We have now begun the year 2020. When I first used the year on a personal check, the digits of that number popped out at me.
2020. Where have I seen that before?
The answer was easy. On a prescription for eyeglasses.
No, my vision without glasses is not 20/20. However, the eyeglasses I have been prescribed and wear help me perfect my vision to 20/20 which helps me to see more clearly.
What if the year 20/20 is meant to provide us all with opportunities to see more clearly?
What if members of the registrant community, on parole or probation, could see more clearly that it is to their advantage to create a positive relationship with their parole/probation officer?
What if parole and probation officers saw that the real purpose of their job is to help registrants, not harm them?
What if the public saw that the information they believe to be true about registrants’ re-offense rates is false and that in fact registrants’ re-offense rates are very low?
What if the public saw that sex offender registries provide them with a false sense of security because those who are likely to harm their children are family members, teachers, coaches and members of the clergy, not registrants?
What if legislators saw that the new laws they continue to introduce harm registrants and their families but do not achieve their stated goal of increasing public safety?
What if legislators introduced and passed laws that do in fact increase public safety such as helping registrants find good jobs and housing?
My list of “what if’s” could continue until next year. For there is so much to see with perfect vision.
It is my hope that many people, including registrants and their loved ones, will use their perfect vision to determine the best way they can Show Up, Stand Up and Speak Up in 2020. For it is only by doing this that true progress can be made, that their civil rights can be restored.
We need to show the world that the label “sex offender” is meaningless, perhaps dangerous and punishing. That it does not define the person to whom it has been applied.
We need to show the world that those labeled “sex offender” are doing their best with the scarce resources they are able to obtain.
We need to show the world that those labeled “sex offender” are law abiding citizens, not monsters.
One of many ways to do this is to join ACSOL during its annual Lobby Day in Sacramento on Feb. 11. Another way is to make phone calls and send letters to the state legislators prior to that date.
Pleas share with us the way you choose to share your perfect vision in 20/20 in comments to this column. Or you can share them in person at the annual ACSOL conference on May 29 and May 30 in Los Angeles.
I am going to do my best to come “Lobby Day”,this time, as I will have that day off from work. Speaking of work, It would be cool to get the word out “if a employer wants a reliable, hard working, dependable and low risk employee hire a former ‘sex offender’.”
is there a way to petition *go to court* get a lawyer and get a felony reduced to something other than that felony? meaning a misdemeanor or someway have that cleared?
Thx ACSOL,
I’m ripe and ready to assemble a jury in my failure to provide information.
The trivializing of the plain human enslavement to government’s database machines will be identified and brought to light to a jury of twelve souls. The unfettered electronic collection and use of personal data by who ever for what ever purpose must be stopped. Your children are compelled to pay up for identity protection for all time. Registered children are sitting ducks, as are the adults.
“What if the public saw that sex offender registries provide them with a false sense of security because those who are likely to harm their children are family members, teachers, coaches and members of the clergy, not registrants?”
They actually believe that all the “bad guys” are already accessible with their fingertips on their boogeyman app.
Today’s parents are LAZY. They crave instant gratification, lack zero patience and rely on “accessories” like tablets, phones and, yup, you guested it, the registry to “assist” and offset their responsibilities.
Megan’s Law gives them that false sense of empowerment because they have been conditioned by the media and cops to believe that “knowledge is power.” However, the message being sent is inauthentic at best because not everyone is a legitimate public safety concern, much less a credible safety threat around children, but that doesn’t matter to them! Just the utterance of “sex offender” and that sends them into a tailspin of fear. Quite simply, society has become too CODEPENDENT on gimmicks. They don’t want to think for themselves because that involves time and decision making. They’ve become too reliant with the artificial safety the registry provides them. Even if it gives them the illusion of control over their kid’s safety.
thanks g4change, I think it was a straight felony, I was 19 at the time, I was pretty much signing whatever I can just to get out as fast as I can, not knowing the final outcome of the storm, was young, no advice, threats of this, chances of that, I’m going to wait until 2021, ask the local police, than ask the courts/attorney if there’s a chance, thanks for the helpful type. good luck.
Great comments! I would highly suggest meeting with local DA’s to discuss the importance of supporting those wanting to get off the registry!
A tangent here in this thread, but for those here in this forum: when you write yearly dates this year, write it as “2020”, not just “20”. Since we are in the 21st Century, the date could be manipulated to another “20xx” year when just “20” is used. A security tip I recently learned to protect yourself.
Can’t put this up on social media so here goes.
A decade ago, we were all lifers. I wanted to die after all this bull with registration.
Today, there’s a tier system in place for next year and some us will finally get off!
Tomorrow? Maybe hope for those of us 1203.4/expungement? Maybe all COR’s will get off? Maybe this system will come crashing down and I’ll name my future daughter after Janice?
I am not giving up hope
I’m scratching my head. Prior to my legal issue 20 plus years ago, I had no exposure to the legal process. Yet, how do you incarcerated individuals, treat them like dirt and expect them to be model citizens? Every comment that you made is both spot on and accurate. If the courts truly sought to help those who help themselves, all of the ideas would have already been put into place long ago.
Here’s an idea. How about we all walk around with “I’m a Sex offender” shirts. Then, when we start dropping like flies from assaults on our persons and families, attacked in our homes, and fired from our jobs, we can sue for abuse of our civil rights. Oh, wait. The government has already done that for us. It’s called the registry!
Janice, are you listening? Donald Trump is currently on a clemency spree and he will of course give out lots of pardons to his friends and the well connected over the duration of his presidency, or just whenever he feels the urge to get under the skin of his enemies. Trump loves to do whatever is out of the norm because it gets him the attention he loves to have, he does not like our Governor, and he knows he is not likely to win any electoral votes in liberal California under any circumstances. So here’s an eccentric out of the box thought. I don’t know if the Supremacy Clause applies to a state sex offender registry but what if Janice made her best appeal to Donald Trump to intervene in California’s tiered sex offender registry? Political affiliations be damned!
How could it hurt? Most of us are already screwed for life and there is nothing tangible in the pipeline.
A CLEARING HOUSE FOR INFORMATION – NCMEC
https://www.channel3000.com/police-investigating-child-pornography-tip-take-deforest-resident-in-custody/
Seems mission creep is at work here. Crime fighting by electronic surveillance saints on a national level. Are warrants for search prior to tip to cops?
Missing children & exploited children are two separate evils. When a nation’s children are born holding 83K+ EACH (DEBTCLOCK.ORG) who is exploiting who?