Category: General News

…the figures that suggest that violence has been disappearing in the United States contain a blind spot so large that to cite them uncritically, as the major papers do, is to collude in an epic con. Uncounted in the official tallies are the hundreds of thousands of crimes that take place in the country’s prison system, a vast and growing residential network whose forsaken tenants increasingly bear the brunt of America’s propensity for anger and violence.  Full Article

Child pornography should end. As an ex-convict, I ask: Is prison the most effective way to address demand? It was shortly before 3:00 a.m. on May 30, 2012 when I turned off my computer for the last time. I slid my recliner over three feet and tucked myself into my bed, for another sleepless session of self-loathing and self-pity. Later that morning, I would not be at my friends’ home as I had planned to help them celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Instead, I would find myself sitting on the hard…

WASHINGTON — The federal government is making progress on developing a surveillance system that would pair computers with video cameras to scan crowds and automatically identify people by their faces, according to newly disclosed documents and interviews with researchers working on the project. The Department of Homeland Security tested a crowd-scanning project called the Biometric Optical Surveillance System — or BOSS — last fall after two years of government-financed development. Although the system is not ready for use, researchers say they are making significant advances. That alarms privacy advocates, who say that…

Facebook’s Zuckerberg: Web access a ‘human right’ It’s easy to get behind the intentions of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to bring the Web to billions of people. The language he’s using to sell it may be a bit more contentious: the social media giant called Internet access “a human right.” Full Article – vs – Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities 4. Registration and Account Security Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make…

Three decades after they were introduced as a crime-fighting tool, electronic ankle bracelets used to track an offender’s whereabouts have proliferated so much that officials are struggling to handle an avalanche of monitoring alerts that are often nothing more sinister than a dead battery, lost satellite contact or someone arriving home late from work. Amid all that white noise, alarms are going unchecked, sometimes on defendants now accused of new crimes. Full Article

Los Angeles, CA — (SBWIRE) — 08/08/2013 — Sex Offender Map, a free service providing information to parents and concerned citizens about the sex offender rates in their states and neighborhoods, announces its 2013 list of the top ten states with the worst sex offender rates. The three states that top the list are Delaware, Wyoming and Oregon. Using demographic profiles of each state combined with sex offender data from the Parents for Megan’s Law website, the list highlights the top ten states with the highest amount of sex offenders…

A new University of New Hampshire study challenges the view that online predators are a distinctly dangerous variety of sex offender, requiring special programs to protect youth.  The study from the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center finds that sex offenders who target teens increasingly use Internet and cell phone communications to lure teens into sexual relationships. In crimes that involve such communications, offenders who meet and recruit youth online operate in much the same way as offenders who meet and know youth in ordinary offline environments. Full Article

Abstract: I use three separate data sets and designs to determine whether sex offender registries are effective. First, I use state-level panel data to determine whether sex offender registries and public access to them decrease the rate of rape and other sexual abuse. Second, I use a data set that contains information on the subsequent arrests of sex offenders released from prison in 1994 in 15 states to determine whether registries reduce the recidivism rate of offenders required to register compared with the recidivism of those who are not. Finally, I…

State legislators should review laws regarding our sex offender registry in order to allow law enforcement to focus on the most dangerous. We have no empathy for those individuals who committed violent sexual acts against any adult or minor. But the requirements of sex offenders to register keeps local law enforcement officers checking up on some people who pose little risk to the public. Full Article

Three decades after they were introduced as a crime-fighting tool, electronic ankle bracelets used to track an offender’s whereabouts have proliferated so much that officials are struggling to handle an avalanche of monitoring alerts that are often nothing more sinister than a dead battery, lost satellite contact or someone arriving home late from work. Amid all that white noise, alarms are going unchecked, sometimes on defendants now accused of new crimes. Full Article

By Norm Pattis – I’ve been practicing law just long enough to know that I will never make sense of it all. It’s not that I am stupid, although my shortcomings are certainly an issue. The larger truth is that the law is irrational. It bumps, grinds and gyrates in ways that simply make no sense. This is especially true in criminal cases alleging sexual misconduct. Suppose a man is accused of rape. He is, of course, presumed innocent, but the details of his arrest are made public. In the eyes of…