Registered citizens, family members and supporters gathered in Dallas, Texas, for three days to discuss the changing landscape for those convicted of a sex offense. The venue was the 6th annual National Reform Sex Offender law conference. This year’s conference was the fifth conference I attended and I was struck by the dramatic changes between this year’s conference and the first conference I attended in St. Louis in 2011. One such change was name tags. For the 2011 conference, many people chose not to wear name tags and those who…
Read MoreDay: June 28, 2015
California Supreme Court reversal forces counties to examine sex offender registration
After a conviction for oral sex with a 17-year-old foster child under his care, ____ ____ served as an assistant to the Miss Rio Linda Pageant, where he was photographed with teenage girls. If pageant officials and parents had checked the state’s sex offender registry, ____’s name would not have appeared. A judge granted ____ a reprieve from registration under a 2006 state Supreme Court decision that allowed judges to exempt offenders who committed certain child sex crimes. In April, the state’s highest court reversed itself, requiring registration for those…
Read MoreReformed. . . or not?
Contrary to popular belief, convicted sex offenders typically don’t commit those acts again but it’s difficult to determine who will and who won’t. The idea of a sexual predator stalking our neighborhoods like hunters preying on innocent women and children is frightening. Certainly those predators exist: serial rapists and pedophiles who’ve assaulted numerous victims over months and years, even after prison sentences and convictions. They are the reason sex offender registration laws exist. But that perception of sex offenders casts a wide net over thousands of men and women in…
Read MoreLiving with 290: My dad is dying
He wants me to go back to Missouri to help him work on a few things that still interest him. He wants to die at home and he needs someone there because his wife is close behind and unable to care for him. He wants to die with dignity – at home, under his own terms. He is one of the last surviving WW II vets and most of his life after he worked in the defense industry with a high security clearance. He helped design the B1 Bomber and…
Read MoreLiving with 290: Lost my Job Today
I had another job lined up to start on the 22nd. I waited as long as I could to tender my resignation to my current employer, when my new employer called me after they ran my background check. I tried to keep my current job, but my employer said that they accepted my resignation in good order. Now I am unemployed. I’ll start looking tomorrow. With the draconian life-time felony, no wonder it’s so hard to get your live back. Considered suicide, but that would give .doj too much pleasure.…
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