Tide turns against U.S. residency restrictions on sex offenders
Nearly two decades have passed since Josh Gravens, then 12 years old, was playing with his 8-year-old sister and touched her body in an inappropriate way, landing himself on a…
Campaign: Keep CCA out of Dallas
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is trying to move into Dallas. Let's say no! Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, makes a huge profit off of locking up people and…
People 2015: Josh Gravens, Advocate for Outcasts
In this week's Dallas Observer we profile 20 of the metro area's most interesting characters, with new portraits of each from local photographer Can Turkyilmaz. As a rule, convicted sex…
In defense of Josh Duggar’s parents (Opinion)
When I learned that, more than a decade ago, reality-TV star Josh Duggar avoided jail after his parents dealt with molestation charges via church and family contacts, it made me…
TX: North Dallas Mom Invites Sex Offenders To Tea
DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) – Sex offenders may be the last people you’d invite into your home. However, a North Dallas woman hosted a sex offender tea for three men…
Sex offenders registry may put man back in prison for offence committed as child
Josh Gravens is trying to figure out how he’s going to tell his five children that he might be going to prison for a very long time. Gravens, 28, is…
Man who went to prison as a juvenile sex offender: Lena Dunham is lucky
As so many have done recently, Josh Gravens wrote an open letter to Lena Dunham. It read, “Many children around the country did the same thing you did.” But this…
Tyrant’s Foe: Josh Gravens Fights Criminal Justice Policies that Hurt Children
When I met Josh Gravens, he was 25 years old, unemployed and living with his older sister in Dallas. He’d most recently worked at a stand that sold Christmas trees…
Op-Ed: Harsher Sex Offender Restrictions Won’t Make Anyone Safer
Steve Blow and Josh Gravens are two of my new heroes. I met them both when I went to Dallas three weeks ago to speak at the Reform Sex Offender…
TX: Research won’t support Dallas proposal that amounts to housing ban for sex offenders
In saner times, what Josh Gravens did would be called “playing doctor” or “adolescent curiosity.” General embarrassment and a stern talking-to would have followed. And that would have been the…
I Saw a Man Get Arrested For a Sex Crime Because He Made a Scheduling Error
When I agreed to keynote the Reform Sex Offender Laws conference this week in Dallas, Texas, I didn't expect it to hit quite so close to home. But before I…
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,…
TX: Life On the List
A single mistake when he was 12 landed Josh Gravens on Texas’ sex offender list. He’s been paying for it ever since. When Josh Gravens was 12 years old, he…