I am so pleased to be here and to witness again firsthand the incredible work being done by many different, yet all vital, agencies and organizations. Through the continuous hard work of the Department of Justice’s Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART) Office and this Symposium, progress continues to be made to obstruct the violent and destructive behavior of sexual predators worldwide. … 1. Research shows that sexual crimes reported to police decline by an average of 13% within a jurisdiction after enacting a registry. … 2. Research shows registrants are more…
Read MoreCategory: General News
Even violent crime victims say our prisons are making crime worse
A first-of-its-kind national survey finds that victims of crime say they want to see shorter prison sentences, less spending on prisons and a greater focus on the rehabilitation of criminals. Full Article
Read MoreInjustice: How the Sex Offender Registry Destroys LGBT Rights
It’s hard to believe that until recently, there were still laws on the books that made it illegal to be gay. Our legal system may no longer explicitly prohibit same-sex relationships, but we have found new ways to criminalize queer kids. We label them as sex offenders. Across the country, children are put on sex-offense registries for behaviors that range from “playing doctor” to streaking to having consensual sex with peers a few years apart in age. The statistics are scary: out of 800,000 people on registries, one out…
Read MoreGeneral Comments August 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of August 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MorePunishment That Doesn’t Fit the Crime
San Francisco — When ____ ____ was 10 years old, he and his older brother initiated a touching “game” with their 8-year-old sister. “None of us knew what we were doing,” he said, and he soon forgot about the episode. But later that year, 1998, his sister’s teacher found out and notified the authorities. Just weeks after ____’s 11th birthday, police officers handcuffed him outside his fifth-grade classroom. ____ and his parents agreed to a guilty plea in exchange for two years of probation, which he spent in a foster home. (His brother…
Read MorePeaceful Protest in Oakland Attracts More Than 40 People
More than 40 people today participated in a peaceful protest held outside the federal district court in Oakland. Participants included registrants and supporters from California as well as several other states, including Florida, Missouri and Oregon. Today’s protest included the burning of sex offender registration cards by six registrants led by CA RSOL Treasurer Frank Lindsay. Today’s protest was a tremendous success,” stated CA RSOL President Janice Bellucci. “We effectively communicated to the public and to the media our position that the International Megan’s Law (IML) violates the U.S. Constitution.” The protest immediately followed…
Read MoreIL: Sex offenders sue, saying registry laws keep them from church, living with family
A 77-year-old man says he’s been forced out of his home, had to move out of state and can’t visit his daughter’s family because of a crime he committed long ago. Full Article
Read MoreA Defender Office for Supreme Court Advocacy?
An “independent federal public defender office charged with representing poor defendants before the United States Supreme Court” is necessary to fill gaps in legal services to the poor and “better balance the scales of justice between the government and the defendants,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said earlier this month. Full Article
Read MoreHow a Plano legislator’s remarks bred strict sex offender laws
Recent research has challenged long-held assumptions that convicted sex offenders are very likely to commit new sex crimes and questioned how those assumptions were reached in the first place. Prior to that, though, one Texas legislator’s words were particularly influential on sex offender laws across the country. (Italics added for clarity.) July 1997: State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, a former schoolteacher and proponent of the state’s strict 1995 Ashley’s Laws for sex offenders, attends a conference in Bellevue, Wash., about sex offender registries. She begins her speech by noting that…
Read MoreNV: Sex offender list case off Las Vegas court docket
LAS VEGAS (AP) – A state court in Las Vegas won’t hear arguments about a sex offender registry until the Nevada Supreme Court considers constitutional questions raised by lawyers representing 17 unnamed plaintiffs. Court officials said Monday the Tuesday hearing in Clark County District Court was canceled. Full Article
Read MorePervert Park: Where Sex Offenders Try to Be Normal
No one is more of an outcast in modern society than sex offenders. Nobody wants to know them. Nobody wants to think about them. Everyone would prefer that sex offenders just go away. And due to the harsh laws around sex offenses, they more or less have gone away. Pervert Park, which airs Monday at 10 p.m. EST on the PBS series POV, found some of them, and it makes for uncomfortable viewing. The subject inherently makes the skin crawl. But it is necessary as well. There are 800,000 registered…
Read MoreNC: Sexting charges dismissed for Fayetteville teenager
Charges were dismissed Thursday against a Fayetteville teenager who made international headlines last year after he was accused of making child porn for taking nude photos of himself when he was 16. Full Article
Read MoreAlton Sterling: When a Sex Offender Gets a Candlelight Vigil
Only in death, it seems, can a person on the sex offender registry be considered a human worthy of love and sympathy. Full Article
Read MoreThe Sex Offender Registry is Bad and Doesn’t Make People Any Safer
There is perhaps no more reviled crime in America today than sexual assault, especially on a minor. When a person is found guilty of sexual assault, he or she is forced to register as a “sex offender,” often a lifelong designation. Yet, is this a good thing? The modern sex offender laws were born out of the “tough on crime” period of the 1990s. The laws require those designated as sex offenders to inform a community when they move into a neighborhood, makes their name and address public information, and…
Read MoreMeet a ‘Violent Sexual Predator’ and Marvel at Our Broken System for Dealing With Sex Offenders
The note in my inbox was straightforward, and suicidal: “I don’t have much time left and that brings me some comfort. I can’t even imagine a life of freedom and happiness anymore. I hope my story will at least help people understand the grey areas of this stigma.” Full Article
Read MoreI’m a public defender. My clients would rather go to jail than register as sex offenders.
When I first became a public defender, I believed the worst punishment that my clients would face would be time in jail. Since then, I’ve learned that incarceration is not the only — and perhaps not the worst — punishment the criminal justice system can impose. The registration requirements imposed on those convicted of sex offenses are unfairly harsh and punitive, though few recognize them as such. Full Article
Read MoreWhy the sex offender registry isn’t the right way to punish rapists
There are two parts to any criminal sentence for any crime involving sex. There’s the standard sentence: prison time or probation. As soon as the first sentence ends, the second one begins. After getting released from prison, an ex-offender has to sign up for his state’s sex offender registry. If he moves to another state, he’ll have to sign up there too. Depending on the state and the seriousness of the crime, his name, picture, and information will be publicly listed for all to see — permanently. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments July 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
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