Trying not to scream about this article in the Toronto Star, “Child Abduction and Murder Paint a Chilling New Portrait.” As reader Frankie wrote: Just the WORST kind of scaremongering!! They use these huge scary numbers but the bottom line is that in all of Canada, coast to coast, there have been an average of THREE kidnappings a year over the past 50 years. THREE. Seems they had to go back 50 years to get enough data to even do a statistical analysis. More pedestrians were killed just in Toronto…
Read MoreCategory: General News
New War on Drugs, Which Means It’s About Race
More than 750,000 Americans are currently registered as sex offenders. That is a fact. But that is just about the only hard fact when it comes to sex offenders, a group that social scientists struggle to secure funding to study and that communities react to with predictable opprobrium. It’s an untenable situation and it’s getting worse. Trevor Hoppe, a sociology professor at the University at Albany, has documented the growth of the sex offender class between 2005 and 2013 for Law and Social Inquiry and found compounding failures on the…
Read MoreMI: Why Would a GOP Lawmaker Team Up with the ACLU to Block Child Abuse Law?
After the near-death of her 1-year-old son, Wyatt, at the hands of a child abuser, Erica Hammel set out to change Michigan law. Full Article
Read MoreSenate Passes Grassley’s Bill to Track Sex Offenders, Protect Rights of Victims
The U.S. Senate passed legislation championed by Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley to keep communities informed of the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders and to expand and protect the rights of sex assault victims. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act Reauthorization passed the Senate by a vote of 89-0. Full Article
Read MoreStudy: 1 Percent of Black Men in US Are Registered Sex Offenders
One percent of all black men in the U.S. are registered sex offenders, and black men enter the sex offender registry at nearly twice the rate of white men, a new University at Albany study finds. Full Article
Read MoreSex offender registry has unintended consequences: Women Against Registry
Theresa Robertson of York County said “pariah” is the word most people think of when the sex offender registry is mentioned, and she and the group Women Against Registry feel that needs to change. Full Article
Read MoreInside ‘Pervert Park’: Safe Haven For Sex Offenders
There are over 500,000 convicted sex offenders in the United States, according to a text crawl at the start of Pervert Park, a documentary that aims to do the near-impossible for the most stigmatized of crimes: stir sympathy for child molesters and sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreNewly Released Report Reveals Misleading Government Data for Registrant Re-Offense Rates
Although statistics demonstrate that there is a low rate of re-offense for registrants, reports released by the government often conveys the opposite, according to a newly released academic report. The report concluded that the government’s use of untrue or unsubstantiated ‘knowledge’ can have deleterious effects such as the passage of new laws that violate registrants’ civil rights and do not increase public safety. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of statistical data, the report includes quotes of false information regarding re-offense rates from federal and state legislators that led to the…
Read MorePolygraph Requirement Violates Registrant’s 5th Amendment Rights
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today stating that a registrant’s Fifth Amendment right to remain silent was violated when the government sought to return him to prison because he refused to answer questions regarding his sexual history during a polygraph exam. The questions the registrant refused to answer are (1) after the age of 18, did you engage in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 15, (2) have you had sexual contact with a family member or relative, (3) have you ever physically forced or threatened anyone…
Read MoreWhy does the USA have a sex offender registry, but no murderer registry?
Why does the USA have a sex offender registry, but no murderer registry? reddit discussion
Read MoreNY: But seriously folks – SORA is punishment
2012 – New York’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) imposes a lifetime of police supervision on tens of thousands of persons who have already served their sentences. It is applied retroactively to people whose offenses were committed before its enactment. A person pleading guilty to a SORA-eligible offense need not be told that this additional sanction will be imposed. His or her risk level may be assessed based on charges that were dismissed as part of the negotiated plea. Statements that he or she has never had the opportunity to…
Read MoreNumber of Registered Citizens increasing at record rate
Florida sex offender registry: double-digit growth More than a dozen people a day walk into the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and register as sex offenders. The county is home to more than 2,200 of them. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has a dozen people on staff — including four detectives – who do nothing but register and track sex offenders, who are required by law to register. Full Article N.Y. sex offender numbers outstrip nation’s New York state’s number of registered sex offenders has exploded over the past decade, ballooning…
Read MoreNSA Silent On Spies’ Child Porn Problem
Two senior U.S. intelligence officials said recently that defense and intelligence employees have an “unbelievable” amount of child pornography on their work computers and devices, and that child porn has been found on the systems of the National Security Agency, the country’s biggest intelligence organization. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments May 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of May 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreSandy Rozek: Examination of sex offender laws leads to better understanding
On April 21, Danny Jones, mayor of Charleston, in his daily talk show on WCHS radio, discussed my op-ed “How can a sex offender be rehabilitated if following the rules does not count?” on air. Brenda Jones, the execturive director for the organization National Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc. was his on-air guest. Full Article
Read MoreSex-offender list offers more harm than protection (Opinion)
I was recently on one of the city Facebook pages and noticed a posting that someone had discovered they have a registered sex offender in their neighborhood. What I found disturbing is that the poster made a generalized statement with no details on the registrant other than that they are “Tier 3 most dangerous and most likely to offend.” Nothing was stated as to what the crime was, how long ago, or the registrant’s age at the time the crime was committed. I doubt they ever looked at or considered…
Read MoreDennis Hastert Case Renews Calls To Change Child Sex Abuse Reporting Laws
For nearly 40 years, Scott Cross hid from everybody what he called his “darkest secret.” And in a federal courtroom, the 53-year-old revealed it to the world. “Coach Hastert sexually abused me in 1979, my senior year in high school,” Cross said at former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s Wednesday sentencing hearing on bank fraud charges. Full Article
Read MoreNew Medicaid Guidance Improves Access to Health Care for Justice-Involved Americans Reentering Their Communities
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) strengthened access to health care for individuals transitioning from incarceration back to their communities. New Medicaid guidance released today updates decades-old policy and clarifies that individuals who are currently on probation, parole or in home confinement are not considered inmates of a public institution. It also extends coverage to Medicaid-eligible individuals living in community halfway houses where they have freedom of movement, improving access to care for as many as 96,000 individuals in Medicaid expansion states over the course of…
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