Thursday, March 31, 2016

Sentinel reporter to discuss sex offenders on Smart Talk Tuesday

Sentinel reporter Joshua Vaughn will be on witf’s Smart Talk Tuesday morning to discuss his latest series of stories on sex offenders and registries.

The package of stories, which ran Friday, Saturday and Monday, tackled the issues of sex offender recidivism and whether or not Megan’s Law registries are effective.


Vaughn will be on Smart Talk for 30 minutes of the one-hour program from 9 to 9:30 a.m. The show runs through 10 a.m. and airs live on 89.5 and 93.3. Smart Talk is also live online at www.witf.org/smart-talk/ and a repeat of the program will air at 7 p.m. Tuesday.


The package of stories, which ran Friday, Saturday and Monday, tackled the issues of sex offender recidivism and whether or not Megan's Law ..

Florida man freed from prison early — underage romance led to ‘sex offender’ tag, harsh sentence

Carlos Manuel Delgado was released from Columbia Correctional Institution in Lake City on Wednesday afternoon — 13 years, 4 months and 24 days before the end of his sentence.

Or, from the perspective of Republican Gov. Rick Scott and members of the Florida Cabinet: Delgado spent 11 years, 2 months and 17 days in prison because of what they call a miscarriage of justice that branded Delgado a “sex offender” for an atypical crime.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article69102217.html#storylink=cpy

Read More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article69102217.html#storylink=cpy

Federal: Attorney: Sex Offender Passport Marker Would Be Dangerous

Marking passports to identify sex offenders would wrongly imply that they had engaged in child sex trafficking or child sex tourism and expose them to danger, an attorney told a federal judge Wednesday.

Janice Bellucci is challenging a new federal law that requires markers in the passports of people convicted of sex offenses against children.

She said the law has been touted as a way to crack down on child sex trafficking and child sex tourism, so anyone with the marker would be viewed as having engaged in one of those crimes.

"Anytime somebody has a stamp on their passport and they go to another country, they are really at risk of significant physical harm," she said.

U.S. District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton questioned who besides border agents would see the passport and whether the marker would imply the person had engaged in child sex trafficking or child sex tourism.
 
Read More:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/passport-mark-sex-offende...

Sunday, March 27, 2016

What Kindness Can Do.



If treating an animal with tender kindness can change it's bleak outlook, amazing what it could to do People....

OR Editorial: Bad neighbor policy

Source

Call it cruel irony.

With all the political chest-thumping about alleged criminals and rapists pouring across the U.S. border from Mexico, a sex offender deported by Canadian officials quietly settled in Oregon in suburban Toledo — only to be charged with raping a child.

Kenneth Hall, 51, is locked up in the Lucas County jail after being charged and indicted by a county grand jury on two felony counts each of rape, pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, and gross sexual imposition.

Prosecutors allege in court documents that Hall last year engaged in sexual conduct with a victim less than 10 years old.
 Navarre Navarre

Oregon Police Chief Mike Navarre is outraged, as all of us should be, but not just at the crime.

Here’s why: Oregon police detectives found in their investigation that Hall — an American citizen — was convicted in 1996 for a sexual offense involving a child in Calgary, served two years in a Canadian prison, and then was deported to the United States in 1998.

And nobody warned them.

If Hall had been convicted in this country his name would be on a sex-offender registry. That might have prevented him from allegedly committing another sexual offense with a child. But because of Canada’s very aggressive privacy laws, Hall’s past criminal conviction was not shared with law enforcement officers in this country.

That is insane.

Children were not protected when they might have been because of privacy?

Surely this is a false choice.

According to a story in last Sunday’s Blade by police reporter Ryan Dunn, Canadian law enforcement maintains a database listing criminal sex offenders, but that database is not made public in Canada and, this is even crazier, it cannot be accessed by law enforcement outside of Canada.

What?

Canada does not share the records they keep?

What’s the point of keeping them?

Daniel Brodsky, a criminal defense lawyer in Toronto and co-editor of a book published in Canada about legal issues involving sexual offenders, told The Blade that if sex offenders’ identities became widely available, residents would frequently encroach on their privacy.

Good grief. Perhaps that is so. But can we not tell the police? Would giving the police a heads up really constitute “wide availability”? Would it really encroach on civil liberties? What about public health and safety? What about protecting the vulnerable?


Chief Navarre is still shaking his head. He says Canadian officials should have informed his department that Hall had moved to Oregon, so law enforcement officers here could have placed him on the American sex-offender registry and kept an eye on him. That’s just common sense, neighborliness, and good public safety policy.

“There’s really no easy solution to this, but doing nothing I don’t think is the right answer,” Chief Navarre said.

Well and ultimately put. We don’t need to build a wall between the United States and Canada to keep the bad guys out, but we do need the Canadian police to tell us when bad guys are coming our way so our police can do their jobs.

OH: Police: Fake police Facebook page taught sex offenders how to remove name from database Parma, Ohio man accused of creating fake page

Police lights file



PARMA, Ohio —A suburban Cleveland police department said it has charged a 27-year-old man with creating a fake Facebook page that purported to be its actual page.The Parma Police Department said Friday that Anthony Novak of Parma has been charged with a felony count of disrupting public services. The agency began investigating early this month when "The City of Parma Police Department" page showed up. The department's page has the same name without "The."
Police say detectives worked with Facebook officials in their investigation of the page's origin and its removal.

An attorney for Novak said the case might raise First Amendment issues.

"It's an unusual case," attorney David Brown told cleveland.com. Brown added that it was too soon to decide how he would approach Novak's defense.

Parma Lt. Kevin Riley said police recognize citizens' rights to exercise their freedom of speech, but they believe this went too far.

Police said the Novak posted "derogatory and inflammatory" information.

The fake page had items about ways sex offenders could have their names taken off the state sex offender database. It also suggested it would be illegal to help the homeless for three months.

Police said Novak is scheduled to appear in Parma Municipal Court on Monday.

Sharon Runner Introduces Legislation Requiring Department of Corrections to Obey Jessica's Law

Sharon Runner Introduces Legislation Requiring Department of Corrections to Obey Jessica's Law

Sex Offender Reports, Charts & Archive: International Megan's Law, a Deception? The Recidi...

Sex Offender Reports, Charts & Archive: International Megan's Law, a Deception? The Recidi...: 2-10-16 National: Part I of a series: The Recidivism Study 2-7-16 A Washington Post Article: " An important step to reduce child ...

Posts of Interest

Murderer says he killed Saginaw prison cellmate 'because he was a child molester'
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/02/murderer_says_he_killed_prison.html 

Salon:  Stop laughing at Jared Fogle: Prison violence isn’t a joke — no matter how reviled the target
http://www.salon.com/2016/03/18/stop_laughing_at_jared_fogle_prison_violence_isnt_a_joke_no_matter_how_reviled_the_target/

 

I, Pedophile
http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/i-pedophile
_____________________

San Francisco Chronicle | March 25, 2016

Calls for limiting sex-offender registry will be tough to act on
By Melody Gutierrez

SACRAMENTO — The board that oversees the state’s sex-offender laws has a seemingly unconventional public safety pitch: Californians would be safer if the sex-offender registry were pared down.

The California Sex Offender Management Board wants to eliminate lifetime registration requirements for some sex offenders. It’s proposing that lower-risk sex offenders be removed from the registry 10 to 20 years after their crimes to make the list more relevant and focused on higher-risk offenders. That way, law enforcement and the public can better differentiate between offenders who pose the greatest risks and those not likely to re-offend.

But the board needs a change in law to do this, and the idea is opposed by some crime victim groups. It’s also not an easy feat to find an elected official to carry a bill that eases restrictions on sex offenders.  The board, headed by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, has recommended paring down the list for the past eight years, to no avail. In the coming months, it will launch an outreach campaign in hopes of calming public fears about the proposal, then look for a lawmaker willing to author a bill next year.

MORE:
http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Calls-for-limiting-sex-offender-registry-will-be-7123214.php
 __________________________

The Sentinel [Carlisle, PA] | March 26, 2016
Finding statistics to fit a narrative
By Joshua Vaughn, The Sentinel

 cid:image002.png@01D1875E.6C772C00

An article in a 1986 edition of Psychology Today
has made its way into two Supreme Court cases
as evidence of a “frightening and high” re-offense
rate for sexual offenders.

MORE:

__________

The Sentinel [Carlisle, PA] | March 26, 2016

When facts aren't facts: A look at the effectiveness of sexual offender registries

By Joshua Vaughn, The Sentinel

Excerpts:  Rydberg said registration laws have been found not to significantly reduce sex crimes, and have made it more difficult for offenders to acclimate back into society, which in turn makes it more likely that they will end up in prison for a non-sexual offense.

Patrick Crawley, executive director and counsel for the Pennsylvania Senate Judiciary Committee, said the assertion that outlined the state’s need for the law likely came from evidence presented during a committee hearing, but that he was unable to find any supporting data that was used. 

MORE:
http://cumberlink.com/news/local/closer_look/when-facts-aren-t-facts-a-look-at-the-effectiveness/article_01b3ec77-053f-5a8f-8436-5cab0a2090c6.html

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

The Unintended Consequences of Sex Offender Registries


"An article in the March 14th issue of the New Yorker describes the negative effects of sex offender laws on juveniles who get caught up in a legal system designed to protect children from adult sexual predators.  Adolescent sexual experimentation, especially when accompanied by age mismatch, and child misbehavior have become criminalized in ways that those interviewed in the article see as unintended, mistaken, and counterproductive...."

Source

Two Interesting Decisions by Federal Judges

Post from an Advocate: Two interesting decisions by federal judges in cases that all too often cause reason to fly out the window—convictions for sex offenses.

Reason.com | March 22, 2016

Federal Judge Stops Nebraska From Forcing 13-Year-Old to Register as a Sex Offender
He committed his offense when he was 11.

By Jacob Sullum

Yesterday a federal judge said Nebraska may not force a 13-year-old boy to register as a sex offender based on a crime he committed at age 11 in Minnesota, where he was adjudicated as a juvenile.
CONTINUED:   
http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/22/federal-judge-stops-nebraska-from-forcin



NBCNews.com | Feb. 1, 2016

Judge Gives Man 5 Days for Child Porn, Rails Against Harsh Sentences

BY TRACY CONNOR

A Brooklyn man who faced 10 years for downloading child pornography was sentenced to five days by a federal judge who sharply criticized punishment guidelines for failing to distinguish between dangerous offenders and those who pose little threat.  U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein wrote a 98-page decision explaining why he bypassed the guidelines…

CONTINUED:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-gives-man-5-days-child-porn-rails-against-harsh-n507406


Federal court decision:  United States vs. R.V.
http://sentencing.typepad.com/files/us---v--rv-weinstein-sentencing-opinion.pdf

Friday, March 11, 2016

Sex Offender Statistics: A collection of information about "voice votes" us...

Sex Offender Statistics: A collection of information about "voice votes" us...: Collection of Data: This will be simply a collection of data, no specific sequence: From th House Rules Committee: House Rules for t...

Articles of Interest



teleSUR English
Rights Group Lobbies for Sex Offender Registry in Saint Lucia ... It also called for Saint Lucian sex offenders who were convicted outside of ... We have a number of issues and a number of people speaking out against the problem.

Miami Herald
A Florida Keys marina wants to ban sexual predators. ... Cannon said registered predators and offenders haven't been a problem in the past two and .

Greenvilleadvocate
As of yesterday, the Sheriff's Office reported 54 registered sex offenders in Crenshaw County. “There was not enough emphasis placed on the issue, ...

AL: Surgical Castration for Sex Offenders



Now a bill is before the Alabama legislature--surgical castration for sex offenders.  EEEK!  The Daily Beast has an insightful report, below. 

While the public hears much about sex offender registries, lengthy prison sentences, residency restrictions and other very harsh punishments for sex offenders – castration is rarely discussed in mainstream media.  Some jaw-dropping information comes from an essay by Charles Scott and Elena del Busto in a 2014 book edited by Richard Wright, Sex Offender Laws: Failed Policies, New Directions. 

“On Sep. 17, 1996, California became the first state to authorize the use of either chemical or physical castration for certain sex offenders who were being released from prison into the community…Although this legislation was considered extremely controversial at the time, at least eight additional states have subsequently passed laws that provide some form of castration for individuals who have been convicted of a sex offense and are being considered for parole or probation.  Of the nine states authorizing castration, four (Georgia, Montana, Oregon, and Wisconsin) permit the use of chemical castration only, four (California, Florida, Iowa, and Louisiana) allow either chemical castration or voluntary surgical castration, and one (Texas) provides voluntary surgical castration as the only treatment option.”

Making an offender pay for their own castration?  “Four of the nine statutes require the state to pay costs, four require the offender to bear some or all of the financial burden, and one state (Wisconsin) does not specify who pays for treatment.”

The Alabama bill sure is cruel but it ain’t so unusual.  

 Daily Beast | March 4, 2016

Alabama Lawmaker Wants Sex Offenders To Pay For Their Own Castration
Only one small problem—Alabama has wrongfully convicted at least nine men of the kind of sex offenses that would qualify for this lawmaker’s bill.

By BRANDY ZADROZNY

An Alabama lawmaker known for parading around on a giant gun-shaped barbecue grill has once again taken up his pet project: the surgical castration of sex offenders. “This bill would provide that any person over the age of 21 years who is convicted of certain sex offenses against a child 12 years of age or younger would be surgically castrated before his or her release from the custody of the Department of Corrections,” HB 365 reads. “This bill would require that the cost of the procedure be paid by the adult criminal sex offender.”

CONTINUED:


Sex Offender Reports, Charts & Archive: International Megan's Law, a Deception? The Recidi...

Sex Offender Reports, Charts & Archive: International Megan's Law, a Deception? The Recidi...: 2-10-16 National: Part I of a series: The Recidivism Study 2-7-16 A Washington Post Article: " An important step to reduce child ...

Community of the Wrongly Accused: Naval Academy Instructor's Wrongful Conviction Rep...

Community of the Wrongly Accused: Naval Academy Instructor's Wrongful Conviction Rep...: Washington Post reporter John Woodrow Cox announced online that an upcoming story for the Post next week will center around a Marine Major ...

Stop the treatment industrial complex - Florida Action Committee

Stop the treatment industrial complex - Florida Action Committee

Not allowed to live on land or sea. - Florida Action Committee

What??? Isn't it attempted first degree murder? - Florida Action Committee

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

New Yorker Magazine: THE LIST

The List
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/14/when-kids-are-accused-of-sex-crimes

One morning in 2007, Leah DuBuc, a twenty-two-year-old college student in Kalamazoo, began writing an essay for English class that she hoped would save her life. She knew that people like her had been beaten, bombed, shot at, killed. The essay aired details about her past that she’d long tried to suppress; by posting it on her class’s server, where anyone who Googled her name could find it, she thought she might be able to quiet the whispers, the threats, and possibly make it easier to find a job. Her story, she warned, “is not a nice one, but hopefully it will have a happy ending.”

Alabama lawmaker tries passing sex offender bill requiring castration - Florida Action Committee

Alabama lawmaker tries passing sex offender bill requiring castration - Florida Action Committee

Florida sex offender entitled to pension, court rules - Florida Action Committee

Florida sex offender entitled to pension, court rules - Florida Action Committee

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Sixth Amendment off-limits to people accused of sexual offense

Source from RSOL

By Sandy…..

When something I write references something read elsewhere, especially when I use direct quotes, I always link to the other piece. Due to my refusal to give the other piece or its publisher any credence or recognition, this post will be the exception to that rule.

scales
In a major election year, one expects nasty, attack campaign ads. The last few years the level of sleaze has deepened and this year threatens, like a spewing volcano, to engulf the entire political process in its roiling, broiling morass.
Interesting parallel — each year the level of sleaze leveled at the entire class of those who are required to be on a sex offender registry deepens, with the list of “cannots” against them growing and spreading, much like the deadly lava of a volcano.
They cannot live where they wish or, often, be where they wish.
 

They often cannot get/keep employment.
 

They cannot assume their normal rights as parents or as citizens.
 

They cannot assume the right to travel freely.
 

They cannot live free of fear and anxiety for their own and their family’s safety.
 

Some cannot hide their infamy from anyone viewing their drivers’ licenses or, soon and for all, their passports.
 

Most importantly, they cannot — ever — be forgiven.
And now, due to an interesting convergence of both political and sex offender sleaze, it seems a new cannot has been added.
In a political ad pretending to be actual journalism, one designed not to directly promote a specific candidate but to destroy one, a candidate was linked with an organization renowned for fighting for unpopular causes in matters of civil rights.
It seems that this organization is “an organization that has an appalling history of providing legal support for sex offenders throughout the nation.”
And the candidate? “Shockingly…like the ACLU, has a history of defending sex offenders as well.”
Appalling history? Shocking? The inference here is that those facing charges for sexual offenses should not be allowed legal support, and that anyone who dares provide it is doing something unconscionable and beyond the pale.
So a new cannot joins the others: Those accused of sexual offenses even though, like everyone accused of any crime, considered innocent until proven guilty, CANNOT be represented by counsel because no attorney worth the name would represent such a person.
Much about the public registry and all that it has spawned plays fast and loose with many of our constitutional protections. Now, with this, the Sixth Amendment is not just biting the dust but being stomped, ground, and broken upon the cold, hard earth.

NICHOLS V. UNITED STATES - Transcript - A registrant's duty to "register" after leaving the US - Florida Action Committee

NICHOLS V. UNITED STATES - Transcript - A registrant's duty to "register" after leaving the US - Florida Action Committee

Justice Thomas' Question Begs a Deeper Response - Florida Action Committee

Justice Thomas' Question Begs a Deeper Response - Florida Action Committee

TERRIFIC MOVE! FAC Files UN Human Rights Complaint over International Megan's Law - Florida Action Committee

FAC Files UN Human Rights Complaint over International Megan's Law - Florida Action Committee

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.”