I applaud the members of the Lewiston City Council for tabling their decision on a sex offender restriction zone to give the matter more thought. This is the kind of issue for somebody who has no stake in the matter that seems obvious. Disallowing sex offenders to live within 750 feet of a school or daycare appears, on the surface, to be a smart move but, upon closer inspection, has no basis in history or science. Full Article
Read MoreTag: Maine
ME: 10 years after sex offender murders, questions linger about Maine’s registry
One morning in March, Bangor Police Detective Jeremy Brock and Officer Dustin Dow made their rounds. Two of their stops included the Ranger Inn on outer Hammond Street and a boarding house on Union Street. Each week, Brock usually spends a day on such visits, checking that the 120 or so registered sex offenders in Bangor are living where they have said they’re living. … Little has changed in the registry despite the events of 10 years ago, when two Maine men listed on the registry were murdered by someone…
Read MoreME: This sex assault victim says the offender registry listing is more important to her than prison time
For Tina Dionne, it’s more important for the man who sexually assaulted her as a child to register as a sex offender than serve time in prison. Full Article
Read MoreME: After attacks on Bowdoin students, nearby church shuts out sex offender group
A church next to the Bowdoin College campus in Brunswick has shut down a support group for convicted sex offenders, after college officials expressed concerns. Last week, Bowdoin’s director of security, Randy Nichols, said in an email to Bowdoin’s students and staff that he had only recently learned about the group, which had been meeting every Tuesday evening for two years at the First Parish Church, on the corner of Maine Street and Bath Road. Nichols said the presence of a group of sex offenders so close to campus was…
Read MoreOUR OPINION: Restricting where sex offenders can live will not stop abuse
Maine – It’s hard to fault the Biddeford City Council for wanting to do something, anything, to help assuage the fears and frustrations related to the sexual abuse allegations that have come to light in recent months. The stories of abuse and the subsequent shame, anger and depression are enough to make your heart ache and blood boil, and to compel you to do whatever you can to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Restricting where child sex offenders can live, as Biddeford councilors did on Tuesday, is the most…
Read MoreME: Maine’s highest court finds decision in sex offender case flawed
Justices tell a lower court to look again at a man’s challenge to being placed on the list retroactively in the wake of new legislation. A Maine judge must give further consideration to whether a man’s rights were violated by legislative action requiring him to be placed on the state sex offender registry retroactively, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday. Full Article
Read MoreME: Bill prohibiting sex offender living restrictions raises worry
CONCORD — A bill prohibiting residency restrictions for registered sex offenders and offenders against children which was passed by the House of Representatives earlier this month is causing concern among some legislators, who say the bill would strip communities of their ability to protect children. HB 1237 is based upon two court decisions where judges found local ordinances restricting residency for offenders to be unconstitutional. One of the cases cited came out of Dover District Court. In August of 2009, Dover’s ordinance that prohibited registered sex offenders from living within…
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