Why a convicted child molester is likely to be chosen in the MLB draft

[sports.yahoo.com – 6/5/18] Sometime over the next 48 hours, a Major League Baseball team is almost certain to ask a convicted, admitted child molester to play in its organization. It’s likeliest to happen Tuesday, during Rounds 3 through 10 of the MLB draft, or perhaps Wednesday, over the draft’s final 30 rounds. And on the off-chance that the handful of teams with Luke Heimlich on their draft boards opt against selecting him, the chance that he goes unsigned is basically zero. For more than a year now, teams have grappled…

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Older teens less likely to think sexting would get them in trouble

[journalistsresource.org – unknown publishing date] Older teens are less likely than younger kids to think they’d get in trouble for sexting, new research finds. The study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of Computers in Human Behavior, also indicates boys are less likely than girls to believe sexting can have serious consequences. For example, girls are more likely to say sexting would result in trouble at school or hurt their chances of getting a job. For the purposes of this study, the researchers describe sexting as “the digital recording…

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NV: Giunchigliani responds to criticism over sex offender reporting bill as ‘untrue’ and ‘offensive’ in new ad

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Giunchigliani is calling an attack over her involvement in exempting teachers from a sex offender reporting bill while she was an assemblywoman “untrue” and “offensive” in a new ad released today. In the 30-second spot, Giunchigliani shares that she was sexually abused for over a year as a child and that her sister was kidnapped, held in a trailer and raped for three days. She also highlights five pieces of legislation she helped pass as an assemblywoman to increase penalties for sexual predators, make information concerning…

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CO: Hickenlooper vetoes bill to reduce conflicts of interests on Colorado’s sex-offender management board

Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday vetoed legislation that would have barred members of the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board from being able to profit from multi-million-dollar state contracts related to their work. Full Article Related Colorado governor vetoes bill that banned conflicts of interest on sex offender management board

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Janice’s Journal: Voting Rights Act for Registrants May Be Required

Today is election day. Today California voters will cast their ballots in a primary election that determines the nomination of candidates for offices from Insurance Commissioner to U.S. Senator as well as the outcome of several ballot propositions. Because it is a mid-term election, the percentage of people expected to vote is low, perhaps as low as 30 percent. Missing from the number of people who vote today, however, may be many registrants, some of whom have been misinformed and told that they are not eligible to vote. For example,…

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The Holocaust of Sex Offenders

[dsdaughtry.wordpress.com – 6/3/18] A lesson from World War II is to look beyond irrational laws created by the Nazis but focus on the way those laws were quietly reinforced by citizens without challenge or question. Initially, it was the German people and other nations that played a pivotal part of extermination of Jewish populations along with homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or anyone indifferent to the political ideology of the Nazis or its particular allies. After the war, nations took an oath never to allow people to become labeled, marked, branded, or…

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MA: Victims’ advocate wants psychologists charged if sex offenders repeat

[bostonherald.com 6/3/18] A leading victims advocate wants state-appointed psychologists who declare sex offenders can be released from prison held accountable if the predators strike again. Jennifer Lane, president of Community Voices, said charges should be brought against the examiners in some cases. “I’m so sick and tired of this,” Lane told the Herald. “There are more people defending sex offenders than the victims.” Pedophiles and rapists don’t age out of their horrific habits, she said. “It’s a mental issue.” Her comments come as the Supreme Judicial Court is “taking under…

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OK: Today, They Stamped “Sex Offender” on My Driver’s License

I’d been dreading this day for months – the final day before my Oklahoma state driver’s license expired. Recently, my state had passed legislation requiring that the licenses of those convicted of aggravated sex offenses be marked “Sex Offender” in bold capital red letters in two different locations on the front of the card. Red letter days are supposed to be joyful occasions, but not so much in this case. I certainly wasn’t going to submit to this particular humiliation by renewing my license any earlier than necessary, so I…

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Beyond The Carceral Logic of Civil Commitment

[thenextsystem.org – 11/10/17] A key component of the current system is its reliance on imprisonment as a response to behaviors and populations which are understood as sources of actual or potential harm. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, this carceral response seems to multiply and perpetuate harm rather than reducing it. As we envision a path towards a next system in which communities are able to flourish instead of being torn apart, it is imperative to tackle the question of harm, and dismantle the instincts that lead us too often to reinforce its…

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MI: How occupational licensing laws harm public safety and the formerly incarcerated

[www.rstreet.org – 5/31/18] Key Points 1) Many occupational licensing laws condition employment on “good moral character,” but how exactly one demonstrates “good moral character” is entirely undefined. 2) Vague language affords boards extensive latitude in denying otherwise qualified people for reasons that may be entirely unrelated to the responsibilities of the job. 3) Not only do these practices fail to increase public safety, recent research has shown that they may make communities less safe by increasing the odds that a person will return to a life of crime. Read more…

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NH: Critics call for change to outdated computer sex crime law

[UPDATED LINKS 6/4/18] When he was 18 years old, ____ ____ propositioned a 15-year-old he knew for sex. Had the two teenagers actually engaged in consensual sex, ____’s crime would have been a Class A misdemeanor with no requirement that he register as a sex offender. They didn’t have sex, but because _____, of Nottingham, used a computer or the internet to make the request, he was charged and ultimately found guilty of a felony that will ensure he is on the registry for life. Full Article State Supreme Court…

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Recidivism (Re-Offense) Rates for Registered Sex Offenders

[restoringintegritytovirginiaregistry.blogspot.com – no publishing date] National U.S. Recidivism (Re-Offense) Rates for Criminal Offenses, 3 years After Release 1. Vehicle Thefts, 78.8%* 2. Selling stolen property, 77.4%* 3. Burglary, 74%* 4. Larceny, 74.6%* 5. Possessing stolen weapons, 70.2%* 6. Robbery, 70.2%* 7. Domestic Battery, 41%** 8. Drugs, 27%* 9. Rape 2.5%* / Sexual Assault or Rape 5.3%** 10. Murder 1.2%* Read more statistics    

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Sex Offender Registries: Common Sense or Nonsense?

In October 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped at gunpoint and never seen again. When the boy’s mother, Patty Wetterling, learned that her home state of Minnesota did not have a database of possible suspects—notably convicted sex offenders—she set out to make a change. Wetterling’s efforts led to the passage of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, which was signed into federal law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. Jacob’s Law was the first effort to establish a nationwide registry of convicted sex offenders,…

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New Civil Liberties Alliance to Supreme Court: “Don’t let the Attorney General write criminal laws”

[news-journal.com – 6/1/18] The Constitution vests all legislative powers in Congress, and thus bars Congress from splitting its authority with an unelected executive official. Nonetheless, when Congress in 2006 wrote the rules for registration of sex offenders in the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), it gave a blank sheet, with no guidelines, to the Attorney General to create registration rules for past offenders. This executive lawmaking is being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court in Gundy v. United States. Although the particular case concerns registration rules for sex…

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