From Nicole Pittman, Raised on the registry. Hi Friends, Nicole Pittman, the author of the Human Rights Watch report, “Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US” brings great news to folks. BBC journalist, Jennifer Forde, and a small team recently relocated to Los Angeles to make a series of documentaries. BBC’s intention is to make a thoughtful, objective film about a subject which is normally approached with great emotion and prejudice. BBC has decided to focus one of the films on the sex…
Read MoreYear: 2013
Convicted Sex Offender Shot Multiple Times in Greenfield
GREENFIELD, Calif- A 29-year old registered sex offender was shot multiple times over the weekend. ____ ____ was shot on Oak Avenue and flown to the hospital. Greenfield police said that though he was shot multiple times, his injuries are non-life threatening. Police do have a suspect in this case, at this time they are not releasing a name. According to the Meagan’s Law website, ____ was convicted of molesting a child under 18 years of age. Full Article
Read MoreSex Offenders Aren’t All Monsters
Most law-abiding citizens would agree that sex-offenders should be locked-up and the key thrown away or once a child molester is released from prison they should be registered and never be allowed to be around children again. The purpose of sex-offender laws is to protect the public, but what about when human rights are violated to the point where laws are doing more harm than good? Full Article See Also: http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/08/sex-offenders-aren-t-all-monsters Full Report: Raised on the Registry – Report PDF ————- Related Post – Brandon’s Story
Read MoreTaking it on the Chin: Legislatively Imposed Internet Restrictions for Sex Offenders
Clear back on February 4, 2013, I gave some predictions for the coming year. I never finished my thoughts, getting waylaid by co-writing a book on Internet investigations. Sorry about that. One of my last comments was… “what about the remainder of my 2013 predictions, such as sex offender Internet restrictions?” It would obviously be silly to continue on with my Nostradamus imitation this late in the year. But what about my ending comment concerning Internet restrictions? Where are they? As luck would have it we had a lot movement…
Read MoreRSOL Conference 2013 – Catherine Carpenter: Sexual Offense Laws and Constitutionality
National RSOL Conference 2013 – Professor of Law, Catherine Carpenter of Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles talks about just how punitive and extreme sex offender laws have become over the years and the ways in which they violate US citizen’s constitutional rights. [hana-flv-player video=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qyA9TU8nE8″ width=”320″ description=”” player=”5″ autoload=”true” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”true” /] Youtube – RSOL Videos on Youtube
Read MoreCalifornia: Second Chance for Youth Offenders
(Sacramento) –The California Assembly approved a bill on September 6, 2013, that offers hope and a meaningful opportunity of parole for over 5,000 youth offenders in the state. Senate Bill 260 (Hancock) passed in the Assembly with bipartisan support by a vote of 51 to 21. Next week it will return to the Senate, where an earlier version passed with a two-thirds majority, for a concurrence vote. Full Article
Read MoreRegistrant Recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom
Bayard Rustin, who was recently named a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was honored at the 5th Annual National Reform Sex Offender Laws conference in Los Angeles. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor. President Barack Obama posthumously named Rustin as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on August 8, 2013. The medal is to be presented to Rustin and to 15 other individuals – including Oprah Winfrey and former President Bill Clinton — who have made meritorious contributions to the security…
Read MoreRSOL Conference 2013 – Sex Offender Mythbusters
Derek W. Logue of Once Fallen gives his presentation on Sex Offender myths at the 2013 RSOL Conference held in Los Angeles, CA. Features a special appearance by “Bill Blathers, Investigative Reporter.” The information in this video and the slideshow can be found at: http://www.oncefallen.com/SOMyths.html Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmGqNA6qrss
Read MoreOpinion: Sex Offense Recidivism Is Rare, Shouldn’t Determine Policy
The crimes featured in a recent Sun Sentinel investigation were tragic. The newspaper found that in Florida, for every one sex offender who was committed to a sex predator treatment center, “nearly two others were released and then arrested on a sex charge.” What the article does not highlight is that all of the sex offenders released from Florida prisons – 31,0000 of them — were screened for civil commitment over 14 years. Full Article Jill Levenson, Ph.D., LCSW, is an Associate Professor and Researcher at Lynn University. She is…
Read MoreRisk assessment tools plagued by ‘authorship bias,’ study finds
The use of actuarial risk assessment instruments to predict violence is becoming more and more central to forensic psychology practice. And clinicians and courts rely on published data to establish that the tools live up to their claims of accurately separating high-risk from low-risk offenders. But as it turns out, the predictive validity of risk assessment instruments such as the Static-99 and the VRAG depends in part on the researcher’s connection to the instrument in question. Published studies authored by tool designers reported predictive validity findings around two times higher…
Read MoreMissouri Sex Offenders: “Women Against Registry” Says Labels Unfairly Destroy Lives
Next week, in addition to an intense showdown on controversial gun legislation, Missouri lawmakers will have an opportunity to enact a bill that would remove hundreds of sex offenders from the state’s online registry. In order to implement this proposal, lawmakers must override Governor Jay Nixon’s veto and go against the recommendations of St. Louis law-enforcement officials, victims’ rights advocates and other stakeholders. Supporters of the bill — which would allow some in the state to lose the permanent sex-offender label — are now organizing in favor of the proposal,…
Read MoreMI: Registrant in Macomb County stopped from leaving country
A convicted Macomb County child molester was stopped last week at an airport in his attempt to fly to Europe in celebration of his 25th wedding anniversary because he failed to notify operators of the sex offender registry. ____ ____, 61, of Southfield, was arrested Aug. 28 by Michigan State Police minutes before he and his wife were to board a Delta flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport headed for Amsterdam, and ultimately to Prague. He was to return Sept. 9. “He said they were going on a 25th wedding anniversary…
Read MorePolice Shoot Man While Trying to Serve Warrant in Lewd Conduct Case
A man under investigation by Irvine police for lewd conduct with a child was shot in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Tuesday. “Detectives were here preparing to serve a search warrant when they contacted the suspect in the parking lot,” Irvine Police Department Lt. Julia Engen said. An officer-involved shooting occurred a short time later, according to Engen. “The subject they were here to interview for their investigation was shot,” Engen said. Full Article
Read MoreMO: High court mulls sex offender and gun laws
The Missouri Supreme Court considered Tuesday how to apply laws making it illegal for sex offenders to be near parks and for felons to possess a gun when their initial offense occurred before the restrictions were created. At issue before the high court in five separate cases was part of the Missouri Constitution prohibiting retrospective and ex post facto laws.In each case, defendants faced prosecution after running afoul of a law that applied to them because of a previous criminal conviction. A judge dismissed a charge in four cases, while…
Read MoreRSOL Conference Recap
Advocates and supporters of reforming sex offender laws from throughout the nation converged on its second largest city over the Labor Day holiday weekend to participate in RSOL’s sixth national conference, “Justice for All.” From the evening of Thursday, August 29, through the late morning of Sunday, September 1, the City of Angels played host to the living angels of a cause deeply rooted in the hope for justice and constitutional freedom for more than 700,000 American citizens who populate the country’s myriad registration schemes from coast-to-coast. Organized with increased…
Read MoreHRW: Raised on the Registry – Brandon’s Story
Brandon and his wife, Marguerite, sat on the couch across from me in their dimly lit one-bedroom apartment in Bryan, Texas. Brandon looked down at his hands, resting in his lap, as he told me his story. He was 11 years old when he was charged with sexually touching a 7-year-old playmate. She was a family friend and one of a group of children Brandon’s two teenage sisters were watching while their parents were out to dinner. A few days later, the police investigation began. Despite his age, Brandon was…
Read MoreSupervisors want to get tougher on men who seek underage prostitutes
Trying to curb the number of men who pay to have sex with children, Los Angeles County leaders Tuesday urged state lawmakers to toughen penalties for men who seek out underage prostitutes. The resolution approved unanimously by the county Board of Supervisors calls for “johns” to face felony rather than misdemeanor charges, to be required to register as sex offenders and to pay higher fines. Full Article Also: The ‘repugnant, vile truth’ about sex trafficking in L.A. County
Read MoreMD: Registered sex offender beaten to death in Reservoir Hill
BALTIMORE —The Labor Day weekend in Baltimore’s Reservoir Hill ended with the beating of a 52-year-old man on the street in full daylight. The man — who the 11 News I-Team has learned is a registered sex offender — later died. A witness said an orange traffic cone was used as a weapon. The attackers seemed to be carrying out instant street justice with their target claiming he’d done nothing wrong. Full Article
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