[womenagainstregistry.org – 3/31/21; Forum was 2/12/2018] Professor Emily Horowitz argues against the registry when she debates Professor Marci Hamilton. Watch the video
Read MoreCategory: Commentary
ND: Shouldn’t we ask if ‘bias crime’ legislation actually works?
[thedickinsonpress.com – 3/23/21] Fargo-area politicians and activists will no doubt have a lot of success milking this issue for notoriety, and donations, but even if they’re successful in implementing a policy, and even if that local policy withstands legal scrutiny under state law, it isn’t likely to change much of anything. MINOT, N.D. — Bias crime laws, the new lingo for hate crime laws, are, from the perspective of public policy, not all that unlike policies the death penalty or sex offender laws. They’re all great for politicians who want…
Read MorePatty Wetterling
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/17/21] Dear Florida Action Committee Members and Advocates, So much respect is deserved by Patty Wetterling. In 1989, Patty’s son Jacob was abducted and killed near their home in Minnesota. Three years after Jacob’s abduction, Minnesota enacted a registry in his memory and a couple years after that, the federal government did the same. In fact, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act was the federal law that proceeded the Adam Walsh Act and was the original federal law that required states to…
Read MoreUse science, not stigma, to determine the next steps for Nushawn Williams (Commentary)
[syracuse.com – 3/16/21] Dr. William M. Valenti is a New York state-licensed physician in practice in Rochester. He has worked in HIV medicine, research and HIV health policy since 1981. Anne Kelsey is a staff attorney at the Center for HIV Law and Policy, in Brooklyn. In 1999, Nushawn Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape and two counts of reckless endangerment for having sex while HIV positive at the age of 19 and 20 years old. He served the full sentence of 12 years, but days before…
Read MoreLetter: Sex offenders are redeemable
[inforum.com – 3/4/21] The idea that sex offenders are irredeemable is a myth. Reason (magazine) reports that a repeat offense within a period of five years occurs only 7% of the time. About 100 U.S. teachers, mostly women, are charged with sex crimes each year, although many others go unreported. Affairs between teachers and students are becoming more common in both the U.S. and Europe, probably because the rise of social media has made communication easier and more private. In most of Europe, the age of consent is 14, while…
Read More“WWJD”: What Would Janice Do?
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/3/21] WWJD? I know many of you know a different acronym for that, but in the case of tomorrow’s monthly member call, it’s “What Would Janice Do?”. And by Janice, we are talking about Janice Bellucci. Janice is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) and for the persons required to register in California, she’s a savior in her own right. In the beginning, Florida and California were both in the running for ‘worst state’ for those on the registry. At one point,…
Read MoreBook Review: Justice Perverted: Sex Offense Law, Psychology, and Public Policy
[littlefieldtccc.com – 1/13/21] Book review by Charles Patrick Ewing [The author is a first rate attorney who has worked with registrants for decades] Over the past quarter century Congress, state legislatures and the courts have radically reshaped America’s laws dealing with sex offenders in an effort to reduce the prevalence of sex offenses. Most convicted sex offenders must now register with the authorities, who then make information about them available to the public. Possession of child pornography has been made an extremely serious crime often punishable by prison sentences that…
Read MoreMN: Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders Pretends Prisoners Are Patients
[reason.com – 2/10/21] The practice evades constitutional constraints by casting punishment and preventive detention as treatment. Jacob Sullum | 2.10.2021 12:01 AM “It was my understanding that I was to do the treatment, then be released,” says Mike Whipple, who recently participated in a 14-day hunger strike at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program’s facility in Moose Lake. “Twelve years later, I’m still here, doing the same thing, over and over and over.” So far the civil commitment program has incarcerated Whipple three times longer than the prison sentence he served.…
Read MoreAmerican Law Institute To Consider Recommending Elimination of Public Registry, Other Significant Reforms
[ali.org – 1/25/21] The Council of the American Law Institute (ALI) agreed on January 22 to recommend that its membership adopt new provisions in the Model Penal Code (MPC) that would significantly limit sexual offender registries. The draft approved by the Council includes new MPC provisions under which: Many offenses now registrable would not require registration (e.g., possession of child pornography, but also less serious contact offenses). There would be no public notification that individuals are on the registry, and no public website or other public access to the registry,…
Read MoreAZ: Arizona’s Sex Offender Laws: Recommendations for Reform
[Tamara Rice Lave in arizonastatelawjournal.org – 1/13/21] In this Article, I consider ways in which Arizona’s laws regarding sex offenders should be reformed. I begin by focusing on laws that are designed to deal with the danger posed by convicted sex offenders: registration requirements, residence restrictions, and civil commitment. I contend that the state has overstated the risk posed by convicted sex offenders and that the laws meant to control them may do more harm than good. Next, I turn to police sexual violence. I argue that the state needs…
Read MorePublic Perceptions Of Youth Who Commit Sexual Offense Is Skewed, Our Research Shows
[jjie.org – 1/11/21] Few crimes stimulate such visceral reactions and deep-seated fears as sexual offenses. Accordingly, societal responses to sexual offending such as registration and notification laws tend to be quite punitive and highly stigmatizing for the offender. Yet these social control practices are widely considered by the public to be essential for community safety. However, given lessons learned about the linkages between moral panic and legislation in other justice contexts (e.g., juvenile “superpredators” and waiver/transfer laws), we question the degree to which public perceptions about the characteristics of persons…
Read MoreBanishing ‘Sex Offenders’: How Meaningless Language Makes Bad Law – Guy Hamilton-Smith
[Southwestern University Law Review – papers.ssrn.com – 12/3/20] Abstract: An essay on how the term “sex offender” is functionally meaningless, and invites policy responses that are out of step with the reality of sexual harm. These policy responses, in turn, hobble our efforts to reckon with sexual harm, foreclose accountability and redemption, and elide more effective approaches. View the download page
Read MoreThe Outspoken Offender: Can You Shed The Sex Offender Stigma? [Podcast]
[radio.com – 12/29/20] “My hope is to encourage registered citizens, former inmates, and anyone facing stereotypes and social ostracism to move beyond society’s labels” A positive podcast offering advice, tips, and general commentary on a variety of issues including – – Social ostracism – Sex offender issues – Living with a felony – Second chances – Empathy and compassion – Housing and employment rejection Includes theses podcasts: “Can You Shed The Sex Offender Stigma?” “Introduction and Sex Offender Registry Myths and Facts – The Outspoken Offender” “Ways to Use Haters…
Read MoreSex Offender Registries in Europe and Around the world
[ccresourcecenter.org – 11/24/20] We are pleased to publish new research by Stephen Schulhofer about the treatment of sex offense registration in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU. The research, presented here with an introduction by Alessandro Corda, comes from material prepared for inclusion in an upcoming draft of the Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault and Related Offenses (full citation and disclaimer below). Introduction: An Important Look at Foreign Policy and Practices Regarding Sex-Offense Collateral Consequences By Alessandro Corda, Lecturer in Law, Queen’s University Belfast School of Law…
Read MoreWhen Hate Speech Leads to Violence
[thecrimereport.org – 11/13/20] by Derek W. Logue I recently received an email from the wife of a person listed on the public sex offense registry in a small town in Washington State. She was immensely concerned about seeing a pickup truck parked at a local business sporting a decal portraying a man shooting a kneeling man, execution-style, in the back of the head, with the caption reading, “Shoot Your Local Pedophile.” (The truck also displayed a #SaveOurChildren sticker, a QAnon slogan adopted from Anita Bryant’s defunct anti-homosexuality crusades.) She voiced…
Read MoreFacebook page requires no evidence to call men sexual abusers
[thepostmillennial.com – 11/11/20] This summer, we witnessed a new wave of #MeToo sexual misconduct accusations on social media targeting powerful men in various industries in the province of Quebec. Like the previous instance of online indictments of sexual harassment, few professed victims could present proof supporting their allegations’ validity. And so, we were told to “believe all victims,” even when evidence was absent. Not satisfied with the current Quebec’s legal process, Delphine Bergeron and an unnamed collaborator decided to curate a public list of potential sexual harassers’ names. The administrators…
Read MoreNever Settle for Scraps
Recently, I was watching the movie, “Braveheart” when I was catapulted into a state of utter determination. The scene that moved me is when William Wallace explains that he plans on invading and defeating the English on their own ground; and in doing so, he will wrest Scotland’s freedom from the grip of King Edward Longshanks. When the lords and other members of the varying clans scoff at Wallace and tell him that successfully invading England is impossible, Wallace exclaims, “Why? Why is that impossible? You’re so concerned with squabbling…
Read MoreLA Times Op-Ed: Polly Klaas was our sister. We don’t want unjust laws to be her legacy
[latimes.com – 10/18/20] To many people, the face of Polly Klaas is a reminder of a horrific moment in our nation’s history. For us — her sisters — Polly’s face represents a constellation of childhood memories that remain precious to us today. Those memories ended abruptly on Oct. 1, 1993, when a man followed Polly home from the park and took her from our bedroom. … To us, the trauma of Polly’s death was made all the more confusing and frightening by the media frenzy surrounding it. As children, we…
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