The growing enactment of sex offender restrictions has been one of the most notable developments in criminal law in recent decades. Thus far, courts across the country have been relatively complacent in allowing legislatures to test the limits of various civil liberties. The Ex Post Facto Clause has been among the first constitutional victims of these new laws. Whereas the Clause was once construed as a substantive right protecting citizens against vindictive or arbitrary legislative actions often based upon the hysteria of the moment, it has become a hollow shell…
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Senator’s chief of staff arrested on child porn-related charges, authorities say
(CNN) – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander’s chief of staff was arrested on Wednesday on child pornography related charges, federal prosecutors said. ____ ____ ____, 35, was held pending a planned hearing on Thursday in federal court in Washington, according to a Justice Department statement. “I am stunned, surprised and disappointed by what I have learned,” Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said in a statement earlier in the day, noting that his office is cooperating in the investigation. Full Article
Read MorePolice overkill has become the default American policy
If all you’ve got is a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail. And if police and prosecutors are your only tool, sooner or later everything and everyone will be treated as criminal. This is increasingly the American way of life, a path that involves “solving” social problems (and even some non-problems) by throwing cops at them, with generally disastrous results. Wall-to-wall criminal law encroaches ever more on everyday life as police power is applied in ways that would have been unthinkable just a generation ago. Full Article
Read MoreYet another effective review of the child porn restitution challenges facing SCOTUS
I have already blogged some previews of the fascinating Supreme Court case of Paroline v. United States even though oral argument is still six weeks away because the issues strike me as so interesting and dynamic. (The parties’ main briefs and now lots of amicus briefs are now available via SCOTUSblog on this Paroline case page.) And I suspect we are seeing other notable coverage of the case already because lots of others are also intrigued by the issues and arguments now before the Justices in Paroline. The latest example comes via Emily Bazelon here at Slate, and it is…
Read MoreThe Vigilante of Clallam County
On a morning last fall, Patrick Drum sat quietly in his black and white striped uniform and handcuffs as he awaited his fate. The sleeves of his top were short enough to reveal a tattoo reading “Win Some” on his right forearm and one reading “Lose Sum” on the left. From the court’s gallery where dozens of reporters and community members sat, he seemed barely to move as the families of the two men he had killed four months before came forward to speak. Full Article
Read MoreAllocating Liability for Child Pornography, in Full or Fractional Shares
WASHINGTON — The notices arrive almost every day. They tell a young woman named Amy, as she is called in court papers, that someone has been charged with possessing child pornography. She was the child. “It is hard to describe what it feels like to know that at any moment, anywhere, someone is looking at pictures of me as a little girl being abused by my uncle and is getting some kind of sick enjoyment from it,” Amy, then 19, wrote in a 2008 victim impact statement. “It’s like I am…
Read MoreGeneral Comments December 2013
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of December 2013. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreOffender: A Documentary
The documentary will present a combination of victims, offenders, and individuals from the judicial and law system who will be spoken with in depth, as well as looking into each of their daily lives and how it affects how they each live. There will also be an in depth look into various institutions, doctors, treatments and how juveniles are affected after they leave prison and have treatment for being an “offender.” Project
Read MoreDaughter Of A Sex Offender: ‘I Didn’t See It Coming’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj5kRB6dVes
Read MoreArmy to discharge convicted sex offenders
The secretary of the Army has issued an order to round up all convicted sex offenders in the service “as soon as possible” and initiate proceedings for their discharge from the Army. The move is part of the Army’s campaign against sex assault in the service. Soldiers convicted of a sex offense, which in the military includes rape and sexual assault, who are deployed will be returned to the states, said Troy Rolan, an Army spokesman. Full Article
Read MoreWhat Is The Legislative Purpose Of The Registry
Empirical research has repeatedly proven that community notification is ineffective at increasing community safety but rather it excels at increasing collateral and direct damage to former offenders and their families, which is increasing daily as citizens use the sex offender websites as hit lists for vigilante actions against offenders , their families, friends and employers. These vigilante actions range from bullying, vandalism, harassment, assaults and even murder. Also legislators are increasingly abusing their power by creating laws, which often violate the Constitution, that are based not on empirical research or…
Read MoreGoogle to tackle images of child sexual abuse with search and Youtube changes
Google is targeting 100,000 terms associated with online child sexual abuse in a move hailed by David Cameron, who will announce a series of measures to tackle the problem at a cyber-summit in Downing Street. The prime minister said that Google and Yahoo had “come a long way” after the internet firms announced a series of initiatives to try to block access to images of child sexual abuse. Full Article
Read MoreStatic-99 “norms du jour” get yet another makeover
It would be humorous if the real-world consequences were not so grave. Every year, at a jam-packed session of the annual conference of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), the developers of the Static-99 family of actuarial risk assessment tools roll out yet a new methodology to replace the old. This year, they announced that they are scrapping two of three sets of “non-routine” comparison norms that they introduced at an ATSA conference just four years ago. Stay tuned, they told their rapt audience, for further instructions on…
Read MoreSentencing and Prison Practices in Germany and the Netherlands: Implications for the US
Germany and the Netherlands have significantly lower incarceration rates than the United States and make much greater use of non-custodial penalties, particularly for nonviolent crimes. In addition, conditions and practices within correctional facilities in these countries—grounded in the principle of “normalization” whereby life in prison is to resemble as much as possible life in the community—also differ markedly from the U.S. In February 2013—as part of the European-American Prison Project funded by the California-based Prison Law Office and managed by Vera—delegations of corrections and justice system leaders from Colorado, Georgia,…
Read MoreLariat Letter: Sex offenders are human beings too
In response to David Trower’s Nov. 12 column “Sex offenders need stronger punishments,” I feel disappointed that Trower would write something that relies on thoroughly debunked stereotypes, faulty statistics and emotional appeals, yet fails to even acknowledge or address the root causes of the issue of sexual abuse. Trower’s viewpoint is typical of those who adhere to the “uncontrollable monster” myth of the American Sex Offender. It is a persistent myth dating back to the late 1800s and the serial killings of Jack the Ripper and HH Holmes. (In fact,…
Read MoreA new look at truth and Justice for ALL
Don’t make the mistake of falling into the bigotry, propaganda and lies put forth by any hatemonger groups that are attempting to make themselves look better or feel better by attacking a disfavored people. These groups always use myths, half-truths and lies and the result is that these bigoted groups siphon off much-needed funds from communities using such catchwords as “if it saves one child” or “community safety” when in fact laws rules and regulations based on these misconceptions are damaging children and doing nothing for community safety this one…
Read MoreGeneral Comments November 2013
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of November 2013. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreConservative Governors Take On the Mugshot Racket
Last week, a New York Times article titled “Mugged by a Mugshot Online” described the dubious business of mugshot extortion. Dozens of companies acquire the post-arrest mugshots — which are public records — of individuals who may or may not have been convicted. They then post the pictures on a website and charge a fee — sometimes in the hundreds of dollars — for removal. Moreover, even the payment of the fee doesn’t necessarily stop a website’s owner from launching a new site, reposting the same mugshot, and demanding yet another fee…
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