FBI agents and prosecutors usually strut inside Santa Ana’s Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse, knowing they’ve focused the wrath of the criminal-justice system on a particular criminal. But an unusual child-pornography-possession case has placed officials on the defensive for nearly 26 months. Questions linger about law-enforcement honesty, unconstitutional searches, underhanded use of informants and twisted logic. Given that a judge recently ruled against government demands to derail a defense lawyer’s dogged inquiry into the mess, United States of America v. ____ _ ____ is likely to produce additional courthouse embarrassments in 2017. Full Article…
Read MoreMonth: January 2017
Serial child molester loses on appeal
An appeals court on Wednesday reinstated the conviction of a serial child molester from Maryland whose case was held out as a major success of a law to punish sexual predators overseas. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Column misleads about sex offenders
In Lauren Book’s Dec. 11 column, she wrote about the dangers that sexual predators pose to children and admonishes parents to be suspicious of staff at youth-serving organizations. We all want to protect children, so how could such a column be objectionable? Because it is alarmist, misleading and mostly false. Full Opinion Piece Related Lauren Book: UK abuse cases show need to safeguard children
Read MoreNE: Ruling that allowed kids in sex offender’s home spurs lawmaker
LINCOLN — Reactions ranged from bewilderment to outrage over a Nebraska Supreme Court decision earlier this year that allowed two girls to remain in the home of a felony sex offender. And the decision set a clear precedent, said Brandon Brinegar, the Kearney lawyer who represented the biological father who had tried to remove the girls from the sex offender’s residence. Brinegar said lawmakers would have to act to prevent similar rulings in the future. That’s just what a state senator from Omaha intends to do in the upcoming session…
Read MoreBill Would Ban Adults Without Kids from Playgrounds
A City Councilman in Los Angeles, Mitch O’Farrell, has proposed a bill to keep playgrounds “free of creepy activity” by not allowing anyone unaccompanied by kids to enter one. Shamefully, that is already the rule here in my burg, New York City. This has lead to the arrest of two women who dared to eat donuts on a playground bench in Brooklyn (exposing kids to potential predators AND processed food!), and to the ticketing of seven guys who were playing on chess tables too close to a Mahattan playground (tables…
Read MoreGeneral Comments January 2017
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of January 2017. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreMN: Appeals Court – Sex Offender Program Constitutional
Minnesota’s program for keeping sex offenders confined after they complete their prison sentences is constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, reversing a lower-court judge who said it violates offenders’ rights because hardly anyone is ever released. Full Article Decision Related ‘A System That Is Clearly Broken’ The Latest: Official: Sex offender program needs more money
Read MoreUK: Police hunt for sex offenders who have fled country
Five registered sex offenders have evaded police and fled the country, it has emerged. Figures from Police Scotland show there are currently more than 4,000 sex offenders being managed in the community and a further 1,283 in custody or in hospital. But five registered offenders who are required to notify the authorities of their whereabouts are wanted by police and are believed to have left the UK. Police Scotland said its enquiries had confirmed all five are abroad in “known countries”, with measures in place to arrest them should they…
Read MoreWI: ‘Modern-Day Leper’
A “modern-day leper.” Those are his words, not ours. Ventae Parrow is branded by the state of Wisconsin as a “homeless sex offender” and, by many in society, an outcast to be feared, warned about, and shunned. He’d have more rights to move freely if he’d killed someone. He’s served his prison sentence (again), but the elaborate network of Milwaukee city ordinances places almost insurmountable restrictions on how and where he can live. Milwaukee sex offenders who fall under new ordinances pretty much can’t live anywhere, except – the map…
Read MoreIL: Class Action – Supervised release policies unjustly effectively keep sex offenders in prison ‘for life’
CHICAGO — A lawsuit has been filed accusing the state of Illinois of violating the rights of convicted sex offenders by maintaining policies that do not allow a number of them to be released from prison after they have served their sentences, effectively leaving them informally sentenced to life in prison. Full Article
Read MoreWhy rape cases should not be subject to reasonable doubt
Conviction rates for sexual assault against women are shockingly low, to the extent that, even in a developed nation such as the United Kingdom, only 6 per cent of rape allegations result in a conviction, a far lower rate than for any other violent crime. As The Guardian columnist Julia Bindel puts it, ‘rape might as well be legal’. Disturbingly low conviction rates have many explanations, but one contributing factor is the ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard of evidence employed in criminal cases. This standard requires that the jury not…
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