Source: wbrc.com 10/4/23 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – A grieving dad is hoping the story of his son’s loss and traumatic last few hours can be a warning to us as parents of teens, and prevent another tragedy like the one his family is now enduring. “Coming up on that one-year anniversary, it’s another day, that’s all it is, another day, but that day will be difficult, it will be hard,” says Brian Montgomery, a father whose life changed completely, and with no warning, one year ago. “It was a normal…
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UK: Behind the Crime: The Silent Suffering of a Sex Offender’s Family
Source: bnn.network 12/4/23 On a day that was meant to usher in a joyous celebration, a mother named Sarah found her world crumbling. Her husband, the father of her children, was arrested in a police raid on charges of involvement in child sexual abuse material. The chilling discovery of hundreds of illegal images, including Category A content, the most egregious forms of child pornography, was made on her husband’s computer. This event, occurring a day before her son’s birthday, left an indelible imprint on Sarah’s life and her family’s future.…
Read MoreIA: Prisoner advocates feel more hopeless after sex offense civil commitment presentation
Source: newtondailynews.com 12/5/23 Families and advocates of incarcerated individuals at Newton Correctional Facility had been waiting months for the Iowa Board of Corrections to provide some semblance of an answer to their questions regarding the state’s civil commitment program. It was finally put on the agenda. Open for all to see. Although the department of corrections and its board members acknowledged their concerns, advocates left the meeting last month feeling hopeless. Despite a presentation about the sex offender civil commitment referral process from its program manager, Ken Pirc, those in…
Read MoreOH: LGBTQ+ advocates worried about vague language in Ohio’s new ‘grooming’ bill
Source: ohiocapitaljournal.com 12/4/23 A new bill in the Ohio House aiming to punish sexual grooming may have vague enough language that it harms LGBTQ+ youth, some advocates worry. Community is essential for many LGBTQ+ teens. Kaleidoscope Youth Center (KYC) aims to provide that by holding educational programming and discussion groups. “They’re looking for those mentorship-type relationships that all of us need,” said Erin Upchurch, KYC executive director. But now, Upchurch fears a new bill in the Ohio House may target her organization. “The whole idea of it being so vague —…
Read MoreUK: ‘I can’t defend what he did’: Why I stayed with my child sex offender husband
Source: news.sky.com 12/4/23 Sarah, not her real name, was shocked when her husband was arrested and later convicted of viewing hundreds of illegal child abuse images. After agonising over her future, she decided to stay with him. Watch the video
Read MoreThe Disturbing True Story Behind the Movie “May December”
Source: menshealth.com 12/3/23 Todd Haynes’ new film May December stars Julianne Moore and Charles Melton as a married couple with a complicated history (to say the least), and Natalie Portman as an actress who inserts themselves into their lives while preparing to perform in a movie about the beginning of their relationship. The detail which makes this marriage so unusual, and which drives much of the deeply unsettling dynamics throughout the film, is the fact that Moore’s character Gracie met her now-husband, Joe, when she was 36 and he was…
Read MoreFL: V.M. Ybor residents get little help with sex offender problem
Source: wfla.com 12/1/23 TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The residents of V.M. Ybor have been coming to Tampa City Council for years to ask that something be done about a high concentration of convicted sex offenders living in their neighborhood. On Thursday, the city council held a workshop to talk about the issue, but the results were not what residents were hoping for. “Would that make any of you feel safe having 72 of these harmful individuals living within a quarter mile of your house?” V.M. Ybor resident Kelly Grimsdale asked…
Read MoreTN: U.S. Dept. of Justice says Tennessee HIV law discriminates
Source: wlns.com 12/1/23 LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The U.S. Department of Justice has notified the state of Tennessee it has determined the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by enforcing a law targeting sex workers living with HIV. A 1991 Tennessee law considers sex workers who are HIV-positive to be violent sex offenders, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. “Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law is outdated, has no basis in science, discourages testing and further marginalizes people living with HIV,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the…
Read MoreME: Orrington residents to choose if they want to limit where sex offenders live
Source: bangordailynews.com 12/1/23 Orrington residents will choose if they want to enact an ordinance that prohibits people on the sex offender registry from living within 750 feet of schools and churches About 35 residents, the board of selectmen, Town Manager Chris Backman and town attorney Andrew Hamilton gathered at the Center Drive School on Thursday to discuss which of three ordinances voters should choose if they decide to vote for the restriction of where registered sex offenders can live. A special town referendum is scheduled for Dec. 11. The public…
Read MoreGeneral Comments Dec 2023
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of Dec 2023. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
Read MoreCanada: Police link suicide of 12-year-old Prince George, B.C., boy to online sexual extortion
Source: cbc.ca 11/27/23 Police in Prince George, B.C., are warning about the dangers of sexual extortion after the suicide of a 12-year-old boy in their community. The preteen took his own life on Oct. 12 and investigators have since determined his actions were in response to online sextortion, according to an RCMP news release. Police are still working to identify a suspect. “We are calling for parents and caregivers to be honest with their youth about the dangers of online activity, especially if they are engaging in chats with people they don’t…
Read MoreNJ: Governor, in veto, recommends barring sex offenders from mental health diversion programs
Source: newjerseymonitor.com 11/29/23 Gov. Phil Murphy this week conditionally vetoed a bill that would expand an intervention program to divert some nonviolent criminal defendants to mental health programs, with Murphy recommending lawmakers bar people arrested for sex offenses subject to Megan’s Law. Lawmakers narrowly passed the bill in June along party lines, with Republicans warning it would push violent offenders onto the street. Murphy issued a statement on Monday supporting the spirit of the bill, saying: “Mental health issues should not be unnecessarily criminalized.” “This bill ensures that individuals whose criminal behaviors…
Read MoreTN: Class action lawsuit challenges retroactive placement on Tennessee’s sex offender registry
Source: tennessean.com 11/29/23 Eight people on Tennessee’s legally troubled sex offender registry filed a federal class action lawsuit last week asking that thousands of people with decades-old convictions be removed from the registry. The eight plaintiffs, who are using pseudonyms in the lawsuit, all have convictions from before or shortly after 2004, when the state’s current sex offender registry law, the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration, Verification, and Tracking Act, was passed. They are seeking class status for people on Tennessee’s sex offender registry whose convictions predate the law…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Bullies Come in All Sizes
Bullies come in all sizes. There are schoolyard bullies who steal children’s lunch money. There are gang members who steal people’s cars. And there are terrorists who hijack airplanes. What these bullies have in common is that they threaten and intimidate others. And when their threats and intimidation don’t work, they sometimes resort to violence. In the registrant community, bullies abound. Sometimes they come in the form of a parole officer who threatens to return a registrant to prison if he does not do what they are told to do. …
Read MoreSD: Advocates looking to add ‘stealthing’ to sexual assault laws
Source: dakotanewsnow.com 11/27/23 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Community advocates and now state legislators are looking to tackle a growing issue nationwide and in South Dakota this upcoming session in Pierre. That’s the growing trend of sex stealthing. It can already be tough for victims of sexual assault to speak up about their experience, or even report it in the first place. That’s the situation that Georgilee Flynn found herself in. “This is something that is near and dear to me, because I was a victim of stealthing,“…
Read MoreIL: Illinois Supreme Court Weighs Constitutionality of Lifetime Restrictions on Child Sex Offenders
Source: news.wttw.com 11/15/23 SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court is weighing whether it is constitutional to impose lifetime restrictions on where a person can live after they’ve been convicted of a sex crime involving a minor. “It’s been 21 years – almost 21 years since my conviction,” Martin Kopf told the court’s seven justices on Wednesday. “I have been totally offense-free. Not even a moving violation. But yet, they still say that I’m dangerous.” … In court challenges, Kopf has represented himself while arguing, among other things, that the law…
Read MoreMO: Registrants Refused Shelter from Sub-Zero Weather by Half-Empty Salvation Army of Jefferson City
Source: newstribune.com 11/27/23 Nine years into offering an overnight shelter, the Salvation Army of Jefferson City is ready whenever winter weather strikes. “It’s something we’re kind of accustomed to now,” Center of Hope director Brian Vogeler said. Sunday marked the end of the first full week the Salvation Army’s Center of Hope offered cold cots, Vogeler said. About seven people utilized them each night, filling about half the shelter’s capacity. … People on the sex offenders’ list cannot use the cots. Read the full article
Read MorePedophile panic and coming political violence. What the Paul Pelosi case revealed
Source: LA Times on Yahoo.com 11/24/23 A unicorn costume, a hammer and a belief that pedophiles are using public schools to destroy democracy: The trial of David DePape for attacking Paul Pelosi was strange and disturbing. But take away the costume and the hammer, and the reasoning for DePape’s vicious attack is alarmingly mainstream — pedophile panic. By that, I mean the outrageous effort not just by hate-mongering conspiracy theorists to frame LGBTQ+ individuals as deviant and dangerous, lumping them in with criminals who sexually abuse children. But also a…
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