[sajrt.blogspot.com] By Kieran McCartan, PhD, David Prescott, LICSW, & Alissa Ackerman, PhD. The start of a new year is often a time of reflection and hope. We think about our experiences as well as practice over the last year and learn from poor practice as well as build upon good, existing practices. Having a solid, reliable, evidence base is central to all aspects of life, personal and professional! Thinking back over the last 12 months, 2017 has been an interesting year to say the least with the common factor being…
Read MoreAuthor: R H
RI: Crossroads will continue to shelter homeless sex offenders as lawsuit plays out
[providencejournal.com] PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Crossroads Rhode Island will continue to take in sex offenders at a homeless shelter in Cranston under an agreement between the parties to a lawsuit challenging a new state law that limits the number of convicted sex offenders who can be housed in homeless shelters. The parties met in chambers Wednesday afternoon with U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E. Smith. According to Lynette Labinger, a lawyer for the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit, Judge Smith recognized that there…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: To Jail and Then to Hell
A town in Connecticut passed a new law this week that bans registrants from virtually all of its public sites, including parks, recreation centers, event centers, swimming pools, trails, and open space land. The new law also prohibits registrants from attending school events even if their children are participating in them. The town’s decision to ban registrants was made about the same time as their public schools prepared to participate in “The Great Kindness Challenge”, an international program meant to show that kindness matters. The irony of these two events…
Read MoreIt Could Be You Registered with Dignity
[sexlawandpolicy.org] Yesterday, SLAP Center was honored to speak on It Could Be You, with host John S., about our recently released reentry guide for registrants – Registering with Dignity (RWD). During the hour-long interview, we stressed that registration and incarceration isn’t a period. It doesn’t have to be a full stop and the end of your life. Use RWD as your semi colon; get your new clause on life. Understandably, life will be more difficult, and sometimes feel impossible, but your life is still waiting for you. Whether or not…
Read MoreI was Raped. And I Believe The Brock Turner Sentence Is a Success Story [opinion]
[injusticetoday.com] On the morning of June 12, 2016, a small plane circled over Stanford University’s commencement ceremony trailing a banner reading, “Protect Survivors. Not Rapists. #PerskyMustGo.” The plane’s voyage was commissioned by feminist group UltraViolet to protest former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner’s six-month sentence handed down by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky in 2016 for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman on campus the previous year. The sentence ignited an outcry and an effort to recall Judge Persky. Over 1 million people have signed a petition to remove…
Read MoreCT: Naugatuck puts its property off-limits to sex offenders
[rep-am.com] NAUGATUCK – Registered sex offenders will no longer be allowed on most borough-owned property. The Board of Mayor and Burgesses unanimously passed an ordinance Tuesday that bans any person convicted of a sexual offense from frequenting borough-owned parks, schools, playgrounds,… Read more
Read MoreDear Abby Says Never Take Your Eyes Off Your Kids Till They Are Old Enough To “Fight Off a Predator”
[letgrow.org] From last week’s Dear Abby comes this pointless fear-mongering: DEAR ABBY: My husband and I disagree about how to handle taking our children shopping with us. I believe that, especially while our children are small (they are 3 and 5), the adult with them should keep them in sight at all times, or at least the majority of the time. If a child moves out of eyesight, the adult should find them within a minute. Are there guidelines on what is appropriate by age or developmental stage on this…
Read MoreAK: Anchorage man who attacked sex offenders hopes his story can be a lesson for others
[adn.com] An Anchorage man who attacked three registered sex offenders last year said he wants his story “to serve as a deterrent” to anyone tempted to turn their pain into violence or take the law into their own hands. That’s what he did in the summer of 2016. He now faces up to 25 years in prison. “If you have already lost your youth, like me, due to a child abuser, please do not throw away your present and your future by committing acts of violence,” Jason Vukovich wrote…
Read MoreDoes Social Justice Exist for Registrants? [opinion]
[blog.womenagainstregistry.org] There are dozens of definitions of Social Justice. Wikipedia defines it as the concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society. This is measured by the explicit and tacit terms for the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity and social priviledges. The Business Dictionary puts a different spin on it, the fair and proper administration of laws conforming to the “natural law” that all persons, irrespective of ethnic origin, gender, possessions, race, religion, etc., are to be treated equally and without prejudice. The Center for…
Read MoreEmployment Opportunity – Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Fellow at Mitchell Hamline School of Law
https://mitchellhamline.edu/sex-offender-litigation-policy/ The Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center seeks applications for a full-time fellowship position. This is a two-year, full-time position, working directly with the director of the Center. We seek a person with superior research, writing and organizational skills, with a demonstrated interest in impact litigation, particularly involving sex offense policy, who can take charge of developing resources and initiatives supporting this litigation and related policy changes. We will accept applications until the positon is filled, but prefer applications prior to January 31, 2018. While start date is…
Read MoreCT: Law would bar sex offenders from most public spaces
[mycitizensnews.com] [1/3/18 UPDATE: The ordinance passed http://www.rep-am.com/news/news-local/2018/01/02/naugatuck-puts-its-property-off-limits-to-sex-offenders/] NAUGATUCK — Sex offenders will no longer be allowed in borough-owned parks, schools, playgrounds, recreation and event centers, pools, gyms, sports fields and facilities, trails, or open space if the Board of Mayor and Burgesses approves a new “Child Safety Zone” ordinance. The board will hold a hearing on the proposed ordinance at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday in the Hall of Burgesses at Town Hall, 229 Church St. The ordinance was inspired by a young girl who was raped repeatedly as a child,…
Read MoreNY: This 11-year-old got wrongly caught up in Pervnado
[nypost.com] __________, a Brooklyn sixth-grader in a schoolyard tussle with two girls, got caught up in the sex-harassment tornado. __________ insists he only tried to grab the water bottle and backpack of classmates who had tossed his stuff during lunchtime horseplay. But the school charged him with “conduct of a sexual nature.” He was accused of trying to touch one girl’s breast and kiss her and of “humping” another girl from behind. “Like, I’m not sexual,” the baby-faced 11-year-old wrote in a city Department of Education statement. “I do dumb…
Read MoreRI: Lawsuit seeks to block R.I. law limiting number of sex offenders in homeless shelters
[providencejournal.com] PROVIDENCE, R.I. — An advocacy group for the homeless is asking a federal judge to block a Rhode Island law set to go into effect Monday that limits the number of convicted sex offenders who can stay at Rhode Island homeless shelters. In a lawsuit against the state filed Friday in U.S. District Court, lawyers representing the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and six registered sex offenders argue that the law passed in September is unconstitutional and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit asks for an injunction…
Read MoreWV: Cuts at Supreme Court might look good at first, but will harm people
[wvgazettemail.com] In a written response to questions about remodeling West Virginia Supreme Court justices’ offices — in a clear effort to change the subject and distract from the issue-at-hand — Justice Margaret Workman noted that, in the last year, the court has “already saved almost $8 million so far this year.” Justice Menis Ketchum wrote it was $7 million. They attempted a kind of bait-and-switch to change the topic. OK, I’ll take the bait. Let’s look more deeply into this attempted distraction, the way that the majority of the…
Read MoreCA: We can’t afford showy but ineffective sex offender policies [commentary]
[with-justiceforall.blogspot.com] This was a recent headline in the Daily Democrat in Yolo, California, recently: ” ‘OperationVigilance’ targets Yolo County sex offenders.” http://www.dailydemocrat.com/article/NI/20171216/NEWS/171219907 “Yolo County law enforcement conducted surprise compliance checks on over 300 sex offenders earlier this week…” “While many of the sex offenders investigated were in compliance, two sex offenders contacted were arrested for a variety of weapons, pornography and other violations. An additional 18 of these offenders are the subject of further investigation to determine whether or not they are in compliance.” “Over 60 law enforcement personnel…
Read MoreNJ: New Jersey child molesters won’t face castration threat any time soon
[trentonian.com] In a year filled with arrests for sexual crimes against child victims, there is a familiar refrain heard each time one of these arrests is announced. “Castrate him,” is shouted from all corners of society and social media. Almost 80 alleged child molesters or kiddie porn collectors were arrested this year by a regional task force. None of those offenders, however, will ever have to face castration-style penalties if convicted in New Jersey Superior Court. That’s because New Jersey, unlike a handful of states across America, lacks a…
Read MoreMedia face challenges in rush to sexual misconduct reckoning
[richmond.com] NEW YORK (AP) — Talk-show host Tavis Smiley isn’t just upset with PBS for firing him on sexual misconduct charges. He’s upset about his depiction in the media. Smiley believes that if he hadn’t talked publicly about romantic relationships with subordinates at his company, the behavior that led to his downfall, the public would make little distinction between him and those who have been accused of sexual assault or rape. Conflation of different forms of misbehavior — the idea itself is controversial — is one of the issues…
Read MoreIN: Sex Offenders Sue Over Indiana Registry Requirement
[US News] INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Three men have filed a lawsuit over an Indiana requirement that they register as sex offenders when moving to the state, saying they’re being treated differently than other residents in similar situations. Patrick Rice, Adam Bash and Scott Rush all were convicted out of state and before the enactment of the Indiana Sex Offender Registration Act, The Indianapolis Star reported. The men’s lawsuit says that in accordance with an Indiana Supreme Court ruling, the Department of Correction does not typically require sex offenders convicted before…
Read More