WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bipartisan bill introduced in the house Thursday would require the Department of Defense to create its own sex offender registry along with a Website to make the information available to the public. Full Article
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Digital Darkness and Silence for Sex Offenders in the Information Age
“Is my Furby a computer?” With five months in jail and eight months of parole behind him, and four years of probation to go, Trevor finds himself contemplating the artificial intelligence of a Furby, and its threat to his future. As a registered sex offender, Trevor must abide by a bewildering array of rules, regulations and restrictions. He was introduced to the maze upon parole: He wasn’t supposed to use a computer or the internet, but his parole officer didn’t initially inform him of these constraints. Ironically, he found out…
Read MoreUK: Child prisoners more likely to become sex offenders, report suggests
Children who serve time in prison are at greater risk of becoming sex offenders later in life, a study has suggested. Researchers found teenagers who were sent to Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) often went on to display sexual aggression in adulthood and would sometimes find themselves back in prison for offences such as rape and child abuse. Full Article
Read MoreMinnesota Sex Offender Program violates human rights (Opinion)
The Associated Press reported this week on the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. This civil commitment program allows the state to place sex-offenders who have finished their prison sentences into high-security custody for an indefinite period. In other words, if sex-offenders meet certain, supposedly objective criteria, Minnesota holds the authority to put them in a penal dungeon, with little hope of release within their lifetime. This is not only a violation of due process, but a complete removal of any of the needed neutral tendencies of law. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreGeneral Comments February 2015
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of February 2015. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreSex offender rules create leper colonies (Opinion)
In a perfect society there would be no sex offenders. In an imperfect society there are. In fact, today over 700,000 sex offenders are registered in the United States. More become registered each year with estimates of an additional 10,000 and 20,000 annually. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreSex offenders: Tougher restrictions a necessity (Opinion)
West Virginia – Lawmakers in the state House of Delegates are to be applauded for their passage of a measure that would prohibit certain sex offenders from loitering within 1,000 feet of a school or childcare facility. House Bill 2025 cleared the legislative chamber by a unanimous vote last week. The bill now moves to the state Senate where its passage is critical. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreVA: ACLU questions new sex offender bill
VIRGINIA (WAVY) — Their faces and address are already public, now one Virginia lawmaker wants registered sex offenders to face public hearings before going inside schools. To have access to Virginia public schools, House Bill 1366 would require violent sex offenders to pay for a newspaper ad publicizing a personal court hearing. It would run once a week for two weeks. Then anyone could attend the hearing and testify against them. Full Article
Read MoreMoral panic over sex offenses results in cruel and self-defeating overpunishment
I can think of no area of the criminal law, except perhaps international terrorism, into which contemporary American society has terrified itself into more ignorance than this. One of the guiding principles of western philosophy, etched in same Greek language spoken by Socrates and Plato into Apollo’s shrine at Delphi, is the maxim “Know Thyself.” When it comes to the darker side of human sexual conduct, we’d rather not. To do so will almost certainly force us to reckon with the fact that many of us aren’t the neat and tidy sexual beings we’ve convinced ourselves we…
Read MoreFifth Circuit reverses computer filter lifetime supervised release condition for sex offender
A Fifth Circuit panel yesterday handed down an intriguing little ruling in US v. Fernandez, No. 14-30151 (5th Cir. Jan. 14, 2015) (available here), reversing a notable condition of supervised release. Full Article
Read MoreDisgust, Dehumanization, and the Courts’ Response to Sex Offender Legislation
Sex offenders have been subject to unprecedented restrictions and punishment. The government’s treatment of sex offenders is a clear example of the dangers of laws derived from and upheld because of the emotion of disgust. Disgust has led to a dehumanization of this category of people, which has led to a stripping of their constitutional rights. The law’s treatment of sex offenders is a clear example of why the law should eschew employing the emotion of disgust during all proceedings. In addition, the courts’, particularly the Supreme Court’s, treatment of…
Read MoreConstitutional or Unconstitutional: Sex Offender Registration
The Constitutionality of Sex Offender Registration, Public Registries and the ever changing and expanding Federal, State and Local restrictions and regulations (via law) is a regular topic for writers, reporters and attorneys. Yes, the U.S. Supreme Court Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003), ruled that registration is administrative not punitive but since 2003 every state took that ruling and ran with it as permission to restrict anything. Full Article More from It’s Time to Reduce, Reconstruct, Reclassify, Rethink and Reform the Virginia Sex Offender Registry
Read MoreGeneral Comments January 2015
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of January 2015. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreThe prince and the sex offender
Overlooking the Atlantic’s azure waters along the coast of Palm Beach, Fla., extends a seemingly endless line of megamansions, hidden behind tall walls. There, some of the planet’s richest people play host to glamorous balls and parties. But in one of those houses, tucked away on El Brillo Way and once guarded by winged gargoyles, such glamour collided with scandal. Full Article Related: Palace takes unusual step to deny Prince Andrew underage sex claims
Read MoreStatic-99: A bumpy developmental path
The Static-99 is the most widely used instrument for assessing sex offenders’ future risk to the public. Indeed, some state governments and other agencies even mandate its use. But bureaucratic faith may be misplaced. Conventional psychological tests go through a standard process of development, beginning with the generation and refinement of items and proceeding through set stages that include pilot testing and replication, leading finally to peer review and formal publication. The trajectory of the Static-99 has been more haphazard: Since its debut 15 years ago, the tool has been…
Read MoreDC: why did DC house a sex offender near women and children?
My goal in the coming year is to better understand why some things, in this brief and transitory life, are as they seem to be. Not to accept it, necessarily, but just to be able to make sense of it. For instance, I am unable to figure out why D.C. taxpayers are being called upon to provide shelter for a man who, according to Mark Segraves of WRC-TV (Channel 4), was charged with several sex offenses and assaults in Prince George’s County nine years ago, pleaded guilty and was sentenced…
Read MoreOnce punished, criminals deserve a second chance
It was a troublesome Facebook post from a conservative talk show host at a Santa Rosa radio station. Promoting an upcoming segment, last week’s post read: “Former KGO Radio Talk Show Host _____ _____, convicted of child pornography seven years ago, is going to be released from federal prison in time for Christmas. Where will he go? Are your children safe? Is he truly rehabilitated as he claims?” Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreFL: Protecting public creates pools of sex-crime felons in rural, less affluent areas in, around Jacksonville
When a 35-year-old mother was stabbed to death and a 10-year-old girl raped in Clay County on Dec. 1, many in the small Middleburg community learned for the first time that the sexual predator suspect was among 143 offenders who lived within five miles of the crime scene. Full Article
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