Working with individuals with sex offense convictions is a specialized area of counseling. There are also “specialties within the specialty” when factoring in the different venues for treatment, including programs in prison, in private practice (often with those on postprison supervision or probation) and in mental institutions. The individuals within this population are generally quite different, and the dynamics are made even more complex when considering whether the offenders are adult males, adult females (yes, there are female sex offenders) or juveniles. The research on each population varies considerably. There…
Read MoreAuthor: Admin
Aus: Sex offender squad faces axe
A specialist WA Police squad responsible for monitoring thousands of convicted sex predators could be axed as part of a push to shave millions off the police budget’s bottom line. A high-level razor gang has been examining the operations of the sex offender management squad, which tracks the movements of more than 3000 rapists and paedophiles living in the community. Full Article
Read MoreOpEd: Teens and the Sex Offender Registry – No Good Outcomes for Anyone
Last week, I hailed a taxi in Washington, D C, and asked the driver to take me to the Keck Building for a meeting with a committee of the National Research Council. The cabby recognized the address and asked if I was a scientist. I explained that I am a retired judge and that applying science and research to juvenile court could make us all safer, save taxpayer dollars and improve the futures of kids in the justice system. He said, “That makes sense but just how can that happen?”…
Read Moredeserving a chance for a pardon
A 25-year-old registered sex offender has been granted a hearing before the Nebraska Board of Pardons. This is excellent news for this young man because if he is pardoned, he will regain his civil rights and he will no longer be on the sex offender registry. According to the Omaha World-Herald article, it is unusual for a sex offender to be granted a hearing because [t]he Pardons Board rarely considers the applications of sex offenders. But board members said they are willing to listen to this one because ____ has lived an exemplary…
Read MoreLet the Burden Fit the Crime: Extending Proportionality Review to Sex Offenders
Under current due process doctrine, punitive damages awards against civil defendants are reviewed for “proportionality” with the underlying misconduct, in accordance with traditional principles of retribution in punishment. This Comment argues that the same proportionality analysis could and should be applied to review statutes imposing harsh civil restrictions on the lives of released sex offenders who have already served their criminal sentences. The argument first proceeds by way of analogy. Like punitive damages in the civil context, sex offender restrictions are (1) in tension with the principle of fair notice…
Read MoreThe Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery?
Human rights organizations, as well as political and social ones, are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million – mostly Black and Hispanic – are working for various industries for a pittance. For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time,…
Read MoreFL: Gov. Rick Scott signs sexual predator laws
Gov. Rick Scott signed four landmark bills Tuesday designed to better protect children in Florida from sexual predator. “Today I am proud to sign this legislation for all the children who have been terribly affected,” he said. “I hope these measures and the awareness that we are bringing today will make a difference for generations to come.” Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments April 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of April 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreKY: Viewing child porn not victimless crime; Ky. punishment fair (Op-Ed)
I am a clinical psychologist, lately retired after 12 years of service to the state as an approved provider of sex-offender evaluations to the courts. I wish to address misconceptions in the Guy Hamilton-Smith commentary, in which he complained that he was being unduly punished by being required to register as a sex offender and the subsequent letter of support from Marjorie Valentine of CAUTIONclick National Campaign for Reform. First, possession of or viewing child pornography is not punished as a violent crime in Kentucky, as the letter’s headline suggests.…
Read MoreHow to Survive Police Interrogation at Your Door ( Video)
What do you say and do when a police officer knocks on your door at home? You always have the right to remain silent. In this video is a good example of how not to answer questions. This man only uses four little words to great effect: “I don’t answer questions.” Oh, yeah, RECORD EVERYTHING. Video
Read MoreVA: Navy increases base security after NSN shooting
The new measure requires drivers presenting a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) to be subject to a criminal history check by the National Crime Information Center database. The database will check for previous convictions or outstanding warrants that are grounds for denying the driver access to the base, according to Navy Region Mid-Atlantic access standards — not the TWIC eligibility criteria. That means if a driver has any felony convictions within the last 10 years, misdemeanor convictions within the last five years for crimes of violence, larceny, drugs or habitual…
Read MoreW.A.R. Press Release sent to Texas Media
Pedophile—what does it mean and when should it be used? How does one convey the proper use of a tired and overworked word to those who have the eyes and ears in the state of Texas? Women Against Registry, a national organization of wives, mothers, girlfriends, grand-mothers and other family members of registrants would like to make the media and ultimately the public aware of the effects that this misapplied term has on their families. Our families face many obstacles; Having our homes set on fire, our children beaten, signs…
Read MoreNH: Sex offender housing restrictions do more harm than good (Editorial)
Of all the constituents that politicians want to help out, sex offenders probably rank at the very bottom of the list. But the New Hampshire Senate should summon the courage to do just that. By helping sex offenders, as strange as it sounds, the Senate will end up making life safer for everyone else. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreLA Deputies Demanded Sex From Female Trainees: Lawsuit
A group of tattooed male deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who called themselves the “Banditos” allegedly sexually harassed female trainees and demanded sexual favors as part of initiation, according to a report by NBC News. Guadalupe Lopez, who was assigned to the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s station in Boyle Heights beginning in 2011, is seeking unspecified damages. Full Article
Read MoreCO: Sex offender stabbed outside Lafayette home
BOULDER – A man convicted of Internet sexual exploitation of children was stabbed outside a Lafayette home Monday afternoon. Boulder County deputies say 26-year-old ____ ____ got out of his car, and was jumped from behind by a male wearing all black clothing in the 600 block of Snow Peak Lane in Lafayette. Deputies and K-9 units were unable to locate the suspect after a search of the area. Investigators say they found a knife, but said it was still being processed and they were not sure if it was…
Read MoreSuits challenge sex offender laws
Lawyer and her reform group were prompted by recent appellate court ruling A civil rights lawyer aiming to reform sex offender laws has started suing municipalities across California to force the removal of ordinances that bar sex offenders from many public facilities, including parks, swimming pools and bus stops.Janice Bellucci, who practices in Santa Maria and is president of the group California Reform Sex Offender Laws, said the ordinances violate the state and federal constitutions. On Friday, Bellucci sued Pomona in the Central District federal court in Los Angeles, and…
Read MoreTX: Sex-offenders not allowed in San Antonio city parks anymore
SAN ANTONIO — The new San Antonio law that bans people who have been convicted of sex offenses from enjoying city-owned facilities went into effect Saturday. The law prohibits sex-offenders from entering any land operated, or managed, by the city, including: parks, trails and natural areas. Cemeteries and golf courses are not included in the ordinance. Woodlawn Lake is a favorite west-side destination and the site of the city’s largest Fourth of July party. On Saturday, it was home to Bark in the Park, with families and children scattered throughout the grounds. Article…
Read MoreCasual cruelty to children
Children suffer when a parent goes to prison but who would expect that the suffering can be worse when that parent is released from prison? After the parent has been away from home for years, the anticipated reunion is often prohibited, even when the child was not a victim of the parent’s crime. A man who was convicted of possession of child pornography, released to a halfway house to serve out the remaining few months of his sentence, is not allowed to see his children. He is not allowed to…
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