12-9-2008 Hawaii:
Money Will Also Help Create Center For Training
HONOLULU -- The state officially received a federal grant Monday that'll create a first-of-its-kind training center to help teach staff members how to better manage and treat sex offenders.
Much like the rest of the United States, sexual predators are common in Hawaii.
In December, one convicted rapist was captured in Mexico. Another jumped bailed last week and reportedly fled to El Salvador.
The $250,000 in federal money will help create a center that will provide ongoing training for everyone involved in managing the local sex offender population.
"You will have staff from all disciplines and all agencies who work with sex offenders and work with victims, having the most up to date most contemporary information about what works with this population and what works to increase public safety. I think that impact on public safety would be obvious. We are going to have safer communities if our staff is well-trained," said Dr. Kurt Bumby, with the Center for Sex Offender Management.
The announcement was made at the state capitol at a forum on sex offender strategies, management and legislative trends.
The most important message is there is no one size fits all strategy.
"Prioritize treatment for those who pose the greatest risk to public safety, because by addressing that population, we have a much more enhance possibility of creating safer communities," Bumby said.
For those of the front lines of the fight, like deputy prosecutor Leilani Tan, it was important for the forum to be at the state capitol so lawmakers and their staff could easily attend. "I think that when it starts with the laws and educating the legislators on what the problem is, I think that can then affect the laws and then for us carrying those out and enforcing those laws," Tan said.
The forum was sponsored Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Justice Department. ..News Source.. by KITV.com
December 9, 2008
HI- Grant Money To Help Treat Sex offenders
May 21, 2008
To Treat a Predator
5-21-2008 National:
Should news agencies smudge journalistic ethics for higher ratings? MSNBC does not seem to mind - that is precisely what it does on its now infamous series of investigative reports on pedophiles, “To Catch a Predator”.
As host Chris Hansen smugly grills men on Dateline MSNBC “To Catch a Predator” he may or may not know that these men are (in most cases) neurologically compromised and are cursed with obsessive intrusive thoughts, which lead to behavioral responses most in the public do not want to believe: uncontrollable compulsions.
In a recently televised report Hansen and his team, as they routinely do, catch a middle-aged male who had been chatting with a decoy from PervertedJustice.com. Hansen repeatedly asks questions like, “Why are you here? Why are you doing this? Don’t you know this is wrong?” The guilt-ridden man writhes in shame and struggles to provide the impossible – a rational reason or excuse. The answer – the man’s brain is diseased.
Certainly, pedophilia particularly in the Internet age is a problem. It needs to be dealt with by legislating and enforcing laws that call for humane, evidence-based solutions to protect society.
The men shown on Dateline NBC exhibit symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - dysfunction in a human organ - the brain. Similarly, diabetes is caused by dysfunction in a human organ – the pancreas. In both cases the organ does not create or regulate the correct amount of a vital biochemical. In the case of OCD, the neurotransmitter serotonin has been implicated by research. In both cases, medication has the capacity to regulate the irregular biochemical activity. If someone with diabetes does not take medications such as insulin they become ill and may die. If someone with OCD does not take their medications they can not control their impulsive thinking which leads to compulsive behavior.
OCD is no different in its basic etiology – it is hereditary and biological in nature, and society’s best chance at reducing pedophilia is to understand and accept its biological nature and design and implement interventions based upon evidence based medical psychiatric research.
The individuals’ lack of control is shown by MSNBC as they highlight several repeat offenders who admit to having seen “To Catch A Predator”, were wary of entering a trap, but came in anyway. Sane people don’t take those kinds of risks – people with diseased brains do.
This past June, NBC’s former Dateline Producer Marsha Bartel sued NBC for one million dollars for allegedly firing her for voicing ethical concerns about how the men seen on the show are solicited for entertainment. She alleges that NBC pays Perverted Justice to run what she calls “trolling operations” to lure men to homes to have sex with minors by using actors in internet chat rooms. She alleges that, “NBC unethically provides law enforcement with video equipment and video tapes.”
These men need help. In some instances it may need to be forced on them. Legislation is required to make mandatory neuropsychiatric treatments and police monitoring of computers and movement of these individuals. If Dateline MSNBC can “catch a predator”, certainly, as a society we can develop a system to “catch, treat and monitor a predator” rather than catch, humiliate, and profit off of a predator.
Although not as sexy, a constructive report would be to investigate whether or not legislation exists to enforce mandatory psychiatric treatment and police monitoring of perpetrators’ movements and their Internet activity. If such legislation exists, is it being enforced? Is it working? How can it be improved? Additionally, mandatory (chemical) castration should be debated and considered.
MSNBC could do it – maybe call it, “To Treat a Predator”. ..more.. by Gregory H. Salerian, MVSW, LGSW received his Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Catholic University of America.
May 9, 2008
Repeat sexual offender can be treated: psychologist
5-9-2008 Canada:
Over the course of his adult life, John David Lashbrook has sexually abused at least seven children under the age of nine.
When corrections officials were forced to release him from the Regional Psychiatric Centre in 1996, Saskatoon police issued a warning about his presence in the city.
Less than a month later, he sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman who lived in his Main Street apartment block. He got a suspended sentence for the crime and was ordered to take a relapse prevention program.
He was charged with two more sexual assaults in 2000, but the Crown entered a stay of proceedings.
In 2006, he attacked another local woman -- a crime for which he is still in custody.
All of that past history does not necessarily mean he needs to be locked behind bars indefinitely for the protection of the community, an expert psychologist testified Thursday during Lashbrook's dangerous offender hearing.
He's 50 years old now, and statistics show sex offenders have a very low rate of reoffending after the age of 45,
Dr. Terry Nicholaichuk told provincial court, noting Lashbrook's last offence against a child was in 1992.
Sex offenders who target adults rather than children tend to have a lower risk of reoffending, according to the data, he said.
Another factor that speaks in his favour is that Lashbrook has "no real history of violence," since his attacks didn't cause physical damage to the victims, Nicholaichuk added.
"He doesn't beat people up."
Nicholaichuk, who was called to the stand in Lashbrook's defence, is the second psychologist to testify at the hearing, which will determine whether Lashbrook can be incarcerated for an indefinite period of time. His 1996 release was mandated by law because the sentence he was serving had expired, even though he was considered a high risk to reoffend.
A psychologist who testified for the Crown when the hearing began last month described Lashbrook -- whose level of intelligence has been rated below average -- as a "classic pedophile" who had opportunistically taken advantage of vulnerable adult women.
Nicholaichuk, who worked with Lashbrook during his past stay at the Regional Psychiatric Centre, described him as a low risk and said he may be just as vulnerable as his victims.
"The fact that John has been in the community for a number of years suggests that he is stable enough to be treated there," he said.
Lashbrook's dangerous offender hearing is scheduled to wrap up with closing arguments May 29. He remains in custody. ..more.. by Lori Coolican, The StarPhoenix
April 22, 2008
ME- Judge Rejects Sex Offender's Request To Live In Bucksport
See earlier story: Bucksport sex offender seeks to move back home with his parents; prosecutors object It is likely this man is still on parole or probation because the courts have no jurisdiction for such questions once state supervision is over.
4-22-2008 Maine:
ELLSWORTH (NEWS CENTER) -- A judge in Hancock County has denied a convicted sex offender's request to move back to his hometown of Bucksport.
Travis White, a former coach at Bucksport High School, was convicted in 2002 on nine counts of gross sexual assault against four boys. One condition of his release from prison last spring is that he is not allowed to live in Bucksport.
In March, White's attorney filed a motion to have that restriction lifted, so White could move in to his parents home.
But on Tuesday, the court ruled White has not made enough progress in his treatment and counseling to return to the town where he committed his crimes.
However, Superior Court Justice Thomas Delahanty stated in his written ruling there may come a time when White will be allowed to move back to his parents home. ..more.. by Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer
March 24, 2008
CA- An Assessment of current management practices of adult sex offenders in California
January 2008
PREFACE
Sexual assault continues to bring tremendous and long-lasting suffering into the lives of its victims, and the communities in which they live. The mandate of the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) is to play a key role in reducing sexual victimization in our state, particularly that perpetrated by individuals who have already been identified as sexual offenders. Consequently, every effort of CASOMB must be informed by a clear perspective on the experiences of victims – viewed individually as well as collectively. California is an exceptional state. Its size, diversity, distribution of resources and variations in practices, make any assessment of public safety strategies a complex and expansive challenge. The legislation that created the CASOMB in statute acknowledged this reality by requiring the board to focus the first phase of our work, and thus this report, on current practice and existing research.
When passing and signing AB 1015 (Chu) in 2006, California’s legislature and Governor wisely recognized that in order to truly, and effectively, improve sex offender accountability and management strategies it was necessary to understand the current state of practice. The safety of the public, victims and those who could be potentially victimized depends on the deployment of public safety strategies that are effective and achievable.
By studying evidence-based sex offender management practices and gathering information with regard to what California is currently doing to either conform to evidence-based practice or to diverge from such practice, the CASOMB is taking a first major step toward its mandated goal: “…address any issues, concerns, and problems related to the community management of adult sex offenders...to achieve safer communities by reducing victimization.”
The CASOMB, in preparing this Report, has been primarily interested in assembling the “currently available” information about sex offender management in California. The reader of this Report will, it can be assumed, share with its authors an awareness that there is much information that is desirable but not provided. It is not provided because it is not readily available at a statewide level. Noteworthy “gaps” in the ready availability of information needed to develop recommendations for improved policies and practices are pointed out throughout the document.
The strengths, gaps, research recommendations and policy analysis included in this document should be considered an initial assessment of California’s practice – one of the first of its kind ever produced in this state. It should be noted that, as most readers of this Report are already aware, the reality of having so many jurisdictions, laws, systems, agencies and perspectives directly involved in the management of California’s sex offenders results in a very complex web of policies and practices that defy ready simplification. It is precisely this complexity – at least in part – that has created the need for instituting a Sex Offender Management Board as a locus of cohesive information and integrated expertise. This report represents the CASOMB’s first step towards the board’s vision to decrease sexual victimization and increase community safety.
.....
OVERVIEW OF THE SECTIONS OF THE REPORT
There are many domains of sex offender management and, for effective functioning, each must interface productively with some or all of the other components of the total system. Although, for purposes of clarity and ease of understanding, each of the following sections is addressed somewhat separately, important interactions with other elements of the overall system will be regularly noted.
SECTION One – Prevalence of Sexual Assault and Services for Victims
SECTION Two - Numbers and Distribution of Offenders,
SECTION Three – Sex Offender Recidivism,
SECTION Four - Investigation and Prosecution,
SECTION Five - Supervision,
SECTION Six - Housing,
SECTION Six - Supervision,
SECTION Seven - Treatment,
SECTION Eight – Registration, Notification and Post-Superversion Management
..page 1 of this 225 page report.. by California Sex Offender Management Board
August 6, 2007
SEX OFFENSES: FACTS, FICTIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
January 2006
Few offenses evoke more fear and loathing than sexual offenses. The idea stirs up images of innocent children deceived and victimized by scheming predators. Neighborhoods, fueled by sexual registries, are concerned, and intent on finding ways to reduce the frequency and severity of this personally destructive crime.
This review is intended to summarize basic facts about sex offenses and sexual offending. The goal is to clarify current knowledge and focus attention on the policies most likely to reduce the incidence and increase safety in communities. This report highlights the salient facts and discusses how they apply to public policy, so future policy can be crafted to improve safety and reduce future sexual victimization. ..more.. by Eric Lotke, Director of Policy and Research at the Justice Policy Institute -and- NATIONAL CENTER ON INSTITUTIONS AND ALTERNATIVES
My Turn: Safer communities laws are dangerous
February 2, 2006
With the help of Bill O’Reilly, Governor Jim Douglas is flogging public fear of child molesters in the bushes. The Legislature is running scared too – from a perceived mob of angry voters.
But if fear is the greatest political motivator, it is the worst basis for policy. The various proposed Safer Communities laws – whether including longer sentences, broader sex offender registries and stricter ex-convict supervision, or civil commitment– are unlikely to make Vermont’s communities safer. Indeed, they could put us in more danger. Here’s why:
1. Such laws put resources where the problem isn’t.
All but about 7% of sex crimes against children are committed by their families. Sex offender registries do nothing for these victims, who already know where the released perpetrator is. Requirements that ex-offenders stay away from schools and playgrounds are likewise unnecessary. Where molestation is concerned, kids are safest in public.
2. Imprisonment does not significantly reduce crime.
From 1984 to 1998, according to the Sentencing Project, “states with the largest increases in incarceration experienced…smaller declines in crime than other states.” Vermont ’s imprisoned population rose 52% during the ’90s; we suffered 9% -- that’s 11 -- fewer violent crimes. U.S. Bureau of Justice statistics also show that longer sentences have a negligible effect on whether someone commits another crime.
3. Expanded sex offender registries and tougher restrictions contribute to reoffense.
“Research shows that the best way to [change antisocial behavior] is to normalize life,” says Eric Lotke, former research and policy director of the Justice Policy Institute. Offender websites and community notification of neighbors, landlords and employers, coupled with requirements that registrants report their every move to the police, do the opposite. In other words, says offender therapist Robert Longo, “you ban somebody from the community, he has no friends, he feels bad about himself, and you reinforce the very problems that contribute to the sex abuse behavior in the first place. You make him a better sex offender.”
4. Community notification encourages violence.
“Stronger sex offender laws give tools to parents and concerned citizens so they can be more aware of the location of convicted sex offenders, especially sexually violent predators,” Douglas proclaims.
And what are we to do with these “tools?” Muster the good old boys with their shotguns? That’s what’s happening nationwide: harassment, assault, arson. Margy Love, former Justice Department Pardon Attorney, calls the new U.S. sex-offender registry an “incitement to vigilante justice” masquerading as “a responsible public safety measure.”
5. In a free society, you don’t lock people up for crimes you think they might commit. Anyway, it’s almost impossible to know.
Don’t worry, says Douglas , only the baddest of the bad --19 Sexually Violent Predators tops – will be civilly committed. Vermont ’s SVP statute sounds reassuringly stringent. “The standard of proof . . . shall be clear and convincing evidence that the convicted sex offender suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in predatory, sexually violent offenses.”
Such risk prediction, though, is notoriously unreliable—partly because “personality disorder” is an imprecise diagnosis and a “mental abnormality” is as common as anorexia. And depending on whom you talk to, “pedophilia” can refer to a 40-year-old who rapes a toddler or an 8-year-old playing doctor with his 5-year-old sister.
Using civil commitment as a back door to longer sentences, other states have exceeded their estimates by hundreds, even thousands.
6. Sex criminals reform, and treatment works.
Large studies in the U.S. and Canada have found that sex criminals are among the least likely to reoffend: about 13% do so, compared with 74% of other prisoners. Treatment improves the odds greatly. In 1995, Vermont reported post-treatment reoffense rates of just 7% for pedophiles and 3% for incest perpetrators.
Criminal justice policy has two functions: to punish; and to protect the community. But offender websites and civil commitment are only about vengeance – and votes.
If it’s safety we’re after, we’ll put most of our resources where they work: public education about sexual violence, treatment and community reintegration for offenders.
And what will “get-tough” policy get us? Fuller cellblocks and locked wards. A public that perceives more crime and demands more laws. More laws bringing more arrests. The perception of more crime.
Conjuring monsters in the streets, we will divide communities and leave children defenseless at home. We will feel falsely safer, and all the while, more fearful.
by Hardwick resident Judith Levine is the author of “Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children From Sex” and a director of the National Center for Reason & Justice.
June 16, 2007
Reliability and Validity of the Static-2002 Among Adult Sexual Offenders with Reference to Treatment Status
May 2007 NCJ 218434:
This study sought to investigate the reliability and validity of the Static-2002, as a measure of sexual offense recidivism risk.
Abstract: Overall, the data is encouraging suggesting that the Static-2002 has reasonable scale properties, can be coded reliably, and is at least as accurate at predicting sexual/serious recidivism as it predecessors, while representing an attempt to enhance conceptual clarity and scoring consistency. The Static-2002 is an instrument developed to predict sexual and violent recidivism among sexual offenders. In a sample comprised of 468 sexual offenders offered treatment at the Warkworth Sexual Behavior Clinic (WSCB), this study carried out a series of analyses to investigate the reliability and validity of the Static-2002. Participants were followed for an average of 5.9 years after their release. Tables, figures, references ..more.. by Calvin M. Langton ; Howard E. Barbaree ; Kevin T. Hansen ; Leigh Harkins ; Edward J. Peacock Study is available from
