A German ex-parliamentarian is being investigated for possessing child pornography. Prosecutors and other experts are often forced to make difficult distinctions on whether a given image crosses the line into illegality. When it comes to the legal definition of child pornography in Germany, a large grey area exists. Just by entering relevant terms in a search engine or trying to open a picture on a computer, individuals can face prosecution. That’s because searching for and attempting to obtain child pornography are illegal in Germany, just as the possession of such…
Read MoreCategory: International
Sexual assaults by US military in Japan unlikely to end in prison
At US military bases in Japan, most service members found culpable in sex crimes in recent years did not go to prison, according to internal Department of Defence documents. Instead, in a review of hundreds of cases filed in America’s largest overseas military installation, offenders were fined, demoted, restricted to their bases or removed from the military. Full Article
Read MoreIreland: Councils to house sex offenders in radical new plan
SEX offenders should be given homes by local authorities on their release from prison, according to a report being considered by Justice Minister Alan Shatter. A high-level plan devised by a number of powerful state agencies recommends that sex offenders be placed in social housing estates and apartment complexes so as to avoid homelessness. The plan, which relates to the Dublin region, is designed to assist sex offenders who have just left prison or returned from abroad. Full Article
Read MoreUK: More than 100 sex offenders use human rights ruling to get names taken off register
More than 100 of the country’s most dangerous sex attackers – including paedophiles and violent rapists – have had their names secretly removed from the Sex Offenders’ Register, it has been revealed. The criminals have used a human rights ruling to remove themselves from the list, arguing that they no longer pose a threat to the public. Full Article Related: Human rights victory for rapists and paedophiles, Sex Offenders and the Human Rights Act
Read MoreNY: I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice System
Ten years ago, when I started my career as an assistant district attorney in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, I viewed the American criminal justice system as a vital institution that protected society from dangerous people. I once prosecuted a man for brutally attacking his wife with a flashlight, and another for sexually assaulting a waitress at a nightclub. I believed in the system for good reason. But in between the important cases, I found myself spending most of my time prosecuting people of color for things we white kids…
Read MoreCanada: Ten Laval teens face child pornography charges
Ten teenage boys from Laval have pleaded not guilty to a series of child pornography-related charges stemming from the sharing of indecent photos of teenage girls on a popular app known as SnapChat. Laval police, who rounded up the boys Thursday morning, said that the youths, all aged 13 to 15 years old, used persuasion or intimidation to get the girls to send nude photos of themselves. Eight of the 10 boys face two charges related to the possession and distribution of child pornography. The other two face the same charges…
Read MoreAUS: Men who cuddle children
This is for all you men who like to cuddle little boys and girls … and for anyone who read that sentence and thought “that’s a bit creepy”. This is for the men secure and aware enough to navigate the minefield of showing other people’s kids comfort, affection and encouragement, despite a cultural coercion akin to the slander slung at Muslims. ‘Cos that’s where we’re at folks: when it comes to men and children, we are the terrorist living next door, the suspect who sleeps down the hall, and you…
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 MoreUK: Dad jumped to his death after being wrongly accused of child abuse
A father jumped to his death from the Humber Bridge after he was falsely accused of child abuse. ____ ____, 56, had been cleared of sexually assaulting a young girl more than 20 years ago but he never recovered from the ordeal of going to court and had already tried to kill himself twice. An inquest at Hull Coroner’s Court heard how ____ wrote a suicide note, before cycling to the Humber Bridge from the city centre home he shared with his teenage daughter. His brother Michael, who last saw ____ on the Sunday…
Read MoreCanada: Sex abuse arrests in Canada began with probe of company
(CNN) — A three-year investigation into an exploitative Toronto-based film company has netted nearly 350 arrests and rescued more than 380 children from sexual abuse, police said Thursday. Law enforcement from all over the world, primarily in Eastern Europe and the United States, worked with Toronto police since 2010 to arrest those who produced child pornography and those who purchased it. Full Article
Read MoreNZ: Labour says no to vigilante action against sex offenders
Labour does not support vigilante-type actions against sex offenders as reported in the Herald on Sunday this morning but says the police must be utterly scrupulous in investigating sex offences in order to keep public confidence and prevent people taking the law into their own hands. Full Article
Read MoreNew treatment for sex offenders reduces repeat crimes by 70%
Sex offenders are 70 per cent less likely to reoffend if they are part of a restorative justice programme which exists in other countries but has not yet been introduced inIreland, a conference heard yesterday. The Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) programme was developed in Canada and 100 such programmes are now in operation in the UK for sex offenders who have been released from prison. Full Article
Read MoreUK: 10 years for killing sex offender
A man who admitted killing a convicted sex offender in a flat fire in Worcester has been jailed for 10 years. Daniel Martin, 25, set fire to a wheelie bin and pushed it up against the front door of ____ ____’s flat in the early hours of December 14, 2011, sparking a rapidly spreading and ferocious blaze in which the 52-year-old was killed. Sentencing Martin for manslaughter at Birmingham Crown Court, Mrs Justice Thirlwall said the crime was “shockingly stupid”. She said he had intended “to do something so frightening, it…
Read MoreCanada: Trouble with registries
On Sept. 16, Prime Minister Harper promised Canadians a national, online database accessible to the public listing the names of high-risk child sex-offenders to replace a patchwork of existing databases. Another proposed change announced by him would have such offenders planning to travel outside the country alert Canadian authorities before they leave, and who, in turn, may warn destination countries. The prime minister said this registry will come into effect in this session of Parliament. The problem with sex registries! Not only are these registries notoriously incomplete but they are also…
Read MoreCanada: Father killed with one punch after being mistaken for a pedophile
MONTREAL – The Crown wants a six-year prison sentence for a 21-year-old man who killed a Montreal father with a single punch. The victim, Iqbal Ahmed, was simply trying to bring his wayward teen daughter home but other teens attacked him, thinking he was a pedophile. A judge will decide Francis Belanger’s fate in December following sentencing hearings that ended this week. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Op-Ed – The danger of the sex-offender database
Stephen Harper has announced that his government will create a database of sex offenders who target children in Canada that the public can search through, once Parliament returns on Oct. 16. The National Sex Offender Registry that the RCMP currently operates is not available to the public. While Harper did not give extensive details for implementing his scheme for a searchable database, it is cause for grave concern that it’s even under contemplation. “We do not understand why child predators do the heinous things they do, and in all frankness,…
Read MoreCanada: Stephen Harper announces tougher measures against sex offenders
VANCOUVER — The federal government acted to get even tougher on child predators at home and abroad as Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled plans Monday for a publicly-accessible national sex offender registry and a law forcing convicted sex offenders to alert Canadian authorities before they travel internationally. Under the Conservatives’ Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act, to be introduced in Parliament this fall, convicted sex offenders and their parole and probation officers must notify police of any international travel plans. Police would inform Canadian border guards who would then —…
Read MoreDraft law banning pedophiles from entering Russia submitted to Duma
MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI) – United Russia lawmaker Alexander Sidyakin proposed the imposition on foreign child molesters of a 50-year ban on entry into Russia, and submitted a draft law on the matter to the State Duma for review. The proposed amendments would effectively bar foreigners from entering Russia if they were prosecuted for sexually abusing children in Russian Federation or abroad. The ban would also include individuals convicted of having produced child pornography or participated in child prostitution. The bill’s sponsor claims that he enjoys the support of Russia’s…
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