.

"Having a boy has become a custom for us," Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. "Whoever wants to show off should have a boy."

Baghlan province is in the northeast, but Afghans say pedophilia is most prevalent among Pashtun men in the south. The Pashtun are Afghanistan's most important tribe. For centuries, the nation's leaders have been Pashtun.

President Hamid Karzai is Pashtun, from a village near Kandahar, and he has six brothers. So the natural question arises: Has anyone in the Karzai family been bacha baz? Two Afghans with close connections to the Karzai family told me they know that at least one family member and perhaps two were bacha baz. Afraid of retribution, both declined to be identified and would not be more specific for publication.

As for Karzai, an American who worked in and around his palace in an official capacity for many months told me that homosexual behavior "was rampant" among "soldiers and guys on the security detail. They talked about boys all the time."

He added, "I didn't see Karzai with anyone. He was in his palace most of the time." He, too, declined to be identified.

In Kandahar, population about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular, often weekly, pastime. Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home. A recent State Department report called "dancing boys" a "widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape."

So, why are American and NATO forces fighting and dying to defend tens of thousands of proud pedophiles, certainly more per capita than any other place on Earth? And how did Afghanistan become the pedophilia capital of Asia? ..for the remainder of the story.. Joel Brinkley

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Judge says L.A. County parolees aren’t subject to Jessica’s Law

9-2-2010 California:

Registered sex offenders on parole in L.A. County will no longer be subject to Jessica’s Law’s residency restrictions, per a ruling yesterday by L.A. County Superior Court Supervising Judge Peter Espinoza.

In his ruling (pdf), Espinoza points out that the court’s received 300 petitions asking for relief from the law and “dozens of parolees continue to file new petitions every week.” The petitions argue that in L.A. County, there’s virtually no affordable housing that complies with Jessica’s Law’s requirement that registered sex offenders—regardless of offense—reside at least 2,000 feet from parks and schools.

“It is now abundantly clear to the court that the question of the constitutionality of Penal Code Section 3003.5(b) ‘is a recurring problem important to other parolees and CDCR,’” Espinoza writes.

Espinoza argues that because filing a petition requires the assistance of legal counsel, “In the interests of equity and judicial economy, the Court now deems it appropriate to consider the procedural rights of all similarly situated parolees….” In other words, if some parolees have been able to get a stay of enforcement, all parolees should be granted a stay. ..Source.. by Kelly Davis

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Father of Well Known Kidnapping Victim Stumps For Those Still Missing

Are folks now seeing the "Give me, give me, donations" which are being spent to support these advocates and not for effective legislation, are a waste of time and money when folks need it to live day to day?

9-1-2010 Missouri:

Ed Smart's Daughter, Elizabeth, Has Been Found, So Many Others Have Not

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - Stopping sex offenders before they strike. Ed Smart whose daughter Elizabeth was taken from their Utah home, joined local parents Tuesday night to push for tougher laws. Ed Smart and Ahmad Rivazfar are on a cross country bike tour ("Ride for Their Lives")to encourage lawmakers to throw the book at convicted sex offenders. Both Ed and Ahmad speak from the heart and from experience...so why didn't anyone go to Kiener Plaza to listen?

Ed Smart replied "Sometimes we don't like hear about these stories."

But for nine months the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart captivated the country. Elizabeth was found but the faces of those who haven't been were displayed in Downtown St. Louis.

Ed Smart is now on a crusade to stop the suffering.

"We are pushing to try and keep other families from going through the same nightmare," said Smart.

But the crowd at Kiener plaza was so small for such a powerful message.

"The abuse, the molestation and these other horrible things that our children went through happen everyday and all the time," said Smart.

Ahmad Rivazfar knows the pain.

"The bad guys are all over," said Rivazfar.

A sex offender raped and killed his 6-year-old daughter.

"If I could bring my daughter back I would ride around the globe," said Rivazfar.

Instead Ahmad and Ed are riding across the U.S. They're on a one month 35-hundred mile bike tour speaking to anyone that will listen.

Shannon Tanner said, "Everyone has to take this seriously. We are not the only ones whose kids will be lost. The mayor and lawmakers their kids are not safe from predators."

Tanner's daughter Bianca Piper vanished five years ago.

Theda Thomas's son Christian Ferguson has been gone for 7.

"All I can do is stand up for the memory of my son and others," said Thomas.

Mark Lunsford said, "My daughter was raped and murdered and buried alive 150 feet from her bedroom."

Lunsford's daughter Jessica was killed by a convicted sex offender in Florida. 42 states have passed "Jessie's Law."

It's a no nonsense bill that locks sex offenders up for 25 years on a 1st offense. Lunsford is still waiting for Missouri and Illinois join in. ..Source.. Michelle Anselmo

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