Source: Emily Horowitz – reason.com – 11/29/21 Anthony Broadwater, now 61, had no idea his accuser achieved fame and fortune while he has been living as a pariah for over 20 years on the sex offender registry. Alice Sebold’s bestselling 1999 memoir Lucky tells the story of a young woman raped by a stranger while attending Syracuse University. In the book, the rapist is caught and convicted. After writing about the experience, Sebold went on to write the bestseller The Lovely Bones, a fictional account of a teenage girl raped…
Read MoreCategory: Commentary
Rethinking the ‘Sex Offender’ Label
Source: thecrimereport.org 11/23/21 Last week, on Nov. 19, members of the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) took a critical first step in altering the language used to label those convicted of a sexual offense while in treatment towards a “person-first” perspective. This effort was not without opposition. The victim advocates and representatives from county prosecutors unsuccessfully attempted to table the vote and even accused members of the SOMB of not following protocols. Ultimately, the SOMB settled on the phrase, “adults who commit sexual offenses.” This change does not go…
Read MoreResults of punitive, ineffective laws drafted out of unfounded fears
Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 11/18/21 I was at the registration office and due to COVID was told to sit outdoors, a ways back from where the glass intake door is. You cannot hear what is going on there, but you can see as you sit and wait in line. As I waited, I saw that the man that was registering was escorted inside the glass door and placed in handcuffs. And I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. I felt as if a brother in our cause was being imprisoned… again. So…
Read MoreODU professor gains national attention for research on pedophilia; Child advocate offers perspective
Source: wavy.com 11/5/21 An assistant professor at Old Dominion University is making waves in the community by calling for change in the way we refer to those who are sexually attracted to children. The teacher’s goal is to help people with an attraction to children seek the help that they need and then identify ways to help children. By understanding more about the group of people, the professor says we can better protect children. The controversy began last week. Dr. Allyn Walker, who is an assistant professor in the Sociology…
Read MoreThe sexually violent predator next door
Source: latimes.com 10/29/21 Lawtis Donald _____ sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl in Florida in 1969 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. When he got out — but while still on parole — he came to California, where he sexually assaulted three more underage girls, separately, luring them each into his car by posing as a fashion photographer. Then, while he was being investigated for those crimes, he traveled to Nashville and attacked another 13-year-old girl. He was convicted of rape in both California and Tennessee and sent back…
Read MoreSex Offenders: Fear vs. Fact on Halloween
Source: thecrimereport.org 10/26/21 Media fearmongering over “Registered Sex Offenders” in the community has become an annual Halloween tradition in the same way as razor blades and poison in candy. Wendy Murphy (who famously stated she “never met a false rape claim” during the Duke Lacrosse case) declared in the Boston Herald that “Halloween is like Christmas for sex offenders,” and local news outlets are adding advice to consult the registry as a “safety tip.” A careful look at available research proves such fears are misplaced. But it hasn’t prevented five…
Read MoreStates Can Shorten Probation and Protect Public Safety
Source: pewtrusts.org 12/3/20 More than 3.5 million, or 1 in 72, adults were on probation in the United States at the end of 2018—the most recent year for which U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) data is available—more than triple the number in 1980.1 Nationwide, on any given day, more people are on probation than in prisons and jails and on parole combined. At its best, probation—court-ordered correctional supervision in the community—gives people the opportunity to remain with their families, maintain employment, and access services that can reduce their likelihood…
Read MoreSri Lanka: Psychiatric assessment essential for sexual offenders or victims with ADHD: Study
Source: nation.lk 9/14/21 By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody Owing to neuro developmental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in turn being associated with sexual abuse and related offences in the Sri Lankan context, it is recommended that children and adolescents who are either victims of sexual abuse or offenders of the same, undergo psychiatric assessment, a local study noted. … The instant case described an adolescent who allegedly sexually abused another schoolboy in the context of previously undiagnosed ADHD. Child sexual abuse is the involvement of children and adolescents…
Read MoreIs Sex Offender Sentencing Getting Harsher?
Source: newsanyway.com 9/14/21 Sex crimes are taken very seriously by the state. Despite the harsh punishments that are attached to these crimes, they do nothing to deter the situation. In fact, in the past few years, sex offenders are some of the most harshly punished criminals in the country. However, the punishment doesn’t always fit the crime. Instead of focusing on the harm that was caused, sex crime penalties are focused on deterring repeat offenses instead of actually fitting the crime committed. How Sex Offenders are Prosecuted Recent political discussions…
Read MoreDid You Know? The sex offender registry is government sponsored doxxing that encourages vigilantism! [Video]
Source: NARSOL on YouTube 9/8/21 In May of 2021, someone called the Wheatland, California police at 1 a.m. to say he had “just shot somebody dead.” The killer brought a loaded gun and a cell phone jammer to the residence of Ralph Mendez, a person on the sexual offense registry, because of a much, much earlier sexual offense, and killed him. The killer spared Mr. Mendez’s 88-year-old mother. Police arrived and arrested Rory Banks, and the district attorney charged him with murder in the 1st degree. Police said they believe…
Read MoreFL: Letter to the Editor: Sex offender registry issue needs to be addressed
Source: nwfdailynews.com 9/2/21 As a counselor in the state of Florida, I think it’s time to address challenges concerning social media and illegal sex with minors, and the growing number of designated sex offenders in our state (356/100K – total 76,000 in Florida – 800K nationally). All sex offenders are not child molesters. Pedophiles and rapists are. The US Bureau of Justice reports the average age of a sex offender is 14! Policemen, prosecutors, and judges need to stand up against this bad law. It’s the only law that allows continued punishment after sentencing…
Read MoreA Culture Without the Possibility of Redemption Is a Toxic Culture
Source: thriveglobal.com 8/31/21 The paradox of social media, and so much of our technology, is that it keeps us locked in an eternal present, while at the same time creating an eternal archive that never fades away. The result isn’t just higher levels of anxiety, depression and loneliness, it also makes it harder for us to grow and evolve — which is, after all, our essential purpose at the heart of every spiritual and philosophical tradition. Evolution did not stop when we evolved from the apes. There is an instinct…
Read MoreWhy Blanket Registration of Youth as Sex Offenders is Bad Public Policy
Source: thecrimereport.org 8/5/21 We praise children for their curiosity. How else are they to learn to navigate the world? But sometimes a child’s curiosity leads to a lifetime of punishment and ostracism. Sadly, this is the harsh reality of many children who were charged with a sex offense. Although it can be a difficult notion to accept, children may exhibit sexual behavior as part of their normal childhood development. Some behaviors that stem from curiosity, such as ‘playing doctor’ or touching another child in their genital area can be problematic,…
Read MoreNew Report Finds IML Negatively Impacts Mobility of Registrants
The International Megan’s Law (IML) has negatively impacted registrants’ mobility across five dimensions, according to a newly released academic report. The dimensions are legally, bureaucratically, societally, subjectively and relationally. An advanced copy of that report can be viewed using the link below. According to the 200-page report, the IML is one part of a U.S. sex offence apparatus that continues to progress towards more unforgiving and counterproductive ends. The IML is the latest integration of domestic crime control databases with international mobility control databases exemplifies a growing immigration control industry…
Read MoreSex Offender Registries TW: Abuse
Source: youtube.com 8/12/21 Channel: sexplanations Video intro: Someone asked me once how I determined which topics to cover. I answered that I have all these topics in my mind but one at a time they move to my heart and I get really curious and passionate enough to research and teach — to sexplain. This is what happened with the registry. There wasn’t a personal experience or an audience question, it just shifted from my head to my heart and had to come out. At first I used the registry…
Read MoreWant to find more workers? Make it easier to hire people with criminal records.
Source: washingtonpost.com 8/17/21 The U.S. economy seems poised for revival, but “help wanted” signs that keep popping up in windows across the country tell a different story. With millions of positions going unfilled each month, it’s clear that our recovery won’t work unless it works for everyone. And yet for decades, an entire population of our labor force has been overlooked and undermined: the 77 million Americans with a criminal record. Because of stigma and misguided laws from the “tough-on-crime” era, job seekers with criminal records — no matter how old the…
Read MoreThe New “Crime Wave” Panic and the Long Shadow of John Walsh
Source: newrepublic.com 8/13/21 We are still living in the world that Walsh, and “America’s Most Wanted,” helped build: a paranoid populace that believes crime is everywhere and can only be solved through relentless policing. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images John and Revé Walsh’s lives changed on July 27, 1981, when Revé took her six-year-old son, Adam, to the Sears department store in a mall in Hollywood, Florida. Adam had asked to visit the toy department while his mother browsed the lighting and home furnishings section just a few aisles away. As Revé…
Read MoreAndrew Cuomo and the Myth of the Evil Perpetrator: Governor Cuomo’s recent scandal illustrates a myth about sexual abuse
Source: psychologytoday.com 8/11/21 Key points Prior to the reports of sexual abuse, Governor Cuomo was a popular and trusted public figure. The Myth of the Evil Perpetrator suggests that we are psychologically biased to think of sexual abusers as only archetypes of evil. In reality, even trusted figures are capable of sexual abuse (and often abuse from these individuals is even more prolific). We must be cognizant of our bias against finding “good” people culpable for sexual abuse, and understand how this bias can affect victims. “To cheapen or ridicule…
Read More