The California Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in two cases, People v. Mosley and In re Taylor, which focus upon residence restrictions adopted in Jessica’s Law which restrict where registered sex offenders (“registered citizens”) may live. The issues argued before the Court are (1) whether residence restrictions are constitutional, (2) whether residence restrictions apply one to registered citizens while on parole and (3) whether residence restrictions may be used as a blanket restriction for all registered citizens while on parole. The Court is expected to decide the cases within…
Read MoreCategory: General News
Why are the Reconviction Rates So Important?
Why the actual re-offense rates are important pertaining to the total number of people who are already on the registry compared with the percentage of those who are then later reconvicted of a new sexually related crime. This is a simple one, the fact is that the registry and community notification laws are based on the premise that people who have been convicted of any type of sexually related crime are going to commit more. In fact, most states have within their statutes their reasoning for the laws existence and…
Read MoreOP-ED: For a Child Sex Offender, Once Online, Always Online
The first time I was called a sex offender, I was 13. These words meant nothing to me. The only context I had for them was the old man down the street who parents whispered about, saying he was a sex offender. In fact thinking back, the term had always been applied to old men. So the words hit me with very little meaning. I would later learn that this label was how society would define me for the rest of my life. Full Op-Ed Piece
Read MoreGrowing awareness of the limited efficacy of local sex offender residency restrictions
This new Wall Street Journal article highlights the new awareness of enduring problems with sex offender residency restrictions. The lengthy piece is headlined “Cities and Towns Scaling Back Limits on Sex Offenders: Officials Say Buffer Zones Don’t Prevent Repeat Offenses and Make Predators Harder to Track,” and here are excerpts: When Palm Beach County, Fla., was sued earlier this year over its housing restrictions for registered sex offenders, its attorneys took an unusual approach: They suggested the county relax its law. Full Article Related CA Supreme Court to Hear Two…
Read MoreBut officer, really…that’s not who I am…
Things come in threes, they say–whoever “they” are. I sincerely hope not. Before eight o’clock on this gloomy Saturday morning, I had read two articles dealing with this topic, and I sincerely hope not to see a third. The two I read did an adequate enough job of raising my blood pressure. The topic? Mistaken identity. Men arrested, held in jail, brutalized, lives destroyed, all because they were mistaken for a wanted sex offender. Full Op-Ed Piece
Read MoreInterpol and Green Notices
Interpol is an international organization but one with autonomous national branches in each of its member countries and which fall under the laws of those individual countries. The U.S. has its own Interpol force (Washington Interpol) which acts as a representative to Interpol, the international organization. Washington Interpol is composed of American citizens who are U.S. government employees (both Dept. of Justice and Homeland Security). As such, they must entirely adhere to U.S. laws and must operate within limits defined by the U.S. Constitution. This is how we can, and…
Read MoreThere’s Hope Even for Sex Offenders (Editorial, 2012)
The war on sex offenders makes sense only within a large historical context. My generation grew up practicing air raid drills in classrooms where the teachers made us crawl under our desks in case the real thing took out Cleveland or Buffalo. Neighbors were stocking their bomb shelters with canned goods and ammunition. We lived through the Cuban Missile crisis unsure if hour by hour the human race would survive. Full Editorial (2012)
Read MoreL.A. Unified says girl, 14, could consent to sex with teacher
L.A. Unified officials are coming under fire for allowing their attorneys to argue that a 14-year-old student was mature enough to consent to sex with her middle school math teacher. The arguments were made in a civil case that was filed last year by the student, who was seeking financial compensation from the district. She said she suffered emotional trauma from a five-month sexual relationship nearly four years ago with her teacher at Edison Middle School in Los Angeles. Full Article
Read MoreCosta Rica Fights Against Sexual Exploitation of Children
Brooklyn, NY — (ReleaseWire) — 11/07/2014 — A new global Taskforce, launched in London yesterday aims to tackle the rapid acceleration of sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism. Eight eminent leaders from the travel industry, the United Nations, Governments and NGOs, under the leadership of Dr. Maalla M’jid Former Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, will re-think approaches to a crime that has, to date, outpaced every attempt to respond. The sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism is now a…
Read MoreGreen Notice: Interpol’s paedophile tracking system ‘compromised by privacy concerns’ following Edward Snowden spying revelations
The global system designed to track paedophiles is failing as nations refuse to share information following the Edward Snowden spying revelations, child protection experts have warned. Suspicions of government “snooping” and potential privacy breaches have meant that countries have proved unwilling to hold and disseminate information on known and dangerous child abusers. Full Article Related: International Travel – China / Thailand International Megan’s Law / RSO Travel Issues International Travel – Mexico International Travel (Main Page) International Travel (Tag)
Read MoreMan who went to prison as a juvenile sex offender: Lena Dunham is lucky
As so many have done recently, Josh Gravens wrote an open letter to Lena Dunham. It read, “Many children around the country did the same thing you did.” But this was not just another defense of Dunham’s childhood behavior as innocent exploration. The letter continued, “A 9-year-old in South Carolina is now on the sex offender registry for life, and he also must wear a GPS monitor everywhere he goes. In fact, many states have no minimum age to be placed on the sex offender registry,” he wrote. “I myself…
Read MoreTyrant’s Foe: Josh Gravens Fights Criminal Justice Policies that Hurt Children
When I met Josh Gravens, he was 25 years old, unemployed and living with his older sister in Dallas. He’d most recently worked at a stand that sold Christmas trees and firewood, but his paychecks often bounced, and since then he’d applied for hundreds of jobs. That was March of 2012, when Gravens and his wife and four children were getting by one day at a time. Full Article
Read MoreEven Republicans are Changing their Mind on “Tough on Crime”
“One of the things that’s happening with mass incarceration is that it’s hollowing out [communities], it’s destroying generations. It’s just devastating.” Sounds like something a liberal might say, right? Actually, it’s a quote from Mark Early, a former Republican lawmaker from Virginia, a state notorious for its tough on crime laws. Full Article
Read MoreFCC Reverses ALJ’s Decision, Revokes Convicted Sex Offender’s Amateur Radio License
The FCC has reversed the decision of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who ruled in 2010 that ____ ____, of Seattle, Washington, could keep his Amateur Radio license in the wake of his conviction for a sex-related crime 17 years earlier. … The FCC said that given “known risks of Amateur Radios in the hands of sex offenders, such misconduct is prima facie disqualifying, and has resulted in the loss of licenses in past cases.” Full Article
Read MoreTo Lena Dunham: From A Person Placed on the Sex Offender Registry as a Child
Dear Lena Dunham, You have been taking some heat for a passage from your book outlining what most psychological and developmental experts would call childhood sexual curiosity, if not just plain curiosity. I am glad you have defended your actions as a child as just that—childhood exploration. While the behavior might be considered by a puritanical society as taboo, it should not be a criminalized behavior. Ms. Dunham, many children around the country did the same thing you did. For example, a 9-year-old in South Carolina is now on the sex…
Read MoreCars kill more kids on Halloween than Registered Sex Offenders, so we should ban Trunk or Treat
Over the past few years, we see the barrage of Halloween stories designed to scare the people in a different way. There was no shortage of news stories warning parents to check the registry before they send their kids out trick-or-treating. Still, there has not been a “stereotypical kidnapping” of a child by a “Registered Sex Offender” on Halloween so long as the registry has existed. In 2014, no child was murdered by a Registered Sex Offender. Full Blog Item
Read MoreDeadly Halloween Across the Nation
Halloween took a deadly turn for trick-or-treaters, paradegoers and party guests across the country, on a holiday that federal safety regulators say is one of the deadliest on America’s roadways. At least 15 people were killed and nine others were injured in accidents and a fire connected to the festivities in the past few days, in states from California to New York, and Washington to Maine. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments November 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of November 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read More