FireBoard Site Syndication http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:50:10 -0500 FireBoard 1.0.5RC2 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/components/com_fireboard/template/default_ex/images/english/emoticons/rss.gif http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site FireBoard Site Syndication http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=42&id=4426#4426 In Oklahoma: Sexting not so sexy With technology advancing in leaps and bounds, communication is faster and easier than ever before. Instant communication is possible through such means as texting, webcams and instant messaging. However, this growth has lent itself to a phenomenon that is causing both families and lawmakers to take a closer look: “sexting.” Sexting is defined by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as “youth taking sexually explicit photos of themselves or others in their peer group, and transmitting those photos to their peers.” The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a nonprofit organization funded by Congress and working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice. According to a 2009 survey by Cox Communications, one out of every five teens has sent, received or forwarded these images. Of those surveyed, sixty percent said they sent the photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend. “What young people need to understand is that cell phones aren’t like Vegas. What happens on them doesn’t always stay on them,” Tim Woods said. Woods is the Coordinator of Health Education for UCO’s Wellness Center. In June 2009, Senate Bill 1020 was signed into law. The bill toughened laws on the transmission of child pornography via the Internet. Shortly after the bill’s passage, Rep. Anastasia Pittman (D- Oklahoma City) requested a study over the practice of sexting. But what does the bill have to do with sexting? And with no across-the-board definition of sexting, where would sexting fall in the prosecution process? The Supreme Court defines child pornography as “any visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually suggestive poses or acts.” Federal regulations on child pornography go a step further, stating “the production, distribution, possession or selling” of these images is a felony offense. According to federal law, “the consumption of child pornography can lead to a maximum of five years in federal prison, whereas distribution has a maximum penalty of 15 years.” In January 2009, six Pennsylvania teens were arrested for sexting, and prosecuted on child pornography charges. The three females were charged with production, while the three males were charged with possession. In the absence of uniform state legislation to address sexting’s role in regards to child pornography, states enact their own policies. Some states, such as Rhode Island, Mississippi, Ohio and Kentucky are attempting to prohibit the practice altogether. However, Ohio is the only of these states to pass the legislation. Other states attempt to define sexting as an offense; Florida’s attempts to do so died in committee, though South Carolina’s were successful. Other states such as New York and New Jersey succeeded in passing legislation that would promote education as a means of preventing sexting. But the question still raised by many lawmakers is the issue of how to prosecute sexters, or whether they should be prosecuted at all. In the state of Oklahoma, legislation has been introduced to specifically address the issue. Rep. Pittman submitted House Bill 3321 in February 2010. HB 3321 would prohibit engagement in sexual contact with a minor, “by use of any technology…included but not limited to text messages containing sexual content, that include nude, semi-nude, or erotic images or video.” HB 3321 would make this action a felony offense, but with certain exceptions. The penalty would not apply if the messages are consensual and between two minors between the ages of 14 and 18. It also does not apply if one of the consenting persons is 18 or older, and the other is between the ages of 14 and 18. On the Oklahoma House of Representative s Website, Pittman acknowledges the inconsistency in legislative attempts to lump sexting into child pornography prosecution. “Currently, the child pornography law [in Oklahoma] reads to ‘every person’ and does not distinguish between minors. So your teenager could be charged with child pornography and given a felony conviction for sexting,” Pittman said. A child pornography conviction in the state of Oklahoma currently holds a sentence of 10 to 25 years in prison. While the legal implications could be serious if one were convicted of a felony, there are further effects on the people involved. “This is something that needs to be talked about, because there are major implications,” Woods said. “There are consequences to every choice you make. Not only physically, but also emotionally and socially.” The emotional and social backlash can lead to depression or ostracism, or in extreme cases, lead to suicide. In September 2009, 13-year-old Hope Witsell of Sundance, Fla. hanged herself after nude images sent to a boy she liked were spread around the area’s schools. Students may believe their cell phone messages are private, and that their texts or photos are viewed only by the recipient. However, this is not always the case. Many young people can become victims, often after a fight with their significant other, or the recipient of the message. The recipient retaliates against the sender by forwarding the images to others. That is what happened to 18-year-old Jessie Logan from Cincinatti, Ohio. Logan had sent nude photos of herself to her boyfriend, who forwarded those photos to other girls after he and Logan broke up. These images often go “viral” after the sender and recipient break up or get into an argument. What this means is that something meant to be kept between two people spreads rapidly around the school and even the city. “It can be forwarded to fraternity brothers, the entire hockey team and even coworkers,” Woods said. “What is private becomes public.” Teens may think sexting is harmless, and that the dangers will not apply to them. They may read the stories of young girls’ suicides and dismiss them, claiming it only happens to teens in other cities and other states. But the consequences can hit home, and they can be far-reaching. “Any action you take will have consequences in six different areas,” Woods said. “Ultimately it will affect you physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially, spiritually and financially.” If convicted of child pornography, an individual is required to register as a sex offender. This registration is a weighty distinction that affects the chances of securing a job, or even where he or she lives. Woods advises students to think twice before sending images of any sort electronically, sexual in nature or not. “With technology, what’s done is done. Once you press send, you don’t know who is really going to see it.” http://uco360.com/?p=8253 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqtJ9_P8mz8 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:37:45 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=91&id=4425#4425 Soros to Donate $100 Million to Human Rights Group 09/07/2010 http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/George_Soros___World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_Davos_2010.jpg By Stephanie Strom George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, plans to announce on Tuesday that he is giving $100 million to Human Rights Watch to expand the organization’s work globally. SEE: No Easy Answers | Human Rights Watch http://t.co/Yc6dKHm It is the largest gift he has made, the largest gift by far that Human Rights Watch has ever received, and only the second gift of $100 million or more made by an individual this year, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. “We’re seeing noticeably fewer charitable gifts at the $100 million level from individuals reported than we did just a few years ago,” said Patrick Rooney, the center’s executive director. “Between 2006 and 2008, an average of about 13 gifts a year of that size by individuals was reported. In 2009, it dropped to six, and this year, we know of only one other.” The largest known gift in 2010 was $200 million pledged by an anonymous Baylor University graduate, to be dispensed upon the donor’s death, for medical research at the university. Uncertainty about the direction of the economy has made even the wealthiest individuals more cautious about making big philanthropic commitments, Mr. Rooney said. Contrariness, however, is a hallmark of Mr. Soros, both as an investor and as a philanthropist. While others have held on to their money, he has made bigger gifts than ever. And he said in an interview that the gift to Human Rights Watch is the first of a series of large gifts that he plans to make. “This is partly due to age,” said Mr. Soros, who celebrated his 80th birthday last month. “Originally I wanted to distribute all of the money during my lifetime, but I have abandoned that plan. My foundation should continue, but I still would like to do a lot of giving during my lifetime, and doing it this way, with such size, is a step in that direction.” Last year, in the depths of the recession, Mr. Soros gave the Robin Hood Foundation, a charity that fights poverty in New York, a $50 million contribution that helped it raise significantly more than that amount. He also gave every family with children on welfare in New York State $200 to buy school supplies, a grant worth $35 million that enabled the state to gain access to some $175 million in federal money for which it would not otherwise have qualified. So far this year, Mr. Soros has donated about $700 million to various causes, including the gift to Human Rights Watch. His hedge fund, Quantum Endowment, grew 29 percent in 2009, earning him $3.3 billion in fees and investment gains. Human Rights Watch will use the gift to add about 120 staff members to its team of 300 around the world, expand translation of its reports and open new offices. The intent, said Kenneth Roth, the advocacy group’s executive director, is to increase its influence in emerging power centers. The group, which is based in New York, investigates and draws attention to human rights abuses around the world. Mr. Roth said that South Africa had more sway in Zimbabwe than the United States and other Western powers. Similarly, India, China and Japan are more influential in Sri Lanka. “We need to try to generate pressure on those governments, those emerging powers, now, which means expanding our capacity to deploy our information,” Mr. Roth said. Mr. Soros put it differently. “I’m afraid the United States has lost the moral high ground under the Bush administration, but the principles that Human Rights Watch promotes have not lost their universal applicability,” he said. “So to be more effective, I think the organization has to be seen as more international, less an American organization.” He said the gift to the organization was “also from my heart,” an acknowledgment of the training in human rights issues and philanthropy that he received from the group when he was just starting to emerge as a major donor. “Every Wednesday morning at 8 o’clock, a group at Human Rights Watch got together and discussed issues with the managers,” Mr. Soros recalled. “I was an active participant in that group, and human rights remains an important element of my foundation’s current activities.” Mr. Roth said few people then knew who Mr. Soros was. “We were just trying to figure out what we were going to do that week and so on, and he was just a guy at the meeting,” he said. The grant is structured as a challenge that asks the group to raise $10 million from new, primarily international sources, each year for the next decade, but Human Right Watch will receive the Soros grant regardless. Roughly 30 percent of its revenue comes from countries other than the United States, but less than 1 percent is from non-Western countries, where much of the organization’s work is focused. Mr. Soros wants to see the organization raise more money in places like Brazil, Mexico, India and China, which will be challenging, Mr. Roth said. “This is a transformative grant in more than one way for sure,” he said. http://www.cnbc.com//id/39034951 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:11:48 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=91&id=4424#4424 Judge Mathis Calls U.S. Prison System Modern Day Slavery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twM3_ZLfaeU Judge Mathis was on 106th and Park yesterday. He answered questions about his beliefs on the prison system. He criticized the prison system for selling prison labor to various companies for less than a dollar a day. Mathis pointed out that Black men are 60% of the prison population and also talked about the trap of bad schools and no opportunities that often results in African American men being in prison. Mathis has been actively speaking about the prison industrial complex for some time, now here’s an interview he did with CNN on the issue. Video Description: I agree 100% with what Judge Mathis says in this video. PRISON IS A BUSINESS AND BUSINESS IS GOOD! Why do you think people are called career criminals? It's not because they want to continue to commit crime, it's because society forces them into a life of poverty and crime, and thus the prison business continues. They are set up to fail from the start, so they can keep the prison business, in business. Yes it is modern day slavery! Just ask anybody who has been in jail or prison. They will tell you that: 1. Crime on the inside is rampant. 2. Drugs are everywhere. 3. Murder is common. 4. Beatings by guards and other inmates, is common. 5. Sexual abuse by guards and other inmates, is common. 6. Corruption is everywhere. 7. Therapy and education is almost non-existent. They are just thrown behind bars, not given any therapy or education, treated like animals, not segregated, so beatings and murders run wild. They are forced (in most cases) to work for free, or cheap, which is slave labor. You see, the slave masters need slaves, so they make sure you will fail and their slavery business continues to churn. But you see, when you have spewed hate on national TV, saying we should "lock them up and throw away the key," you plant that seed into the general public, and it's almost impossible to climb back up that slippery slope! Until we start treating people as the human beings they are, and with respect, then nothing will change. Just ask many in jail or prison, they can tell you a lot about respect! http:/ ewsone.com ation/casey-gane-mccalla/judge-mathis-calls-u-s-prison-system-modern-day-slavery/ Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:57:50 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=91&id=4423#4423 Airport `Naked Image' Scanners in U.S. May Get Privacy Upgrades http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/data.jpg Full-body airport scanners made by OSI Systems Inc.'s Rapiscan Systems, will show this cartoon-type figure every time a person steps into one of its machines, as seen in this rendering. Source: Rapiscan Systems Holli Powell, a Phoenix medical- software consultant who flies every week, says she avoids getting into airport security lines that end at what she calls a humiliating full-body scanner. “Those scanners, I feel, are above and beyond,” Powell, 35, said in an interview. They generate “nearly naked images.” The concerns of travelers such as Powell, which led privacy advocates to sue the government, may soon be eased. L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. and OSI Systems Inc.’s Rapiscan, makers of the scanners for U.S. airports, are delivering software upgrades that show a generic figure rather than an actual image of a passenger’s body parts. The new display would mark sections of a person’s body that need to be checked. The revisions “certainly address most of the privacy concerns,” Peter Kant, a Rapiscan executive vice president, said in an interview. Every passenger will generate an avatar that “looks like a guy wearing a baseball cap,” he said. The Transportation Security Administration aims to add the software to the machines, which sparked complaints, as more airports get the scanners. As of Aug. 27, 194 of the devices were in use at 51 U.S. airports, an almost fivefold increase from six months ago, “TSA continues to explore additional privacy protections for imaging technology,” Greg Soule, a spokesman for the security agency, said in an e-mail. “Testing is currently under way.” The agency is accelerating use of the scanners after the U.S. said Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on approach to Detroit Dec. 25 by igniting explosives in his underpants. The 1,000 scanners due at airports by the end of next year will put the devices at more than half the security lanes at major U.S. airports. 28 Airports The 28 airports getting scanners in the second half of this year include New York’s Kennedy and Philadelphia, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Houston, Miami, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Seattle, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in July. New York-based L-3, which already has one of its revised scanners in use at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, presented its upgrade to the U.S. security agency Aug. 31, and the technology is now being reviewed in a federal laboratory, according to the company. “We look forward to a successful trial and certification process with the TSA this fall,” Bill Frain, an L-3 senior vice president for government sales, said in a statement. OSI’s Rapiscan, based in Torrance, California, plans to present software for its machines this month, Kant said. The software change will be tested by the agency, he said. 302 Scanners L-3 and Rapiscan shared a $47.9 million contract in April for 302 of the scanners. L-3 will get $31.7 million to build 202 machines and Rapiscan $16.2 million for 100. The funds were to come from last year’s $814 billion stimulus law. The software changes are “a pretty substantial development” for the companies and “something that TSA has wanted,” said Jeffrey Sural, an attorney for Alston & Bird LLP in Washington and a former assistant administrator at the security agency. “There’s still a long way to go,” and months will be spent testing the technology, he said. Using full-body imaging technology is voluntary, though passengers who refuse to be scanned may be frisked by U.S. security employees. The agency said data show when passengers were offered the choice of the scanner or alternate screening such as a pat-down, more than 98 percent chose scanners. Separate Room Machines now at airports are monitored by a TSA employee in a separate room, to prevent passengers and security workers at the checkpoint from viewing the full-body image that sees through undergarments. The software upgrade would replace the images with an avatar and alert authorities to a potential hidden threat, eliminating the need to keep an employee in a remote room. The upgrade “really reduces the personnel costs,” Rapiscan’s Kant said. The Government Accountability Office estimated in March that agency staffing costs could climb $2.4 billion over seven years from expanded use of scanners, assuming current staffing requirements. Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties group that sued the agency in July over the devices, said revising the machine software “makes a lot of sense” from an engineering standpoint. Linking, Saving Images The upgrades don’t resolve privacy questions, said Rotenberg, whose Washington-based group objects to the use of the devices as a primary screening tool. The agency may someday decide it wanted to record passenger images or link scan results to traveler names, he said. “Over time there’s every reason to believe TSA would want to know the identities of passengers, because it would make threat detection more informed,” Rotenberg said. Powell said she will continue to allow extra time before her flights to find the line that won’t force her to walk through the body scanners, even if they are upgraded. The devices are still capable of transmitting and storing images, she said, and that “is scary.” To contact the reporter on this story: John Hughes in Washington at Jhughes5@bloomberg.net http://www.bloomberg.com ews/2010-09-08/airport-naked-image-scanners-in-u-s-may-get-avatars-to-increase-privacy.html Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:20:35 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4422#4422 Akron Ohio: Growing panhandler list includes sex offenders, felons 9-8-2010 Ohio: http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/1a643cdd2b1722ae2f058ded9af87761.jpg AKRON -- It's tough to drive through Akron, especially near the main streets and highways, and not see someone asking for money. Often times, there's quite a few people panhandling. "On a good day, I make about $33," said Mark Frederick, a 48-year-old homeless man who admits he's been panhandling in Akron eight hours per day for the last two years. Frederick usually finds a good spot near the State Route 8 exits by the University of Akron, but on Wednesday, he found a spot to rest under a tree because all four corners were occupied with other panhandlers. Akron began registering panhandlers and issuing photo identification cards in 2007. The list has grown to more than 250 registered panhandlers, including 19 women and some teenagers too. The rules are quite loose to receive an ID card. Criminal convictions are ok, including sex offenses and violent crimes, as long as the person has never been convicted of a panhandling crime. Frederick, a former painter, said he can't find work because of prior felony convictions, but he's pleased that Akron offers him the opportunity to be honest about his need to panhandle. Police receive about one call per day with a complaint about an aggressive panhandler or a panhandler in traffic. "We are getting some road rage calls where people are stopped trying to give the donation of food or money, and they're holding up traffic when the light turns green," said Lt. Rick Edwards, Akron Police. "So we're getting a lot of people beeping their horns. Screaming or hollering." by Eric Mansfield http://www.wkyc.com ews/local/story.aspx?storyid=144491&catid=3 Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:18:06 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=81&id=4421#4421 Human trafficking, exploitation is on the rise in Michigan http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/theresa_floresjpg_58c828e2b8bb95a9_large.jpg Theresa Flores will have knots in her stomach when she comes to Grand Rapids later this week. “It’s hard to come back to Michigan,” she says from her home in Ohio, where the carpet cleaning company runs its whirring machine and her teen daughter rings in from her cell phone. Flores was a 15-year-old living in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham when she was held captive in a nightmarish sex slave operation for two years. She lived in a nice house and went to school every day, where she was a member of the track team. Almost every night, a black Trans Am picked her up, and she was taken to the basements of houses, where groups of men would rape and torture her while her family slept. They threatened her and her family if she told. Flores, 45, will be the main speaker Friday at a panel discussion on human trafficking, joined by area experts with a mission to shed light on a dark subject. “It happens here,” Flores says, “to white, middle-class teens who live in the suburbs. It’s easy to think that because you live in a nice neighborhood, you’re safe. Well, you’re not. We’ve let our guard down.” What is human trafficking? Experts say many people aren’t even sure what human trafficking is, often assuming it means smuggling illegal immigrants across borders. Its real definition: when a person is recruited or transferred through some form of coercion or deception and exploited, mainly for forced labor or sexual exploitation. Women and children are the primary targets, but men also are trafficked. While much of the illegal trafficking involves bringing women and children across international borders to be sold into sex industries, the number of girls exploited this way is on the rise in Michigan, according to a report released last month by the Michigan Women’s Foundation in partnership with Women’s Funding Network. The May study included the most popular outlets for domestic commercial exploitation: the Internet and escort services. It found that in Michigan: * 141 young girls were victims of commercial sexual exploitation in May, up from 117 in February, a 20.5 percent increase. * Monthly domestic trafficking of adolescent girls in Michigan is more pervasive than the annual number of women 24 and younger killed in car accidents in one year — 106; and the annual number of women 24 and younger who committed suicide in a year — 31. The foundation has received a grant from the Women’s Funding Network to raise awareness about the issue and to support services for victims. Public misconception Over at the Human Trafficking Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, law students supervised by professor/attorneys represent 18 victims of human trafficking, says Meredith Weill, a clinical fellow there who will join Friday’s panel discussion. “Many people I talk to say, ‘How could this possibly be going on here? We have police. We have communities of people who know what’s going on. How could we miss it?’” Weill says. “But people are missing it, all the time.” Part of her job is to research Michigan’s anti-trafficking legislation and devise ways to make it better, from better protection for victims to easier prosecution of traffickers. Recognizing the signs Among Fridays panelists is Rebecca McDonald, founder and president of Women at Risk International, a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit that unites and educates women and children in areas of human trafficking and sexual slavery. She offers training throughout the country on how to recognize signs of trafficking. Her next session is Nov. 12-13 at Kentwood Community Church. IF YOU GO Panel discussion on human trafficking When: 7-9 p.m. Friday Where: Grand Valley State University’s DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton St., Loosemoore Auditorium. Tickets: $40; $20 for students. Purchase online at zontagr.org, call Vicki at 241-6014 or buy them at the door. Details: Panelists include trafficking survivors, law enforcement and nonprofit organizations dedicated to educating about human trafficking and helping its victims. Women at Risk International What: This Grand Rapids nonprofit that helps women and children in areas of human trafficking and sexual slavery also operates stores that sell jewelry made by women rescued from human trafficking. Where: Locations are at 119 Courtland St. in Rockford and 2790 44th St. SW near RiverTown Crossings mall. Coming up Learn more about potential human trafficking in your neighborhood and what to do about it at a conference from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 12 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 13 at Kentwood Community Church, 1200 60th St. SE. Cost is $20. E-mail ljensen@kccoline.org or 455-1740 for tickets. McDonald, a mother of four, tells how trafficking can start at teen oral sex parties when a trafficker steps in and tells girls they can make money at that. “A girl wants to buy a pair of $100 jeans and she finds out she can make $100 in one night instead of working all weekend at Arby’s,” McDonald says. Teens get lured into this world, she says, “not really knowing what they’re getting into. Then, it escalates. Traffickers are recruiting girls to recruit other girls.” Parents are shocked at her sessions, she says, “but I want to do more than break their hearts. I want to enlist them. I want to give them tools.” Personal account Flores travels the country to speak about the issue and has appeared on several national television news shows. “Even though the news coverage is increasing, it’s not at the forefront, which is sad, because it’s epidemic,” says Flores, who has a master’s degree in counseling education and is a licensed social worker in Ohio. “The news reporters think this is something that only happens in other countries. You have to convince them. “Mostly, people don’t want to know about it.” Her story is horrifying. Flores writes about the ordeal in her book, “The Slave Across the Street.” It started with a crush she had on a boy at school in Birmingham. Against her better judgment, she let him give her a ride home from school one day. But he didn’t drive her home. He took her to his house, where he raped her. She found out later his cousins had taken photos of the attack, but the photos looked as if it was consensual sex. Soon Flores was being blackmailed by a group of men. Do what they say, they told her, or they would show the photos to her parents, her priest, the kids at school. Her father was a successful businessman who made it clear appearances mattered. Her mom told her she was to never have sex, or she would be thrown out of the house. Isolated, with no support system because her family moved every two years, she felt alone. People always ask her why she didn’t tell her parents. Why she didn’t just refuse. It’s hard for people to understand the psychological place a trafficked girl is in, Flores says. “It’s coercion,” she says. The men constantly threatened her family, her brothers, her dog. Someone always was following her. Dead animals showed up in her mailbox. “They’re always watching you.” One day, the family dog, Bowzer, was missing. Theresa’s phone rang. On the other end of the line she heard her dog bark, then the sound of a gun shot. She never saw her dog again. “You’re terrified beyond anything you can imagine,” she says. For two years, she was forced into basements, where groups of men waited for her. “I always had hope,” she says, “that one day they’d say, ‘Here are the pictures.’ You have hope it won’t continue.” Flores escaped the nightmare when her family moved to the East Coast for her dad’s work. “I thought my scenario was rare,” she says, “but I get a lot of e-mails from women saying they had similar situations — a boyfriend who pretended he loved them, then tricked them, then blackmailed them. There are a lot of Theresas out there.” Aftermath Flores still has flashbacks and nightmares about her ordeal. She decided to go into counseling, she says, “because nobody helped me. “It also helped me heal,” she says of the course work that led to her social work degree. “It gives me a purpose now.” Flores is director of awareness and training for Gracehaven, a safe home in rural Ohio for girls 17 and younger who have been victims of commercial sexual exploitation. She works with girls who have been trafficked and offers training for professionals who work with trafficked teens. “It becomes your identity, and it shouldn’t be,” she says. “I tell girls, ‘This is just one part of the puzzle of you. It’s not all of you.’” E-mail Terri Hamilton: thamilton@grpress.com http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/09/human_trafficking_exploitation.html Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:51:28 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=72&id=4418#4420 QUOTE: I think is is indicative of how little by little attitudes are changing. Sure, the media outlets in Des Moines, the state capital can get people to gasp and be amazed that a town and even more importantly, a school system can decide to set up a policy that allows former sex offenders to volunteer. But then the people in this town know this offender personally. They know the truth. They have seen him take responsibility for what he did now more than fifteen years after he was put on the registry and which may well have been as much as thirty years since he committed the crime. What wasn't discussed at all in the article was the fact that the policy laid out a safety plan for all adults who volunteer with the schools. Many in Iowa have seen the extremes of new sex offender laws that first forced thousands of former offenders to move away from their families and out of the cities to the rural towns. Then shortly afterwords to have nearly half of the offenders in the state stop registering. It was the states sheriff's association that finally came out and told the legislature they needed to change the laws because they couldn't do their job of monitoring offenders when they didn't know where half of them were. People in the small towns, know their neighbors, know their neighbors problems, and often give others a second chance to change their lives around. My guess, and hope, is that this is happening more and more on a personal level in small towns all across the country. In His service, Tiggeronmv Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:49:56 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=13&id=4419#4419 QUOTE: Most interesting is that this registry is being set up so that employees can report their bosses or other employees with no one monitoring of the truth of the situation at all. Notice they came right out and said to list those "accused of sexual harassment", not those fired or disciplined or convicted, simply those accused. This sounds like not only the next register, but a vigilante site run by vigilantes, (or dare I say it feminists who hate men), that want to get back at anyone they believe received any type of business advantage over themselves. Possibly to be used against those who may be competing for advancement in the same company. Maybe even as a way to threaten their employer to list the business, unless they receive a raise. In His service, Tiggeronmv YouTube - National Sexual Harassment Registry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbjG5xkuPjo Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:13:21 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=72&id=4418#4418 Board: Former Sex Offenders Can Volunteer In Schools Click link for video http://www.kcci.com ews/24908418/detail.html DES MOINES, Iowa -- Some parents and community members in Ogden said they're concerned about a new school policy allowing former sex offenders to volunteer in schools. The change in policy comes 15 years ago after an Ogden teacher and coach, Tom Perdue, was listed on the sex offender registry after being convicted of taping female students changing in a locker room. He's now off the sex offender list and volunteering at Ogden High School. "People remember things that happened and if that was your daughter or your son that happened to who were now off the sex offender list to set free or do and volunteer however they need to, how would you feel about it?" said resident Scott Adams. The Ogden school board unanimously approved a new procedure that allows former sex offenders who are no longer on the registry to volunteer at school events. State law prohibits sex offenders currently on the registry from volunteering or going near a school. "I have to say I think it makes Ogden look bad. Ogden looks terrible, a lot worse than we are," said Joe Doolan, a high school senior in Ogden. Board members said the procedure is just formalizing an unwritten policy that was already in place. "I did not develop it to make it possible for Tom Perdue to volunteer. It was to cover any situation," said Stan Friesen, vice president of the Ogden school board. Perdue recently began volunteering by announcing sporting events. Friesen, who was Ogden High School's principal for 34 years, went on to say that Perdue is a changed man and the students' safety is most important. Although some are upset by the new procedure, the community remains tight lipped about the situation and a man they have known for years. "I think if it were someone from the outside wanting to come in to our school and volunteer at an event of whatever it would be different because no one knows who they are," said Elly Adams, an Ogden resident. Some community members also told KCCI that they are OK with the school policy. They said they think Perdue should be able to be involved in the community even if that means volunteering in school. KCCI attempted to contact Perdue for comment on this story, but was unable to reach him. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:30:47 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=80&id=4417#4417 YouTube - IL - Parents look to change sex offender laws in Illinois http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV8PtN9F0yk Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:11:16 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=80&id=4416#4416 Community needs convict integration program http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/scarlet_letter.png By Jeff Berglund Opinions Editor Publication Date: 09/07/2010 The American judicial system should not and does not leave every sex offender in a prison to eventually die behind bars. These people are often released back into the public after serving a prison sentence with an opportunity to make good on a second chance. The recent firing of three employees at the Subway located in Purdue West highlights the need to better integrate convicts into society. “When someone is convicted, whether it’s a felony or a misdemeanor, if they go to jail they are going to come back to the community,” said Kipp Scott, Chief Probation Officer of Tippecanoe County. “The goal that (probation and parole officers) share is to bring someone back into the community, get them acclimated – working, going to school, doing all the normal things we do every single day – and help them learn to make better choices so they don’t get in trouble again.” The three now-unemployed men are all sex offenders living under Zachary’s Law. The law was passed in 1994 after a 10-year-old boy named Zachary Snider was molested and murdered by his neighbor, a previously convicted sex offender. The law requires sex offenders to live intensely monitored lives, which includes notifying local law enforcement of any changes in address, employment or schooling. Zachary Snider’s case is just one example that proves the necessity of this intense monitoring. The Subway employees were, to the best of their knowledge, all abiding by these strict parole laws as they worked at the restaurant for over a year, but the recent controversy over their employment led to the discovery that they were violating one requirement. The men were unknowingly working within 400 feet of Horticulture Park, and it is a violation of their parole for them to work anywhere within 1,000 feet of a public park. “These guys were reimbursing the state and the counties for their supervision,” Scott said. “It costs $23,000 to keep someone in the department of corrections for one year. It costs $350 to keep someone on probation for a year. That’s the actual cost to a tax payer. Do the math. Is it better to lock these guys up for the average tax payer or be a little more tolerant and understanding but vigilant and leave these people in the community where they’re paying taxes?” In an Aug. 23 interview, Shannon Woodsworth, the restaurant’s manager, repeatedly called the men exemplary employees. “They are the first to stand up to the plate to pick up extra shifts,” she said “I wish everybody would work as hard as these guys do.” Roger Bauer, the man who owns the Purdue West Subway, also owns several other Subways in the area. When Woodsworth was asked in an Aug. 30 interview why the men could not simply be moved to another location, she explained that Bauer does not own another Subway that complies with the strict parole terms. She expressed how difficult it was for her to let these men go. “I was sobbing,” she said. “I hope someone can read this and say, ‘I’ve got the best job for them.’” If a man who owns 16 Subways cannot legally employ a sex offender in any one of them, who in this community will have a job for them? Considering it took the three men approximately nine months each to find their Subway jobs, nothing suggests these men will find gainful employment any time soon. The close monitoring of sex offenders is extremely important as they are integrated into society. And many of the laws in place restricting where these men can work, such as prohibiting a sex offender from working in a day care center or elementary school, are certainly justified. But a program should exist where the parole officers, local police and local businesses work together to help these people find gainful employment within Zachary’s Law. The fact that it took the Purdue University Police Department, Subway, and the men’s parole officers over a year to realize these men were working at a location that violated their parole terms clearly shows the need for this kind of program. Sex offenders have special requirements to fulfill before becoming contributing members of the community, and these requirements warrant special engagement by those who can help. In an America where comebacks are so highly celebrated, people who are willing to put forth the effort, even sex offenders, should have a real chance to make their own. Jeff Berglund is a senior in the College of Liberal Arts. He can be reached at opinions@purdueexponent.org http://www.purdueexponent.com/?module=article&story_id=22318 Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:50:31 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=16&id=4415#4415 ‘Sexting’ may be hazardous By Luke Taylor Neosho Daily News Posted Sep 06, 2010 @ 10:14 AM Neosho, Mo. — http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/sexting___danger.jpg Teenagers and some adults are getting swept up in a new electronic fad, one that can have dangerous side effects. Sexting has swept the nation, and area citizens have mixed feelings on the issue. Sexting is the distribution of sexually explicit pictures or messages from one cell phone to another. According to several news reports, people — especially teenagers — “sext” for attention. “More and more kids are being sexually active at younger ages,” said area college student Myra Dinger. “This is just an encouragement that it is OK, when it is not.” Jack Divine, Crowder College psychology instructor, thinks one of the reasons sexting jumped on the scene so quickly was as a statement about adolescents’ quick adaption to technology, something many parents struggle to keep up with. “Most adults don’t even text, and all of a sudden the kids are doing it, and so it’s like, ‘Oh gosh, I didn’t even think to warn my kids about that because I’m not even familiar with it,’” Divine said. And there are risks involved with sexting, risks most don’t even realize. For example, in some states, possessing an underage person’s nude photo on your cell phone constitutes child pornography. In Ohio, ABC News reported, a 15-year-old girl was arrested and registered as a sex offender for having nude photos of herself on her own cell phone. In Pennsylvania, three teenage girls faced charges for manufacturing and disseminating child pornography for sending nude/semi-nude pictures of themselves to three male classmates. The teenage boys also faced charges for possession of child pornography, MSNBC reported. These photos of underage cell phone users are considered “dangerous” because of how easily the photos can be sent from one phone to another. In some cases, teenagers have disseminated photos of one person to as many as 30 of their classmates. One local resident who has sent sexual messages in text before, and who asked to remain anonymous, said, “I've never sent a pic with my face in it.” However, she added that teenagers should not engage in sexting, saying it’s “fun” for responsible adults, but “teenagers have (too many) opportunities to get frisky with each other, they shouldn't be doing it via text, too.” Those pictures can end up just about anywhere, including the Internet, and they can be there forever. Though many say that child pornography charges are a little too strong in such cases, lawmakers have difficulty drafting up legal language specific enough to hold up in court. Right now, Pennsylvania is the 21st state to consider a law prohibiting minors from sexting. To get away from the strong child pornography charges, the bill’s author, Pennsylvania State Representative Seth Grove, has written it to protect children from themselves. “We want to make sure these pictures don’t victimize kids even more,” Grove told the Philadelphia Inquirer. But some say taking legal action isn’t the right way to go about fixing the problem, but that finding the root of the sexting phenomenon is. “I don’t think a lot of young people see a picture of themselves half naked as a bad thing,” Divine said. “They can’t think of the consequences.” Copyright 2010 Neosho Daily News. Some rights reserved http://www.neoshodailynews.com/lifestyle/x353259592/-Sexting-may-be-hazardous Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:27:20 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=72&id=4414#4414 Is sentence too severe for counselor who kissed teen? http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/court_logo_300x225.jpg Posted on Sep 04, 2010 by Trish Mehaffey. Critics are questioning the fairness of a youth counselor being placed on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for kissing a 16-year-old, but lawmakers say the law is not too harsh because it protects children. “Her chances for employment just dropped to zero,” Drake University law professor Robert Rigg said of Amanda Jones, 24, a former Four Oaks youth counselor convicted in Linn County District Court this week of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. She was accused of kissing a 16-year-old boy who was in residential treatment for behavioral issues in June 2008. The teen testified he initiated the kiss that happened at Four Oaks but never replied to e-mails from Jones, who wanted to pursue a romantic relationship after the kiss. Jones, who did not testify, faces up to a year in prison. She also will be listed on the Sex Offender Registry for 10 years and be on a 10-year special parole after serving her sentence. “Everybody in the world will know,” said Rigg, director of Drake’s criminal defense program. “It’s the kiss of death.” Two legislators, however, defended the state’s sex offender law they helped revise. “Those laws prevent harm to a child, who already is a victim,” state Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Keith Kreiman, D-Bloomfield, said of the law regarding counselors, therapists or social workers who have inappropriate contact with clients. Attorney Mark Brown of Cedar Rapids, who represented Jones, said he also believes the registry laws are too harsh for those guilty of lesser sex-related offenses. He plans to ask for a deferred judgment for Jones, which would eliminate the mandatory 10-year special parole. “I think the legislators should have trust in the judges to decide who should be placed on the registry in cases like this,” Brown said. Rigg said the legislators, in setting registry law, decided they wanted to be the “super judge.” “This is a common criticism of mandatory sentences — it doesn’t take into account the facts and circumstances of individual cases,” he said. “The mandatory sentencing is addictive — once you have it, you get hooked. No politician is going to change it because they would lose the next election.” Rigg said the judges in such cases are concerned about the law’s inflexibility, so the only one left with any power or control is the prosecutor, who decides what charges to file. “If you think about it, there’s no downside for them,” Rigg said. “If they win, great. If they lose, they can say they did their best and they don’t look soft on sex offenders.” Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, who worked on the bipartisan revision of sex offender laws, said legislators discussed giving judges the discretion whether to order placement on the Sex Offender Registry. But that idea was rejected after lawmakers considered that charges are sometimes pleaded down to lesser offenses, the former State Patrol trooper said. The registry may seem unfair for someone who is convicted of their first minor sexual offense, but “the problem is we don’t know who’s going to reoffend, ” said Kreiman, a practicing attorney. The law, Kreiman said, has a provision that allows someone who may not be at risk to reoffend a “slim chance” to shorten their time on the registry. Ross Loder, legislative liaison for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said the offender must have a recommendation from a probation or parole officer; be released from jail or prison; have approval from a community-based corrections official; must be on the register for a set number of years, based on level of offense; must complete sex offender treatment and be assessed a low risk to reoffend. “There have been no successful modifications since it went into effect,” Loder said. http://gazetteonline.com/local-news/public-safety/2010/09/04/is-sentence-to-severe-for-counselor-who-kissed-teen Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:15:08 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=12&id=4413#4413 Hypocritical Legal Crusade Against Craigslist Will Not Solve Violence Against Sex Trafficking Victims AG Richard Blumenthal's obsession with Craigslist does nothing to end the exploitation of people trafficked for sex. http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/storyimages_picture99.png For years, Connecticut state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (and his dozen or so allied AGs across the United States) have aggressively attacked Craigslist's Adult Services section. This weekend, Craigslist opted to self-censor that part of the site. Perhaps now, Blumenthal and his allies in law enforcement might abandon their counterproductive crusade against Craigslist and take steps to confront the issues that actually contribute to violence against people involved in the sex trade. If these lead prosecutors are truly concerned about ending violence and exploitation, then their focus on one intermediary advertising Web site, among dozens of other sex ad venues, could be considered criminally shortsighted. There’s a tremendous amount the attorneys general could do to actually curb the suffering of people within the criminal and legal systems in which they have power. This is what some of us have elected them to do. People involved in the sex trade, whether by choice, coercion or circumstance, all still face criminal records after a prostitution conviction – even people who have been trafficked. These convictions can prevent a former sex worker or trafficking survivor from obtaining future employment, housing or retaining custody of their children. The collateral consequences of conviction vary from state to state, and can be severe. In Louisiana, Women With a Vision advocates for women who are charged under a 200-year-old “crimes against nature” law when suspected of being involved in the sex trade. Such a conviction requires them to register as sex offenders. They group asks how a young woman of color is supposed to make a living outside the sex trade when her driver’s license is stamped “SEX OFFENDER” in large block letters -- as is the case with hundreds of women convicted of prostitution in Louisiana. But these collateral consequences of conviction can be changed, even without removing laws against prostitution. In 2010, through the advocacy of the Sex Workers Project (based at the Urban Justice Center), New York became the first state in the nation to adopt legislation allowing trafficking survivors to vacate prostitution-related sentences, removing these convictions from their criminal records. This is a human rights victory that even those who consider prostitution to be intrinsically harmful can and ought to support. Can we count on Blumenthal and his allied AGs, as they strive to protect human trafficking survivors, to support such critical law reform in their home states? People involved in the sex trade still face still discrimination, harassment and violence from the people charged with helping them. A 2009 study of Chicago girls in the sex trade, conducted by the Young Women’s Empowerment Project, paints a stark picture of what keeps girls isolated and vulnerable. Even when girls sought out the support they needed – from drug treatment and foster care programs to hospitals and the police – they were denied help because of their involvement in the sex trade. Girls describe hospitals discriminating against them and not providing full care, being physically and sexually assaulted by foster parents, and being accused of lying by the police when they seek help after being raped. In fact, girls’ reports of abuse by police outnumbered the stories of other forms of institutional violence that girls encountered by far. Chicago is not alone. In a University of California at San Francisco study published in 2009, 22 percent of San Francisco adult female sex workers surveyed reported having police as paying customers. Fourteen percent were threatened with arrest if they did not have sex with a police officer. Washington cops fare no better: in a report published on people involved in or perceived to be involved in the sex trade, Different Avenues reveals that one in five people were solicited for sex by the police. They also report that police confiscated safer sex supplies, and strip-searched and assaulted people suspected of prostitution. These actions constitute human rights violations and are especially unconscionable coming from the law enforcement professionals who have a duty to protect people in the sex trade from violent pimps and others who might exploit them. Would Blumenthal and his allies support a similar investigation into such police misconduct and abuse of power in key cities across the United States? You could almost forgive Blumenthal and his colleagues for thinking that the root cause of prostitution was bad men and their bad, selfish, insatiable sexual appetites, bad men and their greed and their lust for power over others. They call them johns, pimps and traffickers. Their desire to blame “bad men” makes even more wretched sense when you consider who are among their colleagues in law and policy: Louisiana Senator David Vitter, a client of a Washington escort service, and former New York state governor and famed Internet escort service client Eliot Spitzer. For being such “bad men” who pay for sex, they’re still publicly kicking. Vitter is headed for re-election and Spitzer, though his political career is indelibly stamped with “Client #9,” isn’t hard-up for work. Whereas once CNN positioned its 24-hour trucks outside the apartment of one woman he hired for sex, now it’s Spitzer who’ll be helming their desks -- for his own eight o'clock news show coming this month. Considering that Spitzer hired someone off the Internet to bring over state lines for sex, he’d likely fall under Blumenthal’s own very generous definition of a trafficker. But to call for charges against Spitzer does nothing now, and to insist that Blumenthal not forget these famous, slightly fallen, yet similarly elected clients of the sex trade is as pointless as asking him to consider turning away from his fight against Internet prostitution. There seems to be no convincing these public officials that there is simply no evidence that limiting the venues in which sex is sold improves public health and welfare for anyone. It is as if these attorneys general believe that the same “bad men” who might risk discovery and arrest by placing an advertisement for sex on a high-profile Web site like Craigslist will simply close up shop now that they must do business somewhere more underground, where it will be much harder for law enforcement and NGOs to monitor their activities. Meanwhile, police will continue to arrest young people in the sex trade, sending them to jails, shelters and clinics that denigrate and abuse them, and leaving them with criminal records that perpetuate the cycles of poverty and violence. Demanding that Craigslist delete a section of its Web site is a far easier fight than examining one’s own law enforcement strategy. Censoring ads for prostitution does not end violence against people who sell or trade sex. But that’s not the fight at hand, not for the state AGs. Taking action to end violence against people in the sex trade is simply not on their agenda. How could we believe it is when they won’t right what’s wrong within their own houses? http://www.alternet.org/sex/148099/hypocritical_legal_crusade_against_craigslist_will_not_solve_violence_against_sex_trafficking_victims?page=entire Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:07:59 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=54&id=4412#4412 Pushing Sex Offenders http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/9314835_BG2_rickyslife-40305a49d742227530b25cb7fccd30ab.jpg Some might think it's bad enough to take a person who has paid his debt to society and make him a perpetual pariah. Some might think it's worse when the cause is some technical offense that threatens no one and offer no potential for future harm. Some might think it's sufficient to regulate them to the point where they will never be capable of getting a lawful job and have to live under a bridge for lack of housing that complies with impossible limitations. But no. That's not enough for the Richmond County, South Carolina, Sheriff's Department. Mere registration and online availability of sex offenders isn't sufficient to impugn them publicly and fit nicely within the regulations designed to preclude any possibility of their returning to a normal, law-abiding life. They needed to do more. From the local Fox affiliate, MidlandsConnect: It’s not the most enjoyable thing to read, but law enforcement officials say it's necessary. “When you are convicted of certain offenses, you are required by the court to register as a sex offender,” says Captain Chris Cowan of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. “What we try to do is not only provide that information online, but to produce publications that are accessible to the community.” Savannah Jernigan picked up a copy of the newly-released Lexington/Richland County Sexual Predator Offender's Listing out of curiosity, and she was surprised by what she saw. That's right, the Sheriff is producing a local newspaper, listing the names, addresses and photographs of around 850 local sex offenders. Currently, 40,000 copies of the newspaper have been distributed throughout the Midlands. It's an aggressive approach to monitoring sex offenders; however, Tiffany Edwards doesn't feel that it’s unfair. I think everyone should know where these people are living, especially if you have kids,” Edwards said. “I have a child, so I want to know who is near me and in my neighborhood.” Of course Tiffany doesn't feel it's unfair. Tiffany isn't in it. Tiffany doesn't know anybody in it. Tiffany has children, and like most people, has no issue with sacrificing others for any sense of safety. Whatever is good for Tiffany, even if it doesn't mean a thing. Hey, you can never be too careful, provided it doesn't impact your life. The idea that it's not enough to make it available, but that the full panoply of sex offender information needs to be pushed into the hands of mothers, is another nail in a coffin that we thought was already closed as tight as possible. But Doug Berman sees opportunity this time around. I wonder if they take advertisement in this newspaper. I ask about ads in the sex offender newspaper half-jokingly, but I do think it might be useful for there to be links to my blog and other resources that discussion sex offender sentencing law and policy in these publications. (Of course, I would be too keen on having my picture run with a plug for this blog.) While this rag is produced by the cops, consider the potential for some entrepreneur to develop local sex offender papers everywhere, and make a killing on related advertisement. The potential is huge, from ads for Tasers and pepper sprays to entertainment directed at adults with peculiar tastes. And if this doesn't bother you too much because, well, it's only those disgusting freak child molesters (yes, we know that's not the case, but we're channeling Tiffany here and she doesn't think about all the other offenses that got tossed into the sex offender registration hopper that have no reason to be there, so let it go), the advertising potential for a weekly that lists drug offenders could dwarf the opportunity here. The hydroponics ads alone would make someone a fortune. While availability of the information on registered sex offenders is sufficient to make life untenable, and essentially preclude the return to a law-abiding life if that's what you thought a well-conceived sentence might accomplish, pushing this information into the hands of Tiffanys is outrageous. Obviously, one sheriff thinks this is a brilliant idea, or that its at least sufficient to win him a few friends, but if this becomes a trend, and it certainly has the potential, it's brings a bad idea to a level of insanity. And if it happens, be sure to check out the advertisers. No doubt there will be a huge opportunity for lawyer ads as well. http://blog.simplejustice.us/2010/09/07/pushing-sex-offenders.aspx?ref=rss Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:21:27 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4411#4411 Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher on the passage of Chelsea’s Law http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Chambers.jpg BY Michael M. Rosen Monday, 06 September 2010 11:11 On August 30, Chelsea’s Law—a set of measures targeting the worst sexual predators in an effort to prevent future tragedies like those that befell the King, Dubois, and many other families—reached final passage in the state legislature. Its sponsor, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego), introduced the bill in April in partnership with Brent and Kelly King, parents of the slain 17-year-old Poway girl after whom it was named. I spoke with Assemblyman Fletcher in the wake of Chelsea’s Law’s passage: MR: When do you expect Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the bill? NF: We think it will be soon, possibly, and this could change a hundred times. It could possibly be next week, but constitutionally, it has to happen within next thirty days, so at some point during September. We would like the governor to come to San Diego to sign the bill. It would mean a great deal to the community and the Kings, but he’s obviously fairly busy right now. MR: You’ve been quoted as saying the bill is “more than we wanted – it’s stronger and broader and more comprehensive today than it was when it was introduced.” Can you explain what's different about the current, passed legislation from the version you introduced? NF: In a nutshell, when we introduced Chelsea’s law, it was mainly focused on enforcement. Life in prison without parole for violent offenders, lifetime parole for offenders against young, and limits on offenders’ access to parks. These provisions all remain intact in the bill. But we added to them significantly by including a complete reform of parole system and fundamental, structural change as to how we deal with sex offenders. We’ve added money for treatment and for a law enforcement taskforce that will go out and monitor sex offenders who are on parole. We’re also adding a dynamic risk assessment tool and bolstering Megan’s law so that sex offenders are constantly monitored. Finally, we’ve made changes to the MDO (mentally disordered offender) law: until now, when offenders are considered for release, two independent [psychiatrists] do an analysis. If one says you should stay, but the other says you can go, they let you out. Now, we’ve changed the system so that if it’s tied, they keep you in. MR: Why do you think it’s been such smooth sailing, especially after pundits predicted folks like Sen. Mark Leno would stand in its way? NF: The bill went through on unanimous votes, but it wasn’t smooth. There were really intense negotiations behind the scenes, and a lot of compromise and hard work. Most of the negotiations happened in the Senate between me and Mark Leno. These measures generally haven’t fared well [in his committee]. The biggest issues were cost and prison overcrowding. For example, we had to reduce petty theft to misdemeanor status from a “wobbler” [between felony and misdemeanor], which saved a lot of money. We want to focus on the worst of the worst and people we’re afraid of, not people we’re mad at. Violent offenders against kids fall into that category, not petty thieves. MR: What have the King and Dubois families’ reactions been like? Have you been in contact with them throughout the process? NF: I talk to the King family almost daily. It’s bittersweet. It’s amazing that it got through, but it reminds you of the terrible tragedy. Brent and Kelly [King] said they’re just so glad that out of this tragedy came something good. If one family doesn’t have to go through what we went through, it’s worth it. I think it brings them great comfort. MR: After the governor signs Chelsea’s Law, when will it officially go on the books? NF: We added an urgency clause, which means the minute he signs it, it goes into effect. Most laws go into effect by January 1 of the following year, but this will happen instantly. It takes a two-thirds vote to pull off [an urgency clause], so it’s pretty rare, but we thought we could get two-thirds. We didn’t want to have a situation where the law was signed and some offense was committed, and the perpetrator wasn’t subject to the increased penalties because they hadn’t taken effect yet. MR: How do you expect to measure or assess its impact, once it becomes law? NF: One of the things I’ve tried to stress is that our work isn’t done. You can try to pass all the new laws you want, but they’re pointless if you don’t enforce them. We need to make sure the Department of Corrections is enforcing these laws because the DOC has a history of not always doing that. We need rigorous oversight over the DOC. MR: Are you or the King/Dubois families working on any other aspect of the issue, now that Chelsea’s Law has run its course? NF: Yes. Among other things, we’re looking at sex offenders entering California from another state: we want to make sure their records are in our system and they’re being monitored. Also, we’re considering an audit of the Department of Public Health to make sure they’re monitoring the offenders properly. MR: How does it feel to be done with momentous legislation like this? NF: A little strange, actually. You work so hard for months on something, and never do you think about what you’ll do when you’re done, only how will you get it done. So I’m gratified, but our work still isn’t really done. Michael M. Rosen This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , a News Room contributor, is an attorney in Carmel Valley and the Secretary of the Republican Party of San Diego County. The views expressed are his own. http://sandiegonewsroom.com ews/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42616:assemblyman-nathan-fletcher-on-the-passage-of-chelseas-law&catid=55:legislative&Itemid=40 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:54:10 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=72&id=4410#4410 Sex offender laws too tough for lesser offenses, professor says Posted on Sep 03, 2010 by Trish Mehaffey. http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/robertrigg.jpg Robert Rigg A Drake University law professor questions the stringent punishment of being listed on the sex offender registry in the case of a 24-year-old non-licensed youth counselor convicted Wednesday for kissing a 16-year-old. “Her chances for employment just dropped to zero,” Robert Rigg, also director of Drake’s Criminal Defense Program, said after the verdict came in. “Everybody in the world will know. It’s the kiss of death.” Two legislators defend the sex offender laws they helped revise, saying they’re not harsh because they protect children. “Those laws prevent harm to a child who already is a victim,” Sen. Keith Kreiman, D-Bloomfield, and chairman of Judiciary Committee, said Thursday regarding counselors, therapist or social workers who have inappropriate contact with clients. Amanda Jones, a former Four Oaks youth counselor, was convicted by a jury in Linn County Associate Court Wednesday for sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist for kissing a 16-year-old client who was in residential treatment for behavioral issues in June 2008. The teen testified he initiated the kiss that happened at Four Oaks, but after the incident, he never replied to e-mails sent by Jones, who wanted to pursue a romantic relationship. Jones faces up to a year in prison. She also will be listed on the sex offender registry for 10 years and be ordered to the 10-year special parole after serving her sentence. She will be added to the list of about 110 women out of 5,164 sex offenders on the registry. Mark Brown, Jones’ attorney, said Wednesday he believes the registry laws are too harsh for the lesser sex-related offenses and he will ask the court for a deferred judgment, which would eliminate the mandated 10-year special parole. “I think the legislators should have trust in the judges to decide who should be placed on the registry in cases like this,” Brown said. Rigg said the legislators decided they wanted to be the “super judge.” “This is a common criticism of mandatory sentences – it doesn’t take into account the facts and circumstances of individual cases,” he said. “The mandatory sentencing is addictive – once you have it, you get hooked. No politician is going to change it because they would lose the next election. They would be a friend of pedophiles. They get politically stuck in it.” Rigg said the judges in these cases are concerned about the lack of flexibility in the law, so the only one left with any power or control in a situation like this is the county attorney or prosecutor. “If you think about it, there’s no downside for them,” Rigg said. “If they win, great. If they lose, they can say they did their best and they don’t look soft on sex offenders.” Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, who worked on the bipartisan revision of sex offender laws, said Jones “got a bargain.” “She was undoubtedly pursuing this juvenile,” Baudler said. “I was for tougher laws as in the federal guidelines (based on risk factor) 15 years, 25 years and life.” The lawmakers made the decision to stay with 10 years of less serious and life for more serious and violent offenders, he said. Baudler, a former state patrol officer, said there was some discussion about giving judges the discretion regarding the registry requirement, but that idea was shot down because after considering how crimes are charged and then how they are pleaded down, the legislators opted against it. Kreiman, also a practicing attorney, said Jones’ actions were wrong and the laws aren’t too harsh for someone like her to be on the registry for 10 years. “These (offenders) need to be monitored. If she has a proclivity for this, she could go to the next place to work with kids,” Kreiman said. The registry may seem unfair for someone who is convicted for a minor sexual offense if it’s a one time incident, but “the problem is we don’t now who’s going to re-offend,” Kreiman said. There is a provision in the law which would give someone who may not have that tendency to re-offend a “slim chance” to shorten their time on the registry, Kreiman said. Ross Loder, legislative liaison for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, said the modification provision in the law enacted in 2009 allows an offender to ask a district court judge to modify or shorten their time on the registry, but there is stiff criteria that must be met. Loder said the offender must have: a recommendation from a probation or parole officer; be released from jail or prison; have approval from assigned community based corrections; must be on the register so many years based on level of offense; and must complete sex offender treatment and risk assessment, ranking as low risk to re-offend. “There have been no successful modifications since (the law) went into effect,” Loder said. “There may be some in the works now…. those are ones with minor offenses committed as juveniles.” Loder said the number of women on the registry has remained about 3 percent of the total for the last decade or so. The Iowa registry started in 1995, and major revisions were made in 2002, 2005, 2009 and this year. http://gazetteonline.com/local-news/public-safety/2010/09/03/sex-offender-laws-too-tough-for-lesser-offenses-professor-says Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:42:39 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=35&id=4409#4409 GA - If you wear saggy pants in Georgia, you may be a sex offender! 09/06/2010 By Dina Majoli (CNN) -- The town of Dublin, Georgia, is putting saggy, baggy pants in the category of indecent exposure, with violators facing fines of up to $200. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFR59OFE_dU Dublin Mayor Phil Best said he plans to sign this week an amendment to the municipality's indecent exposure ordinance. The amendment, which Best plans to put into immediate effect at the City Council meeting, prohibits the wearing of pants or skirts "more than three inches below the top of the hips exposing the skin or undergarments." "We've gotten several complaints from citizens saying the folks with britches down below their buttocks was offensive, and wasn't there something we could do about it," Best said. The mayor said after about a year of fielding complaints, he put the city attorney to work researching how other localities have dealt with the derriere dilemma. The result was that council members decided to put exposure due to baggy clothing in the same category as masturbation, fornication and urination in public places. Patrolling for offenders will be left to local police in the town about 140 miles southeast of Atlanta. Violators could face fines ranging from $25 to $200, or court-mandated community service. "That's not our intent, we'd (rather) not fine anybody but we are prepared to," Best said. Dublin residents are divided on the issue. Lashika Haynes supports the push to force folks to pull up, "It's just disrespectful by showing your drawers to people," she said. But there are those who feel that the ordinance singles out a specific group of citizens. Jean Wolf, who volunteers with young black men in the community said, "They're the ones wearing the saggy, baggy pants." Wolf said she believes the ordinance will lead to profiling by authorities. Mayor Best said that accusation is "ridiculous." "It's for white, black, man, woman. The ordinance is for everyone, and I've seen it violated by all races and sexes," Best said. Dublin is not alone in its pull-up-the-pants campaign. Riviera Beach, Florida, and Flint, Michigan, passed bans against sagging pants in recent years, but the Riviera Beach legislation later was declared unconstitution al after a court challenge. In the non-judicial realm, a state senator in Brooklyn, New York, announced plans earlier this year for a series of billboards featuring young men wearing low-hanging pants and the catchphrase, "Raise your pants, raise your image." And up the road from Dublin, 62-year-old Atlantan "General" Larry Platt made it all the way to "American Idol" and became an online one-hit wonder with his song "Pants on the Ground." (Sample lyrics: "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground/looking like a fool with your pants on the ground.") It is not lost on the mayor and the City Council in Dublin that this ordinance opens the door to what could be a pretty tricky debate over what is indecent exposure. For instance, how much is too much cleavage, and are certain tattoos indecent? The mayor seems to welcome the discussion as a natural part of the law-making process. "I don't know a law or ordinance that doesn't stand scrutiny by the people and the court system. So time will tell. There have been plenty of laws that have gone all the way to Supreme Court," Best said. According to the mayor, the local high school already enforces a strict dress code which puts a tight belt around students and their saggy pants, sending violators home for the day. "It's time we all have a mutual respect for each other ... what a person does in the privacy of their home is fine," Best said. "But if I had an 8-year-old daughter, I don't think she needs to be subjected to looking at someone's rear end." http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/05/georgia.baggy.pants.law/index.html?hpt=C1 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:26:33 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4408#4408 Save Girls from Female Genital Cutting http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/LCJEazvssNXHzah_250.jpg An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of female genital cutting, also called female circumcision. Female genital cutting includes several different forms of cutting practiced for hundreds of years. Infibulation, the most severe, involves cutting some or all of the external genitalia, leaving only a very small opening for urination and menstruation. The procedure can also cause serious health and social problems that follow a woman her whole life. The health complications from infibulation can include chronic and severe pain, infection, prolonged and difficult labor and difficulties with menstruation. Psychologically, cutting can cause tension between couples due to painful or difficult sexual relations. Socially, cutting makes it harder for girls to go to school or earn income by making them more likely to marry early. The practice of female genital cutting is disturbing to talk about. It is part of deeply-held religious and cultural beliefs in communities that practice it. But it also is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. Every year, in communities around the world, as many as 3 million girls are at risk of this painful procedure despite its many risks. We must do all we can to encourage the governments in the communities where female genital cutting most often occurs to put a stop to it. You can help. Ask Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to do all she can to urge countries who practice female genital cutting to protect human rights and end this harmful practice. Photo: 2008 Josh Estey/CARE Petition Text Support human rights and help stop female genital cutting Dear Secretary Clinton, An estimated 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are currently living with the consequences of female genital cutting, also called female circumcision. Every day, in countries around the world, most commonly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as many as 6,000 girls risk undergoing this painful procedure. The consequences for their health and emotional well-being can be severe. The practice of female genital cutting is disturbing to talk about. It also is part of deeply-held religious and cultural beliefs in the communities that practice it. But discussing it is important and a respectful approach can work. The United States can take a strong stand against this harmful practice. We have a chance to help millions of young girls around the world to avoid the pain and suffering from female genital cutting by working to eradicate it. For the thousands of girls who risk undergoing the painful procedure every day, you can make a world of difference. http://www.change.org/petitions/view/save_girls_from_female_genital_cutting Sun, 05 Sep 2010 18:16:41 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4407#4407 Consider making teen pregnancy a crime http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/flagupsidedown-a040ef9c9058077f175c3ffe3cc5bcc2.jpg By Robin Marquardt • September 5, 2010 The information age has brought us much enlightenment for heightened responsibility . The following is in response to the article in the Aug. 24 Pacific Daily News, "Minors may have to pay support." If you are 13 to 17 years old and get pregnant, you should be held accountable as an adult. Having sex is an adult act, legally speaking. Isn't it? If having sex is an adult act, and getting pregnant is the possible consequence, should adults continue to foot the bills of adolescent parents for welfare, food stamps, medical bills, poor academics, etc., unto the next generation and next generation -- without any financial contribution of children parents? If not, here's a solution: Make pregnancy among 13 to 17 year olds a crime. The penalty option for child pregnancy is twofold -- be tried as an adult, designated a sex offender, and spend time in DYA until adulthood, then one year in DOC upon reaching 18 years of age; or be tried as a minor, (have) DYA time suspended, in exchange for entering a work program. The penalties (should be) shared equally among the male and female child parents. The work program would be a government-of-Guam-managed program focusing on GovGuam property maintenance. A psychological course may be made available -- both for high school credit, perhaps? If we adults condone continued child pregnancy, by not solving this issue decade after decade, I rescind these thoughts and gladly share in this fiscal expense. Otherwise, these are seeds of mutual generational responsibility . Robin Marquardt is a resident of Barrigada. http://www.guampdn.com/article/20100905/OPINION02/9050316 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:10:11 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4406#4406 http://media.scpr.org/audio/upload/2010/09/01/20100901_airtalk_chelseyslaw.mp3 Listen to the audio on the link above. Examining Chelsea’s Law Chelsea’s Law is named after 17-year-old Chelsea King of Poway, who was raped and murdered while jogging in Rancho Bernardo Park last February. John Gardner, a registered sex offender, confessed to the crime. The law, introduced by Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego), will increase prison time for violent sex offenders and will lead to more monitoring of convicts by GPS devices. Originally the bill was stronger, but it underwent modifications during the legislative process. Either way, the Governor has vowed to sign it into law. But does law enforcement have the additional resources needed to enforce Chelsea’s Law? And how many people will it really impact? Guest: Sheldon Zhang, Department Chair, Sociology, at San Diego State University Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:41:09 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4404#4405 common sense on September 5, 2010 at 2:43 pm Thank you for publishing the truth about these draconian laws that ruin the lives of so many, yet fail miserably to protect children while wasting millions of taxpayer dollars. Until the legislature in the US stops garnering easy votes by pandering to a public educated by the media, who are in it for ratings by hyping only the most heinous, although rare, sex crimes against children, we must stand against them. One example is that with the growth of online usage by minors of over 70% during the last decade,true solicitation for sexual purposes grew approximately 23%, and most minors took care of it themselves by not responding, etc. Meanwhile, men caught for solicitation by undercover police grew over 300%, because they entrap and ensnare. Do we really need to create crime when gangs kill every day (including minors) and armed robbery is rampant? Law enforcement should concentrate their efforts on the worst of the worst, and others should be allowed to build productive lives. It is a slippery slope for government to “list” such a broad population when crimes are strikingly, and importantly, different. Soon there will be lists for all crimes, and perhaps for some who never committed a crime but have the “profile” of a criminal. Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:36:26 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4404#4404 Sex Offender Register is a Waste of Money By Andromeda http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/publichumiliation.jpg Major criticism has recently been expressed with regard to the UK Sex Offender Register. Many senior police officers think it is a waste of time and money and nobody really believes it has ever prevented an offense from being committed. Only yesterday, a man was convicted of organizing the distribution of child porn on Facebook. What is more interesting is the fact that it was the Australian police who discovered the link with the UK not the much vaunted Child Exploitation and Online Protection branch of the British police. Indeed, if one looks closely at CEOP, it is clear that they, like most other branches of the UK police rarely actually detect anything; they simply wait for people to be ‘grassed up’ by other members of the public who may have a personal axe to grind. The Sex Offender Register, as operated in the UK, is regarded by France, Spain, Italy and many other EU states as being unlawful. Furthermore, one must remember that it is another import from the US put in place as a knee-jerk reaction to a particular offense. The countries that do not follow the example of the UK seem to have many fewer problems than we do when it comes to managing risk. They also recognize that people can change for the better whereas the British believe the opposite. This site is of the opinion that the 2 million people who now earn a very good living as part of the UK Child Protection Industry are only allowed to continue to do so because they are also 2 million voters that no government wants to upset. Everyone in power is afraid to speak the truth of this ridiculous situation for fear of being criticized by the press. What they should all realize is that the majority of sexual offenses against children are committed in the family environment by people who are not on the register and who have not yet been caught. It is also the case that most of them are in fact never caught and so never appear on the Register. One reason for this is that the government and charities who rely on other people’s money are terrified of criticizing families. Newspapers too are afraid of criticizing those who buy their publications. The very fact that the man convicted yesterday was already on the Sex Offenders Register – as well as the Visor register – and yet was still able to commit his offenses, proves that the Register is useless, expensive, stigmatizes people, prevents them from ever getting any sort of job again and, worst of all, protects no one. The Opinion Site shares the view of the police chief who said the Register should be torn up and thrown away. The trouble is, our pathetic politicians are a bunch of total cowards who are afraid to do or say anything which may attract criticism and threaten their overpaid political positions of power. It was recently suggested that there may well have been pedophiles in Tony Blair’s inner cabinet; strange how that didn’t get much publicity and more strange still that nobody allegedly involved was ever investigated. Well actually, it is not that strange. After all, there was no one to ‘grass them up’ was there. http://theopinionsite.org/?p=88 Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:33:29 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4403#4403 Here is the new addition to the radio show-webplayer and you can request and dedicate songs--give it a try! http://radionc.com/applet/skin8.php The Best Music - Classic Rock - The Best DJ's - The Best Talk Shows http://radionc.com/applet/skin8.php http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:32:43 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=18&id=4402#4402 Are "unintended consequences" REALLY "unintended?" http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/OnceFallenCover_1_.jpg "I think this is a clear example of an unintended consequence, which can occur when we go beyond what we call police protocol when handling sex offenders. I understand the concern of parents for their children. But we must not allow hysteria to take place."-- Marion County, Florida Sheriff Ed Dean, responding to the suicide of a handicapped Former Offender after flyers picturing him with the words “CHILD RAPIST” printed in big bold letters were plastered all over the community I am always hearing the term "unintended consequences" in many articles about the pitfalls of overbroad sex offender legislation, but I wonder if the people who have used this term really understand the term "unintended consequences." "My intent personally is to make it so onerous on those that are convicted of these offenses . . . they will want to move to another state." -- Georgia House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R) "Is there anything left we can do to sex offenders with a few days left in the session?" -- Louisiana State Rep. Danny Martiny, R-Metairie, during the closing days of a 2006 legislative session If Georgia passes laws to make living "onerous" and they are conscious of the fact, then the consequences are not "unintended." When a Louisiana state senator half-jokingly muses if we can find ways to destroy the lives of people who have completed their sentences, that is not unintentional. When a state passes residency restrictions knowing they have Iowa's problems as an example beforehand, or they pass the Adam Walsh Act knowing Ohio's problems implementing the laws, that is not unintentional. Let me illustrate "unintentional consequences," because the concept seems to elude politicians. In the span of a month, I have experienced both the death of one of my loved ones and the break-up of a two year long relationship which compelled me to move. The grieving process over losing a loved one is my first exhibit. While in the process of grieving, I was also in charge of the arrangements. I also wrote the obituary. However, because I was afraid vigilantes would disrespect my loved one's memory or use the info to attack my living loved ones, I completely omitted myself from the obituary. That was also the week one of those local mug shot newspapers decided to feature me, and one of my neighbors were quick to mention it to my now ex-fiancee. Then the car broke down in Nashville when I went to pick up a traveler to the funeral, and my mind raced to thoughts of having to show my ID card with "Criminal Sex Offender" in bright red letters to an officer or repair man in a place far from home. Each of those experiences were examples of "unintended consequences." Or are they? The second exhibit is my break-up with my long time fiancee. There were many reasons for the break-up, but a major aggravating factor is my status as a sex offender. Because she has a child, we cannot live together. For nearly two years, we lived a "double life." Our days revolved around trying to see each other as much as possible while spending as little time with her child as possible, not because I was a risk, but because of paranoia brought on by nosy neighbors. Busybodies abound in rural America. Once we broke up, tasks as simple as returning unwanted mementos of the broken relationship take on new dimensions. As an RSO, you're always suspect of being a threat, despite never showing aggression. It becomes a weapon to use against you. The neighbors stare and whisper, watching that "dangerous sex offender" being hassled by the police for doing nothing more than returning unwanted mementos to its rightful order in neatly stacked boxes. I wish to say those were unintended, but then I reflect upon the events of that day and ask myself it it was truly "unintentional?" If I committed suicide, would that be an "unintended consequence?" I wonder if that is really what those who pass these laws against me intended for me to do. I hardly think the impact of these laws are "unintentional." Unconsidered, possibly, but not unintended. The intent of tough sex offender laws is to make life as miserable as possible. It is not about child safety, or about reducing sex crimes, it is about causing the maximum amount of pain upon those who made mistakes. There is nothing "unintended" about that! I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself is life worth living should I blast myself? -- 2Pac from the song "Changes" http://once-fallen.blogspot.com/2010/09/are-unintended-consequences-really.html Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:15:12 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=12&id=4399#4399 Blame it on NIMBY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egualG3juCk Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:10:29 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4390#4398 During my trips to speak in California I was horrified at the huge homeless issue amongst those individuals who are registered. Many days and nights I sit outside and ponder how the hell this can be America...we always hear in the news "us" slamming" other countries for inhumanity issues and here we the people of this once "free" country are now promoting and passing laws which are causing more harm then good and our politicians claim its to protect the children. These men and women who serve office because we vote them in do little to educate themselves and even admit its political suicide so therefore we will pass this law even though it will do nothing to protect the kids..it simply makes us appear good..so I ask who is endangering our children? Politicians? Media? Constituents who demand these laws? When as a Nation are we going to stop this madness and return our country to its original status as the land of the free and the people who are proud to be American because we have what our forefathers left us, a Constitution which for now seems to be just a piece of paper with no meaning? Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:06:35 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4396#4397 There are so many lies and myths surrounding this vital issue...and yet the average American is fed fear mongering reports by our media like Lindy Levingston and others in Oklahoma and across the National Media spectrum. They fail to report facts which endangers our children and communities and leads to a false sense of security. www.arctalkradio.com Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:57:18 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4396#4396 We need FACTS: facts: 1. The sex offenders have 100+ victims on average is a misread of an outdated Gene Abel study that measured paraphilias, which means all sexual acts not considered the norm, which included consensual adult homosexual relations. Even Gene Abel in the report of those in his study who molested children tend to have only one victim of a select few. The hundreds of victims per offender is a persistent myth that has not been replicated by any legitimate modern study of sex offending. 2. The One in seven approached by a sexual predator is a blatant misread. The internet study she's quoting stated that one in seven received a "sexual solicitation" which included emails for sexual aids and the like. One in 33 received what they called an "aggressive" solicitation, which meant a request for personal info to move the conversation. Of those, only 1/4 were of adults, most were from teens. There was rarely any deception (only in 5% of the cases reported), and not one case led to an actual meeting. 3. There were only about 5 RSOs arrested on the entire TCAP run. The rest were all first time offenders. By the way, many TCAP cases were dismissed on technicalities. PJ botches up legit LE cases. More sex offender truths @ http://www.oncefallen.com/" "A RESPONSE TO THIS ARTICLE, HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jilliane-hoffman/protecting-your-child-fro_b_699038.html Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:37:00 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=72&id=4394#4395 John Walsh and the Adam Walsh Act does nothing to protect children and this article you even see politicians admit to the truth yet fail to truly protect children because its a election year...Hello America this is yur clue they are admitting its political..they admit it does nothing to protect the children..so when we have another dead child on our hands should we hold the political voters accountable? www.arctalkradio.com www.freebrandon.org www.rickyslife.com Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:08:47 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=72&id=4394#4394 Barely a Teenager and Marked for Life Any law, civil or criminal, juvenile or adult, excepting -an already appealed life in prison without parole- that has, a lifetime component in it, must have judicial intervention and discretionary revocation, built into it. To not allow that is an unconstitutional law, simply because it fails to recognize the meaning of "life." All other laws recognize the meaning of "life" and allow the state to intervene. eAdvocate Opinion! Federal law requiring juvenile sex offenders to register as predators for life does more harm than good http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/phpThumb_generated_thumbnailjpg-048eb18a364f25f3c2fdaaf6971a26b7.jpg http://inthesetimes.com/article/6334/barely_a_teenager_and_marked_for_life In 1999, Anthony, a 13-year-old boy who weighed 350 pounds, told his four-year-old cousin to expose herself. Anthony, now 24, swears he did not touch her. Nonetheless, her father pressed charges and Anthony was found delinquent for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, sentenced to sex offender treatment, and assigned a lifetime spot on Iowa’s public sex offender registry. Ten years after beginning treatment at Woodward Academy in Woodward, Iowa, Anthony, who asked that his last name not be published, finds it impossible to lead a normal life. Permanently associated with dangerous pedophiles and pathological rapists, his childhood mistake has hindered his ability to find work, housing and societal acceptance. Although he left Woodward when he was 18, Iowa’s residency restriction at that time—which barred sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school—forced him to leave his family’s home in Des Moines for a trailer with no electricity on land owned by his father in rural Osceola, Iowa. Anthony’s plight could soon become common among all of America’s juvenile sex offenders, who in 2009 were responsible for one-third of all sex offenses against minors in the United States. Following the 2006 passage of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), the federal government instructed all U.S. states and Indian territories to adopt a new sex offender registry system that includes juvenile offenders. But at the July 2009 deadline, not one state had complied. Iowa has long required juvenile sex offenders to register their crimes online. And it is moving closer to the federally mandated system-in 2009 Iowa updated its laws to look more like SORNA. As other states consider compliance-the Justice Department has set a new July 2011 deadline-the impact of Iowa’s already strict registry system offers a window into what adulthood might look like for juvenile offenders around the country. Therapeutic punishment The new federal legislation organizes sex offenders into three tiers, categorized by the severity of their crime. The tier to which a defendant is assigned determines the punishment and duration of registration. The highest, tier III, covers the most heinous offenses. Anyone 14 or older who has sexually offended against a child 13 or younger is put in tier III, and required to register for life. Critics of the juvenile registry system believe that tier III requirements are unnecessarily harsh when applied to all juveniles. Only 10 percent of young offenders will re-offend, according to the Center for Sex Offender Management. Yet young offenders who commit crimes against even younger peers are stuck in the most serious category. Juvenile justice experts argue that therapy, not registration, is the most effective way to deter future offenses and that lifetime registration harms juveniles’ chances of reintegrating into society. All juveniles judged delinquent (the equivalent of being convicted in juvenial court) for sex crimes in Iowa are required to undergo treatment. Woodward Academy, the largest of three sex offender treatment facilities in the state, receives kids from all over the country. “These kids are young enough that we can teach them right from wrong,” says Tonna Lawrenson, the academy’s program director. Woodward’s long-term sex offender treatment program treats juveniles whose offenses range from what experts call “Romeo and Juliet”-style statutory rapes (where the sex is consensual, but because of the participants’ ages, illegal) to flashing, fondling and forcing younger children to expose themselves. As is the case with many teen offenders, Anthony’s act against his cousin was not random, but stemmed from his own childhood abuse. When he was nine, a 16-year-old boy sodomized him and threatened to kill his mother if anyone found out. Children act out sexually for a variety of other reasons. Anthony Rodriguez, therapist and founder of The Men’s Center in Davenport, Iowa, is one of four sex addiction experts in the state and has worked extensively with sexually abusive youth. He says a lack of attachment between parent and child can cause children a great amount of anxiety—an anxiety that is relieved when they do something like look at pornography or touch someone inappropriately. Lawrenson also sees many young offenders exhibit behavior she says is not natural, but learned. “I’ve never believed that a child is born to be a sex offender,” she says. Stephen Draminski agrees. “They become what we call ‘sexually reactive,’” says Draminski, who leads a sex offender treatment group at the Robert Young Center in Rock Island, Ill. “They act out sexually in different ways, replaying their abuse over and over again.” He says poor social skills combined with sexual curiosity can also prompt an offense. Draminski’s group therapy focuses heavily on empathy, teaches kids to manage destructive emotions, and promotes healthy relationships and sexual behavior. At Woodward, intensive one-on-one therapy allows kids to discuss things that might embarrass them in front of peers. In one of these individual sessions, Anthony finally revealed his own abuse to Lawrenson, years after it happened. ‘Big enough to commit the crime’? Those opposed to lifetime juvenile registration suggest that it does not prevent future offenses, since sexual abuse is most often committed not by strangers but by someone in, or close to, the family. “Registration gives people a false sense of security, a false sense of hope,” says Randy Smith, who reviewed adult and juvenile sex offenders for courts in Chicago and Ohio. But despite the efforts of advocates, the futures of young offenders like Anthony are in the hands of elected officials unlikely to oppose a law that claims to protect children from sexual abuse. Smith says, “A lot of sex offender laws come from the six o’clock news, from the random person who buries the kids in the woods.” Iowa State Senator Jerry Behn, who authored the state’s original residency restriction in 2002, admits the law overreached when it applied to all sex offenders, rather than only dangerous pedophiles. But, Behn says, “anyone who votes to fix this now is going to be viewed as light on sexual predators.” Erin Lovejoy, a detective who tracks sex offenders for the Des Moines Police Department, admits registration is more effective at quelling public fears than preventing offenses. “It’s not going to prevent an act from occurring by any means. Nothing will do that unless they’re locked up,” she says. Anthony spent one year in prison after moving into his mother’s Des Moines home in 2007 to care for her as she died. This was a violation of Iowa’s harsh residency restrictions since she lived within 2,000 feet of a school. The 2,000-foot restriction was amended in 2009, but Iowa still prohibits registered sex offenders from working at or visiting places frequented by children, such as schools, public pools, libraries and fairs. Iowa Associate Juvenile Judge Constance Cohen believes employment and residency restrictions should factor in successful treatment and behavioral change. She says, “If you paint with such a broad brush, it will eliminate opportunities for these kids.” The new 2009 Iowa law also limits the power juvenile court judges once had to waive registration, thus bringing the state closer to compliance with SORNA. Cohen says this will force more juveniles to register whether or not they are at risk to re-offend. Behn, however, opposes judicial discretion. “If a person is big enough to commit the crime,” he says, “they’re big enough to pay for it.” Those who work closest with juvenile offenders maintain that the negative effects of lifetime registration are well-documented. But it is politicians like Behn who set the rules for juvenile sex offenders. This means Anthony, who at 13—like so many others-was “big enough to commit the crime,” will spend the rest of his life paying for it. Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:26:42 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4387#4393 Low turnout at Ride for their lives Rally in St. Louis http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Ride_for_their_lives___Empty_Crowd.png Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:50:56 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4392#4392 Afghanistan's dirty little secret http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/afgan.jpg "How can you fall in love if you can't see her face," 29-year-old Mohammed Daud told reporters. "We can see the boys, so we can tell which are beautiful." Western forces fighting in southern Afghanistan had a problem. Too often, soldiers on patrol passed an older man walking hand-in-hand with a pretty young boy. Their behavior suggested he was not the boy's father. Then, British soldiers found that young Afghan men were actually trying to "touch and fondle them," military investigator AnnaMaria Cardinalli told me. "The soldiers didn't understand." All of this was so disconcerting that the Defense Department hired Cardinalli, a social scientist, to examine this mystery. Her report, "Pashtun Sexuality," startled not even one Afghan. But Western forces were shocked - and repulsed. For centuries, Afghan men have taken boys, roughly 9 to 15 years old, as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means "boy player." The men like to boast about it. "Having a boy has become a custom for us," Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. "Whoever wants to show off should have a boy." Baghlan province is in the northeast, but Afghans say pedophilia is most prevalent among Pashtun men in the south. The Pashtun are Afghanistan's most important tribe. For centuries, the nation's leaders have been Pashtun. President Hamid Karzai is Pashtun, from a village near Kandahar, and he has six brothers. So the natural question arises: Has anyone in the Karzai family been bacha baz? Two Afghans with close connections to the Karzai family told me they know that at least one family member and perhaps two were bacha baz. Afraid of retribution, both declined to be identified and would not be more specific for publication. As for Karzai, an American who worked in and around his palace in an official capacity for many months told me that homosexual behavior "was rampant" among "soldiers and guys on the security detail. They talked about boys all the time." He added, "I didn't see Karzai with anyone. He was in his palace most of the time." He, too, declined to be identified. In Kandahar, population about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular, often weekly, pastime. Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home. A recent State Department report called "dancing boys" a "widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape." So, why are American and NATO forces fighting and dying to defend tens of thousands of proud pedophiles, certainly more per capita than any other place on Earth? And how did Afghanistan become the pedophilia capital of Asia? Sociologists and anthropologists say the problem results from perverse interpretation of Islamic law. Women are simply unapproachable. Afghan men cannot talk to an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage. Before then, they can't even look at a woman, except perhaps her feet. Otherwise she is covered, head to ankle. "How can you fall in love if you can't see her face," 29-year-old Mohammed Daud told reporters. "We can see the boys, so we can tell which are beautiful." Even after marriage, many men keep their boys, suggesting a loveless life at home. A favored Afghan expression goes: "Women are for children, boys are for pleasure." Fundamentalist imams, exaggerating a biblical passage on menstruation, teach that women are "unclean" and therefore distasteful. One married man even asked Cardinalli's team "how his wife could become pregnant," her report said. When that was explained, he "reacted with disgust" and asked, "How could one feel desire to be with a woman, who God has made unclean?" That helps explain why women are hidden away - and stoned to death if they are perceived to have misbehaved. Islamic law also forbids homosexuality. But the pedophiles explain that away. It's not homosexuality, they aver, because they aren't in love with their boys. Addressing the loathsome mistreatment of Afghan women remains a primary goal for coalition governments, as it should be. But what about the boys, thousands upon thousands of little boys who are victims of serial rape over many years, destroying their lives - and Afghan society. "There's no issue more horrifying and more deserving of our attention than this," Cardinalli said. "I'm continually haunted by what I saw." As one boy, in tow of a man he called "my lord," told the Reuters reporter: "Once I grow up, I will be an owner, and I will have my own boys." © 2010 Joel Brinkley Joel Brinkley is a professor of journalism at Stanford University and is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Contact The Chronicle via our online form: sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1. http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-29/opinion/22949948_1_karzai-family-afghan-men-president-hamid-karzai Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:38:38 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4391#4391 favorable sex offender ruling in California court By Kim Harward http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/GreatNews-49d3091b48a719e0f298af177e9edcce.jpg Los Angeles County Superior Court Supervising Judge Peter Espinoza has ruled that registered sex offenders in L.A. County are no longer subject to the 2,000 foot residency requirements of Jessica’s Law. Will other judges… will other communities recognize the negative consequences associated with ill-conceived residency restrictions and begin looking for solutions that provide adequate protective measures AND work toward community reintegration? Experts on sex-offender management have said repeatedly that there’s no connection between where a person lives and whether that person will re-offend. The ruling, which only applies to L.A. County, may be appealed by the California Attorney General’s office. This according to the San Diego City Beat. The article, entitled Judge says L.A. County parolees aren’t subject to Jessica’s Law is available here. Espinoza points out that the court’s received 300 petitions asking for relief from the law and “dozens of parolees continue to file new petitions every week.” The petitions argue that in L.A. County, there’s virtually no affordable housing that complies with Jessica’s Law’s requirement that registered sex offenders—regardless of offense—reside at least 2,000 feet from parks and schools. In a related story, The ‘unintended consequence’ How a state law increased California’s homeless sex offender population by almost 6,000 percent, the unintended consequences of sex offender residency restrictions are explored. On a fundamental level, if convicted sex offenders are so dangerous (note: contrary to urban legend, convicted sex offenders are less likely to commit new sex crimes especially if they are involved in or have completed a sex offender treatment program) wouldn’t you want to know where they live? Wouldn’t you want them to establish a stable residence with positive support systems in place? They say their parole agents pointed them to this five-block area because it’s one of the few parts of the city that’s not too close to schools or parks. It’s near public transportation and public-storage units, and it’s a relatively safe place for men who, for the most part, never experienced homelessness until the day they were released from prison. In 2006, when voters approved Jessica’s Law, the ballot measure that, among other things, bars sex offenders on parole from living within a 2,000-foot radius of schools or parks—and allows cities and counties to implement further restrictions— there were only 88 sex offenders in the state who claimed to be homeless. Now that number’s up to 5,064 (as of Aug. 1), more than a 5,700-percent increase in less than four years. Homelessness has been described as an “unintended consequence” of Jessica’s Law, even though critics of the ballot measure warned that densely populated urban areas, especially those with a short supply of affordable housing, would see a spike in homeless sex offenders if the law passed (with rare exception, parolees must return to the county in which they committed their crime). In San Diego County, roughly 73 percent of residential areas—the red portions of the map below—are off-limits to sex offenders on parole. That may sound appealing to parents and lawmakers, but, experts say, it doesn’t increase public safety. “When you’re homeless, it’s much more difficult to maintain a stable lifestyle,” says California Deputy Attorney General Janet Neeley, who sits on the state’s Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) and provides the board with regular updates on the number of transient 290 registrants. “Obviously, you don’t have a place to sleep or shower, so it’s hard to get a job and keep a job,” she says. “Having a steady job and having family ties and living in a place where you have a support person all are factors associated with less risk of re-offense.” Neeley says that SOMB has advocated for policies that limit where high-risk offenders are allowed to be—likeparks and other places where children gather—rather than where they’re allowed to live. “Where they live is really irrelevant under the research,” she says. “And it’s a shame, because a person who commits a sex crime against a 15-year-old girl, it’s very unlikely that they pose any threat to a 2-year-old boy, or a 15-year-old boy, for that matter,” she says. “It’s kind of this one-size-fits-all treatment of sex offenders by our government at all levels that is causing this misery.” With over 20 years experience writing reports and making recommendation s to the courts, Kim has become known as the "Sentencing Savior" for making a meaningful difference in his client's lives. As a sentencing consultant Kim conducts comprehensive case analysis, background investigations and research to present relevant information from a human perspective complete with humane solutions. Kim believes the path to peace and safe communities lies in healing relationships and unity. http://utahsentencingalternatives.com/2010/09/01/favorable-sex-offender-ruling-in-california-court/ Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:59:34 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4390#4390 Wednesday, Sep 01, 2010 The 'unintended consequence' http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images ews1.jpg How a state law increased California's homeless sex offender population by almost 6,000 percent By Kelly Davis news1For many sex offenders, a tent becomes home for the duration of their parole. - Photo by Kelly Davis Laura Arnold is standing by her car, shivering in a white hooded sweatshirt, jeans and sandals. It’s just past 8:30 on a chilly July evening, and the fog’s starting to roll in. “I’m cold and I’m tired,” she sighs. She’s ready to head home. A San Diego County deputy public defender, she has to be at Donovan State Prison early the next morning. As she starts to climb into her car, two guys approach; they’re looking for her. And, a few minutes later, two more. They’ve shown up hoping Arnold can help them—quite literally—get out of here. She pulls out a yellow legal pad and starts with the same questions she’s been asking other men for the last hour. When were you released on parole? Who’s your agent? What’s your most recent felony conviction? What’s your 290 offense? A 290 is a sex offense; the guys Arnold’s talking to are all registered sex offenders who, each night, return to this place— the exact location of which, as well as the full names of the men who camp here, CityBeat agreed not to disclose. They say their parole agents pointed them to this five-block area because it’s one of the few parts of the city that’s not too close to schools or parks. It’s near public transportation and public-storage units, and it’s a relatively safe place for men who, for the most part, never experienced homelessness until the day they were released from prison. In 2006, when voters approved Jessica’s Law, the ballot measure that, among other things, bars sex offenders on parole from living within a 2,000-foot radius of schools or parks—and allows cities and counties to implement further restrictions— there were only 88 sex offenders in the state who claimed to be homeless. Now that number’s up to 5,064 (as of Aug. 1), more than a 5,700-percent increase in less than four years. Parole agents have no discretion over whom the law applies to. “It doesn’t matter whether or not we agree with the ordinances or agree with the law, and it doesn’t matter whether or not we believe that there’s no nexus between a guy who committed indecent exposure 20 years ago and him being near a park, we still have an obligation to enforce the law,” says Margarita Perez, deputy director for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s adult parole operations. Homelessness has been described as an “unintended consequence” of Jessica’s Law, even though critics of the ballot measure warned that densely populated urban areas, especially those with a short supply of affordable housing, would see a spike in homeless sex offenders if the law passed (with rare exception, parolees must return to the county in which they committed their crime). In San Diego County, roughly 73 percent of residential areas—the red portions of the map below—are off-limits to sex offenders on parole. That may sound appealing to parents and lawmakers, but, experts say, it doesn’t increase public safety. “When you’re homeless, it’s much more difficult to maintain a stable lifestyle,” says California Deputy Attorney General Janet Neeley, who sits on the state’s Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) and provides the board with regular updates on the number of transient 290 registrants. “Obviously, you don’t have a place to sleep or shower, so it’s hard to get a job and keep a job,” she says. “Having a steady job and having family ties and living in a place where you have a support person all are factors associated with less risk of re-offense.” Neeley says that SOMB has advocated for policies that limit where high-risk offenders are allowed to be—like parks and other places where children gather—rather than where they’re allowed to live. “Where they live is really irrelevant under the research,” she says. But any changes to Jessica’s Law would require the support of two-thirds of the state Legislature and the approval of the governor. Assemblymember Nathan Fletcher, a Republican who authored Chelsea’s Law, the recent legislation that increases penalties for certain sex offenses, says that in crafting the bill, he took SOMB’s recommendation s seriously. But, he says, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is opposed to amending Jessica’s Law’s residency restriction, so it was pointless to try to do anything this year. Fletcher says he’s willing to work with SOMB and with the state Senate’s Public Safety Committee on possibly amending the law during the next legislative session. “It’s hard; these are difficult things, and they’re difficult to change,” Fletcher says. “What I pledged to Mark Leno [a Democrat who chairs the Senate’s Public Safety Committee] is that we’d come back next year and do something that makes sense. I don’t know what it’ll look like, or if we’ll get there, but we’ll try to work on it next year.” But that doesn’t help a guy like Adrian. One of the late-comers on the cold July evening, he’d like to live with his mom, but her City Heights home is too close to a school. He hopes Laura Arnold can ask a judge to grant him emergency relief from the residency restriction, pending the outcome of a larger legal challenge to the law that could take a year or more to resolve. Adrian tells Arnold that his 290 offense—rape—dates back to 1995 when he was 21. When she asks if the crime involved a child, Adrian responds with an emphatic “No.” Four years ago, Adrian was convicted of marijuana possession with the intent to sell. When he came out of prison, he found out he was subject to Jessica’s Law. This is a situation Arnold says she’s increasingly seeing— parolees whose sex offenses date back a decade or more, prior to Jessica’s Law’s passage. Though they’re currently on parole for a non-sexual offense, they must comply with the residence restrictions. Only 36, Adrian has full-blown AIDS. He goes to his mom’s house during the day to take his medication and shower, but at night, he heads over to this area. He suffers from neuropathy and frequent seizures. “Three days ago, I woke up to one,” he says. “It’s no picnic.” He’s been able to get hotel vouchers twice—for a week, then for 13 days. “Even my parole officer says, ‘I wish I could do more for you,’ but he says his hands are tied.” Arnold can only help the people who she can prove, to a judge, would have stable housing if not for Jessica’s Law. Maybe they have a small monthly income that’ll get them a cheap hotel room Downtown or, like Adrian, they have family they can live with and an illness or disability that makes forced homelessness cruel and unusual punishment. But if the person’s crime involved a minor, they can’t live in a house with a child. Those are the people she can’t help. “And it’s a shame, because a person who commits a sex crime against a 15-year-old girl, it’s very unlikely that they pose any threat to a 2-year-old boy, or a 15-year-old boy, for that matter,” she says. “It’s kind of this one-size-fits-all treatment of sex offenders by our government at all levels that is causing this misery.” Other guys, like Bill, say they’d rather remain homeless. He has a job, but it doesn’t pay enough to cover rent. He has family who live nearby, but they won’t let him move in because it means their address will be listed next to his name on the Megan’s Law website. “They’re frightened,” he says. SOMB’s Neeley acknowledges this sort of Catch-22: “People get upset when they find out that [a sex offender] lives next door, even though we want to know where they live,” she says. The number of men who sleep in this particular area each night is hard to estimate. There are rules against congregating—and against sleeping on private property—so, many of them disperse into the dark when it’s time to bed down. Some, like Don, have asked property owners for permission to sleep there as long as they’re gone by 6 a.m. “I show my appreciation by keeping the [area] clean,” Don says. “Yesterday, I pulled all the weeds. Twice a day, I pick up cigarette butts and the trash that employees leave.” Don is sitting on the ground next to his neatly kept tent—though he’s 69 years old, has arthritis and speaks in a halting rasp, the result of throat disease, he’s insisted that a reporter sit in his folding chair. His most recent offense was selling drugs, which he says he did to help pay for medical expenses. His sex offense, child molestation, dates back to 1994. He claims he was falsely accused of molesting the daughter of a woman living at the rooming house he was managing at the time. He has a monthly income of $835. When he got out of prison, he tried to get a place Downtown where he’d lived on and off for 17 years, but was told it was off limits to sex offenders on parole because it was too close to the grassy area behind Petco Park known as “Park at the Park.” “I just want a place to live,” he says. “I don’t know how many years I have left. Once I find a place to live, I’ll spend the whole $835. I’ll get a job. I have a whole list of skills…. If I have to get a garbage can with wheels on it and put a broom and rake in it, I will do that. I will go and ask businesses, ‘Can I clean your area?’” But his goals are tempered by cynicism. He asks the purpose of this article. “We won’t get sympathy or help from anybody,” he says. “Every day they let out more 290s. I don’t see why they just don’t line us up against a wall and shoot us.” Robert, another 290, estimates that at one point, at least two-dozen guys were sleeping in one spot, their tents and sleeping bags lined up against a wall. He’s been out of prison and homeless for two years. He’s staked out a place for his tent and argued his claim when parole agents said the camp was growing too large. Now, this particular camp’s down to five or six guys. “I said to myself, The 2,000-foot rule’s not going to go away; things aren’t going to change. Can you live with this? I’ve slept out there under hailstorms, set up in rain, baked in Santa Anas. I’ve put up with the bugs and the car noises and all the crap out there. I can do it, and I will do it. But when they go out of their way to make life more miserable, I just get outraged and I feel powerless to do anything.” Robert, like at least a dozen men CityBeat spoke to, says he’s been told not to remain in any one place for more than two hours unless he gets prior approval from his parole agent. For Robert, this means parceling out his day in two-hour time slots: two hours at a bookstore, where he can discreetly charge his GPS device—transient registered sex offenders, all of whom wear GPS ankle bracelets, are required to spend two hours each day charging the device—two hours practicing his guitar on a picnic bench, two hours at a movie. “If you’ve ever seen the movie Groundhog Day, the difference between me and that guy is that I’m on the guitar and he’s on the piano. It’s the same thing; it’s just boring as hell,” he says. Perez, the parole deputy director, said the policy against spending too much time in one place was intended to keep sex offenders on parole from trying to get around the residence restrictions. “What we found is that the offenders, they would register as transient, they would tell their parole agent that they were transient, but then when we looked at the [GPS] tracks, we found that on a regular basis, they were spending time at address X when, in reality, that was where they were living.” The policy wasn’t intended to result in an even more transient existence, she says. “If agents are imposing that kind of very restrictive direction with no discretion, then that’s an error that we need to correct.” When CityBeat told some of the guys what Perez had said, they shrugged it off—it doesn’t matter, they say; they’re not going to challenge it. Things are different for them, especially since John Gardner, a convicted sex offender, was charged with raping and murdering two teenage girls. “There’s always that ax at the back of your neck; always that veiled threat,” Robert says. “You’re always looking around,” says John, who’s been homeless for a year. “Am I compliant? At the same time, you’re supposed to have some kind of normal life.” Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-8111-the-unintended-consequence.html Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:16:28 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4389#4389 SLIP OPINION NO. 2010-OHIO-3753 : IN RE SEXUAL OFFENDER RECLASSIFICATION CASES. http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/2010/2010-Ohio-3753.pdf Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:08:42 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4387#4388 After reading this brochure, I find that Ride for Their Lives are misleading the public in an effort to obtain a MILLION DOLLARS or more. Why hasn't the federal government investigating Mark Lunsford and this group for federal crimes? I'm NOT an attorney but do know that this brochure has it's facts correct! Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:55:03 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4387#4387 If we have anyone near Salina, KS, the Ride for their lives tour is coming Saturday! http://www.saljournal.com ews/story/theirlives-9-1-10 Is this ride so bogus, that they actually only ride bicycles up to the final location from say a mile away? How do they have a rally in St Louis yesterday, Chicago just the day before, Buffalo the day before that, Pittsburgh just before that, and clear across Missouri today for a rally in Kansas City tomorrow? Are the bicycles just for looks. This thing is so smelly that I think corruption leaks from the top all the way down through. I think that they watched how Laura Brook's campaign (Florida), worked a couple of months ago where many if not over half of the miles were not walked at all but in fact were ridden in the support RV. My guess is the same thing is happening here. This is only about money. No one is making a major sacrifice actually riding their bicycle clear across the country for this cause. Lundsford himself may be trailering his Harley for many portions of this trip. Media at these rallies should be asked to look into this. The impression they are selling is that they are riding bicycles across the country for this fund raiser. Feel free to print all thew brochures you need. http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/files/RideForTheirLives.pdf Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:11:30 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=19&id=4386#4386 Little did I know, She was Only 16 years old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtoD0tOjaUk Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:34:08 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4385#4385 Oh the lies they tell! Fear Mongering for money, not safety! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQkN01FcQ6k The media, politicians and child "advocates" continue to spread the lie that sex offenders have high recidivism rates. Well, any idiot could look up the many studies out there that disprove their lies. They are businesses, in business to make money, and are spreading lies and exploiting people to achieve their goal. Recidivism Studies: http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/p/recidivism-studies.html Look into the facts for yourselves! A sex offender registry, nor residency restrictions will protect you, if a person is determined to commit a crime, nor do they prevent crime. But, it does invite vigilantism, creates homelessness, and ostracizes the families and children of sex offenders as well. http://www.youtube.com/user/JuliaTuttleCauseway http://www.youtube.com/user/RSOVigilantism I guess the children of sex offenders don't matter, apparently! http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2010/09/oh-lies-they-tell-fear-mongering-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FjPcH+%28Sex+Offender+Issues%29 Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:23:19 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4384#4384 State attorney's office will prosecute Cape teen accused of sexting http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/sexting01.jpg 2:43 P.M. UPDATE — The state attorney’s office refined the charge for Paige Wellman to possession of child pornography in lieu of promoting the sexual performance of a child after today’s court hearing, said Samantha Syoen, a spokeswoman. Evidence showed this was the more appropriate charge because she didn’t have photos of other children, Syoen said. “She wasn’t promoting anyone other than having photos of herself,” she said. 11:59 A.M. UPDATE — The state attorney’s office is pushing ahead with a charge against a Cape Coral teenager who was arrested after allegedly sexting, or sending nude photos. Authorities say they found pornographic images of her on her phone, computer and MySpace page, reports said. Paige Wellman was arrested Aug. 5. Wellman and her mother, Stacey, appeared before Judge Bruce Kyle today in juvenile court in Fort Myers. Paige Wellman entered a not guilty plea. She turned 18 Saturday, according to Lee sheriff’s records. The state is charging Wellman with a juvenile charge of promoting the sexual performance of a child, said Samantha Syoen, a spokeswoman. Earlier this month, the state attorney's office declined to pursue charges in the case of a 14-year-old North Fort Myers girl arrested on similar charges after evidence showed she was a victim of a crime. Florida Department of Law Enforcement only requires a juvenile register as a sex offender if they are charged and convicted of such charges as an adult. Syoen said the case will proceed as a juvenile case and the Department of Juvenile Justice would determine any punishment. Wellman has a hearing Sept. 22, where both sides will come together to provide a case update. Wellman and her mother refused to speak with The News-Press. Stacey Wellman, who was visibly upset after the state announced they moving forward, said the newspaper had disrupted her daughter’s life more than the court case. http://www.news-press.com/article/20100831/CRIME/100831021/1003/ACC/State-attorney-s-office-will-prosecute-Cape-teen-accused-of-sexting Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:53:32 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4383#4383 The Art of Being Misinformed http://realsexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/ I think Jillian Hoffman is looking for fans in all the wrong places. In her recent Huffington Post article, "Protecting Your Child From Cyber-Monsters," she touted the usual fear-mongering rhetoric we hear from all those like her in an attempt to educate readers about the dangers of Facebook and other social networking websites - watch out for the boogeyman! I posted a comment, that has not been approved as of yet, which was that Jillian Hoffman mentioned the word parent 3 times in her rant, but not once did she question why it would be that a parent would allow their minor child to be on Facebook with MILLIONS OF ADULTS! There are kids as young as 10-years-old on Facebook, and I have to question the mentality of the parent that allows their pre-teen to have a Facebook or Myspace account. Jillian mentioned that her daughter, a fourth grader, knew an 11-year-old classmate who was "approached" on AOL Instant Messenger by someone claiming to be a 16 year-old boy. Jillian claimed this person was actually a 43-year-old sexual predator, but never gave any details that proved her claim. She states that this guy asked one of the girl's friends to send him nude pictures, which was when one of the girls "finally spoke up." She went on to say that "I thought I had more time to ready myself on the dangers of the Internet. I was wrong." Really Jillian? I wonder if you, or the parent of the 11-year-old classmate, would allow your 4th grade girls to jump on their bicycles and ride several miles to the mall to hang out around the food court unsupervised? Am I the only one who sees the irony in all of this? You need a license to drive a car, but any boob can have kids. How many parents out there allow their minor child to hang out around strip bars? Who would be to blame if your child was accosted by a patron as he walked out of the strip bar your child was hanging around? Apparently, the parent would be free of responsibility. Jillian mentioned Jacob Wetterling and Megan Kanka in an effort to rationalize the view for the sex offender registrations laws because the "series of laws [were] designed to warn the public of the presence of dangerous sex offenders." However, she never mentioned how important it is for parents to be responsible for their child, even when they are surfing the Internet. Basically, its not the parents fault that they allow their child to hang out in a place filled with people from all walks of life - a place were a sex offender will also hang out. Here are some facts. Not everyone required to register as a sex offender molested a child. Not everyone required to register as a sex offender committed a sex offense. 5% of those who have been arrested for a sex crime actually re-offend, and 3.3% of those arrested for child molestation re-offend. You and/or your child are 32 times more likely to be a victim of a violent crime, than you are a sex crime. A box of condoms, $7. Cost to run sex offender programs/registries, [as much as] $70 million/yr. Jillian Hoffman fear mongering about sex offenders, priceless. Related article * Jilliane Hoffman: Protecting Your Child From Cyber-Monsters http://t.co/IfekEor Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:39:58 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=53&id=4382#4382 NC - The Buckley Report - Sex Offender Rights http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeEiDtMR7XQ Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:12:11 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=68&id=4381#4381 Manhattan Judge James Gibbons quits after massive porn cache is found on work computer http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/amd_james_gibbons_headshot.jpg Gibbons raised eyebrows with romance with Legal Aid lawyer Jeanne Emhoff. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com y_local/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_courthouse_mystery_criminal_court_judge_james_d_gibbons_abruptly_resigns_without.html#ixzz0yCMr0tKZ A cleavage-crazed criminal court judge - who fathered a son with a young Legal Aid lawyer - quit after officials found a massive porn stash on his work computer, sources said Thursday. Disgraced Manhattan jurist James Gibbons, a whip-smart ex-prosecutor who once convicted rapists and killers, fired off a terse resignation letter last week after the nasty cache was uncovered. "There was a lot of porn on his computer - all young women," an investigator told the Daily News. "Lots of crotch and cleavage shots." The Manhattan district attorney's office is scouring the vile files to determine if criminal charges are warranted - and are checking whether any of the women are underage. Gibbons, 47, already had raised eyebrows with his ethics-skirting romance with Legal Aid lawyer Jeanne Emhoff, 31, who he fathered a son with weeks ago. Emhoff's Facebook page, which was pulled down Thursday, featured a photo of a man with a boy on his shoulder. The porn revelation staggered the baby's grandparents. "This is going to break her heart," Emhoff's stepdad said of his wife. "She thinks the world of Jim. ... This will destroy my wife." Gibbons - who was not arrested - was caught when a computer-monitoring system in the courthouse red-flagged his courthouse terminal, a law enforcement source said. He was on paternity leave when the images were discovered and the computer seized. During the 14 years he worked in the Manhattan district attorney's office, Gibbons was well-known for his efficient handling of street crimes. He also enjoyed a good reputation on the bench after his December 2001 appointment by departing Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "He was a very careful judge on the law," lawyer Adam Freedman said. "If he was using his state-issued computer for illegal activities, it would be uncharacteristic, considering how careful he is on the law." Despite the possible conflicts of interest between Gibbons and Emhoff, a source close to the case said, their affair was unrelated to the investigation. "There is absolutely no link between the judge's relationship with Jeanne Emhoff and any alleged criminal activity," the source said. "One has nothing to do with the other." It was unclear when the porn was found on the disgraced judge's computer, but sources said its discovery was just routine. "In government agencies, and in many private sector firms, employers are able to monitor employee computer usage," a source said. Gibbons quit his position with a simple three-paragraph letter that offered no clues to his sudden nightmare. "It has been a privilege to serve as a judge of the Criminal Court of the City of New York," he wrote. "Please accept this letter as a statement of my resignation of that office effective today." mgrace@nydailynews.com With Edgar Sandoval, Irving DeJohn and Michael J. Feeney Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com y_local/2010/08/26/2010-08-26_courthouse_mystery_criminal_court_judge_james_d_gibbons_abruptly_resigns_without.html#ixzz0yCLjr1gw Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:40:05 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=40&id=4380#4380 Jessica's Law conviction reversed based on coercive police interview http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/police_interrogation_ch-6b233f83f570ffb416229881309771e7.jpg Ryan Eddinger won in State v. Stone, No. 100,076 (Kan. Aug. 20, 2010), obtaining a new trial in a Sedgwick County “Jessica’s Law” prosecution. The KSC reversed Stone’s conviction for aggravated indecent liberties with a child, holding that a tape recording of the police interrogation of him should not have been admitted into evidence. The court held that Detective Kelly Mar’s interviewing techniques rendered Stone’s statement inadmissible: The detective's repeated insistence that the truth could only be the version told by the victim, combined with her unequivocal statements that there was semen on the victim's pajamas and her belief that the DNA in it would match Stone's, followed by statements to the effect that only confessing could keep him out of jail or affect the length of his jail term made the circumstances unduly coercive. Moreover, a close examination of the interrogation reveals that Stone did not volunteer facts but rather he adopted facts as they were suggested to him by the detective and as her insistence that he tell "the truth" became more adamant. . . . Another tactic used by Detective Mar involved minimizing the seriousness of the accusations against Stone and indicating that a confession would corroborate that he was not a child sex predator[.] . . . These statements cumulatively and strongly suggested to Stone that only confessing to the "truth" as the detective saw it would save him from being painted as a "preying pedophile" and, in turn, affect his sentence. The court held that the cumulative effect of Detective Mar’s interviewing techniques rendered Stone’s statement inadmissible: While any one of the circumstances surrounding this interrogation, standing alone—Stone's condition, Detective Mar's misleading statements about the semen on the pajama top, her statements that the length of his sentence could only be affected by his telling the "truth," the implications he would be viewed as a sexual predator unless he confessed—might not have led us to conclude Stone's statements were coerced, a review of the audio recording taking into account all of these circumstances, as the law requires, leads us to conclude as a matter of law that Stone's statements were not the product of his free and independent will and that it was error to admit them at trial. Based on the improper admission of the statement into evidence, the court reversed Stone's convictions and remanded for a new trial. http://kansasdefenders.blogspot.com/2010/08/jessicas-law-conviction-reversed-based.html Tue, 31 Aug 2010 10:26:46 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4379#4379 "Children Not Of A Lesser God" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-G4Maw72g0 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:06:49 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=69&id=4378#4378 Ruling Limits Ability of Judges to Inflate Sex Offender Sentences Posted by Editor Monday, 30 August 2010 http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Gavel2-4d3ea9cbc10c7b3e48d574b4aeef4d31.jpg The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has stopped prosecutors and judges from employing an end-run around sex offender laws in their efforts to get offenders sentenced to harsher penalties. The court's ruling came in the case of Commonwealth. v. Jarowecki (985 A.2d 955). Craig S. Jarowecki of West Reading was convicted in 2006 of eight counts of possessing child pornography for having six images and two movies on his computer. At his trial, Judge Linda Ludgate agreed to treat one conviction as his first offense and the other seven offenses as second convictions, dramatically raising the penalties for Jarowecki. Enormous Changes Ludgate then imposed a sentence ranging from 37 months to 17 years in state prison. If she hadn't agreed to the artificial upgrade in his sentence, the punishment for a first offense would have ranged from probation to up to seven years in prison. In a 21-page decision, Supreme Court Justice Debra Todd concluded that the law doesn't allow treating one violation as a first offense, and other violations of the law in the same incident as second offenses in order to obtain multiple convictions and higher penalties. Last year, state lawmakers expanded child pornography laws to make intentional viewing of child porn a punishable offense. Previously, a person had to "knowingly possess or control" child pornography. Now the law defines the offense as "the deliberate, purposeful, voluntary viewing" of the materials. Guidelines Sentencing guidelines in Pennsylvania are weighted against sex offenders with prior convictions. With sex offenses, the penalties rise significantly for those with multiple convictions. Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines are broken down into five categories, with Level One being for "the least serious offenders" and Level Five for "the most violent offenders." For example, a Level Five conviction for sexual assualt for an offender with no prior convictions calls for a sentence of 36 to 54 months, according to Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines. If the same offense is proven against someone with five prior convictions, the guidelines go up to a range of 72 months to 90 months. Someone who is a repeat Level One and Level Two offender would, for the same offense, get 84 to 102 months. whereas someone classified as a repeat violent offender would get 120 months (12 years) in a state prison for the same offense and conviction. If you or a loved one faces sex offense charges, contact a Pennsylvania criminal offense lawyer who understands the law and the rights of the accused. A criminal defense attorney can assess the facts and charges in the case and advise you of your legal options. Article provided by The Law Offices of David S. Shrager Visit us at http://www.shragerlawfirm.com http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=253540&Itemid=59 Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:30:28 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4377#4377 1 of 5 - FL - Ron Book - Perverse proof of how much lawmakers need lawbreakers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77hXBU1qpKk Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:13:00 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4376#4376 FL - Laws Could Cause Sex Offenders To Re-offend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as_-gvFxO4Y Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:03:29 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=18&id=4375#4375 Thinking The Worst First http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/lenore_indoor_headshot-648aad610639c298429248da96fe5f46.jpg Posted on August 30, 2010 by lskenazy Hi Readers — Let’s take a vow: Let us vow to see men and women as decent until proven otherwise. Let’s vow to interpret their deeds as non-malicious, until proven otherwise. And let us vow not to assume the worst first. Here’s why: Dear Free-Range Kids: You’re always talking about how its a real shame men are so often assumed to be predators, to the point that they hesitate to help a kid in need for fear they will be accused of having ill intent. A friend of mine told me something along those lines that is even more disturbing. She was having a conversation with some male family members at a family gathering. There were kids in the pool and another male family member who didn’t have kids was in the pool, playing with them. The group of male family members who had children remarked that the other guy had no business out there playing with the kids because he didn’t have any. Since my friend also follows your blog, she began to ask them: Why? Why couldn’t this other male family member play with the kids? And why are men who either aren’t in uniform or don’t have children with them forever banned from interacting with children? The men had no real answer other than that it just seemed “suspect.” My friend challenged that notion and told them about the little girl who drowned because the man who noticed her by the side of the road was afraid to stop and help her [for fear of being branded a predator if someone saw him with the girl in his car]. And do you know what their answer was to that? “It is a necessary evil. To keep children safe.” Except — she wasn’t safe! BECAUSE of that attitude! What is our society coming to that a man can’t even play with the kids at a family function? Or is considered suspect for doing it because he doesn’t have children? Just so kids can be “safe,” men should’t interact with children unless they have their own? To which I replied: This is sickening and sad — and ironic. Shouldn’t the dads be glad another grown-up is in the pool, keeping an eye on their kids? Shouldn’t we ALL be glad when we watch out for each other? These paranoid papas remind me of the folks who were upset about the 3-year-old girl who walked a few blocks to the local fire station to help her dad, who was slipping into a coma. “She could have been kidnapped!” wrote some tsk-tskers. What about the dad? He was ABOUT TO DIE and SHE SAVED HIM! But the “What if?” people actually feel smug and “protective” thinking up their hideous fantasies instead of looking reality in the face: The girl was NOT in much danger and her father WAS. No, they think the worst, first: All children are in danger, all men are potential pedophiles, the boogey man lurks beyond the front door and any child who does anything on her own is asking for trouble (as are the parents who let her). Our pledge is to reject Worst-First thinking. Our pledge is to think, period. — Lenore http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/thinking-the-worst-first/ Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:44:18 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=40&id=4374#4374 Kansas court rules evidence falsified in sex predator case http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/angry-bac62733ee7a3f2c55a597d0c65a588e.gif WICHITA - A Kansas appeals court has ordered a new trial for a convicted sexual predator, saying a prosecutor falsified evidence in a court proceeding. "We can fathom no greater prejudice... than the use of nonexistent evidence by the State in the case against the respondent," noted the Kansas Court of Appeals in an opinion issued Friday. "Simply put, attorneys are not allowed to make up evidence and use it to advance their cause." The state's attorney in the case was Marc Bennett, a deputy district attorney in Sedgwick County who supervises the prosecution of child sex crimes. The case involved Robert C. Ontiberos, who was convicted of attempted rape in 1983 and aggravated sexual battery in 2001. When Ontiberos was about to be paroled, prosecutors sought to confine him to a state mental hospital under the Kansas Sexually Violent Predator Act. Sex offenders who suffer a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes them likely to commit additional sex crimes can be held indefinitely for treatment under the 1994 law. Ontiberos claimed that he did not receive a fair trial when a jury decided in 2008 to confine him to the Kansas Sexual Predator Treatment Program. The appeals court ruled in his favor and ordered a new trial Friday. While cross-examining Ontiberos during the trial, Bennett, serving as a special assistant attorney general, "improperly used statements that had not been admitted into evidence," the appeals court ruled. Also, while cross-examining a clinical psychologist who had evaluated Ontiberos, Bennett asked the doctor "about a 2003 prison incident where Ontiberos fashioned a knife out of a pen and duct tape," the ruling says. Ontiberos never received a disciplinary report involving a weapon, the court said. And Bennett admitted to the court that "he was unable to locate any reference" to the report that alleged Ontiberos used a knife in a fight. Said the appeals court: "The State's use of a nonexistent Department of Corrections disciplinary finding, ostensibly painting Ontiberos as being violent because it involved a homemade prison shank, cannot be condoned in any fashion." Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said Bennett's reference to the weapon in court "was a misstatement, if anything" and should not mar his reputation or the case in general. "I do not want it said that Marc Bennett somehow willfully, intentionally fabricated evidence, because that's not the case here at all," Foulston said. "Marc is an extremely professional lawyer, and he's an extremely ethical lawyer. While reviewing thousands of pages in hundreds of documents, he may have mistakenly confused what was in the record. "If that's the case, obviously that was wrong, it shouldn't have happened, and the court's point is well taken.... But Marc told the court about the mistake. He fell on his sword, so to speak, and I don't believe it's a malicious thing because there's not a malicious bone in Marc Bennett's body." Foulston noted that several factors weighed into the appeals court's decision Friday, including "the passivity of defense counsel and his apparent lack of preparation," the ruling said. Foulston said she plans to further review the case and the documents in question. The Kansas Attorney General's Office will decide whether to appeal the court's ruling. * Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/28/99805/kansas-court-rules-evidence-falsified.html#ixzz0y0Q5z5ms Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:44:51 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=19&id=4373#4373 Law student wins £10,000 after being branded a pedophile on Facebook http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/000-d0107f4510ed84089c3644fd0c82fd26.jpg The British Telegraph announced today that a law student falsely named as a pedophile on Facebook has won a £10,000 libel damages payout at the High Court. Chef, Jeremiah Barber, 24, posted child porn on the Facebook page of student, Raymond Bryce, along with the comment: "Ray, you like kids and you are gay so I bet you love this picture, Ha ha." Barber, who had fallen out with Mr Bryce over an £80 debt, removed the post, made on 23 November 2008, within 24 hours. Mr Bryce said there had been 11 links to the post, 2 comments from viewers, and more than 800 people would have been able to view the material But he later pleaded guilty to making and distributing an indecent image of a child at Stafford Crown Court and was ordered to carry out 150 hours unpaid work and handed a £1,200 costs bill. Mr Justice Tugendhat, sitting at London's High Court, has awarded Mr. Bryce £10,000 in libel damages for the stress he endured, including anxiety that hundreds of people in his local area may have seen the post. Mr Bryce, 24, who lives with his parents in Stone, Staffs, suffers from high functioning Asperger's Syndrome, but has secured a place on a full time degree course studying law at Stafford University. The dispute between him and Barber, from Stafford, arose after Mr Bryce lent his former pal £80 and he failed to pay it back, said the judge. Mr Bryce's efforts to secure repayment included obtaining a County Court order. Judgment was entered for Mr Bryce in the libel case in November last year but he had to return to the High Court for an assessment of his damages. In the witness box, Mr Bryce said: Jeremy Barber put a defamatory blog (sic) on Facebook and made me appear to be a pedophile with homosexual tendencies, neither of which is true. He did so with intention and malice. When I viewed the pictures I was shocked because they were repulsive and disgusting and in no way reflected my attitude to life. I asked for an apology which I have not to this date received. The whole thing has been distressing, not only for myself but for my family. Mr Bryce said there had been 11 links to the post, 2 comments from viewers, and more than 800 people would have been able to view the material. Mr Justice Tugendhat said: "This was not only defamatory, but a defamation which goes to a central aspect of Mr Bryce's private life as well as his public reputation. This post was deeply offensive to him, but also a cause for alarm. He could not go out in public because he feared he would be a victim of violence, which is not infrequently the result for those accused of pedophilia. It is well known that people accused of being pedophiles may be subjected to serious violence, even when there is no basis for the accusation. I can infer that the number of people who saw this Facebook page would have been in the hundreds. "This post was clearly a malicious act and the defendant has done nothing to express any regret. "Damages in libel actions are awarded as compensation, not as punishment, to vindicate reputation, to compensate for harm to that reputation and as compensation for injury to feelings. "I assess the damages in this case at £10,000," the judge concluded, also imposing an injunction banning Barber from repeating the libel. http://www.trendsininternationallitigation.com/2010/07/articles/foreign-defamation/law-student-wins-a10000-after-being-branded-a-pedophile-on-facebook/ Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:25:02 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4372#4372 Marin Voice: Is a Megan's Law for political campaigns the answer? MARIN COUNTY'S adoption of a campaign reform ordinance this year appears to be having a trickle-down effect with San Rafael's City Council voting for fuller disclosure of independent expenditures, and San Anselmo apparently not far behind. While this is progress it will do nothing to curb the spread of false and inflammatory materials designed purely to smear an opponent's reputation unless candidates are willing to disavow such activities and take firm steps to repudiate them immediately when they occur. That's not likely so long as candidates and their consultants are given immunity either by feigning ignorance of such conduct even after it has been called to their attention, or by cloaking their unwillingness to exert controls over the offenders by permitting them to invoke their first amendment arguments. Greater transparency is not the end-all solution merely by suggesting that dirt can be sanitized if only we do a better job of illuminating it. Requiring those who traffic in such slime to affix their names to the communications may help to expose the purveyors, but - like the Gulf Coast oil spill - once the damage is done the cleanup efforts are too late and the wrongdoers have already escaped. Granted, legislative bodies cannot sit as courts, determining which mailers and ads should be banned and which are OK. But there is nothing to prevent town councils and special districts from taking a strong collective stance against the distribution of campaign materials which cross the line between fact-based criticism and blatant ad hominem attacks. And laws should be considered that would make it tougher for abusers by raising the stakes for misconduct. One possibility might be the adoption of a Megan's Law for political campaigns - perhaps a campaign violator's registry which would be splashed on websites, posted in public places and published in local newspapers of record. It would contain the names of officeholders, candidates and consultants who have been previously cited, reprimanded or fined for campaign violations, including false declarations, late and incomplete filings, misuse of campaign funds, improper expenditures and other no-no's. This would require cooperation between local authorities, the Fair Political Practices Commission (which is empowered to investigate and sanction violations of the state's Political Reform Act of 1974), and the DA's offices, which already have enforcement powers that may be insufficient. Such reforms will demand action as well by our legislative representatives. One seemingly easy fix would be a requirement that Independent Expenditure Committees file their reports listing by name all contributors and expenditures (say of $500 or more on any campaign communications) not only with the city and county clerks in the jurisdictions in which they are organized, but also in the jurisdictions in which the candidates who are their intended targets are running. Under current practices, IECs - often with bogus names and addresses - operate in cities hundreds of miles from their hapless victims raising thousands of dollars that cannot be traced to the donors who may never have heard of the candidates their dollars are working to defeat. These shadowy entities function (legally) with no restrictions on what they can raise and spend - making talk of imposing stricter spending curbs laughable. The public deserves better. Other towns should take San Rafael's lead. But it's only a start. Richard Rubin of Strawberry writes about political issues and is president of a San Francisco public affairs management firm. He teaches courses in politics at USF. His e-mail is rarassociates@sbcglobal.net http://www.marinij.com/opinion/ci_15857024?source=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:11:25 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=33&id=4371#4371 Alabama court to decide if sex offenders must have a home http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Setup_to_fail-bcee7b3ca53de7116c77d4d8947d0964.png MONTGOMERY - After serving his prison sentence for rape, Jeffrey Seagle tried to find a place to live. But with no fixed address and no family or friends able to take him in, Alabama's sex offender law kept him behind bars. When it came time for him to leave the Kilby Correctional Facility near Montgomery, he was re-arrested. The reason: He couldn't give officials an address where he would be living. "This is essentially an eternal prison sentence. It could be a life sentence," said attorney David Schoen, who represents Seagle and three others in similar situations. "It is the ultimate scarlet letter." Challenged by Schoen, the law was later declared unconstitutional by two Montgomery circuit judges, but the state attorney general has appealed to have it reinstated. State's attorneys say the four inmates could have complied with the law by listing a park bench or even a street corner as their permanent address. Montgomery County Circuit Judges Truman Hobbs and Tracey McCooey ruled last year in separate cases that the law is unconstitutionally vague. The ruling struck down charges that the four inmates violated the law when they declared that they were homeless and did not provide an address for where they would be living outside prison. Seagle and the other three inmates were arrested for violating the notification law when they started to leave prison at the end of their sentences. They have since been released after the law was ruled unconstitutional. Alabama Attorney General Troy King has asked the state Court of Criminal Appeals to reinstate the law, which he said is necessary for law enforcement officers to keep an eye on people convicted of sex crimes like rape. The four men — Phillip Handley, Thornal Adams, Richard Coppage and Seagle — argued in court briefs that they were unable to find a homeless shelter, halfway house or other permanent home. Under Alabama law, convicted sex offenders are not permitted to live within 2,000 feet of an elementary or high school or college or university. Although they are now out of prison, Schoen said his four clients are still having a hard time finding a place to live. He said they have stayed in homeless shelters and other temporary locations. Many states that adopted stringent community notification rules for sex offenders are now grappling with the issue of how homeless sex offenders can comply. Last year, probation officers in Georgia had to find temporary housing for nine homeless sex offenders who were kicked out of a makeshift tent city they had built in the woods behind a suburban Atlanta office building. The men said the tent city was the only place they had been able to find where they could live and comply with state law. In a similar case, almost 100 homeless sex offenders in Florida were forced to move earlier this year from a makeshift camp under a bridge on a Miami causeway. Mississippi has a law similar to Alabama's, but it gives sex offenders 10 days to find a permanent residence after they are released from prison. In California, sex offenders are allowed to register as "transient" if they can't find housing. Schoen has argued that the Alabama law violates the Constitution because it requires a convicted sex offender, who has "paid his debt to society," to have a roof over his head. But the attorney general's office has argued in court briefs that the law does not require a specific address and that inmates can say they are going to live on a park bench or under an interstate overpass, as long as they remain the required distance from schools and police know where to find them. "You can say 'I'm going to live under the overpass on Ann Street," King said, referring to a Montgomery street not far from the Capitol. Virginia law allows homeless sex offenders to list a street corner, parking lot or other vacant space as their home. Deputy Attorney General Pete Smyczek denies claims that the Alabama law is an attempt to give homeless sex offenders life sentences. "We just want them to give us something definitive enough to allow law enforcement to locate them," Smyczek said. The law passed the Alabama Legislature in a special session in 2005. The House sponsor, former state Rep. Neil Morrison, D-Cullman, said King and some legislators were concerned that "predators were disappearing back into society" as soon as they were released from prison before law enforcement officers could find out where they were living. "I felt strongly about this. We owe protection to our children," Morrison said. Schoen said he believes the Legislature intended to require sex offenders to stay in prison if they lack a permanent address and that the argument about living on park benches is being made to improve chances of winning before the appellate court. But Morrison said that's not the case. "Nowhere did we say in the law that they have to stay in prison. The intent was to protect children," Morrison said. In court filings, attorneys for the sex offenders say their clients went to great lengths to abide by the law. Seagle, who was initially convicted of rape in Montgomery County in 1995, had been in prison for 14 years when he was told he would have to provide an address before he was released from prison and at that time didn't have any relatives or friends he could live with, according to his filing to the appellate court. The filing said Seagle wrote to a number of halfway houses and was only accepted to live in one in Oklahoma City. But that halfway house later informed him it was full and he could not live there. The filing said Seagle did not have money to rent a house or an apartment and he did not have access to the Internet in prison to help his search. It said Seagle "did not think he could put down that he would be living on a park bench and that if he did, he would probably get arrested again." http://annistonstar.com/bookmark/9311105-Alabama-court-to-decide-if-sex-offenders-must-have-a-home Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:21:43 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4370#4370 Proposal: Bar sex offenders from Halloween The proposed ordinance is here. http://www.pe.com/multimedia/pdf/2010/20100828_halloween.pdf PROPOSED SEX OFFENDER LAW Perris City Council will consider Halloween house rules for registered sex offenders prohibiting holiday decorations, outdoor lighting and opening the door for trick-or-treaters. WHAT: City Council meeting WHEN: 6 p.m., Tuesday WHERE: City Council chambers, 101 N. D Street, Perris 8-28-2010 California: http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_halloween_fear_mongering.jpg Handing out candy, putting out a pumpkin and turning on a porch light on Halloween night could soon become punishable offenses for registered sex offenders living in Perris. The City Council on Tuesday will consider following in the footsteps of the state of Missouri and one California city by barring registered sex offenders from engaging in a few time-honored Halloween customs that invite costumed, candy-seeking children to neighbors' doors. Perris' proposed ordinance is almost identical to one passed earlier this year in the Orange County city of Orange that outlaws registered sex offenders from trimming their houses with Halloween decorations, turning on outdoor lighting after dark and opening their doors to trick-or-treating children on Oct. 31. There has been no organized opposition to the ordinance, which would take effect Oct. 28 if approved. Anxiety over sex offenders reached a fever pitch last month at the prospect of convicted child rapist and killer Donald Schmidt moving into a halfway house in Good Hope, just east of Perris. Shortly after the halfway home operators denied Schmidt a room, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors passed new restrictions for unincorporated areas that temporarily banned parolee homes and required sex offenders to live at least 2,000 feet from schools, parks and child care centers. Public Safety Commissioner Michael Weir, a former correctional sergeant who worked at Riverside County jails for 21 years, first suggested the Halloween changes in January. Weir said the process took almost nine months because the commission meets only every two to three months and the original proposal needed some fine-tuning. An earlier draft of the ordinance mirrored Missouri law and would have required sex offenders to remain quarantined inside their homes from 5 to 10:30 p.m. on Halloween and also to post signs on their residence announcing that they did not have candy. "After talking to the director and some law enforcement officers, I think if we put a sign out in front of their house, you're kind of singling that house out as a pedophile house and that's not my intention," Weir said at a June 9 public safety commission meeting where officials revised the ordinance. "My intention was to make children safe." Although anyone can use California's Megan's Law website to track the names and addresses of registered sex offenders living in their area, Weir said not every parent does. For this reason, Weir said he believes public officials need to find other ways to prevent child contact with convicted pedophiles. "You don't want to target the person who broke the law. If they've done their time, they've registered and they're doing what they have to do, they have the right to live in peace. But we also have the right to protect our kids," said Weir, who has a 15-year-old daughter. "This is to prevent it from happening -- the girl walking home from school getting kidnapped," he said, referring to the recent kidnapping and murder of 17-year-old Norma Lopez, of Moreno Valley, who disappeared as she was walking home from school. "We're trying to give law enforcement another tool to prevent these things from happening in the future." Sheriff's Capt. James McElvain, who serves as Perris' and Menifee's police chief, said there's no enforcement plan for the proposed Halloween ordinance, but one would be created if it becomes law. According to the Perris ordinance, there are 218 registered sex offenders residing in Perris. "It's like enforcing any other law; you catch what you can catch. But can we put something together involving a couple of people from our station doing compliance checks? Sure. We could also try and call in the SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement) team from our region to come out and do those at the same time," McElvain said. "It's a matter of planning." If approved, a violation of the new ordinance would be considered a disturbance of the peace, which is a misdemeanor. The punishment is up to six months in jail, up to a $1,000 fine, or both, according to the Perris Municipal Code. Lirra Bishop, a 39-year-old mother who led protests outside the Perris area home of convicted rapist David Allyn Dokich in 2005 and recently spoke out about Schmidt coming to Good Hope, said the Halloween rules couldn't hurt, but she called it "another Band-Aid on this whole sex offender problem." "We can do a little thing here and a little thing there but the problem still exists," said Bishop, who has a 15-year-old son. "I think we need to start on the state level and start overseeing the overseers -- the people who place the sex offenders. I really don't think that they're doing their job." Bishop said a convicted child molester who lives a half-block from her house decorates his house for Halloween annually and there's not been an issue with trick-or-treaters going there that she's aware of. Still, she said that doesn't mean people should assume child contact with sex offenders is safe. She said it takes neighbor involvement to ensure that laws like the proposed Halloween ordinance get enforced. "People's attitudes have to change," she said. "Nobody cares until their child is victimized." ..Source.. by JULISSA McKINNON, The Press-Enterprise http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_halloween28.2ebfa1e.html Sat, 28 Aug 2010 07:55:05 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4369#4369 8 in 10 church members say sex offenders should attend church http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/church_offend2_070503_mn-b1a1bb37c47967fe3896759a7b55d9f1.jpg 8-26-2010 National: CAROL STREAM, ILLINOIS (BNO NEWS) — Nearly 80 percent of church members believe that sex offenders belong in church under appropriate supervision, according to a survey conducted by Christianity Today International (CTI) to explore the attitudes and beliefs of pastors, church staff, lay leaders and other active Christians regarding whether to allow sex offenders to participate in faith communities. The survey was conducted online between April 9 and May 3 and was filled out by 2,864 people, of which one-third are pastors, one-fifth are non-pastoral leaders, and 43 percent are lay leaders, members or attendees. The results show that eight in ten church members think that convicted sex offenders belong in a church as attenders, under continuous supervision, and subject to appropriate limitations. In contract, about five percent say they belong as attenders with no limitations and no supervisions required. And while nine percent said sex offenders should be embraced without qualifications, only three percent of respondents said they think known offenders should be completely excluded from church. The majority of respondents are influenced by the seriousness of the sex offender’s crime in their decision to allow an offender to integrate into the faith community. For 52 percent of the respondents, standards for participation are determined in part by the seriousness of the sex offense committed. Nearly everyone – 99 percent – agreed that someone needs to be notified when the presence of a registered sex offender becomes known. However, many respondents feel that finding out about the presence of a registered sex offender in the church is a bigger problem for their church than it is to them personally. But despite the fairly positive response regarding the attendance of sex offenders, almost half of the respondents said they would be opposed if a sex offender expressed a desire to serve in a ministry at church. And when it comes to child victims of sex offenders, nearly two-thirds of respondents say that people who were sexually abused as children are at a greater risk of becoming abusers as adults. For this reason, about 56 percent believes it should be standard policy to question all adults about their history of possible past abuse before they are allowed to serve in a ministry at church. On the other hand, only 23 percent think questioning all adults about possible past abuse is an invasion of privacy. Among other results of the survey, more than half of respondents advocate church leaders to take action when they become aware that someone in church might be at a higher risk of committing a sex crime. 81 percent of this group believes church leaders should talk to the individual, while 65 percent believes counseling at church should be offered, or otherwise provide a referral for professional counseling. Asked what church leaders should do when they become aware that someone in church is an offender, 82 percent said they should pray about it. Additionally, 57 percent believes church leaders should draft a conditional attendance agreement and talk to the offender’s probation officer. ..Source.. by BNO News http://www.islandcrisis.net/2010/08/8-10-church-members-sex-offenders-attend-church/ Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:02:19 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4368#4368 California Senate passes tougher sentencing laws for sex offenders http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/hot_off_press-6bdf25bf213cdcfffde347d7ae7fb01c.gif (CNN) -- A bill that seeks to increase prison sentences and extend parole terms in California for certain sex crimes against minors was passed in a unanimous vote by the state Senate on Tuesday. "Chelsea's Law" -- named after 17-year-old Chelsea King, who was raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender this year -- will go to the State Assembly next week for a vote. If it passes, it will go to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has already lent support to the legislation formally know as AB 1844. King disappeared February 25 during a jog in a suburban San Diego park, sparking a massive search that ended a few days later with the discovery of her body. Registered sex offender John Gardner pleaded guilty in April to killing her and another San Diego-area teen, Amber Dubois, in a deal that spared him the death penalty. The case set off a firestorm of debate over the management of sex offenders in California, with King's parents lending their voices to legislative efforts. "The heartbreaking loss of Chelsea earlier this year revealed a broken public safety system, and it called our entire community and our entire state to action. With the King family's unwavering dedication and with the good faith of many who contributed to shaping this measure, we've built a solution that will protect children and spare other families from tragedy," Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, the bill's sponsor, said in a statement. But Chelsea's Law also has its detractors. They argue it advocates a one-size-fits-all approach to punishing sexual offenses and that its fiscal implications are too much for the cash-strapped state to bear. Supporters of Chelsea's Law, which include California Attorney General Jerry Brown and U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, say it targets the worst of the worst with provisions such as one-strike life without parole sentencing and lifetime parole for certain sex offenses against children younger than 14. Among the crimes that could carry potential sentences of life without parole under the proposed legislation: rape, lewd and lascivious acts on a minor, continuous sexual abuse of a child that were committed during a kidnapping, first-degree burglary or that resulted in great bodily injury. Offenders could also face a true life sentence for inflicting "aggravated mayhem or torture on the victim" in the commission of the offense. The bill also requires lifetime parole and GPS supervision with no possibility of discharge for crimes including continuous sexual abuse of a child and certain sex crimes on children younger than 14. The proposed legislation also would make it a misdemeanor for a registered sex offender who committed a felony offense to enter any park where children regularly gather without written permission from a parole official or chief park official. It also calls for a revision of the California mentally disordered offender laws to provide for continued detention of offenders where evaluation and assessment deem such to be necessary. Critics of the bill call it a blanket approach that pushes sex offenders further to the fringes of society without addressing the root causes of sexual offenses. "We need to seek solutions to this one shoe size fits all policy and target those who are of high risk to re-offend after being assessed by professionals in the field, as well focus our money and resources into prevention and awareness programs on sexual abuse, and preventing the first crime," said Mary Duval, CEO of the Sex Offender Solutions and Education Network, a nonprofit resource center on sex offender issues and a support network for registered sex offenders. A preliminary analysis of the bill by the state Legislative Analyst's Office completed earlier this year estimated it would increase state prison operating costs by "at least a few tens of millions of dollars annually" as a result of certain offenders remaining in prison for longer periods of time, resulting in a larger prison population. Parole operations might also be stretched to their limits, the study said. The analysis, noted, however, that a number of variables made the findings inconclusive, such as how often district attorneys would choose to prosecute crimes under Chelsea's Law or the possibility that the law could deter future criminal activity. "The long-term nature of the fiscal impacts of some of the provisions of AB 1844 further means that our forecasts may not fully account for significant potential changes in prison operating costs and in the size of the population of sex offenders that could occur over time," the LAO said in a letter to Assemblyman Fletcher dated May 12. In an interview with CNN in May, Fletcher said the projected costs of the bill were relatively small compared with the the expense of maintaining a system that does not seem to be working. "We've tried to create a narrowly focused bill that goes after the worst of the worst by improving upon sentencing laws and guidelines that already exist," he said. "The first responsibility of government is public safetyand if we can't protect our children from violent sexual predators then nothing else matters. This has to be our priority." http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/24/california.chelseas.law/index.html Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:24:33 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4367#4367 Chelsea's Law almost on governor's desk http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/00-3495babf7a310b90c428d40b9ee405a6.jpg A bill to overhaul how California punishes sex offenders was approved unanimously by the state Senate on Tuesday, a rare bipartisan endorsement of a crime bill designed to put state resources into treatment and punish criminals most likely to strike again. The legislation, dubbed Chelsea's Law after a San Diego-area teen who was raped and murdered this year by a convicted sex offender, would change sentences given to sex offenders. In a few cases, that might mean reducing the number of restrictions placed on parolees, but others could see their parole terms and conditions extended. AB1844 also increases penalties and mandates ongoing treatment for those considered most dangerous. The worst offenders would receive lifetime sentences without the possibility of parole. Rapists and some other sex offenders would stay in prison longer, and there would also be limits on when some paroled sex offenders could enter public parks. The bill now heads to the state Assembly for agreement on changes made by the Senate. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised to sign it. Chelsea King's parents, Brent and Kelly King, said Tuesday that the bill's passage is "bittersweet" - they wished the measure wasn't necessary, but expressed pride at the final product and its overwhelming support. The family plans to take it to other states, they said. "As the vote came through, I had tears streaming down my face," Kelly King said. "I can't think of anything, other than having my daughter back here now, more meaningful to Brent and I." The bill, which underwent significant revisions in recent months, was a bipartisan success, its backers said. The bill's author, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, said the final result was "more than we wanted - it's stronger and broader and more comprehensive today than it was when it was introduced." E-mail Marisa Lagos at mlagos@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/24/BAQ31F2IPK.DTL#ixzz0xcokX1WY Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:45:07 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=11&id=4366#4366 Oklahoma elections: Stilwell lawmaker John Auffet loses bid for fourth term State Rep. John Auffet lost his bid to win a fourth term to a political newcomer while an Oklahoma City businesswoman was one of three 21-year-old House of Representative contenders who pulled off easy wins in Tuesday's runoff elections. http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/medium-2300645e7fe1305dfd953f50da5ae49b.jpg John Auffet. File photo. Auffet, D-Stilwell, lost to William T. Fourkiller, of Stilwell, in the House District 86 race, according to unofficial election returns. The results will be certified next week by state election officials. Fourkiller will succeed Auffet in November; no Republican or independent filed for the post. Fourkiller won 53 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election; he finished second in last month's Democratic primary election with 28 percent in a three-way race. A former coach and teacher, Fourkiller said his family got behind his campaign efforts after the July 27 primary election. "When we get in something, we get in to win," Fourkiller said. Auffet, who worked for the state Conservation Commission and was a fruit grower before being elected six years ago to the House, said his plans are uncertain. In the House District 100 race, Elise Hall, 21, won 62 percent of the vote. Hall, who won 47 percent of the vote in last month's Republican primary election in a three-candidate race, defeated David Looby, of Oklahoma City. Hall, who works as director of marketing and advertising at a local landscape management company, will succeed Rep. Mike Thompson, R-Oklahoma City, who didn't seek re-election to run for Congress. He finished third in the 5th Congressional District race. The wins put the tally in the House so far at 37 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Republicans in the past session enjoyed a 61-39 advantage. The remaining 47 positions in the 101-member House will be decided in the Nov. 2 election. Republican Josh Cockroft, 21, won 71 percent of the vote in the House District 27 race. Cockroft, of McLoud, had about 72 percent of the vote. He received 38 percent of the vote last month while Richard Bennett, of McLoud, got 23 percent. Cockroft, who works in the heating and air-conditioning field, is seeking the House District 27 seat held by Rep. Shane Jett, R-Tecumseh. Jett didn't seek re-election to run for Congress, which he lost. "We're not going to stop from what we've been doing," said Cockroft, who faces a Democrat, Chris Odneal, of Shawnee in the Nov. 2 general election. "We have had an incredible response from the people here in District 27." In the House District 66 race, Eli Potts, 21, of Sand Springs won 55 percent of the vote. He got 38 percent of the vote in last month's election while Andrew Thomas Williams, of Tulsa, got 33 percent. Potts faces Republican Jadine Nollan, of Sand Springs; the winner will succeed Rep. Lucky Lamons, D-Tulsa, who didn't seek re-election. Potts, a bank teller, served the past year as legislative assistant for Lamons at the state Capitol. He credited his win to listening to residents, who are concerned about the economy and education. In other races, Democrat James Lockhart, of Heavener, beat Matt Webb, of Poteau, winning 57 percent of the vote in the House District 3 runoff. He faces Republican Roger Mattox, of Poteau, in November. The winner will succeed Rep. John Carey, D-Durant, who didn't seek re-election. Democrat Donnie Condit, of McAlester, beat Carolyn McNatt Hill, of McAlester, winning 53 percent of the vote in the House District 18 race. Condit faces Republican Kyle Burmeier, of McAlester, in November. The winner will succeed Rep. Terry Harrison, D-McAlester, who didn't seek re-election to run for district attorney, which he lost. Democrat Nathan Williams, of Calera, won 61 percent of the vote in his race against Jerry Tomlinson, of Durant. He faces Republican Dustin Roberts, of Durant, in November. The winner will succeed Rep. Neil Brannon, D-Arkoma, who is running for a state Senate seat. http://www.newsok.com/oklahoma-elections-stilwell-lawmaker-john-auffet-loses-bid-for-fourth-term/article/3488611?custom_click=pod_headline_politics Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:52:48 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=16&id=4365#4365 Are 'Sext' Messages a Teenage Felony or Folly? http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/sexting1_150x150-2221bdb19d24e592383ebf8333afa825.jpg By NATHAN KOPPEL And ASHBY JONES State lawmakers around the U.S. are struggling to decide if teenage "sexting"—the practice of sending nude or sexually suggestive photos by cellphone—is a serious crime, or juvenile folly run amok. About 20 states have enacted or proposed measures that deal with teenage sexters. Generally, the legislation is aimed at treating minors in a more lenient fashion than if they were prosecuted under existing child-pornography or child-exploitation laws, which include the possibility of prison time and sex-offender status. Since May, states including Arizona, Connecticut, Louisiana and Illinois have enacted laws that impose relatively modest penalties against minors who sext, while maintaining harsher penalties for adult offenders. While many of the new rules make sexting punishable by small fines and short stints in a juvenile-detention facility, there is still little agreement on what the appropriate penalty is—or whether prosecutors should be involved at all. Some attorneys view sexting by teenagers as a comparatively tame activity that is best handled by parents and teachers. Others disagree, stressing the extreme and lasting humiliation that young victims of sexting are likely to experience. "Many states are struggling with this issue: Do they bring the hammer down ... or take a more individualized approach, such as consulting with the child's family members?" said Chris Newlin, head of the National Children's Advocacy Center, in Huntsville, Ala. Complicating the debate is the range of forms that sexting can take. It may be the exchange of a revealing photo between two romantic partners or a rapid-fire humiliation campaign, with a photo spreading throughout a school. A single photo may start out as the former and end up as the latter. And there is the chance that, regardless of its initial purpose, a photo can find a permanent place on the Internet. Although sexting is high on many parents' worry list, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly how common the practice is. Various surveys have estimated the percentage of teenagers who have engaged in the behavior at anywhere from roughly 4% to 25%. A new Louisiana law takes a graduated approach to penalizing minors who forward lewd images of other minors. Under the law, a first offense brings a maximum sentence of 10 days in jail; a second offense could draw 30 days in jail. Some think the legislation goes too far. "Controlling what one does with information about one's self is a serious violation of the First Amendment," says Marjorie Esman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana. Others say, if anything, the legislation is too soft. Damon Baldone, a Louisiana state representative and primary author of the law, says he would have preferred that the law include harsher penalties but said he had to compromise to secure passage of the bill. Under an Arizona law enacted in May, children from ages eight to 18 who send sexual images of a minor to only one other person are charged with petty offenses, which aren't typically subject to jail time. If offenders send images to several people, or if they are repeat sexters, they could face more-serious punishments, including incarceration. The new law provides a "happy middle ground," says Jonathan Paton, a former state lawmaker who sponsored the legislation. "It gives law enforcement the option to put a squeeze on minors, but it also doesn't put something on their records forever." Christina Phillis, a juvenile-law public defender in Arizona, said she thinks the measure is far too severe. "Any time you have any sort of sex offense next to your name, whether it happened as a juvenile or adult, you now have a scarlet letter," she says. Sexting is an issue that should be handled by parents and schools, not law-enforcement authorities. "If we need to sanction someone, let's look to the parents who gave children the cellphones without properly monitoring" them, Ms. Phillis says. Sexting has gained notoriety after such recent incidents as one in Tunkhannock, Pa. School officials there discovered photographs of nude and partially-clothed teenage girls on several students' cellphones. Male students, the officials learned, had been trading the images over their phones. Former local District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. threatened to bring child pornography charges against students unless they agreed to complete an education program dealing in part with sexual harassment. Last year, parents of three of the girls filed a federal suit against Mr. Skumanick, alleging that the photographs were protected by free-speech rights. The litigation was settled earlier this year; no criminal charges were filed against any of the children involved. "To suggest that children are exercising protected First Amendment rights by disseminating naked images of themselves is irresponsible," says Michael Donohue, counsel to Mr. Skumanick. "These images can make their way into the public sphere and subject kids to danger." Few teenage sexters have been prosecuted for child pornography, but many legislators say they want to give law enforcement flexibility in deciding how to charge suspects. Some states are focusing on education. New Jersey lawmakers have proposed laws that would require schools to provide information on "legal, psychological, and sociological implications" of sexting, and also would require retailers to distribute a brochure on the issue to cellphone purchasers. Teenagers caught sexting could, at the discretion of the prosecutor, attend an educational program and avoid criminal prosecution. "Look, kids do stupid things, impulsive things, all the time. We need to approach this problem logically," says New Jersey Assemblywoman Pam Lampitt, a sponsor of the proposed approach. Mary Leary, a law professor at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., who specializes in issues involving the exploitation of children, says, "The notion that this is simply innocuous behavior among juveniles ignores the fact that this involves the circulation of images for eternity, beyond the control of the kids who are the subject of the images." Related legislation also has been introduced in New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma. A proposed Pennsylvania bill proposes requiring some teenager sexters to take educational programs exploring the connection between bullying and the sharing of sexually suggestive material. Oklahoma has proposed a law that would impose one set of penalties for "consensual" sexting between two people ages 14 to 18, but provide possible stiff jail terms for other types of teenage sexting. States will have to continue to tweak their criminal laws to cope with changing technologies, lawyers and legislators say. "Our kids will continue to face problems that we didn't have to face," said Ms. Phillis, the Arizona juvenile public defender. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449423091552284.html Wed, 25 Aug 2010 07:29:00 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=45&id=4364#4364 Judge Not Comfortable With Child Porn Sentence http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Pattis_Norm2cutoiut-da9240ad7cfd89ff730f8dfd593f7551.jpg By NORM PATTIS Milford Superior Court Judge Eddie Rodriguez Jr. was in the hot seat the other day. The editorial board of the New Haven Register took aim at him for comments he made while sentencing a man who pled guilty to the possession of child pornography to five years in prison. “You’re being sentenced by the legislature,” the judge told him. “Our hands are tied.” The judge apparently had reservations about whether the sentence was just. Why do we permit lawmakers, most of whom would probably wet themselves if they ever darkened the door of an actual courtroom, to belch out mandatory minimum sentences for offenses as though they were passing out government contracts to favored constituents? It’s too easy for them to pander to angry voters, especially when it comes to folks stigmatized as sex offenders. The editorial board of the Register opined that Rodriguez was a discredit to the bar, further fanning flames sure to come back to haunt the jurist when he stands for reappointment years from now. Great, just great. Now we’re going to sentence people according to what editorial writers want? Charles Rish was sentenced to five years because he possessed child pornography. He had some 1,500 images downloaded on his computer, including some of a 6-year-old boy engaged in sex acts with another child. One image was that of a 3-year-old. These are revolting images. But Mr. Rish had apparently persuaded the judge that he had sought treatment and was a low-risk to offend again. The 53-year-old defendant had already been shamed in the community. The judge who knew the case concluded the man was not a predator. But Connecticut has tough new mandatory minimum laws for possession of child pornography. Passed in 2007, An Act Concerning Jessica’s Law was passed in a wave of moral panic stirred by the rape and murder of Jessica Lunsford in Florida. Paradoxically, Jessica’s father had child pornography in his computer at the time his daughter was abducted; no one charged Mr. Lunsford with being a predator. It would have been obscene to over-react in such a manner’ the poor man had been through enough. Why is that, if all possessors are predators in the making? Jessica’s abduction, assault and murder feed the fear of stranger danger, the sense that all of our children are at risk each and every moment of every day. We cannot do enough to feel safe, so we enact new laws, each designed to eliminate more risk. But what, really, has Jessica’s murder to do with child pornography? Empirical evidence suggests that so-called sex offenders have among the lowest recidivism rates of all persons convicted of crimes. There is no evidence to support a “Reefer Madness” sort of theory of sex offenses. What research supports the contention that mere exposure to child pornography leads inevitable to rape and murder? There is none. There is only hysteria. Lawmakers enacting tough new laws with mandatory minimum sentences hobble judges and the administration of justice. We shouldn’t sentence stereotypes. One size does not fit all. Defendants are “human beings, regardless of the crime they’ve committed, they’re all human beings and they should be told something by the court in terms of why they’re being punished. You’re depriving a man or a woman of their liberty. ... Sentencing is a very delicate and extremely difficult task for any judge,” Rodriguez said in an interview. Amen. I repeat what I have suggest here before: Anyone wanting to serve as a lawmaker should be required to spend a week or so behind bars, locked up in a cell. Prison is a harsh sanction, and it should be meted out only after a judge has been given the ability to assess whether it is required. Too often lawmakers dole out mandatory sentences as though they are candy. I say make them eat a pound or two of the garbage they call justice. Let them see how it tastes. Judge Rodriguez is a good man. I only wish he had simply refused to impose the mandatory minimum lawmakers imposed. Let’s litigate this issue anew. Why under the separation of powers doctrine under the state Constitution are we permitting people who never set foot in a courtroom or read a pre-sentencing report to set what sentences a judge must impose? Norm Pattis is a criminal defense lawyer and civil rights attorney in Bethany. Most days he blogs at normpattis.blogspot.com. http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=38037 Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:39:53 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4363#4363 New bill in Congress: Bill addresses "Drug Courts" and defines "Sex Offender" 8-23-2010 Washington DC: http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_bill_congress_families-6df30991106a2e438ee3c534f6818df6.jpg Just before recess Rep Rep Jackson Lee [TX-18] on 8/10/2010 introduced a new bill HR 6090 "Drug Court Re-authorization Act," a bill to reauthorize funding for drug courts. The bill has 14 co-sponsors. The bill makes all sorts of claims about drug offenders and how drug courts, which include therapy, have helped those offenders. The essence of the bill is to continue funding for drug courts. Here is what is unusual, notice the following definitions: `(c) Definition- In this section: `(1) The term `violent offender' means an individual who has committed an offense that, by its nature, involves a substantial use of physical force with the specific intent to cause serious bodily injury or harm to another individual, as determined by the entity applying for or receiving a grant under this part. `(2) The term `sex offender' means an individual who has committed an act of sexual assault as such term is defined in section 40002 of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925). Nowhere in the bill does it reference sex offenders or the section its defined in, so this begs why is it there? In another part of the bill we find the following: `(10) certify that the applicant has established a policy for the consideration and selection of offenders who are not violent offenders to participate in the program, based on the admission criteria pursuant to paragraph (9), that-- `(A) has been approved by the judge or judges with responsibility for the drug court program under paragraph (6) and any other parties responsible for such consideration and selection of offenders, including prosecutors, defense counsel, and social service providers, as appropriate; `(B) includes a process to ensure that the individual circumstances of offenders are considered to take into account mitigating factors related to the offender, as appropriate; and `(C) ensures that the public safety needs of the applicant's jurisdiction are met; While the bill -as currently written- does not exclude sex offenders, I do see a change coming down the road that will do exactly that, but thats just me guessing. There is something else which I find very upsetting, its in the findings: (b) Findings- The Congress finds the following: (1) Studies have concluded that drug courts significantly reduce crime by as much as 35 percent more than other sentencing options. (2) Nationwide, 75 percent of participants who successfully complete a drug court program remain arrest-free for at least 2 years after leaving the program, and some studies demonstrate that many graduates remain arrest-free for many more years. (3) Drug courts are 6 times more likely than other sentencing options to keep offenders in treatment long enough to recover, and in programs with less supervision than drug courts, 70 percent of participants drop out of treatment permanently. (4) Nationwide, for every $1 invested in drug courts, taxpayers save as much as $3.36 (5) In 2007, for every Federal dollar invested in drug courts, $9 was leveraged in State funding. Why do I find that upsetting? First, as to what that claims for reducing drug crimes, thats great and wonderful, BUT, why will Congress consider EVIDENCE based research to get drug funding, and REFUSE to do the same for sex offense funding? Hey folks in Congress, the Department of Justice has this EVIDENCED based study "Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994" which shows that 95% of sex offenders remained arrest free for -at least- 3 years after they were released from prison! And that, non sex offenders released committed 6 (six) new sex crimes to every one committed by the 5% of sex offender who were rearrested. A 6 to 1 ratio, apparently non sex offenders are more dangerous than sex offenders. And, the sex offender courts in New York State had a recidivism rate of 1, not 1%, 1, uno, singular. And, neither Congress or other State legislatures have appropriated a dime for sex offender courts which EVIDENCED based research shows is effective! OK, time for me to get off my soapbox. I'll be watching this bill with a hawk-eye, God willing and the creeks don't rise. http://congress-courts-legislation.blogspot.com/2010/08 ew-bill-in-congress-bill-addresses.html Have a great day and a better tomorrow. eAdvocate Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:39:39 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4362#4362 Sex Offender Shantytowns May Soon Return to Miami http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Homeless__2.png A year ago, as many as 140 people, mostly sex offenders, lived under the bridge over Julia Tuttle Causeway in Miami. The situation was aggravated when already onerous residency restrictions that required sex offenders to keep 1,000 feet away from where children gather was expanded by local ordinance to 2,500 feet. Lawsuits were filled, as the shantytown became a national disgrace. As the suits wore on, the Miami-based Homeless Trust decided to take action. Part of the trust's mission is to clear up homeless encampments. According to the Miami Herald, last October, the trust awarded an $818,800 contract to Tampa-based Lutheran Services of Florida, which identified available housing, offered employment assistance and agreed to pay rent and utilities. The homeless sex offenders did not receive the money, Lutheran Services paid landlords directly. In March, the entrance to the old camp was sealed off and the nonprofit located housing for 92 sex offenders. However, the Herald is reporting that many of the Tuttle Causeway sex offenders are once again homeless, and many of others are on the verge of being out on the streets again. Most are unemployed and unable to continue to pay the rent that was subsidized for six-months by the Homeless Trust. The inevitable result, some say, is that a sex-offender camp could emerge in a new location any day now. "If they can't afford rent, we may be back to square one," Jill Levenson, a professor at Lynn University in Boca Raton who is studying the impact of residency restrictions told the Herald. `"The problem with this solution it was only temporary, a band-aid." My Take The problem in Miami is not that they have more sex offenders than other major cities; or that the Miami sex offenders are more dangerous; or that they are less motivated to work; or that Miami employers are less likely to hire sex offenders. The problem is that Miami-Dade County's residency restrictions are five-times more restrictive than the state's residency restriction. Florida requires that sex offenders stay 1,000 feet from where children gather, Miami-Dade County, which can enact more restrictive legislation than the state, requires a buffer of nearly one-half mile. That virtually eliminates sex offenders from living anywhere in Miami, maybe with the exception of living under a bridge. Can this problem be solved? The Herald reported that Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Walter A. McNeil wrote to the Homeless Trust: "[U]sing the 1,000-foot criteria, most of the sex offenders living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway would be able to find a place to live in accordance with state law." It is that simple. Are children in Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville at greater risk than those in Miami? Have sexual assaults of children decreased in Miami as compared to other cities in Florida? Miami's draconian residency restriction is a solution in search of a problem. The Miami residency restriction actually makes children more vulnerable as sex offenders are forced underground. They are less easily monitored, and supervision is more difficult. Sex offenders caught up in this irrational, knee-jerk response to a serious problem often are left with little stability, no community support, no home and no hope. http://mattmangino.blogspot.com/2010/08/sex-offender-shantytowns-may-soon.html To read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/26/v-fullstory/1747834/for-sex-offenders-wandering-awaits.html#ixzz0xLIkLTAw Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:02:05 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=19&id=4361#4361 Insane Nancy Grace gets owned by Elizabeth Smart Basically Nancy was trying so hard to get Elizabeth to start crying right on the air. Elizabeth told Nancy that she does not appreciate her bringing up stuff that she does not want to talk about. She was told this "twice" so evidently Nancy was ignoring Elizabeth's Wishes and tried to stab her one more time. There was even at one point Elizabeth looking away from the camera with a slight eye roll. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x8ARIxg51I Sun, 22 Aug 2010 10:09:47 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4360#4360 Rep. Louie Gohmert Goes Berserk On Anderson Cooper!!! Louie Gohmert and judicial temperament I try to steer this blog away from straight-up culture war debates and onto more constructive terrain, so I resisted commenting when state Rep. Debbie Riddle went on national TV to say that "terror babies" were being birthed in the United States by extremist Muslims in preparation for future attacks. Though we disagree on many things, I like Riddle personally and thought perhaps she'd merely been confused by a trailer for the Angelina Jolie movie Salt. (Those were Russians, Debbie!) But then Congressman Louie Gohmert from my hometown followed up by repeating the accusation on the House floor, afterward going on Anderson Cooper and yelling at him for 10 minutes in a truly bizarre rant of the type you might expect right before somebody goes out to shoot up a post office or fly a plane into an IRS building. His originating source for the accusation is an unnamed woman (perhaps Riddle?) he spoke to on an airplane! No, really! Radley Balko provided this clip of the remarkable exchange (no need to watch all of it, since it becomes repetitive after Gohmert begins yelling and refusing to answer any direct questions): I hardly know how to react to such a display from a former judge. It's one thing to be conservative but do you have to be an asshole? I've had far more polite disagreements with white supremacists and John Birch Society members. What can you say? My homies voted for him. I wonder what it was like to practice law in the man's courtroom? http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQVfQCpYocQ Sun, 22 Aug 2010 09:56:28 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=12&id=4359#4359 YouTube - WHY INNOCENT PEOPLE CONFESS - HuckabeeOnFox Jeffrey Deskovic was just sixteen years old when he was accused and convicted of raping and murdering a high school friend. Deskovic, who spent 16 years in jail, explains how he was brought to confess to a crime he didn't commit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSYFdBHdNvc Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:53:12 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4358#4358 What Is It About 20-Somethings? Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up? http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_question_1-eb58bf5dc6b3cc05a4371081fdfeb011.jpg This question pops up everywhere, underlying concerns about “failure to launch” and “boomerang kids.” Two new sitcoms feature grown children moving back in with their parents — “$#*! My Dad Says,” starring William Shatner as a divorced curmudgeon whose 20-something son can’t make it on his own as a blogger, and “Big Lake,” in which a financial whiz kid loses his Wall Street job and moves back home to rural Pennsylvania. A cover of The New Yorker last spring picked up on the zeitgeist: a young man hangs up his new Ph.D. in his boyhood bedroom, the cardboard box at his feet signaling his plans to move back home now that he’s officially overqualified for a job. In the doorway stand his parents, their expressions a mix of resignation, worry, annoyance and perplexity: how exactly did this happen? It’s happening all over, in all sorts of families, not just young people moving back home but also young people taking longer to reach adulthood overall. It’s a development that predates the current economic doldrums, and no one knows yet what the impact will be — on the prospects of the young men and women; on the parents on whom so many of them depend; on society, built on the expectation of an orderly progression in which kids finish school, grow up, start careers, make a family and eventually retire to live on pensions supported by the next crop of kids who finish school, grow up, start careers, make a family and on and on. The traditional cycle seems to have gone off course, as young people remain un­tethered to romantic partners or to permanent homes, going back to school for lack of better options, traveling, avoiding commitments, competing ferociously for unpaid internships or temporary (and often grueling) Teach for America jobs, forestalling the beginning of adult life. The 20s are a black box, and there is a lot of churning in there. One-third of people in their 20s move to a new residence every year. Forty percent move back home with their parents at least once. They go through an average of seven jobs in their 20s, more job changes than in any other stretch. Two-thirds spend at least some time living with a romantic partner without being married. And marriage occurs later than ever. The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation. We’re in the thick of what one sociologist calls “the changing timetable for adulthood.” Sociologists traditionally define the “transition to adulthood” as marked by five milestones: completing school, leaving home, becoming financially independent, marrying and having a child. In 1960, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men had, by the time they reached 30, passed all five milestones. Among 30-year-olds in 2000, according to data from the United States Census Bureau, fewer than half of the women and one-third of the men had done so. A Canadian study reported that a typical 30-year-old in 2001 had completed the same number of milestones as a 25-year-old in the early ’70s. The whole idea of milestones, of course, is something of an anachronism; it implies a lockstep march toward adulthood that is rare these days. Kids don’t shuffle along in unison on the road to maturity. They slouch toward adulthood at an uneven, highly individual pace. Some never achieve all five milestones, including those who are single or childless by choice, or unable to marry even if they wanted to because they’re gay. Others reach the milestones completely out of order, advancing professionally before committing to a monogamous relationship, having children young and marrying later, leaving school to go to work and returning to school long after becoming financially secure. Even if some traditional milestones are never reached, one thing is clear: Getting to what we would generally call adulthood is happening later than ever. But why? That’s the subject of lively debate among policy makers and academics. To some, what we’re seeing is a transient epiphenomenon, the byproduct of cultural and economic forces. To others, the longer road to adulthood signifies something deep, durable and maybe better-suited to our neurological hard-wiring. What we’re seeing, they insist, is the dawning of a new life stage — a stage that all of us need to adjust to. JEFFREY JENSEN ARNETT, a psychology professor at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., is leading the movement to view the 20s as a distinct life stage, which he calls “emerging adulthood.” He says what is happening now is analogous to what happened a century ago, when social and economic changes helped create adolescence — a stage we take for granted but one that had to be recognized by psychologists, accepted by society and accommodated by institutions that served the young. Similar changes at the turn of the 21st century have laid the groundwork for another new stage, Arnett says, between the age of 18 and the late 20s. Among the cultural changes he points to that have led to “emerging adulthood” are the need for more education to survive in an information-based economy; fewer entry-level jobs even after all that schooling; young people feeling less rush to marry because of the general acceptance of premarital sex, cohabitation and birth control; and young women feeling less rush to have babies given their wide range of career options and their access to assisted reproductive technology if they delay pregnancy beyond their most fertile years. Just as adolescence has its particular psychological profile, Arnett says, so does emerging adulthood: identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between and a rather poetic characteristic he calls “a sense of possibilities.” A few of these, especially identity exploration, are part of adolescence too, but they take on new depth and urgency in the 20s. The stakes are higher when people are approaching the age when options tend to close off and lifelong commitments must be made. Arnett calls it “the age 30 deadline.” The issue of whether emerging adulthood is a new stage is being debated most forcefully among scholars, in particular psychologists and sociologists. But its resolution has broader implications. Just look at what happened for teenagers. It took some effort, a century ago, for psychologists to make the case that adolescence was a new developmental stage. Once that happened, social institutions were forced to adapt: education, health care, social services and the law all changed to address the particular needs of 12- to 18-year-olds. An understanding of the developmental profile of adolescence led, for instance, to the creation of junior high schools in the early 1900s, separating seventh and eighth graders from the younger children in what used to be called primary school. And it led to the recognition that teenagers between 14 and 18, even though they were legally minors, were mature enough to make their own choice of legal guardian in the event of their parents’ deaths. If emerging adulthood is an analogous stage, analogous changes are in the wings. But what would it look like to extend some of the special status of adolescents to young people in their 20s? Our uncertainty about this question is reflected in our scattershot approach to markers of adulthood. People can vote at 18, but in some states they don’t age out of foster care until 21. They can join the military at 18, but they can’t drink until 21. They can drive at 16, but they can’t rent a car until 25 without some hefty surcharges. If they are full-time students, the Internal Revenue Service considers them dependents until 24; those without health insurance will soon be able to stay on their parents’ plans even if they’re not in school until age 26, or up to 30 in some states. Parents have no access to their child’s college records if the child is over 18, but parents’ income is taken into account when the child applies for financial aid up to age 24. We seem unable to agree when someone is old enough to take on adult responsibilities. But we’re pretty sure it’s not simply a matter of age. If society decides to protect these young people or treat them differently from fully grown adults, how can we do this without becoming all the things that grown children resist — controlling, moralizing, paternalistic? Young people spend their lives lumped into age-related clusters — that’s the basis of K-12 schooling — but as they move through their 20s, they diverge. Some 25-year-olds are married homeowners with good jobs and a couple of kids; others are still living with their parents and working at transient jobs, or not working at all. Does that mean we extend some of the protections and special status of adolescence to all people in their 20s? To some of them? Which ones? Decisions like this matter, because failing to protect and support vulnerable young people can lead them down the wrong path at a critical moment, the one that can determine all subsequent paths. But overprotecting and oversupporting them can sometimes make matters worse, turning the “changing timetable of adulthood” into a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more profound question behind the scholarly intrigue is the one that really captivates parents: whether the prolongation of this unsettled time of life is a good thing or a bad thing. With life spans stretching into the ninth decade, is it better for young people to experiment in their 20s before making choices they’ll have to live with for more than half a century? Or is adulthood now so malleable, with marriage and employment options constantly being reassessed, that young people would be better off just getting started on something, or else they’ll never catch up, consigned to remain always a few steps behind the early bloomers? Is emerging adulthood a rich and varied period for self-discovery, as Arnett says it is? Or is it just another term for self-indulgence? THE DISCOVERY OF adolescence is generally dated to 1904, with the publication of the massive study “Adolescence,” by G. Stanley Hall, a prominent psychologist and first president of the American Psychological Association. Hall attributed the new stage to social changes at the turn of the 20th century. Child-labor laws kept children under 16 out of the work force, and universal education laws kept them in secondary school, thus prolonging the period of dependence — a dependence that allowed them to address psychological tasks they might have ignored when they took on adult roles straight out of childhood. Hall, the first president of Clark University — the same place, interestingly enough, where Arnett now teaches — described adolescence as a time of “storm and stress,” filled with emotional upheaval, sorrow and rebelliousness. He cited the “curve of despondency” that “starts at 11, rises steadily and rapidly till 15 . . . then falls steadily till 23,” and described other characteristics of adolescence, including an increase in sensation seeking, greater susceptibility to media influences (which in 1904 mostly meant “flash literature” and “penny dreadfuls”) and overreliance on peer relationships. Hall’s book was flawed, but it marked the beginning of the scientific study of adolescence and helped lead to its eventual acceptance as a distinct stage with its own challenges, behaviors and biological profile. In the 1990s, Arnett began to suspect that something similar was taking place with young people in their late teens and early 20s. He was teaching human development and family studies at the University of Missouri, studying college-age students, both at the university and in the community around Columbia, Mo. He asked them questions about their lives and their expectations like, “Do you feel you have reached adulthood?” “I was in my early- to mid-30s myself, and I remember thinking, They’re not a thing like me,” Arnett told me when we met last spring in Worcester. “I realized that there was something special going on.” The young people he spoke to weren’t experiencing the upending physical changes that accompany adolescence, but as an age cohort they did seem to have a psychological makeup different from that of people just a little bit younger or a little bit older. This was not how most psychologists were thinking about development at the time, when the eight-stage model of the psychologist Erik Erikson was in vogue. Erikson, one of the first to focus on psychological development past childhood, divided adulthood into three stages — young (roughly ages 20 to 45), middle (about ages 45 to 65) and late (all the rest) — and defined them by the challenges that individuals in a particular stage encounter and must resolve before moving on to the next stage. In young adulthood, according to his model, the primary psychological challenge is “intimacy versus isolation,” by which Erikson meant deciding whether to commit to a lifelong intimate relationship and choosing the person to commit to. But Arnett said “young adulthood” was too broad a term to apply to a 25-year span that included both him and his college students. The 20s are something different from the 30s and 40s, he remembered thinking. And while he agreed that the struggle for intimacy was one task of this period, he said there were other critical tasks as well. Arnett and I were discussing the evolution of his thinking over lunch at BABA Sushi, a quiet restaurant near his office where he goes so often he knows the sushi chefs by name. He is 53, very tall and wiry, with clipped steel-gray hair and ice-blue eyes, an intense, serious man. He describes himself as a late bloomer, a onetime emerging adult before anyone had given it a name. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1980, he spent two years playing guitar in bars and restaurants and experimented with girlfriends, drugs and general recklessness before going for his doctorate in developmental psychology at the University of Virginia. By 1986 he had his first academic job at Oglethorpe University, a small college in Atlanta. There he met his wife, Lene Jensen, the school’s smartest psych major, who stunned Arnett when she came to his office one day in 1989, shortly after she graduated, and asked him out on a date. Jensen earned a doctorate in psychology, too, and she also teaches at Clark. She and Arnett have 10-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. Arnett spent time at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago before moving to the University of Missouri in 1992, beginning his study of young men and women in the college town of Columbia, gradually broadening his sample to include New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He deliberately included working-class young people as well as those who were well off, those who had never gone to college as well as those who were still in school, those who were supporting themselves as well as those whose bills were being paid by their parents. A little more than half of his sample was white, 18 percent African-American, 16 percent Asian-American and 14 percent Latino. More than 300 interviews and 250 survey responses persuaded Arnett that he was onto something new. This was the era of the Gen X slacker, but Arnett felt that his findings applied beyond one generation. He wrote them up in 2000 in American Psychologist, the first time he laid out his theory of “emerging adulthood.” According to Google Scholar, which keeps track of such things, the article has been cited in professional books and journals roughly 1,700 times. This makes it, in the world of academia, practically viral. At the very least, the citations indicate that Arnett had come up with a useful term for describing a particular cohort; at best, that he offered a whole new way of thinking about them. DURING THE PERIOD he calls emerging adulthood, Arnett says that young men and women are more self-focused than at any other time of life, less certain about the future and yet also more optimistic, no matter what their economic background. This is where the “sense of possibilities” comes in, he says; they have not yet tempered their ideal­istic visions of what awaits. “The dreary, dead-end jobs, the bitter divorces, the disappointing and disrespectful children . . . none of them imagine that this is what the future holds for them,” he wrote. Ask them if they agree with the statement “I am very sure that someday I will get to where I want to be in life,” and 96 percent of them will say yes. But despite elements that are exciting, even exhilarating, about being this age, there is a downside, too: dread, frustration, uncertainty, a sense of not quite understanding the rules of the game. More than positive or negative feelings, what Arnett heard most often was ambivalence — beginning with his finding that 60 percent of his subjects told him they felt like both grown-ups and not-quite-grown-ups. Some scientists would argue that this ambivalence reflects what is going on in the brain, which is also both grown-up and not-quite-grown-up. Neuroscientists once thought the brain stops growing shortly after puberty, but now they know it keeps maturing well into the 20s. This new understanding comes largely from a longitudinal study of brain development sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, which started following nearly 5,000 children at ages 3 to 16 (the average age at enrollment was about 10). The scientists found the children’s brains were not fully mature until at least 25. “In retrospect I wouldn’t call it shocking, but it was at the time,” Jay Giedd, the director of the study, told me. “The only people who got this right were the car-rental companies.” When the N.I.M.H. study began in 1991, Giedd said he and his colleagues expected to stop when the subjects turned 16. “We figured that by 16 their bodies were pretty big physically,” he said. But every time the children returned, their brains were found still to be changing. The scientists extended the end date of the study to age 18, then 20, then 22. The subjects’ brains were still changing even then. Tellingly, the most significant changes took place in the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum, the regions involved in emotional control and higher-order cognitive function. As the brain matures, one thing that happens is the pruning of the synapses. Synaptic pruning does not occur willy-nilly; it depends largely on how any one brain pathway is used. By cutting off unused pathways, the brain eventually settles into a structure that’s most efficient for the owner of that brain, creating well-worn grooves for the pathways that person uses most. Synaptic pruning intensifies after rapid brain-cell proliferation during childhood and again in the period that encompasses adolescence and the 20s. It is the mechanism of “use it or lose it”: the brains we have are shaped largely in response to the demands made of them. We have come to accept the idea that environmental influences in the first three years of life have long-term consequences for cognition, emotional control, attention and the like. Is it time to place a similar emphasis, with hopes for a similar outcome, on enriching the cognitive environment of people in their 20s? N.I.M.H. scientists also found a time lag between the growth of the limbic system, where emotions originate, and of the prefrontal cortex, which manages those emotions. The limbic system explodes during puberty, but the prefrontal cortex keeps maturing for another 10 years. Giedd said it is logical to suppose — and for now, neuroscientists have to make a lot of logical suppositions — that when the limbic system is fully active but the cortex is still being built, emotions might outweigh ration­ality. “The prefrontal part is the part that allows you to control your impulses, come up with a long-range strategy, answer the question ‘What am I going to do with my life?’ ” he told me. “That weighing of the future keeps changing into the 20s and 30s.” Among study subjects who enrolled as children, M.R.I. scans have been done so far only to age 25, so scientists have to make another logical supposition about what happens to the brain in the late 20s, the 30s and beyond. Is it possible that the brain just keeps changing and pruning, for years and years? “Guessing from the shape of the growth curves we have,” Giedd’s colleague Philip Shaw wrote in an e-mail message, “it does seem that much of the gray matter,” where synaptic pruning takes place, “seems to have completed its most dramatic structural change” by age 25. For white matter, where insulation that helps impulses travel faster continues to form, “it does look as if the curves are still going up, suggesting continued growth” after age 25, he wrote, though at a slower rate than before. None of this is new, of course; the brains of young people have always been works in progress, even when we didn’t have sophisticated scanning machinery to chart it precisely. Why, then, is the youthful brain only now arising as an explanation for why people in their 20s are seeming a bit unfinished? Maybe there’s an analogy to be found in the hierarchy of needs, a theory put forth in the 1940s by the psychologist Abraham Maslow. According to Maslow, people can pursue more elevated goals only after their basic needs of food, shelter and sex have been met. What if the brain has its own hierarchy of needs? When people are forced to adopt adult responsibilities early, maybe they just do what they have to do, whether or not their brains are ready. Maybe it’s only now, when young people are allowed to forestall adult obligations without fear of public censure, that the rate of societal maturation can finally fall into better sync with the maturation of the brain. Cultural expectations might also reinforce the delay. The “changing timetable for adulthood” has, in many ways, become internalized by 20-somethings and their parents alike. Today young people don’t expect to marry until their late 20s, don’t expect to start a family until their 30s, don’t expect to be on track for a rewarding career until much later than their parents were. So they make decisions about their futures that reflect this wider time horizon. Many of them would not be ready to take on the trappings of adulthood any earlier even if the opportunity arose; they haven’t braced themselves for it. Nor do parents expect their children to grow up right away — and they might not even want them to. Parents might regret having themselves jumped into marriage or a career and hope for more considered choices for their children. Or they might want to hold on to a reassuring connection with their children as the kids leave home. If they were “helicopter parents” — a term that describes heavily invested parents who hover over their children, swooping down to take charge and solve problems at a moment’s notice — they might keep hovering and problem-solving long past the time when their children should be solving problems on their own. This might, in a strange way, be part of what keeps their grown children in the limbo between adolescence and adulthood. It can be hard sometimes to tease out to what extent a child doesn’t quite want to grow up and to what extent a parent doesn’t quite want to let go. IT IS A BIG DEAL IN developmental psychology to declare the existence of a new stage of life, and Arnett has devoted the past 10 years to making his case. Shortly after his American Psychologist article appeared in 2000, he and Jennifer Lynn Tanner, a developmental psychologist at Rutgers University, convened the first conference of what they later called the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood. It was held in 2003 at Harvard with an attendance of 75; there have been three more since then, and last year’s conference, in Atlanta, had more than 270 attendees. In 2004 Arnett published a book, “Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road From the Late Teens Through the Twenties,” which is still in print and selling well. In 2006 he and Tanner published an edited volume, “Emerging Adults in America: Coming of Age in the 21st Century,” aimed at professionals and academics. Arnett’s college textbook, “Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood: A Cultural Approach,” has been in print since 2000 and is now in its fourth edition. Next year he says he hopes to publish another book, this one for the parents of 20-somethings. If all Arnett’s talk about emerging adulthood sounds vaguely familiar . . . well, it should. Forty years ago, an article appeared in The American Scholar that declared “a new stage of life” for the period between adolescence and young adulthood. This was 1970, when the oldest members of the baby boom generation — the parents of today’s 20-somethings — were 24. Young people of the day “can’t seem to ‘settle down,’ ” wrote the Yale psychologist Kenneth Keniston. He called the new stage of life “youth.” Keniston’s description of “youth” presages Arnett’s description of “emerging adulthood” a generation later. In the late ’60s, Keniston wrote that there was “a growing minority of post-adolescents [who] have not settled the questions whose answers once defined adulthood: questions of relationship to the existing society, questions of vocation, questions of social role and lifestyle.” Whereas once, such aimlessness was seen only in the “unusually creative or unusually disturbed,” he wrote, it was becoming more common and more ordinary in the baby boomers of 1970. Among the salient characteristics of “youth,” Keniston wrote, were “pervasive ambivalence toward self and society,” “the feeling of absolute freedom, of living in a world of pure possibilities” and “the enormous value placed upon change, transformation and movement” — all characteristics that Arnett now ascribes to “emerging adults.” Arnett readily acknowledges his debt to Keniston; he mentions him in almost everything he has written about emerging adulthood. But he considers the ’60s a unique moment, when young people were rebellious and alienated in a way they’ve never been before or since. And Keniston’s views never quite took off, Arnett says, because “youth” wasn’t a very good name for it. He has called the label “ambiguous and confusing,” not nearly as catchy as his own “emerging adulthood.” For whatever reason Keniston’s terminology faded away, it’s revealing to read his old article and hear echoes of what’s going on with kids today. He was describing the parents of today’s young people when they themselves were young — and amazingly, they weren’t all that different from their own children now. Keniston’s article seems a lovely demonstration of the eternal cycle of life, the perennial conflict between the generations, the gradual resolution of those conflicts. It’s reassuring, actually, to think of it as recursive, to imagine that there must always be a cohort of 20-somethings who take their time settling down, just as there must always be a cohort of 50-somethings who worry about it. KENISTON CALLED IT youth, Arnett calls it emerging adulthood; whatever it’s called, the delayed transition has been observed for years. But it can be in fullest flower only when the young person has some other, nontraditional means of support — which would seem to make the delay something of a luxury item. That’s the impression you get reading Arnett’s case histories in his books and articles, or the essays in “20 Something Manifesto,” an anthology edited by a Los Angeles writer named Christine Hassler. “It’s somewhat terrifying,” writes a 25-year-old named Jennifer, “to think about all the things I’m supposed to be doing in order to ‘get somewhere’ successful: ‘Follow your passions, live your dreams, take risks, network with the right people, find mentors, be financially responsible, volunteer, work, think about or go to grad school, fall in love and maintain personal well-being, mental health and nutrition.’ When is there time to just be and enjoy?” Adds a 24-year-old from Virginia: “There is pressure to make decisions that will form the foundation for the rest of your life in your 20s. It’s almost as if having a range of limited options would be easier.” While the complaints of these young people are heartfelt, they are also the complaints of the privileged. Julie, a 23-year-old New Yorker and contributor to “20 Something Manifesto,” is apparently aware of this. She was coddled her whole life, treated to French horn lessons and summer camp, told she could do anything. “It is a double-edged sword,” she writes, “because on the one hand I am so blessed with my experiences and endless options, but on the other hand, I still feel like a child. I feel like my job isn’t real because I am not where my parents were at my age. Walking home, in the shoes my father bought me, I still feel I have yet to grow up.” Despite these impressions, Arnett insists that emerging adulthood is not limited to young persons of privilege and that it is not simply a period of self-indulgence. He takes pains in “Emerging Adulthood” to describe some case histories of young men and women from hard-luck backgrounds who use the self-focus and identity exploration of their 20s to transform their lives. One of these is the case history of Nicole, a 25-year-old African-American who grew up in a housing project in Oakland, Calif. At age 6, Nicole, the eldest, was forced to take control of the household after her mother’s mental collapse. By 8, she was sweeping stores and baby-sitting for money to help keep her three siblings fed and housed. “I made a couple bucks and helped my mother out, helped my family out,” she told Arnett. She managed to graduate from high school, but with low grades, and got a job as a receptionist at a dermatology clinic. She moved into her own apartment, took night classes at community college and started to excel. “I needed to experience living out of my mother’s home in order to study,” she said. In his book, Arnett presents Nicole as a symbol of all the young people from impoverished backgrounds for whom “emerging adulthood represents an opportunity — maybe a last opportunity — to turn one’s life around.” This is the stage where someone like Nicole can escape an abusive or dysfunctional family and finally pursue her own dreams. Nicole’s dreams are powerful — one course away from an associate degree, she plans to go on for a bachelor’s and then a Ph.D. in psychology — but she has not really left her family behind; few people do. She is still supporting her mother and siblings, which is why she works full time even though her progress through school would be quicker if she found a part-time job. Is it only a grim pessimist like me who sees how many roadblocks there will be on the way to achieving those dreams and who wonders what kind of freewheeling emerging adulthood she is supposed to be having? Of course, Nicole’s case is not representative of society as a whole. And many parents — including those who can’t really afford it — continue to help their kids financially long past the time they expected to. Two years ago Karen Fingerman, a developmental psychologist at Purdue University, asked parents of grown children whether they provided significant assistance to their sons or daughters. Assistance included giving their children money or help with everyday tasks (practical assistance) as well as advice, companionship and an attentive ear. Eighty-six percent said they had provided advice in the previous month; less than half had done so in 1988. Two out of three parents had given a son or daughter practical assistance in the previous month; in 1988, only one in three had. Fingerman took solace in her findings; she said it showed that parents stay connected to their grown children, and she suspects that both parties get something out of it. The survey questions, after all, referred not only to dispensing money but also to offering advice, comfort and friendship. And another of Fingerman’s studies suggests that parents’ sense of well-being depends largely on how close they are to their grown children and how their children are faring — objective support for the adage that you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child. But the expectation that young men and women won’t quite be able to make ends meet on their own, and that parents should be the ones to help bridge the gap, places a terrible burden on parents who might be worrying about their own job security, trying to care for their aging parents or grieving as their retirement plans become more and more of a pipe dream. This dependence on Mom and Dad also means that during the 20s the rift between rich and poor becomes entrenched. According to data gathered by the Network on Transitions to Adulthood, a research consortium supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, American parents give an average of 10 percent of their income to their 18- to 21-year-old children. This percentage is basically the same no matter the family’s total income, meaning that upper-class kids tend to get more than working-class ones. And wealthier kids have other, less obvious, advantages. When they go to four-year colleges or universities, they get supervised dormitory housing, health care and alumni networks not available at community colleges. And they often get a leg up on their careers by using parents’ contacts to help land an entry-level job — or by using parents as a financial backup when they want to take an interesting internship that doesn’t pay. “You get on a pathway, and pathways have momentum,” Jennifer Lynn Tanner of Rutgers told me. “In emerging adulthood, if you spend this time exploring and you get yourself on a pathway that really fits you, then there’s going to be this snowball effect of finding the right fit, the right partner, the right job, the right place to live. The less you have at first, the less you’re going to get this positive effect compounded over time. You’re not going to have the same acceleration.” EVEN ARNETT ADMITS that not every young person goes through a period of “emerging adulthood.” It’s rare in the developing world, he says, where people have to grow up fast, and it’s often skipped in the industrialized world by the people who marry early, by teenage mothers forced to grow up, by young men or women who go straight from high school to whatever job is available without a chance to dabble until they find the perfect fit. Indeed, the majority of humankind would seem to not go through it at all. The fact that emerging adulthood is not universal is one of the strongest arguments against Arnett’s claim that it is a new developmental stage. If emerging adulthood is so important, why is it even possible to skip it? “The core idea of classical stage theory is that all people — underscore ‘all’ — pass through a series of qualitatively different periods in an invariant and universal sequence in stages that can’t be skipped or reordered,” Richard Lerner, Bergstrom chairman in applied developmental science at Tufts University, told me. Lerner is a close personal friend of Arnett’s; he and his wife, Jacqueline, who is also a psychologist, live 20 miles from Worcester, and they have dinner with Arnett and his wife on a regular basis. “I think the world of Jeff Arnett,” Lerner said. “I think he is a smart, passionate person who is doing great work — not only a smart and productive scholar, but one of the nicest people I ever met in my life.” No matter how much he likes and admires Arnett, however, Lerner says his friend has ignored some of the basic tenets of developmental psychology. According to classical stage theory, he told me, “you must develop what you’re supposed to develop when you’re supposed to develop it or you’ll never adequately develop it.” When I asked Arnett what happens to people who don’t have an emerging adulthood, he said it wasn’t necessarily a big deal. They might face its developmental tasks — identity exploration, self-focus, experimentation in love, work and worldview — at a later time, maybe as a midlife crisis, or they might never face them at all, he said. It depends partly on why they missed emerging adulthood in the first place, whether it was by circumstance or by choice. No, said Lerner, that’s not the way it works. To qualify as a developmental stage, emerging adulthood must be both universal and essential. “If you don’t develop a skill at the right stage, you’ll be working the rest of your life to develop it when you should be moving on,” he said. “The rest of your development will be unfavorably altered.” The fact that Arnett can be so casual about the heterogeneity of emerging adulthood and its existence in some cultures but not in others — indeed, even in some people but not in their neighbors or friends — is what undermines, for many scholars, his insistence that it’s a new life stage. Why does it matter? Because if the delay in achieving adulthood is just a temporary aberration caused by passing social mores and economic gloom, it’s something to struggle through for now, maybe feeling a little sorry for the young people who had the misfortune to come of age in a recession. But if it’s a true life stage, we need to start rethinking our definition of normal development and to create systems of education, health care and social supports that take the new stage into account. The Network on Transitions to Adulthood has been issuing reports about young people since it was formed in 1999 and often ends up recommending more support for 20-somethings. But more of what, exactly? There aren’t institutions set up to serve people in this specific age range; social services from a developmental perspective tend to disappear after adolescence. But it’s possible to envision some that might address the restlessness and mobility that Arnett says are typical at this stage and that might make the experimentation of “emerging adulthood” available to more young people. How about expanding programs like City Year, in which 17- to 24-year-olds from diverse backgrounds spend a year mentoring inner-city children in exchange for a stipend, health insurance, child care, cellphone service and a $5,350 education award? Or a federal program in which a government-sponsored savings account is created for every newborn, to be cashed in at age 21 to support a year’s worth of travel, education or volunteer work — a version of the “baby bonds” program that Hillary Clinton mentioned during her 2008 primary campaign? Maybe we can encourage a kind of socially sanctioned “­rumspringa,” the temporary moratorium from social responsibilities some Amish offer their young people to allow them to experiment before settling down. It requires only a bit of ingenuity — as well as some societal forbearance and financial commitment — to think of ways to expand some of the programs that now work so well for the elite, like the Fulbright fellowship or the Peace Corps, to make the chance for temporary service and self-examination available to a wider range of young people. A century ago, it was helpful to start thinking of adolescents as engaged in the work of growing up rather than as merely lazy or rebellious. Only then could society recognize that the educational, medical, mental-health and social-service needs of this group were unique and that investing in them would have a payoff in the future. Twenty-somethings are engaged in work, too, even if it looks as if they are aimless or failing to pull their weight, Arnett says. But it’s a reflection of our collective attitude toward this period that we devote so few resources to keeping them solvent and granting them some measure of security. THE KIND OF SERVICES that might be created if emerging adulthood is accepted as a life stage can be seen during a visit to Yellowbrick, a residential program in Evanston, Ill., that calls itself the only psychiatric treatment facility for emerging adults. “Emerging adults really do have unique developmental tasks to focus on,” said Jesse Viner, Yellowbrick’s executive medical director. Viner started Yellowbrick in 2005, when he was working in a group psychiatric practice in Chicago and saw the need for a different way to treat this cohort. He is a soft-spoken man who looks like an accountant and sounds like a New Age prophet, peppering his conversation with phrases like “helping to empower their agency.” “Agency” is a tricky concept when parents are paying the full cost of Yellowbrick’s comprehensive residential program, which comes to $21,000 a month and is not always covered by insurance. Staff members are aware of the paradox of encouraging a child to separate from Mommy and Daddy when it’s on their dime. They address it with a concept they call connected autonomy, which they define as knowing when to stand alone and when to accept help. Patients come to Yellowbrick with a variety of problems: substance abuse, eating disorders, depression, anxiety or one of the more severe mental illnesses, like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, that tend to appear in the late teens or early 20s. The demands of imminent independence can worsen mental-health problems or can create new ones for people who have managed up to that point to perform all the expected roles — son or daughter, boyfriend or girlfriend, student, teammate, friend — but get lost when schooling ends and expected roles disappear. That’s what happened to one patient who had done well at a top Ivy League college until the last class of the last semester of his last year, when he finished his final paper and could not bring himself to turn it in. The Yellowbrick philosophy is that young people must meet these challenges without coddling or rescue. Up to 16 patients at a time are housed in the Yellowbrick residence, a four-story apartment building Viner owns. They live in the apartments — which are large, sunny and lavishly furnished — in groups of three or four, with staff members always on hand to teach the basics of shopping, cooking, cleaning, scheduling, making commitments and showing up. Viner let me sit in on daily clinical rounds, scheduled that day for C., a young woman who had been at Yellowbrick for three months. Rounds are like the world’s most grueling job interview: the patient sits in front alongside her clinician “advocate,” and a dozen or so staff members are arrayed on couches and armchairs around the room, firing questions. C. seemed nervous but pleased with herself, frequently flashing a huge white smile. She is 22, tall and skinny, and she wore tiny denim shorts and a big T-shirt and vest. She started to fall apart during her junior year at college, plagued by binge drinking and anorexia, and in her first weeks at Yellowbrick her alcohol abuse continued. Most psychiatric facilities would have kicked her out after the first relapse, said Dale Monroe-Cook, Yellowbrick’s vice president of clinical operations. “We’re doing the opposite: we want the behavior to unfold, and we want to be there in that critical moment, to work with that behavior and help the emerging adult transition to greater independence.” The Yellowbrick staff let C. face her demons and decide how to deal with them. After five relapses, C. asked the staff to take away her ID so she couldn’t buy alcohol. Eventually she decided to start going to meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous. At her rounds in June, C. was able to report that she had been alcohol-free for 30 days. Jesse Viner’s wife, Laura Viner, who is a psychologist on staff, started to clap for her, but no one else joined in. “We’re on eggshells here,” Gary Zurawski, a clinical social worker specializing in substance abuse, confessed to C. “We don’t know if we should congratulate you too much.” The staff was sensitive about taking away the young woman’s motivation to improve her life for her own sake, not for the sake of getting praise from someone else. C. took the discussion about the applause in stride and told the staff she had more good news: in two days she was going to graduate. On time. THE 20S ARE LIKE the stem cell of human development, the pluripotent moment when any of several outcomes is possible. Decisions and actions during this time have lasting ramifications. The 20s are when most people accumulate almost all of their formal education; when most people meet their future spouses and the friends they will keep; when most people start on the careers that they will stay with for many years. This is when adventures, experiments, travels, relationships are embarked on with an abandon that probably will not happen again. Does that mean it’s a good thing to let 20-somethings meander — or even to encourage them to meander — before they settle down? That’s the question that plagues so many of their parents. It’s easy to see the advantages to the delay. There is time enough for adulthood and its attendant obligations; maybe if kids take longer to choose their mates and their careers, they’ll make fewer mistakes and live happier lives. But it’s just as easy to see the drawbacks. As the settling-down sputters along for the “emerging adults,” things can get precarious for the rest of us. Parents are helping pay bills they never counted on paying, and social institutions are missing out on young people contributing to productivity and growth. Of course, the recession complicates things, and even if every 20-something were ready to skip the “emerging” moratorium and act like a grown-up, there wouldn’t necessarily be jobs for them all. So we’re caught in a weird moment, unsure whether to allow young people to keep exploring and questioning or to cut them off and tell them just to find something, anything, to put food on the table and get on with their lives. Arnett would like to see us choose a middle course. “To be a young American today is to experience both excitement and uncertainty, wide-open possibility and confusion, new freedoms and new fears,” he writes in “Emerging Adulthood.” During the timeout they are granted from nonstop, often tedious and dispiriting responsibilities, “emerging adults develop skills for daily living, gain a better understanding of who they are and what they want from life and begin to build a foundation for their adult lives.” If it really works that way, if this longer road to adulthood really leads to more insight and better choices, then Arnett’s vision of an insightful, sensitive, thoughtful, content, well-honed, self-actualizing crop of grown-ups would indeed be something worth waiting for. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?pagewanted=10&_r=3 Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:59:53 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=35&id=4357#4357 Tonya Craft Sues Accusers In $25 Million Federal Lawsuit Defendants Include Parents Of Accusers, Investigators posted May 24, 2010 http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_lawsuit.jpg Tonya Craft, who was absolved of all charges of child molestation in a highly-publicized trial at Ringgold, has filed a lawsuit against her accusers in Federal Court in Rome, Ga. The 52-page complaint asks $25 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The defendants include parents of the children who brought charges against her, the lead detective in the case, the Catoosa County sheriff and officials who investigated the complaints. Defendants are Sandra Lamb, Sherri and Dewayne Wilson, her former husband Joal Henke and his current wife Sarah, Kelli McDonald, Sgt. Tim Deal, Catoosa County, Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers, Suzi Thorne, Stacy Long, Laurie Evans, the Childrens Advocacy Center of the Lookout Mountain Judicial District and the Greenhouse Childrens Advocacy Center. The complaint did not name prosecutors Chris Arnt and Len Gregor, who enjoy prosecutorial immunity. The suit says the children who brought charges against her were coached and that the allegations were not corroborated. It says the former Chickamauga Elementary School teacher suffered humiliation and embarrassment by the two-year ordeal. After a trial that lasted into the fourth week, a jury in Catoosa County cleared her of 22 counts of child molestation. The suit was filed by attorneys Scott and Cary King of Atlanta, who were part of the four-person defense team at the trial. It says "false and malicious" statements were made against Ms. Craft, including charges that she is a sexual pervert, a criminal and a parent whose behavior was totally inappropriate. The suit says the "extreme and outrageous conduct of defendants was designed to subvert the parental and familial relationships between the plaintiff and her family." It says the defendants conspired "to manipulate the youngest member of plaintiff's immediate family into the role of sex abuse victim." The complaint says charges were brought against Ms. Craft "through fraud, corruption, perjury, fabricated evidence and/or other wrongful conduct undertaken in bad faith." The suit says she "was arrested on charges she did not commit." It says the charges "had no reasonable basis, were not supported by probable cause and were initiated out of sheer malice on these defendants' parts." The complaint says she suffered humiliation, outrage, indignity, conscious pain and suffering and loss of custody of her two children. It says she also suffered mental suffering and sorrow, headaches, emotional stress, grief, anger, horror, fright, the stress and costs of legal fees and scores of court appearances, and "outright distrust of law and judicial officials." The suit asks that the name of Tonya Renee Craft be removed from the records of any Georgia site or list of child abusers. It asks that the court "establish a protocol to competently investigate claims of sexual abuse, which includes corroborating information and/or competent forensic evaluation" and "establish a protocol to competently conduct investigatory interviews of children concerning possible sexual abuse which specifically requires video taped interviews and avoids adult interviewer sexualization of the interview, use of leading questions, multiply repeated questions, disconfirmatio n, and anatomically detailed dolls." It asks that agencies "competently train and supervise their employees to enable them to effectively investigate claims of sexual abuse and interview children that have alleged sexual abuse in keeping with the established protocol." The complaint says there was "development of a program of indoctrination of the minor children into the role of sex abuse victims despite significant evidence that sex abuse never happened." It says there was "constant emotional pressure akin to torture upon the minor children under the guise of 'therapy' to coerce them to 'remember' - adopt and rehearse defendants' version of their statements in the Suzie Thorne, Stacy Long, Tim Deal and Laurie Evans interviews." The suit says Ms. Craft now lives in Soddy Daisy and the Henkes live in Ooltewah. It says Ms. Lamb lives at Ringgold and the Wilsons in Rossville. Ms. McDonald is from Chickamauga. Ms. Thorne is employed by the GreenHouse Childrens Advocacy Center and Ms. Long and Ms. Evans by the Childrens Advocacy Center of the Lookout Mountain Judicial District in Fort Oglethorpe. The suit says on May 19, 2008, Ms. Lamb reported in a phone call to state social worker that her minor daughter had been involved in "child-on-child sexual touching" with Ms. Craft's daughter, who is two years younger. It says Ms. Craft was not implicated "despite repeated and suggestive questioning in which Ms. Craft was continually mentioned by name" by Ms. Lamb. It says four days later, during a last-day-of-school party at the Wilson home, Ms. Wilson noticed that a minor child used sidewalk chalk to write "sex and kissing xoxoxo" in six-inch letters. It says Ms. Wilson called the child's parents, who came to her home and had a detailed discussion in which the Wilsons "made numerous false and derogatory comments" about Ms. Craft. The complaint says the parents afterward began "repeatedly and suggestively" questioning their children about inappropriate touching. It says one of the children made a statement about inappropriate touching "after hours and/or days of such inappropriate questioning." The complaint says one of the children was then interviewed by Ms. Long and she said she knew about the touching because "My momma told me." It says another child told Sgt. Deal, "My momma told me which is which and where they touched me." The complaint says Tonya Craft's children were then removed from her custody and placed with the Henkes. It says the Henkes began to "suggestively question" her daughter. The suit says Sarah Henke had showered with the daughter and shaved her genital area while in the shower with her. It says such actions "were psychologicall y devastating to" the girl. http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_176349.asp Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:59:58 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4356#4356 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2HW8XWIzpE Sat, 21 Aug 2010 16:42:00 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=18&id=4355#4355 Do Teenage Sexting Laws Criminalize Constitutionally Protected Activities? 8-21-2010 Michigan: http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_question_1-62ecaccb92fc12b320b911d16331cc7b.jpg http://sexoffenderresearch.blogspot.com/2010/08/do-teenage-sexting-laws-criminalize.html As Michigan teenagers prepare to go back to school, parents, school administrators, and even some local officials are putting out the message about the dangers of sexting and the possibility of racy photos being passed around from student to student. Further, across the country, several states are considering enacting laws prohibiting sexting between minors. Despite the real dangers of teenage sexting and the possibility of photos reaching unintended sources, criminalizing this behavior is unnecessary. While advocates of sexting laws argue that making teenage sexting illegal is necessary to protect children from exploitation, opponents disagree, arguing that criminalization violates freedom of expression and privacy rights. The director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, one state considering criminalization explains, "So in the scenario where a teenage couple is sharing pictures with each other, and they involve only nudity, not sex acts, they can be charged. Teaching kids about their sexuality is the job that belong to parents and educators, not prosecutors." Much of the debate arose out of Miller v. Skulniak, a 3rd Circuit barring prosecutors from filing charges against a Pennsylvania teen. In Michigan, sexting remains a felony, stemming from child pornography laws. Thus, a teenager who sends photos of himself or herself to a girlfriend or boyfriend may be charged with distribution of child pornography, a charge with significant lifelong consequences. Such harsh consequences are disproportionate to an act that is often innocent and commonplace between teens. ..Source.. A. Scott Grabel Sat, 21 Aug 2010 10:07:50 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4354#4354 Blast from the past: "Sex offender myths" by Karen Franklin, Ph.D. http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/the_past.jpg Amidst all the hysteria over sex offending these days, stumbling across this list from 1955 gave me an eerie sense of deja vu. The author, a prominent sociologist, wrote his list of 11 "popular myths about the sex offender" during the zenith of the last sex panic, the Sexual Psychopath Era of the 1930s-1950s. Here are his myths*: 1. That tens of thousands of homosexual sex offenders stalk the land. 2. That the victims of sex attack are 'ruined for life.' 3. That sex offenders are usually recidivists. 4. That the minor sex offenders, if unchecked, progress to more serious types of crime. 5. That it is possible to predict the danger of serious crimes by sexual deviance. 6. That 'sex psychopathy' or sex deviation is a clinical entity. 7. That these individuals are lustful and oversexed. 8. That reasonably effective treatment methods to cure deviant sex offenders are known and employed. 9. That the sex control laws passed recently are getting at the brutal and vicious sex criminal and should be adopted generally to wipe out sex crime. 10. That civil adjudication of the sexual deviant in indeterminate commitment to a mental hospital is similar to our handling of the insane and therefore human liberties and due process are not involved. 11. That the sex problem can be solved merely by passing a new law on it. As a wise poet and philosopher wrote way back when, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Kind of depressing that many in the sex offender civil commitment industry seem oblivious to 20th century history, in which an almost identical approach was vigorously pursued, only to be abandoned as an abysmal failure. *Paul W. Tappan was a prominent sociology professor at New York University, an attorney, and a consultant to the New Jersey Commission on the Habitual Sex Offender. He published widely on criminology and corrections topics during the 1940s-1960s. "Some myths about the sex offender" was published in the June 1955 issue of Federal Probation. Robert Sadoff, a Temple University psychiatrist, republished them in a 1966 article, "Psychiatric views of the Sexual Psychopath statutes." http://forensicpsychologist.blogspot.com/2010/08/blast-from-past-sex-offender-myths.html Sat, 21 Aug 2010 09:10:45 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=41&id=4353#4353 STATE AUDITOR MONTEE RELEASES: Department of Public Safety and Department of Corrections Audit Report Missouri Sexual Offender Registration Program- Follow Up http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/files/Missouri_Sex_Offender_Registration_F.pdf Sat, 21 Aug 2010 08:05:00 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4352#4352 Inside the latest California Sex Offender Law http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Setup_to_fail.png The state of California is close to passing a law that is aimed at preventing sexual attacks, yet because of distorted reporting of the rape and murder of two young women including one whose name was incorporated into Chelsea's Law, the effect of this law will probably be just the opposite. And the same forces that has driven this law to near passage also prevents serious objections such as this from reaching the public. My conclusion to oppose this law was triggered by obtaining a report on the sentencing, imprisonment, parole regulations and procedures surrounding this case produced by the California Sex Offenders Management Board. After carefully reading this and many other documents, and interviewing the chairman of the board of this body, along with other officials, I became convinced that passing this law as is now pending will be a continuation of the legislative mistakes that have occurred over the last six decades. As the CASOMB report concluded: California has not effectively prioritized when making policy decisions about the management of convicted sex offenders. Many decisions seem to have been made for political reasons or what feels good at the time. As a result, money and time have been wasted on policies and programs that are politically popular but do not make our communities safer. When these crimes occurred, The San Diego Union Tribune, the sole remaining metropolitan area newspaper, had recently been sold to a venture capital group. Their business model is to turn around the paper by increasing circulation for a quick profitable sale. As the case progressed, after many hundreds of editorials, articles and letters focusing on the heinous details of the crime and of the criminal, they ran a front page editorial described as "a call to action." Civic responsibility and increasing circulation are not always compatible, so there was a tendency to ratchet up the rage while minimizing reporting the actual complexity of this particular type of crime, rooted as it is in the dysfunction of our most primitive drive, sexuality. Since this single metropolitan newspaper still controlled the dialog, they were able to do what was necessary to conflate the early crime, which was relatively minor, with the ultimate murders and rapes by the post prison John Albert Gardner. With no articles, or editorials or even letters printed to challenge them, the perfect poster boy of evil was created, as details could be ignored or reshaped as needed. The law that was forming to prevent crimes such as his could be as loosely constructed as was his biography. Then a phone call by Gardner to the local CBS affiliate complicated things. In this hour long conversation, Gardner made certain assertions; that his first conviction was an act of rage, a blowup with a friend that turned violent without sexual motivation, and that he accepted a plea out of fear of an even longer sentence. He described his adjustment to life under parole after his release in 2005, which for the first year was without any infractions, something confirmed by the CASOMB report. He then described what is the most crucial point relating to passage of the current law, how it was only when the residence restrictions of Jessica's Law were implemented that he was forced from his apartment, with no alternate housing available, causing him to live out of his car and lose his steady job, making it impossible to continue child support and the relationship with the mother of his two children. He requested and recieved a commitment from the interviewer that his statements be validated, not accepted on face value, but investigated. Not only were they never verified or refuted, the substance of this interview has never been reported. And although the full interview is available on their website, the second part of the news report on it was canceled. Based on my recent conversation with the Chief of staff of Nathan Fletcher who sponsored Chelsea's Law, while his office acknowledges that residence restrictions are problematic, they have no intention of redressing it. Not at this time, not when they are so close to passing this law, not when there is unanimous approval from those in both parties, not when this will be met by accolades from the Union Tribune that may never again mention the "grotesque" effect of forced homelessness due to excessive residence restrictions. So with the passage of Chelsea's Law, those convicted of early sex crimes against children will spend their lives in containment, some inside prisons, others sequestered by constantly monitored GPS bracelets paid for by imaginary funds from a bankrupt state. And as the Union Tribune admitted, "has the likely practical effect of turning some relatively minor sex offenders into far worse and of spurring paroled violent sex offenders into acting again on their dark impulses." Democratic state Senator Mark Leno who heads the criminal code committee and Republican Nathan Fletcher have agreed to put off discussion of Jessica Law residence restrictions until next year, although Fletcher has now publicly stated his opposition. The reality is that only at this moment of heightened public emotion could such correction occur, as it is too easily construed as the politically toxic accusation of being "soft on crime." We must not allow politicized public outrage to continue to produce laws that actually increase these crimes. We must not continue to ignore a painful reality, that It was the tragic flaw of Jessica's Law that may have derailed the rehabilitation that set in motion the chain of events that resulted in the death of two innocent young women. It would be the darkest of ironies if a law named to commemorate the life of one of these young women left this provision that may have contributed to her death unchanged. http://www.opednews.com/articles/Inside-the-latest-Californ-by-Al-Rodbell-100818-117.html Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:27:25 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=91&id=4351#4351 "Joys of Muslim Women" by Nonie Darwish- Unknown Authorship! Summary of the eRumor: This is a forwarded article about how women are treated in Muslim countries Sharia law and alleged to have been written by former Muslim and human rights activist, Nonie Darwish The Truth: Nonie Darwish, a former Muslim and human rights activist, told TruthOrFiction.Com that she is not the author of this article. Darwish is an human rights activist, wrote two books on her personal perspective of life and experience under Sharia law and runs the Former Muslims United web site. The specifics in this eRumor are under investigation and we will be updating this page when we have findings. updated 05/13/10 A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet: Joys of Muslim Women by Nonie Darwish In the Muslim faith a Muslim man can marry a child as young as 1 year old and have sexual intimacy with this child, consummating the marriage by 9. The dowry is given to the family in exchange for the woman (who becomes his slave) and for the purchase of the private parts of the woman, to use her as a toy. Even though a woman is abused, she can not obtain a divorce. To prove rape, the woman must have (4) male witnesses. Often after a woman has been raped, she is returned to her family and the family must return the dowry. The family has the right to execute her (an honor killing) to restore the honor of the family. Husbands can beat their wives 'at will' and the man does not have to say why he has beaten her. The husband is permitted to have 4 wives and a temporary wife for an hour (prostitute) at his discretion. The Shariah Muslim law controls the private as well as the public life of the woman. In the Western World (America) Muslim men are starting to demand Shariah Law so the wife can not obtain a divorce and he can have full and complete control of her. It is amazing and alarming how many of our sisters and daughters attending American Universities are now marrying Muslim men and submitting themselves and their children unsuspectingly to the Shariah law. By passing this on, enlightened American women may avoid becoming a slave under Shariah Law. Ripping the West in Two Author and lecturer Nonie Darwish says the goal of radical Islamists is to impose Shariah law on the world, ripping Western law and liberty in two. She recently authored the book, Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law. Darwish was born in Cairo and spent her childhood in Egypt and Gaza before immigrating to America in 1978, when she was eight years old. Her father died while leading covert attacks on Israel . He was a high-ranking Egyptian military officer stationed with his family in Gaza . When he died, he was considered a "shahid," a martyr for jihad. His posthumous status earned Nonie and her family an elevated position in Muslim society. But Darwish developed a skeptical eye at an early age. She questioned her own Muslim culture and upbringing. She converted to Christianity after hearing a Christian preacher on television. In her latest book, Darwish warns about creeping sharia law - what it is, what it means, and how it is manifested in Islamic countries. For the West, she says radical Islamists are working to impose sharia on the world. If that happens, Western civilization will be destroyed. Westerners generally assume all religions encourage a respect for the dignity of each individual. Islamic law (Sharia) teaches that non-Muslims should be subjugated or killed in this world. Peace and prosperity for one's children is not as important as assuring that Islamic law rules everywhere in the Middle East and eventually in the world. While Westerners tend to think that all religions encourage some form of the golden rule, Sharia teaches two systems of ethics - one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims. Building on tribal practices of the seventh century, Sharia encourages the side of humanity that wants to take from and subjugate others. While Westerners tend to think in terms of religious people developing a personal understanding of and relationship with God, Sharia advocates executing people who ask difficult questions that could be interpreted as criticism. It's hard to imagine, that in this day and age, Islamic scholars agree that those who criticize Islam or choose to stop being Muslim should be executed. Sadly, while talk of an Islamic reformation is common and even assumed by many in the West, such murmurings in the Middle East are silenced through intimidation. While Westerners are accustomed to an increase in religious tolerance over time, Darwish explains how petro dollars are being used to grow an extremely intolerant form of political Islam in her native Egypt and elsewhere. In twenty years there will be enough Muslim voters in the U.S. to elect the President by themselves! Rest assured they will do so... You can look at how they have taken over several towns in the USA .. Dearborn Mich. is one... and there are others... I think everyone in the U.S. should be required to read this, but with the ACLU, there is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on! It is too bad that so many are disillusioned with life and Christianity to accept Muslims as peaceful.. some may be but they have an army that is willing to shed blood in the name of Islam.. the peaceful support the warriors with their finances and own kind of patriotism to their religion. While America is getting rid of Christianity from all public sites and erasing God from the lives of children the Muslims are planning a great jihad on America .. This is your chance to make a difference...! Pass it on to your email list or at least those you think will listen.. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/j/joys-muslim-woman.htm Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:41:20 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4347#4350 We have banished them from our cities and towns, from their jobs and homes. We have made life so miserable that many abscond because they have been legislated out of homes and jobs. They are compelled to flee rather than be treated as sub-human. Enough is enough. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pteugppl-Ko Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:36:01 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4347#4349 In this video, the one man claims "What I've read, is they cannot be rehabilitated, ......" He's repeating the same crap he's heard on the news, and I bet he's not read anything in a very long time. Just like Nancy Pelosi, "We have to pass the bill, so you can find out what's in it!" She, nor a majority of others read the Healthcare bill either, but they all said how we MUST pass it. We have a lot of clueless, brain dead idiots in this country, and people wonder why it's going to hell?? I wonder why! Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:39:25 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4347#4348 Greenville City Council contact info: Mayor Mike Bowers mbowers@cityofgreenville.org 937 548-1482 Nancy Myers - Auditor / Clerk of Council nmyers@cityofgreenville.org Phone: 937 548-4435 Barbara Fee - Treasurer bfee@cityofgreenville.org Phone: 937 548-5747 No telephone numbers were given for these council members: John Burkett - CC President jburkett@cityofgreenville.org Kathleen Floyd - 1st Ward kfloyd@cityofgreenville.org Roy Harrison - 2nd Ward Rharrison@cityofgreenville.org Leon Rogers - 3rd Ward Lrogers@cityofgreenville.org John Baumgardner - 4th Ward Jbaumgardner@cityofgreenville.org Todd Oliver - At Large toliver@cityofgreenville.org Doug Schmidt - At Large Dschmidt@cityofgreenville.org Tracy Tryon - At Large ttryon@cityofgreenville.org Law Director: Jeff Amick 937-548-1920 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:35:28 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4347#4347 City considers banning sex offenders? Some want buffer zone increased to 1500 feet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwSFGUdfFYU GREENVILLE, Ohio (WDTN) - "I'm very concerned about it, very concerned," Dr. John Graham said. He thinks the future looks bleak for the people he's trying to help. "It's going to do collateral damage that we can't even envision now." Graham talked about the ad-hoc committee of three city council members who are researching the possibility to ban sex offenders from Greenville city limits. "Basically we're talking about 90 percent of Greenville is off limits so all that's left is the wealthier area on the north side of town and wealthy subdivision on the east side and that's it so all of our houses, anything that we have to deal with sex offenders will be closed down." Graham is personally invested in this fight. He runs Good Samaritan Home in Greenville, giving sex offenders a place to live while mentoring them to become productive citizens. "We have 30,000 sex offenders in Ohio and some of them are high risk and they shouldn't be out and they're still in prison some of them are very low risk they're just kids who did something stupid." For Fred Fair that doesn't hold weight with him. "I don't think they should be here," Fair said. He believes residents will feel safer if sex offenders weren't around. "From what I've read they, I don't know if they can be rehabilitated or not but maybe I'm too conservative but maybe they should put them someplace else, not in my backyard." However, Melinda Crowe feels as long as they're registered and police know where they are, there shouldn't be a problem. "I don't have a problem with them being in the city as long as they're registered and we know where they're at just simply for the safety of our children." Graham said he understands safety concerns and said it will be compromised if offenders are pushed to the streets. "Now they have a lifetime sentence they've become lepers and I think as a moral society we have an obligation we have to help." The next meeting on this issue will be held Friday September 3rd at 8 AM in Greenville city hall. http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/on_your_side/city-considers-banning-sex-offenders Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:24:53 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=18&id=4346#4346 Jackie Onassis’ half-brother gets jail for child porn rap By Associated Press Thursday, August 19, 2010 http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/00-b0fdd06dac3b38f8b28e4fea20e8e9ce.jpg MEDFORD, Ore. - James Auchincloss - who as a boy carried the wedding train of his half-sister Jackie up the aisle as she married John F. Kennedy - was jailed yesterday after admitting to possessing child pornography. Auchincloss, 63, pleaded guilty to two counts of encouraging child sex abuse, the charge generally brought against people possessing child pornography, for having computer images of naked boys. Judge Mark Shiveley ordered Auchincloss to serve 30 days in jail on each count, concurrently, and three years of supervised probation. Auchincloss also registered as a sex offender, and agreed to undergo treatment. He was indicted a year ago on 25 counts after his longtime personal assistant, Edward McManus, told investigators he had seen Auchincloss and co-defendant Dennis Vickoren viewing pictures of naked boys in sexual poses. Vickoren, 58, of Ashland also pleaded guilty yesterday and received the same sentence. ============ Good for Auchincloss. I know people who received TEN YEARS for a single photo. IMO, even Auchincloss got screwed. The registry alone is punitive. For many, the publicity alone is punitive. Just being arrested is punitive. http://www.bostonherald.com ews ational/west/view/20100819jackie_onassis_half-brother_gets_jail_for_child_porn_rap/ Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:54:23 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=12&id=4345#4345 Former Alabama prosecutor arrested on enticement, child porn charges By the CNN Wire Staff http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/000-56917c2b6125150d045df816ac62a1b8.jpg A former Alabama assistant district attorney who specialized in prosecuting sex crimes against minors is accused of enticing what he thought was a teenage girl online for sexual purposes, authorities said. Steven Giardini was indicted on charges of enticement and solicitation crimes over the computer with the intent to produce child pornography, the Alabama Attorney General's Office said in a statement. Giardini, a former prosecutor in Mobile County, was arrested Tuesday. The charges stem from the suspect's alleged communication with what he thought was a 15-year-girl, Alabama Attorney General Troy King said in a statement Tuesday. But instead he was communicating with an agent from the FBI's Internet Crimes Against Children division. The Attorney General's Family Protection Unit presented evidence to a Mobile County, Alabama, grand jury August 13, which handed up the indictment. "The crimes alleged in this indictment are all the more horrifying in that the defendant was a prosecutor entrusted to protect citizens from evil and criminal wrongdoing," King said. "The people of Alabama should be reassured, however, that no one is above the law, and that those who seek to harm and exploit our children will be punished, whoever they are." Giardini is charged with one count of acting with the intent to entice a child under the age of 16 for intercourse, sodomy or sexual purposes; one count of acting with the intent to criminally solicit the production of child pornography; and one count of acting with the intent to entice a child for sexual purposes by means of computer, telephone, personal digital assistant, or other electronic means of communication or information storage. All three charges are felonies. The first is punishable upon conviction by a prison sentence of one to 10 years, with the last two punishable by a two-to-20-year sentence, according to the attorney general's office. Giardini resigned from the district attorney's office in April 2009 after FBI agents searched his Mobile home, CNN affiliate WALA-TV reported. It is not known what they were looking for, the station reported; the search warrant was sealed by a federal judge. Giardini's attorney, Dennis Knizley, noted it has been 16 months since that search, WALA said. "And of course, his life has been on hold since then," Knizley told the station. "The facts of the case will turn out to be interesting and (we will) address those when we go to trial." Knizley denied that Giardini was trying to manufacture child pornography. Giardini was booked into the Mobile County Metro Jail and released on $250,000 bond, WALA said. http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/18/alabama.da.sex.crime/index.html Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:40:30 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=19&id=4344#4344 DNA Tests Have Freed 260 Wrongfully Convicted People http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/release_niamh_barry_walter1_250x187.jpg In case after case, people who were wrongfully convicted are finally seeing their freedom. In Virginia, Calvin Wayne Cunningham will soon be exonerated for a rape he never committed — 30 years after his conviction. In Texas two weeks ago, Michael Anthony Green was freed after serving 27 years for a rape he likewise never committed. In Minnesota, a man was freed earlier this month, after a judge decided a defect in his Toyota Camry could have caused an accident for which he had been sentenced to prison. All in all, fully 258 people have been exonerated through DNA testing in the United States, while hundreds more — perhaps thousands — have been cleared through non-DNA evidence. Now, more than ever before, the road to exoneration is starting in an unlikely place: a prosecutor's office, or even the governor's desk. In Virginia, though Cunningham had begun asking for forensic tests in 1982, shortly after his initial rape conviction, it took a state review of old cases launched by former Gov. Mark Warner that finally turned up Cunningham's file decades later for closer scrutiny. And then there's the case of Michael Green. Convicted in Houston in 1983 of a rape he didn't commit, though Green requested DNA testing in 2005, his appeal languished for several years — until the Harris County Prosecutor's Office began reviewing innocence claims and requests for DNA testing. Eventually, such attention from the prosecutor's office proved Green's innocence. (Though proof of wrongful convictions may seem to put prosecutors' offices in harsh light, wise district attorneys know that the same evidence which frees an innocent person also often points to the crime's real perpetrator.) Across the nation, efforts to overturn wrongful convictions are spreading. Milwaukee recently launched a Virginia-style evaluation of old convictions, using DNA testing. Several other counties and cities are considering this approach, as well. In Ohio, the governor recently called on judges and prosecutors to grant DNA tests in seven cases in which they were previously denied. Is your local district attorney up for election (or reelection) this November? Ask them whether they support reviewing claims of innocence from prisoners or decades-old convictions. A progressive platform emphasizing overturning wrongful convictions can get a district attorney elected, help overturn countless injustices and point to the real perpetrators of crimes — all at minimal cost. It's a win-win all around. http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/dna_tests_have_freed_260_wrongfully_convicted_people Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:25:21 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=42&id=4343#4343 THE PEOPLE SPEAK: Send smart people to OKC for jobs — The Phoenix seemed concerned about unemployment in its op-ed Sunday, and it should be. Maybe it should stop showing state Republicans in such favorable light, as these clowns haven’t done one thing to create jobs in this state. When Randy Brogdon endorsed Mary Fallin, they agreed on three things: fight Obama, lower taxes and ensure Oklahomans’ gun rights. Those’ll sure create jobs. In 2001, they said Right-to-Work would attract businesses and create jobs. Never happened. That was just a partisan attack to run unions out. Nine years later, look at the GOP-created job paradise we have. This group of incompetents in Oklahoma City creates one thing — wealth for friends and special interests. They’re determined to meddle in family affairs (divorce), women’s health (abortion), and making sure everyone is armed. The money the state has to spend to defend the unconstitutional laws passed by this group could be so much better spent elsewhere. They’re on record as saying they just pass laws, it’s up to the courts to decide their constitutionality. When State Rep. Ed Canaday asked one Republican about the Establishment Clause as pertaining to a law he’d authored, the guy responded “well, now, you just went right over my head with that.” Another Republican dweeb, Dan Newberry (who’s apparently watched too many “X-Files” episodes), tried to pass a bill to prevent tracking devices being placed in driver’s licenses. Bible-thumpin’ Sally Kern, http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/save_me_from_your_followers.jpg who claims gays are a greater threat than terrorists. authored a resolution last year which tried to declare Oklahoma a sovereign state and said the recession was brought on by “debauchery.” If debauchery is defined by Republicans’ irresponsible economic policies, i.e., tax cuts for the rich, then yeah, debauchery it is, because state Republicans made sure millions went to a select few oilmen while continuing to strangle the life out of public education. So if you really want to get serious about jobs, start sending people to OKC who have some smarts, instead of ones endorsed by pastors. Theocracy thrives in darkness. Oklahoma’s been dark long enough. http://muskogeephoenix.com/opinion/x239935433/THE-PEOPLE-SPEAK-Send-smart-people-to-OKC-for-jobs Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:40:52 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=9&id=4342#4342 Should a 17 Year-Old Girl Who Had Sex with a 15 Year-Old Boy be a Registered Sex Offender? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akcv4Nd9llw Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:49:25 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4341#4341 Sex offender laws have unintended consequences by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio June 18, 2007 http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Sex_Offender_Laws___Legislators__Accounts_of_the_Need_for_Policy-dcc2b92ed389db7dc9a8dda9911fdf12.png Listen to feature audio http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player ews/features/2007/06/11_gundersond_sexoffender1 Interview with Nancy Sabin, head of the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, says the first place to fight sex offenders is in your home http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media/player ews/features/2007/06/12_extra_sabin States spend billions of dollars every year to monitor, treat and imprison sex offenders. New laws designed to get tough on sex offenders are a perennial topic of debate at state capitals around the country. There are proposals to make sex offenders wear electronic monitors, restrict where they can live, and post the picture of every offender on the Internet. But do those laws increase public safety, or create a false sense of security? Moorhead, Minn. — Convicted sex offenders are required to register with police, making it easier for law enforcement agencies to keep track of sex offenders in their community. Many states have expanded on that idea, posting sex offenders pictures and addresses on the Internet. Some, like Minnesota, post only the offenders deemed most dangerous, while others put every sex offender's picture on a Web site. The reasoning is, if you know where sex offenders live, you're safer. TEENAGE SEX LEADS TO SEX OFFENDER STATUS Ricky is one of the sex offenders whose picture is on the Internet. Even though he's publicly listed as a sex offender, he asked we not use his last name because he fears harassment. Ricky was 17, living in a small town in Iowa, when he had sex with a 13-year-old girlfriend. "I was playing a game of pool when I met her. She came up and we started talking. I asked her her age and she told me she was 16," says Ricky. "So we went out and danced, started dating. And we ended up having sex twice." A few months later, when the girl ran away from home, Ricky was questioned by police. "I just told them the truth because I didn't think I was going to get in trouble. I told them I had sex with her twice," says Ricky. "He told me the parents were not pressing charges, so we're just going to go ahead and let you go home." But a few days later Ricky was arrested and charged with two counts of felony sexual abuse. He faced up to 20 years in prison. Ricky pled guilty to a lesser charge and was placed on probation, ordered to get sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender. A few months later his family moved to Oklahoma, where his picture was posted on the Internet as a sex offender. "THIS WILL ALWAYS HAUNT HIM" Ricky was kicked out of school, and must stay away from schools and parks. He's been working with a tutor and hopes to get his GED. Ricky says he'd planned to join the Navy, go to college and become a police officer. Now he works at an assembly plant, and isn't sure what he'll do next. Larger view Amusement parks target sex offenders "I get frustrated at times because I can't do what a kid wants to do. I'm basically stuck," says Ricky. "My friends go out and do stuff. I can't go with them. I can't play basketball or football with them. I just go to work, come home and try to just do stuff around the house." "He's constantly watching his back," says Mary Duval, Ricky's mother. "He doesn't know if the next person who walks up on him is going to know he's a sex offender, and what they'll do or what they're going to say." Duval says she believes her son should have been punished for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. But she's angry he's painted with the same brush as a violent predatory rapist. "He won't date. He won't talk to girls. A girl says 'Hi' to him in the store -- and I have seen him twice bail out of the store and lock himself inside our pickup. He just says, 'I'm scared,'" says Duval. "The damage that's being done by making him register as a sex offender is long term. This will always haunt this kid." There are likely hundreds of faces like Ricky's mixed in with the dangerous sex offenders on public registries. POLICIES DRIVEN BY ANGER AND FEAR Patty Wetterling says it's an example of sex offender laws that go too far. Wetterling has been a vocal advocate for laws to protect children since her son Jacob was abducted 18 years ago. He's never been found. Wetterling says it's easy to just get tough on sex offenders, but she's tired of tough. Larger view "Tired of tough" "Everybody wants to out-tough the next legislator. 'I'm tough on crime,' 'No, I'm even more tough.' It's all about ego and boastfulness," says Wetterling. Wetterling says she wants public policy to be effective. She says broad sweeping laws that treat all offenders the same waste resources and lives. Wetterling recently met a 10-year-old boy going through sex offender treatment. She says the boy was sexually abused, and later was convicted of abusing a young cousin. "He finishes his sex offender treatment program and then he goes home to another state, and his picture is on the Internet while he goes back to middle school. What are the odds that kid could ever make it?" says Wetterling. "We have to treat juveniles differently. It just doesn't make sense," adds Wetterling. "We're setting up an environment that's not healthy. It's just anger driven, anger and fear. It's not smart, and it doesn't get us to the promised land." Conventional wisdom is that increasing public awareness of individual sex offenders will reduce sex crimes. RESEARCHER: LAWS ARE COUNTERPRODUCTIVE "Overall, we don't have very much evidence to support the idea that knowing where sex offenders live actually protects children, or reduces the number of sex crimes in our communities," says Jill Levenson, author of "The Emperor's New Clothes," an examination of sex offender policy. Levenson teaches at Lynn University in Florida, and compares sex offender laws with research to see if the laws are making a difference. Levenson says telling the public where the most dangerous sex offenders live might help prevent crime. But she says posting every offender's picture is counterproductive. "When you're looking at a sex offender registry online, and you see a pedophile with several arrests and many, many victims, right next to a picture of the 19-year-old with the 15-year-old girlfriend. It becomes very difficult for the public to differentiate and know who's truly dangerous, and how to protect themselves from those people," says Levenson. In many states, community notification has expanded to include restrictions on where sex offenders can live, or requiring all sex offenders to wear electronic monitors, despite evidence those sex offender management tools don't work well when broadly applied. Jill Levenson says the research is clear -- making outcasts of sex offenders often makes them more dangerous. "They need to have a place to live, they need to be able to get jobs. They need to be able to support themselves and their families," says Levenson. "And without those things, they're going to be more likely to resume a life of crime. That's not a debate, that's a fact." Ricky says he knows what it feels like to be an outcast. His picture has been posted in the local grocery store, he can't hang out with his teenage friends, and his family has moved twice because of harassment. Mary Duval says being publicly identified as a sex offender has changed her son's life. She worries telling his story publicly might bring a backlash. But she wants lawmakers to know what happened to a teenager who made a mistake. "I know tons of parents on the Internet with boys similar to mine, and they're scared," says Duval. "I've been advised not to talk to reporters, not to speak out, because it could bring bad things to my family or Ricky. I refuse to be silent. I'm going to fight this and fight this, until someone listens." Mary Duval is fighting one of the unintended consequences of getting tough on sex offenders. A sex offender label means many see her son as dangerous, likely to re-offend, and someone who probably can't be rehabilitated. Those are among the common perceptions held by legislators who write sex offender laws. Experts say applying the same laws to Ricky and a violent predatory rapist makes for bad public policy. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/06/11/sexoffender1/ Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:29:05 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4340#4340 Ricky’s Life http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Ricky_and_wife-044f541a8ef6832ca40a3d0b6684ab19.jpg by admin on August 18, 2010 http://iowapublicrecordsearch.org/127/rickys-life-3/ At sixteen, Ricky Blackman was fairly typical of teen-age boys. He loved sports, especially basketball and football, and played them well enough to have realistic hopes for a scholarship. He liked socializing and hanging out with his friends. And girls—of course there were always the girls. His Middle American upbringing produced unsurprising ambitions. He dreamed of serving his country in the Navy after school, and ultimately of a career in law enforcement. He was, by all accounts, a healthy and well adjusted young man. Skip ahead three years, and you’ll accept Ricky and his life have changed radically. He takes private instruction in web design because he isn’t welcome on a campus. He no longer trusts the law he once wanted to serve, and, when in the presence of young women, he panics and withdraws. In fact, his life, once so full of promise and hope, is now little more than a daily struggle to survive, and a challenge to even find reasons for doing so. While Ricky’s view of the world has changed since his younger days, it is nothing compared to the way the world’s view of Ricky has changed. He has become the ultimate pariah and outcast. He is, at least in the eyes of most, pernicious persona non grata; human refuse hardly worthy of life itself. It all started before his seventeenth birthday. Ricky was at a local hang out for teens and met a girl there. Amanda was from his area, said she was fifteen years old and they seemed to have much in common. They began seeing each other, and eventually had sex on two occasions. The encounters would undo the rest of his life. Like many young people trying to note someone they like, Amanda lied to Ricky about her age. She later told Ricky’s mother, Mary Duval, that she was only fourteen, and pled with her not to let Ricky know. Mary promptly told her son of the confession, and he cut off the romance immediately. They found out later that she still wasn’t being entirely objective. Later Amanda, a runaway, became involved with the police, who discovered her prior ties with Ricky. She admitted the sexual relationship to the police during questioning. She also admitted that she had lied to Ricky about her age. After evaluating the situation, Amanda’s parents weren’t involved in pressing charges and the police weren’t interested in making an arrest. Until, that is, the Dallas County (Iowa) District Attorney’s office got wind of the case. Shortly after Ricky turned seventeen, he was questioned by the police. His mother was present, and it was her instinct to remove Ricky from the interview. But she had just undergone surgery on her eyes and was disoriented due to the post-operative medications she was taking, so she allowed Ricky’s then-stepfather to handle things. Unfortunately, the stepfather wanted the matter quickly resolved, and signed a waiver for the police to question him without legal counsel. The police had something they wanted Ricky to sign as well. It was a simple statement that he had, in fact, had sexual relations with Amanda. Ricky was apprehensive, but he signed. It was, after all, the truth. And in Ricky’s world, the truth served an honest person well. “Sorry to stammer you,” the police officer told Ricky after he had signed the statement. “Amanda admitted she lied to you about her real age, but she was only thirteen.” It probably wasn’t the tactics Ricky envisioned, when he thought of becoming a police officer: Get a kid to sign a confession, and then recount him what he just confessed to. Ricky’s naiveté took a hard blow. But it was only the first of many times that the real world would land on him like a Mack Truck. The officer told him that the case would be sent back to the D.A., and that it might near to nothing since Amanda had confessed to lying about her age. He also advised him, in a rare moment of clarity and honesty from the system, that it could go either way. The Arrest Made the Papers Ten days later, Ricky was handcuffed in front of his friends and taken to jail. He was charged as an adult with two counts of third degree sexual abuse, a felony. In an almost artistic manipulation of timing and the system, police and prosecutors used laws applying only to juveniles to garner evidence and a confession, and then used it all to charge him criminally as an adult. He was threatened with twenty years in prison (more time than he’d yet been alive), but that was only the beginning of a two-pronged assault on his life. When the arrest made the papers, complete with Ricky’s full name, address, and the nature of the charges against him, the community in which he had lived and thrived turned on him in an instant. When Ricky and Mary went food shopping, cashiers in one line at a local grocery store refused to check them out, forcing them to go to another line while other customers glared. His younger brother, who was nine at the time, was badgered and humiliated at school. Duval read the writing on the wall, and immediately made plans to take Ricky and his brother to Oklahoma in hopes that they could put the matter leisurely them. Unfortunately, the move would have to wait until the Dallas County Prosecutor’s Office was done with him. That process began with a rare, upbeat moment that seemed to promise a partial reprieve. The prosecution offered a deal with Ricky that almost seemed reasonable, given the circumstances. He would plead guilty to one count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, a class D felony, which would be expunged from the records if he satisfied the terms of his two-year probation. He would not have to state a felony on job applications, and, because of the adjudication, he would not be placed on a sex offenders’ registry. It seemed like the best offer possible, all things considered, and Ricky agreed to the plea. Ricky and his mother took their seats in the courtroom. Then, just minutes before the hearing was scheduled to begin, the region appointed attorney advised them that there had been a recent change in Iowa law. Any plea map Ricky made would be contingent on being placed on a sex abuser registry for ten years. Both Ricky and his mother erupted in tears at the news, causing a commotion in the courtroom. It took some time for them to do themselves. The “modern” change in the statute had happened, they would discover, nearly a year earlier, but right now, Ricky had impartial moments to decide whether or not to take the deal. He didn’t want to be placed on the registry. He didn’t think it was fair. But to fight it was risking two decades behind bars; a place where young men, especially those not hardened by criminal life, were definite to find out what loyal sexual deviance and assault are all about. It was a double blow for Duval, who had lost her eyesight entirely, just five weeks before the hearing. Now she could lose her son. Ricky took the deal, but almost ran into another snag with the court. The prosecution wanted Ricky to state on the record that he had lured the girl to his home for the purpose of having sex. The put a question to was clear. In essence they wanted Ricky to commit perjury, a real crime, so they could have on the narrate a phony allocution to something he never did. Blackman, with courage almost unimaginable for his age and the circumstances, refused. He told the court that the sex was what they both wanted, and he wouldn’t produce a statement to the contrary. They entered his statement into the record and closed the case. Ricky had received the adjudication, and they were now free to fade away from Iowa. It was something Ricky couldn’t wait to do. The promise of getting away and making a fresh start almost made the situation bearable. A Fresh Start The state of Oklahoma, and some of its citizens, had other plans. They’d had no concept when they moved, but Oklahoma law required Ricky to register as a sexual offender for life. And because of the age difference between him and Amanda, he would be listed as a Level Three Offender, which labels him as violent and unsafe, and his crime as “aggravated.” He was placed on the sexual offender registry, and, as a result, Ricky’s life has been affected in ways that most of us cannot imagine. Since racy to Oklahoma he has been kicked out of school, ousted from public parks, and verbally abused by neighbors and strangers. One neighbor shouted obscenities and videotaped him whenever he stepped outside his door. The same man came to their home and told Mary Duval he would not quit bothering them till she took her “child rapist” away. He was not interested in the facts surrounding Ricky’s case. He had seen everything he needed to know about Ricky Blackman on the “Offender Registry.” Ricky cannot live or go within 2,000 feet of schools, parks or any other establishments where children are known to be present, and this forces him to live as far from town as possible. It also means he cannot attend his younger brother’s football games, or go almost anywhere where he could make and maintain friendships. He cannot even succor church unless he informs the clergy there that he is a sex offender and gets their permission. Now that Ricky is off probation, his younger brother can have his friends in the home while Ricky is there. But most parents don’t want their children in a home with a registered sex offender. And the reality is that children around Ricky do present a dangerous vulnerability… for Ricky. Any allegation against him, even the most patently false, could have disastrous results. His probation officer had him dismissed from the school system, saying, according to Duval, “He is a liability to them.” He was denied G.E.D classes because they were offered on a school campus, and the State Board of Education denied him online classes because he was on the registry. Ricky was eventually allowed to take G.E.D. classes, at a local police station. He now lives his life in near solitude, helping to take care of his mother and trying to sort out how he is going to fabricate something of the rest of his life. He had a job in a fabrication plant, but was “laid off” when his employers discovered his history. Effectively in prison, Ricky will remain that way for the rest of his life unless something changes. Ricky and his mother are both involved in trying to effect those changes. They have both taken the story public, and Duval has an on-line radio program to raise awareness of what the registry actually does. She has managed to accumulate the story covered by some television stations and newspapers. She also has an internet petition demanding changes in the laws. Primary among those demands is that the states inspect the difference between sexual predation and consensual sex between teens. In many places, including Oklahoma, the law sees no such difference, and consequently makes no legal distinction between someone who lures a child into a car and rapes them and someone like Ricky Blackman. The Court Knew Better It was a contrast, however, that the prosecution in his case was apparently able to see, even as they held twenty years in prison over the young man’s head in order to coerce a guilty plea. It was the prosecution that recommended to the court that Blackman receive two years probation with deferred adjudication. In that recommendation, they advised the court that this course of action would be sufficient to rehabilitate the defendant. One only need consult a mental health professional with experience dealing with sexual offenders to learn that the nearly universal perception is that recidivism for sexual offenders is high. In my considerable time in the field, it was the general consensus of clinicians that predators were untreatable, and that incarceration was the best option. (There is research that disputes all this, but in Blackman’s case, it was always perceptions that guided events, not reality.) That being said, prosecutors are generally less generous than psychotherapists. With their recommendation to the court, the prosecution openly acceded to what everyone else in that courtroom already knew. Ricky Blackman was not a sexual predator. Ricky Blackman was just a kid that had sex with a girlfriend he thought was a year younger than him. Ricky Blackman had no business being there in the first place. At this point, though, it was too late. Blackman was caught up in a system largely devised by politicians clamoring to quell public fears about the safety of children. Fanning the flames of public outrage, and sometimes lighting them, lawmakers run for office against each other on platforms largely consisting of “tough on crime” one-upmanship. One ever more draconian measure after another is offered up as a sales pitch to a panic-ridden, woefully ignorant public that will sign on to whatever sounds the most indecent. The result is laws that not only fail to protect our children, but in the case of Blackman and others, have actually started destroying them. Elected politicians, like prosecutors and judges, fearful of being seen as soft on crime, force people like Ricky through the proper gauntlet without compunction. They have become robotic assassins, creating unthinkable collateral damage in a war that is supposedly being waged in the public’s best interest. Meanwhile, children are no safer on the streets than they have ever been. His Whole Life in Front of Him It is perhaps fitting to point to the silver linings in this sage. Duval, the loss of her sight notwithstanding, has emerged as a dogged and tireless advocate for her son, and for bringing problems with the sexual offenders registry to the public’s attention. Ricky has found some focus for the future as well, though it took some hits and misses. He wanted to get a law degree and work to change the system for the better, but he won’t be allowed to practice law anywhere, because of the registry. Now he takes private lessons in web design, a profession suited for someone who has little reason to leave the house. He also wants to reach out to young people and caution them about the hazards and consequences of teen sex. The jury remains out on whether that can ever happen. These are thin consolations, lending neither redemption nor solace. Even if Mary Duval had not lost her eyesight, she would never again see the Ricky she knew before all this happened. Her life is, and will be, consumed with trying to acquire justice for her son. She openly admits this may never happen. Ricky, at nineteen, is supposed to have his whole life in front of him. When he should be looking forward to the time he will marry and have children of his own, his path looks to be marked by a single set of footprints. His ideas on women are not what they used to be. “I don’t trust them,” he says. “When I see one looking at me I fair rush away.” Level-headed, he is a young man with a message, albeit forged in the fires of adversity. It is a message that assaults the complacency in which we all too often rep comfort. “Anybody who looks at the registry should not judge people just for being there,” he says, “There are lots of people that don’t belong. People like me. There are even people that had to pee so bad they went outside and the next thing you know someone takes a relate with a cell phone and they end up on the registry too.” Legal alongside the child rapists. Little at this point would ameliorate the harm done to this family. The Kafkaesque storm that overtook them three years ago still darkens every horizon and pummels the simplicity out of life that they used to take for granted. It still rattles their doors and windows, as though trying to shake more skeletons from the closet. And it has swept away hope for the future, leaving behind only the solemn, desperate need for peace and safety. We love to think that justice is blind. But we also pray that those who administer that justice are people of vision. When systems become so zigzag that the letter of the law strangles its spirit, then justice cannot exist. It will die as surely as the dreams of a teen-age boy when the world caves in around him. Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:31:31 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4339#4339 Hey Ron, maybe you should look in the mirror to see the REAL monster! http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Ron_Book_Zombie_2.png http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz0kSJFsQe4 Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:00:45 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4338#4338 SLIP OPINION NO. 2010-OHIO-3737 The State of Ohio, Appellee v. Bodyke et al, Appellants. “1. On June 3, 2010, the court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals in this case. State v. Bodyke,Ohio St.3d, 2010-Ohio-2424,N.E.2d. 2. Appellee, state of Ohio, and amicus curiae Ohio Attorney General have filed a joint motion for reconsideration and/or clarification. 3. The motion for reconsideration and/or clarification is denied.” Therefore, there is not longer any excuse for the failure of the Ohio Attorney General’s office to re-classify all affected former offenders. They have been dragging their feet for ten weeks now, refusing to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling. See: UPDATES, Friday, July 23 : Failure of Ohio AG to Abide by Supreme Court Ruling In just over 10 weeks, the Ohio AG office has removed only about 1000 registrants from their Sex Offender Registry. We are told by the Ohio Public Defender Office that approximately 2300 individuals are slated to be removed. But keep in mind that people are forced onto this corrupt registry every day, as well. The AG office has refused to answer or return our calls. They have now blacklisted Constitutionalfights. And they have told us so, very directly and rudely. So we must rely on you, the readers, to help do the job of holding them accountable. Keep contacting the Ohio Attorney General’s Office daily until they get these re-classifications completed and send official letters ! We are hearing from some (not many) readers who have told us of their removal from the registry. We are happy to see these people relieved of their illegal punishments but we urge all readers to remain vigilant until the Attorney General Office sends official letters to registrants informing them that they no longer have a duty to register. Having these letters in hand is very important. Law enforcement is just as corrupt and incompetent as other state authorities are. If a sheriff bangs on your door in the middle of the night because you did not register, you need to have that letter in hand ! Justin Hykes, Assistant Attorney General of Ohio justin.hykes@ohioattorneygeneral.gov 614-387-4257 FAX 614-466-5087 E-fax 1 866 293 1021 Paula Armentrout ,AG Help Center Manager can be contacted here: 800-282-0515 Dan, Help Center Supervisor can be contacted here: 800-282-0515 Ohio Attorney General Office: Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, 30 E. Broad St., 17th Floor, Columbus, OH 43215 (800) 282-0515 Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. Email Ohio ESORN at OHLEGsupport@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov OHLEG Support 1-866-40-OHLEG (1-866-406-4534 OHLEGsupport@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov Media Contacts: Kim Kowalski: (614) 728-9692 cell: (614) 893-6018 Ted Hart: Deputy Director of Media Relations Office of the Ohio Attorney General PHONE 614-728-4127 cell: (614) 743-2286 EMAIL ted.hart@ohioattorneygeneral.gov (614) 728-4127 We are also now actively seeking advice from any legal professionals who read these blogs, regarding potential legal action against the Ohio Attorney General Office for their failure to abide by this Ohio Supreme Court ruling. Please contact us at constitutionalfights@yahoo.com with any advice or willingness to help. Thank you. http://constitutionalfights.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/ohio-ag-petition-for-clarification-denied-by-ohio-supreme-court/ Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:04:32 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4337#4337 Sex Offenders Have Nowhere to Live http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Ron_Book__JibJab-36da521993d29388e498692f06327af9.jpg There's no doubt that laws targeting sex offenders have a valuable purpose — to protect the public, and especially kids, from dangerous individuals. But these laws don't quite work when what they're doing is driving sex offenders to live under bridges. Earlier this year, this problem came starkly to light in Florida's Miami-Dade county, after national media exposed a sex offender shantytown under a highway. How did they county respond to the pressure? They came up with a band-aid solution: first by demolishing the camp, and then by putting its 92 residents into studio apartments with six-month leases. Predictably, the six-month apartments are now about to expire, and many of the 92 residents have nowhere to go. The county hasn't addressed the root of the problem, which is the fact that it restricts sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school or park. Almost every house in a city like Miami lies within 2,500 feet of such a school or park, which is what originally drove the 92 people to live under a bridge — and unless that policy is changed, it will continue to fuel homelessness. Jessica has covered this issue at our End Homelessness blog, pointing out that living situations aren't exactly what drive crime. Though reforms to address this issue are pending in Florida, for the moment, counties still operate under their own authority. Accordingly, Miami-Dade is continuing to close doors on former sex offenders who are trying to turn their lives around. For example, one man, Joseph Mortimer, recently had his house foreclosed and was subsequently barred from living on the same block because he was no longer grandfathered out of the 2,500-foot rule. This kind of red tape for sex offenders doesn't prevent crime — all it does create uncertainty and difficultly for people when what they need is help leading productive, safe lives. To make matters worse, California is now following in Florida's footsteps. Not content to simply push restrictive laws that drive sex offenders to congregate in the few neighborhoods in which they're actually allowed to live, the state is considering new restrictions to strictly regulate the number of parolees who can live in a given neighborhood. But make no mistake: We can't ask former sex offenders to become productive members of society if we insist on driving them to the far fringes. Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. http://criminaljustice.change.org/blog/view/sex_offenders_have_nowhere_to_live Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:55:10 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=75&id=4336#4336 Judge: Some changes to Nebraska's sex offender laws can be challenged http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Courts.jpg Several changes to the state laws regarding sex offenders -- mostly limiting their computer usage -- could be challenged at trial, U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf ruled Monday. But most of the law, which took effect in January, was left intact. Major changes to Nebraska's sex offender laws -- including publication of information regarding all the state's sex offenders, not just the high-risk ones -- do not violate either the U.S. or state constitutions, Kopf ruled. In an 81-page order filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln, Kopf wrote that changes to the law -- it would force convicted sex offenders to disclose their online names to authorities and consent to searches of computers and software, and it would ban offenders from using social networking sites or chat rooms accessible to minors -- could be challenged in court. Kopf had previously granted a preliminary injunction that would not subject convicted sex offenders who completed probation and weren't on parole or court-ordered supervision to those same parts of the law. In the order filed Monday, Kopf said a trial is needed to determine whether the three statutes violate the U.S. Constitution. Kopf's ruling pertained to several federal and state cases filed on behalf of dozens of John and Jane Does -- described in court documents as registered low-level sex offenders who argued that the legislative changes unfairly targeted them. In previous court documents, Kopf aired his opinion on the changes to the sex offender registry law. "I am not a fan of laws like this one," Kopf wrote in a previous order on the injunction. "If I had my druthers, I would enjoin the entire law and not just the portions that are probably unconstitutional. "I am pretty sure that this enactment will divert attention and money from policing the monsters (and God knows there are plenty of monsters out there). I also worry that this law will incite a virulent form of vigilantism against the hapless. "But, my likes and dislikes don't matter," he wrote. The cases he deemed trial-worthy were referred to U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Zwart for further progression. Reach Cory Matteson at 402-473-7438 or cmatteson@journalstar.com. http://journalstar.com ews/local/crime-and-courts/article_8cac01ea-a996-11df-93c6-001cc4c002e0.html Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:30:39 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4335#4335 Supreme Court Case Announcement for Aug. 17, 2010 Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:19:32 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Ohio_Supremes-3940b094374f19eb2ac2d346688e828b.jpg Based on the Court's June 3 State v. Bodyke decision, dispositions were entered in 127 other sexual offender reclassification cases that were pending on appeal. The Court also announced that an additional 23 sexual offender reclassification cases are no longer held for State v. Bodyke, but are held for decisions in three other sexual offender reclassification cases. The Court also denied a motion for reconsideration of State v. Bodyke. http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/0/2010/2010-ohio-3825.pdf Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:43:03 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=35&id=4081#4334 In light of the passage of House Bill 571, our office has agreed to voluntarily dismiss certain claims brought in the Whitaker v. Perdue lawsuit. After the passage of House Bill 571, these claims are now moot. Pursuant to Rule 23(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, please see attached a Notice to the Court that describes which claims will be dismissed and which will remain in the case. Please contact us by Friday, August 20, 2010 at 12:00 p.m. with any questions or concerns about this matter. Sarah Geraghty Southern Center for Human Rights 83 Poplar Street, N.W. Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 688-1202 (T) (404) 688-9440 (F) sgeraghty@schr.org www.schr.org __._,_.___ Attachment(s) from Sarah Geraghty http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/files/NOTICE_TO_CLASS_8_16_10.pdf Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:33:07 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4332#4333 Excellent PDF, great job! :) Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:15:03 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4332#4332 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:41:19 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=4&id=4331#4331 This is Sunday....My family and I would be in church but..... I want to talk to you from my heart today. This is a letter from Dave Smith, Citizens for Change, America. This is Sunday...Many of you know I have a family. Both toddlers and teens. Back in 2006, we were all making it as a family. I had 2 businesses going and both were growing and doing well. One of my businesses was a sports photography business and my teen children went with me to all the sports events to do shoots. Many of the shoots were at high profile events, boxing, christian concerts, local UFC fight type championship fights and such. This meant that my children were known far and wide by everyone in the community. We attended a local church regularly and were members. That church had a huge teen group that my kids were members of. The youth leader was an older guy, about 50 years old and he and I were best of friends as he also worked at a local christian radio station. My kids and I went to the station to be part of the live broadcasts on Friday nights.. we all had a great time. My teens and I always went to church together on Sunday Mornings and Wednesday Nights. We all hung out with my friend, the youth leader and the other teens. My kids wanted me there, and I wanted to be with them in the Contemporary Service. There were other parents hanging out there as well. We all had a great time. Our group was responsible, through the local radio station, for bringing a LOT of big name Christian Musicians to do concerts in our area. I was enjoying watching my children grow in Christ and very proud that they loved Jesus. My kids had a LOT of friends in school and many kids from all the neighboring schools knew my kids as well as we all went to their schools to shoot football, soccer and cheer-leading events. I was invited by local officials and wealthy people of the area to shoot photos at private parties and functions... I met a LOT of NFL football people and Pro Golfers at the local elite country club events. My children have taken photos with a LOT of stars as I had back stage passes to interview and shoot photos of their events. On a spring day in 2006 there was a knock at our door. My wife was at work and I was home. The kids and I had just come home from swimming at the park. My son said there were some sheriff deputies at the door and they wanted to talk to me. I went out thinking they wanted me to do some photography or web design work for them.. they arrested me for failure to register as a sex offender. Long story made short, almost 30 years ago I had committed a sex crime. I had served the time in full and was not required to register as my crimes were committed and sentencing was done almost 3 decades ago. No sex offender registries existed when I was sentenced for my crime. I told the sheriff of this but they said they were told to arrest me anyways. I asked them to show me the law that said they could do this. They said they did not know the law that allowed them to do this, but they were following orders. I was arrested, booked, finger printed and thrown in jail. My kids had to watch this. My wife had to get a ride home from her boss so my kids would not be left alone. My wife does not drive, so she had to get someone to help bail me out of jail. It took all night to get bailed out. She and our friend sat outside the prison all night till they finally released me around 9 am. They could have released me many hours earlier, but did not. My arrest for failure to register as a sex offender was put in the paper, on television and radio. Many news stations were showing up at our home to interview me. A friend called and told us to go to her cabin in the woods, a few states away and stay there until the smoke clears. She even met us en route, took us there, and unloaded her truck with hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for us to eat. We stayed at her cabin on the lake, in the woods for 2 weeks... then went home. Once we got home we found out all that had been going on. I had been all over the news, television, radio and newspapers. Even though my one crime was decades ago and all these people knew me and my family, even all the news stations knew me personally as I had done work for them.. they just plastered my story all over the place.. not even giving a care in the world that my children would be harmed by all this. Immediately my children were being treated as outcasts at school. Kids were picking on them, making jokes about them and worse. Immediately phone calls came in telling me I could no longer do my job with companies I worked for. Contracts that I had worked many months to secure, were canceled. We all felt like we were under a microscope in our own home. A home we were buying. We were only paying $600.00 a month for a 5 bedroom brick home in a great neighborhood. Now we are paying $950.00 a month for a 3 bedroom apartment. Eventually, after selling all my possessions to pay a lawyer, my case was thrown out as they had no proof I was ever told to register. I had proof that I was told by probation officers that I had been told I DO NOT have to register as my crime was decades old. I still had to register as I could not afford a lawyer to fight that. The ACLU would not help, nobody would do anything even though my registration was against the law, I was threatened by the Sheriff department that if I did not register, they would arrest me again.. We had no money for bail or lawyers so I had to register. My long time friend at church called me to his side one Sunday morning, I was told their had been complaints by parents that they did not want me around their teens any more. Due to my being on the news and registry. I decided if I was not welcome to come worship God with my two teens, like we had done for years.. we would not attend that church. Personally, I do not care for the music which older people like.. I enjoy contemporary christian music, Kutless, Acapella, Skillet, Third Day, Selah... I like to stand up and dance when the music is playing.. I am a teen at heart...I like to hang out with my teens and they wanted me there.. so to be told parents were scared even though I had been there years.. was a slap in the face. We quit the church and became recluse. We eventually found a state which HONORS the Constitution and does not require a person to register if their crime was committed, they were convicted before the registry was created. We moved here and now have a Lot of friends. Unfortunately...the original state of the conviction has my name on their registry.. so, if anyone does a search for my name on the net, MY name comes up. So, how is it going here? Well, we first moved here to a certain city and we joined a church. We loved it, went there every time the doors opened. My kids loved it and had friends both there and at school. Then, feeling guilty, I told the pastor of my past. I just did not want anything dishonest between myself and him.. That was a huge mistake. Soon, we noticed people were not so friendly. Kids stopped calling my kids... my kids stopped getting invited to things with other kids at church and school.... One woman told my daughter she could no longer help in the nursery because she was not saved.... what a crock of shizat. That really pissed me off. How in the world would she know if my daughter was not saved? We left that church, school district and I will NEVER, NEVER again tell anyone my true name or history at any church. Once the church or school finds out, your children are totally excluded from activities with other children, because their daddy is a SEX OFFENDER. No matter if it was one crime decades ago.. no matter. Now, we are in a new city. Nobody knows my real name and I am thinking, How in the world can we join a church and NOT tell the people my real name??? I have this burning question in my mind all the time. How can a church, a body of people trust in the Blood of Jesus Christ to wash away sin, to regenerate a person into that new creature...and still banish anyone who has been convicted of a sex crime from their group? Somebody please answer this question? I am sorry if I am boring you today, I just felt I should let you know why I setup and do all the work for CITIZENS FOR CHANGE, AMERICA. I have 3 children, 2 teens and a toddler. Today, as I got up on this Sunday morning, a day when my family would be in church singing, praising Jesus and learning the Word of God, I woke up to the phone ringing.. it was a parent of a little 5 year old girl asking if she could come play with my 3 year old... then the phone rang again, another little 5 year old's mother wanted to know if her baby could come play with my 3 year old.. I told them yes.. that we would be serving Hot Dogs for lunch....We chatted a bit and they thanked me for letting their little girls come over and play.. they both said they were glad to have a safe place for their babies to play. My little 3 year old always has atleast 4 or 5 children to play with. My teens have a LOT of friends. I have been building a business here and I have friends. Can I tell you I do not feel like I am under a microscope as I go about my life here.. NO. I still feel like I am under a microscope.. that someone will find out... But I am ever thankful to God and the lawmakers here in our state that MY CHILDREN ARE NOT PUNISHED FOR THE ONE CRIME I DID DECADES AGO like they are in so many states. If you who are reading this are suffering under these insane laws. Do some thing about it. Anything. Just do not roll over and take it. Get Mad, Fight for your rights. These laws are created TO PROTECT THE CHILDREN...I think NOT. When you hear politicians saying they are creating sex offender laws to PROTECT THE CHILDREN, remember those children of ex offenders. The children of men and women who have served their time and are trying to go on with their lives. Another topic.. where do the murderers, people who kill while drunk, robbers, thieves live in your neighborhood? Why are only Sex Offenders on a public registry? That will be an article coming soon. Dave Smith -------- If you or your family members, or friends have been harmed by these insane sex offender laws, contact us, we have been fighting the insanity for years. We have provided a FORM to submit your story. CLICK HERE: http://cfcamerica.org/story-submissions Citizens for Change, Americahttp://www.cfcamerica.org Collateral Victims of Laws in Americahttp://www.collateralvictims.com Together, one by one, we are gathering an army of workers and voices. Will your voice be heard? Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:26:23 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=91&id=4330#4330 Keeping the faith, but losing religion By CLARENCE PAGE Tribune Media Services Published: 8/15/2010 2:19 AM Last Modified: 8/15/2010 4:29 AM "Today, I quit being a Christian." With those words earlier this month on Facebook, Anne Rice http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/annerice.jpg delivered a wake-up call for organized religion. The question is whether it will be recognized as such. "I remain committed to Christ as always," she wrote, "but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to 'belong' to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For 10 years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else." You will recall that the author, famed for her vampire novels, made a much-publicized return to the Catholicism of her youth after years of calling herself an atheist. Now, years later, she says she hasn't lost her faith, but she's had it up to here with organized religion. "In the name of Christ," she wrote, "I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life." If that was not nearly enough for atheist observers, one of whom berated her online for refusing to completely give up her "superstitious delusions," it was surely plenty for people of faith. But Rice is hardly the only one who feels as she does. According to a 2008 study by Trinity College, religiosity is trending down sharply in this country. The American Religious Identification Survey, which polled more than 54,000 American adults, found that the percentage who call themselves Christian has fallen by 10 since 1990 (from 86.2 percent to 76 percent) while the percentage of those who claim no religious affiliation has almost doubled (from 8.2 to 15) in the same span. Small wonder atheist manifestos are doing brisk business at bookstores and Bill Maher's skeptical "Religulous" finds an appreciative audience in theaters. Organized religion, Christianity in particular, is on the decline, and it has no one to blame but itself: It traded moral authority for political power. To put that another way: The Christian Bible contains numerous exhortations to serve those who are wretched and poor, to anger slowly and forgive promptly, to walk through this life in humility and faith. The word "Republican" does not appear in the book. Not once. Yet somehow in the last 30 years, people of faith were hustled and hoodwinked into regarding the GOP platform as a lost gospel. Somehow, low taxes for the wealthy and deregulation of industry became the very message of Christ. Somehow, hostility to science, gays, Muslims and immigrants became the very meaning of faith. And somehow Christianity became - or at least, came to seem - a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party. Consider that, after the election of 2004, a church in North Carolina made news for kicking out nine congregants because they committed the un-Christian act of ... voting for Democrat John Kerry. Who can blame people for saying, "If that's faith, count me out." Has atheism ever had a better salesman than Jerry Falwell, who blamed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the ACLU, or Pat Robertson, who laid Haiti's earthquake off on an ancient curse? But what of those who are not atheists? What of those who feel the blessed assurance that there is more to this existence than what we can see or empirically prove? What of those who seek a magnificent faith that commits and compels, and find churches offering only a shriveled faith that marginalizes and demeans? Its response to those people, those "seekers," will determine the future of organized religion. And it might behoove keepers of the faith to keep in mind the distinction Anne Rice drew in her farewell: Christ didn't fail her, she said. Christianity did. By CLARENCE PAGE Tribune Media Services Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com ews/article.aspx?no=subj&articleid=20100815_222_G2_CUTLIN393219&archive=yes Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:53:49 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=16&id=4329#4329 Let Kids Have Sex Max Miller on August 14, 2010 http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/kids.jpg Despite our puritanical roots, Americans are just as sexually liberated as Europeans, if not more so, according to recent studies. Americans tend to lose their virginity at the same age as Germans and Swiss, and, surprisingly, at a younger age than the French. U.S. rates of teen sex, pregnancy, and abortion are also higher than in Western Europe. Still, Americans are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of young people as sexual beings, as evidenced in part by our laws governing age of consent and those protecting children against abuse. Peter Tatchell, an activist and LGBT rights advocate, tells Big Think that the best way to protect our children from sexual abuse is paradoxically to give them more sexual freedom. Age of consent laws vary from state to state in the U.S., with the majority being 16 and some ranging as high as 18, but Tatchell says they should all be lowered to at least 14. “Whether we like it or not, many teenagers have their first sexual experience around the ages of 14 or 15,” says Tatchell. In most states, these sexually-active young people are actually breaking the law and could be convicted as sex-offenders, even if both partners consent. In 2008, a 16-year-old boy from Iowa was convicted of “lewd and lascivious acts with a child” for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, even though the two were dating at the time, she had lied about her age, and she wasn’t pressing charges. For the rest of his life he will have to register on a sex offenders list alongside child sex abusers. Criminalizing underage sex is not the way to protect our kids, says Tatchell: “If we want to protect young people, and I do, the best way to do this is not by threatening them with arrest, but by giving them frank, high quality sex and relationship education from an early age. This includes empowering them with the skills, knowledge and confidence to say no to unwanted sexual advances and to report sex abusers. Compared to the blanket criminalization of sexually-active under-age youth, this empowerment strategy is a more effective way to protect young people from peer pressure and pedophiles.” A higher age of consent actually puts young teens at greater risk of abuse by “reinforcing the idea that young people under 16 have no sexual rights,” Tatchell says. “They signal that a young person is not capable of making a rational, moral choice about when to have sex.” And pedophiles can manipulate this sexual disempowerment to their advantage. “Guilt and shame about sex also increase the likelihood of molestation by encouraging the furtiveness and secrecy on which abuse thrives,” he adds. “Despite what the puritans and sex-haters say, underage sex is mostly consenting, safe, and fun,” Tatchell believes. “If there is harm caused, it is usually not as a result of sex, per se, but because of emotional abuse within relationships and because of unsafe sex, which can pass on infections and make young girls pregnant when they are not ready for motherhood.” And better sex and relationship education from a younger age would help combat both these scenarios. Takeaway Stringent laws against underage sex don’t keep teens from having sex (almost 20% of American teens under 16 have had intercourse, despite it being technically illegal); they don’t protect against sexual abuse; and they inculcate a distorted view of sexuality, says Tatchell. “The message we need to give young people is that sex is fundamentally good—not dirty or shameful. It is a natural joy, immensely pleasurable and a profound human bond, resulting in intense shared fulfillment and much human happiness.” Take that puritans! Why We Should Reject This Of course there will always be underage people who have sex, but that doesn’t mean the law should condone it. Sex is a very complicated part of human behavior that is too nuanced for young people to understand. In fact, studies have shown that people, especially girls, who have sex at a young age often regret it. One study in New Zealand found that 70% of girls who had sex before the age of 16 wished they hadn’t done so. In a column for Telegraph, writer David Lindsay argues, “sex is for people who can cope with the consequences, physical and otherwise. In a word, adults.” http://bigthink.com/ideas/21789 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 07:15:55 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4328#4328 Calif. Senate to take up 'Chelsea's Law' Law would put worst sex offenders behind bars for life http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/000-c1ebbc849423a5d1297313e9d409d869.jpg SAN DIEGO – "Chelsea's Law," which would incarcerate California's worse sex offenders for life without parole, heads to the state senate floor next week after the measure unanimously passed in a state Senate committee Thursday. Authored by San Diego Republican Nathan Fletcher, Assembly Bill 1844 would also increase parole terms for offenders who target children younger than 14 and provide a containment model and risk assessment that could keep mentally disordered offenders in prison longer if deemed necessary. "Months of hard work, countless volunteer hours and a broad coalition of supporters have brought us this far," said Mr. Fletcher, who worked with the family of murdered 17-year-old Chelsea King to craft the bill. "Chelsea's Law takes California in a bold new direction. We are fundamentally changing how our state deals with sex offenders and protects the innocent." Chelsea’s parents, Brent and Kelly King, said, "We commend Senator Kehoe for her leadership and for being among those who have supported Chelsea's Law since its introduction," referring to state Sen. Christine Kehoe, a San Diego Republican who is chair of the state Senate appropriations committee, which passed the bill on Thursday. Recent amendments would place paroled offenders who pose the greatest threat under more scrutiny by authorities. They also would restrict sex offenders' ability to enter parks, require that Megan's Law publicly list sex offenders' risk assessment scores and revise the California mentally disordered offender laws to provide for continued detention of offenders where evaluation and assessment find it to be necessary. Chelsea's Law has the support of 68 legislative coauthors, plus Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Jerry Brown, U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, numerous California district attorneys and a number of California cities and counties. Chelsea King was found in a shallow lakeshore grave a few days after going for a jog in Rancho Bernardo Community Park in March. Registered sex offender John Albert Gardner III was sentenced for her rape and murder in May. AB 1844 is also being driven by Chelsea's Light Foundation, which has a membership of law enforcement groups, crime victim advocates and concerned citizens around the world. http://www.washingtontimes.com ews/2010/aug/13/calif-senate-take-chelseas-law/?page=2 Sat, 14 Aug 2010 08:23:56 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=35&id=4327#4327 Audit Blasts Sex Offender Registry By Jenny M. Dunn http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/EEEEEEKpervert-0e510331e37dd14f989c253dcd70c280.jpg SAVANNAH, Ga - Georgia's independent auditing agency says, the state's sex offenders registry is systemically "outdated" and "does not fully meet the needs of law enforcement or the public." The 58-page report prepared by the state Department of Audits and Accounts characterizes the sex offender registry as inefficient and error-prone. John Bankhead, spokesman for Georgia Bureau of Investigations, which administers the database, says the report did not tell them anything they didn't already know. Bankhead says, under-staffing and a lack of funds have become the main roadblocks in the way of a more effective sex offender registry. "We knew that there needed to be improvements, but because of budget cuts, those pretty much can't be made," Bankhead says. "We I think the tax money used to perform this audit could have been better used to improve the sex offender registry." According to Bankhead, the improvements to the database could cost upward of $400,000 dollars. This report did not residency restrictions or other enforcement issues relating to constitutionality of the registry outside of operational effectiveness. The registry began in 1996 and this year will list 19,000 names. Over 8,000,000 people search the database every year. http://www.gpb.org ews/2010/08/12/audit-blasts-sex-offender-registry Fri, 13 Aug 2010 10:57:51 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=33&id=4326#4326 Federal appeals court reverses ruling on sex offenders' lawsuit http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Gavel2-fb50af268cab23327574e0e9d8d6ff71.jpg A federal appeals court has reversed a U.S. District Court judge's decision to throw out a lawsuit filed by four sex offenders who say Jefferson County's sheriff should not be allowed to hold them after serving their sentences just because they are poor and don't have a place to call home. Alabama's Community Notification Act requires that before convicted sex offenders can be freed at the end of their sentences, they must provide an address where they will live after their release. The residence must meet certain requirements, including not being within a certain distance of a school. If an inmate completes a sentence but can not provide an approved address, he or she can be held by the local sheriff in jail indefinitely, according to the state law. U.S. District Court Judge Scott Coogler in February 2009 threw out the four sex offenders' lawsuit. The four men appealed the judge's decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Last week two of the three judges on the appeals panel issued an order reversing the judge's decision. "The district court failed to appreciate that this claim, if successful, would not affect the validity of their conviction nor the resulting sentence imposed, and would not necessarily result in immediate release," according to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. One of the three judges had agreed that the judge had made the right decision in dismissing the case. The lawsuit now goes back to Coogler, unless Hale or the State of Alabama seeks a rehearing before the appeals court. "All this does really is let us proceed with this case," said Kira Fonteneau, attorney representing the sex offenders. "It's a great first step ... It (the appeals ruling) doesn't determine anything as to what is going to happen with the case." Sheriff's officials said they will not appeal the ruling and will continue to fight the case in the lower court. They feel strongly about it, Sheriff Mike Hale said, because victims of sexual assault and sexual abuse have a very difficult time putting their lives back together, if ever, especially victims who are children. "The argument that these offenders have paid their debt carries little weight with us," Hale said. "The laws involving sex offenders were created with one thing in mind and that is to protect others from becoming victims." "We strongly believe they are trying to create a loophole in that law by claiming to be indigent so they may go about in society unmonitored," Hale said. "We will fight that vigorously and look forward to the case being considered by the lower courts." Closing a loophole The sheriff said he will ask the state legislators to strengthen the law closing any such loophole possibility. "We agree with the state of Alabama that they must provide a legitimate address before being released back into our society," he said. Chief Deputy Randy Christian said investigators would have little success doing that if a sex offender was released without authorities having the ability to warn the public about who they are, what they look like and where they intend to live. "Our job is to be advocates for crime victims and protect potential victims. Not only is that the right thing to do, but Sheriff Hale demands it," Christian said. The four men -- Sidney Gipson, William McGuirk, Timothy Guthery and James Sasser -- had sued in 2008. Their lawsuit asks that a procedure be put in place to determine if they are indigent. If they are deemed indigent, provisions would be made for them to comply with the law without being indefinitely held in jail. Lack of a process If the state is going to require people to get housing then there ought to be some process for people who can't afford to get housing, Fonteneau said. "The law does not provide a process for law enforcement or the individual to deal with it ... There's just nothing there," she said. Gipson and McGuirk remain in the Jefferson County Jail, while Guthery and Sasser have been released. Fonteneau said she doesn't know exactly how many inmates in the Jefferson County jail are in the same position as the four men who filed the lawsuit. Christian said Wednesday there were six inmates in the county jail who have provided addresses, but they aren't compliant with the law, so they haven't been released. Either the addresses don't exist or they fail to meet with guidelines, for example, being too close to a school, he said. One inmate continues to be held because he hasn't provided any address at all, he said. E-mail: kfaulk@bhamnews.com http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/08/federal_appeals_court_reverses.html Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:34:49 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4325#4325 Community-Based Programs Yield Treatment Success for Sex Offenders http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/GreatNews-f125c8c1a7242555acbec8b30c1fab1e.jpg Approach Provides Proven, Cost-Effective Pathway to Public Safety BOSTON, Aug. 12, 2010 — A recent analysis conducted by the Associated Press revealed that the 20 states with civil commitment laws will spend nearly $500 million in 2010 to incarcerate only 5,000 offenders. According to experts at the Boston-based Institute for Sexual Wellness (ISW), states concerned with how to pay for these programs over the long term should investigate community-based programs. Not only are such programs available at a fraction of the cost of civil commitment, but they are demonstrating high success in preventing recidivism. The Center for Sex Offender Management (CSOM) defines treatment as “the delivery of prescribed interventions as a means of managing crime-producing factors and promoting positive and meaningful goal attainment for participants, all in the interest of enhancing public safety.” At ISW, offenders typically receive evidence-based treatment that includes cognitive behavioral therapies focused on relapse prevention. While the Associated Press article noted ongoing debate questioning the efficacy of psychological treatment in making predators less threatening, current medical research supports that the approach does reduce recidivism. Renee Sorrentino, M.D., medical director of ISW, cites recent studies showing that recidivism rates for treated sexual offenders are indeed lower than those for untreated offenders. “The key step in deciding the most appropriate treatment for an offender is an extensive initial evaluation that clearly identifies the individual’s risk factors. While no two treatment plans are the same, most utilize a mix of psychological and pharmacological aspects. Both are effective means for reducing an offender’s risk of committing further sexual crimes,” said Sara Moore, a psychologist at ISW. Community-based treatment is usually offered through probation to individuals registered as level 2 and 3 sex offenders. Individuals referred to community clinics such as ISW have outgoing supervision by probation; patients not adhering to the treatment elements prescribed are considered in violation of probation and subsequently re-incarcerated. Dr. Sorrentino estimates that the total monthly cost of typical treatment provided by ISW is approximately $225, much of which is covered by health insurance. Beyond serving as an effective means for the reduction of offender recidivism, another benefit of community-based programs is an opportunity to reintegrate offenders into the community under extremely close supervision on multiple levels. “A long jail sentence may seem like the best approach to public safety when dealing with sex offenders, but without appropriate, ongoing treatment, the risk of re-offense upon release is significant,” said Dr. Sorrentino. About ISW Founded in 2006, the Institute for Sexual Wellness (ISW) provides evidence-based comprehensive assessment, psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment to individuals whose behaviors pose a high risk to themselves and/or others. ISW is led by Renee Sorrentino, M.D., a board-certified forensic psychiatrist and clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School. ISW’s clinical team is uniquely qualified to address the needs of individuals with sexually abusive and related behaviors to ensure personal well-being and community safety. For more, visit http://www.instituteforsexualwellness.org. For ISW: Anja Mitrovic p. 617-479-4501 anja@instituteforsexualwellness.org http://www.ereleases.com/pr/communitybased-programs-yield-treatment-success-sex-offenders-39033 Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:14:41 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=18&id=4324#4324 Look At It This Way by Steve Mason DrSBMason@aol.com http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/smason_edit.jpg We make some of our greatest gains When we see old things In new ways Sex Offenders R Us What would you do? Just 10 minutes ago, you dropped your three kids off at the resort’s pool and now you return to find your youngest lying face down on a lounge chair nude but for his swim suit dangling from one leg with a strange man draped across his little body. You run up to confront the miscreant, but he merely stands and after the briefest of moments, and without so much as a word, walks off. I was that man. My wife and I had just checked out and I went to sit by the pool for a few minutes while she went to the lobby to give her e-mails a final check before we left. It was at that point that this lady deposited her brood and took off…telling the older boy and girl (both around 10) to watch their younger brother who was perhaps five. So naturally the little squirt jumps into the deep end and goes right to the bottom. Who didn't see that one coming? At this point I should say that although I've spent lots of time on the water and am certified in SCUBA, I’m not an especially good swimmer and the last thing I ever want to do is play Life Guard. The kid came up once just long enough to sputter and then went down again. RATS! Not a soul in sight except for the other two tykes standing saucer-eyed and paralyzed and, of course, me. To the rescue! I was shocked at how much like a wet towel the kid felt when I fetched his inert body up from 10 feet, threw him down onto the lounge and jumped on top…using enough force to start him chocking up water. He was just about breathing normally and the two other kids were just about regaining control of their bodies when the battle axe returns to the scene and confronts ME…who should be on the local news getting a key to the city! I was about to give her what-for when I saw the faces of the kids. All three united in stony silence. Who was this man who suddenly jumped their little brother - their little brother who was behaving like a saint whilst being watched over by his older siblings? I got my wife and, still soaking wet, jumped into the car and took off. I could have stuck around and explained my side of the story to the police but what of the three kids who surely would feign ignorance of my life-saving heroics? In this current climate, combine a few “Expert” witnesses and a jury of assorted “Survivors” and I'd soon be basking in the rosy glow of the Concern Citizens crosses burning on my lawn. No…the odds didn't look good. And when I say “current climate,” keep in mind that almost 30,000 readers (so far) have hit on my “Hi…I’m Your Sex Offender Neighbor” column. Why? It’s certainly not a terrific piece of writing. All I did was copy a couple of letters and stand back. So one wonders what drew the mob? I did a very quick skim of almost 70 comments and tried to get a feel for the group. Approximately 59 percent thought the Sex Offender laws should be changed while 34 percent felt they were just fine as they stood. That left 7 percent I couldn’t figure out. For example: something like “You people make me want to wash my hands” never identified the offending people. But exactly why this nation should be so hooked on kiddy sex makes one wonder. Was it ever such a cause celebre in other times and other places? The Kinsey Institute reports it’s actually a fairly common occurrence with a quarter of the U.S. population having intercourse by age 15 and almost half by age 17…and this says nothing about various forms of foreplay. Look At It This Way My concern is that, unlike all other Innocent-Until-Proven-Guilty situations, the only thing needed here to really ruin someone’s life – perhaps yours – is the charge. It’s why I called this column “Sex Offenders R Us” as in you and I. Once a Witch Trial gets started, nobody is safe. And if at this point, some of you are saying: No Way Not Me! OK…why not you? I'm sure readers would be interested in why you think it could never happen to you? It could oh so easily have happened to me back at that pool. http://dabelly.com/columns/look93.htm Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:00:56 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4323#4323 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLpG3B1dXMg Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:41:19 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=79&id=4322#4322 early education : OH: Government Collecting Personal Information About Neighbors of Sex Offenders http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/angry-ebbfdf56d7cb98d3eea1cdd9bbe161c0.gif early education Google/AP: In turnabout, Ohio ex-con gets data on neighbors. Columbus, Ohio — Neighbors routinely get a picture and a name when a sex offender moves next door. In a turnabout, an Ohio sex offender has received private information about his neighbors, including their Social Security numbers. The material was shown to The Associated Press by convicted a sex offender XXX, who was mistakenly given the information by a prosecutor. The data also contain the names, addresses and birth dates of nine of XXX’s one-time neighbors on Columbus’ east side. There was no indication XXX misused anything in the files. XXX, 80, says he came forward because he recognizes the irony of it falling into the hands of someone like him. “Someone with a criminal mind could really use that information the wrong way,” he said. The case also offers a view into a massive and controversial database designed to track criminals with the help of a raft of background information, including data on people whose only connection to a criminal is a similar address. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien took responsibility for the error, which he believes to be isolated.(yeah, right) XXX’s former neighbors, meanwhile, are wondering why the government has data about them at all. “They don’t need to be running my personal information,” said Don Hickman, 47, who still lives on the street where XXX once worked as a live-in church groundskeeper. “I’m not a sex offender. I’ve done nothing wrong here.” Neighbor information is useful to police when serving warrants, making family connections and finding fugitives, said Shannon Crowther, who heads technology services for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. The information was released to XXX last summer, as prosecutors were grappling with more than 7,000 lawsuits that sex offenders had filed against Ohio’s first-in-the-nation implementation of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The offenders’ challenges contend the federal law’s stricter classifications and longer reporting periods can’t be applied retroactively. (see Bodyke vs. Ohio http://shar.es/00aQK ) XXX’s His obligation to stay on the registry expired in July. O’Brien said XXX had zealously sought records held in his county sex offender file. After XXX threatened to take the issue to federal court, an assistant prosecutor turned over the documents. “They feared he’d say, ‘See, you’re still hiding stuff,’ so they released everything in the file, lock, stock and barrel, and didn’t properly review it,” O’Brien said. “They gave him things they shouldn’t have.” This is what you deserve when you allow government to post citizens on public registries. Once you allow the surveillance of one person, you give up your own privacy as well. You really didn’t think it would stop at just sex offenders, did you? This former offender should be applauded. He did the right thing; turning over the information to authorities without using it for his own gain, even as the state of Ohio was violating his constitutional rights by keeping him listed on the sex offender registry retro-actively, which has now been prohibited by the Ohio Supreme Court. Google/AP: In turnabout, Ohio ex-con gets data on neighbors. Columbus, Ohio — Neighbors routinely get a picture and a name when a sex offender moves next door. In a turnabout, an Ohio sex offender has received private information about his neighbors, including their Social Security numbers. The material was shown to The Associated Press by convicted a sex offender XXX, who was mistakenly given the information by a prosecutor. The data also contain the names, addresses and birth dates of nine of XXX’s one-time neighbors on Columbus’ east side. There was no indication XXX misused anything in the files. XXX, 80, says he college in india came forward because he recognizes the irony of it falling into the hands of someone like him. “Someone with a criminal mind could really use that information the wrong way,” he said. The case also offers a view into a massive and controversial database designed to track criminals with the help of a raft of background information, including data on people whose only connection to a criminal is a similar address. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien took responsibility for the error, which he believes to be isolated.(yeah, right) XXX’s former neighbors, meanwhile, are wondering why the government has data about them college in punjab at all. “They don’t need to be running my personal information,” said Don Hickman, 47, who still lives on the street where XXX once worked as a live-in church groundskeeper. “I’m not a sex offender. I’ve done nothing wrong here.” Neighbor information is useful to police when serving warrants, making family connections and finding fugitives, said Shannon Crowther, who heads technology services for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. The information was released to XXX last summer, as prosecutors were grappling with more than 7,000 lawsuits that sex offenders had filed against Ohio’s first-in-the-nation implementation of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety college punjab india Act. The offenders’ challenges contend the federal law’s stricter classifications and longer reporting periods can’t be applied retroactively. (see Bodyke vs. Ohio) http://shar.es/00aQK XXX’s His obligation to stay on the registry expired in July. O’Brien said XXX had zealously sought records held in his county sex offender file. After XXX threatened to take the issue to federal court, an assistant prosecutor turned over the documents. “They feared he’d say, ‘See, you’re still hiding stuff,’ so they released everything in the file, lock, stock and barrel, and didn’t properly review it,” O’Brien said. “They gave him things they shouldn’t have.” This is what you deserve when you allow government to post citizens on public registries. Once you allow the surveillance of one person, you give up your own privacy as well. You really didn’t think it would stop at just sex offenders, did you? This former offender should be applauded. He did the right thing; turning over the information to authorities without using it for his own gain, even as the state of Ohio was violating his constitutional rights by keeping him listed on the sex offender registry retro-actively, which has now been prohibited by the Ohio Supreme Wed, 11 Aug 2010 11:28:29 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=60&id=4321#4321 Convicted Sex Offenders – The Other View http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/sexoffendergraphic1_300x225.jpg David is a convicted child molester, a registered sex offender, who has served his time and currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. So what should society do with him now that he’s out? Watch him like a hawk? Well, that’s already being done via the registry through which he must regularly report his every lifestyle move – where he lives, where he works, what car he drives, where he spends his time. For many of us the quick answer would be, “Lock him up and throw away the key!” And until I met David I would have joined in that chorus. Once a sex offender always a sex offender – that’s been my mantra. To make a very long story short David’s estranged wife accused him of sexually touching their 5 year old daughter during a visitation. Their 7 year old son allegedly saw it happen during a nap time when all three of them had laid down to take a quick snooze. At trial stories changed, physical examinations proved nothing wrong but David was sentenced to six years in prison. He says everything you’ve heard about life inside for a convicted child molester is true, it’s the hardest time you can do. David says he never ever would have done what he was charged with. Now that he’s free his children, who live with his mother-in-law, don’t talk to him. His troubled ex-wife died of a methadone overdose while he was serving time. David is getting on with his life. For the last two years he’s been diligently working a job where they don’t mind his past, going to church, showing up for his court mandated checks like clockwork and spending time with Alice. Alice is how I come to know David. She is a remarkable woman who at the age of 79 gently tells me I’ve had it all wrong about convicted molesters. The media, Alice politely scolded me, never talks the convicted innocent or the released offender who truly wants opportunities to live a better life – a job, a place to live, a break from society – none of which comes easy to them. “It doesn’t matter to me what they did,” Alice said while stressing the faith she and her late husband, Pastor Don, shared. “My mission is to make sure they don’t re-offend.” “We have redefined the word rape in this country,” she told me as she detailed what she’d learned in recent classes about the eight levels of sex offenses we punish. Many include the kind of behavior that teenagers often engage in: Removal of an item of clothing, skin-on-skin contact, non-penetrating acts. Alice and I discussed the case of 17 year old honor student Genarlow Wilson of Georgia who got 10 years for engaging in an oral act with a willing 15 year old girl at a New Year’s Eve party. His life was ruined. In her quiet, dignified way Alice says the media fans the flames of ignorance. Reporters stress only the most extreme accounts of perverts who kidnap and kill children. They don’t adequately explain flimsy trial evidence or today’s rampant zeal to convict at even a hint of inappropriate behavior. Alice followed in Pastor Don’s footsteps, visiting the convicted in prison. Her grown children think she’s “losing her marbles” as she meets and becomes involved with more of these convicts, determined to help them when they get out. “I believe God can change anyone’s life,” she explained. Take cross country truck driver Robert, for example. Alice says he had sex with a mature looking 16 year old waitress. He gets out next year after serving 10 years. Inside prison he’s been attacked several times and now must walk with a cane. Jose served 10 years for something he did with a minor when he was 16. When he was released he wanted to go live with his Dad but the courts said no since Dad had a 30 year old felony on his record. Nothing comes easy for these convicts. And back to David. When he recently showed up for his regular 90 day check-in he was suddenly handcuffed and told there were two warrants for his arrest. Never mind that the spelling of the last name, the date of birth and social security number didn’t match David’s. He was taken into custody and it was Alice who was there to pick him up when the snafu was finally figured out. “Alice gives me the benefit of the doubt,” David says. “That holds me up to a higher standard and makes me want to life a better life.” Maybe we could all learn a lesson from Alice. She and David have given me a reason to re-think my mantra. http://dianedimond.net/convicted-sex-offenders-the-other-view/ Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:14:44 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=78&id=4320#4320 Another Gurnee boy, 8, accused of sexual molestation, this time 3-year-old twins By Megan Craig / TribLocal reporter http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/00-eb0c94a77a4b4b33541cfb0a660f9e89.jpg http://triblocal.com/Gurnee/detail/203998.html#comments Gurnee police are investigating the second allegation this week against a juvenile who is being accused of sexually assaulting other children. The mother of 3-year-old twins reported that her children, a boy and a girl, were molested on Tuesday by an 8-year-old boy. Because of the ages of the people involved, no further information on the alleged assaults is publicly available. Earlier this week, a different 8-year-old Gurnee boy was accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old friend, police said. Reports of young children assaulting others are unusual, said Cmdr. Jay Patrick with the Gurnee Police Department. "It is rare, period. Not just to have two reports in the same week. That is exceptionally rare," Patrick said. Gurnee police are working with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on the case, Patrick said. DCFS was unable to respond to inquiries about unnamed offenders. In both cases, the alleged abusers face no criminal charges or penalties related to the assaults. Under Illinois state law, no one under the age of 13 can be convicted of any crime, Patrick said. Both boys could face juvenile court action, which would focus on protecting the boys and other children around them, Patrick said. mecraig@tribune.com Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:15:24 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=18&id=4318#4318 Things That Never Happen Monday, August 9, 2010 By dreeves Things That Never Happen http://shar.es/0mRoJ The Counterfactual News Network? I love this quote from security expert Bruce Schneier: Remember, if it’s in the news don’t worry about it. The very definition of news is “something that almost never happens.” When something is so common that it’s no longer news — car crashes, domestic violence — that’s when you should worry about it. The truth of that[1] hit home recently when I saw a news feature on the abduction of a four-year-old girl from her front yard in Missouri. Candlelight vigils, nation-wide amber alert, police blockades where every single car was stopped and questioned, FBI agents swarming the house. I think the expected reaction from parents is “oh my god, I need to be so vigilant, even in my own front yard!” My reaction was the opposite: Wow, this sort of thing really does essentially never happen. Let the kids run free! I’m saying this without a drop of irony. Stranger abductions just don’t happen. You should worry more about your baby boy dying from complications of circumcision (true). What you should actually worry about are the real killers of kids, like driving and drowning. Speaking of which, here’s a valuable public service announcement about what drowning looks like. (It doesn’t look like drowning.) By the way, if you didn’t hear the news story about the four-year-old girl, it had a happy ending. She turned up unharmed. The Opposite Story: Things That Do Happen But speaking of child abductions and drowning, I have to bring up a brutally ironic news story from several years ago. In summary, a toddler got separated from her caregivers and wandered off, where a passerby saw her. Seeing no one else around, his first instinct was to scoop her up and take her with him. But he decided that that was a big risk to himself — what would people think? — and continued on, reporting it later. The girl then fell in a pond and drowned. Just to spell out the heart-wrenching irony: Even though the man made the wrong decision (and should’ve known it at the time) he was correct that helping that girl was dangerous to him. He could’ve been accused of abducting the girl and the accusation, sadly, and insanely, would have been taken very seriously. That needs to change. Remember, child abductions by strangers don’t happen! Picking up a lost child should not be regarded with any suspicion! Arrgh! “That adult simply is not going to happen to be a child predator! Put that absurd thought out of your mind.” This is also why I think these common guidelines parents give their young kids about which kinds of adults to seek help from if they’re lost (store employees, other moms) are misguided and dangerous. The best person to get assistance from is the first adult they find. That adult simply is not going to happen to be a child predator! Put that absurd thought out of your mind. By the way, the above story happened in the UK which, strangely, seems to be the only place worse than the US with this out-of-control paranoia. This image defies comment. But Think of the Children! Q: Isn’t some amount of paranoia justified when it comes to children? Shouldn’t they at least be taught the difference between good strangers and bad strangers? Shouldn’t we be vigilant about any possible danger? A: I disagree that children need to learn about “bad strangers”. I teach my kids that strangers are good, period. This is hard to talk about but it’s true: a scary number of kids really do get abused and it’s rarely by strangers. Your kids need to know about inappropriate touching but please don’t muddy that with talk of strangers. (Can you imagine, “it’s ok, I’m not a stranger…” Shudder!) As for vigilance, it’s a limited resource: focus your energy on the real dangers. At risk of getting repetitive I’ll re-assert my strong belief: No stranger will ever harm your child. It’s a risk (and, fine, if you want to get technical, it’s a risk, with some positive probability) that you can completely ignore. In fact, I’ll go further and say that maximum vigilance requires that you actively dismiss the idea that stangers can be dangerous. Doing so could prevent, for example, something like the tragically ironic drowning of the girl in that news story. Q: I heard that there were 5 attempted abductions in Central Park last week. What do you say to that? (This was a real response when this came up on a parent list I’m on, though I doubt the veracity of the claim. The rest of these questions were real too, though most weren’t phrased as questions.) A: It’s hard to even imagine this number but Central Park gets 25 million visitors every year. With those numbers, impossibly unlikely things will have happened to someone but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to worry about them happening to you. Like when you hear about a meteor crashing through the roof of someone’s house (that’s for real, by the way). “You have a 1 in 25 million chance of getting killed by a tree if you visit Central Park.” Sticking with Central Park, here’s another real story from this summer: A woman and her baby were posing for a photo under a tree and a branch somehow fell off and killed the child. So that’s a 1 in 25 million chance of getting killed by a tree if you visit Central Park. (The appliances in your house are more dangerous than that.) More to the point though, what’s an attempted abduction? Is it like this? A stranger talking to a child and the parents freaking out? Even more to the point, if you hear official numbers on child abductions they sound horrifying, until you learn that they’re mostly divorced parents in custody battles. Which should give you pause if you’re a divorced parent, but again we’re back to: know where to focus your vigilance. Think about who has repeated contact with your child, not the stranger in the park. Q: What if child abductions are so rare precisely because parents are so vigilant? A: I’m not advocating any kind of extreme disregard for children’s safety. In fact, I’m basically advocating raising kids more like how kids were raised a couple generations ago. Q: But that was a different time! A: Yes, it’s actually safer now. You wouldn’t think so from watching the news but crime has been going down for a couple decades and is currently at 1960s levels in the US. Q: Fine, but what’s the harm in being cautious? A: Here’s how Lenore Skenazy of Free-Range Kids (highly recommended) puts it: Children, like chickens, deserve a life outside the cage. The overprotected life is stunting and stifling, not to mention boring for all concerned. Straw Exit Poll Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:32:53 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=18&id=4317#4317 Rep Brian Bilbray: "Natural Birth To Be Prez Is Just A Legend" - Arnold 2012? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkSLeQX9JBg Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:04:49 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=76&id=4316#4316 Thirty-seven South Dakotans have been removed from the state's registry of sex offenders. http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/000_newspaper-7c43bf7da6b487ea780645a5ea0e5b05.gif Attorney General Marty Jackley says all 37 had been convicted of misdemeanor indecent exposure. Their names were purged automatically in accordance with a new state law. Lawmakers created a tiered system that allows people convicted of lesser sex offenses to be removed by petition either 10 or 25 years after their conviction. Jackley had argued that misdemeanor offenders on the list should be required to petition as well, but lawmakers overruled him. Jackley says two petitions for removal have been delivered to his office but lawyers are still reviewing the requests. Sex offenders deemed high risk, such as those convicted of violent rape or child molestation, can never get off the list. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com ews/article_db7a29e0-a3b1-11df-9227-001cc4c002e0.html Mon, 09 Aug 2010 10:26:07 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=91&id=4315#4315 Letter to the editor: Ten-digit fury http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/angry-aea78f6fdd58bfce72456a8c88367ad2.gif Residents of the 918 area code will be required to dial the 918 area code plus the local number to complete calls in northeastern Oklahoma. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World By Kent Harrell, Tulsa Published: 8/8/2010 2:19 AM Last Modified: 8/8/2010 4:40 AM It is bad enough when telecom providers and regulators combine to give ordinary consumers the shaft, worse when they blame their bad solution on us. The Area Code Overlay plan approved by Corporation Commissioners Bob Anthony and Jeff Cloud earlier this year and which begins a "permissive" period on Aug. 7, scrambles eastern Oklahoma's telephone numbers, requiring customers to dial 10 digits to call their next-door neighbor. Pushed by commission staff (read: future telecom execs) and various telecom providers, the approved plan saves the providers some transition expense while inconveniencing northeastern Oklahoma customers forevermore. Overlay area codes might make sense in large metropolitan areas such as Dallas or Houston, where geographic boundaries are indistinct or impossible, but not in a sparsely populated area, where divisions by area are the norm. Note that the commissioners opted not to burden their home area with such a plan when they divided the 405 area code in 1997. Anthony defended the decision saying the commission "... avoid(ed) the disruption and cost of forcing large numbers of people to change their phone number." Well, don't they reprint the phone books every year anyway? He added, "Though they will all be disadvantaged equally since they have to go to 10-digit dialing." And to think none of us knew the purpose of the Corporation Commission was to "disadvantage us all equally." Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectid=62&articleid=20100808_62_G2_Reside697735&r=85 Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:34:15 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4314#4314 When Ever-Expanding Penalties for Sex Crimes Create Injustice http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_opinion-7c8f465f8903c46104626db43a4b4b83.jpg In its recent decision in U.S. v. Comstock, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal statute detaining those deemed to be sexually dangerous predators. Learn more about the injustices that may ensue. August 06, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- In its recent decision in the case of U.S. v. Comstock, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal statute allowing the indefinite detention of those the statute refers to as sexually dangerous predators. Securing civil commitment after a sexual offender has completed his prison term does have limits, and ultimately this law will apply to only a very small subset of those convicted of sex crimes. Yet, it is another example of the ever-growing range of penalties that can impact someone convicted of a sex crime long after he has served his prison term. There is little public disagreement that such administrative penalties are appropriate when applied to the most dangerous predatory sex offenders. Unfortunately, those convicted of relatively minor sex crimes may face many of the same mandatory sex offender registration and lifetime restrictions as those convicted of more serious crimes. In some cases, a youthful mistake could mean an unfair and irreversible penalty. Consequences of Being a Sex Offender Several of the more traditional penalties imposed on sex offenders, such as length of sentence or the restrictions on availability of early parole, vary considerably based on the seriousness of the conviction. For example, an offender convicted of a violent sexual assault will likely be sentenced to a longer prison term than an offender charged with indecent exposure in front of a child. However, even for those offenders who receive relatively light sentences, conviction of a sex crime comes with mandatory sex offender registration. Most sex offenses require lifetime registration, although a few, such as attempted sexual assault, only require registration for 10 years following discharge from state supervision. In Texas, registration is even required for defendants in sex crime cases who receive deferred adjudication, in which is a conviction can be avoided and charges will be dismissed if a probation period is successfully completed. That means someone who never sees the inside of a cell and does not have a conviction could nonetheless wind up on the Texas sex offender registry. The consequences of being registered as a sex offender in Texas are substantial. Minimum legal requirements include periodically verifying registration information with local law enforcement authorities and making proper notification when relocating or regularly visiting an area other than the municipality where an offender is registered. A sex offender will always be monitored by the government, just as citizens are watched in a Communist state. Furthermore, paroled sex offenders or those otherwise under community supervision are not allowed to be within 500 feet of any place where children are known to congregate (although once an offender has fully completed their sentence there are no registry regulations preventing them from being around children). While the Texas Sex Offender Registration Program itself does not prohibit sex offenders from working in certain occupations or professions, state law that regulates a particular trade may well do so. For most registered sex offenders, the notoriety and negative public sentiment attached to placement on a sex offender registry is far more consequential than the strict legal requirements they must follow. The Texas Department of Public Safety maintains an online public database of the state's sex offender registry featuring free sex offender searches by name or location. Anyone, from prospective employers to neighborhood advocacy groups, can pinpoint the name, address, and other basic information of registered offenders. This creates lifelong difficulties in reintegrating into the community and obtaining employment. For those offenders deemed to be at a high risk of re-offending, further written notification is provided through the mail to all homes within a given radius; however, local law enforcement authorities are permitted to publish even low and moderate-risk offenders in area newspapers. Risk-level is also included in the online database, although offenders at all levels of risk are displayed collectively. The Unjust Inconsistencies of Sex Offender Registries To understand how justice can be lost in this process, imagine two defendants being sentenced in a Texas courtroom. One committed a violent rape against a young child; the other was 20 years old when he engaged in consensual intercourse with his 16 year-old girlfriend. Both of these offenses are sex crimes requiring registration. The first offender will likely receive a longer term of incarceration, but each defendant faces very similar requirements in terms of the sex offender registry. Picture an even more shocking scenario in which, several years later, the second offender goes on to marry his 'victim' and never commits another crime. He will still be on the same database as the violent child rapist, and on the same website, his name popping up on the same searches. Not only is it a waste of law enforcement resources to focus on tracking such an obviously innocuous former offender, it is beyond unfair in a system that purports to foster proportionality in punishment. Most agree that heightened community awareness of the most dangerous sexual predators is critically important. But, the term 'sex crime' encompasses too wide an array of offenses, and it is morally troubling that they all appear under the same banner. For those convicted of less serious offenses that still require registration, injustice is inherent in the current broad approach to treatment of sex crime offenders. Article provided by Patrick J. McLain Visit us at www.dallasdefenselaw.com http://obama.einnews.com/247pr/164342 Sat, 07 Aug 2010 11:22:07 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=16&id=4313#4313 Romeos and the Juliets - A Scarlet Letter "RSO" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2G5DgKwUKY Enough.. is enough already!!!! When are lawmakers going to sit down, open their eyes wide open and reform these damn laws. It's time to stop the political posturing and grow some b_lls!!! Why should any teenager? And their families, keep suffering for the shortcomings of legislature? Can't you see that these laws are ruining the lives of thousands of teens across the U.S.? Why should teens, just being your average teenager, have to keep enduring the punishments that were created to penalize the most serious "Monsters" out there? The sex offender registry was created for having the worst, of the worst, placed on there. Not some horny teenager who had consensual sex with another teen. Have you lawmakers forgotten when you were a teenager? You all had your chance at a life... Give them theirs back. "Reform the laws now" Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:42:01 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4312#4312 Inmate's case puts focus on a flawed system http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_innocent-a666af9d43f8a49e8ea1ec9377e912f7.jpg By FRED GRIMM fgrimm@MiamiHerald.com The victim testified at Derrick Williams' kidnapping and rape trial that her assailant pulled his gray T-shirt over her head to keep her from seeing his face. A few moments later, she managed to escape her attacker, driving away with that telltale T-shirt still in the car. The gray shirt, identified vaguely by Williams' girlfriend as similar to one he owned, provided prosecutors with their only physical evidence in the 1993 Manatee County trial that sent Williams to prison to serve two consecutive life sentences for kidnapping and sexual battery. This week, that same gray T-shirt became crucial evidence of another kind. Tests of sweat stains and skin cells from inside the collar of the shirt excluded Williams ``as the contributor of this biological material,'' according to a motion filed by the Innocence Project of Florida in Manatee Circuit Court Tuesday. ``These DNA results transform the evidentiary value of the primary piece of physical evidence the state used to link Williams to the crime,'' the motion stated. ``What at trial was the state's most powerful physical evidence of guilt is now powerful evidence of innocence.'' Williams, 47, remains in prison. Twelfth Circuit prosecutors told reporters Tuesday that they intend to fight his motion for an evidentiary hearing. ``We asked for a sit down and try to talk this through,'' Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida, said Wednesday. ``They said they won't meet with us. Well, we'll have our meeting in court.'' Earlier this month, after an embarrassing string of DNA exonerations, the state Supreme Court appointed an innocence commission to examine the procedural flaws that led to so many wrongful convictions in Florida. The case of Derrick Williams, though he's technically still a convicted rapist, featured several recurring themes in those lousy cases. Other than the gray shirt, Williams' prosecution relied on the victim's identification . Last year a special master appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to examine the discomfiting vagaries of eyewitness identification looked into more than 200 scientific studies and articles, which were ``voluminous, comprehensive and consistent'' in casting doubt on eyewitness reliability. Seventy five percent of the nation's DNA exonerations can be traced back to witness misidentificat ion. The New Jersey report noted, ``An analysis of the first 239 DNA exonerations found that over 250 witnesses misidentified innocent suspects.'' A number of wrongful convictions were rooted in suggestive photo line-ups. The New Jersey report was particularly critical of police procedures that included a suspect in one photo lineup and later placed his face in another line-up. Manatee County sheriff's investigators back in 1992 compounded that error. The original photo lineup included two photos of Williams. And once a bad ID is made, witnesses tend to become ever more adament. Shoddy police practices in the case continued with the loss of hair and other biological evidence. The Manatee County Sheriff's Office finally admitted in 2008 that the material had been incinerated after an evidence room flood left it moldy and mildewed. But the gray T-shirt survived, now evidence of a very different kind. Evidence that needs close scrutiny from the Florida Innocence Commission. http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/28/1751244/inmates-case-puts-focus-on-a-flawed.html Sat, 07 Aug 2010 08:20:22 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=35&id=4311#4311 Georgia’s sex offender registry a mess, state auditors say August 5, 2010 -- http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/russell_hinton.jpg By JIM WALLS http://www.atlantaunfiltered.com/2010/08/05/georgias-sex-offender-registry-a-mess-state-auditors-say/ Georgia’s sex offender registries are inaccurate, outdated and incomplete, potentially misleading the public about the threat of offenders living or working in their communities, state auditors say. An outdated and inflexible computer system is the cause of many of the troubles, State Auditor Russell W. Hinton said in a report released Wednesday. The system “is not easily adapted,” so it doesn’t contain all the information that the state’s 11,000-plus registered offenders must report and does not easily accept data transfers from state prisons and other agencies that often have more up-to-date information, the report says. Auditors also found: * The state’s 159 sheriffs, required by Georgia law to maintain their own separate registries, often have information that conflicts with and is more current than the statewide registry kept by the GBI. * The registry has inadequate controls to check the accuracy of the information once it’s entered. * Data is not updated in a timely manner, particularly descriptions and photos * Data entry errors abound, including incorrect street addresses and cities that many people use to search for offenders in their communities. * The state’s online registry, used for 8 million searches a year, reports where offenders reside but not where they attend school or work, information the law also requires the offenders to report. Auditors also observed that the state registry is missing “contextual information important to the public’s perception of risk.” What’s missing? It doesn’t inform the public “that most sex crimes are committed by acquaintances of their victims, not unknown registered sex offenders.” GBI officials agreed with many of the auditors’ findings but cited funding and staffing as major obstacles to improving the registry. Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:26:16 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=30&id=4310#4310 California for Romeo and Juliet Law http://caforromeoandjulietlaw.blogspot.com/2010/08/petition.html Our purpose is the sharing of information, the raising of awareness, the advocacy for change. Named for the fated lovers in William Shakespeare's play, the "Romeo and Juliet" Law is an attempt to define and separate the consensual acts of teens in the context of loving relationships from violent and predatory sex offenders. We ask... SHOULD LOVE=CRIME? TO SIGN - Please go to the link at the top left-hand side of this page, and click! http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/romeo_and_juliet2.jpg Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:32:01 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=16&id=4309#4309 Sheriff busts breast-baring teens, photo taker http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/000-38c515129c386efc119ad3a06928e360.jpg Unbelievable! Fact: "Among high school students nationwide, 34.2% were currently sexually active,.." Source: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf#page=003. Why are these youngsters not arrested, its not like they are unknown? 8-6-2010 Florida: The photo-taker could be deemed a registered sex offender CHARLOTTE COUNTY - A lawman's work is never done, apparently even for a sheriff in an unmarked cop car who sees girls flashing their breasts at passing motorists. That very thing happened last night to Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron, who was driving around to National Night Out community safety events when the girls exposed their breasts at him, according to a sheriff's press release. Cameron was driving on State Road 776 near County Road 771 around 7 p.m. Tuesday when he saw the girls flash him and other drivers. He turned around to confront them when he saw a motorist drive up and snap a photo on his cell phone of the naked girls, the release said. Cameron detained all three people, and all were later arrested. The two girls, who turned out to be 15, were arrested on indecent exposure charges; their names were not released, though the release pointed out that one is a local girl and the other is from another state. They were booked and released to parents. Meanwhile, 33-year-old Robert Lee Blevins of the 6500 block of Coliseum Boulevard was arrested and charged with felony possession of photos of sexual performance by a child and a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Authorities confiscated evidence, including Blevins' phone that held the photo of the girls, the release said. If convicted, Blevins could face five years in prison and could be deemed a registered sex offender. The sheriff's office press release concludes with a message to the media: “Don't even ask as the evidence photo will NOT be released since they are juveniles.” ..Source.. Hearld-Tribune http://sexoffenderresearch.blogspot.com/2010/08/sheriff-busts-breast-baring-teens-photo.html Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:00:06 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=25&id=4308#4308 No easy answers Residents object to sex offenders as neighbors, but what is the alternative? http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/bg_4281078.jpg August 04, 2010 Residents of Ashland's Quiet Village neighborhood are making noise about convicted sex offenders living among them, and it's hard to blame them. But there is a larger issue here, one that raises questions about how our communities deal with those who break the rules. Sexual abuse is a frightening topic, and movies, books and television shows can make it seem there is a rapist lurking behind every bush. Consider the primary objection from the Quiet Village neighbors: Our children are at risk. The statistics about child sexual abuse — a specific category of sexual offenses in general — are clear: Between 30 percent and 40 percent of child victims are abused by a family member. Half are victimized by someone they know. Children abused by a stranger amount to 10 percent of all victims. According to the U.S. Justice Department, 5.3 percent of convicted sex offenders commit another sex crime after being released from prison — lower than the rates for selling drugs and burglary. What's more, the three men living in the home in Quiet Village are not classified as predatory offenders. If they were, the law would have required police to notify neighbors that they were there. Eugene Haag, the owner of the home where the men live, is a regional chaplain for the Oregon Department of Corrections. He has rented rooms in his home to sex offenders and others on parole for 36 years, and he says no resident has ever committed a crime while living there. Haag says he rents to offenders to give them a place to live and to help them avoid repeating their crimes. He says further that he has no intention of changing his rental policy. Haag has a point when he asks where offenders are supposed to live. The worst situation for anyone released from prison is to be homeless, living on the street exposed to active criminals who are not behind bars. If these men should not live in Quiet Village, where do the neighbors suggest they go? Some other neighborhood in Ashland? Some neighborhood in Medford? Talent? Phoenix? And who gets to decide? Residents are entitled to be concerned about the security of their neighborhoods and the safety of their children. But so are the residents of every community in Jackson County. Some Quiet Village residents who attended a public meeting about the issue Monday night said they plan to ask lawmakers to toughen sex-offender laws. That's an appropriate step if you are convinced the current laws are inadequate. But unless Oregon decides to impose a life sentence for every sex crime, similar situations eventually will occur. Then what? http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100804/OPINION/8040311/-1/NEWSMAP Fri, 06 Aug 2010 10:47:53 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=42&id=4306#4307 I agree that this issue needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, it was tried last year but never addressed. Our lawmakers appear to be more concerned about their jobs than the harm they have caused with these ineffective draconian sex offender laws. It's more about votes than the safety of children and citizens of Oklahoma. Law after law has been passed over the years. ALL of them were passed because they had 'sex offender' in them. NONE of these laws are based in RESEARCH!! NONE! Evidence based research is a critical and mandatory item into law making. However, our vote hungry politicians won't tell you that we are in MORE danger BECAUSE the laws as they are written, "DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD. They endanger EVERYONE and protect NO ONE! As a result, there are 824 offenders who have absconded because rather than be hounded, run out of their homes, their jobs and every part of society, they would rather go else where in hopes of being able to find housing and work. Most people don't realize it, and you certainly won't hear it from the politicians that recidivism for first time sex offenders is very very low. As of today, there are 6605 listed on the registry. MANY of them are Level III. However, many of them romeo and Juliet cases. But they are on the registry as predator/pedophile/aggravated, the worst of the worst. When IN FACT, it was nothing more than high school sweethearts who got caught having consensual sex!! The Habitual (REPEAT) offenders listed listed is, 194. That is 21 years of Oklahoma's SORA. To put it another way, 0.0233 percent Habitual (REPEAT) offenders listed on the public registry. That is LESS than 1/4 of 1 percent!! When is the last time you heard the truth about recidivism from a politician?? As one House Member told me last year when dealing with a sex offender bill, "You are absolutely correct. There are many legislators that do not have the nerve to vote against this type of legislation even when they understand that it not in the best interest of the State. It is my hope that we can stop this before it gets to the full House." That and other bills died in Committee but will no doubt be submitted again this year. Our children society is in danger because the law makers pass ineffective, inefficient laws based on fear, hysteria and vote getting sophistry! And the cost taxpayers is enormous. And that we cannot afford. Fri, 06 Aug 2010 09:29:07 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=42&id=4306#4306 Lawmaker Seeks To Reduce Punishment For Sexting Teens http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Sex_Offender_Laws_200x150-165e642fb468e7585bcd5e8d18808f4b.jpg Another school year is almost here and prosecutors have a warning for parents -- talk to your kids about sexting. Sexting is the practice of sending sexually-explicit photos, using a cell phone. Right now, it's the equivalent of possessing child pornography. Some lawmakers hope to change that, but for now, it's up to parents to keep their kids from facing serious charges. With the increase of smart phones, teens can take and send pictures to each other, including some of them that may be sexually explicit. One in three teen boys and one in four teen girls say they've seen nude or semi-nude pictures that where originally intended to be private. In Oklahoma, the child pornography law reads "every person" and does not distinguish between minors. So teenagers can be charged with child pornography and face a severe sentence -- even if they got the photos by accident. "If they forward it, show it to a friend, that's what we call publishing, it is a crime and is punishable by law," says State Rep. Anastasia Pittman. Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris warns that punishment could mean years in jail and the requirement to register as a sex offender for the rest of their lives. "We do have to get the attention of our children, to make sure that they understand the seriousness of sending nude or semi-nude photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend," Harris says. He applauds the proposed legislation, but warns that older teens could still face harsh punishment. "If you receive those images at one time and then break off and send them out to all the friends you hang with, you can be charged with a felony," Harris says. During the spring, Pittman introduced the bill that would have reduced the punishment for sexting, but it was never voted on. However both she and DA Harris expect the law to be passed in the next legislative session. http://www.ktul.com/Global/story.asp?S=12934232 Fri, 06 Aug 2010 08:35:47 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=42&id=4305#4305 Cornbread and Beans, Friday, August 6th Randy Lopp will be the featured speaker at the Tyner Cornbread and Beans luncheon on Friday August 6, 2010. His topic will be The Management of Oklahoma's Sex Offenders. The event is held at the Olive Garden on I-35. Mr. Lopp will discuss one of the most avoided subjects, the plight of Oklahoma's sex offender populations. He is Chairperson of the Oklahoma Coalition for Sex Offender Management. He has developed treatment programs for sexual deviancy as well as substance abuse treatment programs for adult and juvenile delinquency populations. Mr. Lopp is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice in Tulsa. He is also a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor and a Certified Criminal Justice Specialist. He is a member of the National Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers and the National Association of Forensic Counselors. The luncheon is sponsored by the Cleveland County Democratic Party and begins at 11:15 AM with the speaker beginning about noon. Guest will order from the Olive Garden lunch menu. The meeting is open to the public. See: New sex-offender law faces opposition http://shar.es/0aCcD Thu, 05 Aug 2010 08:57:09 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=53&id=4304#4304 New Law Addresses Loophole In Sex Offender Registration http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/00-ca3daeaeced6858eb264a2b17e0f0525.jpg http://www.wsoctv.com ews/24514064/detail.html CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a new law this week to close a loophole that allowed some sex offenders to avoid being listed in the state’s registry. Click here to see the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry Read the new bill here. For years, that loophole let out-of-state sex offenders move to North Carolina without registering. The new law requires any sex offender who is still on probation or is required to register in another state to register in North Carolina, as well. However, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Chipp Bailey said the new law creates new problems. “That's more that we're going to have to monitor,” he said. Thu, 05 Aug 2010 08:22:31 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=19&id=4303#4303 Darryl-Homeless Sex Offender Laws http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnC0cHBpH5Q Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:55:57 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=61&id=4302#4302 Nevada Rules Sex Offender Law Unconstitutional http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KucozNdnL00 Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:32:01 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4301#4301 Judge Samuel Kent: I Obstructed Justice In A Sex-Offense Case, But I'm No Sex Offender http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/judge_sam_kent_thumb_193x271.jpg U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent, currently imprisoned in Florida, is asking a federal court to overturn his sentence because, he says, the court treated him as a sex offender. "All sexual allegations against Sam Kent were dismissed by the prosecutor...S am Kent pled guilty to Obstruction of Justice, a non-sexual offense," the court document reads. The charges were dropped as part of a plea bargain to settle a case involving charges Kent, a federal judge in Galveston, sexually harassed and assaulted females on his staff. Persons who are convicted of obstruction of justice, Kent argues, are usually sent to minimum-security prisons. Instead, he says; the feds have "subjected [him] to substantial time in solitary confinement." "Contrary to the public interest," the motion says, "the Federal Bureau of Prisons has subjected Sam Kent to abusive psychological and physical conditions that have jeopardized his ongoing recovery from depression and alcoholism." Hmmm..."Abusive psychological and physical conditions"? Sounds like Sam Kent's courthouse office. The motion includes some details: On the day Sam kent resigned his position as U.S. District Judge, BOP [Bureau of Prisons] staff locked Sam Kent -- wearing only a smock and carrying only a single sheet -- in a filthy, completely empty cell where the temperature was kept at 60 degrees. In Florida during a transfer, he says, state guards "forced Sam Kent to strip naked and perform a painful and repetitive series of humiliating exercises." One guard also "cruelly ridcule[d]" Kent about his wedding ring. Once he reached his cell, "he was forced to try to sleep the first night helplessly listening to the continuous screams of a man being violently raped in the next cell." http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/08/judge_samuel_kent_i_obstructed.php Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:00:41 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=69&id=4300#4300 Pennsylvania Latest State to Consider Criminalizing Teen ‘Sexting’ http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Sexting_01-8d657404b375d9cd2d151bb7f891bd61.jpg By Ashby Jones http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/08/03/pennsylvania-latest-state-to-consider-criminalizing-teen-sexting/ textingLet’s talk about “sexting.” Should the practice of teens sending nude photos of themselves — and other racy material — from one cell phone to another be illegal? Or is this an area government should stay out of? The question lies at the center of this recent story in the Philadelphia Inquirer about an effort in York County, Pa., to prohibit minors statewide from sending sexually explicit photos or text. Earlier this month, Pennsylvania became the 21st state to consider legislation prohibiting minors from sexting. Seth Grove, a Republican from York County, told the Inquirer that his goal is not to needlessly punish children for pranks, but to create a law to protect them from themselves - and one another. “We want to make sure these pictures don’t victimize kids even more,” Grove said. As you might imagine, not everyone’s on board. Opponents say criminalizing the behavior violates free expression and privacy rights. “The way this bill is written, constitutional ly protected activity is criminalized,” said Andy Hoover, legislative director for ACLU of Pennsylvania. “So in the scenario where a teenage couple is sharing pictures with each other, and they involve only nudity, not sex acts, they can be charged.” Added Hoover: “Teaching kids about their sexuality is the job that belongs to parents and educators, not prosecutors.” The issue initially arose in Pennsylvania last year, in a case called Miller v. Skumanick. In that case, The district attorney in Tunkhannock, Pa., George Skumanick, took a novel approach after a handful of pictures turned up on cell phones at a local high school. He told parents they could either enlist their kids in an education program or have the teens face felony charges of child pornography. The ACLU sued Skumanick on behalf of a girl threatened with prosecution. Ultimately, the Third Circuit ruled for the girl, finding that Skumanick was barred from filing charges without evidence that she had engaged in distributing the picture of herself. Since then, according to the Inquirer story, prosecutors have argued that the lack of a clear sexting statute puts them in a tough spot. After all, current child-pornography laws make sexting a felony, even for minors, which could result in registration as a sex offender for 10 years or more. Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:17:10 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4299#4299 Man Found Dead In Car Was Sex Offender http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/a_murder_killed-331857261b6c6a7c7f1424783a29c4b0.jpg 8-3-2010 Florida: http://www.news4jax.com ews/24493241/detail.html JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The man found shot to death Sunday night in a vehicle parked near a Westside park was a registered sex offender who was released from prison less than two years ago. Police said the body of 35-year-old Isaac Bradley was found in a vehicle in Melvin Park, off Jade Drive West. Homicide detectives have not released details, but did say at the time they did not have a suspect in the case. Florida Department of Corrections records show Bradley had served three sentences in state prison in the past decade on various crimes, including lewd and lascivious battery on a child in 2005. Bradley was listed as a sexual predator on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement sex offender database. As of last month, Bradley's registered address was near the intersection of Lake Shore Boulevard and Park Street -- less than five miles from where his body was found. Anyone with information about the victim or any suspicious activity in the park Sunday night is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS Information leading to an arrest could earn the caller a cash reward. News4jax.com Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:29:11 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=82&id=4298#4298 Wisconsin investigates who sent lawmakers e-mails containing child pornography in blackmail plot http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Child_Porn_Hong_Kong.jpg 08/02/2010 MADISON - Investigators are trying to determine who sent e-mails containing images of child pornography to Wisconsin lawmakers as part of a blackmail plot. Ed Wall, the head of the state Justice Department's criminal investigations unit sent an e-mail Friday to the offices of all 132 state lawmakers warning them of e-mails that have been sent containing child porn. "The sender acknowledges that the intent of the note was to place child pornography on the recipient's computer as leverage to attain a desired legislative agenda," he wrote. Wall urged lawmakers not to open any attachments or to forward the e-mails if they receive them. The subject line in the messages varies and is misleading, he said. All the e-mails were sent since July 23 and contain a message regarding investigative efforts by a private group of individuals, Wall said. The state has declined to release a copy of the threatening e-mail, saying it is part of an ongoing investigation. Senate Chief Clerk Rob Marchant said he was unaware of anyone in the 33-member Senate who received the e-mail. Assembly Chief Clerk Patrick Fuller said a number of representatives had received the e-mail, but he declined to comment further because the investigation was ongoing. Several offices of Assembly members contacted by The Associated Press said they either had not received the e-mail or were told by law enforcement not to comment. Capitol Police Detective Ed Bardon declined to say how many offices received e-mails. A person must knowingly be in possession of child pornography in order to be in violation of state law. The person must also know the material they possess is sexually explicit and involving children under age 18. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/02/wis-investigates-sent-lawmakers-e-mails-containing-child-pornography-blackmail/ Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:16:20 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4297#4297 08/02/2010 PSL woman gets seven years for trying to extort convicted sex offender http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Carol_Merrilee_Wands.jpg FORT PIERCE — A 47-year-old Port St. Lucie woman convicted of trying to extort $33,000 and a 2003 Cadillac DeVille from a convicted sex offender was sentenced last week to seven years in prison. Carol Merrilee Wands faced up to 15 years behind bars for the second-degree felony conviction when she was sentenced Thursday by Circuit Judge Lawrence Mirman. During a one-day trial in June, a 41-year-old man who had pleaded no contest in 2005 to a charge of lewd or lascivious battery for inappropriately touching a teenage girl testified that after a lunch date with Wands, she demanded 33 payments of $1,000 and the title to his Cadillac or she would report to his probation officer that he forced himself on her. The man went to authorities instead, and a transaction in which he gave the car to Wands was videotaped. http://www.tcpalm.com ews/2010/aug/02/fort-pierce-psl-woman-gets-seven-years-for-to/ Tue, 03 Aug 2010 09:07:26 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=35&id=4296#4296 Have Sex-Offender Laws Gone Too Far? http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/img_bs_top___friedersdorf_sex_offender_212425189063.jpg Georgia’s high court put a guy who briefly detained—but never touched—a 17-year-old girl on a sex-offender registry. Conor Friedersdorf on why this stigma should be reserved for monsters. A Georgia man must register as a sex offender despite never having committed a sexual offense, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled this week. Jake Rainer, a small-time robber, is due to appear on a state registry alongside serial child rapists. He is prohibited from residing near churches, parks, or schools, and on moving, he’ll always stoke anxiety among his neighbors. His is one case among many that shows the absurdity of sex-offender registries kept in so many states, and even teenagers caught "sexting" are finding themselves ensared in the law. I’d prefer that first-degree rapists, child molesters, sex traffickers, and child pornographers be imprisoned for life. If they must be released, monitoring is a reasonable condition. But folks who aren’t sexual predators shouldn’t bear the same stigma. It is neither just nor prudent: Sex-offender registries best protect us when their scarlet letters are reserved for folks who are actually horrors. Is it prudent to lavish disproportionate attention on this 28-year-old man, especially given the scarce resources available to monitor truly dangerous ex-convicts? Rainer is more like a juvenile delinquent from a teen drama on the WB. As an 18-year-old, he and three conspirators arranged to purchase marijuana from a 17-year-old girl. “Instead of making a deal,” The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports, “they drove her to a cul-de-sac, took the pot and abandoned her.” Odious behavior, but it hardly warrants a lifetime branded as a sex offender. Substantial time behind bars seems harsh enough. Attorneys for the defense argued that putting their client on a sex-offender list constitutes cruel and unusual punishment—after all, the stigma alone has destroyed many lives. The majority opinion found otherwise. “Because the registration requirements themselves do not constitute punishment,” it states, “it is of no consequence whether or not one has committed an offense that is ‘sexual’ in nature”—this despite the fact that every single American would consider it “punishment” if he or she were put on a sex-offender list, and almost all presume that folks on the lists are convicted sexual deviants. Rainer served five years in prison, and successfully completed another five years on probation. A decade later, is it prudent to lavish disproportionate attention on this 28-year-old man, especially given the scarce resources available to monitor truly dangerous ex-convicts? Carefully drawn registries are better suited to reducing the recidivism rate among predators—let the police and the citizenry focus its vigilance. Instead sex offender lists are adding not only low-level drug criminals, but also teens who text naked pictures of themselves to one another, and other high schoolers whose mistake is sex with a slightly younger classmate. In Georgia, all is not lost. The absurdity of current law is plain even to members of the state legislature. Decent reform legislation passed its lower chamber 165 to 1. Should the bill pass into law, so-called sex offenders could petition to be removed from the state’s registry if their crime isn’t sexual in nature, among other reforms. Overall, however, it seems likely that the worst aspects of sex-offender registries will spread. Consider efforts by The Animal Legal Defense Fund to establish animal-abuser registries in various states. Legislators in California are already considering a bill. “The idea is to protect a vulnerable population at risk of abuse," spokesman Stephan Otto told USA Today—“much as sex-offender registries warn communities of sexual predators in the area, so the public, shelters and law enforcement can work together to keep animals safer.” Two objections are worth raising. Most obviously, animal cruelty shouldn’t be the focus of anti-recidivism efforts in a country where overwhelmed parole officers cannot even provide effective monitoring of convicted rapists, murderers, and child molesters. And where else are registries of ex-convicts likely to lead? Originally, these lists were meant for rapists and child predators—a class of criminal stigmatized due to the especially odious nature of their crime and the perception that recidivism is especially galling and common. As we’ve seen, however, it isn’t just sexual predators being affected by this approach; all sorts of crimes are now deemed offenses that make someone a sex offender, a designation that by now offers far more heat than light. Aren’t other lists as likely to end in abuses, especially if appellate judges don’t even acknowledge that being placed upon them is itself a punishment? Certain categories of crimes, whether “terrorist” or “sex offender” or “animal abuser,” seem to tempt Americans into abandoning the normal rules that govern criminal justice. Inevitably, these departures wind up unfairly punishing people who don’t rightfully fit the hated labels, but are nevertheless branded with them. Neither “sex offender” nor “terrorist” is going away as a label that invokes special sets of rules. Perhaps that is as it should be. But experience shows that extra vigilance is required to do justice when these designations are in play—and prudence demands that we go no further, lest we live in a country where it is commonplace for citizens to appear on various government lists that restrict ever more liberties for the sake of the children. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-03-20/have-sex-offender-laws-gone-too-far/full/ Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:37:30 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4292#4295 I remember an O'Reilly interview where Bill asked Mark Lunsford about the porn on his computer. Mark said that they only "looked like minors." Even if that were true, (and I don't believe it for a second), What the hell is he doing looking at porn that "looked like child porn." Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:51:54 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=21&id=4294#4294 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5jNjKgK-iQ Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:01:15 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=35&id=4293#4293 Friends: We are writing with an additional request. Can you please contact our office if you meet ALL of the following criteria? (1) You must register as a sex offender in Georgia for an offense that occurred on or after July 1, 2006; (2) You wish to volunteer at a church or participate in religious activities at a church or other place of public worship; (3) Since June 1, 2010, a law enforcement officer (e.g. sheriff’s deputy, probation officer, or parole officer) has discouraged or forbade you from volunteering at church or participating in religious activities. If you meet all these criteria , please contact our office as soon as possible. We do not have any additional news about the lawsuit at this time, but we will be sure to post any updates as soon as we know of them. Many thanks in advance. Sarah Geraghty Southern Center for Human Rights 83 Poplar Street, N.W. Atlanta, GA 30303 (404) 688-1202 (T) (404) 688-9440 (F) sgeraghty@schr.org www.schr.org Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:29:40 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4292#4292 Want to see Mark and Joshua Lunsford talk about Child Porn and Reduced Sex Charges? SO DO WE!!! Sex crime legislation advocate Mark Lunsford was found by police to have a personal computer containing links to Child Pornography websties. Joshua Lunsford, Mark Lunsford's 18 year old son was arrested and charged with 2 felony sex charges involving a child. Neither one have ever been put on the Sex Offender registry which Mark Lunsford so strongly advocates for. http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/josh_lunsford.jpg When will the News Stations interview these two people and get their side of the story? Watch the videos we supplied in this article... you may want to see them interviewed as well? WATCH THE VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fyHrRfnqxs Sex offender registration laws affect nearly one million individuals in the USA. That is one million directly affected by sex offender registration laws. Some of whom are children and teens. When you consider the affect to spouses and children of those sex offenders that aren’t children themselves the collateral damage of sex offender registration laws reach far more than one million Americans and the numbers are growing. It is a disservice to the American public to devote a mere 3 minutes to the subject. It is a further disservice to have Mark Lunsford as an advocate for these laws. As a father(parents) my(our) heart(s) certainly goes(go) out to him for the loss of his daughter. However, Mr. Lunsford was found to be in possession of child pornography when police searched his computer shortly after his daughters death and his son Joshua avoided the sex offender registry when he accepted a plea bargain in which the original charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a felony offense subject to sex offender registration, was dropped to a misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual conduct. In your interview Mr. Lunsford derided the prosecutors of our country for allowing plea deals that allowed an individual to plead guilty to a lesser charge. Yet it was this very process that allowed his son the same fair justice he derides in your interview. I(We) encourage you to have a real debate of 5 minutes for each side with Mr. Lunsford and our spokesperson and I(we) can promise you a story and national headlines that will endure for weeks. I found the below article in Google when I did a search for Joshua Lunsford Ohio: IF YOU DO MY SON LIKE YOU DO THOSE PREDATORS, I WILL EXPOSE EVERY CASE WHERE YOU GAVE A “TRUE” SEX OFFENDER A LENIENT SENTENCE.”-Mark Lunsford To The Clark County Ohio Prosecutor's OfficeFriday March 13, 2009www.operationawareness.com/whats_new_28.htmlThere is something about Mark Lunsford that smells more rotten than a bucket of chum that’s been sitting on a Florida beach for days. I’ve covered Mark Lunsford’s activities and glaringly paradoxical behavior before. I’ve watched as he blazed a trail of vengeance against everyone who ever has been or will be convicted of a sex offense after the brutal murder of his daughter 2005, save for his son Joshua.Joshua Lunsford was charged in 2007 with two felony sex crimes involving a 14 year old female after being repeatedly warned by her parents to stay away. Joshua Lunsford was 18. He was allowed to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor with no sex offender registration. We’ll get to how he escaped the sex offender registry and Jessica’s Law, the laws Mark Lunsford so relentlessly pushes for in a moment.Mark doesn’t particularly care for this website much or what I have to say about his activities and his hypocrisy. I don’t blame him. I have been threatened once already by the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation’s attorney, Mr. Gelman on behalf of Mark. Mark and the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation’s attorney don’t like me exposing Mark’s “less sympathetic” side and I can’t say I blame them. Make no mistake, Mark is a highly vindictive man and will resort to just about anything if you get in his way or make known certain truth’s about him that might jeopardize contributions to his foundation - the one named after his daughter Jessica. After all, Mark has a new lifestyle to maintain. I have personally felt his and his brat pack of wolves “below the radar” wrath firsthand.What happened to Jessica Lunsford was absolutely horrible, brutal, and heinous. No one could or would argue that and NO parent should have to live through such a tragedy. Jessica was a beautiful young girl with a smile that must have lit up every room she walked into and for that I do feel sorry for Mark Lunsford. But my sympathy and respect for him stops there.I have watched as Mark has gone from a grieving father to a pseudo “celebrity” status. Through his daughter Jessica’s foundation, Mark rakes in enough money for him to have quit his job as a dirt truck driver and travel around the countryside, partying it up and riding an $80,000.00 custom built Harley Davidson Motorcycle. The motorcycle which was donated to his daughter’s Foundation was supposed to be auctioned off for charity, instead Mark liked it so much he kept it for himself.Mark is also a member of the Survivng Parents Coalition.There are certain things the public has the right to know, especially if it involves a non-profit charitable foundation that collects donations from well intentioned citizens trying to make what they think is a difference regarding issues and/or causes they care about. People have the right to know where there money is going and how it is being spent.Recently, Mark gave testimony at a Congressional Hearing on SORNA and the Adam Walsh Act. This happened on March 10, 2009 and can be viewed here. Mark is sporting his traditional ponytail, a black suit with a tie with printed pictures of Jessica on it. In the video, Mark is sitting to the right of Ernie Allen, lobbyist, attorney and President of the NCMEC.I watched and I listened.There was discussion about consensual acts/crimes and whether or not those convicted of such crimes should be required to register, you know, the people just like Mark’s son Joshua.All across the board came a resounding “NO” that those types of offenses should NOT require a person to register - they aren’t the dangerous, predatory, violent types that parents, children and the public need fear. In other words, these weren’t the people lawmakers had in mind when crafting these laws.There was talk of people who were in fact on the registry, tragically and needlessly placed on it, sometimes for life, for exactly those types of offenses, their lives forever destroyed, many of them children, teens, and even young adults... just like Joshua.Mark Lunsford made crystal clear and stated on the record that he felt that it was OKAY if some people were put on the sex offender registry, even if they didn’t belong there, that it was a “small sacrifice” to make …”IF it saves just one child.”Save his own son. Save himself. It is OKAY with Mark to throw other people’s children under the bus, completely destroying so many once promising young lives, just not HIS child.And he made damn sure that it didn’t happen to his son, even after he violated his probation sentence and had a restraining order placed against him.How? The same way other people get “justice”. With connections, power, money, and threats, or a combination thereof. Just ask Mark Foley, the disgraced former Senator that was (ironically) so instrumental in the passage of the Adam Walsh Act itself.Mark was candid with those in attendance after the hearing ended. He freely told how he was able to keep his son off the sex offender registry even though, by law, he should be on it. Mark contacted the Ohio Prosecutor’s Office and advised them that he would “expose every sex offense case where they gave a lenient sentence to a true sex offender if they treated his son like one of those predators.”And so, his son avoided registration, his conviction is also no longer available for viewing on the Clark Co. Ohio website which I do find very troubling.Let's be clear though, Joshua's sex crimes were consensual in nature and no young man or woman should be registering for situations such as these, and it could be argued that no person should be registered for any consensual on-forcible offense that is not indicative of coercive or predatory behavior toward teens.The hypocrisy of it all.Clearly, Mark knows there is a difference between “TRUE” sex offenders (Mark’s own words) and people like his son Joshua. Still, he pushes for these laws without giving those in situations like his own son a voice. To me this is unconscionable. I honestly don’t know how the man sleeps at night knowing, KNOWING, that he has helped and is helping to destroy many young lives just like his son Joshua’s and make their lives a living hell.As for the Ohio Prosecutor’s Office, if they have something to hide and are letting the dangerous ones off easy, that IS a problem and it SHOULD be exposed, not used as some sort of bargaining chip. Mark just might be bargaining away the life of a child he says he so urgently wants to save.Whether he realizes it or not, Mr.Lunsford has hurt far more children and families than he has helped. I cannot believe that he does not realize this. If he really cared about protecting children he would listen to what Detective Robert Schilling has to say, and focus our limited resources and taxpayer money on those [sic] “ TRUE” dangerous and predatory offenders. Offenders like the man that killed Jessica - John Couey. A man a world apart from his son Joshua and others like him.Joshua Lunsford is no different or any more special than any of the thousands of kids, teens, and young adults who made the same mistakes Joshua did. The only difference is that their parents lacked power, connections and money. They aren’t any more or less guilty than Joshua Lunsford is.Because consensual acts ARE in fact registerable offenses, the Sex Offender Registry is and continues to be hopelessly watered down, filled with consensual sex “criminals”.Save Mark’s son. THIS is the reason that the dangerous ones, the John Couey’s of the world, slip through the cracks. That might be good enough for Mark Lunsford, but it’s not good enough for me.Mr. Lunsford if you read this, I implore you to take a long look in the mirror and not follow the same path as John Walsh - blindly seeking vengeance through your “tears of rage”, mowing over the innocent and telling yourself that it is OKAY if it saves just ONE child. It’s NOT okay, and it won’t SAVE ANY children. Open your mouth and your heart and do what you know is right, what no one else has the balls to do or say, do what is NEEDED to make that difference you so desperately seek, the change that has the best chance of saving just ONE child. Have the grace to give those convicted of consensual acts what you gave your son, a second chance.Note: Calls to the Ohio Prosecutors Office were not immediately returned. http://cfcamerica.org ews/we-want-to-see-mark-and-joshua-lunsford-talk-about-child-porn-and-reduced-sex-charges-ontelvision Mon, 02 Aug 2010 15:19:05 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=50&id=4291#4291 ACLU suit challenges man's listing on sex registry http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Vermont-a6770789613bd85d477d3af17f86db4e.jpg By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 3, 2009 MONTPELIER – A man who was apparently improperly included in the state's public sex offender registry has sued the state to have his name removed. Identified only as John Doe in court records, the man was charged in 1999 with attempted kidnapping and attempted sexual assault. He was convicted in a plea agreement only of attempted sexual assault, but this year the state included him on the public sex offender registry, recently expanded by legislators. However, the law did not include "attempted crimes" such as the one the unidentified man was convicted of among the offenses that warranted inclusion in the public registry, according to his suit and the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, which has taken on his case. "The Department of Public Safety doesn't make the law. The Department of Public Safety has to follow the law made by the Legislature. There is absolutely nothing in the current law that is justification for putting our client or others in a similar situation on the registry. It is very clear they should not be on it," said Allen Gilbert, head of the civil liberties organization. "Vermonters have a right to be treated fairly by their government. They should not have to get a lawyer and file suit before the government does the right thing." Thomas Tremblay, commissioner of public safety, said he believes lawmakers meant to include attempted crimes like the one in this case. But the language of the law does not make that clear, so his department has – for now – removed the man's name and that of three others in a similar situation from the public registry, Tremblay said. "There is a potential argument to be made that (those convicted of) attempts should not be on the registry," Tremblay said. "For the time being we have removed him from the registry." Those offenders will remain on the law enforcement registry that is not public but is used to monitor sex offenders who have served their sentences and are in the community. But Tremblay said the Douglas administration will ask lawmakers to consider changing the law. "We will be looking for the Legislature to clear up the language concern. It is my understanding that is something that will be dealt with first thing when they return in January," he said. "It has been my view and the view of the governor that we want to provide families with as much information as they can. Our goal has been to include as many sex offenders as possible on the registry." The case is not the first issue to arise with the state's newly expanded registry laws. Through an apparent oversight, offenders who have been convicted in other states were not required to register in Vermont, a provision that is likely to be added, Tremblay said. The situation with attempted sex crimes involves a somewhat different issue. While lawmakers meant to include those convicted out of state, but omitted them through a drafting error, there was no specific and definitive discussion about whether attempted sex crimes should be dealt with in the same way, said Rep. William Lippert, D-Hinesburg, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. For now, the law does not provide for those like John Doe to be included, Lippert added. "I don't think it was a correct reading of the law at this point in time," he said of the public safety department's interpretation. But lawmakers next session will "very likely" consider whether those convicted of attempts at sex crimes should be included in the registry, Lippert said. "Some convictions for attempt are very serious," Lippert said. But such crimes do have a lower standard required than the sex crimes that now make an offender eligible for inclusion on the public registry. Public safety must be protected, but it should also be remembered that offenders are put on the public registry for crimes they have already been convicted and punished for, Lippert added. "We are reaching back in time with these convictions," he said. Gilbert said that the ACLU's client wrote a series of letters trying to get his name off the registry when he realized the law did not require his inclusion, but got little response from the department before filling his lawsuit. Gilbert said it's appropriate that the petitioner in the case not be named. "He wants to be unnamed for the same reason the registry is unfair," Gilbert said. "The notoriety attached to having your name and crime literally available to anybody in the world doesn't serve justice and rehabilitation." It is also important for the goals of the case to grant that anonymity, according to the legal fillings by Doe and the ACLU. "Were Doe forced to divulge his identity in order to gain the respondent's compliance with state law that exempts Doe from public naming on the public registry, the respondent would be free to continue ignoring its governing statutes, knowing that Doe and most other affected individuals would rather keep quiet than risk the increased opprobrium that litigation under their real names will bring to both them and their family members," according to the request for anonymity in the court documents. http://www.timesargus.com/article/20091103/NEWS01/911030363 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:16:20 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=43&id=4290#4290 Not all sex offenders the same, advocates of changing Texas list say http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/EEEEEEKpervert-a264458b94e6c27458e41710b0c38998.jpg By Alex Branch abranch@star-telegram.com Richard Calderon was a 23-year-old student teacher in 1994 when he made "the most regrettable decision in my life." He became sexually involved with a 14-year-old female student. He was sentenced to five years' probation for sexual assault of a child. He completed his sentence, went on to earn a master's degree, start a career in computer technology and get married. Now 39, he believes he has earned the opportunity to put his shameful past behind him for good -- by ending his mandatory lifetime presence on the state's registry for sex offenders. "I am not a predator," Calderon said. "I am in no way, shape or form a threat to society. I'll never be proud of the person who made that terrible decision, but I am proud of the person I have become." Calderon is among the people advocating for changes to the state's sex offender registry, including using a more risk-based classification system and allowing offenders who are not deemed public threats the possibility of getting off the list. The current registry has swelled to 62,000 names and is becoming too bloated to perform its purpose of protecting the public, they say. In agreement is the Texas Council on Sex Offender Treatment, which formed a task force in 2008 to study the efficiency of the registry. Council members say the current registry treats too many offenders as equally dangerous and inundates law enforcement agencies tasked with keeping track of them. "The registry is not really accomplishing what we wanted it to accomplish," said Liles Arnold, council chairman and a licensed professional counselor. "If we spread ourselves too thin, we are not keeping the community as safe as we like." At a hearing in June before a state Senate committee on criminal justice, a handful of convicted sex offenders and their relatives objected to the current registry. Among the complaints was that the system does little to differentiate between dangerous predatory rapists and young adults who showed terrible judgment in having sex with underage people. Some offenders told of their children being ridiculed at school. Others told of difficulties finding jobs and places to live because of the public scrutiny. Sixteen to 19 percent of families of sex offenders report harassment, according to the treatment council. "The argument is you have some very low-risk offenders, and the ramifications are very destabilizing for them," Arnold said. Burgeoning registries Allison Taylor, the council's executive director, told the committee that the registry's rapid growth affects local law enforcement agencies. Fort Worth has more than 1,500 registered sex offenders; Arlington has almost 500. Police resources are being used to track low-risk offenders, diluting the agencies' ability to monitor the dangerous ones, she said. Removing low-risk offenders from the list would not only free up officers to focus on high-risk offenders, but also better inform the public about true threats in their neighborhoods. Some efforts to refine the registry have failed in recent years. Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/08/01/2376305 ot-all-sex-offenders-the-same.html#ixzz0vSDXpInQ Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:23:31 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=34&id=4289#4289 Ron Book and Romero Britto Bring You the Ugliest Parking Meters Ever http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/Ron_Book__JibJab-f84a83626964e9990e4dd88d37bbc8a0.jpg It's a bird! It's a plane! It's another terrible Romero Britto sculpture, only this time it's not just hurting your eyes but also taking your spare change. Meters designed by the local hack artist have made their first appearance in Brickell. But don't blame Britto; blame another Miami-Dade dunce: Ron Book. In October, the man responsible for creating the Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offender colony announced another winning plan. He would install parking meters in and around county malls, office buildings, and businesses to take money for the Dade Homeless Trust, which he chairs. Book said the meters aren't his latest attempt at ruining hobos' lives, but a way to discourage giving money to panhandlers. And in one of those matches made in Hell, he commissioned Britto to design them. It's pretty hard to foul up a parking meter, but there goes our Britto! He painted the poles a vomit-like yellow and dotted them with floral designs. The meters will be paid for by the businesses that choose to install them. A regular-sized one will set a business back $1,000, and a larger, pyramid-like meter will cost $1,200. So far, besides the Brickell meter, another has been installed in front of North Miami Beach City Hall. According to the city's website, it seems taxpayers have footed the bill. The Homeless Trust, tasked with ending homelessness in the county, has an annual $40 million budget. Money from the meters will go toward meal programs and shelter for the homeless, it says. When he made the announcement, Book didn't say how much Britto earned for the commission. You'll recall, Britto also had been commissioned to design the uniforms of Miami International Airport employees until someone mercifully pulled the plug. Sadly, our homeless haven't been as lucky. And now, two people who shouldn't be trusted with easels, let alone money, are making them co-inhabit the streets with ugly, quarter-chugging meters. Haven't they suffered enough? http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/07/ron_book_and_romero_britto_bri.php Comments (16) Jose Resendez says: I think Britto is genius. The more he gets badmouthed the more money he makes. I've met the guy a couple of times and he seems genuine to me. It's not his fault that everyone loves his art. Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 10:19AM Annette Gallagher says: Instead of charging businesses $1000 for special meters that collect change from random strangers for the homeless, why didn't the people in charge of this just get a tax-deductible donation of $1000 from the businesses? Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 10:42AM Music says: Ron Book. Nothing says scumbag like it. Encyclopedias and dictionaries should have his picture under the word "hypocrite". While he runs the Homeless Trust, his lobbying for sex crime laws created a shantytown under the Julia Tuttle Bridge. His lobbying comes because his daughter was molested by a nanny they (he and his wife) hired. Also, the nanny did not have a criminal record. Guess he and his wife were too busy working his way up the ladder to notice the abuse of his daughter over several years. So now, he is the "champion" of sex crime legislation. He would not know the first thing about sex crimes and his daughter was a victim. Instead, he pushes laws that don't work and bogus statistics to fuel the fear and ignorant masses eat it up like manaa falling from the sky. Also, $40 million dollars a year...where is that money going to (oh wait, those nasty looking meters). Great job, Ron. Keep up the good work! Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 11:44AM Terri says: Ron Book has championed laws and restrictions that are not only useless, but counter-productive (much like his latest "meter" project), and, most importantly, which WOULD NOT HAVE PROTECTED HIS OWN DAUGHTER. His daughter was abused by a nanny he and his wife hired and were responsible for monitoring. He and his wife were ultimately responsible for their child's welfare. It seems as if Book is projecting his failings as a parent on anyone who has committed a sex crime and transferred total responsibility to the government. True sexual predators, violent offenders -- of course these people should receive the longest sentences possible and be monitored thereafter, but Book and those of his ilk have helped to craft laws out of hyperbole and myth. Older teenagers and young 20-somethings who have consensual sex with 15-year-olds, or who just talk about it, are felons forever and are doomed to lives of poor, if any jobs, no decent place to live, and continual harassment. There is no chance for them to reintegrate into society of live productive lives, no matter if they live exemplary lives forever more. What are Book and our lawmakers thinking? Isn't this America? Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 12:08PM Anonymous says: Love him or hate him, Britto is banking. Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 1:35PM JTCRSO says: Ron Book fights off sex offender http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBukLScQqgw Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 2:19PM Come on! says: no one else in this town is thinking up things like this, come on people the meter is bright and sunny and the funds go to help the homeless. Lighten up. Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 3:58PM Music says: Come on! Bright and sunny.... C'mon, I prefer the money go to Camillus House or other charitable organizations that help the homeless break the cycle and be able to reintegrate into society, rather than to decorate freakin' parking meters!! Another waste of time and money that could be used to help the homeless. Book, while "helping" the homeless, created a new set of homeless sex offenders and left them to rot under a bridge for years. Not a fan of sex offenders, but treating any person like that even after they have served their punishment is downright insulting to the principles that this country was founded on. Sex offenders are the 21st century version of the N-word. The popular scapegoat for politicians and the media to latch on to. Just watch the election ads coming up in the next few months and you will see the spin machine in full swing. Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 8:20PM Anonymous says: I can't wait for this filth to stop spamming the streets of Miami. Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 6 2010 @ 11:56PM Come on! says: Music, go to a Homeless Trust meeting and find out that the meters are sponsored, free and the funds go to well established homeless programs in Miami Dade. Incidentally readers, a lot of the disgruntled writers about the sex offenders are sex offenders. the "popular scapegoats: until it happens to your child. Come on, be real Posted On: Wednesday, Jul. 7 2010 @ 10:16AM Music says: Come on! Once again, my monies will be donated to the Camilus House and not to Ron Book and his "Homeless Trust". Take a listen to "This American Life" the episode is "The Bridge". There you will see what Ron Book is. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/407/the-bridge You would be disgruntled Come on! if you had to live with those laws and many of them are unconstitutional. Since everyone is entitled to their opinion (until the government takes that away), folks who feel these laws are a travesty will speak their minds and those opposed will do the same. I have no problem with strict laws and severe punishment, but to make these laws retroactive is what I find as the problem. A lot of ex-offenders can't get their lives on track again because of these laws passed after they committed their offense or even after they have served their time and paid their debt to society. What will stop your local, state or federal government from making a DUI retroactive and slapping a big DUI convict logo on the license (for example)? Everyone is entitled to a second chance in my opinion and people like Ron Book who champion ineffective laws that hinder the reintegration and rehabilitation of ex-offenders is wrong. Not every offender on that registry is a repeat or violent offender, yet they are all treated the same. With shrinking budgets in the foreseeable future, law enforcement is hard pressed at best to watch them all. Too many cracks for the higher risk offender to fall through. An effective registry monitors the high-risk offender (repeat or violent). Smart laws need to be passed, not laws based of emotion or knee-jerk laws passed after a child is killed. No child should ever suffer and I hope one day we can reach that point in our lives. Many of those who commit these crimes were victims once as well. If we were to focus the time and money on rehabilitation rather than retribution, maybe the cycle of abuse can be substantially reduced. Posted On: Wednesday, Jul. 7 2010 @ 1:36PM Come on! says: ooooh angry angry Posted On: Wednesday, Jul. 7 2010 @ 2:10PM Terri says: Come on! Wait until the sex offender label is slapped upon someone you know -- a 22-year old who discusses consensual sex on the internet with an undercover detective who pretends she is "a couple years younger than him" for most of the conversation and then states, one, time, that she will be 16 "in a couple months." A 20-year old who meets a girl in a bar and has consensual sex: except that even though she said she was 18 and looked 20, she was really 15. A 19-year-old senior who has sex with his steady, a 15-year-old sophomore, on prom night. I work in a large University System, and I encounter these cases first-hand. These young man are not threats to your children, and they do not deserve to be severly restricted and labeled for the rest of their lives. They made terrible decisions, but after they have paid their debt, they should be free and clear to develop into productive citizens with the promise of good futures. Posted On: Wednesday, Jul. 7 2010 @ 3:06PM Anonymous says: Britto did not design these Meters. He just gets the fee for using his "ART". It just some poor underpaid graphic designer who designed the wraps to be used on these meters. Britto gave up on art a long time ago. His real art occurred when he painted on newspaper and sold them for a hundred bucks back in the early 80's. He sells those paintings for $40,000 now at Britto Central. Check out this link: http://www.zagallery.com/artists_one.cfm?stitle=Romero+Britto&sid=1005&stype=works He is not genuine, he is a marketer who is good at the game. Posted On: Tuesday, Jul. 20 2010 @ 9:46PM Anonymous says: you must be kidding WHO WOULD BUY THAT CRAP?? Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 31 2010 @ 9:54PM Anonymous says: Ron "Sex Crimes KING" Book and others have funded themselve lavish lifestyles off the backs of SEX. Because apparently he never was able to get enough and wants to punish everyone else. There are SO FEW LEGIT child molesters and this law entraps normal people in experimental stages of a young life. I hope he dies a long, painful death. Just the thought of him enjoying anything at ALL disgusts me. GREAT VIDEO Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 31 2010 @ 9:56PM Mon, 02 Aug 2010 06:54:22 -0500 http://cfcoklahoma.com/New_Site/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=0&func=view&catid=13&id=4287#4287 Who is Wendy Murphy and Why does She Hate O’Reilly Protestors? http://cfcoklahoma.org/New_Site/images/fbfiles/images/WendyMurphy_BIG_Mouth.jpg http://www.newshounds.us/2009/03/26/who_is_wendy_murphy_and_why_does_she_hate_oreilly_protestors.php On Monday 3/23/09 we were treated to a hateful, lie-a-second tirade by alleged sexual harasser and victim - blamer , Bill O’Reilly against the people who had protested - via email, phone and petition - his appearance at a fundraiser for the rape victim support group It Happened to Alexa. Well, duuuhhhh - he would, wouldn’t he? But what was truly shocking was the appearance of Wendy Murphy, legal advisor to the foundation and Alexa Branchini’s attorney in her civil and criminal rape cases, to contribute to the hate-fest. It strikes this writer as very odd that a woman who has made her name as a victims ’rights advocate - with a take on rape that even some feminists might see as extreme – is “in bed” (so to speak) with a man who called the protesting rape victims and their supporters “loons”. What’s wrong with this picture? Just who is Wendy Murphy and why does she apparently hate those who protest a man who has perpetuated the very myths surrounding rape that she decries? Okay, folks, this post is somewhat lengthy and analytical. So get yourself a nice cup of coffee or a glass of wine and settle in for a long, but hopefully worthwhile, read: According to Wendy Murphy’s bio, she is “an ex-prosecutor who specialized in child abuse and sex crimes cases. The first lawyer in the count