Last week at the Supreme Court, a lawyer made what seemed like an unremarkable point about registered sex offenders. “This court has recognized that they have a high rate of recidivism and are very likely to do this again,” said the lawyer, Robert C. Montgomery, who was defending a North Carolina statute that bars sex offenders from using Facebook, Twitter and other social media services.
The Supreme Court has indeed said the risk that sex offenders will commit new crimes is “frightening and high.” That phrase, in a 2003 decision upholding Alaska’s sex offender registration law, has been exceptionally influential. It has appeared in more than 100 lower-court opinions, and it has helped justify laws that effectively banish registered sex offenders from many aspects of everyday life.
But there is vanishingly little evidence for the Supreme Court’s assertion that convicted sex offenders commit new offenses at very high rates. The story behind the notion, it turns out, starts with a throwaway line in a glossy magazine. Full Article
The counselor/author of the 1986 Psychology Today article needs to write a new article, with corrections.
His “one sentence” regarding the recedivism rate of offenders has caused so much personal pain to thousands of registrants and their families, as a counselor and more so as a human being, he has a moral and ethical obligation to make his wrong, right.
The author was Robert E. Longo. The article was written when he was at Oregon State Hospital. He is now in Lexington, NC
Mr. Longo’s website: http://www.roblongo.com/about_us.php
This article gives me hope.
Can I have a job please? I am qualified.
NO, you are a RSO, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) and State courts state so. NO, NEVER!
YOU CanNOT, you canNOT be trusted anywhere. You are on the internet and federal website. NO.
But I have a Bachelor’s Degree…I offended decades ago…I have been off Probation/Parole for over decades ago. I have no tickets, no other arrests or convictions, I follow the law, I am an American and have been here since birth with a certificate.
NO, get out of here and don’t come back, or I will call the POLICE!
You can’t work at even a McDonalds or even a Janitor! you sir are white trash.
Thank you for your time.
even though the truth is starting to become known it still isn’t the whole truth. im talking about the use of rearrest rates and not the actual recidivism rates..even though the rearrest rates are extreemly low it’s still a lie when your considering the actual recidivism rate…also where the hellll do they keep pulling this 27% after 20 years crap? I don’t believe that statistic either..other than that great article the hammer keeps rising and is about to be dropped on an already crumbling registration scheme…once someone makes the justification and the misinformation used in the first place their main argument bammmm the scheme as it is goes away and we’ll end up with a registration more narrowly targeted at only high risk offenders who the state can prove with the clear and convincing evidence standard are a threat to public safety….it’s coming…
I only wish Janice and team would jump on board with this and maybe even lead the way..