It never ceases to amaze me how short sighted Lawmakers are, its like they live life with blinders on. Has anyone considered, two people could have the same name, or that this bill is obvious proof Lawmakers have no idea how the Internet works. BUT, as written it will make a great basis for a lawsuit to stop such nonsense and make Lawmakers look like fools.2-12-2011 Vermont:
MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont lawmakers are considering making it a crime for convicted sex offenders to use false names on social media sites like Facebook, after one such incident was reported in the state.
Only two states have related measures, said Erik Fitzpatrick, a lawyer on the research staff for the Vermont Legislature: New York and Illinois bar convicted sex offenders from using social networking sites at all as a condition of their probation. The National Conference of State Legislatures was unaware of similar laws or pending legislating in other states.
A former teacher at a school for boys who had committed sex crimes told a state Senate committee Friday that he spotted a Facebook profile last fall with a picture of a former student in the program who was using an alias.
Chuck Laramie, the former teacher, said the 26-year-old man had become Facebook friends with 14- and 15-year-old girls.
The man was convicted in 2004 of sexual assault, defined in Vermont law as engaging in a sex act with another person without that person's consent, and has not completed a sex offender treatment program, the state's online sex offender registry shows.
Laramie said he saw Facebook messages the man sent the girls, telling them he was "struggling with his sexuality and thinking he might be gay. Some of the girls were replying by saying, 'Oh, no, you're not.' He was getting these young girls to feel sympathy for him," Laramie said. "It was a classic grooming situation" in which sexual predators psychologically manipulate potential victims.
If the man were a sex offender trying not to re-offend, that was "an extremely high-risk situation to put yourself in," Laramie said.
Facebook takes extensive steps, including teams of internal investigators working with law enforcement agents around the country, when it detects people on its network behaving suspiciously, the company said in a statement. Contacting minors or users of predominantly one gender are seen as clues, and Facebook uses systems including a national database of convicted sex offenders to do real-time checks, the statement said.
"Protecting our users, especially the many children who use Facebook, has always been a top priority for us. We've devoted significant resources to developing innovative and complex systems to proactively monitor the site and its users," the company said.
Some state senators questioned whether Vermont could ban sex offenders from using computers altogether, but one, Sen. Jeanette White, a Windham Democrat, noted that many public services, such as applying for extended unemployment benefits, require using computers.
The bill under review would make the crime a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in jail. The committee said it would continue to consider the bill. ..Source.. DAVE GRAM
4 comments:
Do you think along with the same name they could also have the same face. I was the teacher I saw the picture. I worked with this population for 16 years. Why would you want to protect people like this?
In response to "Chucks View." One of the biggest problems today is, too many folks -in their mind- live in the past, and the past controls their thinking today.
Registrants today should not be further isolated, simply because the more you isolate these folks, the easier it is for them to fall into doing things behind closed doors. That is precisely what the public fails to recognize, the public mindset is further punishment at every turn, and that sets up the recidivism cycle.
eAdvocate
I'll just leave it with this. Nobody is responsible for making these people re-offend. They chose to do it..for whatever reason. It is a conscious choice.
I have seen some go through treatment and re-offend within 30 days..Within society..removed from society the choice is theirs..I have heard so called experts say, after treatment 75% never re-offend..
Tell me..who do you prove that. It's impossible..there is no way to know...know way..To give people a chance you have to assume all offenders are high risk.
No recovering alcoholic will tell you they will never drink again..it's one day at a time. I have had offenders in treatment tell me they were going to watch pornography when they got out because they could control it..great treatment huh!
Again in response to Chucks View: True, the acts of a person are their responsibility, but consider this, if you take a alcoholic to a bar, is he totally responsible for his acts?
Many of the laws addressing former sex offenders act the same way, they set the stage and create a ticking time bomb waiting for a trigger.
It is important for lawmakers to think about the consequences and possible consequences of the laws they enact, unfortunately lawmakers ignore thinking about consequences before they act.
They want their moment and really do not think beyond that moment, self serving.
As I've known the therapeutic community, they do not strive for a utopian society, but realizing such is an impossibilty they do not quit, even in their thinking, thye strive to do a better job looking for that magic factor that will help the person they are currently working with.
And like a parent they send their patients out hoping they have done a great job but recognizing that some will fail.
Current studies recognize that therapy does reduce future crimes,but never will therapy create the utopian society.
The same is true of doctors and diseases like cancer, heart disease and many other human ailments,they treat and don't quit because there is one or several they can never help.
Society in the meantime is not at a high risk, but with each case that doesn't recidivate,society is at a lesser and lessor risk.
Has the world recognized that registries are going up and up, and I always wonder if that is a sign of failure or success, recognizing the efforts of the therapeutic community, and knowing that lawmakers fail to support that community.
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