Source: prisonpolicy.org 10/15/24 Easthampton, Mass. — A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative provides one of the most comprehensive 50-state compilations of “standard” conditions of probation to date, shining a light on the burdensome rules that govern the lives of nearly 3 million people and that doom many to inevitable further punishments. The report, One Size Fits None, and accompanying data organize probation rules from 76 jurisdictions into topical categories — allowing readers to compare rules in their state to other states, and exposing how these systems turn even everyday behaviors into acceptable reasons for…
Read MoreCategory: Research
Sex Offenders’ Risk Assessment Process and Effects on Jurisdiction Transitioning
Source: scholarworks.waldenu.edu 8/23/23 Abstract The Adam Walsh Act created sex offender notification and registration requirements to encourage state compliance toward federal guidelines and assigned threat levels to registered sex offenders using mandated assessment processes. Researchers have pointed out that the transition by states using tiered assessment processes to the federally mandated guidelines has led to operational changes to state registration procedures. The purpose of this quantitative study was to understand the effects and impacts on jurisdictions transitioning the designation of registered sex offenders’ threat assessment levels from a formal risk-based…
Read MoreAbolish or Reform? An Analysis of Post-Release Supervision
Source: papers.ssrn.com 6/14/24 Abstract At year-end 2021, there were nearly four million individuals serving a term of probation, parole, or post-release supervision in the United States. This paper uses a unique and detailed dataset to study two distinct changes to state law that eliminated and then reinstated post-release supervision for a subset of the population released from Kansas prisons. Each of these changes occurred in very different periods of criminal justice policy (2000 and 2013 respectively), but yielded the same result: post-release supervision caused large increases in reimprisonment with no…
Read MoreResource: Fact Checked by Woodhull to counter harmful misinformation about sex and sexuality
Source: woodhullfoundation.org 4/25/24 WOODHULL INITIATIVE FACT CHECKS S*X MYTHS AND MISINFORMATION WITH ANALYSIS AND DATA (Washington, DC, April 25, 2024) The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting sexual rights as human rights, is leading the charge to counter harmful misinformation about sex and sexuality that is rampant both on social media and in our political discourse. Woodhull’s newly launched Fact Checked by Woodhull program uses peer-reviewed research, compiled and analyzed by professional researchers, to debunk myths weaponized to justify the repression of sex, sexuality, and gender expression. The first set…
Read MoreIL: SIU researcher’s team advocates for new assessment, treatment approach for juvenile sex offenders
Source: news.siu.edu 7/6/23 CARBONDALE, Ill. — Tamara Kang, assistant professor in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, and her colleagues have created a new research-based assessment for juvenile sex offenders, which they say is more accurate, effective and beneficial for the young offenders and society as a whole than current systems. And since 95-97% of juveniles won’t reoffend, the team recommends treatment over incarceration. “A lot of times the public views juveniles with sex offenses as really dangerous, but the vast majority of them aren’t different…
Read MoreGoogle Contractor Pays Parents $50 to Scan Their Childrens’ Faces
Source: 404media.co 1/4/24 Google is collecting the eyelid shape and skin tone of children via parent submitted videos, according to a project description online reviewed by 404 Media. Canadian tech conglomerate TELUS, which says it is working on Google’s behalf, is offering parents $50 to film their children wearing various props such as hats or sunglasses as part of the project, the description adds. The project shows the methods some companies are using to build machine learning, artificial intelligence, or facial recognition datasets and products. Rather than scraping already existing…
Read MoreSurvey request to the mothers of individuals on the U.S. sex offender registry
Source: Kimberly A. Ingold, Graduate Student from the Criminal Justice Sciences Department at Illinois State University Dear mothers of those on the registry: Please consider taking this survey: If you are a registrant, please consider forwarding this email to your mother and encouraging her to take it. It will bring awareness to the mothers of individuals on the sex offender registry and the struggles that they endure, and help mental health practitioners gain a better understanding of these women’s experiences so that they can provide better services and treatment to…
Read MoreSentencing child sex abusers: When the victim becomes the offender
Source: phys.org 5/30/23 Child sex abuse is one of the most heinous criminal offenses, so when a victim becomes an offender, it’s evidence of a system failure. When a ‘victim-offender’ is sentenced in court, a University of South Australia researcher is recommending judges acknowledge the offender’s early trauma, in conjunction with the consequences for the crime, in their sentencing comments. The call for this to become best practice, follows new research that demonstrates multiple instances where judges implicitly or explicitly assumed knowledge that a victim-offender ‘should have known better.” UniSA…
Read More10 tips for parents to teach children about boundaries
Source: dailyherald.com 4/16/23 The statistics are sobering: one in three females and one in 20 males will experience sexual abuse or sexual assault by the time they reach age 17. The idea that anyone would sexually abuse a child is terrifying, especially for parents and caregivers. But like any risk our children might face, we need to be able to empower them with information that will help them recognize unsafe situations. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, a good time to share the message that all people have the right…
Read MoreJuvenile detention staff who sexually victimized children face few legal sanctions, study says
Source: msn.com 4/1/23 Most juvenile detention staff who sexually victimized children faced no legal repercussions for their actions, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report that examined substantiated incidents from 2013 through 2018. The Bureau of Justice Statistics study released Friday found that among 499 substantiated incidents, perpetrators faced legal action 31% of the time, and that incidents were typically handled internally, with a reprimand or discipline, demotion or temporary suspension. In half the cases, the violator was discharged, terminated or their contract not renewed. “These findings are a grim illustration of how children in…
Read MoreKent State Univ. is seeking young adult research participants who have been incarcerated
Source: Kent State University research Kent State research is seeking young adults who have been in the justice system. Examples: arrested, been to court, been incarcerated. They want to understand how these experiences affect growing up and becoming an adult. Virtual interviews will be 60-90 minutes. They will record only your voice. We will give you a $25 gift card in compensation for your time. Contact Maddy Steward for more information by email or text: AdultsInCJResearch@gmail.com Text 330-474-9108
Read More‘How long is long enough?’: Independent task force challenges length of prison sentences in America
Source: yahoo.com 2/21/23 Prisoners with long-term sentences need more opportunities to have their sentences reviewed. Lawmakers and state agencies need to identify and address racial disparities in sentencing. And the amount of a drug involved in a crime should be decoupled from the length of an offender’s sentence. Those are some of the recommendations from the authors of a yearlong study of the nation’s use of lengthy prison sentences published Tuesday. The independent task force, co-chaired by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, and former Republican South Carolina…
Read MoreACSOL President Catherine Carpenter Identifies, Analyzes Method to Win Court Cases
ACSOL President Catherine Carpenter, who is also an endowed law professor at Southwestern School of Law in Los Angeles, has identified and analyzed a method that can be used to win registrants’ cases in court. That method, known as the irrebuttable presumption doctrine, shifts the burden of proof to governments when they make allegations such as that all registrants pose a current danger to society and are very likely to re-offend. “Professor Carpenter has provided an extremely valuable tool to the registrant community in the research she has conducted that…
Read MoreResearch paper: America Has Been Going About Stopping Child Sex Abuse The Wrong Way
Source: time.com 2/15/23 By Elizabeth Letourneau and Luke Malone Letourneau is director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Malone is an award-winning journalist who reports on child sexual abuse and victimization. They are co-writing a book about child sexual abuse prevention and the history of U.S. sex crime laws for Basic Books Most of us would say that you can‘t put a price tag on keeping kids safe from sexual violence. Yet we do. And the…
Read MoreTake part in this survey of formerly incarcerated folks about your re-entry experiences with religious communities
Source: University of Delaware Dr Chrysanthi Leon and Maggie Buckridge are interviewing formerly incarcerated folks about their re-entry experiences with religious communities. They are especially interested in learning about what religious communities provide for people on the sex offender registry. In addition to speaking with those who found a church or another place of worship to join, they are also interviewing people who wanted to join a place of worship but did not because of various barriers. The purpose of this study is to examine what re-entry practices for religious…
Read MoreCA: Friends Outside in Los Angeles county will pay registrants for an employment research project
Friends Outside in Los Angeles county will pay registrants for an employment research project (Deadline 12/31/22) ELIGIBILITY: 1. Must be a registrant 2. Must have received services from an America’s Job Center of California within the last 3 years 3. Must participate in an anonymous and confidential interview COMPENSATION PROVIDED CONTACT: RegistrantStudy@gmail.com (818) 975-0630 (ask for Marco) Program is available: September 9, 2022 – December 31, 2022 Please post this downloadable PDF of our flyer wherever appropriate: Registrant Study Flyer
Read MoreLGBTQ People on Sex Offender Registries in the US (Paper)
Source: UCLA in escholarship.org 5/2022 The United States has the world’s largest prison population. Overall, mass incarceration disproportionately impacts people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ people are at increased risk for being targeted for sex crimes, as historical prejudice and stigma have depicted LGBTQ people—especially gay/bisexual men—as sexual predators. Despite this, little is known about LGBTQ people on sex offender registries in the United States. In this project, we surveyed people who are required to register on sex offender registries (SOR). Read and download the…
Read MoreSurvey volunteer alert to all registrants and family: Please tell us about your experience on the public registry
9/27/22 NOTE: THIS SURVEY HAS COMPLETED. NO MORE VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED. THANK YOU. Dr. Emily Horowitz, author of “Protecting Our Kids? How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us” (Praeger, 2015) and Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice at St. Francis College, is seeking to interview those listed on the public registry about their experience for a forthcoming book project. The interviews will be conducted by phone and all published work will keep the identity of those interviewed anonymous and confidential. If you are a registrant or family member…
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