FL - Jury convicts ex-Miramar police captain (Juan De Los Rios) of ordering girl, 15, to expose herself

Juan De Los Rios

Original Article

Yet another officer from Florida who has committed a sex crime. The list is growing.

05/17/2013

By Tonya Alanez

Not only did the Miramar police captain order a 15-year-old girl to pull down her pants and underwear to prove she wasn't having sex in the backseat of a car, but with a flashlight in hand he directed her to spread wider so he could get a better look, a prosecutor said in closing arguments Friday.

It took a Broward jury exactly two hours Friday evening to reach a unanimous decision to convict Juan De Los Rios, now retired, of one count of lewd and lascivious conduct for making the girl expose her genitals. They acquitted him of another count that accused him of directing the girl to expose her breasts.

De Los Rios, 47, stood and took the verdict stoically, his hands clasped in front of him. He was immediately handcuffed, fingerprinted and taken to the Main Jail.

De Los Rios faces 15 years in prison at his June 7 sentencing before Broward Circuit Judge Lynn Rosenthal.

The chief of the Miramar Police Department was quick to distance the agency from the now convicted captain, issuing a statement within an hour of the verdict that called De Los Rios' actions "abhorrent" and an aberration within the force.

"I want to extend my deepest sympathies to the victim and those who were affected by this unfortunate incident," Chief Ray Black said. "No member of the department is above the law and any report of such officer abuse of authority will be thoroughly investigated, and if wrongdoing is found, appropriate measures will be taken."

On Jan. 18, 2012, De Los Rios encountered the girl and her boyfriend, 19, making out in the backseat of a car in the parking lot of the Fountains of Miramar on Dykes Road. It was about 2 p.m.

"This was a person of authority saying, 'Drop your pants, spread your legs," prosecutor Adriana Alcalde-Padron said. "He took advantage of his position."

Earlier in the week, the girl, now 16, testified that she was humiliated and intimidated and complied because he was a cop. Her boyfriend's testimony matched hers.

"This is a fantastic tale" concocted to cover up the couple's "illicit relationship," Juan De Los Rios' defense attorney, Alberto Milian said, emphasizing that the couple initially lied about the nature of their relationship and how long they'd known each other.

Milian argued that the girl's boyfriend, Steven Gaynor, should have been prosecuted for engaging in an ongoing sexual relationship with a minor rather than receiving immunity in exchange for his testimony.

But Alcalde-Padron said: "We have to weigh what's more important in this case. This case is not about [the couple's] illegal relationship, this case is about the government abusing its power with this young, vulnerable girl."

De Los Rios retired about a month after his June 2012 arrest.

Video Link | Additional Video

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DC - US: More Harm Than Good (Human Rights Watch)

Original Article

Most of what is said below applies to adults offenders as well.

05/01/2013

Exempt Youth Sex Offenders From Registration Laws

Washington - Harsh public registration laws often punish youth sex offenders for life and do little to protect public safety, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. A web of federal and state laws apply to people under 18 who have committed any of a wide range of sex offenses, from the very serious, like rape, to the relatively innocuous, such as public nudity.

The 111-page report (PDF), “Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US,” details the harm public registration laws cause for youth sex offenders. The laws, which can apply for decades or even a lifetime and are layered on top of time in prison or juvenile detention, require placing offenders’ personal information on online registries, often making them targets for harassment, humiliation, and even violence. The laws also severely restrict where, and with whom, youth sex offenders may live, work, attend school, or even spend time.

"Of course anyone responsible for a sexual assault should be held accountable,” said Nicole Pittman, Soros Senior Justice Advocacy Fellow at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “But punishment should fit both the offense and the offender, and placing children who commit sex offenses on a public registry – often for life – can cause more harm than good.”

States and the federal government should exempt people who commit sex offenses when they are under age 18 from public registration laws because the laws violate youth offenders’ basic rights. Available research indicates that youth sex offenders are among the least likely to reoffend.

Video Link

During 16 months of investigation, Human Rights Watch interviewed 281 youth sex offenders, whose median age at offense was 15, across 20 states, as well as hundreds of offenders’ family members, defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officials, experts on the topic, and victims of child-on-child sexual assault.

“I'm a ghost,” said “Dominic G.,” of San Antonio, Texas, who was required to register for an offense he committed when he was 13. “I can’t put my name on a lease, I never receive mail. No one cares if I am alive. In fact, I think they would prefer me dead.”

Throughout the United States, youth sex offenders must comply with a complex array of legal requirements that permeate virtually every aspect of their lives. Under registration laws, they must register with law enforcement, providing their name, home address, place of employment, school address, a current photograph, and other personal information. Under community notification laws, the police make this information accessible to the public, typically via the Internet.

And under residency restriction laws, youth sex offenders are prohibited from living within a designated distance – typically 500 to 2,500 feet – of places where children gather, such as schools, playgrounds, parks, and even bus stops.

There are no comprehensive statistics for the number of people under 18 in the US who are subject to these registration laws, because the national statistics generally do not separate youth sex offenders from others. Each state, US territory, and federally recognized Indian Tribe has its own set of sex offender laws, which can vary considerably, and a number of federal laws also contain requirements affecting youth sex offenders.

In 2011, the last year for which there are complete statistics, the total number of sex offenders nationally was 747,000.

The majority of youth sex offenders interviewed by Human Rights Watch were placed on a registry between 2007 and 2011, but since some state registration laws have been in place for nearly two decades, large numbers of people in the US who began registering as children are now well into adulthood. Their offenses can range from heinous crimes like rape, to consensual sex between children, to relatively innocuous actions like public nudity.

“Many people assume that anyone listed on the sex offender registry must be a rapist or a pedophile,” Pittman said. “But most states spread the net much more widely.”

The report documents the numerous ways in which youth sex offenders are harmed by registration, community notification, and residency restriction laws. Youth sex offenders are stigmatized and publicly humiliated, often causing them to become depressed and even suicidal. They may become targets of harassment and vigilante violence.

Barred from spending time near a school, much less in one, they often struggle to continue their education. Many have a hard time finding – and keeping – a job, or a home. And if they miss a deadline to register, youth sex offenders can find themselves in prison, often for lengthy terms.

Sex offender laws are designed to protect communities from sex offenses by helping police monitor past offenders. But including youth sex offenders on registries assumes that they are highly likely to reoffend, which is not the case. Numerous studies estimate the recidivism rate among children who commit sexual offenses to be between 4 and 10 percent, compared with a 13 percent rate for adult sex offenders and a national rate of 45 percent for all crimes.

The laws further assume that children are essentially younger versions of adults. However, psychological and neuroscientific research confirms that children, including teenagers, act more irrationally and immaturely than adults and should not be held to the same standard of culpability. Likewise, research indicates that children are more likely to respond to rehabilitation and treatment.

Furthermore, requiring a wide range of sex offenders to register overburdens law enforcement with large numbers of people to monitor, undifferentiated by the public safety threat they pose.

States and the federal government should exempt youth sex offenders from both registration and community notification requirements. Short of a full exemption, states should remove all youth sex offenders from registration schemes that are not specifically tailored to take account of the nature of their offense, the risk they pose – if any – to public safety, their particular developmental and cognitive characteristics, their needs for treatment, and their potential for rehabilitation.

“Painting all sex offenders with the same broad brush stymies law enforcement’s attempts to focus on the most dangerous offenders and defeats what every parent knows about how children act and how they mature,” Pittman said. “Exempting youth from harsh registration laws would both respect their rights and ability to change and improve public safety.”

See Also:

• Sex-offender registries: Should kids be listed?

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The following are quotes from youth sex offenders and others interviewed by Human Rights Watch or contained in documents Human Rights Watch reviewed. Names of registered youth sex offenders and their family members have been abbreviated or replaced with pseudonyms to protect their privacy.

“I live in a general sense of hopelessness, and combat suicidal thoughts almost daily due to the life sentence [registration] and punishment of being a registrant. The stigma and shame will never fully go away, people will always remember.”
– Christian W., who was required to register as a sex offender for an offense committed at age 14. Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“Under the law at the time, he was looking at being put on the public registry when he turned 18. His picture, address and information on the Web.... He just couldn’t bear it.”
– Julia L., mother of Nathan L., who was convicted of a sex offense at 12 and committed suicide at 17. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

“Everyone in the community knew he was on the sex offender registry, it didn’t matter to them that he was removed.... [T]he damage was already done. You can’t un-ring the bell.”
– Elizabeth M., mother of Noah M., who was convicted of a sex offense at 12 and committed suicide at 17, after being removed from the registry in Michigan. Flint, Michigan.

“Suicide [among children placed on sex offender registries] is a possibility ... even predictable.”
– David S. Prescott, a social worker and expert on treatment strategies for youth sex offenders.

“A member of the community made flyers that said ‘Beware - Sex Offender in the Neighborhood.’ The flyers, with my grade school picture, offense, and address, were posted all over the place.”
– Nicholas T., placed on the registry at age 16. Portland, Oregon.

“A few months after [Max] went on the registry the local newspaper ran a Halloween story entitled ‘Know where the Monsters are Hiding,’ warning families to beware of the registered sex offenders in the neighborhood when taking their little ones out to go trick-or-treating. The article listed all the sex offenders in our town. Max’s name and address was listed.”
– Bruce W., father of a youth sex offender who started registering at 10. Weatherford, Texas.

“The police always expect you are the worst of the worst sex offenders and so they treat you that way. Most of them look down on you as if you are the scum of the earth.”
– Elijah B., placed on the registry at age 16. Houston, Texas.

“My son’s life was ruined before he even turned 18 years old. Due to the burden of registration my son dropped out of school, he is afraid to leave the house, and he cannot get a job interview. He has not committed any new crimes yet this is holding him back from becoming a good member of society.”
– Tony K., father of a child placed on the registry at 17. Kansas City, Missouri.

“Once while attempting to register my address, a police officer refused to give me the paperwork and instead stated, ‘We’re just taking your kind out back and shooting them.’”
– Maya R., placed on the registry for an offense committed at age 10. Howell, Michigan.

“It makes people very angry. My brother, who looks like me, was once harassed and nearly beaten to death by a drunk neighbor who thought he was me.”
– Isaac E., who started registering at 12. Spokane, Washington.

“One time a man from one of those cars yelled ‘child molester’ at me.” A week later several bullets were fired from a car driving by. “The bullets went through the living room window as my family and me watched T.V.”
– Camilo F., registrant since age 14. Gainesville, Florida.

“I was in the [school] parking lot and this truck drove by and started throwing beer bottles at me. I had to run inside. They yelled, ‘Get out of our school, you child molester! I wish I could kill you!’”
– Joshua G., placed on the registry for an offense committed at age 12. Dallas, Texas.

“Neighbors harassed our family. We later found out that one of the neighbors shot our family dog.”
– Jasmine A., mother of Zachary S., who has been on the registry since age 11. Dallas, Texas.

“For sex offenders, our mistake is forever available to the world to see. There is no redemption, no forgiveness. You are never done serving your time. There is never a chance for a fresh start. You are finished. I wish I was executed, because my life is basically over.”
– Austin S., who started registering at age 14. Denham Springs, Louisiana.

“My ten years of registration was supposed to end on September 27, 2012. It is now 2013 and I am still on the state website and all those other registration sites. I feel like it will never end.”
– Diego G., placed on the registry at age 10. Houston, Texas.

“Because of sex offender restrictions my family had to be divided up. I could not live with children. My father stayed in our house with my younger brother. My mother and me moved in with my grandparents two hours away.”
– Sebastian S., youth sex offender who started registering at age 10. Laredo, Texas.

“I worry about my two little children, ages 4 and 2, having to live in a publicly identified house and having to pay this lifelong price for something that happened years before they were born. I want to be involved in their lives but I also want them to be able to live free to be who they are without having to carry such a burden.”
– Jerry M., who started registering at 11. Wilmington, Delaware.

“With parents often the targets of blame for the sins of their children, parents of sex offenders can experience just as much fear, shame, and paranoia as their children.
– David Prescott, a social worker and expert on treatment strategies for youth sex offenders.

“I have found a few places to rent but as soon as we move in the police and neighbors harass us until we get evicted. They keep us homeless. I am banned from living in a homeless shelter.”
– Aaron I., Florida registrant since age 15. Palm Beach, Florida.

“I get hired and fired from so many jobs. I can usually keep a job for a few weeks until the employer’s name and address goes up on the sex offender registry [because registrants must provide this information]. Employers say it’s ‘bad for business’ to keep me on.”
– Elijah B., placed on the registry at 16. Houston, Texas.

“Employment is difficult. I have to support my wife and kids. I estimate that between January to April 2012 I have applied for 250 positions.”
– Joshua G., placed on the registry for an offense committed at age 12. Dallas, Texas.

“I have to look at a map before I walk anywhere. I can be arrested if I am walking anywhere near a school or park.”
– Blake G., a registrant for an offense committed at age 15. Citrus, Florida.

“These fees are associated with the registrant wherever he goes for the rest of his life. They are forever a tax on his life.”
– Ethan Ashley, attorney for James O., a youth sex offender.

“The most recent laws dilute the effectiveness of the registry as a public safety tool, by flooding it with thousands of low risk offenders like children, the vast majority of whom will never commit another sex offense.”
– Detective Bob Shilling, a former chief detective in charge of the Seattle Sex Crimes Unit responsible for making home visits to registered sex offenders.

“We cast the net widely to make sure we got all the sex offenders ... it turns out that really only a small percentage of people convicted of sex offenses pose a true danger to the public.”
– Ray Allen, a former Texas legislator and former chairman of the Texas House Corrections Committee– who once helped push tougher sex offender registration bills into law – admitting that he and his colleagues went too far.

“[O]n many state sex-offender web sites, you can find juveniles’ photos, names and addresses, and in some cases their birth dates and maps to their homes, alongside those of pedophiles and adult rapists.”
– Brenda V. Smith, a law professor and the director of the National Institute of Corrections Project on Addressing Prison Rape at American University’s Washington College of Law.

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FL - Pocket parks aren't made for children: they're designed for sex offenders

Original Article

Take the poll at the link above.

04/25/2013

By Anne Schindler

Twenty-four years ago, Donavon Lace was charged with committing a lewd and lascivious act on a 16-year-old girl. As he describes it, "It was a consensual sex act at a party."

He was 18 at the time, and the judge in the case withheld adjudication; Lace was given a sentence of probation. But after a marriage, and some time living in Colorado, he was contacted by Florida corrections officials.

"Then 2006 comes and they tell me I need to register," he recalls. "'What are you talking about?'"
- And that is ex post facto, unconstitutional, additional punishment.

Since then, Lace -- not his real name-- has been a registered sex offender. And the impact has been profound.

"So now I'm ostracized from my neighborhood."

Not just his own. In the state of Florida, sex offenders are required to live at least 1,000 feet from schools and day cares. Cities like Jacksonville and Miami required a more restrictive 2,500 feet.

"They drive these people out with things called pocket parks."

So-called Pocket Parks are the latest tool used to keep sex offenders at bay.

"It could be one swing," said Maria Kayanan, associate legal director of the of the ACLU of Florida. "It could be one rocking horse."

That's all that's been built at the Pocket Park in the Shorecrest neighborhood of Miami. Built on tiny lots in a residential neighborhood, the playground was designed to invoke setbacks that limit the footprint where sex offenders can find housing.

"You get clusters of sex offenders," said Kayanan, "and that causes the public outcry."
- You get clusters due to stupid ideas like this and the residency laws.  If you don't like it, repeal the residency laws.

That's exactly what happened in one Jacksonville neighborhood. In October, First Coast News' Heather Crawford profiled the Fairfield area north of downtown, where clustering has become a serious issue.

In just a 1-mile radius around John Love Elementary, there are more than 108 registered sex offenders and predators.

Putting in a pocket park would not affect sex offenders who already live in an area. But it would prevent new offenders from moving in. But that can create a whole new set of problems.

"When you make it impossible for anyone -- sex offender, sexual predator -- to have a stable residence, to have regular monitoring, they tend to go underground. They tend to abscond, they tend to re-offend."

The numbers may attest to that. There are currently 83 homeless sex offenders in Duval County and 1,200 in the state of Florida.

"You can't track a transient resident," Lace said. "That's the meaning of transient. 'Where do you live?' 'Nowhere!'"

For years, Miami was known for a massive homeless encampment under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, which became one of the few places sex offenders could legally live.

After that encampment was disbanded in 2010 (Video), many relocated to a vacant street corner lot in Shorecrest.

"At night it would become tent village," said Ken Jett, president of the Shorecrest Homeowners Association.

"Some had nothing but sleeping bags, some had tents. Sometimes even just a chair." said Mina Kuhn, Shorecrest HOA member.

Since the pocket park went in nearby, sex offenders no longer sleep at the corner. But they have not left Shorecrest. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement map shows the offenders are still living here, and still listed as local transients.

For Shorecrest residents, the pocket park served its purpose. But it didn't solve the problem.
- Of course it didn't solve anything! It just forces them to move from one place to another.  Are they going to continue to open these stupid pocket parks until there is nowhere to live at all?  We are sure that is what they will do.

"It's displacing the issue," said Jett.

While Lace hates what the registry has done to him, he supports them -- and residency setbacks -- in the case of child sexual predators. He was himself a victim of childhood rape.
- We do not support online registries of any kind, they need to be taken offline and used by police only to prevent vigilantism, which is a rising problem across the world where a registry is online.

"I have no love for anyone would ever harm a child," he said. "I don't want anyone to experience what I experienced."

But he insists the sexual assault was nowhere near as traumatic as his years on the registry.

"I am not scarred for life from that incident. What scarred me for life is the Adam Walsh act. If you want to talk about scars."

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GA - Bill would lighten teen sexting penalty in Georgia

Original Article

04/18/2013

By Tim Omarzu

The age of consent is 16 in Georgia.

But teens can face felony child pornography charges for "sexting," or sending one another nude photos via cellphone.

That would change under legislation sponsored by state Rep. Jay Neal, R-Chickamauga, that would make it a misdemeanor for someone at least 14 years old willingly to send a sexually explicit photo to someone who's 18 or younger.

"We don't want to criminalize stupid teenage behavior," said Neal, who referred to it as a "Romeo and Juliet clause."

"We don't want to make a felony out of it. It would still be a misdemeanor." said Neal, who preaches occasionally at his church in Ringgold, Ga. "We certainly are not encouraging that type of behavior. We still wanted them to understand it is not appropriate."

Under the bill, it still would be a felony for a teen -- for example, after a bitter break-up -- to distribute the explicit photos to harass, intimidate or embarrass another teen, or for commercial purposes.

Neal's House Bill 156 (PDF) passed the state House and Senate without a single vote in opposition. He expects Gov. Nathan Deal will sign it.Catoosa County, Ga., Sheriff Gary Sisk said he doesn't have any "heartburn" over the bill.

"It's more of a moral issue, not a criminal issue," he said. "We're not talking about pedophiles."

"The age of consent is 16," Sisk said. "Two 17-year-olds could have sex, and it's not against the law. But if one of them decided to take [and send an explicit] picture of themselves, they would now be in violation of the law."

A teen convicted of felony sexting would have to register as a sex offender, Sisk said.

"That stays with them for the rest of their lives," he said.

Walker County, Ga., Sheriff Steve Wilson said a felony conviction can limit a person's college and career options.

"It's like a ball and chain around your ankle," he said.

"The question is, should they get a break and not be charged with a felony?" Wilson asked. "I think so. I think they should probably be slapped with a misdemeanor."

"Right now, a D.A. had no other options than either to turn the other cheek or prosecute some serious felonies," Sisk said.

Lawmakers in other states have considered similar legislation. In 2009, Utah was one of the first states to make teen sexting a misdemeanor, not a felony.

Neal's bill also makes it illegal for someone to use online services to contact a child's parents or guardian to arrange to have sex with a child. Current law only makes it illegal for an adult to solicit the child directly or someone the adult believes is the child.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation asked Neal to introduce that.

"It closed that loophole," Neal said.

Video Link

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IA - Sex Offender Parole Sentencing

Original Article

04/15/2013

By CLAY MASTERS

The Iowa sex offender registry includes people within a wide range of offenses, and some lobbyists here at the capitol are asking the question: Should all sex offenders be put under lifetime parole sentences?

A bill that has sailed through the Senate would allow sex offenders to have lifetime parole sentences lifted under specific circumstances, including so-called "Romeo and Juliet" cases. We talk with [name withheld], a sex offender and a former lobbyist for the bill and hear his story. We also hear from Randall Wilson, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa who works with sex offenders on their constitutional rights, Karin Hamilton, a Public Service Executive at the Iowa Department of Public Safety, and Nicole Merrill a staff attorney at the Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

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IL - Bolingbrook Man Wants Neighbors to Know He's Not a Sex Offender

Original Article

Once again, more proof the registry is used to harass ex-offenders, and in this case, innocent people. And the mug shot sites having outdated information causing innocent people harm. This is why the online registry needs to be taken offline and used by police only, and all the mug shot sites need to be taken down.  This is also why you should not trust any site showing criminal records if they are not government run, and even then things could be wrong!

04/12/2013

By Melissa Sersland

A Bolingbrook resident living in the former home of a registered child sex offender has received verbal insults and obscene gestures from passersby.

When Fred Cook moved into his Bolingbrook home a few years ago, he noticed something very strange.

When he would stand outside his home at Briarcliff Road and Route 53, the passengers in passing cars would give him dirty looks. Some would flip him off.

Over time, he noticed the attention becoming more hostile. People started yelling at him.

Once, while he was playing with his daughter in the front yard, someone shouted out the window, "Run girl, run!"

Cook lives in the former home of a registered child sex offender. This offender, named [name withheld], was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 14-year-old when he was 18.

[name withheld] became non-compliant and failed to update Illinois authorities about his whereabouts, as is required by law. Unfortunately for Cook, the Bolingbrook address was still listed in the Illinois Child Sex Offender Registry and other sites that list sex offender records, like "bustedoffenders.com."

On multiple occasions, Cook said, police would arrive at his home looking for [name withheld].  Cook would prove that he was not [name withheld], who is a 5'5" redhead. Then he would have to prove that [name withheld] did not still live in the home.

It took months, he said, of contacting several law enforcement agencies to have the Illinois Child Sex Offender Registry site updated with [name withheld]'s true location -- Gaylord, MI.

Cook said he supports informing the community where sex offenders live, but he wants that information to be correct.

His address is still listed on these websites:

• bustedoffenders.com
• homefacts.com
• sexoffenderin.com
• poedit.org

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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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IA - ‘Romeo and Juliet’ sex offenders could see shorter parole sentences under legislation advancing in Iowa House

Original Article

03/27/2013

By Jason Noble

Teenagers convicted of sex crimes for engaging in consensual relationships with younger teens could have their lifetime parole lifted under legislation advancing in the Iowa House.

The bill is being pushed by a Davenport man who was convicted of lascivious acts with a child following what he describes as a short, consensual relationship with a 13-year-old high school freshman while he was an 18-year-old high school senior in 2008.

The conviction has placed [name withheld], who appeared before lawmakers in a series of hearings on Wednesday, on lifetime parole, requiring him to check in regularly with a parole officer, limiting his contact with his own son and effectively banning him even from family functions in which children are present.

“I’m wanting to move on with my life and I’m wanting to raise my son,” said [name withheld]  who’s now 23. “That’s the main cause for me being up here – to raise my child.”

Under Senate File 385 (PDF), [name withheld] and offenders with similar backgrounds could receive an early discharge from lifetime parole, removing the restrictions on their movements and interactions with children. It also could allow their removal from the state sex offender registry.

The process would run through the courts system, giving judges discretion to allow or deny the discharge and offering victims an opportunity to testify. To be eligible, offenders would have to complete sex offender treatment and be rated as a low risk to reoffend.

Democrats and Republicans alike were largely in favor of the change. Bill handler Joel Fry, R-Osceola, described it as a necessary correction to aspects of current law that burden young offenders for life.

“This bill is an (attempt) to try and rectify some legislation that took place a number of years ago that cast a very wide net,” Fry said. “Many people have gotten trapped under this law, and there are not able to be with children today and not able to get certain occupations or jobs because of that.”

The measure won approval in both a House public safety subcommittee and the full Public Safety Committee on Wednesday. It’s already passed the Senate, meaning approval on the House floor could move it to Gov. Terry Branstad to be signed into law.

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MO - Editorial: Time to retool sex offender registry

Original Article

04/02/2013

Replacing Missouri’s punitive and catch-all sex offender registry with a more selective list is the right way for the state to go in addressing a serious problem.

Two bills (HB-462, HB-589) that are working their way through the Missouri Legislature seek to replace the current registry, which does not give offenders in most cases an opportunity to be taken off it, with registries that would ultimately give many offenders on the list that chance.

One of the problems with the current registry is that it does not discriminate among the types of offenses that result in a person being scarred for life with the sex offender tag.

As a result, it diminishes public perception of the severity of the crimes committed by serious offenders by lumping them in with people who have committed less severe crimes.

One example of lesser crimes is the so-called “Romeo and Juliet” offender, which generally refers to older teenagers who had consensual sex with a minor, usually a younger teen. The Missouri Highway Patrol, which manages the sex offender registry, has calculated that about 631 people would immediately be removed from the list if one of the bills, sponsored by Rep. Don Phillips, R-Kimberling City, was signed into law.

The sex offender registry is not intended to be a blotch forever on the reputations of such people. The point of the registry is to allow government authorities — and citizens — to keep track of the residence and activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences, to make it more difficult for them to repeat their crimes.
- But statistics already show that ex-sex offenders already have a very low re-offense rate and are not likely to commit another related crime, if you'd look, and the online registry is nothing more than an online hit-list for vigilantes to use to target for harassment ex-offenders, their families and even innocent people, which many examples can be seen here.

Video Link

The information on the registry is available to the general public via a website maintained by the Highway Patrol. It includes the offender’s current address, place of employment, type of vehicle registered to him (an overwhelming number of offenders are hims) and the person’s criminal history.

Critics say the registry net is cast too wide, and they advocate the scalpel rather than the meat ax approach. Being listed on the registry can ruin people’s lives, making it difficult for them to get jobs, more likely to be harassed by neighbors and co-workers or to be targeted by law enforcement authorities.

An academic in the field, Wayne Logan, a professor at Florida State University law school, says there isn’t even agreement about whether registries serve as the deterrents they are intended to be.

Mr. Logan, who also has written a book about criminal registries and notification laws, was quoted in a front-page story in Monday’s Post-Dispatch by reporters Virginia Young and Stephen Deere. He said a recent study shows that while registries can serve as a deterrent, they can also promote recidivism by making life too difficult for the offender.

“They can never get out from that shadow,” Mr. Logan said.

The registry can be used to subject listed offenders to housing restrictions and parole or probation restrictions that don’t apply to others, such as being in the presence of minors, living in proximity to schools or day care centers, owning objects of interest to minors or use of the Internet.

Another reason to retool the registry is the cost of maintaining it.

Mr. Phillips, a retired highway patrolman, said his bill would keep minor offenders off the registry and would allow nearly a third of about 14,000 people currently on it to petition for removal within 20 years.

His bill has support from the Missouri Sheriffs Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri and Missouri Kids First, a statewide organization that works to prevent child abuse.

County sheriffs who support the bill say they have limited resources to track the growing list of offenders and that by cutting back on the number of those on the list, they would be better able to concentrate on dangerous offenders.

The other bill that also has made it out of the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee is sponsored by Rep. Dave Hinson, R-St. Clair. While it shares some of the same ideas for redesigning the registry, it is more far-reaching and would give all offenders a chance to petition for removal.

It also would require mental health exams and be too expensive to administer. Mr. Phillips’ bill, HB462, is the better approach.

While there seems to be legislative consensus that the sex offender registry needs work, the method of getting there has not yet been determined. With the state’s criminal code also in need of reform for many of the same reasons, it’s heartening to see that the Legislature realizes the blunt approach to crime isn’t always the best approach.

See Also:

• Missouri considering changing its sex offender registry rules

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IA - Sex offender faces charge after lobbying legislators

Original Article

04/02/2013

A registered sex offender from Davenport has been charged with failing to register his employment as a lobbyist in Des Moines and faces up to two years in prison.

[name withheld], 24, who is on the Iowa registry for a 2008 conviction for lascivious acts with a minor victim, told the Quad-City Times on Tuesday that the failure to register charge filed late last week is a misunderstanding.

He said he has spent months trying to lobby on behalf of legislation aimed at lifting lifetime parole status for some teenagers, himself included, who were convicted of sex crimes.

He added he isn’t being paid to be a lobbyist.

“They consider my being a lobbyist as a job,” [name withheld] said.

According to his arrest affidavit, [name withheld] is required to register within five business days any change in employment. Beginning March 6, [name withheld] lobbied at the Iowa State Capitol on behalf of the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators, Iowa Safe Kids and Judicial Retirement System, the affidavit states.

He also had active declarations on one House file and several Senate bills, the affidavit states. One of the Senate bills proposes changes to the Sex Offender Registry.

His name was removed from the state’s lobbying records last week.

House Chief Clerk Carmine Boal, who supervises the list of lobbyists registered at the House, said [name withheld] was lobbying as an individual and claiming to represent the three organizations. She said the organizations never hired [name withheld] and didn’t know his name was attached with theirs on any legislation.

“This is very unusual,” Boal said. “We have not had someone come in and claim to be part of an organization, lobby for an organization and the organization had no idea. I don’t think that’s ever happened.”

She said anyone who wants to lobby the state is required to register. Most lobbyists are hired or work on contract with various organizations. Citizens can lobby the state on any pending legislation, but they also must register, she added.

“He just didn’t know how it worked,” Boal said.

[name withheld] said that although he registered as a lobbyist, he included the three organizations on his form because he had an “interest” in them. He insisted he’s never had a “binding contract” with the organizations and has never tried to pass himself off as their representative.

“He’s not lobbying for us,” Jake Fredrickson, spokesman for the state treasurer’s office, which oversees the Judicial Retirement System, said.

“He’s a confused gentleman,” Fredrickson said. “He thought he was registering for something he was interested in. It’s more a case of confusion than actual malice.”

A message left Tuesday at Iowa Network of Christian Home Educators wasn’t returned. An Iowa Safe Kids spokesman couldn’t be reached for comment.

Scott County Sheriff’s Detective Peter Bawden, who supervises the county’s 322 registered sex offenders, said that although sex offenders aren’t barred from being lobbyists, they have to register what they’re doing whether they’re getting paid for it or not. Even volunteer activities must be reported as changes in employment status, Bawden added.

“As soon as he started working as a lobbyist, that’s what got him in trouble,” Bawden said. “The charge definitely does fit.”

Bawden said he was alerted by someone in Des Moines who was aware [name withheld] is a sex offender.

A first offense failure to register is an aggravated misdemeanor. [name withheld] was arrested Friday and spent 45 minutes in the Scott County Jail.

His attorney, Cathy Cartee of Davenport, said she’s fighting the charge.

“He’s not required to register as a lobbyist, not unless it’s his job,” Cartee said. “He wasn’t getting paid.”

[name withheld] was put on the Sex Offender Registry for life for something he called a “youthful mistake.” [name withheld] said he was an 18-year-old senior at Central High School when he had a consensual sexual encounter with a 13-year-old freshman at another school. He added that at the time he thought the girl was 16.

“They teach you how to put on a condom,” he said. “They don’t teach you to check the girl’s ID.”

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MO - Public Safety or Endless Punishment? Should sex offenders be listed on a public registry for life?

Original Article

04/01/2013

By Virginia Young

[name withheld] fears he will forever occupy a shameful sliver of cyberspace known as the sex offender registry.

Type in his name in the state’s search engine, and you can see where he lives and works, the cars he drives, along with the crime he committed more than a decade ago: Possession of child pornography — then a misdemeanor.

The registry, [name withheld] said, has cost him jobs, prompted neighbors to distribute fliers about him, and led to his arrest on a trespassing charge last fall when dropping his teenage son off at school.

“At 25, my life basically was over,” said [name withheld], now 36.

[name withheld], however, sees hope in proposed changes to the registry that legislators are debating in Jefferson City.

A diverse smattering of groups — from law enforcement officials to victims advocates — have argued that the current registry, which requires most offenders to register for life, is too much of a blunt instrument.

“They’re all lumped into one category and they all get a life sentence,” said Rep. Don Phillips, R-Kimberling City.

Phillips, a retired highway patrolman, is sponsoring a bill that would keep minor offenses off the registry and allow nearly a third of the roughly 14,000 people on the registry to petition for removal from the list within the next 20 years.

A more far-reaching proposal, sponsored by Rep. Dave Hinson, R-St. Clair, would give all offenders on the list a chance to petition for removal from the list eventually. How long they have to wait would be determined by individual “risk assessment reports” done by mental health professionals.

Both bills have made it out of the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee, leaving Republican legislative leaders to decide which bill to present to the full House.

Some lawmakers have qualms about loosening requirements for the registry. Rep. Kenneth Wilson, R-Smithville, and a former police chief, said he “spent a career defending the public, and I think we’ve absolutely ignored a segment of our public, that being the victim.”

The proposals come at time when states across the nation are taking hard looks at their registries.

Most are moving toward more stringent requirements to comply with federal guidelines, said Wayne Logan, a professor at Florida State University’s law school.

“There is a lot of flux right now,” said Logan, author of the book, “Knowledge as Power: Criminal Registration and Community Notification Laws in America.”

Logan said research into the effectiveness of public registries is limited, and offers mixed results.

One recent study showed that while registries can serve as a deterrent, Logan said, they can also promote recidivism by making life too difficult.

“They can never get out from that shadow,” he said.

Eleven years ago, [name withheld], a former Marine, had gotten in the habit of downloading large files of heavy metal music at work from the then popular file-sharing service called Morpheus.

But one day, a human resources officer at his company summoned him to a conference room where two detectives were waiting.

He was informed that images of children in sexual acts had been found on his computer. [name withheld] claimed it was accidental. The images, he said, were embedded in the music files he downloaded and he had no knowledge of their existence.

But prosecutors didn’t buy his story. [name withheld] was charged twice — once in St. Louis County and once in St. Charles County, where police found different images on a disc that he had brought home from work.

[name withheld] pleaded guilty in both instances in exchange for probation and suspended imposition of sentence. The crime, he was told, would never go on his record.
- They always tell you this to get you to plead guilty, even if you are innocent.  Never do this, take it to jury trial.

“I was young,” [name withheld] said. “I was naïve. I was scared.”

He now wishes he would have fought the charges.

Daniel Pelikan, the St. Charles County judge who presided over [name withheld]'s case, wrote in his order that “although the defendant did not intend to download and transfer the images to the compact disc, the discs were in the defendant’s custody and control.”

A few years later, new state and federal laws required [name withheld] to register as a sex offender.

Kim Kilgore, a St. Louis County assistant prosecutor who has specialized in sex crime cases for the past 10 years, said one of the images depicted a 4-year-old. And, she pointed out, they were found in a secret, password-protected file. Kilgore also said that according to a Hazelwood police report, [name withheld] admitted downloading the images.

“I don’t have a problem with him being on the sex offender registry,” she said.

But should he be on it for life?

“I think it’s a hard decision,” she said. “As a mom, why not? As a prosecutor, it’s very burdensome for the state to maintain a registry.”

TRIMMING THE LIST

To winnow the registry’s rolls, both bills (HB-462 and HB-589) in the Missouri House would group sex offenders into three tiers. But they would use different criteria.

Phillips’ bill would rely on the severity of the criminal charge.

People who fall in the least serious tier — convicted of crimes such as second-degree endangering the welfare of a child — could petition to get off the registry after 10 years. The second tier — those convicted of crimes such as second-degree statutory rape — could seek removal after 25 years.

The third tier would include people convicted of crimes such as forcible rape and sexual trafficking of a child. They could never get off the registry, unless they were juveniles when convicted. In that case, they could petition after 25 years.

The requests would be filed in the circuit courts where offenders were convicted. To be considered for removal, they could have no additional convictions or pending charges for sexual offenses or felonies, and they would need to have completed probation and parole, as well as a sex offender treatment program.

The Missouri Highway Patrol, which manages the list, calculated that Phillips’ bill would allow the immediate removal of about 631 people dubbed “Romeo and Juliet” offenders — generally older teenagers who had consensual sex with a minor. They would be exempted from registering if the victim was at least 14 years old and the offender was not more than four years older than the victim.

The patrol says an additional 1,111 offenders could petition immediately for removal. Over the next five years, 284 more people would be eligible. Over 20 years, 2,480 more could apply.

At a hearing in February, Phillips’ bill drew support from groups as diverse as the Missouri Sheriffs Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri and Missouri Kids First, a statewide organization that works to prevent child abuse.

“This is a very thoughtful response,” said Emily van Schenkhof, who lobbies for Missouri Kids First. “It really does protect children but highlights a public policy problem” with the registry.

Under the bill, juveniles convicted of sex crimes would still have to register but would not be part of the public list on the Internet.
- Nobody should be a part of an online shaming hit-list, it should be taken offline and used by police only!

County sheriffs lined up behind the bill, saying they have limited resources to track the growing list of offenders. Phillips’ bill “would make it easier to concentrate on the more dangerous offenders,” said Andrea Luntsford, a detective with the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

MENTAL HEALTH TESTS

The alternative approach — Hinson’s bill — would use mental health exams to determine where offenders should fall in the three tiers. People deemed low-risk could apply to get off the registry in five years. Even people in the most serious tier would be eligible after 25 years, instead of facing lifetime registration.

Supporters of Hinson’s bill said it would inject science into the process and provide more meaningful information to the public, which has become numb to the registry because it includes so many people who are not real threats.
- Inject science?  If you did that in the first place, then you'd not have the registry or residency laws, since science & many studies show that they do not do what you think they do.

Sister Mary Ann McGivern, who represented the Missouri Association for Social Welfare at a recent legislative hearing, said many people on the list are unlikely to pose a risk. Some exposed themselves or peeked through windows, she said. Others possessed child pornography or had sex with a younger girlfriend when they were 18.

The registry is “a lifetime punishment for a set of behaviors most of us don’t understand,” said McGivern, who is a Sister of Loretto from St. Louis.

Critics said a new state bureaucracy would be needed to handle the risk assessments required under Hinson’s bill. A fiscal note said the cost to the state was “unknown but considered to be significant, exceeding $100,000 per year.”

Also, the state would no longer be in compliance with the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, so Missouri stands to lose federal grants. Those grants have provided $637,905 over the last three years. Much of the money funded grants to sheriffs to buy items such as digital cameras and computer equipment.

Hinson countered that sex offenders would shoulder the cost of the mental health appraisals, which he estimated would likely be “no more than a couple hundred dollars” apiece.
- And that's a couple hundred dollars many of them do not have, due to the laws you are pushing!

He also pointed to a study that estimated the current sex offender registry costs the state and local governments nearly $5 million — for example, by sending people who fail to register back to prison.
- In many cases we've seen, people get more time in prison for failure to register than the original crime.

To fight for Hinson’s approach, some offenders and their families have organized a group, St. Peters-based Missouri Citizens for Reform, and hired a lobbyist.

“This is the only crime in America that’s punished endlessly,” said Sharie Keil, a member of Citizens for Reform.

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OK - Romeo and Juliet Sex Offender Program

David Slain Web Site

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PA - For young sex offenders, a new Scarlet Letter

Original Article

12/16/2012

By Laurie Mason Schroeder

Young sex offenders will soon face some long-lasting, potentially public consequences under a change in the law that goe‘s into effect this week.

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) requires teens convicted of serious sex offenses to be registered in a database for 25 years. Previously, only adult sex offenders were registered.

Currently, the online registry can be accessed only by police and other law enforcement agencies. But with the trend of colleges and employers seeking more and more personal information about potential students and employees, juvenile advocates fear that the new law might mark a teen for life.

Others say that’s not such a bad thing.

“Certainly there are some juveniles, the predators, that you need to monitor,” said Robert Stanzione, Bucks County’s chief of Juvenile Probation. “I think this legislation was crafted with those individuals in mind.”

SORNA is a portion of the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act, which was signed into law in 2006 (Video). The federal act goes a step beyond Megan’s Law, imposing longer and stricter registration requirements on sex offenders of all ages.

Under SORNA, sex offenders must provide more personal information and make periodic in-person appearances before law enforcement to update that information. It requires sex offenders to keep their registration current in each jurisdiction in which they reside, work or go to school, and increases the amount of information to which the public has access.

SORNA extends beyond the 50 states, requiring registration in most U.S. territories and on American Indian reservations. States that don’t enact SORNA laws lose federal crime-fighting grant money.

Certain juvenile sex offenders, those found delinquent of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault or conspiracy to any of the above, will now be registered sex offenders for 25 years, even though Juvenile Court supervision ends at age 21.

Stanzione said that fewer than five teens now being supervised by Bucks juvenile probation officers will be required to register. But he worries what will happen as word gets out that an adjudication to a sex offense — the juvenile court equivalent to a conviction — carries a 25-year consequence.

“My concerns moving forward is what effect this is going to have on victims,” he said. “We’re going to see more cases where the kid is not going to admit to the crime, so we’ll have to have a hearing and the victims will have to testify. That’s going to be pretty traumatizing, as most of the victims are younger children.”

Lawyer Robert Mancini (Avvo, Facebook), who says juvenile defense accounts for about 30 percent of his practice, said the new law means that he’ll have to advise more young clients to fight their charges.

Read the entire article here


Video Link

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FL - City grants flexibility in restrictions on sex offenders

Original Article

11/17/2012

By Susan Latham Carr

In limited circumstances, the Ocala police chief now has the authority to reduce by 500 feet the distance a sexual offender may live from a day care center, school, park or playground.

The city of Ocala requires a sexual predator or sexual offender to live at least 1,500 feet from schools, daycare centers, parks or playgrounds. State law requires a 1,000 foot distance.

But the City Council voted unanimously earlier this month to give the police chief the discretion to reduce the residence requirement from 1,500 feet to the 1,000 feet in certain circumstances and when the offender has not been convicted of other felonies and the offense committed was not a violent crime.

The change came about after a convicted sex offender asked the council if he could remain in his home, which is within 1,100 feet of an elementary school, until he can afford to move. He recently had moved from another state to Ocala and now finds himself in violation of Ocala’s ordinance. He explained to the council that he was 17 years old when he made a 15 year old girl pregnant. They continued to date and then got married and now have a 12-year-old daughter. He told the council that, if he was forced to move, he would be homeless.

“Quite frankly, I don’t think that law was written for gentlemen like him,” Mayor Kent Guinn, who heads the city police department, said.

The council asked in August that the ordinance be reviewed and requested that, in the meantime, the man’s story be checked for accuracy. Deputy Chief Rodney Smith said the police could do offender checks in the interim.

Apparently, the man’s story checked out and earlier this month, an amended ordinance was brought before the City Council for consideration.

Chief Greg Graham, at the council meeting earlier this month said that this was a Romeo/Juliet case in which the underage couple had sex, the boy was arrested, and the couple got married.

“They are no danger to anybody,” Graham said. “They are still registered and they cannot live within 1,000 feet.”

Assistant City Attorney W. James Gooding III said that, to get the waiver under the new ordinance, both parties must have been under the age of 18 when the incident occurred.

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Spanish show on UniVision seeking a R&J case to feature on their show

This was posted on the SOSEN forums.

We have been contacted by a national media show from UniVision. This is a Spanish-speaking network and we have seen some awesome and supportive work come from this producer in the past. The show is the Spanish network's version of our 20/20 - an investigative show much like a documentary - which focuses on individual cases.

They are looking for a good story, preferably a Romeo & Juliet story. The producer told me that it is very common amongst the Spanish population for the male to be older than the female. She does not understand why the US views some of these offenses as felonies and she wants to show her audience how crazy the laws have become. She may consider focusing on another type of story as well - it depends on what we have to offer but a good Romeo & Juliet story is her preference right now.

The most difficult part - at least one person has be be able to speak Spanish.

Contact Texas Voices for more information.

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TX - Defending the indefensible? Plea to clean sex offender registry

Original Article

11/01/2012

By Jeff Goldblatt

SAN ANTONIO - More registered sex offenders live in Bexar County than in all but three other counties in the state, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The overwhelming majority of registrants will spend the rest of their lives wearing this scarlet letter: obligated to check in with law enforcement, and put on a publicly accessible website run by DPS.

In the eyes of society, it's indefensible to defend a sex offender. But Mary Sue Molnar hopes to change your mind.

The San Antonio mother of two is the executive director of Texas Voices For Reason and Justice, an advocacy watchdog for non-violent sex offenders in the state.

“What I do... it's certainly not popular. And it's not understood," Molnar said.

Molnar launched the controversial campaign five years ago after her then-22-year-old son was convicted of a sex offense for a relationship with a 16-year-old. He was sentenced to prison and put on the sex offender registry.

“This is messed up. These laws are messed up,” Molnar adamantly stated. “A lot of these people who are on this registry for life would never hurt anyone."

Molnar argues that the registry -- created in 1991 -- gives the public a false sense of security. As of October 23, DPS reports 72,761 active registered sex offenders in Texas.

"I can type in a zip code and come up with 200 sex offenders in that zip code. I have no idea if someone should be watchful, or if somebody made a dumb mistake 20 years ago,” Molnar said. “Law enforcement cannot keep up with this growing registry. If they would focus on the few who are most likely to re-offend, then we might have something here.”

Instead, those on the register express fear, shame and scorn, well aware they’re branded by the majority of society as “the worst of the worst.”

“They see it and think that you're some sort of monster," said "Paul," a registered sex offender. Paul is now in his late 30s and asked that we conceal his identity for the sake of his safety.

More than 20 years ago, Paul drew the hammer of Texas justice for a relationship he was having.

“I was 17. She was 16,” he said. "We were dating -- stuff like that."

Today, Paul says he pays every day for what he characterizes as typical, teenage stuff. Although he insists the relationship was consensual, a court gave him 10 years probation for a charge of sexual assault of a child.

"When you're 17, you don't think of mistakes in that situation, you're thinking of yourself. You don't think you're doing anything wrong," Paul said.

Texas law argues otherwise, and now Paul finds himself a registered sex offender for life.

“I’m tired of hiding,” he said.

In Paul’s life, there is one person with whom secrecy is not needed. It’s his wife of eight years, "Suzy,” who also asked that her identity be concealed. He works in the construction field. She is in health care. They refer to the registry as a witch hunt.

"I do fear for my family, and I fear for my two young boys…knowing that people actually do know where we live ,” Suzy said.

Read the entire article

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MO - Ridgeway Murder Shows Problems with Sex Offender Tracking Laws

Original Article

No amount of laws, nor an online registry will ever prevent crimes like this.

And they are saying that this is why there are problems with the Missouri sex offender laws, when the crime occurred in Colorado? Come on, it has not been proven, yet, that the person(s) who killed this child are sex offenders, or even if sexual abuse was part of the crime, yet they are using this case as means to justify passing more unconstitutional laws? The police do not know who did this. Talk about knee-jerk reactions! This is a murder, not a sex crime, at least not yet, so stop jumping to conclusions!

10/16/2012

By John Pepitone (Facebook) and Jason M. Vaughn

PLATTE CITY - The murder of 10-year-old Colorado girl Jessica Ridgeway has focused new attention on a federal law that requires states to register and track sex offenders, but which nearly three-dozen states have failed to join.

The 6-year-old federal law was supposed to make it easier for law enforcement to track sex offenders across the nation. But only 10 states currently meet the federal standards. Both Kansas and Missouri are on that short list of states currently complying with federal law.

But in Missouri, some lawmakers have said obeying the federal rules are too expensive and onerous.

“I think what a lot of states have done is chosen to say, ‘Look, we’re going to follow our own laws and we’re not going to worry too much about what the federal government has said,’” said Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd.
- It's bribery, and laws based on emotions and not facts!

Jackson County Sheriff deputies went door-to-door earlier this year checking to make sure the addresses listed by registered sex offenders were accurate. It’s a manpower-intensive operation that required the sheriff to ask other police agencies to help out, removing officers from other duties. It’s an example of why some say federal sex offender requirements are too costly.

“At the end of the day I think what folks need to know and be assured of is that we have the right people on the sex offender registry,” said Zahnd. “And that law enforcement is tracking those folks and making sure they are registered.”
- The people need to stop buying into the hysteria spread by the media (like this story), and others who run businesses to make money using fear.  And I doubt everyone on the registry are "the right people!"

Some lawmakers in Missouri say because of federal requirements, the state sex offender list has swelled to more than 12,000 names. Those who want to break away from the federal system say there may be hundreds who do not deserve to be on the list and can’t get jobs as a result.
- I'm willing to bet it's more than hundreds.

In Kansas, there also has been talk of backing out of the federal sex offender system. But in Johnson County, the sheriff’s department says it’s committed to continuing to track sex offenders.

“The only thing I can really speak to is how important it is for us,” said Deputy Tom Erickson of the Johnson County Sheriff’s office. “And we’ve taken that stance for many, many years that it’s very important for us to let our neighbors know what’s happening in their neighborhood. That duty wholly relies on us. We take it very serious.”
- If that is indeed true, then where is the online registry for all the other criminals who put everyone in danger?

Missouri has already removed so-called Romeo-and-Juliet cases from the sex offender registry. Zahnd says those who had inappropriate sexual relationships as teens probably don’t pose a risk to society.
- And a vast majority of those on the registry also do not pose any further risk, based on facts.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s department says it already is planning another big sex offender sweep at the end of the month, on Halloween.
- Not a single child has ever been harmed by a known or unknown sex offender on Halloween.  It's just another moral panic like the old poisoned candy scare.

See Also:

• eAdvocate - Ridgeway Murder Shows Problems with Sex Offender Tracking Laws

Video Link

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