VICTORVILLE — The California Department of Justice might be under-reporting the number of registered sex offenders in the city by as much as 24 percent, according to a state and federally contracted counseling agency seeking to establish a presence here. “Currently, from the last numbers we ran, there are approximately 350 individuals who register as sex offenders that are in Victorville,” Scott Smith with Open Door Counseling Agency told the Planning Commission last Wednesday. … “There are so many people that’ve been let out of jail,” Smith said, “the least…
Read MoreDay: January 19, 2016
Living with 290: About to Discharge Parole. Now What?
After being convicted of a felony and 3 misdemeanors, I served 50% of 5 years (2.5 years) in prison and am now approaching the end of my 3 year parole. For all of the negatives that can come with Parole, there is at least one positive: someone tells you exactly what you must comply with. You’re told where you can and cannot live, you’re told what you can and cannot do for Halloween, and you’re told where you can or cannot be. I’m excited to have most of my limitations…
Read MoreKids As Young As 9 Are on the Sex Offender Registry…for Life
Southwestern Law School Professor Catherine L.Carpenter puts it bluntly in her new research paper, Throwaway Children: The Tragic Consequences of a False Narrative. “Truth be told,” she writes, “we are afraid for our children and we are afraid of our children.” Being afraid for our kids has lead us to create ever harsher sex offender registration laws. We want to protect our kids from creeps. But this protection plan of ours has backfired. And now, Carpenter writes, whenever we arrest a minor for a sex crime, our fear “of our children…
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