The first thing that must be pointed out is that the sex offender registry came about because of the myth that people convicted of sexual related crimes were always going to reoffend. Some of the numbers that were tossed around at the time that the registry was conceived were 60 to 80% would reoffend. The registry was not originally designed to protect anyone, it was simply there to aid law-enforcement so that they would have suspects to look at because of this belief of high reoffense rates. Full Article by…
Read MoreCategory: General News
How Josh Duggar and Dennis Hastert could change the laws on sex crimes
Two days after former House speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) indictment became public, a small group of sexual abuse survivors gathered at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago. The group, made up of members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), was there say thank you to prosecutors for exposing Hastert’s alleged crimes. Full Article
Read MoreLet’s Stamp Out Perversion
The civil commitment of sexually violent predators (SVPs) is designed to protect society’s vulnerable from a group of perverts and monsters. What could be wrong with this? Only everything. Full Article
Read MoreConsenting Juveniles™ Research Study Announced
At the 47th annual conference of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) on Saturday, Dr. Marshall Burns, president of SOL Research, presented preliminary results of a new project underway. “Soon after we first posted results of our research on sex laws back in 2007,” said Burns, “we began to be contacted by individuals complaining of being treated as abuse victims when they disagree.” He describes a call from a young woman he calls Amber. “She asked if was okay for her to contact her boyfriend in…
Read MoreWhy online harassment is still ruining lives — and how we can stop it
In 2010, ____ ____ threatened his estranged wife by writing rants on his Facebook page such as, “There’s one way to love you but a thousand ways to kill you. I’m not going to rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and dying from all the little cuts.” For making these threats, a federal district court sentenced him to more than three years in prison. Full Article
Read MoreMI: ‘Old-fashioned scarlet letter’: Elkhart 19-year-old fights sex offender status after encounter with Michigan teen
As ____ ____ sits in the Berrien County Jail in St. Joseph, Mich., his parents worry. And plead. And fight. The young man from Elkhart, 19, pleaded guilty in Berrien County, Mich., Trial Court in March to a misdemeanor count of criminal sexual conduct for having sex — consensual sex — on Dec. 19, 2014, with a Niles, Mich., teen. She said she was 17, and met him in person after a whirlwind courtship in cyberspace that started with a meeting via the social app Hot or Not. Full Article
Read MoreDuggar scandal: What should parents do if a child touches a sibling?
The scandal surrounding the Duggar family, famous for their reality TV series “19 Kids and Counting,” and who confirmed this week that one of their sons inappropriately touched girls, at least two of them his sisters, when he was a teenager, raises a difficult question: What should parents do if one of their children is inappropriately touching a young sibling? Dr. Karen Kay Imagawa, director of the Audrey Hepburn CARES Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which offers services for suspected victims of child abuse and their families, offered some…
Read MoreQuestionable Commitments
There is a young man in Virginia sitting behind tall fences and razor wire, guarded by men with guns, and never allowed to leave. According to the state, he isn’t in prison, and he is not being punished for a crime. Instead, he’s being held because the government says he might commit a crime in the future. Full Article
Read MoreThe Failure of Sex Offender Policy (Opinion)
The public expects and deserves evidence-based practices when it comes to public safety. This is true for any aspect of public policy but perhaps none so much as sex offender policy. With sex offenders, there is a sense of moral outrage at the depravity of their crimes, and rightly so. Virtually any sex crime makes the news headlines because the public has a very high interest in this crime. Too often politicians not only capitalize on the fear that is caused by sex offenders, but they inadvertently create more of…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Two Heart Beats Away from President
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Dennis Hastert was two heart beats away from serving as President of the United States. That is, if both the President and Vice President had died while in office, Hastert would have stepped into the Oval Office and assumed the leadership of this country. The fact is that Hastert was a member of the U.S House of Representatives for 20 years, representing a Congressional district in Illinois from 1987 to 2007. The fact is that Hastert became the Speaker of the House…
Read MoreGeneral Comments June 2015
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of June 2015. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreIn defense of Josh Duggar’s parents (Opinion)
When I learned that, more than a decade ago, reality-TV star Josh Duggar avoided jail after his parents dealt with molestation charges via church and family contacts, it made me think about the men I interviewed for my book about our draconian sex-offender laws. Full Opinion Piece Related Tyrant’s Foe: Josh Gravens Fights Criminal Justice Policies that Hurt Children Sex offenders registry may put man back in prison for offence committed as child TX: Life On the List
Read MoreFor Juvenile Sex Offenders, State Registries Create Lifetime Of Problems
____ ____ is about to become a family man and he couldn’t be happier. He’s 25 and he lives in a suburb of Dallas with his fiancée, who’s due to have their baby practically any minute. They’ve already picked out a name: Raven. In most ways they are a normal family. Except for one thing. Until last year, Hampton was a registered sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreIs It Time to Revisit Sex Offender Supervision for Life?
In the mid-1990s, Americans were shocked by several high-profile child victim sex offenses. In New Jersey, the abduction, rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka by a paroled sex offender who lived across the street horrified the state and spurred action by elected officials and state agencies. Full Article
Read MoreThe Disappearing Sex Offender (Opinion)
As a legislator, one of the biggest concerns I have is public safety. Keeping the public safe from the many dangers that are prevalent in today’s society is a challenge. One area of work I have spent a great deal of time on is keeping children safe from sex abuse. And unfortunately, I have found that there are too many things that are a false sense of security. One I have a big problem with is the sex offender registry. The research shows that sex offender registries don’t reduce recidivism.…
Read MoreMinnesota TV reporter asks tough questions about sex offender laws
As we’ve noted before at The Watch, local news tends to sensationalize and fearmonger, especially when it comes to issues involving crime, sex, kids, drugs or some combination of the four. So it’s worth pointing out when a local news reporter does great work. Here’s some praise for Dan Hanger, a reporter for Fox 21 in Duluth, Minn., for his recent provocative and challenging series on sex offender laws. Full Article Related Preview: Sex Offender Stigma Sex Offender Stigma: Should One Label Fit All? Sex Offender Stigma 2: Does Treatment…
Read MoreYou may be a sex offender and not ever know it
Because I walk around the house naked way more than my wife would prefer, she recently played a joke on me. As I sometimes like to do, I donned only flip-flops to enter our garage and get something from my tool shelf. I was a full 20 feet inside when I heard the garage door rumble open. Full Article
Read MoreDo Sex Offender Registration Laws Do Any Good?
Last month a federal judge ruled that certain aspects of Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA) are unconstitutionally vague. Sex offenders, for example, are forbidden to live, work, or “loiter” within 1,000 feet of “school property.” U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland noted that such “school safety zones” are not clearly defined, making it difficult to comply with the law. He said the term loiter is vague as well: Does it apply, say, to people attending their children’s parent-teacher conferences or their grandchildren’s school plays? Cleland said two other rules—requiring registrants…
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