How dangerous are sex offenders on Halloween?

Here we see the police demonizing a section of society, placing them at severe risk of harm which frequently happens on Halloween, and claiming they are doing this for public safety. Whose safety, only those the police chose to keep safe; thats not public safety! The registry is not supposed to be used to highlight (Harm) folks so listed as the police here are doing; this police practice is actually a registry violation!

10-30-15 Virginia:

State and federal probation agents plan to keep a close eye this Halloween on registered sex offenders - at least those still under their supervision.

Some sex offenders living in Chesapeake, Hampton and Newport News will have to attend special meetings during prime trick-or-treating hours. Under threat of jail, others must stay indoors with their front porch lights dark while local and state police conduct random visits.

Virginia Department of Corrections officials cast the initiative - now in its 15th year - as a way to protect children from possible sexual abuse. A spokeswoman for the U.S. probation office said it's meant to "reduce risk to the children of the community on Halloween night."

Advocates for reforming the nation's laws governing sex offenders, however, decry the special meetings and home visits as a waste of resources. They cite a 2009 academic study to claim there is no evidence children are more at risk of being molested by a stranger on Halloween than on any other night.

"This is fear-mongering, plain and simple," said Mary Davye Devoy, an advocate for reforming Virginia's Sex Offender Registry. "They are addressing a risk that doesn't exist."

The director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins University agrees.

"They ignore the real dangers children face," said Elizabeth Letourneau, an associate professor with the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The study often referenced by Devoy and other advocates was published in the September 2009 edition of "Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment."

Using FBI statistics, researchers examined 67,045 nonfamily sex crimes reported between 1997 and 2005 involving children under 13. Using a day-by-day comparison, they found no significant increase in the number of children sexually assaulted by a nonfamily member on or just prior to Halloween.

"Halloween was pretty typical when compared to other days," said Jill Levenson, an associate professor of social work at Barry University in Florida who helped write the study with Letourneau.

She said about 2 out of every 1,000 Halloween crimes involved a report of a nonfamily member sexually abusing a child.

Lisa Kinney, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, did not respond to calls and emails regarding the study and Devoy's complaints. Karen Redmond, the spokeswoman for the U.S. probation office, declined to comment.

Sex offenders under state supervision who live in Chesapeake, Hampton and Newport News must attend the meetings, as must sex offenders under federal supervision who live anywhere in the region. Norfolk police plan to send two officers to assist with the federal meeting.

State-supervised sex offenders who live outside those three cities will have to stay home with their porch lights off.

The state and federal government place no special Halloween restrictions on sex offenders who are not under supervision.

Levenson, Letourneau and Devoy argued local and state resources could be better spent on Halloween by having police worry less about sex offenders and more about directing traffic or cruising for speeders.

Children 5 to 14 are four times more likely to be fatally hit by a car while walking on Halloween than on any other day of the year, according to a 1997 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The real risk children face is getting hit by a car," Letourneau said.

Devoy compared the "myth" of the sex offender lurking on Halloween to the "myth" of degenerates putting razor blades in candy.

"People want a bogey man," Devoy said. "They want someone to fear and hate and protect their children from, and what better person than a sex offender." ..Source.. by Scott Daugherty

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Plaquemines placing sex offender signs on lawns for Halloween

This story needs to be told. This is insanity supported by the Police, who folks are supposed to believe will never lie to the public. The police are fully aware of the truth re: Sex offender research and Halloween; here we see them telling the public untruths so how can the public feel safe under those hired to protect and serve; police? ACLU where are you?

10-30-2014 Louisiana:

NEW ORLEANS -- Are there sex offenders in your neighborhood? It is a question police want every parent to have the answer to before going trick or treating.

Halloween is a time for thrills and chills, but for parents it is not always the good kind. It is also when local police remind everyone of the work they are doing to keep sex offenders off the street and in their homes come Halloween night.

"It's not only protecting the children, it's protecting the sex offenders too," said Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office Commander Eric Becnel. "Sex offenders know they should not be out on their porch distributing candy or have their lights on."

Orleans Parish has 656 registered sex offenders and not far behind is Jefferson Parish with 633 offenders. So, when parents narrowed down the search to their street, the results were eye opening.

There are 64 registered sex offenders within two miles of Jade Adgate's Jefferson Parish home, which came as big shock to the mom-to-be.

Adgate and her family just moved to Jefferson Parish three weeks ago. She said until now she had not even thought about it.

"I see them on my street. That's awful, I had no idea!" says Adgate. "It's scary, you don't want that in your neighborhood without you knowing, so yeah I wish I had looked this up sooner."

Parents say they do have some peace of mind knowing police will have extra patrols out on the street and will be doing compliance checks at sex offender's homes, but Plaquemines Parish is taking it one step further by placing signs in every sex offender's yard.

"We have distributed nearly 3,000 letters to parents or guardians of children basically informing them of the signs we will be placing in the 43 registered sex offender's yards," says Becnel.

"It's great. They put the signs up, they keep the lights off and then we know that's not a good house," said one Plaquemines Parish mom.

The proud mom of three said she likes how much police keep her informed of the dangers lurking in her own backyard. She said she has even went to the sex offender registry and signed up to get the free alerts.

"There is just so much going on these days. You can't watch your kids 24 hours a day and it only takes a split second for something to happen."

It's just one more thing she and other parents can do make sure their kids have a fun, safe night.

Police say if you observe a sex offender participating in Halloween, call 911. ..Source.. by Jaclyn Kelley

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Three Ways Parents are Ruining Halloween

10-29-2014 National:

Facts don't stop fear.

Happy Halloween! It's that time of year when your neighbors are secretly unwrapping candy, brushing lollipops with poison, and inserting razor blades into Snickers bars!

Actually, while it may be a holiday tradition view your neighbors as psychopaths who patiently wait for the one day of the year to kill the local kids, in fact no child has ever been killed by a stranger's poisoned candy. Ever. But facts don't stop fear. Here are three ways in which our misguided terror on Halloween is killing all the fun.

Don't Go Outside

Parents are so scared of letting their kids roam free, that—no joke—there's a trend called "Trunk or Treat." Cars gather in a circle and kids go from one trunk to the next to grab candy, as if walking in a circle in a parking lot and collecting sugar is the whole point of the holiday. Sugar is important, but so is going outside on your own with your friends.

Some towns are so scared of the holiday that they've placed curfews on trick or treating. It's medieval. It's as if they really believe the ghouls come out at night.

It's Too Scary

There are schools, churches, and community centers sending home notes begging parents not to let their kids wear costumes that are "too scary," as if kids can't handle an eyeball oozing blood anymore. One town even made a guy take down the zombie decorations in his front yard because they were too realistic. In other words…they looked too much like real zombies?

Sex Offender Hysteria

In some towns, registered sex offender have to turn off the lights to keep the trick or treaters away, or all gather together at the local precinct like some twisted version of study hall. The rules are different in different places. But they're all based on the idea that sex offenders pounce on trick or treaters. Which turns out to be, like the poison candy story, completely false.

A recent study by a researcher now at Johns Hopkins University found that there is zero increase in child sex offenses on Halloween. In fact, the author Elizabeth Letourneau considered titling the study, "Halloween: The Safest Day of the Year," because it is, when it comes to sex crimes.

There is one thing to fear on Halloween: cars. More kids get hit by cars on Halloween than any other day for obvious reasons. There are more kids outside. So if we really wanted to make the holiday safer we'd take the cops checking up on sex offenders and put them on traffic patrol instead, slowing down drivers, or helping kids across. That could save some lives. Because cars are actually dangerous, unlike slightly torn Snickers bars. ..Source.. by Lenore Skenazy. Shot and edited by Jim Epstein. Graphics by Meredith Bragg

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Freedom of Speech Squashed: Under the color of law?

This is a MUST MUST MUST read (3 musts no mistake). From With Justice for All (WJfA) blog; remember 3 MUSTS read! Definition of "Under Color of Law" by the U.S. Dep't of Justice

10-28-2014 Indiana:

From WJfA Blog:

A little town in Indiana named Bedford did something this Halloween that I found particularly despicable. The past week or so I have been commenting fast and furiously, as often as possible, against the need to expend extra-ordinary efforts protecting trick-or-treaters against registrants and for the more-needed addition of traffic patrols Halloween evening and night. I was getting rather blase about it because the articles were much the same: for the town's or county's registered citizens, no decorations; no lights; no costumes; no handing out treats; no being on the streets; mandatory meetings.

Then this morning, this headline really caught my eye: "Police use creative video to warn community about sex offenders before Halloween." The opening paragraphs give the full picture--pun intended--better than I could paraphrase it:

• Halloween is just days away, and one central Indiana police department is getting the word out about local sex offenders.
• The Bedford Police Department made a Facebook video that shows the faces of the nearly 50 sex offenders living in the city.

My first thought was, "Well, crap. What if some kid sees his or her daddy or uncle or grandpa on there? Will there be any end to the grief for that child, to the harassment and bullying that will result from peers?"

My second thought was, "This is SO wrong." I started hunting for a way to post an objection. The article did not have a comment board attached. I found a Facebook page for the news outlet that posted the original article and dropped in this comment:

Now if you want to know EXACTLY what happened
jump on over to With Justice for All blog, be ready for SHOCKING results...

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Halloween sadism a myth, expert says

10-10-2014 National:

Who would be so devious as to poison candy for random children?

No one, said Joel Best, who has studied the myth of Halloween sadism for decades. Or at least, Best said he has not found anyone yet.

Best is a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware as well as the expert on Halloween sadism.

About 30 years ago, Best said he thought about focusing his work on deviant behavior. So what better to research than those who would wish harm to children on a cherished childhood day.

Best reviewed press coverage of such incidents from 1958-84. The findings?

“I couldn’t find a single case of a child who was killed or seriously injured by the contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating,” he said.

Best said he could find stories stating a child here or there was harmed by a poisoned or drugged cheat. But every incident came back with a different explanation. In one case, for example, a child was poisoned by his own father.

“You cannot prove a negative, but I have been looking for this now going back 54 years,” Best said.

So how did the idea of children being poisoned on Halloween begin?

Best said the earliest tales he could find revolved around rumblings of people putting pennies on a skillet and dropping the hot coins on the outstretched hands of children.

The story picked up steam during the 1960s and 1970s as the drug culture came into play and people became more concerned with child abuse, Best said. The concern spiked in 1982 after seven people died from cyanide-laced Tylenol.

“People started speculating that there would be a lot of copycat crimes,” Best said.

But the copycats did not happen, Best said.

Best said he does see any problem with parents checking treats.

“This is a great thing to be afraid of because here’s somebody that’s so crazy that he kills little children at random, but he only does it one night a year,” Best said. “So you can get up at the breakfast table on Nov. 1 and look around and count noses and say, ‘Shoo, we made it through another year.’”

Best joked that he’s not even sure his wife did not check the Halloween goodies for their children.

“My attitude was that I resolutely never inspected my kids’ treats because I figured if you’re willing to tell people, you’d better believe it,” he said. “But I’m not convinced that my wife didn’t do it.” ..Source.. by Eric Pfahler

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Child traffic fatalities increase on Halloween

2005 Halloween:

On Halloween night, pedestrian fatalities involving children are about 4.5 times the levels of other nights of the year, say researchers at the U-M Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

"This increase does not occur in daylight periods and it is primarily restricted to children 15 and under," says John Sullivan, UMTRI assistant research scientist. "This is a consequence of the special vulnerability of pedestrians at night, along with the greater than usual numbers of children out on Halloween, increasing the opportunity for an accident."

The accident data for Halloween were compiled from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System dataset, using statistics on pedestrian fatalities from 1987-2004. The data included the number of young pedestrian fatalities (age 15 and younger) in dark and light conditions for three days before and after Oct. 31 and those occurring on Halloween.

Compared to the approximately 3,000 annual pedestrian fatalities in darkness, the increase in Halloween deaths is relatively small, amounting to about three additional deaths per year. It illustrates, however, the more general point that darkness is extremely dangerous for pedestrians of any age and on any night of the year, the researchers say.

"Our recommendation for Halloween is that children dress in light-colored clothes, which improves their visibility to drivers," Sullivan says. "We also strongly recommend using retro-reflective marking on clothes and shoes. Retro-reflectors bounce light from headlamps back in the direction of oncoming cars and they are amazingly effective."

The results for Halloween emerged from a comprehensive series of data analyses that Sullivan and UMTRI colleague Michael Flannagan, a research associate professor, conducted on how light level affects accident risk. They examined how pedestrian risk is affected by the seasonal changes in light from June to December and the abrupt transitions in light versus time of day that occur at the beginning and end of daylight saving time in the spring and fall.

Their analyses have allowed Sullivan and Flannagan to measure how safety at night is affected by light itself, separately from other factors that make driving at night more dangerous, such as fatigue and alcohol. Their research is helping to determine the best ways to improve automobile headlamps.

Sullivan and Flannagan say that drivers have difficulty seeing pedestrians in the dark and often appear to have insufficient time to avoid striking them. This is especially a problem when driving at higher speeds, where drivers' stopping distance exceeds the limits of their headlamp beams.

Darkness and speed, they say, combine to multiply the risk of a pedestrian fatality seven times on high-speed, limited-access roadways; five times on urban side streets; and three times on slower local roads.

Their research has been sponsored by grants from NHTSA and the transportation industry through the UMTRI Industry Affiliation Program for Human Factors in Transportation Safety. ..Source.. by Bernie DeGroat, News Service

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Halloween Hysteria: Phantom Fears and Sex Offenders

9-28-2009 National:

Across the country, the big question for children at Halloween is that of picking the right costume: ghost, Spider-Man, witch, princess or pirate?

For many parents and police, the question is more difficult: how to protect children from sex offenders.

This concern is a relatively recent phenomenon. Ten years ago the old tainted candy scare (a discredited but resilient myth) was the primary perceived "stranger danger" threat on Halloween.

This year, in New Jersey, thousands of convicted sex offenders will be on a curfew, told to stay in their homes after 7 p.m. Halloween night and not to answer the door if trick-or-treaters come by. Other states have given offenders signs reading, "No Candy at this Residence" to be placed on their front doors, and told not to put up any decorations. Some offenders have been required to report to jail overnight.

While children's safety is important, the concern far outweighs the real danger. There is no reason to think that sex offenders pose any more of a threat to children on Halloween than at any other time. In fact, there has not been a single case of any child being molested by a convicted sex offender while trick-or-treating.

Important to note is NEW RESEARCH from Dr Jill Levenson about sex crimes and Halloween: In a 9 year study of millions of crimes, including sex crimes, around Halloween, Dr Levenson found these laws are effectively a waste of time (Summary of her research), as there is no evidence that sex crimes increase around Halloween.

These measures are popular and well-intentioned—but ultimately ineffective—publicity stunts offered by police and politicians to placate parents. They provide a false sense of security, since there is no evidence that the policies actually make children any safer. Any opportunistic sexual predators who would attack children will simply wait until the next day.

Ironically, a group of children dressed in costume at a sex offender's doorway are probably safer than at many other places they could be, including their own homes. This is because, contrary to popular belief, most released sex offenders do not re-offend, and because most attacks on children occur in their own home by someone they know.

Furthermore, the simple logistics of trick-or-treating make an assault very unlikely. A sex offender would have great difficultly molesting a child who is in costume, outside his or her front door, and in front of other people and witnesses.

Of course, the knowledge that such an attack has never happened and is very unlikely to ever occur won't calm the hysterical concern. Those in charge of Halloween sex offender policies admit that the danger is slight, but defend the measures as being proactive. It's always better to prevent a crime from occurring than to deal with its aftermath, but proactive policies need to be logical and proportional to the real likelihood of the threat.

Police are busy making sure they know where sex offenders are on Oct. 31, but each week across America, over a dozen children are drowned, burned, or beaten to death by a parent or caregiver. If police, parents and politicians are truly concerned about children's safety, the resources spent enforcing curfews and handing out "No Candy Here" signs would do far more good in efforts to prevent parental abuse.

The real threat to children on Halloween isn't sex offenders; it’s being hit by a car crossing a dark street or wearing a flammable costume. Most kids are very safe at Halloween, and have little to fear from strangers. Scaring kids with phantom fears isn't nice, nor helpful. Happy Halloween. ..Source.. by Benjamin Radford, LiveScience's Bad Science Columnist

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NH- Tricked: City falls for Halloween hoaxes

9-24-2009 New Hampshire:

Manchester Police Chief David Mara has decreed that the city's official trick-or-treating hours this year shall extend from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25. He is only following precedent. Scheduling this event on the Sunday before Halloween is a city tradition. It's also bunk.

Like his predecessors, Mara says it's all about keeping the kids safe. But Halloween is no threat.

In 1985, researchers Joel Best and Gerald Horiuchi examined reports of Halloween sadism from 1958 to 1984. They found no evidence of poisoned candy, razor blades, widespread abductions or ritual satanism. They found exactly one instance of a child in the United States dying from poisoned Halloween candy. The killer was the child's own father, who did it for insurance money.

Sex offenders? A study published in this month's issue of "Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment" examined rates of sexual assault on children concluded that "no increased rate on or just before Halloween was found."

What Best and Horiuchi did find was a huge increase in false reports of Halloween sadism from 1969 through 1971. Those three years accounted for 31 of the 76 reports of Halloween sadism they found from 1958 to 1984. When did Manchester begin setting daytime trick-or-treating hours? In 1972: just after the peak of the Halloween safety scare.

Manchester's children are the victims of urban legends. Generations of city children have been denied the thrill of nighttime trick-or-treating because of myths that began circulating 40 years ago and were debunked 25 years ago.

This foolishness must end. It's time the aldermen revoked the chief's authority to set trick-or-treating hours and returned Halloween to its rightful owners: the children. ..Source.. by Union Leader.com

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MI- ALLEN PARK: Councilman wants to keep sex offenders from giving out candy on Halloween

9-21-2009 Michigan:

ALLEN PARK — Sex offenders might be prevented from participating in Halloween activities in the city.

Councilman James Flynn (who is running for State Rep. in 2010, likely needs the "Get Tough on sex offenders" votes) proposed an ordinance Tuesday that would prohibit any person in the city on the Michigan State Police’s Public Sex Offender Registry from participating in activities traditionally associated with Halloween.

Offenders would be banned from giving treats to children, leaving exterior lights on or doing anything that would convey the impression that the residence is occupied between 6 and 8 p.m. each Oct. 31 or any other date chosen as Halloween by the city.

The proposal’s first and second readings were unanimously approved. A third reading is required before it is voted on.

Flynn first mentioned the proposal last year during the Halloween season when he became aware of a person on the sex offender’s list with a Halloween display in front of their house that was bigger and more elaborate than any other on the block, he said.

Clearly obvious no one has done any research into this issue before proposing this ordinance. Recently (2009) Dr. Levenson released the following study on this specific topic: "How safe are trick-or-treaters? An analysis of sex crimes on Halloween?" Finding that sex crimes are no greater on Halloween than any other time. These ordinances are a waste of time and resources. Complete study -OR- Summary of study (Chaffin, M., Levenson, J.S., Letourneau, E., & Stern, P. (2009). How safe are trick-or-treaters? An analysis of sex crimes on Halloween. Sexual Abuse: Journal of Research & Treatment 21(3).

Flynn said the display “openly invited children to travel through the make-shift haunted yard and essentially deliver them to the front door of his home, placing our children within extreme close proximity of the sex offender and thereby at risk.”

The ordinance is a copy of failed state House Bill 5321, which died in a judiciary committee last Dec. 31.

“We need to do more research due to civil rights,” Flynn said. “It may not have passed because of enforceability.”

He said he could understand that it might be hard for some cities to enforce the ordinance, but it wouldn’t be for Allen Park.

“It would only take two (police) cars about 30 minutes to check,” he said.

Allen Park has 18 residents on the sex offender registry. There are about 40,000 registered in Michigan.

Defense attorney Gail Benson of Beverly Hills, who works almost entirely with sex offenders, said laws of this type are “silly.”

“They need to look at how many random snatches there have been on someone’s sidewalk,” she said.

“People who are going to assault children do it privately. It wouldn’t be in his house with a stranger. (When they do it,) they know the children, or they are sociopaths who don’t care about the rules.

“It’s a total waste of resources. They need to be more worried about the neighborhood guys performing (break-ins).” ..Source.. by Rene Cizio

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How safe are trick-or-treaters?

September 2009:

Dr. Levenson has released another NEW paper, it is:

Chaffin, M., Levenson, J.S., Letourneau, E., & Stern, P. (2009). How safe are trick-or-treaters? An analysis of sex crimes on Halloween. Sexual Abuse: Journal of Research & Treatment 21(3).

For copies of the: Full Research Paper -OR- Summary of Research

A snippet from the summary:

This study found no significant increase in risk for non-familial child sexual abuse on or around Halloween. Sexual molesters sometimes use seemingly innocent opportunities to engage children for sexual abuse and therefore might be expected to use trick-or-treat for ulterior purposes. However, this logic does not appear to translate into an increase in sex offenses around Halloween.

The absence of a Halloween effect remained constant over the nine year period, beginning well before the current interest in Halloween sex offender policies and extending to recent years. Any Halloween policies that have been adopted by reporting jurisdictions during that period appear not to have impacted the overall sex offense rate.

Halloween was also typical of other days in terms of victim and offender characteristics, the types of child sex offenses reported, and the categories of victim-offender relationships involved. Children are sexually abused on Halloween, just not at higher than expected rates for any other autumn day.

Reasonable parental supervision and vigilance on Halloween is appropriate, but there does not appear to be cause for alarm concerning sexual abuse risk in particular. Increased vigilance concerning risk should be directed to the summer months, where regular seasonal increases in sex crimes are readily seen.

Other risks to children are more salient on Halloween. According to the Center for Disease Control, children ages 5 to 14 are four times more likely to be killed by a pedestrian/motor-vehicle accident on Halloween than on any other day of the year. Regarding criminal activity on Halloween, theft and vandalism are particularly common. Sex crimes against children by non- family members account for two out of every thousand Halloween crimes, calling into question the justification for diverting law enforcement resources on that day away from more prevalent public safety concerns.

eAdvocate

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