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 MoreCategory: General News
The 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
Read MoreIreland: Greater threat of sex offenders denied new start
Sex Offenders who are denied the opportunity to start a fresh life within the community pose greater risks of striking again than those who are housed. Full Article
Read MoreUnderstanding collateral consequences of registry laws: An examination of the perceptions of sex offender registrants
Sex offender registration and notification laws have been widely studied since their implementation during the mid-1990s. Within the last decade, researchers have turned their focus towards the unintended and collateral consequences that registered sex off enders (RSO) experience as a byproduct of being listed on a registry. This study of the consequences that RSOs in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin endure mirrors research that has studied offenders in Kentucky and Indiana (Tewksbury, 2004, 2005). Research Paper (PDF)
Read MoreThe overpolicing of American sex
Rape and sexual assault often do not get the police attention they deserve in the United States, whether on college campuses, in the military or in major American cities. This isn’t arguable. But sex is also vastly overpoliced in this country, and this ought to concern us, too. Full Op-Ed Piece
Read MoreTime for a Police Offenders Registry
This week, the Department of Justice announced new guidelines against racial profiling. The changes don’t actually change all that much. As regular incidents of police brutality get more and more mainstream media attention, it’s time for a bold move from the White House. Full Op-Ed Piece
Read MoreStudies, Experts Question Effect of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries
We all think we know what a sex offender looks like: a serial pedophile, likely male and middle-aged, who lurks in Internet chat rooms or hides behind church authority or children’s programs to prey on little kids. But an estimated 200,000 registered sex offenders in the United States are children, many as young as eight years old. Most never come off the registry and many end up committing suicide. The few who don’t have trouble finding jobs as adults and face violent attacks wherever they go, even though they haven’t…
Read MoreThis woman is trying to stop juvenile sex offenders — by helping them
Elizabeth Letourneau is one of the country’s leading experts on sex crime — why it happens and whether there are better ways to stop it. She focuses in particular on juvenile sex offenders: people who commit a sex crime before they turn 18. This is an important group to understand in the fight against child sex abuse. Juvenile sex offenders perpetrate approximately one-third of sexual offenses against minors. They are also are more likely than adult offenders to commit crimes against younger victims. That’s why it’s so important to figure…
Read MoreUT: In our opinion – Policy dilemma – how to handle prison issues with large number of sex offenders
The numbers are often repeated in discussions about sexual assault, but they never become less shocking. One out of three women in Utah will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime; one out of eight will be raped. But while there is evidence that a large percentage of sex crimes go uninvestigated and unprosecuted, there are still more people in prison in Utah for sexual assault than for any other category of crime. Full Opionion Piece
Read MoreConvicted sex offenders, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the First Amendment
Beginning in the 1930s, shortly after the Supreme Court had “incorporated” the First Amendment into the due process clause (thereby making it an enforceable constraint not only on the federal government [“Congress shall make no law . . .”] but on State and municipal governments as well) the Jehovah’s Witnesses went on a campaign to attack, in court, restrictions on their ability to proselytize door-to-door and to give voice to unpopular views. During one particular 8 year period (1938 to 1946) they brought no fewer than 23 separate First Amendment…
Read MoreGeneral Comments December 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of December 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreSUPREME COURT DECISION COULD DECREASE PUBLIC SAFETY, INCREASE HOMELESSNESS FOR REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS
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 MoreWhy 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
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