MN: Allegation ends coach’s career

THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR walked onto the field unannounced, wearing jeans and sandals, and _____ ______ knew in that moment that something was terribly wrong. Nobody interrupted his football practices at Minnesota State Mankato without advance notice and permission. His success as head coach was based on maintaining total control; each practice was scripted to the minute. He believed small disruptions in preparation became big problems during games, so he sometimes asked his players to recite a motto: No mistakes. No distractions. No surprises. Now, on Aug. 17, 2012, his life…

Read More

Miracle Village: A haven for America’s social pariahs (with Video)

Almost 750,000 Americans are now on sex offender registries, and the numbers just keep growing. Because the truly dangerous are mixed in with the far more numerous low-risk offenders, registries are useless from a public safety perspective. But they do have a pernicious effect on ex-offenders, who oftentimes find themselves with nowhere to go and no hope of ever reintegrating into society. Enter “Miracle Village” in Florida. Built in 1964 for sugar cane workers (some of whom still live there), it was transformed into a haven by an evangelical pastor…

Read More

Why Current Child Porn Laws Imprison the Wrong People

Growing up, I was taught that prison was a place where people went when they did bad things. It was simple then: There were good people and there were bad people. As I got older, the picture grew more complicated. I saw good people do bad things, and I saw bad people do good things. But recently, when one of the best people in my world did something that landed him in prison, my beliefs about the justice system and how it punishes American citizens were completely upended. Full Article

Read More

May 13: Radio Show with Experts on Child Pornography

On Monday, May 13, from From 9-11PM EST (6-8 PM Pacific Time) – Join Radio Host Michael Blum with special guests: Gail Colletta, PRESIDENT/Legislative ChairFlorida Action Committee Dr. Eric A. Imhof, PsyD, Forensic Psychologist,Specialized Treatment and Assessment ResourcesSpecialty: Child Pornography Dr. Suzonne Kline, PsyD, Forensic PsychologistTreatment, Evaluations and Risk AssessmentsSpecialty: SVP’s and Child Pornography Call in at 888-545-1470 Listen on 1470 on the AM dial. It can also be heard from the station website, http://www.wwnnradio.com/streamer and from the players on http://www.michaelblumshow.com or http://www.reality-radio.net. Also, streaming from IHeart Radio. Search IHeart for 1470.

Read More

Report: Registry does more harm than good for teen sex offenders

(CNN) — Joshua Gravens can’t do a lot of the normal things parents do, like drop his son off at school, attend parent-teacher conferences, or take his daughter to the park, a library or anywhere else children gather. For the offense of inappropriately touching his 8-year-old sister when he was 12, Gravens, 26, has spent almost half his life as a registered sex offender. The designation subjects him to residency and zoning restrictions that dictate where he can live and spend time. It has also made him the target of harassment,…

Read More

Rights group seeks halt to placing juveniles on public sex-offender registries

NEW YORK — Government authorities should end the practice of placing juveniles’ names on publicly accessible sex-offender registries, Human Rights Watch says in a report warning of lasting and unwarranted harm to some youths. Some law enforcement officials and victims’ rights advocates agree the current registry system is flawed and support steps to allow more discretion in juvenile offenders’ cases. Offenses triggering inclusion on the registries can range widely — from rape to consensual sex between children to “sexting” of photos that depict nudity or sexual activity. Full Article https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/01/us-more-harm-goodhttp://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0513_ForUpload_1.pdfhttps://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/01/qa-raised-registry

Read More

MO: House endorses sex offender legislation

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (AP) – Missouri House members have approved legislation that would make changes to the sex offender registry. Sex offenders would be grouped into three tiers with each considered to have a different risk of committing another offense. Eventually, people could file a petition in court and ask to be removed from the registry. How long they would need to wait before filing a petition would vary depending on their tier. Full Article

Read More

Laws Based on Baseless Assumptions

Lawmakers have long treated sex offenses as different from other crimes, but the recent legislation known as Sex Offender Registration and Notification has drastically changed the way sex offenders are managed in the community upon release from prison. Specifically, these laws require the sex offenders to immediately report to the local police department upon prison release in order to register as a sex offender. This means providing information like name, address, phone number, employment, marital history, criminal history and license plate number, along with a DNA sample and a list of contacts.…

Read More

Man stops online posts about sex offender

As part of a final settlement to the convicted paedophile’s legal action, Joe McCloskey also pledged on Thursday to immediately remove all references to him from online pages under his control. The man, who served a jail sentence for a catalogue of abuse, has now been granted permanent anonymity by a judge overseeing the resolution. Known only as XY, he issued proceedings against Facebook and Mr McCloskey over the contents of a page entitled ‘Keeping our kids safe from predators’. Full Article

Read More

‘Totalitarian Justice:’ Criticisms of Campus Sex Assault Panels Intensify

WASHINGTON / April 24, 2013 – Three articles sharply critical of the handling of sex assault cases by campus disciplinary committees were published this past week. The critiques suggest college administrators may need to re-evaluate whether federally mandated sex assault panels are rendering a disservice to victims, to the accused, and to the principle of justice itself, according to Stop Abusive and Violent Environments. Writing in the Wall Street Journal on April 16, Judith Grossman describes the experience of her son, a student at a New England liberal-arts college (1).…

Read More

Clinician Prejudice Toward Sex Offenders

A couple of weeks ago my colleague Jenner Bishop posted an open letter on the IITAP (International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals) listserv about clinician prejudice toward sex addicts and sex offenders. Jenner had just come from a “suite meeting” for an office she’d recently rented, at which she’d been bombarded with angry questions from the other therapists about how they were supposed to protect their clients from her “unsupervised” sex addicts and offenders. She had explained that she doesn’t work with violent offenders, and that the offending behaviors…

Read More

Supreme Court to review sex offender registration law [updated]

(Reuters) – The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether the government can require a former federal sex offender to register a change of address even after he had served his sentence and been unconditionally freed from custody. In a brief order, the court agreed to hear the government’s appeal of a July 2012 decision overturning the conviction of Air Force veteran ____ ____ for violating the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006. Full Article Update April 18 Timeline Summary and Review – of Oral Argument April…

Read More

CO: Complex sex offender system isn’t working, say lawmakers and lawyers

When he was 22 years old in 2003, ____ ____ met a girl online. She was two months away from her 15th birthday, and he knew it. Both were living in Colorado Springs, and after two months of chatting online, they met and had sex. The girl told ____ that she had been sexually involved with men his age before, so he thought it was no big deal, he said. “I kind of got myself into feeling I was her friend,” ____ said. “If I said no, she was going…

Read More