Thursday, April 11, 2013
Blog Overview
Like everyone who has lived over half a century, I have some firmly held beliefs and values. I believe in God. I believe in redemption and that everyone deserves the opportunity for a second chance. I believe in our Constitution and that it either protects all or it protects none. I believe in America while acknowledging that she has some serious flaws and frailties that must be addressed before it is too late.
I believe in personal acceptance of responsibility, in appropriate consequences for wrong-doing, and in forgiveness and restoration when those have occurred. I believe that our laws must—must—be based on facts and research-based evidence to be fair and effective.
I believe that one of the most serious issues in America today is the government-driven and sanctioned policies against those required to publicly register as sex offenders. I believe this is based on a large and erroneous set of myths that have been held and repeated for so long and so often that they have taken on the semblance of fact and truth when they are, in fact, the opposite. I believe an equally serious and related issue is the abuse of our children, physical, emotional, and sexual, and our policies that virtually ignore that issue and devote almost no resources to it.
What can you expect from the blog entries you will read here? Most definitely you will see commentary on current articles and legislation relating to sexual offense issues and other criminal justice, political, and human condition issues. You will see approval and agreement with positions that are moving toward a fact-based system and supported by empirical evidence, and you will definitely see disapproval and criticism when the opposite occurs.
Thank you and enjoy the blog.
Shelly
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Thank you for your support and for advocating so hard for our sons and daughters. It is truly a nightmare what we have been through just for having consensual teenage sex. The system is so messed up the real pedofiles and molesters are getting off with less time than those who were doing what most teenagers do these days. My son who is in prison for making a bad choice is serving more time than people who murder. Those guys are rooming the streets freely. My son will be locked up for ten years after serving ten years on probation.
ReplyDeletesad sad society we live in.
DeleteSo many listed on the RSO list are not really sex offenders.There is a flaw in the law and so many young Men who have been label sex offenders were in an innocent situation. I personally know 5 young men who had relations with 15 yr old women whose hormones are out of control and dress,look, and act like they are 18 to 20. They lie about their age& admit to consentual sex, with a few of the young women being the aggressor. These "girls" have tatoos&piercings and are truely older in age by looks&maturity. HOW CAN CONSENTUAL AGE BE 13 IN ONE STATE AND 16 IN ANOTHER. Some of these young women even have fake IDs. Yet these young Men who are "FOOLED" into what is thought to be an innocent relationship have the book thrown at them, ruins their lives, and are put in same group as child molesters AND PREDITORS!!! If they think the girl is 17 or 18,and they are 20 or 21, they are put in the tier II registry because the girl lied& is only 14 or 15< which made them 5 yrs or more older. This is cruel and extreme punishment for the crime which wasnt really a crime at all. How many people know this? I didnt realize what a broad spectrum of sexoffenders are grouped together. THE LAW IS BROKE AND SOMEONE NEEDS TO FIX IT.
ReplyDeleteA pedophile is a man with a sexual fixation on and obsession with prepubescent children, a man who is attracted, exclusively or predominantly, to prepubertal boys or girls. If attraction to pubescent teenagers, to biological men and women under age 16 or even 18, is "pedophilia," then virtually everyone is a "pedophile" with the exception of true pedophiles who are exclusively attracted to prepubescent children.
DeleteI can't help but wonder if this sheriff can comprehend the difference between pedophiles, violent sex offenders, opportunist sex offenders, former sex offenders, rehabilitated sex offenders, reformed sex offenders and etc?
ReplyDeleteI would guess not, being that it is a long list and all.
I think that anyone that leans support for the sex offender has courage and guts to fight a good battle. Remember we are wrestling with principles and principalities and a government that suppose to be ministers of good and not evil. I was caught in an sex sting operation but it was a legal thing. Sure I made a mistake. I just wish they would give a warning instead of placing someone on the registry for life. That would be a good lesson for all these internet sex sting offenders caught in adult chat rooms instead of shaming them more with undue burden's. If they were caught again than they deserve what they get. Don't they give speeders warnings and they are actually endangering life's. When a cop posing as a teenager is playing their game they don't think about second chances. Kind of makes you wonder what this world is all about and the people that make these law's of internet sex sting's to fill there quota... The bible says the love of money is the root of all evil..
ReplyDeleteWe need more people fighting for this cause. Sex offenders, no matter the details of the crime, are essentially treated the same in most states when it comes to the registry and public perception. Most SO's are ridiculed and shamed for a lifetime because of the heinous laws. Thank you to those who advocate against these injustices.
ReplyDeleteI have been putting this plan on every article advocating for reform of the registry laws. I have purposely left out a certain word so it gets approved in the comments. Feedback is welcome, but please keep it to the issue at hand of reforming the registry laws and not hateful anecdotes about how offenders should be punished more. That doesn't solve anything
ReplyDeleteRemove names (but leave pictures) from the registry's public website, yet allow individual reverse lookup on each state's website as they are starting to do with phone numbers and email addresses. (This still allows parents in neighborhoods to tell their children not to go into certain houses and you can look at the registry and still see the picture of the offender to know which resident it is)
Remove businesses and colleges from the registry that employ or school offenders to increase employment and educational opportunities and retention.
Have police do checkups on offenders addresses in plain clothes and unmarked cars. (Parole officers aren't uniformed for the same reason)
Remove range restrictions that have been proven to have no effect or at the very least make the redlining process illegal and set a national standard for max range restrictions. Also, allow for exceptions of range restrictions on a case by case basis if a family member is within the range and that's the only place the offender can live.
Institute a due process hearing prior to initial placement on the registry for offenders with a substantially low risk to petition for removal.
Allow removal petitioning after 5 years for low risk offenders and 10-15 for high risk (other terms could be applied here of course, that's just my estimate of time needed). No petition will be granted under this without satisfactory completion in a state or federally recognized treatment program.
Failure to register and a warrant for arrest will automatically put their name back on the website which will serve as a deterrent for offenders intent on not registering.
Organizations that specifically cater to children would be able to petition for special access to the names and pictures of people on the registry if they show they have an interest in knowing and would not release this information except to company officials. Schools, theme parks, etc, would have no problem being approved under this measure, but a factory would probably not.
Repeal the International Megan's Law as this prevents offenders with financial means of enjoying a higher quality of life when there is absolutely no evidence that convicted offenders have anything to do with human trafficking and puts their families and business colleagues at further risk and scrutiny and sometimes even causes denial to the country visited when it's for non-nefarious purposes. At the very least, have the passport identifier removed as this will only cause driver's licenses to come next.
In my opinion, these changes will satisfy the naysayers that still want the registry as well as protecting the privacy rights of those on the registry. Googling someone's name will no longer bring up their status, but neighborhood's would still have awareness. Employment, schooling, and housing would not have as many barriers. Certain states with huge range restrictions that are only designed to force offenders out of their communities into less stringent areas would stop. Offenders would not be limited to be congested in poverty neighborhoods with the removal of redlining. Low to moderate risks offenders would either never go on the registry or be able to be petitioned off only leaving the most dangerous on the registry making it more effective.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. If this plan makes sense to you, please email it to your Congressperson. If it doesn't, please tell me why and we can discuss it. Advocacy is better achieved through compromise.
you are asking too much from these closed minded so called protectionist. These law makers don't give a damn about the average person. This use scare tactics and hard lines to get elected or reelected. That's all they care about,themselves. I like your suggestions but it'll be a very long time if ever that we see reform like that happen.
ReplyDelete