Tag: Washington

Once a sex offender always a sex offender — even beyond death?

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Who was Benjamin Gran? Registered sex offender sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release after he was caught with a massive amount of child pornography; Autistic young man caught in a “witch hunt” after being duped by an unrepentant pedophile; Third fatality in the deadly Amtrak derailment; Member of the Special Olympics team; Member of a pedophile group online; Someone who paid his debt to society and was on the right path; Convicted sex offender found in possession of child porn while working in IT at a college; Huge train…

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WA: ‘He’d pulled it together’ – Mom on son killed in Amtrak crash

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____ ____ was a train enthusiast, a beloved son and an autism success story. He was also a registered sex offender, having served nearly two years in federal prison for child pornography crimes. On Wednesday, the world learned that he among the three men killed in the derailment of the Amtrak Cascades that crashed into Interstate 5 during an inaugural run. Much was made at SeattlePI and elsewhere of ____ ‘s criminal history in the hours after the 40-year-old’s identity was released. Speaking by phone Wednesday evening, though, ____’s mother…

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WA: Water at sex offender center violates health standards, state records show

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Water at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island has repeatedly exceeded standards for various chlorine-related chemicals and been cited for violations dating back to 2006, according to an Associated Press review of state Department of Health records. Full Article Related APNewsBreak: Sex offenders blame island’s water for deaths

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WA: Seattle set to prevent landlords from considering applicants’ criminal records

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[The Seattle Times] Seattle set to prevent landlords from considering applicants’ criminal records. Seattle landlords would be almost completely prohibited from screening prospective tenants based on their criminal histories, under a proposed ordinance approved by a City Council committee Tuesday. The only people who could be denied housing based on their criminal histories would be those listed on sex-offender registries because of adult convictions. And landlords denying housing to such sex offenders would still need to state a legitimate business reason for doing so. Read more    

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WA: He spent 9 years on McNeil Island without his day in court

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____ had spent more than a year in the Yakima County Jail when he filed an Alford plea — not admitting the crime but conceding he likely would be convicted — on a second-degree attempted kidnapping charge. “I was told that I was going to be released the day I was processed,” he said. Instead, he spent the next nine years at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island, without ever having a civil commitment trial or being convicted of a violent sexual offense. Full Article

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WA: State corrections agency right to retire the word ‘offender’ (Editorial)

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Words matter because the meaning that we give words matters even more. This is especially true of the words we use to describe each other, which is why it’s useful to have a discussion about the words we use to refer to those who have committed crimes, those who are currently incarcerated or are otherwise serving their sentences and those who have rejoined society at large. And it’s why a recent decision by the state Department of Corrections to phase-out the use of the term “offender” in written policies and daily…

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WA: Former Mesa mayor posts 21,000 sex offender names after long legal battle

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This fall, Donna Zink posted a spreadsheet with the names of 21,000 registered sex offenders in Washington, two-thirds of whom had not been previously identified on public registries. Zink spent three years battling in court to release the information under Washington’s Public Records Act, during which she was frequently vilified as a would-be vigilante. To date, the Mesa-based public records advocate has received just one phone call, and law enforcement sources say they don’t know of any incidents stemming from convicted offenders whose information was previously treated as confidential. Full…

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WA: State Dept. of Corrections finds the term ‘offender’ offensive

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OLYMPIA —The state Department of Corrections plans to stop referring to the men and women serving time behind bars as “offenders.” Acting Corrections Secretary Dick Morgan told agency employees in a memo Tuesday the word will be replaced in policies and programs with terms such as “individuals,” “students” or “patients” depending on the circumstances. … The term won’t disappear completely as registered sex offenders will still be identified in that manner. “That won’t change. They will be known as a registered sex offender,” Barclay said. “That is codified in law.”…

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Washington enacts Certificate of Restoration of Opportunity

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Washington State courts are now authorized to grant certain individuals a Certificate of Restoration of Opportunity (CROP), which prohibits many state licensing entities from disqualifying the holder solely based on his or her criminal history.  A CROP also protects employers and housing providers from liability for negligent hiring and renting.  The new certificate authority was created by HB 1533, which was signed by Governor Jay Inslee on March 31 and took effect last month. In light of the trend toward giving courts responsibility for restoring legal rights and certifying rehabilitation, we took…

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WA: Time to revisit sex offender registration act

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We see a recent state Supreme Court ruling on the public release of registered sex offenders as victory and a defeat. We are adamant proponents for access to public records and champion the critical role of that information to make sure our government and public agencies are being fair and just. When the state Supreme Court ruled that Donna Zink was entitled to access to information about thousands of low-level sex offenders, it overturned rulings of lower courts preventing the release of that data. Full Editorial Related WA: Supreme Court – Records…

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WA: Supreme Court – Records of low-level sex offenders are public

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OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s Supreme Court says information about low-level sex offenders can be released under the state Public Records Act. The 7-1 decision Thursday overturns a King County Superior Court holding that found the records were not subject to disclosure. The ruling came in a case involving Donna Zink, a Franklin County woman who requested a copy of the Washington State Patrol’s sex-offender database. Full Article Opinion

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WA: Porn conviction tossed over military’s surveillance role

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____ ____, who lives near Seattle, was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2012 for possessing and distributing child pornography that police said they found on his computer. On Friday, a federal appeals court overturned his convictions because of the unlikely — and illegal — source of the investigation. The U.S. Navy. To be specific, an agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Georgia who had a high-powered software program and used it in 2010 to search computers throughout the state of Washington for evidence of child…

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WA: Sex offender scandal prompts fair to require background checks

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PUYALLUP, Wash. — In the wake of news that several sex offenders had been employed at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, fair officials decided to make some changes this year. They’re going to conduct background checks for all employees of the company that handles the carnival rides and games.  That’s great news to local parents at the fair. “That’s outstanding,” said fairgoer Lisa Pryne. “That’s something you worry about. I have a GPS/Amber Alert tracking app on my phone and it alerts me and on the car ride here…

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