NJ - Opinion: Megan's Law registry has become 'scarlet letter of the internet age,' needs revision

Original Article

05/06/2013

By Shana Rowan

The horror that Megan Kanka’s parents endured in the loss of their young daughter is unfathomable. Admirably, they are dedicating much of their lives to preventing what happened to Megan from happening to anyone else’s child. Unfortunately, their recent effort at modernizing Megan’s Law (“Kanka family seeks updates to exclude sexting between children, increase failure to register penalties,” April 15), ignores the research conducted on sex crimes since the initiation of the registry notification law named for their daughter.

Some of their proposals make sense, such as increasing the ratio of parole officers to registrants, as the entire community benefits from compliant sex offenders. It also makes sense to prevent teenagers from being put on the registry for “sexting.” But given that teenagers re-offend at lower rates than adults and show high receptivity to treatment, why limit this reform to “sexting”? The vast majority of juvenile offenders deserve a second chance, without the life sentence of the registry.

Human Rights Watch released the compelling report “Raised on the Registry,” last week, which exposes the far-reaching negative consequences of forcing juveniles to publicly register as sex offenders. Ranging from families forced to live apart, lifelong stigmatism for offenders convicted as pre-teens, inability to provide for their families due to lack of employment to self-harm and suicide in several cases, the ramifications of public registration for juveniles are extensive and severe. Any serious modernization of Megan’s Law must include a reassessment of placing juvenile offenders on the public registry.

Proposing that sex offenders who fail to register should receive automatic prison sentences violates the principle that a punishment should fit the crime. A 2010 report by the Minnesota Department of Corrections found no correlation between failure to register and sexual recidivism. Should this proposal become law, offenders could face a tougher sentence for missing a paperwork filing deadline than the original offense that put them on the registry in the first place, and New Jersey taxpayers will foot the bill for unnecessary incarceration. This money would be far better spent on prevention and public education initiatives to help parents become more aware of child sexual abuse which, in a vast majority of cases, is committed by someone the child knows — not a stranger on the registry.

As we approach the 20th anniversary of Megan’s Law next year, we at USA FAIR (Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry) share the Kankas’ goal that now would be a good time to reassess the registry and modernize it based on the extensive research we now have that did not exist in 1994.

In the aftermath of Megan’s murder, her parents declared on their foundation’s website that “Every parent should have the right to know if a dangerous sexual predator moves into their neighborhood.” Megan was tragically murdered by a depraved individual with a prior conviction for a violent sexual assault that involved the abduction of a child. Certainly, any parent should be alerted if such a predator moves into their neighborhood.

However, over the last two decades, the registry has morphed into the scarlet letter of the internet age, posting online information of former offenders who are neither violent nor predators and pose little risk of reoffending.

USA FAIR does not oppose the sex offender registry. We do, however, strongly believe that public notification should be applied only to the truly dangerous, because of the life destruction that can result from being so marked. As family members of registrants, we know this destruction all too well, as we frequently suffer the collateral damage of the registry, which can include the harassment of a registrant’s children, the loss of employment of a spouse and the break-up of families due to registry restrictions.
- We at Sex Offender Issues do not believe in any online registry for anybody.  The registry needs to be taken offline and used by police.  It's nothing more than an online hit-list for vigilantes now.

The good news, over the last 20 years, is that extensive studies contradict the myth of high sex-offender recidivism. Contrary to still widely held beliefs, sex offenders have one of the lowest re-offense rates in the criminal justice system. (These low rates existed both before and after Megan’s Law.) And we have learned that those low re-offense rates drop even further with years of offense-free tenure in the community and advancing age.

Further, we have identified which subsets of offenders do have a higher risk of reoffending, such as pedophiles with multiple child victims and sex offenders with other non-sexual crimes on their rap sheet.

Let’s modernize the public registry by making it smarter, by using the vast body of research to stay true to the Kankas’ founding principle of targeting the truly dangerous — while allowing the majority of former offenders to continue rebuilding their lives as good citizens and providers for their families.

Shana Rowan is executive director of USA Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry (usafair.org).

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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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CT - IDs of Level 1 sex offenders should be kept private

Original Article

04/01/2013

By Shana Rowan

Publicizing the personal information of Level 1 sex offenders will have significant consequences, and won’t protect children from sexual abuse.

Sexual recidivism in Connecticut was 2.7 percent in 2012. Hundreds of studies corroborate this.

95 percent of (abused) children are abused by family or an acquaintance, not a stranger. (U.S. Justice Department, 2000.)

96 percent of sex crimes are committed by someone who isn’t on the registry. (Dr. Jeffrey Sandler, 2008.)

Family members and minor children of Level 1 offenders will be put in imminent danger.

Former offenders may lose their jobs and homes – both increase chance of recidivism.

If [name withheld] is guilty of the charges he is facing, punishment should be swift and harsh. The suffering of the young children abused, and their families, is incomprehensible. But treating every sex offender as though they are [name withheld] isn’t accurate or effective.

“Knowledge” is fact – not emotion. “Power” comes when we are willing to accept that.

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CA - 'Pocket parks' leave sex offenders questioning where to live

Original Article

03/15/2013

By Leanne Suter

LOS ANGELES (KABC) - "John," who doesn't want to be identified, is a registered sex offender on parole, and he'll likely be moving again once a sliver of land in Harbor Gateway is transformed into the city's first pocket park.

"This is the first place I found that I actually could stay, but I've had to move a few times before because it was just where I can't live," said John.

The move could force out the high number of registered sex offenders living in the area since Jessica's Law (Proposition 93 PDF) restricts them from living within 2,000 feet of park, school or daycare.

Sex offender advocates say the high concentration of sex offenders -- more than 130 at its peak in the 13-block neighborhood -- is the direct result of the law, since it makes housing so limited.

Shana Rowan of USA Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry says it's actually putting the public at risk.

"The isolating factor might feel good, but in the end it detaches the offender from the community and makes it more likely that they will re-offend," she said.

She says research has shown residency restrictions do not reduce the recidivism rate, which is already very low at just over 3 percent, according the California Department of Corrections.

"They're going to end up in somebody else's community, and eventually it's going to be problem there, and if we continue to refuse to look at the facts and start integrating them into our policies, this is just going to be a never ending problem," she said.

As housing options shrink, advocates say more offenders are ending up on the streets where supervision is difficult. Even John admits in the end, where offenders live doesn't really matter.

"It is very difficult to find a place to live. Most of us want to live in our own homes, most of us can't even live in our own homes because of these damn restrictions. If we really wanted to do something we'd do it," he said.

At this point it is unclear if the sex offenders in the area will be forced to move or not since an L.A. judge has ruled the park restriction of the law unconstitutional.

See Also:

• 'Pocket parks' aim to drop sex offender rate in LA neighborhoods

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NY - I'm Engaged to a Sex Offender and He Deserves Rights

See Also:

• Pocket Park Policing (Huff Post Live)
• Guest view: Not all sex offenders pose risk

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NY - Guest view: Not all sex offenders pose risk

Shana Rowan

Original Article

03/13/2013

By Shana Rowan

As executive director of USA Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry, a nonprofit organization formed by the family members of people required to register as sex offenders, the Observer-Dispatch’s Feb. 24 editorial, “Tighten regulations on sex offenders,” was deeply troubling.

The editorial opined that homeless sex offenders living in hotels is “a disturbing issue that could put an unsuspecting public at risk,” and are demanding an immediate legislative response. It’s this kind of angry, emotional response that sends politicians into a frenzy trying to placate the public, and usually results in hasty, poorly researched laws that sound good but do little if anything to protect communities.

An intelligent response to this issue would be to examine the reason for the problem: sex offenders become homeless because the label makes it difficult if not impossible to find steady employment and housing, not because they want to live in motels and prey on traveling children and their families.

As a broad group, sex offenders have among the lowest recidivism rates in the criminal justice system. Ninety-six percent of sex crimes are committed by someone not on the registry, who is known to the victim – not a stranger in the next hotel room. The pervasive myth that all sex offenders pose a danger to children must be stopped now.

Additional dissemination of the whereabouts of homeless sex offenders will only draw attention away from the much bigger problem of sexual abuse perpetrated by those known to the victim. It will also likely drive more offenders underground and away from the eyes of police, probation or parole. Aside from being a feather in the cap of Sen. Joseph Griffo, there are no benefits to this idea.

If this is truly about potential risks to “an unsuspecting public,” then the O-D will in the future ensure that they provide up-to-date information regarding sex crimes. Where is the concern and outrage over the plentiful, much more likely sources of harm to children?

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Rowan advocates for sex offender reform

Shana Rowan

Original Article

03/07/2013

By Reece Alvarez

As the executive director of USA FAIR, a not-for-profit organization that advocates for a fair and intelligent sex offender registry, Lewisboro native Shana Rowan faces criticism, insult and at times the threat of harm as part of her professional life.

Her organization, which she co-founded in November, aims to raise awareness about the repercussions family members of registrants face as a result of the national and state use of the sex offender registry system.

“We want to minimize the damage to families and reform the registry into a viable safety tool,” said Ms. Rowan, a John Jay High School graduate who now lives in central New York.

She knows firsthand the consequences of being close to someone on the registry — her fiancé is a registered sex offender who served four years in prison for a sex crime he committed while he was a minor.

At the request of Ms. Rowan and her fiancé, The Ledger has omitted his name to protect his privacy.

Ms. Rowan and her fiancé have experienced financial and legal hardship, targeted vandalism and threats of violence as a result of his registrant status, she said.

“The more I saw, the more I got involved,” she said. “I saw somebody needed to do something.”

Ms. Rowan co-founded USA FAIR (fair and intelligent reform) with family members of registrants, as well as people currently on the registry. Their mission is to educate the public about the myth of high sex offender recidivism and to advocate for reform of the registry that is based on facts and evidence, according to the organization’s website, USAFAIR.org.

Perceptions

“The assumption they [sex offenders] are all predatory pedophiles preying on children, who are highly dangerous, can’t be stopped and can’t be helped, are all myths not supported by the research,” said Jill Levenson Ph.D., an associate professor of human services at Lynn University in Florida and an expert on sexual violence.

Much of the work of USA FAIR centers on combating misinformation and false public perception, Ms. Rowan said, the most predominant of which is the public perception of who actually commits sex crimes and that sex offenders will all inevitably re-commit sex crimes.

“The majority of sex crimes — 96% — are committed by someone who is not on the registry,” Ms. Rowan said.

She also notes that sex offenders have the lowest occurrence of re-offending next to murderers, who have the lowest recidivism rate in the criminal justice system, a point supported by a 2003 Department of Justice study, Ms. Levenson said.

Joan Tabachnik, co-chair of the Prevention Committee for the Association for Treatment of Sexual Abusers and an expert in the field of sexual abuse prevention, said that 85% to 97% of victims of sexual abuse know their abuser.

“The registry gives people a false sense of security because not all dangerous offenders are there,” Ms. Tabachnik said. “People feel if they know who is on the registry that they are safe, their children are safe. Sex offenders on the registry are not the ones we need to worry about. The ones we don’t know about are the ones we need to worry about.”

In her experience, the majority of sex offenders are not what people see on “To Catch a Predator” or “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” Ms. Tabachnik said. When she thinks of sex offenders she thinks of countless people she has met in her 20 years of experience in the field and, in particular, the children who have been abusive with other children.

“The registry is not just a list of people who abuse children,” Ms. Rowan said. “There are a lot more people, including children and teenagers.”

Cognitive dissonance

Risa Sugarman, deputy commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services and the director of the office of sex offender management, said that to her knowledge there are no complaints of negative consequences from the sex offender registry.
- That is because you are looking at only one side of the story.

“What we hear is that parents are grateful and happy they have this opportunity to keep their children safe,” she said. “What we do here is to provide information to make people feel safer in their communities and what they can do to keep themselves safe.”
- And that is all it does, makes them feel safe.  But, they are not.  If a person who is on the online shaming hit-list wants to commit a crime, the registry or laws will not stop that.

The registry gives people the knowledge to empower themselves, and that is a part of being a responsible parent, Ms. Sugarman said.
- So if you want to give people knowledge and empower them, then why don't we have an online registry for all criminals?  The fact is that many other felons are more dangerous that what you perceive by those on the sex offender registry.

“As a parent, do I want to know if a sex offender is in my neighborhood? Of course I want to know,” Ms. Tabachnik said. “But is that good public policy? Does it make my neighborhood safer? I would say in most cases it doesn’t make it safer and is not a good public policy.”

With the well-established fact that the majority of sex crimes are perpetrated by someone known to the victim, people should not be monitoring sex offender registry lists and maps as much as they should be observing the people closest to them and their children, Ms. Tabachnik said.

“You should be watching out for anyone who gives you concern,” she said, “not just a registered sex offender.”

Consequences of the registry

Ms. Tabachnik has less of an issue with the registry than with the public notification aspect of it, she said.

“Public notification without education is like putting a lit match in a gallon of gasoline,” she said.

There is an abundance of research showing there are a lot of collateral consequences that interfere with successful reintegration, Ms. Levenson said. Research from other criminal fields, as well, has shown that stable employment, housing and social support increase the likelihood of success for criminal offenders.

“If you push people to the brink of society and make it impossible to exist, you are taking away all incentives for them to reintegrate,” Ms. Rowan said.

Reminds us of this video:

As part of her work with USA FAIR, Ms. Rowan has collected hundreds of stories of families and individuals affected by the negative consequences of the registry. Difficulty finding and maintaining employment, as well as physical and verbal harassment of children of registrants, are among the top obstacles registrants and their families face.

The group also works to challenge perceptions and terminology frequently portrayed and used in the media and politics.

Bills passed in the New York state Senate on Tuesday, March 5 illustrate the challenges registrants have in turning their lives around after incarceration, Ms. Rowan said. The four bills promote tougher restrictions for registrants, including prohibiting registrants from serving on school boards or as principals; instituting misdemeanor charges for anyone known to harbor, house or employ a defaulting sex offender; and prohibiting high-level sex offenders from living in college housing.

While sexual violence on campuses is an important issue, Ms. Rowan said, she finds these bills to be restrictive to a registrant’s ability to reintegrate in a community. They also further the inflammatory language that promotes a common perception of all sex offenders as predators, she said.

The danger of indifference

“Everyone agrees that sexual crimes need to be punished and that the impact on victims is often incomprehensible,” Ms. Rowan said. “But by refusing to acknowledge information that could help us prevent there being more victims, we are doing a huge disservice.”

Along with Ms. Levenson and Ms. Rowan, Ms. Tabachnik advocates for increased awareness and educational strategies to prevent sex crimes from happening.

Former Penn State football coach and convicted serial child molester Jerry Sandusky was not on any registry, Ms. Rowan pointed out. Ms. Levenson made a similar observation about Mr. Sandusky and how he represents the more likely source of danger than someone on the registry.

“Perhaps if those parents and the people around had been more educated and understood the dynamics of grooming, noticed what was going on and understood the dynamics of how sexual abuse thrives in the trust between the abuser and victim, it could have been prevented,” she said.

Ms. Tabachnik said that knowing how to set boundaries and teaching children that it is OK to say no and have it be respected is much more important than knowing about a sex offender who is already being watched by the police.

“The biggest misconception is that all sex offenders are all the same and they should all be treated the same,” Ms. Levenson said.

Both she and Ms. Tabachnik said that painting an entire class of people with a broad brush creates room for the truly dangerous to be mixed with non-violent individuals and draws attention away from the true source of danger.

“A blind focus on punishment turns a blind eye to prevention,” Ms. Rowan said. “It’s much easier to pretend all the dangerous people are neatly organized on a magical list than realizing those who cause the most harm are often those closest to us.”

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ARC RADIO - SPECIAL GUEST Shana Rowan Executive Director of USA FAIR

Hosted by: RealityUSA | Website

Title: SPECIAL GUEST Shana Rowan Executive Director of USA FAIR

Time: 03/06/2013 08:00 PM EST

Episode Notes: Please join us as we welcome Shana Rowan as our special guest on ARC TALK RADIO. As executive director of USA FAIR, Shana promises to work as hard as she can to fight for law abiding former offenders and their families and to insure that their struggles and successes are reported by the news media. And she pledges that she will not quit until the myth of high sex offender recidivism is erased from our culture and our registry laws are based on reason.

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NC - Men’s shelter turning away sex offenders

Original Article

At least the shelter is trying to help, but what would help more to end this homelessness is for the counties / state to repeal the residency laws which do nothing to prevent / deter crime but creates homelessness and joblessness.

03/02/2013

By Cameron Steele

The Men's Shelter of Charlotte is now turning away registered sex offenders as officials try to help the offenders who already live there – some of them for several years – find jobs and homes of their own.

Shelter officials made the decision Friday to not accept any new registered offenders. But Executive Director Carson Dean said they’ve been trying to find a solution for months to the persistent homelessness and joblessness of some 50 sex offenders at the shelter.

“It’s very difficult for us,” Dean said. “Because of the offense that’s on their records, it just becomes very difficult for them to get a job, get someone to rent you an apartment.”

Homeless facilities like the Men’s Shelter often become a last resort for sex offenders who are released from prison and must report their addresses to the local sheriff’s office, according to local and state officials.

Between laws that restrict where sex offenders can live -- nowhere near schools, child care centers or parks -- and landlords who don’t want to rent to them, many have trouble finding a place to live even temporarily.

And those “last resorts” often turn sex offenders away, too, according to a 2009 report from the state Department of Corrections. The study shows many community-based shelters across the state have criteria that prevent them from accepting sex offenders.

Some turn sex offenders away because they don’t want to house them alongside women and children.

Others, like the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte, can’t handle the burden of sex offenders who often turn into lifetime shelter residents.

None of the offenders living at the shelter will be kicked out. Dean hopes the decision to turn away new offenders will give shelter case managers more one-on-one time with the registered offenders currently there.

“We’re going to help them find some place that they can be in compliance with their offender status,” Dean said.

Just under 800 sex offenders are registered in Mecklenburg County, according to the N.C. Department of Justice.

Dean said he would like to the Department of Corrections and other state and federal agencies play a bigger role in reducing the risk of homelessness for sex offenders.

“It’s not the right thing for someone to be stuck in the shelter forever,” he said. “Whether they are coming out of a state or federal prison – those are the resources that should be helping them with housing.”

Department of Corrections officials Saturday were not immediately available for contact.

Shana Rowan, a spokeswoman for a national non-profit advocating fair sex offender registry laws, said county and state legislators should examine how statutory requirements contribute to offender homelessness.

“When it comes to sex offenders, we’ve just legislated these people to the point where there’s nowhere for them to live,” Rowan said.

Before the decision to no longer allow sex offenders, the shelter was taking in about two registered men a month.

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NY - Letter: Don't hire victims group to police

Original Article

02/26/2013

USA FAIR (Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry) is a not-for-profit corporation formed by family members of people on the sex offender registry. We believe that the vote by the Suffolk County Legislature to disperse registrants from two trailer camps to existing homeless shelters makes sense ["Legislators to shut trailers, order new checks by police," News, Feb. 6].

What would make even more sense, in the broader effort to improve sex offender management, would be to repeal the residency restrictions that have contributed to this homeless problem in the first place. Hopefully, the courts will do this soon.

What does not make sense is to sign a three-year, $2.7 million contract with Parents for Megan's Law, a victims' advocacy organization, to intensify checks on Suffolk's 1,016 registered sex offenders. This organization has no sex offender management experience. Advocates for victims play an important role in our democratic process, but they should not be given quasi-policing powers.

If the Suffolk County police need help to do this important job, why not use the money to add officers?

However, if Suffolk County really needs to outsource this task, County Executive Steve Bellone should conduct a competitive bid process. Only then will the taxpayers know if the most qualified organization was hired at the best price.

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ARC RADIO - SPECIAL GUEST Shana Rowan Executive Director of USA FAIR

Don't forget to view our calendar for upcoming events.

UPDATE: Shana has notified us that she will not be on the show tonight due to illness ~ we'll have her on next week. The show WILL go on, but topic TBD.

Hosted by: RealityUSA (TalkShoe | Website)

Title: SPECIAL GUEST Shana Rowan Executive Director of USA FAIR

Time: 02/27/2013 08:00 PM EST

Episode Notes: Please Join us as we welcome Shana Rowan as our special guest on ARC TALK RADIO. As executive director of USA FAIR, Shana promises to work as hard as she can to fight for law abiding former offenders and their families and to insure that their struggles and successes are reported by the news media. And she pledges that she will not quit until the myth of high sex offender recidivism is erased from our culture and our registry laws are based on reason.

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NY - WOW! - USA Fair fund raiser for litigation against New York's e-STOP law

Yesterday, USA FAIR sent out an email looking to raise $2,500 by March 1st to fund our pending litigation against New York State's eStop law, which restricts law abiding former offenders from accessing social networks.

To our immense excitement and gratitude, in less than 24 hours, as of the sending of this email, we have raised $1,990 - leaving us just $510 short!

If you haven't made a pledge yet, could you step up now and help put us over the top? You can do so by clicking HERE.

The sooner we have the $2,500 retainer the sooner we can file the case. And if we already reached our goal by the time you go online, please still give to help cover the additional expenses such as court filing fees, printing expenses, etc.

We are planning our first major press conference on the day we file and we'll give you advance notice before it happens.

A thousand thanks - or 2,500 thanks to be exact!

Shana Rowan
Executive Director

http://www.usafair.org

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NY - USA FAIR Demands Laura Ahearn of Parents for Megan's Law Retract NAMBLA Smear

Original Article

02/19/2013

By Shana Rowan

USA FAIR, Inc. (Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry) today demanded that Laura Ahearn, Executive Director of Parents for Megan's Law, immediately retract a statement she made to "Riverside Local" reporter Denise Civiletti that Shana Rowan, USA FAIR's Executive Director, is a member of the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). The accusation was made in an article published Friday, February 15th regarding the recent $2.7 million sole-sourced contract (PDF) awarded by Suffolk County to Parents For Megan's Law to help monitor the more than 1,000 former sex offenders residing in the county.

When asked to respond to USA FAIR's concerns about the propriety of a private victims’ advocacy group being granted quasi-policing authority and its lack of law enforcement or sex offender management experience, Ahearn responded that Rowan was "part of NAMBLA." When Ahearn was asked for proof, she responded, "Just search her name on the Internet."

"The allegation that I am an advocate for man-boy love would be laughable, if it weren't so slanderous. I have never been part of NAMBLA. I find pedophilia to be repulsive and I have always supported age of consent laws. For Ms. Ahearn to take an accusation made on an anonymous hate-site on the web and repeat it without any independent verification only underscores why USA FAIR believes she is unqualified to administer the Suffolk County contract. Monitoring former offenders requires objectivity and placing a high value on evidence, neither of which Ms. Ahern has demonstrated by her unfounded personal attack," said Rowan.

"Rather than respond to our legitimate concerns about Parents for Megan's Law's qualifications to have been awarded this contract, Ms. Ahearn chose to repeat a lie about me and to tell a half-truth about my fiancé, stating that he "raped a six year old child". Yes, his offense did involve a six year old child, but Ms. Ahearn conveniently left out that he was 12 at the time and also the victim of sexual abuse. To Laura Ahearn, context does not matter if it fails to serve her cause," concluded Rowan.

Rowan became active in sex offender law reform when she became engaged to a longtime friend she first met in high school who is on the registry.

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NY - Here comes the attack!

Original Article

02/16/2013

By Shana Rowan

USA FAIR is engaging the media on the inappropriate $2.7 million contract that Suffolk County is awarding to Parents For Megan’s Law to monitor former sex offenders.

Extreme ideological victims advocate groups should not be paid public funds to monitor the very people they demonize. It sets a disturbing precedent that we do not want to see spread across the country.

This is the first time that Parents For Megan’s Law has been directly challenged by the family members of people required to register and its Executive Director, Laura Ahearn, has responded by falsely accusing me of being a member of NAMBLA. Ahearn made this baseless accusation to “Riverhead Local” in an article on Suffolk County’s new misguided approach to sex offender management. You can read it HERE.

This is the “big smear” directed at anyone who was ever involved with RSOL – an organization that supports age of consent laws and was never affiliated with NAMBLA. The mere notion that parents and spouses of registrants are activists to promote man-boy love would be laughable – if it wasn’t so slanderous.

Yet, this attack on me only underscores USA FAIRs concern with Laura Ahearn being given a quasi-policing role. Law enforcement needs to deal in facts and evidence and Ms. Ahearn has a poor history with both. We have tried to get her to take down misleading recidivism statistics from her website to no avail – and now she makes a damning false attack on me based on a blog post by “Evil-Unveiled” an anonymous vigilante hate group. That is not the behavior of a fair minded and objective person who should be entrusted with monitoring other people’s lives.

We will continue to shine the light on this contract, which was sole-sourced by Suffolk County without any opportunity for an open or competitive process – because as they say… sunshine is the best disinfectant.

You can read this contract HERE (PDF).

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NY - USA FAIR Calls Suffolk County Contract with Parents for Megan’s Law Government-Sanctioned Vigilantism

Original Article

What the hell is this? Allowing Parents for Megan's Law to be paid to monitor sex offenders? That is a conflict of interest! That is like allowing identity thieves to protect your identity!

02/05/2013

USA FAIR, Inc., a national organization founded by family members of former sex offenders, today strongly opposed the proposed contract between Suffolk County, New York and Parents for Megan’s Law, a not-for-profit private organization, to provide monitoring of people required to register with the sex offender registry.

Under the contract, Parents for Megan’s Law would be responsible for monitoring registrants in what Suffolk Police chief James Burke called "the toughest monitoring and enforcement program in the nation" for dealing with the county's more than 1,000 registered sex offenders. The organization would be paid $2.7 million over 3 years.

“Suffolk County has every right to implement as tough a program as its legislators desire, so long as it is permissible by law. However, the monitoring of sex offenders has traditionally been a law enforcement function throughout the country. To outsource this important task to a private organization with a history of demonizing the very people they are contracted to monitor is unprecedented and unwise. It amounts to government-sanctioned vigilantism,” said USA FAIR Executive Director Shana Rowan.

According to Rowan, “Parents for Megan’s Law and its Executive Director, Laura Ahearn, have promoted the myth of high sex offender recidivism, a falsehood that is contradicted by every major study, including a landmark study by the U.S. Department of Justice that found that sex offenders actually have one of the lowest re-offense rates of any offender group in the criminal justice system.”

“Laura Ahearn has shown herself to be a strident ideologue on sex offender issues, not open to a dialog with the former offender community and their family members. USA FAIR has repeatedly tried to get her to take down misleading statistics form her organization’s website and she has failed to even respond to our requests. Our only conclusion is that the “big lie” of high recidivism serves her agenda and her finances.”

USA FAIR raised particular objections to County Legislator Jay Schneiderman’s (I-Montauk) desire to see this $2.7 million contract hastily approved today by circumventing the normal committee process, which Rowan called a “rush to judgment without due diligence that will undoubtedly lead to unintended consequences and future lawsuits.”

Rowan concluded, “Law enforcement should be performed by objective and well trained professionals - not issue advocacy ideologues.”

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MA - Punish the sex offender — not the entire offender group

Original Article

12/21/2012

By Shana Rowan (USA Fair, Inc.)

The recent arrest of [name withheld], a Level 1 registered sex offender charged with molesting 13 babies and toddlers, has understandably ignited the emotions of Massachusetts residents. If these heinous and depraved charges are proven in court than the full weight of the law should be brought down upon this individual.

What should not happen is retribution against the entire population of law-abiding registered sex offenders residing in the state, most of whom are just focused on rebuilding their lives as good citizens and providers for their families. Punish the offender — not the entire offender group.

The recent announcement (Video) by House Speaker Robert DeLeo that he is going to re-examine stalled legislation that would result in the state conforming to the federal Adam Walsh Act suggests that an outbreak of sex offender panic might strike Beacon Hill. Many enlightened states, including New York and California, have rejected AWA t on the basis of sound principles of sex offender management and Massachusetts should continue to do likewise.

The history of sex offender laws in the United States has been to react to rare, high profile, and heinous crimes, while ignoring the fact that sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates of all offender groups in the criminal justice system. The myth of high recidivism is pervasive. A 2010 survey by the US Department of Justice found that 75 percent of the population believed that sex crime recidivism was greater than 50 percent while only 3 percent of the population believed that it was less than 25 percent — even though every major broad based study conducted over the last decade has shown it to be substantially below 25 percent.

One of the most recent studies entitled “A Multi-State Recidivism Study Using Static-99R and Static-2002 Risk Scores and Tier Guidelines from the Adam Walsh Act (PDF)” (Zgoba, Miner, Knight, Letourneau, Levenson, Thornton) was released in November and found recidivism at 10 percent after 10 years.

This study focused on the relative predictability of recidivism risk between scientifically tested actuarial risk assessment instruments and the AWA requirement to assign risk tiers based solely on the conviction. The study found, “Actuarial measures and existing state tiering systems both showed better predictive validity than AWA tiers.” This finding confirmed common knowledge that people who commit the same crime do not pose the same risk of re-offending. The crime is only one of many offender and victim characteristics that need to be evaluated. This is one of the reasons why the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), the nation’s largest association representing sex offender treatment professionals opposes AWA.

With state tiering systems performing better than AWA, Massachusetts shouldn’t scrap a system that works just because a Level 1 sex offender committed heinous crimes. Low risk was never meant to mean no risk. Just as most high risk offenders will never commit another sex crime, some low risk offenders will.

The punitive impact on law-abiding former offenders of potentially having their risk level raised through AWA can be a life-destroying event, often resulting in their presence on the public registry website following years, even decades, of offense-free tenure in the community. Experience has shown that in other states that have expanded its public registry many law-abiding former offenders have lost jobs and become subject to residency restrictions that have forced them to move. Such actions not only impact registrants, but their family members -including minor children — as well who suffer the collateral consequences of the registry. Listing on the website should be reserved only for those who have been deemed truly dangerous.

It is easy to understand the emotional appeal of the “if it just saves one child” argument, but basing public policy on the rare horrific crime committed by one registered sex offender, while ignoring the extensive research of the entire former sex offender population, does not result in a fair and reasoned criminal justice system. The Massachusetts Legislature should consider the ramifications of adopting AWA in a deliberative manner and avoid rushing to judgment in a knee jerk response to [name withheld]’s atrocities.

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WA - We Are Under Attack

Original Article

11/15/2012

By Leslie Blanton

Being listed on the sex offender registry shouldn’t mean a death sentence, but that is tragically what it meant for my husband Gary Blanton.

Gary and another registrant were shot and killed by the same man who told police that he was going to keep on killing sex offenders until he was caught. This sick individual thought of himself as a hero and while that was devastatingly painful to hear in the wake of such a loss, what truly shocked me was how many people in our community supported this murderer for killing “these monsters.”

My husband was 28 years old. He was on the registry for an offense he committed as a juvenile and he was working hard at being a good husband and father to our two young boys. He was no monster, but a true monster did show up in our lives and took Gary from us forever.

I believe that the news media shares part of the blame for Gary’s murder. For too long they have allowed all persons required to register to be portrayed as “monsters.” The news media has fanned the flames of sex offender panic and the consequences can be deadly.

This “hate speech” against law abiding former offenders must stop. That’s why I am supporting USA FAIR in their effort to hold the media accountable for their reporting. People must learn that most sex offenders are not bad people, but good people who did a bad thing, paid their debt to society, and are now just trying to rebuild their lives and provide for their families.

Gary can’t do that for us anymore, but you can join me in working to see that other families don’t have to face the nightmare we are going through. Please DONATE whatever you can afford.

We are under attack. It’s time to fight back.

Playlist Link

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Introducing USA FAIR

Visit the web site | Facebook

Today we begin an important journey. I hope you will join us.

We are USA FAIR, Inc., which stands for USA Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry. We have been founded by loving parents and partners of people required to register.

USA FAIR will not duplicate the fine work of the many state organizations working to reform sex offender laws. Our focus will be on the national news media and our number one goal is to expose the myth of high sex offender recidivism - the foundational falsehood that has been used to justify the one-size-fits-all registry.

The research and facts are on our side. What has been missing is our place at the table. So we plan to show up and have our voices heard.

We will tell the success stories of the vast majority of registrants who are leading law-abiding lives as good citizens and providers for their families. We witness this every day – as we have witnessed how the registry has caused devastating harm to the families of registrants – the hidden victims of these laws. We’ll tell those stories too.

And one more thing… we will no longer sit silently by as our loved ones are painted with the broad brush of the worst offenders and defamed as being “predators” or “monsters.”

It’s time to end the “hate speech” against law-abiding former offenders.

We at USA FAIR are willing to take the risks of putting ourselves out there publicly – but quite frankly we need to know that you have our backs!

Please explore our site… see what we’re about… and then sign up and make a donation, because we can’t do this without your financial support.

We start working for you today. Are you with us?

Shana Rowan

Executive Director

Video Link

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