“Beware of men in white vans traveling the country, abducting young women and children, using them for human sex trafficking or selling them for body parts.” According to a recent CNN report November saw an upswing in this unsubstantiated RUMOR, a rumor that went viral on Facebook and Instagram, a rumor that even had the Mayor of Baltimore warning his city to BEWARE of men in white vans abducting and selling women and children for sex and body parts. Unfounded RUMORS. This is how fear-mongering starts. This is what drives…
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Kat’s blog: The Flaw in Meghan’s Law
Our hearts go out to the Pennsylvania father who happened to be a registrant and who missed the birth of his third child for no reason other than the fact that he was a registrant. We can all put ourselves in this guy’s shoes and imagine the sense of devastation and embarrassment he must have felt when told he couldn’t attend the birth of his child and then to be escorted out of the hospital by security when he hadn’t done anything. As I try to make some sense out…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Registrants Left Out in the Cold, Again
Great News! Fremont, Ohio in Sandusky County has a homeless shelter. A homeless shelter that denies access to registrants, but a homeless shelter none the less. I can’t help but wonder what the “do-gooders” of this town were thinking when they set up what is basically an “emergency shelter” and then decided to be prejudiced against who they will take in. According to the local law enforcement of Fremont, there are approximately 6-8 homeless each night in the town. Coincidently, the new shelter can hold 8 people. But if one…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Future Risk
We hear a lot of talk about the “unfairness” of the registry, how everyone on it is “treated the same” no matter what their offense. Lumping all registrants under the “sex offender” label is wrong, especially when there’s so many offenses under the umbrella, high risk, low risk and even no risk offenses that may be at opposite ends of the spectrum. Released from incarceration, many registrants are mandated to attend one-size-fits-all “sex offender” treatment groups. There they are continuously reminded of their “sex offender” label and the need for…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Will Vagueness Take Down the Registry?
It’s well known, nothing is clear cut when it comes to the registry. The rules and regulations may vary slightly from state to state, but the vagueness with which these regulations were conceived and are enforced, is the same all over. Take Halloween for instance. In my neck of the woods, every year registrants were given letters by their P.O.’s or sent letters from the registry office outlining the do’s and don’ts of Halloween. Some years there were curfews and restrictions on outside Fall Decorations. There were warnings to keep…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Prisoners Fighting California Fires
The California fires were raging across the CNN newscast, firefighters in yellow and orange turnout coats braving the hellish lines of fires that roared up and down hillsides, valleys and canyons. But wait, according to Bill Weir, reporter for CNN, those firefighters in the orange coats aren’t really firefighters, they’re prisoners from jails or prisons that have volunteered and been specifically trained to assist in fighting these kinds of catastrophic fires. You would think this was a good thing right, prisoners stepping up, willing to help out the state in…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: The “Public List” That Remains Private
In 1963 the Supreme Court/ Brady v. Maryland, ruled that prosecutors must inform those accused of a crime about any evidence that might help their defense at trial and that includes sharing the information on something known as the “Brady List.” Counties across the country are, by law, required to keep a detailed list of police officers who have committed crimes, who have lied on the job or whose honesty is deemed “questionable”. We’re not talking about officers who have been fired either, these are officers that are still on…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Are We Collateral Damage?
Collateral Damage: Injury inflicted on someone other than an intended target. Specifically, civilian casualties of a military operation. The earliest known use of the term was in1947. Until I had a family member on the registry, I’d never been referred to as “collateral damage”, then all of a sudden, that’s what I was informed I had become. When I was a newbie to this registry nation, some of the more senior advocates suggested that family and friends of registrants are considered “collateral damage.” “We’re not ON the registry, but we…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Time to Dispel the Halloween Myth
It’s that time again, Halloween, pumpkins, trick or treaters, candy, Stranger Danger news coverage and the registry police. It’s hard to imagine that between law enforcement and the news media, what was once an enjoyable festive holiday for young and old alike has by all accounts been turned into a fictitious, stranger-danger, panic event of epic proportions for registrants. All these years the public’s been led to believe that children are at an increased danger at Halloween because of registrants. (Somehow the fact that the highest risk to children at…
Read MoreKat’s blog: Hope
When I read the most recent “Janice’s Journal: The Big Picture” piece, it reminded me why so many of us have sought out websites like ACSOL, WAR, NARSOL and other advocacy group sites. Each of us was looking for HOPE. Hope that there were others like us somewhere out there that understood what we were going through. Hope that someone had answers, information or solutions to the mountain of questions and concerns we had. Hope that someone somewhere was trying to do something to change things. Hope that there was…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: TN Man Avoids Registry for Second Time
A Tennessee man accused of sexual offenses for the second time, has once again avoided the registry. In 2004, ______ was accused of allegedly molesting a 15 yr. old that had been hired to babysit his children. ______ denied molesting the girl but stated he pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless aggravated assault and a misdemeanor, to spare his family (he is the father of 3) and because his attorney at that time had advised him it was in his best interest. He was sentenced to 3 yrs. probation…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Another Case Against Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey is back in the news. Awhile back I wrote about sexual abuse allegations against him being dropped, he had been accused of groping a busboy at a Nantucket restaurant in 2016. The ensuing civil suit and criminal charges were dropped after the accuser pleaded the 5th Amendment during an evidentiary hearing. It was found that the accuser’s mother had altered text messages on his phone prior to the phone being turned over to police. Now, Spacey is back in the news after an anonymous massage therapist who had…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: A Pariah in Hollywood
There was an interesting occurrence in Hollywood this week. Actor Scarlett Johansson, stood up for actor/director Woody Allen, who has been accused of sexual abuse and said simply “I Believe Him.” Woody Allen has become somewhat of a pariah in Hollywood ever since his now grown adopted daughter Dylan Farrow accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a child. Allen has consistently maintained his innocence and even after an investigation, has never been criminally charged with any sexual abuse. And yet, many actors including Colin Firth, Freida Pinto,…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: “THAT” Can Happen To You
We’ve all sometimes wondered, how did THAT happen? How did I or my family member or my friend become tangled up in this whole “sex offender”, registry nightmare? The short answer is simple, S—t Happens. The longer answer is more complex. But the word that I often hear people use when talking about “sex offenders” sex offenses and the registry is “THAT”. A well-meaning friend whose husband is an attorney mentioned that her husband would never handle cases like” THAT”, meaning “sex offense cases”. When discussing a loved one’s conviction…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: New Illinois Law Hopes to Prevent Suicides
Two years ago, Corey Walgren, a 16 yr. old high school student in Naperville, Illinois, jumped off the roof of a municipal parking garage after being questioned by police on his school campus. Corey had been interrogated by a police officer about an alleged sex tape, accused of possessing child pornography, a felony which can lead to placement on the state’s sex offender registry. Records later showed that there were in fact no illegal images on Corey’s phone. Corey had been interviewed, alone, by police at his school. His parents…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Shaming Accomplishes Nothing
In the past month we’ve read articles about shame, Florida Shaming/Could Your Real Estate Agent be a Sex Offender, Nigeria: NAPTIP Launches SO Registry to Name & Shame Rapists, Arkansas: the shaming of registrants by barring them from participating in Halloween activities. Shame: A painful feeling that’s a mix of regret, self-hate and dishonor, according to the dictionary. Shame, it’s a powerful tool used against registrants to make certain that they feel continued guilt and humiliation for their past offenses. Shame, can be an ongoing cruel punishment which often seems…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: We Will Not Be Silenced Anymore
“Until there is 50-50 representation, we should make no decisions.” “If we are going to make these decisions we should have equal representation at the table”. Both of these comments were made by Senator Lauren Book during a recent “Facing South Florida” interview, the topic was women’s rights and abortion rights. It appears that Ms. Book only agrees with “50-50 and equal representation at the table” when it comes to certain issues, certainly not those including the registry and sex offenses. So it truly was a triumph when the 4th…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Law Enforcement Denies Registrants Full Access to AA Meetings
You’re a registrant on parole with an alcohol/substance abuse problem. You want to help yourself by attending AA, NA or some other supportive type group meetings. Your PO thinks it’s a fine idea, however, you may be prevented from fully participating in the AA program and it’s not AA who’s preventing it, it may be your PO. It’s not only in real estate where “location” is everything. Due to the endless boundary lines or buffer zones that registrants must navigate, wanting to attend an AA meeting can become a logistical…
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