You can still find furniture or a roommate on Craigslist. But ads seeking romance or sexual connections are no longer going to be available, after Craigslist took down the “personals” section Friday for its U.S. site. The company says it made the change because Congress has passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, meant to crack down on sex trafficking of children. It was approved by a landslide in the Senate earlier this week, as NPR’s Alina Selyukh has reported, but has been met with criticism by free speech advocates…
Read MoreCategory: General News
Some are just ‘the Wrong Sort of Victims’
[thewarrzone.blogspot.co.uk] Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the whole issue of ‘victimhood’ and one thing is clear – there are different types of victims. While there are some who attract widespread popular support, both from agents of the state and from the public at large – particularly those adults who claim to have been abused in childhood – there are others who are deemed merely worthy of being swatted away, like irritating flies or gnats. It seems to me that victims of false allegations are usually slotted into this latter category.…
Read MoreNew book dispels myths about sex offenders
[UPDATED LINKS 4/19/18] [salemweeklynews.com] Even amid the national outcry about sex abuse and sexual harassment, very little is known about sex offenders or the treatments that best help them. Arguably the least understood population of the criminal justice system, sex offenders are subject to some of the country’s most punitive sentencing laws and their incarceration, life after prison and rehabilitation efforts are often misguided. Two Salem people with decades of experience with offenders in professional and prison settings have written a riveting new book , SO, The New Scarlett Letters…
Read MoreWhen The Abuser Is A Child, Too
In 2005, a 17-year-old, Amie Zyla, made a plea to members of the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations. Zyla had been sexually assaulted at age 8 by a 14-year-old friend of the family. Nine years after was convicted in juvenile court, Zyla was horrified to see him on the local news. He had been arrested for luring children into his apartment and videotaping dozens of them in his shower. “We cannot sit back and allow kids to continue to be hurt,” she told the subcommittee. “The…
Read MoreNC: Questions keep convicted sex-offender parent from attending his child’s basketball games
[journalnow.com] ______, a sex offender, is being investigated by the Surry County Sheriff’s Office for going onto the campus of Millennium Charter Academy to watch his child play basketball, officials say. ____ was attending basketball games at the school this winter, and volunteered to run the clock under an agreement with the school that allows him to be on campus as long as he is under supervision. Someone raised an alarm with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office, and for now ____ and the school have mutually agreed that ____ won’t…
Read More‘Living beyond the label’
____ ____ ____, 29, is a married father of two. He’s enrolled in Peninsula College’s Composites Recycling program, and is a member of the school’s Carbon Club. He’s also a level-three sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreMen are not monsters
[foxnews.com (!)] Last week three of my four boys were herded into school-sponsored assemblies and asked to stand, raise their hands and pledge to never, ever hurt a woman. While their female classmates remained seated, my boys faced intense pressure to say: I promise To never ever Hit, hurt, or otherwise harm A woman, girl, or child. I understand That I am bigger and stronger Than many women, girls, and children. Therefore it is my DUTY To NEVER HARM them, Protect, Respect, Honor, and Love them No matter what. Aghast,…
Read MorePlea bargaining should not be an option for offenders in sex crimes
In the U.S., individuals accused of sexually based crimes are legally able to accept a plea deal that allows them to have reduced sentencing penalties. This is wrong and should not be allowed to the extent that it is currently bargained for. Full Editorial
Read MoreYoung Sex Offenders Shouldn’t Have to Register; It’s Ineffective and Hurts Everyone Around Them
Sex offender registration policies were initially developed for adults with sexual offenses, but have recently been extended to include youth with sexual offenses as well. At first glance, sex offender registration and notification (hereafter referred to as SORN) may make us feel safer, produce relief knowing that these individuals are being punished. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreAn Unexpected Journey by Nick Dubin, Mitigation Consultant
[foglightstrategies.org] PREFACE Nick Dubin, PsyD, is a consultant who helps with Foglight Strategies’ mitigation efforts. Nick has a Doctorate in Psychology and Masters in Special Education. He also has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, which is characterized in part by a difficulty in intuiting why certain courses of behavior are inappropriate. Nick, like many others before and after his case, had his life shattered when he was federally charged with the possession of child pornography. Nick was evaluated to be a low re-offense risk. Despite this, federal prosecutors went forward with…
Read MoreAn Open Letter to My Colleagues in Law Enforcement: Ending the Abusive Policy of Putting Children on Sex Offender Registries
[linkedin.com] by Robert Shilling Retired – Former Head of Crimes against Children at INTERPOL Dear Colleagues, Just like you, helping victims has been a passion for me. We do our job to prevent victimization, but we also do our job to “solve problems.” Too often we see solutions that are nothing more than “whack-a-mole” in their design and outcomes, chasing the problem from one area to another. This does not solve the problem. It exacerbates it. But in too many states, we are repeating this kind of negative cycle with the…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court May Revive a Legal Theory Last Used to Strike Down New Deal Laws
[UPDATED links 3/9/18] [slate.com] On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Gundy v. United States, a constitutional challenge to federal sex offender regulations. If, like me, you believe that America’s current sex offender regime is draconian, unjust, and counterproductive, that might sound like good news! And perhaps it is. But there’s one aspect of the court’s grant that may be very bad news from progressive viewpoint: It will only consider whether the policy in question violates the nondelegation doctrine—a hazy legal principle last used to strike down New Deal legislation in 1935. Full…
Read MoreThe Sex Offender Registry: Vengeful, unconstitutional and due for full repeal
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that at least 95 percent of all state prisoners will be released from prison at some point. However, convicted sex-offenders almost exclusively face the vengeful, additional punishment of registration under the Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act (SORNA). Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreDiscredited Sex Assault Research Infects U.S. Legal System
When a toxin enters a biological ecosystem, its effect is magnified as it moves up the food chain. Even if it can be cut off at the source, the ever-widening distribution of its increasingly harmful form can cause problems for decades. Misinformation functions in a similar fashion, gaining traction as it’s repeated by increasingly high-profile individuals who venture ever further from the source material. In this manner, distortion about the facts of sexual assault has affected the training of judges, prosecutors, and other law enforcement officials. It is how misleading…
Read MoreTherapists’ Perceptions of Their Encounter With Sex Offenders [paper]
[researchgate.net] Haneen Elias and Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia February 2016 Abstract Despite the increasing interest in therapists’ responses to their encounter with sex offenders, there is a lack of research on their subjective perceptions of this encounter and on their experience working with this client population. The study presented in this article is part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among 19 social workers (12 were women and 7 were men; their ages ranged from 30 to 66 years; 15 of them were Jewish and 4 were Arab). In-depth semi-structured…
Read MoreGeneral Comments March 2018
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of March 2018. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreHow one lawyer proves her faith in criminal rehabilitation
[mystatesman.com] Any criminal justice system has two purposes: The first is to punish those who have broken the law; the second is to bring about rehabilitation in the lawbreaker, so that he or she will turn his back on a life of crime and embrace a law-abiding life in society. The first is accomplished largely within the closed ranks of the legal system, through courts, convictions, punishments, and time served, either behind bars or under community supervision. The second can only take place within the broader system of society and…
Read MoreThe Evolution of Unconstitutionality in Sex Offender Registration Laws by Catherine L. Carpenter [paper]
[papers.ssrn.com] Abstract More is not always better. Consider sex offender registration laws. Initially anchored by rational basis, registration schemes have spiraled out of control because legislators, eager to please a fearful public, have been given unfettered freedom by a deferential judiciary. This particular article does not challenge the state’s legislative power to enact sex offender registration laws. Instead, this piece posits that, even if sex offender registration schemes were initially constitutional, serially amended sex offender registration schemes – what this piece dubs super-registration schemes – are not. Their emergence over…
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