FL - Sex Offender Village

Original Article

05/21/2013

By LISA F. JACKSON and DAVID FEIGE

For this Op-Doc video, we visited a small community in Florida known as “Miracle Village,” where more than 100 registered sex offenders have settled since 2009. Surrounded by sugar cane fields, the community has become a rare refuge for them as they try to rebuild their lives in one of the only communities that will have them: stringent residency requirements make it almost impossible for them to live anywhere else.

We come to this documentary from two very different perspectives. Lisa has spent years examining sex crimes from the victim’s point of view, making documentaries that try to de-stigmatize the survivors and argue for their access to justice. David spent his years as a public defender in Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx, defending people accused of doing the victimizing. These contrasting perspectives have made for a lively collaboration in which we have found common ground.

We live in a society that is terrified of sex offenders, sometimes with good reason. But in some cases the perpetrators, and not just the victims, are denied justice. Every high-profile sex crime spawns a rush to do something about the “predators” among us. Unfortunately, these so-called solutions are doing more harm than good. In the past 25 years, the laws governing sex offenses have gone from punitive to draconian to senseless. The term “sex offender” simply covers too wide a range now, painting the few truly heinous crimes and the many relatively innocuous ones with the same broad brush. This overly broad approach wastes resources that could be better spent, for instance, on clearing the huge and unforgivable backlog of untested rape evidence kits.

We see even deeper problems: the explosion of sex offender registries, stringent yet demonstrably ineffective residency restrictions, and the bizarre world of “civil commitment,” where we punish what someone might do rather than what he or she has done. All of this suggests that our entire approach to dealing with sex offenders has gone tragically off the rails.

Lisa F. Jackson is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker based in New York. Her last film, “Sex Crimes Unit,” chronicled prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and “The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo” won a special jury prize for documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

David Feige, a television writer and former Trial Chief of the Bronx Defenders, is the co-creator of the T.N.T. series “Raising the Bar” and the author of “Indefensible: One Lawyer’s Journey Into the Inferno of American Justice.” He has written about law for The New York Times Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and Slate.


Video Link

Video Source

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WI - High-risk rent: Renting homes to Wisconsin sex offenders

Original Article

05/19/2013

By Brad Hicks

FOND DU LAC COUNTY (WITI) - FOX6′s Brad Hicks set out to do a story on taxpayer money, and how the state is spending it. However, sometimes stories take an unexpected turn — which is what happened in this instance.

Kirk Everson is proud to promote his Fond du Lac County compost company. He’s not afraid of being in the limelight as a lawyer — and he’s even a bit of a ham, appearing in the popular Chad Vader spoofs.

However, there is one thing Everson doesn’t want to talk about — not at his home, at his office, over the phone, or after his court appearance.

Steve Troscan wishes he had heard about Everson when he moved his mom from the family home into an assisted living facility. He says the house wasn’t selling until someone swooped in with a cash offer.

“From what I understood, the man was a lawyer from Fond du Lac. My sister and I would have never sold the house if we would have known this,” Troscan said.

The Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Juneau treats the worst sex offenders in Wisconsin — men who, after their prison terms, are still too dangerous to set free. They are committed to Sand Ridge to be treated, and most will never get out.

However, each year, a handful make enough progress that the state orders they be returned to the community, where they will be supervised and under tight restrictions.

Currently, there are 33 sexually violent offenders under supervised release.

The Department of Health Services returns them to the county from which they came. There is usually outrage and concern when a sex offender is placed in a neighborhood, but the law says they have to be placed.

These sex offenders live in rented homes that the state pays for with taxpayer dollars at prices that are nothing like what neighbors pay.

In one Milwaukee neighborhood, the state pays $1,900 a month to house a sex offender, which is about $1,000 more than neighbors pay in monthly rent.

Lydia Nichols rents a new two-bedroom in Manitowoc. Next door is a one-bedroom and home to a sex offender. The state pays $1,600 a month for the one-bedroom, while Nichols pays just $650.

The state says the rent is so high because it is hard to find suitable housing for these sex offenders. For starters, not a lot of people want to rent to the violent sex offender program. It can be risky for a landlord’s reputation. Also, places like Racine are tightening the reigns on where sex offenders can live.

Bob Peterson is a lawyer who represents many of the sex offenders at Sand Ridge and has seen how hard it can be to place them. Peterson says if more people were willing or able to rent, rent for sex offenders would go down.

“If there’s an individual that’s willing to do that, I look at is as they’re doing a public service,” Peterson said.

From that perspective, no one is providing a bigger “public service” than a company called Ervin J. Fenske. The Milwaukee home renting for $1,900 and the Manitowoc home renting for $1,600 are both Fenske properties. The company also owns a home Wisconsin rents for a sex offender in Wheatland, one in Beloit, one in Eau Claire and one in Marathon County.

In fact, Fenske owns 20% of the 30 homes the state rents for sexually violent offenders.

So who is behind this company?

Read the rest of the article

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WA - Puyallup-Led Bill to Restrict Sex Offender Housing Signed into Law

Original Article

05/17/2013

By Lauren Padgett

Residents of the 25th Legislative District who are concerned about community and neighborhood safety can breathe a bit easier now. That’s because Gov. Jay Inslee has signed Sen. Bruce Dammeier’s bill to address concerns about the state housing-voucher program for offenders.

Many people from Puyallup, Dammeier’s district, were present for Thursday’s signing of Senate Bill 5105 (PDF). They included Julie Door, a citizen lobbyist who became integral to the discussion that produced the new law, utilizing the Facebook page Shaw ComeTogether.

“While this measure addresses major concerns for the people of my district, it will also positively affect other neighborhoods and communities all across the state,” said Dammeier, R-Puyallup. “This bill increases transparency and clearly outlines conditions to which the state Department of Corrections must adhere when issuing housing vouchers.”

Senate Bill 5105 states that when a sex offender is released into the public, there must be an approved plan that outlines living arrangements prior to release. If the release plan is not approved, they could be denied residency and might be transitioned through another jail program.

Rental vouchers, which help offenders transition back into society, are only to be given for the first three months after their release.

The Department of Corrections will also maintain an approved list of halfway houses and voucher recipients, the bill states. If more than two offenders live in the same place, those housing vouchers will only be eligible if the housing situation has been approved to handle the larger volume of high-risk occupants.

The department will consider the location of the house and neighborhood in their decision of whether or not a residence is eligible for the housing voucher program. Procedures will be adopted that prevent a cluster of "halfway houses" in any given town.

When a property becomes considered for a halfway house, law enforcement authorities will be notified and community impact statements will be accepted and considered during the application process.

In situations where four to eight offenders are eligible to live together (or greater number than permitted by local code), then the DOC must provide transitional support that verifies the offender is participating in counseling, sex offender treatment and other programs that develop positive living.

These new measures and push for the Senate bill started last year, when Puyallup’s Shaw Road neighborhood became a possible location for a halfway house for newly-released offenders.

It's truly a relief to the community, Door posted on Facebook.

"This was the culmination of an AMAZING community effort," Shaw ComeTogether posted. "Puyallup citizens should be proud of the effort they put forth to keep our communities safe!"

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NH - Homeless sex offenders present challenge to police

Original Article

05/15/2013

Some address information for offenders not specific

CONCORD - Convicted sex offenders are required to keep police informed of their whereabouts, but when sex offenders are homeless, police often need to take extra steps to keep track of them.
- Our question would be, why are they homeless in the first place?  Is it because of the online registry and residency laws perhaps?  We suspect that is the reason.  So if you want to eliminate the problem, repeal the online registry and residency laws.

[name withheld] is a convicted sex offender who's required by law to verify his address at least twice a year. On the registry, his address is listed simply as a blue and white tent.

"If they're homeless, if they're living in a certain area, we ask them to put where they're living," said Detective Lt. Timothy O'Malley. "If they live in a vicinity near a railroad track on the south end in a tent, then we would put that on the form."

But [name withheld]'s information didn't contain any specific area. Scanning the list, News 9 found several similar situations. In Concord, sex offenders were listed as living in a blue and black tent, in a van and in a car.

In Manchester, the east side and downtown parks were listed as addresses, but they didn't contain any more specific descriptions. That's a concern for victims.

"When it comes to sex offenders, one of the things from a victim's perspective is knowing where they are, and it makes it much more likely that the victims are able to go on with their lives, knowing that somebody is monitoring that," said Jill Rockey of the Crisis Center of Central New Hampshire.

The city of Concord has a designated detective who keeps track of offenders.

"The detective generates a list of offenders, a random list, every week, and patrol officers will go out and verify the addresses of the offenders, and that way, it's a proactive measure to make sure the offenders are living where they say they are living," O'Malley said.

Police said that through that process, they know where the homeless offenders are staying. If they fail to register, a warrant is issued that also shows up on the registry.

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CA - Restrictive Residency Rules and the Illusion of Public Safety

Original Article

05/05/2013

By Patti Giggans

There are risks of increasing restrictive residency rules for sex offenders while reducing their access to resources, and monitoring.

The latest strategy to restrict where convicted sex offenders live is to create parks where none exist to force registered sex offenders to move out of a neighborhood. The City of Los Angeles plans to build three pocket parks in the communities of Harbor Gateway and Wilmington. California state law prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a park, playground school or a daycare center. Some states restrict living within 1,000 feet or near certain bus stops. There are similar residence restrictive laws in every state along with sex offender databases and community notification of where offenders live, known as Megan’s Laws. The unintended result of super-restrictive sex offender zoning makes it impossible for sex offenders to find stable housing and forces them to cluster and crowd together in motels and apartment buildings, or sometimes under bridges creating homelessness, often away from family or other potentially positive supports. There is concern that these over-restrictive policies can backfire and actually increase recidivism.

Located in southern Los Angeles, Harbor Gateway, a community of about 40,000 people, has one of the city’s highest concentrations of registered sex offenders: 86 registered offenders live in a 13-block area. The park will be created in a space the equivalent of a backyard on a grassy corner large enough to fit a jungle gym and a couple of benches. The park is being explicitly created to restrict offenders from congregating in the area not necessarily to create green space for kids to play. No one can fault the community for its concern for safety especially of its children or blame its civic leadership for wanting to do something about it. Restrictive living and working rules keep multiplying with the goal of public safety. But do these living restrictions improve public safety or exacerbate the potential for re-offending? As there are fewer and fewer places for offenders to live and work they will continue to resort to clustering or worse: go underground. Creating housing instability can limit employment opportunities and access to social services and social support. Visibility, surveillance, accountability, treatment and support are some of the protective factors that can help an offender stay on the path of non-offending and reduce recidivism.

Convicted sex offenders and registrants are all painted with the same brush of pariah and monster, so it is very challenging for communities to think beyond the criminal justice lens to include public health approaches. But might we be risking being blinded by the illusion of safety when we don’t explore the complexity and the diversity of these offenders and call for research on what really works best. There is little room for political leadership to ask these important questions. Forcing offenders to go missing or go underground by promoting overly restrictive residence and employment restrictions may very well be one of those illusions of public safety that can backfire and create more risk and increase recidivism.

Patti Giggans is the Executive Director of Peace Over Violence. Peace Over Violence is dedicated to building healthy relationships, families and communities free from sexual, domestic and interpersonal violence. She is also the Vice-President of the Board of Directors for 1in6.

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NY - Guest view: A solution to the homeless sex offender issue

Original Article

Spoken like a true man of God!

05/08/2013

By J. BARRETT LEE

To my fellow Christians in Oneida County: There has been much ado in the headlines about the county’s temporary housing of sex offenders in Utica motels. Private citizens and elected officials alike are raising the voice of protest against this practice. I’ve repeatedly heard complaints about the county using Utica as a “dumping ground” for sex offenders.

The implication behind these statements is that such people amount to human garbage. I find this implication to be spiritually and morally troubling because of what it says about us as a community.

As a survivor of sexual assault, I can testify to the dehumanizing effect that such a violent act has on a person’s sense of self. The perpetrators of such acts necessarily objectify their victims and treat them like garbage, tossing them aside when there is no longer any use for them. I know firsthand what that feels like.

When we as a society compare our sex offenders to garbage, we do the same thing to them that they did to us. In doing so, we stoop to their level and perpetuate the cycle of violence.

American society at large endorses such violence because no one is said to be more despicable than a sex offender. We seem to have made it OK to dehumanize and hate these people because of what they have done to others. We use them as scapegoats and a “dumping ground” for our own rage, frustration, and self-hatred. Again, we do to them what they did to us. We become what we judge.

With this housing crisis, I believe God is presenting us with an opportunity to rise above revenge and break the cycle of dehumanizing violence. We have a chance to stand in solidarity with Jesus, who ate with tax collectors and sinners, the scapegoats and “sex offenders” of his day and age.

Christ’s commitment to a deep theology of grace empowered him to accept the “bad guys” and separate sinner from sin.

There are communities around the continent who have committed themselves to Christ’s path of radical hospitality. I’m thinking primarily of churches like Welcome Inn, a Mennonite church in Hamilton, Ontario. Their church has chosen to welcome sex offenders and surround them with circles of acceptance and accountability. They become a second family for program participants. They meet regularly with released offenders and nurture them into reintegration and active participation in community life. This way, sex offenders are simultaneously cared for and checked up on by people who care enough to love like Jesus.

Is there any reason why churches in the Mohawk Valley could not start similar programs? I can’t think of one.

All I can think of is what Jesus told his followers in Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Be blessed and be a blessing,

J. Barrett Lee is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Boonville and a participant in St. James Mission, a progressive, ecumenical, spiritual community in Utica. He also teaches philosophy at Utica College.

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NY - Counties struggle with homeless sex offenders

Original Article

05/05/2013

By ELIZABETH COOPER

UTICA - Since state and local laws about where they can live were tightened around a decade ago, sex offenders have become more likely to end up homeless.

That’s caused problems for counties across the state, because they are required by law to find housing for anyone who needs shelter within their borders.

Different counties have cobbled together different strategies to deal with the thorny issue, but officials and homeless advocates from several counties said there is no easy answer.
- There are easy answers! It's just something they don't want to hear. Eliminate the residency restrictions and stop letting mass hysteria define laws.

“I don’t know what the solution is,” said Greta Guarton of the advocacy group Long Island Coalition for the Homeless. “We, of course, think everyone needs a place to live, but certainly understand the community’s concerns.”

The issue came to a head in Oneida County in February, after an Observer-Dispatch report found that at least eight Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders had been housed at three North Utica motels in a two-week period. Amid public outcry, two of the motels announced they would stop taking homeless individuals referred by the county, and County Executive Anthony Picente has said he is looking for other options.

“We have to find a solution given the lay of the land here, in terms of the shelters, the neighborhoods and the community,” he said. “It’s an ongoing process and discussion.”

Sex offenders have been required to register with officials where they live since the mid-1990s. The federal government and states across the nation adopted so-called Megan’s Laws after the 1994 murder of Megan Kanka, a New Jersey child who was killed by a released sex offender living near her home.
- Why do we continue to punish everyone with similar crimes due to one bad apple?  Are we going to start doing the same for all other crimes?  One person commits a crime with a gun and all gun owners are punished?  Oh wait, they are already working on that one!

In subsequent years, states and many communities adopted laws regulating where sex offenders are allowed to live. In Oneida County, a 2007 law prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of a school, child care facility, playground or park.

Counties in New York must find housing for any individual, regardless of their criminal history, if they come to the Department of Social Services and say they are homeless.

Read the rest of the article

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NY - Advocate Thinks Reporter Too Harsh on Sex Offenders

Shana Rowan

Original Article

04/30/2013

By Shana Rowan (Blog, Website)

As a registry reform advocate and fiance to a registrant whose crime was committed as a minor, I felt compelled to respond to the numerous sex offender-related issues brought up in several recent articles.

Buffalo/Niagara is no different than other urban areas in our country in terms of high concentrations of registered sex offenders. The public’s mentality towards those on the registry often makes it difficult for those convicted of sex crimes to find housing, and often impossible when municipalities enact residency restrictions. Schools and other “child oriented places” are usually centrally located, so finding housing more than 1,000 feet from such facilities is often not possible. Former sex offenders and their families often find themselves with little choice but to live in poorer, higher-crime neighborhoods.

A 2012 study by Dr. Jill Levenson (studies), one of the leading authorities on sex offender recidivism, found that residency restrictions do not reduce child sexual abuse and several previous studies corroborate her findings. Lack of stable housing and employment actually increases the likelihood of recidivism, making such restrictions counter-productive at best. Empirical research on sex crime reveals that children are overwhelmingly victimized by people they know, family members, friends, coaches, clergy, etc., not a stranger. Even the toughest laws directed at registrants only apply to those who have already been caught and since recidivism is so low, the impact of these laws is minimal.

It’s possible to feel anger at sex abuse and support harsh punishment of perpetrators, while recognizing the importance of fact-based policies. The unfortunate fact is that putting a stop to sex crime is far more complicated than perpetuating sex offender hysteria. The media plays a large role in communicating such information to the public, hopefully, the Niagara Falls Reporter will do this from now on.

Learn the truth at www.usafair.org/studies.

Shana Rowan is executive director of USA Fair, Inc. (USA Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry).

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CA - Many sex offenders end up on the streets

Original Article

04/25/2013

By Keli Moore

Close to two weeks after [name withheld], a sexually violent predator, was released from prison as a transient into Santa Barbara County, numerous questions have surfaced surrounding safety issues at homeless services.

There are screening processes to stay at overnight shelters in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, but anyone can go to Prado Day Center in San Luis Obispo to get a hot meal.

"If you apply for a place to live you have to tell them that you're a registered sex offender. It makes it really difficult," said a local man who wants to remain anonymous. He has been out of prison for almost two years and since then, the streets of San Luis Obispo have been his home.

"We can get help through the county health as far as just getting some medical help and stuff like that, but as far as food, shelter, clothing, you have to pretty much find it on your own," he said.

What he doesn't realize is there are some options.

"During the lunch time at Prado for the People's Kitchen, they are allowed to just get in the lunch line, eat their plate of food, and leave the facility with no questions asked," said Dee Torres, who is the homeless services coordinator for CAPSLO.

According to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office, there are 470 registered sex offenders in the county and 52 of them are transients. This raises concern for families with kids who use local homeless services.

"There's a six to eight page intake form that we complete with each individual and some other basic questions that we ask right when they come through the door," said Torres.

But the screening process is not fool proof.

"There have been a few cases where we have found out after the fact that somebody wasn't registered on the database and they didn't disclose," said Torres.

Although there are screening processes in place, a kid could still be exposed to a sex offender.

Transients who are registered sex offenders are required by law to check in with the closest law enforcement agency every 30 days, and if they are still on parole, they are required to wear a GPS device.

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FL - Video Essay - A Sex Offender Haven in Rural Florida (2009)

Or the Julia Tuttle Causeway bridge, where probation and parole were telling offenders to go live, and at one time, had over 100 ex-offenders forced to live under a bridge.

Video Link

Video Description:
09/25/2009 - Sex offenders often live at the fringes of society. Scores of laws restrict them from living near where children gather. The result in many cases is a cluster, like at Miracle Park in Florida, where some 35 sex offenders live.

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NY - County searches for options for homeless sex offenders

Original Article

You want options? Really? If so, then examine the facts! The facts that the online registry prevents many from getting jobs, and employment, therefore they become homeless. Take the registry offline and eliminate the residency restrictions, which have been proven to not work, and most of the problem will have been solved.

04/24/2013

UTICA - Oneida County is searching for possible alternatives to housing homeless convicted sex offenders and violent felons in local motels.

“We are dealing with what’s in front of us,” said County Executive Anthony Picente. “That is a homeless population that has mixed within it ex-offenders that run the gamut of what the offense was, as well as people who have just run into a streak of bad luck.”

The issue arose after the O-D reported that within a two-week period in February, eight Level 2 or Level 3 sex offenders had been placed by the county Social Services Department in motels on Genesee Street in North Utica.

By law, counties are required to find housing for anyone who requests the assistance. If a homeless person is an active addict, a convicted sex offender or has a violent felony conviction, however, the local shelters won’t take them.

One possible alternative, Picente said, is having an outside agency operate a shelter.
- Even if you do this, there will always be people complaining about ex-sex offenders in their back yards.

“We are looking at all options to try and alleviate the situation,” he said. “But there may not be a perfect option out there that can satisfy everyone.”
- You will never please everyone!

Picente said homeless sex offenders are a particularly difficult group to find housing for because of local laws that prevent them from living near schools and certain other locations.
- Exactly, so take the registry offline and eliminate the residency laws, then most of the problem goes a way.

County Attorney Greg Amoroso said hotels and motels are on the list of locations where the state allows counties to place homeless individuals. The temporary housing also must be close to the services they need to get back on their feet, under the law, Amoroso said.

The problem

Like the shelters, motels can refuse certain occupants, but places such as Scottish Inn, Happy Journey and Super 8 motels along North Genesee Street have accepted sex offenders in need of housing, county officials said. Under the law, the motels are not told the specific backgrounds, of the individuals they are housing.

In March, an average of 23 homeless people per day was housed in area motels or hotels and 67 in shelters. Whether any of those individuals had criminal or addiction issues could not determined.

Sometimes, people who do not have those issues also are placed in the motels because of lack of available space in the shelters, county Social Services Commissioner Lucille Soldato said.

County Legislator Emil Paparella represents North Utica and was shocked to find that sex offenders were being housed in motels in his district.
- Why does it shock them?  Or are they just pretending to be ignorant of this?

He said his son and grandchildren have stayed in those motels because of their low prices, but they won’t be doing it again unless things change.

He’s afraid others will do the same.

“Right now, we are trying to build Utica up,” Paparella said. “If we start getting a reputation that we are accepting homeless sex offenders, it’s not going to look good for the city.”

Shelters crowded

Shelters cost the county between $30 and $35 per day for adults, while the motels cost about $50 a day. About $255,000 was spent by the county on such placements in 2012.

In Oneida County, the only shelters that take men are the Rescue Missions in Utica and Rome. Officials there did not return calls for comment.

County Social Services staff is barred by law from asking specific questions about a homeless person’s criminal record because it is not legally relevant to eligibility for county services, including housing. The staff can list the criteria set out by the shelters and ask the individual if they meet them, but the individual may opt not to specify which of the criteria the fail to meet.
- So basically, if you are an ex-felon, they cannot ask about your background, but if you are on the sex offender registry, sorry, we cannot help?

The shelters also ask such questions and might do blood tests to determine if a person is using drugs, she said.

Patricia Witt, executive director of Emmaus House, a shelter for homeless women and children, said her screening process is designed to protect the people her organization serves.

“Our funders and supporters created these shelters for specific purposes,” Witt said, "listing domestic violence, addiction recovery or specific groups such as women.”

Video Link

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OH - Ohio Public Defender’s Office says sex offender registry doesn’t improve public safety

Original Article

04/12/2013

Ohio will begin tracking arsonists this summer through a new registry similar to the one used to track sex offenders.

A law passed last year by the General Assembly will require people convicted of arson-related offenses to register at their local sheriff's office each year for at least 10 years. Failing to register will be a felony.

Supporters tout the measure as a tool for law enforcement. Critics argue, among other points, that the registry will be a burden for sheriffs already charged with keeping the sex-offender registry.

"The sex-offender registry has been around for a long time, and the research that's out there says that it has no positive impact on the public safety," Amy Borror, spokeswoman for the Ohio Public Defender's Office, told The Plain Dealer. "And, if anything, it might have a negative impact on public safety because it creates this administrative burden."

The registry has been around for almost 20 years and has been public for more than 15. The Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children Act, enacted by Congress in 1994, required convicted sex offenders to record their address with local law enforcement. Megan’s Law, added in 1996, allowed the information to be given directly to the public. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), passed in 2006, set registration standards that widened the reach of registration for the entire nation.

PolitiFact Ohio knew the subject could be an emotional one. We asked Borror how the claim is supported that the registry does not improve public safety.

She referred us first to the website of the Public Defender's Office, which links to a number of reports, and to a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Criminal Justice and Behavior, from May 2010, which was dedicated to sex offender issues.

Criminal Justice and Behavior published 10 academic studies related to sex offenses, focusing on the question of whether public policies concerning sex offenders enhance the safety of children and communities.

The journal found that the subject is consistently one of the leading policy issues on legislative agendas. It concluded, however, that "sex offender policies are often inconsistent with empirical evidence about sex offender risks, recidivism, reintegration and supervision...."

"Legislators cite the news media and the views of their constituents -- not research evidence -- as their primary sources of information about sex offenses and offenders," the journal said.

One of the published studies, by criminologists with the University of Massachusetts, Lynn University and the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, focused on Ohio and Oklahoma, two of the first states to meet federal guidelines set by SORNA. Those guidelines classify offenders into one of three categories determined by solely by convicted offense. (Previously, judges determined what risk offenders posed and assigned them to one of three registration categories.)

Drawing on data from more than 28,000 cases in Ohio and from other research, the study’s conclusions "shed doubt on the public safety utility of the SORNA classification system." It found that a disproportionate number of offenders were classified as high risk, placing greater burdens, perhaps unnecessarily, on law enforcement personnel and budgets.

"From a public safety perspective," the study found, the SORNA classification guidelines hurt the ability of the system "to effectively discriminate between those who pose a substantial risk to society and those who pose minimal risk," and also contradict evidence about the risk of repeat offenses for both adult sex offenders and juveniles.

Another report, from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, studied sexual offenders who were jailed for failing to register with local law enforcement agencies. It found that the failure to register was not a predictor of repeated crime, other than future failure to register.

An analysis of adult arrest data from 1990 to 2005 in South Carolina found that sex offender registration laws did have a deterrent effect on first-time adult offenders, but no effect on juveniles and no effect on recidivism.

Borror also pointed us to a 2009 study from the state of New York’s Office of Mental Health that specifically compares a risk-based classification system (which Ohio used to have) to the offense-based registration system, which Ohio has now.

It concluded that the current system "falls short of increasing public safety," citing five earlier studies that found registration and notification laws were "ineffective methods of reducing sexual victimizations."

It also noted there is evidence that such laws actually lead to more criminal behavior by aggravating the factors linked to it -- an unintended consequence of reducing or denying employment, educational, social and housing opportunities.

"Although well intended, such laws have done little (if anything) to increase public safety and may in fact be lowering it," the study said.

(A 2007 report by the non-government organization Human Rights Watch detailed the harassment of registered offenders because of online community notification.)

We looked further and found a 2008 report (PDF) funded by the U.S. Justice Department examining the original Megan's Law in New Jersey.

"Despite widespread community support for these laws," it said, "there is virtually no evidence to support their effectiveness in reducing either new first-time sex offenses (through protective measures or general deterrence) or sex re-offenses (through protective measures and specific deterrence)."

"Given the lack of demonstrated effect of Megan’s Law on sexual offenses, the growing costs may not be justifiable," it said.

Another study (PDF), by J.J. Prescott of the University of Michigan Law School and Jonah Rockoff of Columbia Business School and the National Bureau of Economic Research, examined data from 15 states over more than 10 years.

They found that registering sex offenders does reduce sex crime, especially among victims with a personal connection to offenders, most likely because of better police monitoring. They also found, however, that making the registry information available to the public has the opposite effect and increases crime.

"There is little evidence of a decrease in crimes against strangers," the study said. "We also find evidence that community notification deters crime, but in a way unanticipated by legislators. Our results suggest that community notification deters first-time sex offenders, but may increase recidivism by registered offenders by increasing the relative attractiveness of criminal behavior. This finding is consistent with work by criminologists showing that notification may contribute to recidivism by imposing social and financial costs on registered sex offenders and, as a result, making non-criminal activity relatively less attractive."

"We regard this latter finding as potentially important, given that the purpose of community notification is the reduction of recidivism," the authors concluded.

The federal Government Accountability Office evaluated the effects of SORNA in a report issued earlier this year.

The GAO noted that law’s purpose is to protect the public from sex offenders, but found "analysis of the act’s effect on public safety has been limited."

Positive effects included "improved monitoring of registered sex offenders" and better information sharing between law enforcement agencies.

Negative consequences found by the GAO included a lack of consideration of the risk of repeating sexual offenses in classifying offenders; a disproportionate increase in the workload of law enforcement agencies, and increased problems for registered sex offenders to find work or housing.

What conclusion can we draw about Borror’s statement for the Ohio Public Defender’s Office, that research shows the sex offender registry has no positive impact?

We found that research has been done generally on the effectiveness of sex offender registration and notification laws.

We found that studies indicate the laws have no clear effect on recidivism, or repeat offenses, which is their intended target, and are ineffective in assessing and managing risk.

Although there is some indication that registration and community notification may deter first-time adult offenders, the studies find that the deterrence doesn’t extend to juveniles -- and that community notification likely increases repeat sex crimes and other crimes.

With that information needed for clarification, we rate the statement Mostly True.

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CA - Seeking smarter rules for sex offenders

Janice Bellucci

Original Article

04/11/2013

By Gale Holland

Janice Bellucci of Reform Sex Offender Laws believes offenders should go to prison. But after they get out, she wants them to have a chance to lead stable lives.

Janice Bellucci is a mother of two, the wife of a pastor and a former Girl Scout leader active in volunteer work.

She lives in a gated community an hour's drive north of Santa Barbara, with needlepoint pillows on the sofa and a vegetable garden in the backyard. She is also the public face of an organization advocating for the closest thing to an untouchable caste in our society: California's 88,000 registered sex offenders.

A former aerospace lawyer, Bellucci is the president of the California chapter of Reform Sex Offender Laws, a national group of offenders, family members, psychologists and attorneys registered as a nonprofit.

The California branch holds meetings every other month, closed to the media, to discuss offenders' rights and legal actions she is taking. Bellucci believes sex offenders should go to prison for their crimes. Her target is the crazy quilt of state and local laws regulating their conduct after they get out.

These laws bar offenders from moving near parks and schools, leaving them with comparatively few places to live. Almost all of San Francisco, and most of San Diego, is off-limits, she says. Some ordinances forbid offenders to even visit county parks and beaches.

Bellucci also wants to give some sex offenders a way off the registry. California is one of four states where sex offenders register for life, regardless of the seriousness of their crimes.

Bellucci has brought a professional sheen to the sex offenders' fight, writing talking-point memos, testifying before agencies and taking cities to court. And she's had some success: After she sued, a court stopped Simi Valley from requiring sex offenders to post signs on their front doors warning trick-or-treaters away on Halloween.

She casts her cause as a civil rights movement. During a conversation at her home, Bellucci referred to those on the list as "registrants" rather than sex offenders, and she quoted Gandhi and the Constitution.

"People don't like to hear me say it, but it's like how the Jews were treated in Nazi Germany," she said. "First they were told they were different, then they ended up in concentration camps."

No doubt this preposterous characterization is objectionable. Sex offenders are shunned for their conduct, not their status. And their conduct is often unspeakable.

But even a state advisory board acknowledges that post-release restrictions on sex offenders have gone too far. In an August 2011 report, the California Sex Offender Management Board said that one-third of the state's registered sex offenders are homeless, partly because of the housing limits.

There is no evidence that residence limits make children safer, the report said. "To the contrary, the evidence strongly suggests that residence restrictions are likely to have the unintended effect of increasing the likelihood of sexual re-offense," the report went on.

A particularly boneheaded example of overkill is the pocket park in Harbor Gateway. The park is being built not to serve families but to drive registered sex offenders out of a nearby apartment building, my colleague Angel Jennings reported.

I have no doubt Harbor Gateway needs a park. But what kind of a society builds parks not for children, but to chase sex offenders away?

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza put the issue on hold in March by ordering officials to stop enforcing restrictions on how close sex offenders can live to parks or schools. Bellucci argues the limits are unconstitutional, and Espinoza, in an earlier ruling, agreed.

Bellucci, 61, doesn't have a sex offender in the family, although she currently represents some in civil challenges. She came to the cause by chance. The man who installed her water purifier wrote a book about his years on the registry. She read it and was aghast.

The man, [name withheld], had molested a child more than 30 years earlier, when he was a raging alcoholic, Bellucci said. [name withheld] went on to build a business and become a civic activist. He was physically attacked by a vigilante who found his name and address on the registry, she said.

His case helped convince her that lifetime registration was wrong. Bellucci has stories about Everymen who wind up on the registry: the "Romeo and Juliet" cases of two teens, one underage, in a sexual relationship; the guy who urinates behind a bar or moons a crowd. Nobody seems to know how many fit this category.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has proposed a three-tiered registry that would enable lower-level offenders with otherwise clean records to get off in 10 to 20 years. Bellucci is lobbying for its passage.

"Sex offenders come from all walks of life," she said. "Some grew up in the ghetto, some grew up in Beverly Hills. They're like everybody else."

Really? I don't think so. Some undoubtedly made mistakes, but others are hardened offenders whom law enforcement would do well to track and monitor.

Just this week, [name withheld], 58, a registered sex offender, was arrested on suspicion of the home-invasion killing of an elderly San Bernardino woman. [name withheld]'  previous conviction was for sodomizing a child under age 14.

I don't see the purpose of the public registry. For this story, I went on the Megan's Law website for the first time and found several sex offenders in my neighborhood. It made my skin crawl, but is it useful to know exactly where they are or what they did? I am well aware sex offenders are in our midst, and I don't need the details to protect myself and my children.

Bellucci is convinced sex offenders can be rehabilitated. She cited a study of 2008 data by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation showing than of those who returned to prison, about 2% had committed another sex offense. Banishing them from normal society makes them more likely to repeat their crimes, she believes.

"We all do so much better when we have stability," Bellucci said. "It's ridiculous all the challenges that get thrown in front of sex offenders."

But we've all heard of the priests, Boy Scout leaders and teachers who molested multiple children before finally getting caught. The state corrections department acknowledges it can say with only 75% accuracy who is likely to commit a sex offense again, although it hopes to increase the odds with better assessments.

Bellucci is undeterred.

"The people I'm focused on already paid their debt to society," she said. "All I want for them is peace."

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WA - Sex offender halfway home holds 'open house'

Original Article

04/02/2013

By ELISA HAHN

On Tuesday, the Unity House in south Seattle opened its doors to the public, offering a rare look inside a sex offender halfway house.

Jim Tharpe, Unity House owner, looks at his home as an educational center for convicted sex offenders released from prison. The goal is to teach them to re-integrate back into society so they can get jobs and have a future.

"Bring about a learning experience for these men in a different way that helps them work with you in the long run," said Tharpe.

Tharpe says part of the home's success is community outreach and getting your neighbors to feel comfortable and safe. Unity House residents say that includes keeping the house clean and the grass cut.

"Keep your place looking good, keep your neighbors feeling safe about you," said Neil, one of the residents who has the duty of mowing the lawn. "And it helps."

Some of the visitors included residents from Puyallup and Marysville, who have been facing issues with sex offender housing.

"I'm impressed," said Puyallup City Manager Bill McDonald.

Last summer, neighbors and city administrators were caught off guard when a proposed "shared living facility" for ex-cons wanted to move into a residential area in Puyallup.

"Not on transit, poorly located, no resources," said McDonald. "They're going to need to engage the community."

Puyallup has been struggling to regulate sex offender housing, only to realize that the power lies at the state level.

State lawmakers are working on a new bill that would address problems with halfway houses under the Department of Corrections voucher program. ESB 5105 passed unanimously in the Senate and is now under consideration in the House.

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Overcoming housing barriers for sex offenders

Original Article

04/02/2013

By Robert Carter

Sex offenders remain some of the most difficult to place in the labor market

Release into the community from a correctional setting is a daily struggle, even when you have only been incarcerated for a short period. Many of the responsibilities and basic needs that were met while in the community are often much harder to gain back with a criminal background.

Policies regarding employment and housing of ex-convicts vary from state to state. There are varying perceptions in the philosophy of continued punishment, or allowing for those barriers to be overcome.

In addressing the constant and growing problem of the parolee population in terms of employment and housing, sex offenders remain some of the most difficult to place in the labor market. Finding appropriate and suitable housing in terms of their parole stipulations and landlord’s willingness to rent to current and prior felons remain some of the key issues.

Meeting parole requirements and other issues

Sex offenders often have additional parole stipulations, which make it even more difficult for them to find stable housing. Even if stable housing is found, it’s most likely found in a dangerous or crime-infested neighborhood, decreasing their chances for success in the community. Housing for sex offenders should be utilized through Prisoner Re-entry programs; the community as a whole needs to work with these organizations.

Typically, private landlords and transitional housing programs can alleviate the pressure on sex offenders in finding more stable housing. Also, working with parole agents who supervise these sex offenders can help establish an acceptable or felony-friendly housing list, which should be maintained by the parole agent, the landlords, or the non-profit organizations who provide the housing services.

Addressing parole stipulations is also important in understanding what barriers exist in sex offenders search for suitable housing. Typically, sex offenders are required to register at their local police and/or sheriff’s department quarterly and to register any new addresses, cars, places of employment, email addresses, and phone numbers.

This population also can only reside within a certain amount of feet from a school or playground. What I have seen is a sex offender must not reside with 1,000 – 2,000 feet of any school or playground.

Parole agents are the ones responsible for the housing placement of sex offenders and if proper housing is not located, they must remain in jail as is it against the law for them not to have an address. Homeless shelters now have been the main focus in the media due to varying concerns that sex offenders are staying their temporarily.
- This is not the case for many states and keeping them in jail beyond their sentence is wrong!  Just because politicians pass insane laws that make it almost impossible for an ex-sex offender to find a place to live or work, doesn't mean you can just keep them locked up, or it should mean that.

Some of these homeless shelters are within the 1,000 – 2,000 foot range of schools and parks set forth by most parole conditions amongst the sex offender population, however some judges have managed to set forth precedence allowing them to stay at the shelters.

A final issue with the residing within a school zone or park rule is that some schools or parks may even be closed, thus creating a need for exceptions to the rule to be made. If schools and parks are closed and there is no activity in the area from minors or families, why should this prevent them from residing within that area?

Working together to find solutions

It’s apparent after reading this article that the community as a whole needs to work together to provide housing resources to sex offenders re-entering the community.

Non-profit organizations, parole agents, private landlords, and church organizations are examples of community members that can help alleviate the pressures of those entering the community seeking stable and affordable housing.

Prisoner Re-entry programs in general need to address this concern regarding sex offenders as this will become a growing problem, especially since most of them will be released in the near future after serving a long sentence.

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WI - Methods for housing, tracking sex offenders under scrutiny

Original Article

We can tell you a good idea, take the sex offender registry offline (or eliminate it) to be used by police only, eliminate the residency restrictions, then most of the problems will not be problems. Crazy, we know, but politicians haven't thought of that idea either, because they don't want to look "soft" on ex-sex offenders who are trying to get on with their lives, yet the very laws they are having issues with, prevent that.

03/27/2013

By Gilman Halsted

State legislators are looking for ways to save money by improving Wisconsin’s system for housing and monitoring released sex offenders.

The joint legislative audit committee plans to investigate the cost of housing released sex offenders and tracking their whereabouts. The audit will also assess the effectiveness of the community notification system that alerts citizens that a sex offender is moving in to a neighborhood.

Don Mogenson of Manitowoc told the committee that in his community, the state is paying exorbitant rent to house offenders and doing a poor job of alerting the public about changes in an offender’s supervision status. He suggested the state put offenders on a farm where they can earn their way back into society: “We need to get these people into a productive life. Then maybe they can make a life for themselves. Walking around and having somebody watch them is not a way to make them productive.”

But the committee chair, Representative Samantha Kerkman, says even rural residents have a “not in my backyard” attitude about having sex offenders as neighbors: “When we have those discussions, even in my rural district, about placement … Even if they're in the middle of a cornfield in a farm, nobody wants them there either.”

Senator Kathleen Vinehout says she hopes the audit will produce solutions that previous legislatures have failed to come up with.

“We have a lot of legislators over the years that have been very concerned about sex offenders and we've added laws on top of laws to try and deal with the problems; but maybe this is a good time for us to look into it in detail and see if we're getting our money's worth.”
- That's your problem!  Adding unconstitutional law upon law to "solve" your problems will do nothing to actually solve your problems, it just creates more.  If you continue to do the same thing, you will continue to get the same outcome.  That is the definition of insanity!

The Department of Corrections has asked for a $2 million increase in sex offender program funding over the next two years.
- See our notes at the top, and you will save millions more!

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FL - Task force: Sex offender restrictions pointless

Original Article

03/22/2013

By Ben Wolford

WEST PALM BEACH - Harsh local restrictions on where sex offenders can live should be lifted, the Palm Beach County public defender said.

And prosecutors and law enforcement agreed.

Their consensus is a turn in the way safety officials think about regulating the movements of the most restricted class of ex-convicts. Dozens of sex offenders are homeless in Palm Beach County, sleeping outside on benches or under foliage, because living nowhere is easier than living somewhere.

Meanwhile, more than 100 sex offenders populate a remote cluster of duplexes, surrounded by sugar cane, two miles outside Pahokee. Known as Miracle Village, it is perhaps the most welcoming community for sex offenders in South Florida.
- Let's not forget the Julia Tuttle Causeway (YouTube) where at one time, over 100 ex-offenders were FORCED and TOLD to live.

"Any laws about public safety should be grounded in evidence-based policies, not by hysteria and misinformation," said Gail Colletta, president of the Florida Action Committee, which lobbies for restrictions that are based on the risk posed by each offender.

Colletta is also a member of a task force expected to recommend new residency restrictions to the county government. The Sex Offender Re-Entry Task Force, which includes lawyers, deputies, parole officers and elected officials, met Friday and heard from residents of Miracle Village.

"We took one of the worst parts of Pahokee and turned it into one of the safest parts of Pahokee," said Pat Powers, director of Matthew 25 Ministries, the Christian group that oversees Miracle Village.

Of the 909 registered sex offenders in Palm Beach County, 62 of them are homeless.

They report to their probation officers daily, and deputies with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office say they are easier to watch.

"They have to tell us where they're going to be at," said Rosalyn Baker, of the Department of Corrections. "The corner of this, the corner of that."

The state law on sex offender residency says they cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, park or playground. Palm Beach County further restricts them, pushing the zone to 2,500 feet. Some cities and villages flesh out the remaining patchwork of ordinances.

But residency means dwelling; it's where the offender sleeps between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Some of them, Baker said, could live near a school all day then leave at night.

Ultimately, the task force seems to agree, none of this is relevant. The residency restrictions offer merely a "semblance of protection," they argue.

"These residency restrictions have not been shown to be effective in reducing recidivism," Public Defender Carey Haughwout said.

The rate of recidivism among sex offenders nationally, studies show, is between 5 percent and 10 percent over a decade. One study in Minnesota determined that residency restrictions would not have prevented any of the 224 sex offenses researchers examined.

Although county law enforcement officials agree residency restrictions should be repealed, they insisted on the dangerousness of sex offenders. Five percent recidivism is still 5 percent, they said.

"We're talking about kids who have been raped and killed," Sheriff's Office Detective Kevin Umphrey said.

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WY - Dell Range sex offender housing plan nixed

Original Article

By Kelsey Bray

CHEYENNE - After residents said they wouldn't feel safe with a transitional sex offender house in their Dell Range Boulevard neighborhood, officials decided to pursue other options.

The program, called a shared living arrangement, would house three or more sex offenders recently released from prison. They would have been through inpatient treatment and would be responsible for rent and treatment costs.

The year-long program also would provide intensive supervision, counseling and treatment. It is part of an effort called “Transition From Prison to Community,” which helps inmates who are being released.

Officials had considered locating the program at 132 Dell Range Blvd. The site used to be an Oxford House, a home for people recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.

But several residents said the house was too close to day-care centers, parks and families with children to house sex offenders.

“There are a number of factors that the concerned neighbors we heard from raised,” said Steve Lindly, deputy director of the state Department of Corrections. “We determined in the end it wouldn’t be useful to have it at that location.”

For neighbors in the area, this was good news.

“I’m so relieved, because (officials) came into this not knowing the impact that the Oxford House had on our neighborhood,” Connie Moore said. “It used to be a neighborhood where nobody locked their doors. Now everyone has a security system.”

Neighbor Rosalind Schliske said the program was not a good fit for the area.

“The department of corrections has a difficult job, and I certainly understand that there’s a need for housing,” she said. “But to put it in a densely packed residential neighborhood wasn’t a good idea.”

Officials now will try to find another location for the program, which they say will help reduce recidivism and keep the public safer.

Kristy Oster is the department’s field services re-entry coordinator. She said they will look for locations in industrial areas, on the outskirts of town and with fewer children and day care centers.

“It’s going to be difficult to find a perfect location,” Oster said. “But those are things we’re going to be looking for.”

She added that the house can’t be too far out of town since it is hard for program participants to find transportation to and from work. It is also important that they are held accountable by community members.

“There are a lot of sex offenders that are amendable to treatment and can be held accountable,” she said.

Oster added that whatever location is looked at, they will make sure to notify people in that area.

“We’re hoping that if we can find a more conducive environment for this type of housing that we could still get people to join in with the overall goal of public safety,” she said.

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FL - Sex offender village grows out of residency restrictions

Original Article

03/21/2013

By Ben Wolford

PAHOKEE - Miracle Village is so remote, the residents compare themselves to lepers.

Two miles of sugar cane separate 100 men from nearby Pahokee, itself a flyspeck on the shores of Lake Okeechobee. They fill the skeleton shacks of an abandoned sugar-company town.

This is among the only places to live comfortably as a sex offender in South Florida. For many of these men, pushed to the fringe by residency restrictions, Miracle Village was the last net before homelessness.

"In the beginning, no one wanted us around," said Pat Powers, director of Matthew 25 Ministries, the Christian ministry that oversees about a dozen of the 65 dwellings on 24 acres. "But it's totally changed, now we're a part of the community."

Some of them had sex with their underage girlfriends. Some viewed child pornography. One resident, a leader in the ministry, was a teacher at a Palm Beach County school who confessed to molesting students.

Palm Beach County has established a task force to suggest ways to house and regulate the county's roughly 1,000 sex offenders. It has asked Powers, a sex offender himself, to share ideas at its meeting Friday.

Groups from as far as Texas and Alaska have sought Powers for advice. He said network film crews, drawn by the lurid possibility of a sex-offender colony, have descended on this outpost. Some, he said, left disappointed.

"We can't run it," he said they told him. "There's nothing controversial."

That was not true in 2009, when an aging evangelical pastor established Miracle Village, evicting families who lived there with children, and inviting more than 30 just-released sex offenders in the opening months.

It was halfway between two hostile places: prison and the public. It seemed perfect. But even two miles out Muck City Road, it seemed, was not far enough.

The Pahokee mayor at the time, Wayne Whitaker, told the Associated Press, "There's just too many in one place. It's very, very risky." Parents in the town complained of unease.

In Palm Beach and Broward counties, sex offenders are not allowed to reside near schools or parks, and many are further restricted by the terms of their probation.

"Municipalities and counties are in a race," said Dave Aronberg, Palm Beach County State Attorney. The race is "to push sex offenders into the neighboring communities."

"It becomes a competition."

But something changed in Pahokee. In three years, feelings shifted.

The controversial pastor died last year, and Powers, who had served 12 years on a lewd and lascivious conviction, assumed leadership. The sex offenders patronized local shops. Local officials made visits. Some of the tenants have built relationships with the local Methodist church.

"One of them plays the piano in the choir, one of them bakes the cakes," said Rose Herron, an 86-year-old churchgoer with white hair and a cross on her necklace.

The Rev. Patti Aupperlee, pastor of First United Methodist Church, said she takes certain precautions, including leaving the drapes of her office open, and said she has a close relationship with law enforcement. She said there was a recent incident, but declined to describe it.

She believes in forgiveness and human imperfection and second chances.

"When you see a pack of dogs, automatically you think 'attack' without knowing any of the individuals," Aupperlee said.

Pahokee Mayor J.P. Sasser said he knows several of the men personally through the church. He said they "are actually making a positive contribution to the community."

Powers said the recidivism rate among his tenants is nonexistent. This could not be confirmed; the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office did not respond to a request for crime rates among Miracle Village residents. In general, recidivism among sex offenders is between 5 percent and 10 percent over time, according to a recent Justice Department study.

Residents often talk about Miracle Village as though it was a person who saved their lives.

At 19, [name withheld] had a 14-year-old girlfriend. He served six months in a Brevard County jail then came here. Now 22, [name withheld]  who plays the drums and Guitar Hero in his duplex, says Miracle Village is a place where his label — sex offender — does not interfere with his relationships.

"It was a blessing," he said.

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Not sure where to start

The following was sent to us via the contact form and posted with the users permission. The name has been abbreviated for their own protection.

By L:
First, I want to say thank you for creating and maintaining this blog. I am glad to know I am not alone in the commitment I've recently embarked on to help sex offenders.

I am finding resources to create a program for sex offenders to find housing and employment, as well as to develop an understanding of how their actions affect society and other human beings, be accountable and people of integrity and then to help others who are struggling with the same feelings and desires.

Why is this my passion? I am a 31-year-old woman who realized 2 years ago I'd be molested by my grandfather during the majority of my childhood. I've experienced molestation, rape and sexual abuse many times. I believe the only way the issue of sexual victimization can be curbed is through forgiveness of offenders by victims and by sex offenders being accountable and having a voice.

I want to help sex offenders because in doing so, perhaps less children will deal with the experiences I have dealt with. There are tons of resources for victims and very few for offenders.

I hope to hear back from you regarding what is currently available so that it can be built upon.

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