Saturday, January 30, 2016

Looking for Plaintiffs – International Megan’s Law Challenge


Posted by on January 30, 2016 in Articles

Dear Leaders in Sex Offender Policy:

If you're getting this message it's because I believe you can help me.  A number of lawyers are working with me to lay the foundations for a legal challenge to International Megan's Law if it is signed into law.  We expect H.R. 515 to pass on a suspension vote in the House this Monday and be sent to President Obama's desk.

We're looking for ideal plaintiffs and we need your help to find people who meet one of these criteria:
  1. Does not have a passport, but wants one
  2. Has a passport about to expire
  3. Travels internationally a number of times per year (especially for work)
  4. Has been harassed while traveling in or out of the US based on registration status
If you think you fit any of these four categories, please write to me with the following information:
  1. Name
  2. Age
  3. Age at time of offense
  4. Offense(s)
  5. Which of the four (4) categories you fit into
  6. Would you be willing to be a name plaintiff to challenge this law?
  7. State you live in
All responses will be treated as confidential by the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs and Human Rights Defense Center.

Time is of the essence.  Please respond soon and share this with your networks.

Warmly yours,
Galen Baughman
Soros Justice Fellow
Human Rights Defense Center
11 Dupont Circle, NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 681-8121
"Are We All Sex Offenders?" | TEDx Talk
gbaughman@humanrightsdefensecenter.org

Teachers committing sex offenses. Should more focus be placed on prevention? - Florida Action Committee

Teachers committing sex offenses. Should more focus be placed on prevention? - Florida Action Committee

Articles of Interest: Super Bowl Sex Trafficking/ Sex Offenders IDs Reguired, WFTV9 Orlando



San Jose Inside (blog)
The Myth of Super Bowl Sex Trafficking Obscures Real Issues .... registered the convicted as sex offenders and funnelled any funds received from ...


WFTV Orlando
However, many sex offenders are transients, living in camps and fields, ... Motor Vehicles issues letters to sex offenders if they cannot obtain an ID.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Articles of Interest


Sex offenders slip through the cracks in Parker County 
WFAA

Police said convicted sex offender Robert Harris lured two Abilene teens to ... He did say it appears the issues with failing to update the sex offender ...


Registry to be set up for child sex offenders 
 Free Malaysia Today

A list of child sex offenders will be set up for employers to cross check ... to include children in decision-making in issues that affect them,” he said.



 
By Lenore Skenazy
 
….. Southwestern Law School Professor Catherine L.Carpenter puts it bluntly in her new research paper, Throwaway Children: The Tragic Cons...

CITY COUNCIL: Sex offender discussion to continue  
San Angelo Standard Times

Farmer asked for sexual offender issues to be included on the agenda for discussion and wanted the council to consider creating a city ordinance ...


Group says 350 sex offenders in city  
Victorville Daily Press
This includes non-sex offenders with issues pertaining to domestic violence, anger management, parenting and more. The agency also has the only ...

SOSEN: Not Just One Victim? Nothing is ever black and white!

"....I would like to think that  most countries have become more civilized in their dealing with people who are involved in crimes . But then we only have to look as far as the S.O. Registry to see how inhumane and cruel a legislative and judicial system can truly be or how uncivilized a supposedly religious culture truly is.

Those who support any type of registry and all the requirements added to registrants, need to ask themselves this one question. “What if I or my loved one was added to that registry, would I think that it was unjust?”..."

Read more....

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The yellow star, the scarlet letter and ‘International Megan’s Law’

WashingtonPost.com | Jan. 6. 2016

The yellow star, the scarlet letter and ‘International Megan’s Law’

By David Post

Excerpt:  The statute requires the secretary of state to affix a “unique identifier” on all passports issued to “covered sex offenders” — a “visual designation affixed to a conspicuous location on the passport indicating that the individual is a covered sex offender.” A “covered sex offender” is anyone previously convicted, at any point in his/her life, for a sex offense involving a minor.

It is, as far as I can determine, the first time in U.S. history that any such special designation will appear on the passports of any U.S. citizens, and I think it should send at least a small chill down all of our spines.

MORE: 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

New York Post | Jan. 6, 2016

Labeling sex offenders’ passports is overkill

By Lenore Skenazy

Excerpt:  And now, if the US House of Representatives approves an amended bill that the Senate passed just before Christmas, those citizens will have the words “Sex Offender” branded on their passport.  The only people our government intends to brand are the people who committed a sex crime, did their time and are now free. They’re American citizens like the rest of us ... except for the scarlet “SO.”

MORE:
http://nypost.com/2016/01/06/labeling-sex-offenders-passports-is-overkill/

TN: Durham's issues highlight attitudes toward sex crimes


The Tennessean
Durham's issues highlight attitudes toward sex crimes
Senator Ramsey's concerns about Durham's letter of support, to a judge, for a convicted sex offender, were appropriate and informed. Unfortunately ..

ITALY: Treat Surrogate Parents as Sex Offenders/ TX: Lack of City Ordinance = More Sex Offenders




Treat surrogate parents as sex offenders, says Italian minister ... Italy has not given same-sex couples rights or protection on issues such as ..

San Angelo LIVE!

The perception from that incident is that the city of San Angelo has issues with sex offenders patrolling its schools, parks and other areas where kids ...

Fl and US: Bills of Concern

ANOTHER New SO Bill Filed HB 1333 (companion to SB 1662)

January 11, 2016
HB 1333 was filed this morning. It is the companion bill to Senate Bill 1662 titled "Sexual Offenders" and the summary is "Revises sexual predator & offender criteria;...
Read More »

UPDATE: HB 515 – International Megan’s Law

January 11, 2016
Here is the update from Paul R., head of Registrant TAG (www.registranttag.org): Here is what we achieved last week. We ultimately met with six house legislative aides, mostly...
Read More »

FL: What do you want Florida lawmakers to focus on this legislative session?

By Chabeli Herrera | Dec. 14, 2015 

The Florida Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 12 and runs through March. WLRN, South Florida's NPR station, wants to hear from locals about what issues are important to them and what they'd like the Legislature to take on, pass, debate or get rid of this upcoming session. 

What do you want Florida lawmakers to focus on this legislative session?

Monday, January 11, 2016

Florida: Child abuse takes center stage at Ocala Civic Theatre

"Pulitzer-winning play "How I Learned to Drive" reflects reality for local victims of child sexual abuse"

read more

 

 

Searchable Nationwide Registry of Firearms Owners??


Do you know the gun owners in your circle?

read more

"...and so, as President Barack Obama announced plans this week to tighten background checks for gun buyers and increase gun tracking and research, I thought, that's all well and good, but how about adding something immediately useful: a gun owner registry available to the public online — something like those for sex offenders. I'm not equating gun owners with predatory perverts, but the model is helpful here; I want a searchable database I can consult to find out whether my kid can have a play date at your house."

http://www.wsj.com/articles/town-hall-surprise-1452279788
"Tricia Bishop of the Baltimore Sun has written one of the worst op-eds of all time. She wants the government to establish a publicly searchable nationwide registry of firearms owners, because guns frighten her and she wants to be able to “find out whether my kid can have a play date at your house.”

"She doesn’t help her case by describing her proposed database as being “something like those for sex offenders,” a comparison she immediately disclaims: “I’m not equating gun owners with predatory perverts.” But that’s not even the worst part." 

 

Friday, January 8, 2016

Please post comments on stories reporting on Sex Offender Clusters in Tampa - Florida Action Committee

Please post comments on stories reporting on Sex Offender Clusters in Tampa - Florida Action Committee


Talking points for comments:
 
-        This “cluster” is a byproduct of Sex Offender Residency Restrictions (SORRs)
-        SORRS
displace law abiding registered citizens from their communities and
separate them from their families, which destabilize them.
o   Housing instability is a trigger for re-offense.
-        SORRs have been repeatedly proven ineffective in numerous studies.
-        This “cluster” has existed for years and apparently there was no remarkable change in crime rates.
-        In
fact, a recent study demonstrated that sexual offense rates are LOWER
in areas with higher concentrations of registered citizens (see: http://floridaactioncommittee.org/fewer-sex-offenses-reported-in-neighborhoods-with-more-registered-sex-offenders/)
-        If they want this problem fixed; repeal the ineffective SORRs.

Florida Bill HB 1179 with additional mandatory term of incarceration for not paying fees



HB 1179 - Relating to Criminal Offenders - 2016

Sponsor(s) by Raulerson


Summary

General Criminal Offenders: Provides additional mandatory term of incarceration for specified offenses committed by sexual offenders & predators; authorizes sheriffs to assess fees for registering & reregistering specified types of offenders subject to registration requirements; specifies maximum fees; provides requirements for use of fees; provides for relocation of registrants; provides enhanced criminal penalties for repeat violations of provisions prohibiting forcing another into prostitution; requires persons convicted of specified prostitution related offenses to register as sexual offenders; prohibits failure to pay required fees; provides additional conditions for sex offender probation & community control for certain offenders & controllees who commit qualifying offenses after specified date; provides that such conditions do not need to be pronounced orally at time of sentencing; provides that such conditions may be applied to other relevant offenders; requires supervision by DOC officers who have specified training & limited caseloads.


Effective Date: October 1, 2016


One To See Change Past Posts

One to See Change Blog List

"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect."
~Adlia Stevenson U.S. Vice President (1893–1897) and Congressman (1879–1881)

On a Personal Note

Thanks for the opportunity to express my thoughts regarding the issue of citizens’ rights, particularly addressing certain sex offenders’ crimes that do not fit the devastating, inequitable and endless punishment given.


As you know, many young men and women lives across the nation are being destroyed by incarceration, life-time registry and restrictive laws that do more harm than good. For those individuals, there is no second chance.

Below is a personal letter to President Obama:
* * * *
“Dear President Obama,

I truly agree with your sentiments that individuals, such as ex-felons, should be able to receive a second chance at life. Since we all know that one can veer off that path of life and travel along rough, rocky terrain, sometimes running off and ending up in some ditch. We all have made our fill of mistakes and sometimes those held a costly consequence that changed life forever. So we lived through it, trying harder to make things right with family, friends and those around us, but what about those who aren’t able to make things right even if they tried…because they’re labeled as too dirty, a leper, a person who is rejected from society and home.


But what if they’re a seventeen year old and had sex with a fifteen year old, consensual at that? Or they’re a teen that had gotten so enraged after a breakup that he sent out naked pictures of his girlfriend on his cell phone or email? Or an individual urinates where someone just happens to see them?


All are wrong and a travesty but do they deserve the life of no second chance with a registry that ends all. They are labeled, no jobs, no where to live…they have been deemed a menace to society, a plague. These certain circumstances, and many other situations similar to these, I believe still deserve a second change.

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution


Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.


After my son’s early release and two years of prison, I thought I had handled that fact graciously knowing after serving his time he would be able to get that fresh start, that second chance. He was an exemplary inmate, GED, college courses and vocational classes. Little did I know that a second chance on the outside was the farthest from the truth? He now struggles and lives in a trailer park sharing a trailer with another and surrounded by others in the same rocking boat, one to float endlessly in shark infested waters. I see him little because of probation requirements (he couldn’t live with us because we were 800 feet near a school). My family is afraid of what would happen to them if he lived with them…vigilantism. My son has no other place to stay since others condemn him of his crime that is screamed from the highest rooftop. Sex offender, sex offender!

Not all sex offenders are pedophiles or predators but some are simply young kids that make one stupid and rash decision that eventually changes everything, and they have no idea what they’ve done until their life is never their own. Exactly, where is that second chance for those sex-offenders who are lumped together with pedophiles and predators? Now, it makes me sick to think of my son’s future and many like him that are on the registry and many with no second chance…ever. I am asking you as a mother and as another concerned citizen of the United States that these laws are looked at again and taken into serious consideration in what they are doing to the Constitution of the United States, not for sex offenders in general but the future rights of every citizen, before anymore are put into effect. They unjustly strip an offender of their rights and place them in a guillotine that can be easily set off by anyone and at anytime. Where is the second chance for ex-sex offenders in the present, pending and future laws?”
* * * *
What truly saddens me is the weakness and deterioration of what the sex offense issue is doing to our once, great nation. Across Europe, others are seeing the injustice and disregard of rights, but we ignore this problem and it makes me wonder where humanity is heading….

We have become a hysterical society in which our latest witch-hunt is a sex offender--no matter his/her crime.

Below is a email sent from a foreign advocate to a father of a sex offender:
* * * *
“The tragic story of your son's death is just so sad that it's difficult to explain how. It was very hard to read your letters. It seems almost unbelievable that this can take place in a democracy! From our point of view, there is no justice in this. Not in any way: not for you, your son, the former girl friend – or even the state.

It is an abusive legal system. It seems barbaric. And we are so very sorry that this takes place. That's why it's so important for us to try to neutralize the debate with this…, hopefully making some changes. ….. to show the every day life of the sex offenders, trying to show how they keep on being punished, even after served prison time…..But we will for sure tell the story of the injustice that your son has been exposed to.”
* * * *
I appreciate everyone's commitment and backing to protect everyone's civil rights, plainly as noted in the Constitution of the United States and is presupposed, giving ALL men are “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”