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| News & Noteworthy © ---
Featured Issue 2-24-06 |
| The Iowa Sex Offender Registry, necessary based upon false public beliefs! |
| 2-24-2006 Iowa:
State officials tout new features of sex offender Web site |
.DES MOINES, IA - Iowans will be able to check on the presence of sex offenders in their neighborhoods -- or the neighborhoods of their children's baby sitters, day care providers or schools -- using an new enhancement on the sex offender registry Internet web site. Using funds made available by the Legislature, the state departments of Public Safety and Administrative Services and the Division of Criminal Investigation have upgraded the sex offender registry web site, [snip], to offer neighborhood maps that identify the location of offenders. Offenders' picture and other information about their offenses and victims are available on the site, DPS Director Eugene Meyer said Wednesday.
The enhanced web site serves two purposes, said Steve Conlon of the DCI. "It provides valuable information for individuals and families," he said, "and lets offenders know that the neighborhood will be watching them." Although much of the information has been available in other forms, Conlon said the new feature make it possible for families to more readily identify sex offenders in their neighborhoods. The web site also includes information on whether the victims were adults or minors as well as their likelihood to re-offend.
The Web site, which contained 6,036 offenders' names Wednesday, will be updated daily, Conlon said, and there will be "minimal" delays in updating the addresses of offenders on the registry. The public safety officials hope to add another feature to the Web site in a month or two. Iowans would be able to join a listserv to receive e-mail updates whenever someone on the registry moves into their neighborhood.
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: by James Q. Lynch - The Gazette
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.Thanking Mr. Lynch is important, for without his article and statistics many comments about the false beliefs of the public would not be possible. There is no doubt that Iowa technologically advances a web site as described, performing all sorts of fancy functions, but at what cost, and does the public really need to know. Whom should they be concerned about?
In a "Victim / Offender" relationship study by the U.S. Department of Justice, a study of 73,116 cases, they found, that 93.3% of the crimes against minors (folks under 18) the offenders were family, friends, or close acquaintances. It follows those offenders already live somewhere close to their victims, and the community already knows about them. If we were to assume all on the registry offended against a minor, and we know that is overstating the truth, in numbers that means 93.3% of the 6,036 RSOs do not have to be watched. Their crimes (5,632) were committed in the realm of family.
The same study showed 6.7% were strangers to the victim, and again applying that to the entire registry (again overstating the truth), means that there are 404 offenders that may need some form of monitoring. Again from the same study, the DOJ found that only 3.5% were reconvicted of another sex offense within 3-years of release. That brings the number down from 404 to 14, fourteen offenders who are likely to reoffend. The costs of the registry to monitor 14 offenders is astronomical.
So we have to ask, what does the registry become for Iowans, a new form of macabre entertainment, reading about registrants' skeletons? Many will dispute me, but, how does knowing where someone (a prior offender) live make one safer in the community? At best the registry tells folks where their children should not go unsupervised. Any review of how crimes are committed would tell folks that, offenders do not jump out of their homes, snatch someone up, and run back into their homes to assault them. So, what purpose is the offender's home address, or for that matter, where she or he works or goes to school: all public environments?
DCI claims that, offender information is valuable to families to more readily identify offenders in their neighborhood, is nothing more than a way to justify keeping the registry and probably their jobs. The value of the registry to society is definitely questionable. The consequences of the registry to society are far more damaging to society than any safety effects it may have.
Effectively registries are today's Political Tools of Fear, they tell society who should be feared, only one class of crime, and by alleged risk levels. Other crime types have no registry and some have murdered children, they are considered safe for society. A very strange fact, if a person murdered a child, went to prison and was ultimately released, no one would know, no registry. There are approximately 1,500 child fatalities annually (5,600 from 2000 to 2003) (children who have died in horrible ways) and those offenders when released, and they will be someday, are not monitored whatsoever!
Iowa's new registry indicates risk assessments are being performed on all registrants convicted on or after 7-1-2005, then says, "No risk assessment tool can predict human behavior with certainty." Artfully crafted, implant the mindset of the purpose of risk assessments, then say they may not be true. Clearly that leaves the public worried about the registrants without a risk assessment, and even more worried about those that do have one. The concept of risk assessments firmly implanted in the minds of society, they will rely on them and clamor for more.
Risk assessments are inherently biased, the ranges are low-medium-high, why cannot a person be no-risk? If one were to answer the risk questions using the facts of a dead person or the President of the United States, they would factor a low-risk not a no-risk which does not exist. Makes one wonder what else within the tool is also biased. Risk assessments should be based upon the individual registrant's history and include mitigating and aggravating factors, and with incentives which promise an end to the insanity of assessing something that is -in reality- impossible to predict. A fair assessment is in order today not one based upon preconceived notions of researchers and which cannot be validated with any certainity.
Then comes the latest enhancement, e-mails, which effectively have no value in Iowa given the latest rash of local residency laws with buffer zones, and the fact that registrants cannot move (except to rural areas) because of overlapping state and local residency buffer zone laws. Any movement to rural areas will be next to a farmer who owns 50-100 acres and who is so busy that he cares not and probably will not use e-mails. The e-mail purpose in Iowa is? Political!
With all the enhancements to the Iowa registry notice the absence of anything to indicate who the "Predatory Offenders" are, these registrants are a group of their own. If anyone can recall they are the ones registries were originally intended for, but lawmakers have added everything under the sun to registries and in some states even those who urinate in the park. See our Politically Correct? Incorrect? page for others. So when lawmakers tell you they are going to get tougher on sex offenders by improving the state registry, remember it will be windowdressing under a pretext of public safety.
So like the commercial "Where's the beef," I ask who are the predatory offenders, using the normal definition of predatory, those are the ones that concern me. Iowans have no clue who they are!
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Featured Issue: Posted 1-30-2005
| Registered sex offenders are not members of the public, and their families are not entitled to the same protections as the rest of the public! |
1-30-2005 California:
Sex offender uses Megans Law database in a different manner
.Glen Westberg scrolled through dozens of online photos, wrote to several people he thought looked good and, when the time came, even showed up early for his date. Trouble was Westberg was Internet dating by using the new online Megans Law database and trying hook up with another convicted sex offender, authorities said.
Westberg, whose criminal record includes lewd and lascivious acts with a child and using force to commit lewd and lascivious acts against a child, is a former San Mateo County resident who now lives in Cupertino. He was cited Thursday for illegally using the site and released. ... ... The Web site is intended as a tool for the public to help protect their families against sexual predators. Any registered sex offender who enters the Web site can be found guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a $1,000 fine, six months in county jail, or both.
Authorities learned of Westbergs Internet activity from a sex offender registered in San Mateo County who got a letter from Westberg telling him he was cute and asking him for a date, said Bill Ahern, commander of the countys Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement, or SAFE, task force. Westberg allegedly told the man he saw his picture on the Megans Law site, encouraged him to look at Westbergs picture and talked about his physique and the size of his genitals.
The victim was so alarmed by this he couldnt believe it, Ahern said. He thought maybe someone was trying to get him in trouble. The man contacted his probation officer, who put him in contact with SAFE. Westberg was arrested after police set up a fake meeting between him and the man at Sequoia station in Redwood City, Ahern said. Officers, who pulled up in their cars early to get ready for the sting, were surprised to see Westberg was already there.
Although critics argued that the new Megans Law database could be used by sex offenders to network with each other, Westberg is believed to be the first person arrested for trying to contact someone on the site, officials said. Nathan Barankin, a DOJ spokesman, said its impossible to police the site and make sure sex offenders arent using it. There really isnt a way to monitor everyone who uses the system, Barankin said. We thought that would be too violative of peoples privacy rights. : by ..more..
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Apparently, in California, there is a legislative fear that registered sex offenders (RSOs) are going to "network" by finding each other on the state's online Megan's law data base. Legislators must feel that RSOs are going to somehow mass and oppose laws like the rest of the public does, and clearly they do not want any opposition. Things might change!
Accordingly, they have enacted a law to criminalize the use, by RSOs, of the public data base, as a "dating service," or "a place to make friends with persons like themselves," or "to even verify that their information is correct (frequently California doesn't seem to get it correct)," and worse "to even use the information for its intended purpose, to protect children of RSOs."
So much for the Constitutional Right of Association, the Constitutional Right of Assembly, and the Constitutional right to grieve the government when it does something that affects these RSOs or their families. This law even criminalizes any RSO parent who wishes to use the law for its intended purpose, to protect his/her children from other RSOs.
I hope all California lawyers will have a field day with this one. Will you step up and be recognized? This legislature is definitely trying its best to isolate RSOs, setting them up for failure, given isolation is high risk situation, but the legislature doesn't seem to care.
I've always loved the comment "All squirrels do not live in trees," in California, some have attained a high public office.
What I find even more amazing is, there are businesses all over the nation using the California Registry as a source to make income from. Hummmm, thats not using it for its intended purpose either, but I don't see anyone doing anything about that.
eAdvocate (Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved)
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Featured Issue: Posted 1-27-2005
| Iowa proposes change to definition of "Predatory" |
Iowa Senate Bill 1154 proposes a change of the definition of "predatory" as follows, FROM: "acts directed towards a person with whom a relationship has been established or promoted for the primary purpose of victimization .." TO: "acts directed towards a person with whom contact or interaction has been established or promoted for the primary purpose of victimization .."
The ramifications of such a change are enormous. The new definitions would make predatory ANY and ALL illegal sexual acts with a live person that result in conviction. The number of predatory offenders would skyrocket, and would even include such crimes as incest, flashing, streaking, and even teenage experimentation!
This would also violate the federal definition for the purposes of Megan's law (the federal guidelines, 14071. Jacob Wetterling Act, (a)(3)(e)) has already established a definition for "predatory:"
Definition: "The term 'predatory' means an act directed at a stranger, or a person with whom a relationship has been established or promoted for the primary purpose of victimization." Iowa's current definition is consistent with the federal law definition.
Virtually every offender so convicted would be subjected to the civil commitment process, including teenagers. Any Iowan that could be affected needs to let the legislators know their opinion!
eAdvocate (Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved)
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Featured Issue: Posted 1-25-2005
| Opening civil commitment proceedings, and the medical / psychological evidence, to the general public is a slippery slope to making all health information available to the general public, including through Megans' laws online.. |
1-25-2005 North Dakota:
Bill would open sexual predator commitment hearings to public
.BISMARCK, N.D. - North Dakotans should have the right to attend hearings where a judge decides whether a person is a dangerous sexual predator who should be confined for treatment, a legislator says. The hearings have been closed since North Dakota established its civil commitment procedure in 1997. Someone who is judged to be sexually dangerous may be locked up indefinitely for counseling. The person does not have to be convicted of a crime.
The law presently treats such hearings as it does other mental health commitment proceedings. Observers are not allowed. Rep. Duane DeKrey, R-Pettibone, said Monday that the public should be able to attend such hearings. Before someone may be confined, at least two experts must agree he or she is likely to "engage in further acts of sexually predatory conduct," the law says. People who have been committed are kept in a secure unit at the state psychiatric hospital in Jamestown.
Rep. Lois Delmore, D-Grand Forks, said the bill could help prevent cases like the November 2003 abduction of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, though Delmore said it was not written in response to the case. Sjodin's body was found near Crookston, Minn., last April. A convicted sex offender, Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. of Crookston, Minn., faces federal charges of kidnapping Sjodin and causing her death. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty, and is awaiting a March 2006 trial.
: by JAMES WARDEN, Associated Press ..more..
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The North Dakota bill in question here is: House Bill 1289 "... making evidence presented at a commitment hearing, preliminary hearing or commitment proceeding of an SVP open, notice to the Attorney General, and the release of medically identifiable information. ..."
This bill, if passed, would violate federal law: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) which we identified back in 2003. HIPAA is a federal law designed to protect medical (including psychological) information from disclosure, especially public disclosure. It provides fines of up to $250,000 for improper disclosures.
Further, the news article infers that, cases such as Dru Sodjin could be prevented by such disclosure "Rep. Lois Delmore, D-Grand Forks, said the bill could help prevent cases like the November 2003 abduction of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, though Delmore said it was not written in response to the case." is misleading and an impossibility.
Assuming the information is publically disclosed does not necessarily infer that the general public would have a say in a civil commitment proceeding, although that is what is inferred by the legislator's comment. If commitment proceedings were supposed to be based upon "emotion" then there is no reason to hold one, it would be "lock them up forever."
The U.S. Supreme court has held that, civil commitment is constitutional -IF- its purpose is "treatment with the goal of release" when the person is restored to the point that they are no longer a threat to society. The general public is not qualified to make treatment decisions as to anyone!
This bill is but a slippery slope to making all sex offender medical and psychological records available along with Megans' laws. HIPAA presently prevents that.
eAdvocate (Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved)
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Featured Issue: Posted 1-22-2005
"Failure to Register" is considered Child Sexual Abuse (with no victim)!
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1-22-2005 Idaho:
Report to the Legislature on Child Sexual Abuse 2004 (with 9-year aggregates)
.Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and Governor Dirk Kempthorne today delivered to the Idaho Legislature the 16th annual report on the prosecution of child sexual abuse. ... ... The report covers cases of child sexual abuse in which criminal charges were filed in Idaho courts. The report for Fiscal Year 2004 covers cases filed between July 1, 2003 and June 30, 2004. It includes statistical data on victims and offenders, disposition of cases and sentencing practices. The report does not include data or estimates on unreported child sexual abuse or reported cases that do not result in criminal prosecution.
"This report again underscores a point for parents to consider and a point that has been consistent in all of the previous reports," Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said. "In the majority of cases, it appears that the abuser is not a stranger lurking in the shadows, but a person known and trusted by the victim and the victim's family. In fact, in those cases in which the researchers could determine the relationship of the victim to the adult abuser, less than 6% of those prosecuted were strangers to the victim." "We must never forget that our ultimate goal is to eradicate the causes and vestiges of child sex abuse," Kempthorne said. "While these latest numbers offer some encouragement, we must be ever vigilant in assessing our tools to prosecute and punish those responsible while at the same time identifying and preventing these tragedies from occurring."
..more.. For complete report (Caution, PDF file of mostly graphics very slow loading): CLICK
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The latest Idaho figures on the "Prosecution of Child Sexual Abuse" cases is clear, children are sexually abused more by trusted friends and acquaintances than by strangers.
The FY 2004 report laden with graphs and charts opens with a letter from Idaho's Attorney General to the Idaho Legislature, and includes this comment:
"This report again (16 years running) underscores a point for parents to consider and a point that has been consistent in ALL of the previous reports (16 of them). In the majority of cases, it appears that the abuser is not a stranger lurking in the shadows, but a person known and trusted by the victim and the victim's family. ..."
I find it hard to believe that the AG would admit, but he did, that there is so much missing information in the reports from which the stats were taken. I.e., state employees failed to record some of the simplest information and this consistently has occurred.
However, in each statistic reported, the percentage of the missing portion is not significant enough, that if, you were to proportionally spread the missing percentage over the reported percentages, the outcome would still be accurate proportionally.
The cliche "we know there are unreported ..." or equivalent, is often proffered to refute statistics that do not support what the general beliefs (myths) have been for years (16 here). While we recognize that there are unreported crimes, of all types, to use "unreported" to refute the entire reported statistic, makes all statistics useless, a wasted effort. It is hard to believe, after so many researchers have said "sexual abuse is declining," to ignore this fact.
We found several very useful facts, most interesting is on pg-13 "Number of victims per adult case." 10.43% of the reported –sexual abuse cases– had no victim. The 10.43% was made up of Stings (entrapment cases) -AND- Failure to Register violations.
"Failure to Register" is considered a sex crime, but with no victim. This appears to be the latest way to keep the number of sex crimes, higher than it really is. So, this report is artificially inflated.
Adult offender relationship to victims, pg-15, shows , strangers (5.84%), parent step-parent and other relative (14.78%), acquaintance (50.58%), then other (.78%) and unknown (28.02%). Acquaintances would be teachers, camp counselors, coaches, public servants, and other trusted persons in the child's life.
Juvenile offender relationship to victims, pg-39, shows, strangers (2.76%), relative (31.72%), acquaintances (38.62%), then other (2.07%) and unknown (26.9%). Again, acquaintances would not be relatives.
The age of juvenile offenders was eye-opening, 12-15 years old (59.48%), 16 and older (31.9%), 8 to 11 years old (2.17%), and unknown (3.44%).
In the entire year there were 365 cases of child sexual abuse prosecuted, approximately one per day, but I wonder, how many were Failure to Register which is considered "child sexual abuse with -no victim-" in Idaho?
eAdvocate (Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved)
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News Article
Curbs put on parolees' cheer: Some must sign New Year's Eve no-driving pledge!
AUSTIN - Watching the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of their living room may be one of the few options for scores of Texas parolees wanting to celebrate on New Year's Eve.
In a first-time initiative aimed at making streets safer, some parolees with drunken driving records have been instructed to sign pledges that they won't drive from 7 p.m. Dec. 31 to 6 a.m. Jan. 1.
Kathy Shallcross, deputy director of the parole division at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the initiative is not so much a lockdown as an effort to prevent high-risk offenders from operating motor vehicles on a night when celebrating with alcohol is the tradition. But she conceded it may effectively amount to a lockdown since parole officers will be randomly calling parolees Friday night to make sure they are home.
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News Article
Thanksgiving Holiday Confinement of Offenders in Harris County Texas!
This county used the Halloween Confinement program to further confine, not only sex offenders, but other offenders during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend!
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Commentary
Halloween Confinement of Sex Offenders Around the Nation!
While it may sound good to keep sex offenders away from children on Halloween, and some local jurisdictions did that, for a night or the weekend, we need to review the legality of what was done, by whom, and under what authority. Was this an "abuse of a normally legal process?" ... ... ... ...
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Featured Issue: Posted 1-16-2005
| Iowa's Sex Offender Residency laws are creating "defacto ghettos of sex criminals?" according to the news article: |
1-16-2005 Iowa:
Number of offenders growing fast
.In 2004, Iowa spent $523,937 maintaining its sex offender registry, both online and in general, with more than 6,200 people registered. The number of registered offenders is growing fast. State officials estimate roughly 40 to 50 new registrants are added each month, and somewhere between 300 and 400 address changes are processed in the same time.
Many of those address changes can be attributed to offenders recently released from institutions and those still moving among temporary homes, according to law enforcement officials.
Other cases are the result of registrants unable to stay in one place. In some cases they've been fired from jobs or refused rentals because of their presence on the registry.
Some communities have eliminated almost all such residents due to the more recent state law barring sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools or child care centers, creating defacto ghettos of sex criminals.
Those numbers could be in for a big change soon. Now that the registry has reached its 10th anniversary, some names will be removed. Iowa law requires the offender to register only for 10 years, providing they have not re-offended.
: by The Muscatine Journal
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Ghettos of Sex Criminals, Arizona called it clustering, in Michigan a reporter thought he found a Lost Civilization. Call it what you may, but it is the result of residency laws that are illegal in every possible way.
"Ghettos" Webster's Dict: 1 : a quarter of a city in which Jews were formerly required to live; 2 : a quarter of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure; 3 a : an isolated group -a geriatric ghetto- b : a situation that resembles a ghetto especially in conferring inferior status or limiting opportunity. a place created by society's failure to provide the means or opportunity (or deny same), to those forced to live there based upon the denial. Ghettos, always a question of equal protection / opportunity under the law!
Consequence of the crime? No, because residency laws are new laws, that prevents registered offenders from living in the community where housing is available; a law never before known in history. Therefore, it is further punishment, as these folks have the same right to live anywhere, as everyone else in society does. The law prevents that, and is based upon past acts.
That is one reason why the Federal Judge, in Doe-v- Miller held that the law is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced, as to offenders who already resided in a proscribed place prior to July 1, 2002. However, if after July 1, 2002, an offender resides in a place -and then- a school or day care opens up, which would cause that offender to be in violation of the law, that offender DOES NOT have to move, s/he may reside in the proscribed area (the grandfather principle).
Notice, the intent of the law -to protect children- is set aside when the grandfather principle applies. Accordingly, the law does not protect all children equally. Further, if it is true that offenders are being forced to live in "Ghettos" -worst places in town- legislators have forgotten that, many of these offenders have children of their own. Since they live outside the proscribed zone (1 mile approx), those schools must send school buses into these Ghettos to pick up children of sex offenders. Discrimiinatory laws are rarely well thought out, serving only the select few.
The article mentions, some lose jobs and can't find places to live, that only results in higher welfare costs, including health care. Where else can offenders -and their families- go for such services which are fundamental to life. Many may live on the streets, or will be forced into crime to sustain life, those without addresses prove the law is self-defeating, its only a matter of time.
Most interesting is the annual cost of the registry, which boils down to about $85.00 per registered person, which includes those in the community, in prison, and in civil commitment. In 1998 the Iowa Parole Board said it paroled "90 sex criminals (annually)," which if you reduce the 400 monthly address changes (4,800 annually) by that amount, you get 4,710 displaced registered sex offenders moving every year. The effects of the registry cause 76% of the registry to change annually; just an approximation though.
Well, some registered sex offenders will soon be seeing some help, in that, once their requirements to register are terminated by the 10-year term, they can move back into the proscribed areas (the new Ghettos). Lets see, near-sighted vision means what? I'm glad the courts believe these laws protect children, but that too is a near-sighted belief, isn't it, or is it really a political belief?
eAdvocate (Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved)
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Featured Issue: Posted 11-19-2004
Human Rights Watch:
"No Second Chance" Report Released
With Recomendations to the U.S. Congress |
11-19-2004 Human Rights Watch
U.S.: Broad Range of Offenders Denied Public Housing: Housing Exclusions Do Little for Public Safety, But Increase Misery of Poor Americans
.(New York, November 18, 2004)—Across the United States, hundreds of thousands of poor people have been denied access to public housing because they have criminal records, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. They have been excluded for often minor and long-ago offenses that have no bearing on public safety, which is the goal of strict admission policies.
Based on research across the country, the 101-page report “No Second Chance” is the first examination of “one strike” policies in public housing. Established to protect housing developments from potentially dangerous tenants, these policies automatically exclude applicants with certain criminal records. Unfortunately, the criteria for exclusion are needlessly overbroad and can exclude certain offenders for life—regardless of evidence of their rehabilitation.
“Everyone deserves safe housing, but these policies yield more misery and desperation than public safety,” said Corinne Carey, researcher for Human Rights Watch's U.S. Program.
There is no nationwide data on the number of people excluded because of criminal records. Some 650,000 men and women leave prison each year. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 3.5 million people have been convicted of a felony in the last five years. Given that housing authorities typically exclude for five years anyone convicted of a felony regardless of the nature of their offense, it is likely that at least 3.5 million are currently ineligible for public housing. For many low-income families, public housing is the only feasible opportunity for stable and affordable housing. As the report documents, when those with criminal records are excluded, they often end up among the estimated 12.5 million Americans who have been homeless, living on the streets, in overcrowded shelters, or in squalid transient motels. Many of them double up with family or friends, which puts the entire household at risk of eviction from public housing.
The United States has recognized that adequate housing is a fundamental right of every human being. This right is contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a basic human rights treaty the U.S. has signed but not yet ratified, and is elaborated in the Habitat Agenda, a global action plan for realizing this right that 171 countries, including the U.S., have signed. In the United States, public housing programs are the principal means for indigent people to obtain adequate housing. The report contains detailed recommendations directed at the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and local public housing authorities.
..more.. Human Rights Watch News Release
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