As Executive Director of ACSOL, I listen every day to concerns expressed by registrants and/or their family members. Many of those concerns are focused upon challenges that registrants face in employment and housing. This column does not address those challenges.
Instead, it addresses the overarching issue that registrants are often treated worse than individuals convicted of murder. Regardless of the sex offense for which they have been convicted or the number of years that have passed since that conviction.
I have known this fact for many years. The most obvious difference, of course, is that a person convicted of a sex offense in California must register at least annually and his personal information is often posted on a public website. By comparison, there is no registry for murderers in California and their personal information is not posted on a public website.
Please understand that I am not advocating for nor would I support a registry for individuals convicted of murder. Instead, I am advocating for the end of all sex offender registries.
A glaring example of how registrants are treated worse than those convicted of murder came to my attention during the past week. The wife of a registrant called to let me know that her family has now been reported to Child Protective Services. Not because her husband, who is a registrant, has harmed their children. Instead, it’s because a third party discovered that her husband is a registrant and thought their children were at risk of harm.
As I told this woman, I am not a family law attorney and therefore I referred her to someone who is. Having said that, I decided to look up the family’s situation in California’s Family Code section. I could hardly believe what I found there — a legal presumption that the children of a registrant who has a felony conviction involving a minor are considered to be “at significant risk.” As a result, such registrants are not allowed to have unsupervised contact with their children.
What! That means that a registrant parent could be forced to move out of the family home. Forced to abandon both his spouse and his children.
And it gets worse. That is, a person convicted of first-degree murder can have custody of their children if either the court determines there is no risk to the child’s health, safety and welfare or the children choose to live with that parent. Neither of these options is available to a registrant.
What! How is it possible that a person convicted of a non-contact, non-violent felony sex offense such as possession of child pornography is not allowed to live or even have unsupervised visitation with his children while a person convicted of first-degree murder can?
When this happens, it creates a Sophie’s Choice for the registrant’s wife and the mother of his children. The wife must choose to live with either her husband or her children, but not both. And regardless of the decision she makes, the family is destroyed by a law that makes no sense and fails to protect children who need both parents in their lives.
And, if you’re not married to the mother of the child, all of this goes away. Just further proof, that marriage as it exists today is merely another extension of the patriarchy.
While I can understand this if the child in question is a result of the crime, I question the constitutionality of it otherwise. Utah has such a provision, but the “mother” can agree to the contact and the Court will allow it. Such happened in my case, where the State attempted to interfere. Once I beat the State on the “dangerousness to the child” aspect they left the case, and the judge asked the “mother” if she agreed to me having rights, she said yes, and the parentage order was signed. Joint legal custody and above standard visitation rights, this was 12 years ago. We have raised him together, sometimes together, but it did not last between us – but we are still good friends and still raise him together.
There is normally a very high bar for a Court to indefinitely interfere with parental rights. While CPS might get involved and can ask the Court to restrict/terminate the rights of a parent, it is ultimately up to the judge, not CPS. In Utah such presumptions are rebuttable; however, if other states have made this a non-rebuttable presumption I would challenge these new laws as an unconstitutional violation of due process (essentially the legislature is acting as the judiciary by deciding individual cases).
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
It seems some victims or sex assault are having to live with the recourse or fate as a result of actions of others and out of their control. The loss of dignity is the worst of it i believe, the self talk. While scarred and scared, they still breath. Raised penalty has the effect of the second kick from a mule, from which absolutely nothing new is learned. Family separation has far too often been occurring in WI since 1993-5 timeframe based on personal knowledge of other men on the list. i know of a peculiar offender suicide that’d in 2006 happened under similar family circumstances. It used to be dealt within the family but now its socially profitable.
As long as the marketing masterminds keep using “victim oriented” sales pitches to push tougher laws the system won’t get better.
You can watch shows and play videogames where characters get chopped and dismembered but I doubt there will ever exist any “pro-sex offender” mainstream movement. Take that as comedy if you want, lol. It just goes to show you they knew what they were doing when the created the whole scheme.
Marketing.
My wife’s best friend and her son needed a place to stay for a little while no big deal she was like family to us we’ve all known each other since high school.
One day she went down to Social Services and applied for welfare assistance when filing out the application she put my address and when ask who all lives in the home she put me my wife and my kids names on the application with my wife’s permission.
About 1 month later I get a knock at the door I look and its 2 lady’s a young black woman and a older white woman i open the door and asked can I help you the younger one introduced her self and said she worked for CPS then asked for my wife’s best friend.
I think the older lady was training the younger one because she sat back and watched closely as the the younger woman interviewed each of us individually they even interviewed all the children in the home .
When they were finally done interviewing us they went and sat in their car for 3 hours they came back and said they were gonna take my wife’s friend’s son unless she can find another place to live within 24 hours and recommend that she just move back home with her mother.
It was so sad everyone was crying I told the CPS worker you can’t do this you know her and her son aren’t in any danger that’s when the older lady turned to me and said Mr_____ can you and your wife pass a drug test right now I noticed the smell of marijuana coming from your patio before we walked up if I was you I’d shut up and mind your own business befor i open a case on every child that lives in this home and if she wanted too she could call the cops and have them search my house for possible drugs.
That shiit scared the liveing HELL out of us we ended up moving to the next county over
Good luck
I did not see anything in the journal about what ACSOL is going to do about this issue in CA?
Thank you👍👇👇👇
“Please understand that I am not advocating for nor would I support a registry for individuals convicted of murder. Instead, I am advocating for the end of all sex offender registries”
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/3/25/22334208/sex-offenders-englewood-apartment-sawyer-aclu-editorial
But alas, as Janice points out, no one seems to have the least concern about where a convicted murderer might live, do they?? 🙄
Now mentioning providential justice and even types of rain barrel Justice is just one of many facets. One has Racial Justice, Corporal, legislative Justice, Fraudlent Justice, Vain Justice to name a few. Even Criminal Justice is blind in many ways. Just what is punitive Justice today.
As even Janice mentioned in these ACSOL rules and discussions – we believe that the punishment must fit the crime. That right there is what a good constitutional lawyer understanding. Sure we all have attributes. Yes I once said on here I am nobody but we are all somebody with God and true understanding in many ways and means.
Is government corrupt, or fundamentally rotten and blind today or do we still talk about gun control Justice, even abortion laws in Justice, or who is casting one an evil monister or did Rome actually burn. Even Janices view on “To kill a mockingbird” has meaning even today. And yes my dad and many enjoyed Hitchcock in the day and many of his short story’s.
I wanted to chip in my two cents here, since I’ve raised this particular point over and over again when I talk about my experience on the registry (Michigan’s to be specific). I’ve worked alongside murderers and know friends in the government, who also work alongside 1st degree murderers, and I can say with confidence that the punishment inflicted by the registry is the most extreme you can dole out on a person bar life imprisonment or the death penalty. It never ends and it seeps into every facet of your day to day life from your work (assuming people ever let you hold onto a job for more than a month once they find out) to your social life (do not expect your friendship groups to stay the same) and even into your mental psyche (the notion that you are somewhat lesser than everyone around you is always there, in the back of your head).
You talk of how it impacts people with kids but how about all the young people (who probably never committed a crime in their lives before or since), introverted, spited or otherwise, who are dragged into this byzantine hellhole and feel like they’ve been cast out of society like trash to die on the margins, or who kill themselves to save themselves from a lifetime of pain, suffering, and ostracizement.
Every now and then I see posts on social media about killing pedophiles and in the comments they go onward to talk about registrants and I realize that someone killing me or anyone else on the registry would (and some are) be seen as heroes instead of killers.
If the government really wanted to make society safer why not go after drunk drivers, who kill more people each year than registrants do and cause more damage to society? All of this just doesn’t make sense to me.
Safety and security are good but promoting for profiting can be a scavenger hunt in many instances for public safety. Letting others know that one has been dabbed by another with the title “sex offender”. Is the love of money is the root of all evil or who is carnal today or who seeks wisdom and understanding in many vain ways in overcoming another whether by physical means or other methods.
Now I am in a Commonwealth state so what is common, what is biblical, or what is unethical. Yes California has a mixed variety of people. Florida was indian land. Even the town that I grew up in was Cornstock tribe area Chief Logan, so is the Registry an F-troop of errors to trap in a vain way by sexual inducement.
Sure Janice, her team and many more advocates are on the threshold of this immoral game of hid and seek that compounds many from many scales and balances of human behavior or one’s understanding or where is the biblical factors in all this game chasing. Sure trying to figure all this out is a bit much.
One has Tim with his database theory, myself with biblical understanding, even one’s manmade devices of destruction of internet persuasion, or a tongue that no one can tame, so where does true wisdom and understanding come in. Where is the discernment in all this. Is all this registry underveloped with a court of law or a jury of one’s peers and many times one doesn’t even get the opportunity to have many of these issues in front of a court and are blind sighted in much of this registry game by those in authority that seem to be above others.
Sure one’s own people will be against them in many issues, so where is love thy neighbor in much of this human war of understanding with this registry. Would the registry be a developing war of the mind to overcome another in some brownie point saga. I rest my case.
Speaking of murder,
I am sitting here watching the D. Chauvin trial and a Lt is testifying to his development to their intelligence database ( strategic info center)and surveillance systems that he helped develop, write SOPs etc. and it use as it applied to the Floyd killing. Why this evidence is relevant to questions of guilt is beyond me. While i understand bodycams are linked up, how they work is irrelevant, ( how the cam mounts etc.)yet time is used up going over such testimony.
The reason i bring it up is during FTR cases ive experienced, most of stuff I’d like in trial as relevant is ruled out by judge. ” We’re not going to far into the qualifying sex case. “
Exactly…2014 my spouse was arrested all charges were behind the screen. When the police raided our home early morning with only myself and our two children 10 and 13, CPS was with them. After CPS interviewed both my children extensively I was told on that very morning by CPS they did not believe my children were assaulted in anyway and they were closing the case and would not proceed further. 4 days later as our extended family came together to bail-out my spouse, which there were no court restrictions placed on him by the judge that he would be allowed to return home…. CPS appeared at my door at 3am the very moment he was released and demanded to know why he was bailed out and whether or not I would allow my spouse back to our house. Now frightened, shaking and mad I found my voice and I told CPS that every person is presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law and reminded them they signed a paper stating that they themselves came to the conclusion that neither of my children were ever harmed or victims, in anyway. CPS strongly stated reply to me was because I bailed my spouse out of jail I too am considered a risk to my children. So if he returned to the home at anytime before CPS family court deemed it was safe for him to do so… my children would be removed from my custody. So it began…family court appointment, CPS forced therapy appointments, weekly supervised visits for my spouse and much, much more. All this when you are trying to fight a criminal case, as well. CPS family court is a 100% nightmare worse than criminal court and a horror for all children forced to appear. Parents are presumed guilty and you will not be viewed innocent…UNLESS you have a attorney who knows the CPS Family Court system. After 7 months of CPS pulling the strings and telling me they were working to close the case…my final straw was the death of my brother and CPS refusing to allow my spouse to attend his funeral with our family. My family told me to find another attorney outside of CPS control…I found an excellent family law defense attorney….Lauren K. Johnson in Orange County…she not only got my case closed in 2 months with my spouse retaining some parental rights but proved the Social workers acted unjust and overstepped their authority, which was why the CPS Court judge decided best to close the case. But in the end both of my children were damaged my son now 17 can not listen to the 1-8777-KARS for Kids jingle on the radio without horrible flashbacks. And all this isn’t even the worse of my 9 month with CPS. Horrible, Horrible….
Worse than murder.
Especially when the State itself gets away with murder through mandated health care.