TOPEKA, Kansas — The attorney for a convicted child molester on Thursday challenged the constitutionality of the Kansas offender registry before the state’s highest court, arguing social media has made the Internet the new town square for public shaming. Attorney Christopher Joseph urged the Kansas Supreme Court to uphold a decision by Shawnee County Judge Larry Hendricks that removed the name of a Lenexa man from the registry. The judge ruled the retroactive application of the Kansas Offender Registration Act when the Legislature amended the law in 2011 violates the…
Read MoreDay: September 11, 2014
The Promise (and Perils) of Predicting Sex Crimes
Attorney-General Eric Holder’s August 1 speech criticizing the use of risk assessment in sentencing decisions may not lever the issue to the top of the policy agenda. But a new paper could revive the debate about the effectiveness of risk tools in evaluating the chances of recidivism among those convicted of sex crimes. A forthcoming article in the Arizona State Law Journal argues that state criminal justice systems which use risk assessment tools may overestimate sex offenders’ likelihood of committing another crime. That message may complicate the efforts of those…
Read MoreCanada: B.C. rights group says mandatory minimums cost billions but don’t reduce crime
VANCOUVER – Ottawa’s push to implement mandatory minimum sentences is potentially adding billions of dollars in costs to the criminal justice system without reducing crime or making the public safer, says a report released Monday by a British Columbia-based rights group. Instead, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s report says longer prison sentences can actually make inmates more likely to re-offend while disproportionately affecting marginalized groups. The report adds to criticism that has followed the shift to mandatory minimums. The Conservative government has doubled the number of offences that carry compulsory…
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