New law tracks transient sex offenders

There is a MAJOR difference in "Where one can be found" -AND- "Where one resides." So, are lawmakers trying to corral homeless registrants more than non homeless registrants? If so, then that is discriminatory and actionable.

4-7-2011 Nevada:

(AP) — Homeless and transient sex offenders would no longer be able to claim “no residence” as reason for not providing law enforcement with an address under a bill being discussed in the Nevada Legislature.

AB57 would require sex offenders who have no fixed address to provide the location or locations at which they may be found. Deputy Attorney General Brett Kandt told the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the bill would make it easier to keep tabs on the not-truly transient.

AB57 would allow transient sex offenders to provide information such as street locations and homeless shelters in lieu of a permanent address. Kandt says it gives sex offenders the opportunity to adhere to the residence registration requirements and avoid being arrested for failure to comply. ..Source.. by NevadaApeal.com

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Senate nixes new sex offender restrictions

4-7-2011 Maine:

AUGUSTA, Maine — The state Senate on Thursday rejected a bill that would have allowed rural communities to enact local ordinances prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school.

Under current law, municipalities can establish a 750-foot residency exclusion zone around public or private schools for convicted sex offenders whose victims were under age 14.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Courtney, R-Springvale, would have allowed municipalities that do not have a police chief to prohibit sex offenders who targeted children from living within 2,500 feet of a school. The bill, LD 8, would also have allowed county commissioners to establish a 2,500-foot exclusion zone in unorganized territories. The expanded setback requirement could not have been applied retroactively, however.

The bill died on a 19-16 vote in the Senate on Thursday after emotional debate.

Courtney and other supporters claimed the measure would enhance child protections in more rural areas where there are fewer police to keep tabs on sex offenders.

“I will continue to view this as another deterrent,” said Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden. “We have not yet as a society found enough deterrents to make this stop happening.”

But critics pointed out that law enforcement officials, prosecutors and experts in the field of sex offender law all testified against the measure in committee. They said the existing 750-foot exclusion zone is effective.

The bill’s opponents also said that increasing that setback to 2,500 feet would defeat the purpose by forcing sex offenders to move into even more rural areas, thereby making them more difficult to monitor and placing them farther away from treatment programs.

“This really doesn’t help, although it is well-intentioned,” said Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham. “We do have a law that if you are convicted, you can’t hang out in these places.”

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers voted to reject the bill. The measure faces additional votes in the Legislature. ..Source.. by Kevin Miller, BDN Staff

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Should murderers have to register as sex offenders do?

4-7-2011 Illinois:

SPRINGFIELD — Convicted killers who have served their time would have to reveal their addresses and even Facebook pages to the public under a bill the Illinois House approved Tuesday.

The bill, which passed 97 to 1 with four voting present, would establish a public registry for the nearly 500 people convicted of first-degree murder who were released from prison after at least 10 years.

The bill, now bound for the Senate, would place such convicts with child murderers, sex offenders and arsonists as people who have to submit their addresses to a state-operated registry.

“I think it would serve to allow all of our communities to know who resides there, who our family members are associated with, who our children are dating … so that we know where these murderers live, that we are able to track their movement,” said Rep. Dennis Reboletti, R-Elmhurst, the bill’s chief House sponsor.

The bill is called “Andrea’s Law” after Andrea Will, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, Justin Boulay, on Feb. 3, 1998, in Charleston, where both were attending Eastern Illinois University. Upon release from prison, Boulay, still under parole, relocated to Hawaii with another woman he married while in prison.

Patty Rosenberg, Will’s mother, argued after the House approved the bill that criminals such as Boulay should always be held accountable for their past actions.

“First-degree murder, if you have to live with that for the rest of your life as a perpetrator … should you just be able to walk away?” said Rosenberg, of Batavia. “I don’t feel it should stop at the prison gate. I don’t think it should stop after a couple of years of probation.”

But the lone “no” vote warned that a registry would make it harder for ex-convicts to get a job, education or housing. Rep. Monique Davis, D-Chicago, said unlimited registries for ex-convicts increase the likelihood that they would commit more crimes.

“It’s a slippery slope, ladies and gentlemen,” Davis said during debate.

“If we keep making registries for different crimes and convictions, where does it stop?” ..Source.. by Sephen Di Benedetto

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Welsh holds off on decision to make sex offenders pay fee

4-7-2011 Louisiana:

WELSH — Officials here deferred a decision Tuesday on a measure to charge sex offenders fees for living in their town.

The council delayed the vote after Mayor Carolyn Louviere said legal issues have been raised.

“We’re not giving up or stopping anything,” Louviere said. “We have hit a roadblock and need to check into it and find out what can legally be done. There are some things that need to be clarified.”

The council began looking into increasing registration fees for sex offenders last month after residents voiced concerns about offenders living in their neighborhoods.

“One reason I am concerned is that most of the time this is not a one-time offense,” one concerned resident said. “Sometimes, it’s a lifetime, or 250 times.”

Many residents, including some council members, are worried that a tougher sex offender policy in Lake Charles may push more offenders to Welsh.

“A lot of them are moving here because fees are being raised higher in Lake Charles,” Councilman Charles Drake said. “We don’t know what kind of offenders are coming here.”

In January, the Lake Charles City Council passed a measure to increase the city’s sex offender registration fee from $60 to $600 and require offenders to provide more information on past convictions. The constitutionality of the law is being challenged.

Town attorney Rick Arceneaux said the Welsh measure would present legal issues, since the $60 annual registration fee is set by the state. The town would also have difficulty in enforcing the measure because, under the Lawrason Act, the town has a mayor’s court that can only handle misdemeanor offenses. Sex offenses are considered felonies and would have to handled by the district court, he said.

“Any town under 5,000 (people) is ruled by the Lawrason Act, and the Lawrason Act does things completely different,” Councilwoman Becky Hudson said.

There are 10 registered sex offenders in Welsh, one listed as noncompliant, according to the Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office’s website.

Arceneaux said if any resident knows of a convicted sex offender living somewhere other than they are registered, they should report the offender to the local police department, sheriff’s office or state police. ..Source.. By DORIS MARICLE / AMERICAN PRESS

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RI weighs involuntary commitment for sex predators

4-7-2011 Rhode Island:

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Faced with the impending release of a man convicted in the brutal slaying of a 5-year-old boy, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering new ways to keep violent sexual predators off the streets -- possibly for good.

Lawmakers reviewed legislation Wednesday to allow the state to hold sexual predators in a mental health facility for treatment once they've served their criminal sentence.

Some 20 states already have civil commitment laws on the books, despite criticism from some mental health professionals and civil liberties groups that question the cost, legality and value of such programs.

Lawmakers who support the legislation say Woodmansee's early release shows that such a law is worth it if it protects the public.

"Occasionally we have extraordinarily violent, perverse predators who are a danger to society," said the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Joseph McNamara, D-Warwick. "They get due process. They can appeal. But there comes a point in time where protecting the public must be the priority."

Woodmansee killed Jason Foreman in South Kingstown in 1975 and kept the boy's shellacked bones in his home for years. He was convicted in 1983 after he attacked a paperboy.

Woodmansee is scheduled to be released in August. He shaved 12 years off his sentence by earning good behavior credits in prison.

John Foreman, Jason Foreman's father, has said he thinks about killing Woodmansee every day. Lawmakers say they're sympathetic.

"Were this individual to be released I would not lose a moment's sleep if he were issued a death sentence by a mob," said Rep. Michael Chippendale, R-Foster. "If we had the death sentence in Rhode Island I think it certainly would apply to this individual."

Supporters of civil commitment say it not only protects the public but offenders too, and gets them the mental health treatment they need.

Under McNamara's bill, authorities would have to show to a court that the offender is likely to commit another violent sexual act without treatment. Committed individuals could appeal the decision and petition for their release. They would be re-evaluated annually.

McNamara's bill would apply only to individuals convicted of sexual offenses after July 1.

Current law already allows the state to involuntarily commit a person, but only for short periods of time. Authorities are evaluating Woodmansee to determine whether he is eligible for involuntary commitment.

More than 2,000 people have been placed in similar treatment programs around the nation; a few hundred have been released.

"People go in, but they don't go out," said Charles Ewing, a psychologist and law professor at the University of Buffalo who has researched civil commitment programs. "They're expensive and unproven, but who is going to stand up in a state legislature and say, 'Let's be soft on the sex offenders'?"

The cost of putting an individual in a sexual predator commitment program is two to six times higher than the cost of prison, Ewing said.

There's no cost estimate for his bill, but McNamara said he thinks the public would be willing to pay in exchange for keeping predators away from their communities.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Attorney General Peter Kilmartin oppose the bill on grounds that it might be unconstitutional. The Mental Health Association of Rhode Island doesn't like the bill either, according to Executive Director Vivian Weisman.

"It's really just putting them in a jail with another name, and taking resources from mental health treatment to do it," she said.

Lawmakers also reviewed a proposal to make rapists, murderers and certain other criminals ineligible for credits toward early release. Rep. Teresa Tanzi, D-South Kingstown, introduced the bill after hearing from constituents angered and frightened by Woodmansee's looming release. She worked on the bill with Kilmartin.

"I've had numerous parents come up to me and tell me they worry about their children's safety," Tanzi said. "People haven't forgotten this case." ..Source.. David Klepper

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70-year-old Sheboygan sex offender to be released before May

4-7-2011 Wisconsin:

70-year-old sex offender ___ will be back on the streets of Sheboygan before the end of April. Police arrested him in 2007 during an undercover investigation, and he's been in the system ever since.

The former school bus driver was convicted of child enticement, and attempting to expose a child to harmful descriptions. As part of his probation he was required to complete sex offender treatment, but failed to do so. That landed him back in jail a year ago.

He was sentenced to time already served plus 17 more days which means he'll be out in two and a half weeks. The Sheboygan District Attorney Joe DeCecco says despite his age of 70, he's still considered a risk.

"Pedophiles don't change, you know, they can be treated to control their urges, but they still have the same feelings. The key is don't act on them you can't act of them." ..Source.. by Jenna Sachs

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Deputy: Followed guidlines on offender letter

When lawmakers weave a law so tight, that goes both ways, here we see the officer claiming he doesn't work on Sunday. In other words, the registrant can't perform his duties either because of the way the law is worded. Lawmakers must assure that local jurisdictions make themselves available according to the way the law is worded.

4-6-2011 Ohio:

LISBON - The sheriff's deputy in charge of keeping track of registered sex offenders said they followed the law in the case that resulted in charges being dismissed.

"My concern is that it makes it sound like we dropped the ball and we didn't," said Sgt. Dan Bradley of the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office.

Bradley's comments were in response to a recent ruling by county Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam, who dismissed charges of violating sex offender registration requirements against ___ Washam said the sheriff's office failed to follow the law.

___, 31, of Neeld Road, was indicted last year for failing to verify his current address with the local county sheriff, which he was required to do after pleading guilty to sexual battery charges against an adult female in 2001. The charged carried a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

___ failed to notify the sheriff's office of his current address by the Oct. 2, 2010, deadline. The warning letter advising ___he was in violation of the notification requirement was dated Oct. 4 and mailed the next day. Washam said the law requires the warning letter be sent the next day following the verification date, which would have been Oct. 3.

Bradley said the problem was the verification date, Oct. 2, fell on a Saturday, "and I don't work seven days a week ... In order for us to comply with the judge's order we would have to send the notice out on Sunday, which is physically impossible since the post office isn't open on Sunday."

Bradley prepared the warning letter and sent it out when he returned to work on Monday, Oct. 4.

The warning letter told ___ he had to report by Oct. 11, but the law gives the defendant seven days from when the letter actually was mailed, which Washam noted made the reporting date be Oct. 12.

Washam also noted in his ruling the warning letter was sent by certified mail, thereby requiring ____ signature. Repeat notices were sent out until one arrived on Oct. 21, when ____ was at home to sign for it.

Bradley said this is not the first a reporting date fell on a weekend and the defendant failed to show up, nor will it be the last, "but this is the way the (state) attorney general's office told us to do it."

"Everything we do in regard to this is how we've been trained by the attorney general's office to do it ... I don't want the public to think we're not doing what we're supposed to be doing," he said. ..Source.. by TOM GIAMBRONI , Salem News

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GUEST OPINION: Rehabilitating sex offenders: Fact vs. fiction

4-5-2011 Massachusetts:

One of the most important things that policy wonks can use is the facts. With this in mind, I decided to bring 23 of my grad school classmates for a tour of my previous employer, the Massachusetts Department of Correction, on March 25. But we didn’t tour any ordinary prison; we toured the Massachusetts Treatment Center, which is the state’s prison that houses exclusively male inmates identified as sex offenders and those who have been civilly committed as sexually dangerous persons. Here is what we learned on a two-hour tour with Director of Treatment Michael Thomas.

As of January 2011, there were about 1,350 sex offenders in the DOC, of which, 620 were located at the MTC. There are many types of sex offenders, from those who urinate in public to sexual predators and pedophiles. Some of the offenders are criminally sentenced inmates while others are civil commitments deemed too dangerous to release even though they have served their sentence.

When asked what could help MTC Superintendent Michael Corsini perform his mission better, he said that he needs more treatment resources. He stressed that treatment for sex offenders is not about the offender getting special attention. Rather, treatment is about public safety. The superintendent said that if we can use treatment as a way to reduce recidivism, we have an obligation to do just that. I agree.

Independent studies of the effectiveness of in-prison treatment programs for sex offenders have shown that evidence-based programs can reduce recidivism by up to 15 percent. This might not sound like much, but it is. Recidivism can be further reduced with post-release prison supervision, such as parole. However, our current policies make no sense; we release many offenders to the public without some form of post-release supervision. Studies show that post-release supervision helps decrease recidivism since it involves keeping an eye on the ex-offender, but also with helping him find a job, obtain drug treatment and find housing.


On the issue of housing, Corsini noted that this is the biggest challenge facing ex-sex offenders. “No one wants them and they have many legal obstacles when finding housing. And they have burnt all their bridges with society and even their family”, Corsini told our group. But just because no one wants them, to help reduce the chances of them reoffending, housing is important for every ex-offender.

A complicated but important distinction to understand is, while most sex offenders were themselves victims of a sex offense, most people who are victimized don’t go on to being offenders.

It doesn’t take much imagination to understand the horrors and damage caused by sex offenders. And it’s hard to talk about the facts of any criminal behavior since misinformation is common and ideas contrary to misinformation are quickly associated as soft on crime. The nuances of any criminal behavior are complicated. For example, there is an inverse correlation between A): Seriousness of offense; and B): Risk of recidivism. In this context, this means that relatively less serious crimes, such as property crime offenders, have a higher rate of reoffending. Meanwhile, the more serious crimes, such as sex offenders, have a relatively lower likelihood of reoffending.

Specifically, the rates of recidivism for a ‘property offender’ is from 22 to 53 percent, depending on if there is a technical parole or probation violation or if it is for a new crime or not, whereas the rates of recidivism for sex offenders is from 2 to 22 percent depending if the measure included technical violations of probation or parole or if it was for a new sex crime or non-sex crime. However you define recidivism, this completely flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but these are the facts.

There are some people who should never be released back into society and won’t be. There are also some people who the MTC won’t ever see again after the release. And yet there is a third group who has become institutionalized; they only know how to function in prison. Meanwhile, the idea that we can “lock ’em all up and throw away the key” isn’t based on a real strategy and hasn’t been effective anywhere; it’s a political slogan to score points for elections. Don’t be fooled — serious problems don’t have simple solutions. ..Source..
Paul Heroux is a former Director of Research and Planning at the MA Department of Correction, and currently a master’s candidate at Harvard. He can be reached at Paul_Heroux@hks11.harvard.edu.

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Bill would make criminals pay policing costs

I love watching one side of an issue, this time lawmakers side. Hopefully courts will put an end to this when the first person arrested and prosecuted, then found innocent, then sues for his loss, present and into the future (i.e. future earnings). Again we see lawmakers failing to think!

4-5-2011 Missouri:

Jefferson City -- A state representative from Mount Vernon wants to make convicted criminals pay the cost of their own prosecution and police investigation as a way to save money for cash-strapped cities and counties.

The legislation, which was taken up by a House committee this past week, would put a $300 cap on the costs for misdemeanor convictions and a $750 limit on felony cases, but prosecutors could ask for more by submitting supporting documentation to the judge presiding over the case.

Convicted defendants would be required to pay the investigation costs -- regardless of their financial condition -- or face additional jail time.

Sponsoring Rep. Don Ruzicka, R-Mount Vernon, said the police chief in his hometown had suggested the legislation to help offset policing costs there.

Mount Vernon Police Chief Garry Earnest said that a small number of people commit a large portion of the crime in most jurisdictions, and therefore should pay most of the bill.

"We should let them (the criminals) pay for what they've done," he said.

Sheldon Lineback, the executive director of the Missouri Police Chiefs Association said police departments across the state are feeling strained because the demand for their services doesn't fluctuate like their funding.

"All the departments are tight at the budgets right now and calls upon those resources are always abundant," he said.

Judiciary Committee members praised the measure's intent, but they questioned how cities, counties and the state would determine what an investigation costs -- and whether any convicts could foot the bill.

Rep. Galen Higdon, R-St. Joseph, pointed out that the legislation allows convicts to be billed for time spent on the case by police officers, sheriff's deputies, prosecutors, the presiding judge and even fire department investigators in some arson cases.

"I applaud this bill," he said. "But where are we going to draw the line?"

An estimate included with the legislation could not forecast how much money the state might collect from defendants, but it projected the state would have to spend more than $220,000 hiring workers to process the paperwork.

There were also questions about the fairness of ordering a hefty fee on a person who has just been released from jail or prison.

University of Missouri-Columbia law professor Rodney Uphoff, who did not testify in front of the committee, said convicts already face stiff challenges when they re-enter society and adding outstanding expenses like an investigation bill might drive a person to commit new crimes.

"If we want to give people an honest chance to make something of their lives, we ought not make it so hard to do so effectively," said Uphoff, who has worked as a public defender in Wisconsin.

Other proposals moving through the Missouri legislature would reduce some costs for local law enforcement efforts through administrative fees or by sending defendants to treatment programs instead of prisons.

Jasper County Prosecutor Dean Dankelson, the president of the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said the group sees those proposals as more viable than charging for investigation costs.

One of the measures would add an administrative charge to all cases where a defendant pays restitution through the prosecutor's office. Currently, such a fee is only charged in cases where the defendant passed a bad check.

Dankelson said his office has one clerk that handles restitution for bad checks and another for all other cases.

The current administrative fee offsets the cost of the former, but Dankelson said it would help counties if they could bring in revenue to pay for other workers.

Another bill backed by the prosecutors group would bring down the number of people in the criminal justice system by diverting some to treatment programs and changing some misdemeanors to be punishable only by a fine if the defendant is facing a first offense.

"We think we can do those things and save some money without impacting public safety," Dankelson said. ..Source..

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Paraplegic faces jail in violent citizen’s arrest

4-5-2011 Massachusetts:

Victim’ charged with child abuse

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe is pressing ahead with a felony assault charge that could put a paraplegic grandfather in the slammer for up to 10 years for whacking his 3-year-old granddaughter’s alleged molester with a Louisville slugger after setting a trap for his arrest.

As a result of 57-year-old Martha’s Vineyard computer salesman Frank Hebert’s unconventional citizen’s arrest, Joshua A. Hardy, 27, of Middleboro, now faces child molestation charges in a second case out of Wareham involving another little girl, authorities tell the Herald.

“I’m not a hero, that’s for damn sure,” Hebert, his voice cracking, said last night. “I’d do it again tomorrow, knowing the consequence. I didn’t have a choice. A 10-year-old kid could take me. This is not about me. This is about a tiny child. I would never tell her I took a risk for her. I’d tell her I loved her.”

Hebert, left confined to a wheelchair with only partial use of his arms after a car crash in Falmouth a decade ago, was summonsed to Edgartown District Court on March 25 and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He said he was advised by a judge to get an attorney and is due back in court May 2 for a pretrial conference.

O’Keefe refused to discuss Hebert’s prosecution last night, saying only, “It’s a case that will take place in court and that will be the appropriate time for public comment.”

Hardy, meanwhile, is being held at the Plymouth County House of Correction on $125,000 cash bail. Assistant Plymouth District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said Hardy was arraigned Feb. 23 in Wareham District Court on three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, one count of enticing a child and one count of disseminating obscene material.

A subsequent investigation into separate accusations, Middleton said, led to Hardy being charged last month by Wareham police with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 based on incidents alleged to have occurred Jan. 7 and Jan. 17 involving another alleged victim.

Hardy’s Taunton attorney, Jean Marie Whitney, did not return multiple calls seeking comment.

Hebert’s granddaughter is the child of his life partner’s daughter, but he considers her his kin. The child goes by a different name and her mom married the accused last summer.

Hebert claims it was over Christmas that the tot began asking her grandparents to protect her.

On Feb. 22, Hebert said his partner took her daughter and granddaughter, who were visiting, back to the mainland to talk to police, while he lured Hardy to his Mac PC Sales and Service shop in Vineyard Haven.

Hebert said “fear” prompted him to bring a baseball bat to the rendezvous and call state police to back him up.

Hebert said he pointed the bat at Hardy and ordered him to stay seated until police arrived, but Hardy, he said, stood up and laughed at him — and that’s when he used the bat.

“All I had was a 39-inch-long baseball bat,” he said. “I never intended to hit him. If I was a standing man, I wouldn’t have brought a bat, but without it, I am a bloody ragdoll." ..Source.. Laurel J. Sweet and Christine McConville

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Ottumwa school board OKs sex offender's enrollment

4-1-2011 Iowa:

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) — The Ottumwa school district will be admitting a sex offender who the superintendent says will be attended by a full-time paraprofessional.

The Ottumwa Courier says Superintendent Jon Sheldahl recommended the admittance of a student who must be listed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry. The school board approved the proposal at its meeting Monday night.

Sheldahl described the person as a special-education student who "doesn't appear to be at a risk" of reoffending. Sheldahl says the student will be directly supervised by adults at all times.

The superintendent would not name the student.

Sheldahl told the board things went fine in 2006, the last time a sex offender enrolled in the district. ..Source.. by indystar.com

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Reading cut off after lawmakers offended by sex offender bill

If lawmakers, do not read or hear read, bills, how are they going to know whether or not to vote for the bill? Is this the first proof that lawmakers RUBBER STAMP sex offender bills without knowing what they say? Who is writing these bills if not lawmakers?

4-1-2011 Idaho:

Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, objected to the full reading of the sex offender registration bill, saying its language was offensive - it included wording about crimes of a sexual nature. “Having the clerk have to get up and read that, that's ridiculous,” Wood said. “I think it's cruel to her to make her read that, and it's certainly not something we want to go out on TV.” Wood added, “It's bad enough we have to deal with it in committee. Everybody doesn't have to have their nose rubbed in it.”

The reading continued, but then Rep. Stephen Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, rose and said he thought the full reading of this particular bill was “inappropriate,” and asked unanimous consent to waive further reading of the bill. This time, Democrats didn't object. The bill was then presented by its sponsor, Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, and quickly passed on a unanimous vote. ..Source.. by Betsy

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