CANADA - Sex offender supports on a shoestring

Susan Love & Adina Ilea

Original Article

09/25/2014

By Erin McCracken

The day the doors to David’s prison cell slid open and he was free after spending five and a half years behind bars for sex crimes against children, he was given a one-way ticket to Ottawa and placed on a bus.

Armed only with expired identification, a little cash earned inside prison and two boxes and a bag containing his few possessions, David arrived in the city with limited prospects.

The challenges he faced reintegrating in society were enormous. There would be hurdles in finding a job and stable housing, securing money and proper identification and abiding by strict supervision rules that kicked in upon his release.

“It had been almost six years,” said David, speaking under a pseudonym to protect his identity. “It was overwhelming. Scary, because you’re coming out into society and it’s open, it’s freedom.”

“So it was difficult at first, but eventually you blend into it.”

The key to blending in, in part, proved to be two smiling women who met him at the bus stop as planned, – his first introduction to a surrogate network of friends and family who wanted to help him rebuild his life, and in the process, ensure he would not reoffend.

They are among more than 50 volunteers with Circles of Support and Accountability-Ottawa, one of 20 CoSA programs across Canada through which 500 volunteers are helping nearly 200 high-risk, high-needs sex offenders reintegrate in society after prison.

“At first I didn’t know what to do. I have no social life,” said David. “There was a bit of boredom, a bit of loneliness, but I was able to talk to CoSA about it.”

Each week, he met with his group of four volunteers to talk about his issues, and spent one-on-one time with each of them by going out for coffee, or watching a movie.

They provided him with friendship and support, referring him to services in the city that could help him.

Positive social supports, experts say, combined with sexual-behaviour counselling and treatment, are key to ensuring former offenders such as David do not fall back into their old patterns, leading to more victims.

After almost a year with CoSA, David seemed to be doing well. He had stable housing at a halfway house for ex-inmates and was taking part in a counselling program there. He had found work.

Rest of the story

NY - Sex Offenders Housing Restrictions Are Pointless

Original Article

08/25/2014

By Jesse Singal

On Thursday, Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times reported that “Dozens of sex offenders who have satisfied their sentences in New York State are being held in prison beyond their release dates because of a new interpretation of a state law that governs where they can live.” In short, since 2005, sex offenders in the state can't live within 1,000 feet of a school, and a February ruling from the state's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision extended that restriction to homeless shelters.

Because the onus is on sex offenders to find approved housing before they’re released, Goldstein reported, they've been left with very few options, especially in densely-populated New York City, where there are schools everywhere. This has led to an uncomfortable legal limbo and sparked at least one lawsuit (so far) on behalf of an offender who is still in custody even though he was supposed to be out by now.

The unfortunate thing about this situation is that laws designed to restrict where sex offenders can live are really and truly useless, except as a means of politicians scoring easy political points by ratcheting up hysteria. There are many tricky social-scientific issues on which there are a range of opinions and some degree of debate among experts, but this isn't one of them. Among those whose job it is to figure out how to reduce the rate at which sex offenders commit crimes (as opposed to those whose job it is to get reelected, in part by hammering away at phantom threats), there is zero controversy: These laws don't work, and may actually increase sexual offenders’ recidivism rates.

Maia Christopher, head of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, sent Science of Us a policy paper her organization has prepared on this issue (it’s not yet online, but should be later this week). ATSA’s views on housing restrictions for sex offenders are completely straightforward: The group “does not support the use of residence restrictions as a feasible strategy for sex offender management” because of a lack of evidence they do any good.

The paper notes that these laws have proliferated—“[a]t least 30 states and hundreds of cities” have them—because of some basic misunderstandings about how sex crimes are committed. There’s a collective American fixation on the creepy image of a sex offender salivating just beyond the playground fence, but that’s just not how things usually work.

Rather, these crimes are generally committed by someone known to the victim—93 percent of the time when it comes to child victims, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics—and the majority take place either in the victim’s home or the home of someone they know. “Therefore,” the authors write, “policies based on ‘stranger danger’ do not adequately address the reality of sexual abuse.”

Rest of the article

TX - We can do better on sex offender laws

Original Article

07/17/2014

By Steve Blow

Let’s face it, we’re more sympathetic to the plights of some than others.

Lost puppies and sad children rank right up there atop the sympathy scale. And at the bottom.

Well, can you think of a group lower than sex offenders?

It’s a tough sell, but a national conference is meeting this week in Dallas with the goal of making things a little easier for those convicted of sex-related crimes.

Hang on! Don’t stop reading. You may not be brimming with sympathy, but the truth is that the reformers have a point. And this doesn't just affect the sex offenders.

Our laws have become expensive and ineffective. In our zeal to protect against sexual predators, we might even be making things worse.

The national conference of RSOL — Reform Sex Offender Laws — began with a social hour Wednesday night. It gets down to business Thursday through Saturday, meeting at Skillman Church of Christ in East Dallas.

About 125 people are expected. Virtually all of them are like RSOL executive director Brenda Jones. They come because of a personal connection.

“I have a family member still serving time,” she said. “One of the things I promised him is that I would make sure he could have a life when he got out.”

The group’s central message is that sex offender registries have become an enormous burden on the individuals required to register, and they yield no safety benefit for the public.

“There’s no statistical evidence that it’s doing any good at all,” Jones said. “And there’s growing evidence that it could actually be doing harm.”

Those on sex offender registries often can’t find a job or a place to live. It drives many into hiding. The pressures can make those with sexual addictions more likely to offend, not less.

As with most things, this began with a good idea: Law enforcement should know where convicted child predators live. But in our zeal to protect kids, the movement went overboard.

The list was made public. Registry was required for more and more offenses. The result: Texas has almost 80,000 people on its sex offender registry.

“It was sold as a parent having the right to know there’s a predator next door. But the vast majority of the people on that list never touched a child, never had an offense against a child and may not have even had a sexual offense,” Jones said.

Even public urination sometimes ends up as a sex crime requiring registration.

Mary Sue Molnar of San Antonio leads the reform effort in Texas. She is founder of Texas Voices, an affiliate of RSOL.

“Several years ago, my son made some really bad choices. He was 22. The girl was 16,” Molnar said. “He would be placed on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life. He would never be able to serve his time and move on with his life, like any other offender.”

California has almost 100,000 on its sex offender list. And its oversight board wants to make a change. In a recent policy report, the board said:

“Research on sex offender risk and recidivism now has created a body of evidence which offers little justification for continuing the current registration system.”

The California report estimated that local governments spend $24 million a year maintaining the sex offender registry. Yet most people never consult it. And most who do take no action as a result.

Nobody is making excuses here for people who commit crimes of any sort. But if safety is what we’re after, we’re not getting our money’s worth.

AL - New law forces Chilton. Co. sex offenders to leave pastor’s backyard

Original Article

Yeah, don't you know that ex-offenders who live near each other are just planning a mass molesting of children? (Being sarcastic)

06/27/2014

By Kaitlin McCulley

CHILTON COUNTY (WIAT) - A man’s dream to rehabilitate convicted sex offenders is coming to an end.

Since 2010, 53 sex offenders released from prison have moved in to trailers in Ricky Martin’s backyard. The property is located at 40 County Road 374 in Chilton County. Of those 53 convicted offenders, 32 are convicted rapists and 21 have been convicted of molestation. 43 committed crimes against children.

Martin pastors Triumph Church, also on his property. Neighbors tell WIAT 42 they do not feel safe in their homes.

Debra Morrison lives next door to Martin and the sex offender camp in his backyard.

“Usually when you go to grandma’s house and you want to go swing on the swing, usually that’s ok,” Morrison said. “But not here.”

Morrison’s young grandchildren are frequent visitors to her home.

“When they come to Nana’s, they know that we’ve got to be with them at all times,” Morrison said. “And they’re scared. There’s always fear, even when we go to bed at night.”

Chilton County Chief Deputy District Attorney C.J. Robinson said neighbors will not have to feel that way much longer. A legislative bill was passed recently, requiring sex offenders in Chilton County to live at least 300 feet apart from each other. The seven remaining offenders living on Martin’s property must leave by July 1st.

“This might be the only chance I ever have as a prosecutor to try to take steps on the front end,” Robinson said. “If there’s something I can do to keep a child from being victimized.”

Morrison is thankful her worst fears have not become a reality. She hopes soon, “Nana’s house,” will be a place of carefree fun.

WIAT 42 Reporter Kaitlin McCulley talked with Martin, but he declined to be recorded on camera for this report and would not answer questions on-the-record. His only comment regarding the sex offenders is this: “I hope they continue their relationship with Christ when they leave here.”

WI - Proposed sex offender ordinance up for debate in Milwaukee

Original Article

06/11/2014

By Michele McCormack

MILWAUKEE - On the eve of a committee hearing about a new sex offender ordinance Alderman Terry Witkowski is taking issue with his fellow council member, Tony Zielinski's, proposal.

"This plan is not a very balanced plan to say the least," Witkowski told CBS 58 investigative reporter Sarah Barwacz.

While Alderman Witkowski says it's important to regulate where sex offender live and hang out, under Zielinski's proposal nearly half of the city's available housing units for convicted sex offender's would be in Witkowski's 13th Aldermanic District.

A CBS 58 News Bottom Line Investigation in May exposed the lack of restriction on where offenders stay.

Reporter Sarah Barwacz broke the story just weeks later about Zielinski, who represents the 14th district, proposing a two thousand feet buffer zone from schools and parks.

When Sarah questioned Witkowski about his district having fewer schools, the council member said that doesn't mean there aren't children around.

"I think you have to look at what's the perception from neighbors here," Witkowski explained. "Are you saying there's less children just because the school isn't within walking distance or two thousand feet? I can guarantee you I got a call from a person indicating that they've got a sexual predator living next door who watches his daughter get off the school bus."
- Imagine if we made and passed all laws based on PERCEPTION!

The Common Council’s Steering and Rules Committee meets Thursday, June 12th in room 301-B at City Hall at 1:30 p.m.

See Also:

• Ordinance restricting sex offenders living in Milwaukee poised for vote

NY - Bill would tighten sex offender rules

Original Article

05/10/2014

Legislation introduced by state Sen. Patrick Gallivan concerning sex offenders makes sense and should be approved by lawmakers. The bill would require the state to notify local municipalities and schools when a sex offender is transferred from a state facility to a community residence or program. The commissioner of the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities would be required to make the notifications no later than 10 days before the transfer takes place.

“The relocation of dangerous individuals to a residential neighborhood is always cause for concern. Local officials have a right to know about the transfer of sex offenders into a community program or residence in their community, so that they have time to properly address public concerns and security issues,” Sen. Gallivan said in a news release.

The bill, S7064, is co-sponsored by state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, and has been referred to the committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.

Such notification would go a long way toward easing concerns such as were raised when several developmentally disabled sex offenders were placed in group homes after the state facility where they had been staying was closed. People living near the state-owned group homes, in West Seneca and Scottsville, were caught off guard.

Notification is important. People do need to know when a convicted sex offender is living in their neighborhood. They also need to assess the level of danger that sex offender poses. Each convicted sex offender is evaluated and assigned a level. Factors taken into consideration include use of force, weapons, alcohol or drugs, the victim’s age, number of victims, assault or injury of the victim and relationship to the victim. Then a judgment is made according to how likely the offender is to repeat the behavior. Those at low risk of repeating the offense are assigned to Level 1; Level 2 is for those with moderate risk; Level 3 are those at high risk of re-offending and who present a threat to public safety.

Knowledge goes a long way toward easing fears and helping people deal appropriately with the situation. A Level 1 offender in the neighborhood is reason for caution, not panic. Sen. Gallivan’s bill would make sure people get the knowledge they need to keep everyone safe.

People should remember, however, that not every sex offender has been caught and conveniently labeled. Children need to be protected from known offenders, but they also need to be protected from offenders who aren’t yet known. In the end, there is no substitute for good parenting and precaution.

ME - South Portland may curb where sex offenders can live

Original Article

05/08/2014

By Kate Irish Collins

SOUTH PORTLAND - South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins said he never wants to ask the question of whether his department could have done more to protect the city’s children. That’s why he is pushing for a new ordinance that would limit where a certain class of sex offender could live within city limits.

At its meeting on Monday, the City Council gave unanimous initial approval to the new residency rules, which would prohibit sex offenders convicted of “serious crimes” – defined as a class A, B or C felony against children under 14 – from living within 750 feet of a school, park, athletic field or recreational facility.

The Greenbelt Walkway, which runs the length of the city, however, would be specially exempted. A public hearing and second reading on the ordinance will be held at 7 p.m. on May 19.

In introducing the sex offender residency restrictions, Googins called them “reasonable and balanced” and said the goal of the new rules is to protect children.

He said South Portland has 26 registered sex offenders who live, work or attend school in the city. Of that group, 10 offenders reside in the city and six are now living in areas that would fall within the proposed sex offender restriction zones.

Googins said any sex offender who has had a prior continuous residence within the areas designated as off limits would be grandfathered if the new rules take effect.

In a memo sent to City Manager Jim Gailey outlining the new residency restrictions, Googins said, “There are significant residential areas of the city, which would not be affected and therefore (this ordinance) balances the interests and needs of sex offenders by allowing ample housing.”

In the memo Googins also said, “I fully understand the impact such an ordinance has, and I strongly believe that these further protective measures (are) necessary to safeguard places where children congregate and (are) a positive step toward improving the safety of our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.”

Once the new rules are in place, a sex offender violating the residency restrictions could face fines of up to $500 a day.

In his comments Monday, Gailey told the City Council that the Maine Legislature passed a bill in 2009 specifically allowing municipalities to put residency restrictions on a certain class of sex offender. Creating and implementing such an ordinance for South Portland, he said, is a top priority of the police department.

Specifically, the new ordinance would prohibit a sex offender from living within “a distance of 750 feet surrounding the real property comprising a public or private elementary, middle or secondary school or up to a maximum distance of 750 feet surrounding the real property comprising a municipally owned or state-owned property that is leased to a nonprofit organization for purposes of a park, athletic field or recreational facility that is open to the public where children are the primary users.”

In the findings and purposes section of the new ordinance it states: “The city promotes and strives to create a safe environment for its citizens to live and raise families and considers the promotion of the safety and welfare of children to be of paramount importance. The city recognizes that sex offenders who prey upon children may have a high rate of recidivism (Studies don't show this)  … (and) the city finds that further protective measures are necessary and warranted to safeguard places where children congregate.”

No one spoke against the new residency restrictions during Monday’s meeting, although Councilor Tom Blake did ask Gailey if the city had heard anything from the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine in opposition to the ordinance. Gailey said that as of Monday his office had received no communication from the civil liberties union in regard to the sex offender residency restrictions being proposed.

Prior to the council’s initial vote on the new ordinance, Councilor Melissa Linscott said she’s pleased to see the restrictions come forward and said they were important to have in place.

Mayor Gerard Jalbert agreed and said, “We need tools in place to keep children safe.”

Council favors zoning proposals

In other action Monday, the City Council gave initial approval to a controversial new commercial zone in the Thornton Heights neighborhood, which could pave the way for a new Dunkin’ Donuts store to go up on what is now an undeveloped, city-owned lot at the corner of Main and Westbrook streets.

The vote on the Thornton Heights Commercial zone was 5-2, with councilors Blake and Patti Smith opposed.

The vote followed another lengthy public comment period, during which most of the speakers urged the council not to move the new zone forward.

And, similar to the workshop held on the new Thornton Heights zone last week, members of the Congregation Bet Ha’am synagogue on Westbrook Street were outspoken about the plan.

However, before the vote on first reading, Jalbert said the council is still keeping an open mind about how to best use the city-owned lot, which is adjacent to the synagogue. And he said within the next two weeks there is still time to come up with a compromise solution.

Following the 5-2 vote on the new Thornton Heights zone, the council unanimously approved new zoning for the west end of Main Street that it hopes will lead to reinvestment and new development in that area of the city.

The new Main Street zone specifically prohibits drive-through restaurants, and the council has said it would make the new rules retroactive in an attempt to save the historic St. John the Evangelist Church, located on the corner of Thirlmere Avenue and Main Street, from being torn down by Cafua Management, the Massachusetts-based developer that wants to build a 24-hour Dunkin’ Donuts on the west side of the city.

A public hearing and final vote on the new Thornton Heights Commercial zone and the new Main Street Community Commercial zone is scheduled for 7 p.m. on May 19.

Also on Monday, the council unanimously approved new rules that would allow restaurants, in certain areas of the city, to provide outdoor seating for their patrons under specific guidelines, including requiring the business to get a license from the city and to provide adequate insurance.

NH - Editorial: Sex offender registry law is unconstitutional

Original Article

05/07/2014

Today, New Hampshire’s Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will turn on the basic constitutional principle that criminal laws cannot be retroactive, thus punishing someone for an act that was legal at the time. Nor can the punishment for a crime be changed after the fact.

Though the case concerns a sex offender, the principle applies to every crime, and fairness dictates that the court uphold the state constitution’s requirement that “retrospective laws are highly injurious, oppressive and unjust.”

The case involves a man convicted of sexually assaulting his 14-year-old stepdaughter a quarter-century ago. For purposes of disclosure, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union sued on his behalf, and he is being represented by William Chapman, a Concord lawyer who often represents this newspaper.

The man, now a disabled senior citizen, was convicted before a 1998 state law required that sex offenders register with authorities. That law has since been toughened roughly a dozen times. The registry, once confidential and available primarily to law enforcement, is now public.

Today, an offender’s name, address, photograph, conviction date and crime are all posted on a state website for all to see, and people on the registry are required to personally appear before local police four times per year.

The outcome could turn, as it did when the U.S. Supreme Court heard a similar case involving an Alaska sex offender registration law in 2003, on whether the court considers listing on the registry to be a punishment or regulation necessary to protect the public.

In the Alaska case, the high court deemed, in a split ruling, that registration is a regulation necessary to protect the public and thus not punitive.

In truth it was both, but since then the internet has exponentially increased the punitive effect of the registry.

Inclusion on it for life is the equivalent of the Colonial-era practice of “shaming,” which required that offenders wear a sign proclaiming their crime.

Think adulteress Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.

Meanwhile, the public protection value of the registry remains doubtful. The overwhelming majority of those convicted of a sexual offense never re-offend, but it is next to impossible, once on the registry, to get off it with expert testimony or good behavior. That makes the registry so inclusive that it is of little use in alerting the public to convicts who remain dangerous.

In the Alaska Supreme Court case, then Justice David Souter voted to uphold the law out of respect for the legislative process, but he also wrote that “the fact that the Act uses past crime as the touchstone, probably sweeping in a significant number of people who pose no real threat to the community, serves to feed suspicion that something more than regulation of safety is going on; when a legislature uses prior convictions to impose burdens that outpace the law’s stated civil aims, there is room for serious argument that the ulterior purpose is to revisit past crimes, not prevent future ones.”

Appearance on the sex offender registry exposes those on it to humiliation, discrimination in employment and housing, threats and potential violence. It also leads to homelessness, which, because it makes offenders harder to track, is counterproductive.

For years, a disturbingly high number of people have been convicted of embezzling funds from their employer, town government, local sports league or nonprofit. Could the Legislature suddenly decide that the public needs to be protected from them, too, and pass a law requiring that, no matter when their offense was committed, their photograph and address should appear on a public website for all time?
- They should, to be fair!  If it's "okay" to violate one groups rights, then they should do it to everybody so we are all treated equally!

We say no, that would be retroactive punishment and thus unconstitutional. The same principle holds in the case being argued today.

AL - New law could force sex offenders to move from Chilton County church facility

Original Article

04/22/2014

By Mike Cason

MONTGOMERY - A small church property in Chilton County where dozens of sex offenders have lived over the last four years will apparently no longer be able to house them.

Gov. Robert Bentley has signed into law HB 556, pertaining only to Chilton County, that prohibits registered sex offenders from living on the same property within 300 feet of each other unless they are related.

Rep. Kurt Wallace, R-Maplesville, sponsored the bill because of the multiple sex offenders living behind Triumph Church, which is on a two-lane highway just outside Clanton. There are camper trailers behind the church for the men.

Ricky Martin, who operates the facility, declined to talk to AL.com for this article.

The law gives the district attorney's office the authority to file a civil complaint against someone owning or leasing property where more than one unrelated sex offender lives. The law takes effect July 1.

C.J. Robinson, chief assistant district attorney for the 19th Judicial Circuit, who helped write the bill, said notice would be given before a complaint is filed. He said the law gives judges the authority to issue fines of up to $5,000 per violation.

“It’s one of those things where we’re not going way overboard with the punishment,” Robinson said.

Under Alabama’s sex offender laws, offenders are required to notify authorities when they move into a county, and authorities notify nearby residents.

Robinson said he received notices for 51 sex offenders moving to the address from August 2010 through October 2013.

Many have come and gone. Robinson said he’s not aware of any moving there this year.

Chilton County Sheriff Kevin Davis said last week there were 10 offenders living at the address and one had filed his paperwork to move.

Davis said he’s not aware of any problems caused by the men.

Brandy Morrison, 26, has lived next door to the church for four years. She said she worries sometimes but that the men have never bothered anybody. She said one of the men helps her father with work around the yard.

Morrison says the family takes precautions when nieces and nephews visit and play outside.

“We always make sure they stay real close because you never know,” Morrison said.

Wallace worked on the bill for several years and at one point had a statewide version that would have required facilities with multiple sex offenders to have a live-in monitor and obtain a license from the county sheriff.

He said he thought the bill that passed, more simple and applying only to Chilton County, would achieve the purpose.

"The guys who are there now are going to have to find somewhere else to go," Wallace said.

Wallace and Robinson said one objection they have had to the facility is that most of the men are from outside the county.

Robinson said only two of the 51 men committed their crimes in Chilton County. One of those was a misdemeanor, he said.

“These are not folks from Chilton County who committed a crime and are coming back home,” Robinson said.

MO - Springfield 'sex offender house' gets 2-month reprieve

Original Article

04/14/2014

By Jess Rollins

Thirty days ago, the City of Springfield gave residents of 1809 E. Crestview St. exactly 30 days to clear out.

Today, the residents of the home — some sex offenders, some parolees, some drug addicts — are staying put.

An appeal filed today by Recovery Chapel, which operates the so-called group home, has delayed action against the house for at least two more months.

Last month city staffers investigated the halfway house at the urging of neighbors. Many seemed most concerned about the number of residents who appeared on the Greene County sex offender registry.

At the time, there were five. Today, there are two.

During city staffers' investigation of the home, they determined the home did not meet the zoning requirements of a group home.

The director of building development services wrote that the house acts more as a "community corrections facility" than a group home because of the high number of residents on probation and parole.
- Maybe the city needs to open a dictionary and read what a Halfway House is?

The city gave the residents 30 days to move or disband.

But today, a St. Louis-based attorney filed a formal appeal with the city on behalf of Recovery Chapel.

That means enforcement of the 30-day notice will be delayed until the case is heard by the city's Board of Adjustment, a five-member board made of members nominated by the City Manager and appointed by City Council.

The appeal is scheduled to go before the board June 3.

Chaplain Farris Robertson, who has fought the city's action against the Crestview house, confirmed the home continues to operate as usual.

See Also:

• (03/14/2014) In wake of News-Leader watchdog column, city takes action on home with sex offenders

CO - Colorado law allows sex offenders to remove name from State’s registry

Original Article (Video available)

04/06/2014

By Eric Ross

If you believe a sex offender remains on the State's registry for life, think again.

News 5 learned by simply filing a petition, offenders can ask a judge to have his or her name removed.
- As it should be!

Marilyn Spittler is upset, and angry after learning her ex-husband and convicted sex offender, _____, filed a petition in Douglas County Court to have his offender status wiped away.

"We need to do something about this law," Spittler said.

Spittler is referring to a Colorado law that allows sex offenders to erase their name from the registry. Her ex-husband was accused of assaulting not one, but two of her daughters back in the 1990's. For their protection and at Spittler's request, we are not releasing their names.

The abuse was alleged to have been going on for 8 years. After one of Spittler's daughters came forward, _____ was arrested and charged with a laundry list of sex crimes.

It's important to note _____ was not convicted on all the sex crimes he was originally charged with committing.

_____ was sentenced to seven years in prison.

He served time in prison through the Colorado Department of Corrections from Aug. 27, 1996 until Nov. 12, 1996.

He was not released on parole.

His sentence was converted by a judge to a community corrections sentence.

After being released from prison, _____ registered as a sex offender.

Now, he wants his name removed.

Spittler says as long as she's living, she'll be fighting to make sure he remains on the list for life.

"His victims have permanent memories and permanent damage," she said. "They can't go petition the court to remove those memories. It's permanent in their lives and it should be permanent in his life as well."
- As long as someone sees themselves as damaged goods, then so shall they be!

Since 2006, more than 2,300 hundred convicted sex offenders were able to remove their name from the registry.

Below are statistics provided to News 5 by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation regarding the number of sex offenders across the state who have successfully removed his/her name from the registry:

• 2006: 152
• 2007: 221
• 2008: 261
• 2009: 314
• 2010: 321
• 2011: 469
• 2012: 508
• 2013: 459
• 2014: 102 through March, 14, 2014

"The overall theory of our criminal justice system is that you do your time, you should be able to move on with life," attorney Christopher Braddock said.

Braddock has helped a handful of sex offenders win their case.

"I think you have to look at if they (the offender) has done their time, you have to consider how much time is enough," Braddock said.

Susan Walker, executive director for Coalition For Sexual Offense Restoration, an advocacy group for sex offenders, says the public doesn't understand the life-long harmful effects this list creates.

"People are kept from housing and jobs," she said. "They are sometimes persecuted."

The registry removal law was created as a second chance opportunity, rewarding those who have served their time and haven't re-offended.

Laws like this are fairly common.

Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri are just a few states that allow offenders to get off the registry.

However, Spittler refuses to be sympathetic with offenders, especially ones who prey on children.

While _____ hasn't been in trouble with the law since serving his time, Spittler believes he is still a risk.

"This particular offender works in an industry where he needs access to buildings," she said. "If you remove him from the list, there's nothing stopping him from applying for computer and technology installation contracts at schools, civic centers or daycares."

Sex offenders convicted of molesting children can no longer petition the courts to have his or her name removed. In _____'s case, he's eligible to appeal his registry requirement since his conviction took place two years before that law was changed.

There was legislation drafted last year to make it harder for offenders to remove their names. That ultimately failed due to a discrepancy. It was not reintroduced this legislative session.

_____'s case will be reviewed on April 10.

A judge will likely decide at that time whether to allow _____'s name to be removed.

Calls placed to _____ for comment were not returned.

FL - Councilman responds to "Camp Convict"

The laws that are creating homeless camps like this are by politicians who do not have the balls to obey their oath of office to defend the Constitution and the rights of others. I'm sure Ron Book, or the "Homeless Trust", will step in, shut the camp down, and it will just move somewhere else, just like it's been done for years. Warren Jones has no clue about how registrants are treated. The homeless shelters won't take them in because they are also scared of the negative publicity. The man interviewed at the end has no clue how hard it is for registrants to "move on."

Video Description:
We showed you this place that some call "Camp Convict," where former prison inmates are staying in tents. They say they are limited to where they can live because of the types of crimes they committed. We talked to a city councilman who's concerned about the camp.

See Also:

• Westside tent city

Let's talk about (sex offenders)

Original Article

Nazi Germany had registries as well!

04/05/2014

By Marc Allen

First, let’s put some things on the table. There is wide consensus that sexual assault is under reported. There is some disagreement about just how under reported sexual assault among adults is (and some controversy about how it is defined and measured), but there are good estimates that only about a tenth of sexual abuse against children is ever reported. Abuse against children is especially heinous because of the lifelong harm it can inflict on the survivors and the subsequent costs it imposes on society.

Now, let’s talk about one hugely counterproductive way to deal with sexual assault: public sex offender registries.*

Public registries started appearing in the early 1990s and became ubiquitous, with the help of federal legislation, by the early 2000s. Since then, both the feds and the states themselves have slowly been expanding their registries and adding restrictions to registrants.

There have been a number of good pieces in the last few years critical of public registries. Here. Here. And here. But public registries remain popular. Some states have expanded their registries in the last decade and/or added additional restrictions to registrants.

You can imagine why this ratcheting upwards keeps happening. Being pro sex offender isn't a terribly popular political stance. Take geographic bans for example. Once registrants are banned from living or loitering within 500 feet of a school, it’s easy and good politics to to expand 500 feet to 1000 feet (or even 2500 feet). After that, it’s easy to add daycare's, parks, churches, and Chuck E Cheese’s to the list of protected places.

The end result of these geographic bans is that large portions of cities become off-limits. Densely populated areas are especially bad. Here’s a map of the city of Grand Rapids, blue areas are within 1000 feet of a school, red areas are within 1000 feet of a day care:

Read the rest of the article

FL - Westside tent city

IL - Petitioners: Release of sex offenders who lack housing

Original Article

When did homelessness become a crime? The very laws the ignorant politicians have passed is what is causing this. Where is the ACLU on this?

04/03/2014

By Edith Brady-Lunny

SPRINGFIELD - A petition filed with the Illinois Supreme Court by 17 prison reform advocates seeks to end a state policy that has forced more than 1,000 sex offenders to serve their parole in prison because they lack approved housing.

Currently, 1,100 sex offenders are being held in state prisons under a "turnaround" policy used for almost a decade by the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Prison Review Board. The policy bars release of a sex offender until housing deemed suitable by the state has been secured.

In a petition filed by lawyers with the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law and the Uptown People's Law Center, inmate _____ challenges his prison stay beyond his April 12, 2013, scheduled release.

Advocacy groups signing in support of the petition included The John Howard Association, the League of Women Voters of Illinois and the Illinois Public Defender Association.

Advocates argue that the policy unfairly punishes inmates who don't have the resources for a home.

"We stand strongly for the proposition that, in the modern day, the state of being poor, indigent or homeless is never valid cause for imprisonment," advocates said in their petition.

IDOC spokeswoman Stacey Solano said the agency is following the law by holding inmates during their mandatory supervised release, formerly known as parole.

"Public safety is the core mission of this agency. Under the law, sex offenders must have appropriate and approved housing prior to parole. If they are unable to find an approved host site, IDOC will continue to house them until an appropriate site is found or until their discharge date, as IDOC cannot keep an offender past that date," said Solano.

Alan Mills, with The People's Uptown Law Center, said Wednesday that several decisions by state officials have contributed to the problem.

A law that makes it illegal for more than one sex offender to reside in the same facility bars two former inmates from living in the same apartment building, regardless of the size of the complex, said Mills.

The state's pool of transitional housing accommodates only 26 offenders on mandatory supervised release and none of those units is in the Chicago area where the largest number of the state's inmates return.

"Everyone is responsible for this problem and we think the courts should do something to straighten it out," said Mills.

Incarcerating 1,100 people beyond their sentence costs the state about $2.4 million a year, based on IDOC's current per-capita cost of housing an inmate.

A change in the "turnaround" policy would have the added benefit of making more space in an overcrowded network of prisons, said Mills.

In addition to delaying an inmate's return to the community, the practice also means that when the individual leaves prison, they are not under the supervision of a parole agent. There are requirements to register with local police who conduct residency checks, but the more frequent monitoring of a parole officer doesn't happen.

After a tour of Pontiac Correctional Center with a group of lawmakers in February, IDOC Director Tony Godinez said more than 1,000 inmates were eligible for parole "but we can't release them because there's no place for them to go."
- So basically you are holding them against their will simply because they are homeless!  Do you also do that for all the other homeless folks?  Of course you don't, so this is unconstitutional!

The state of Illinois has not yet filed its response to the petition.

According to the Illinois State Police, 180 registered sex offenders reside in McLean County, with nine listed as non-compliant with registration rules and four whose locations were unknown.
- So?  What does this have to do with the article?

McLean County Public Defender Kim Campbell said its very difficult for sex offenders to locate appropriate housing.
- And why is that?  Because of the unconstitutional residency restrictions that's why!

"We have no transitional housing here and the shelters won't take sex offenders. Homeless registrants must register where they are staying every seven days. If they don't have a home it's safe to say reporting every seven days and paying fees is difficult," said Campbell.

The consequences of a violation are serious.

"Technical violations of those requirements can land them back in prison for years. Registration (prison) terms of 10 years to life," said Campbell.
- Which in many cases is more time than their original sentence!  The punishment doesn't fit the crime which is also unconstitutional!

NH - Sex offender housing restrictions do more harm than good

Original Article

03/31/2014

Of all the constituents that politicians want to help out, sex offenders probably rank at the very bottom of the list. But the New Hampshire Senate should summon the courage to do just that. By helping sex offenders, as strange as it sounds, the Senate will end up making life safer for everyone else.

At issue is legislation that would ban cities and towns from placing broad restrictions on where sex offenders may live. Several communities have attempted such restrictions, and lower-court judges have already struck down two as unconstitutional: one in Franklin and one in Dover. In both cities, local officials wanted to keep convicted sex offenders from living too close to places where children regularly gather: schools, day care centers and playgrounds. Several other communities still have such ordinances on the books, among them Tilton, Sanbornton, Northfield and Boscawen.

The impulse to keep sex offenders away from kids via zoning is completely understandable. But there is strong reason to resist. And there is strong reason to set such policy at the state level, rather than leaving it to individual communities.

A growing body of evidence – gathered not just by civil liberties lawyers, but from law enforcement officers, public officials and child advocacy groups – suggests that residency restrictions are placebo pills at best and counterproductive at worst. Such ordinances give communities a false sense of security while driving sex offenders underground or into rural areas where they can’t access the services that give them the best chance at rehabilitation.

An Iowa study, for instance, showed that sexual-abuse convictions had remained steady since statewide residency restrictions went into effect five years earlier but that the number of sex offenders failing to register their addresses with local police departments, as the law required, had more than doubled.

And a study in the journal Federal Probation draws a clear link between housing instability – an obvious consequence of residency ordinances – and criminal recidivism. Instead, it suggests a strategy of identifying and carefully monitoring the highest risk offenders and creating stable lives for the rest through treatment and access to housing, jobs and services.

In New Hampshire, where most towns are small and housing options that aren’t close to playgrounds and schools are sometimes scarce, such ordinances also have the effect of pushing sex offenders out of one community and into the next in a desperate search for decent housing – hardly fair to them or to those communities.

That’s why state-level legislation makes sense.

The legislation banning communities from enacting or enforcing such residency restrictions has passed the House, but Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley of Wolfeboro expressed skepticism in an Associated Press interview that it would get through the Senate. “The Senate is going to want to protect kids and other people sexual predators could attack,” Bradley said. “I think getting rid of any kind of residency restrictions – like in proximity of schools and day-care centers – will be a very hard sell for senators, even in the face of a couple of court rulings.”

But the court rulings, which so far do not include the state Supreme Court, are not the best argument to counter Bradley’s fear. More persuasive is that senators who truly want to protect kids and others from attacks from New Hampshire’s 2,500 registered sex offenders, are actually heading in the wrong direction with such restrictions.

When a sex offender has served his sentence, it is in everyone’s interest that he succeed on the outside. Passing this bill would help.

WI - Circles of Support helps ex-offenders after prison

Original Article

03/22/2014

By CHARLIE MATHEWS

MANITOWOC (AP) - For convicted drug dealer _____ and child sex abuser _____, Circles of Support is a lifesaving program they believe can help prevent them from going back to prison.

"Circles is mentoring for your life guiding you in the right direction," _____, released from prison last April, said after a recent weekly meeting at the Salvation Army of Manitowoc County. It offers the program in partnership with Goodwill North Central Wisconsin.

"If it wasn't for this program and the Salvation Army, I don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing," said _____, who works several days a week at its pantry on Ninth Street. "My best friends and family are here."

Among them is Lt. Jeff Olson. "When these folks are coming out of prison or jail, they don't have a lot of support," said the Corps officer. "We look to help the whole person ... helping them to find jobs, a place to live, the right friends, reconcile with family ... many have destroyed what should be good relationships."

_____ got teary-eyed when talking with his mentor, Jerry Schubring, that one relationship he's repairing is with one of his three children, a daughter he hadn't seen for years.

"I want to raise my kids to know what dignity and integrity are, to have self-respect and self-love, and, most importantly, to have a life that will endure all adversity," _____, 33, said.

"You can't give up on a person," said Schubring, 72, who knew _____ before he was imprisoned, introducing the ex-offender and daughter to Emanuel United Methodist Church in Two Rivers where they were baptized.

"I stuck with him all the while when he went to prison, accepted his phone calls just about every week," said Schubring, who added he's "gotten hooked" on serving as a mentor with Circles of Support.

"It gives you a lot of pleasure seeing young fellows like _____ try to make a change in their life ... prison is not doing anything for them," said Schubring, an accountant before retiring.

He said _____ is working hard on turning his life around. "It is hard for those with drug problems to stay clean the rest of their life, they re-offend so easy ...we want to keep them stay clean, out of prison," Schubring said.

"To see lives being healed is huge for a mentor," Olson said. "You put in a lot of time with an individual, mentoring them, helping them with action plans and tasks. Seeing them get back to being a viable member of society, as a mentor there is great joy to see that."

Olson said mentors need to not view it as a defeat if participants violate parole and end up back in jail. "We are going to help this person again, not give up on them," he said.

The Manitowoc Salvation Army post began a Prison After Care program seven years ago with the same goals as the Circles of Support programming developed about two years ago with Goodwill Industries, which has a grant from the state Department of Corrections.

Olson said Goodwill has given the Manitowoc group training on how to be good mentors. It can also offer practical help like paying for special work boots if needed, or paying for books if the ex-offender is back in the classroom.

The Manitowoc Circles of Support has some 20 participants with local corrections agents strong supporters, encouraging involvement by parolees. Olson said more mentors are needed to be able to provide one-on-one counseling and support to "help participants stay on the straight and narrow, get their lives back together."

Gina Jensen became a mentor in September. "I get to love people and serve them," said Jensen, a member of Lighthouse Church Family in Two Rivers. "We'd love to have more people who can love the person and overlook the crime."

"Everybody deserves many changes in life," said Kathy Strickland, who attends Faith Church in Manitowoc, and went to the Gulf Coast several times in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as part of disaster relief efforts.

"It is a special gift to serve God ... I have a heart for these people," Strickland said. "Each life has value, it is not up to me to judge."

What would she say to prospective mentors? "You would be so blessed ... you get back more than you give," Strickland said. "Your heart would melt."

Darlene Wellner, a longtime volunteer, said mentors do have to be open and non-judgmental, willing to listen, but that doesn't mean they don't call them out for inappropriate actions.

"You are there to always encourage them, stress that hope is always there and that God is part of this whole thing, too," Wellner said. For those ex-offenders who grew up without a faith life, "it helps them to feel they can have a personal relationship with God and to also understand the values that come with that."

Before retirement, Wellner worked for Lakeshore Community Action Program as youth services director. She welcomes the involvement of lay volunteers with varied backgrounds who can provide links to different resources to help the ex-offender.

Kevin Mueller is the field supervisor in the Department of Corrections office in Manitowoc and Jennifer Zick is one of his probation and parole agents.

He said the ex-offenders may pay more attention to the guidance offered by the volunteers from Circles of Support rather than his-her paid parole officer.

"It is nice to have a group that helps me in my job," Zick said. "They take my people to the Job Center, get a library card."

"I can talk with the mentors, tell them what this guy could benefit from, 'can you help me out,'" Zick said. "We have the same goals, holding that person accountable ... giving them a positive place to go during the week instead of hanging out with friends" who may have been part of a destructive group of acquaintances."

"We need the community's help to do our job," Mueller said. "This program is a perfect example of that collaboration ... has certainly had a positive impact on the community. Manitowoc is a better place because of what Circles of Support has done."

_____, 38, said Circles of Support is helping him feel better about himself. He is trying to find work to help support his son that he said he has custody of, created through the relationship with the underage female that resulted in two years prison time. He was released in October and joined Circles.

"I'm not proud of what I did ... people have to understand that sometimes just because you are a sex offender ... doesn't mean you are the worst of the worst," said _____, who earned a one-year technical diploma in fundamentals of building maintenance and construction while housed at Oshkosh Correctional Institution.

_____ said he is a "great worker," had a couple long-term factory jobs and now just needs a chance to demonstrate his worth.

"When you're not working, you have time on your hands, there is the possibility of re-offending," _____ said.

He said Circles of Support is a critical component of re-entering society. "The mentors provide you with ideas for jobs, ways to talk with employers," _____ said. "They point out your good qualities, are willing to give their time to do that."

_____ has been in out of prison three times for drug offenses and arson. He believes with help from Circles of Support there won't be a fourth time. "This is the best thing that ever happened to me," he said.

WI - Residents seek fix for sex offender clusters in older neighborhoods

Original Article

If you want a fix for this then remove the residency restrictions, then offenders can live where they want and will not be clustering in your neighborhood due to the buffer zones.

03/15/2014

By Jennifer K. Woldt

Areas of Oshkosh once filled with modest single family homes and owner-occupied duplexes have slowly transformed into a neighborhood where those residences have been converted into multi-family homes or boarding houses that have cheap rent.

Those rental properties in the central city and on the city’s east side have, over time, become magnets for sex offenders who return to the city following release from prison. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections, which authorizes sex offender placements, says it’s a matter of pure economics — affordable rent, access to public transportation and other advantages make it a natural fit for offenders moving back into the community.
- It's a matter of residency restrictions that cause the clustering and does nothing to prevent crime or protect anybody.  You remove this and most of this goes away!

But residents of those neighborhoods are increasingly bristling at shouldering what they feel is an unfair burden, where clusters of offenders are driving down home values and contributing to the deterioration of their neighborhoods.

Those residents understand offenders need a place to live and are not trying to ban sex offenders from living within Oshkosh, they do not understand why the placement of offenders cannot be spread throughout the city.

“(Department of Corrections) need to realize they can’t use one city, one neighborhood, as a dumping ground,” said Oshkosh Councilor Steve Cummings, who has made neighborhood revitalization a central focus of his two terms on the common council.

Of the 201 registered sex offenders that live in Oshkosh, 126 offenders, or 63 percent, live in the area that encompasses the 54901 zip code, with high concentrations of offenders on some blocks and, in some instances up to five offenders living in a single boarding house.

In Oshkosh, there are eight addresses that are home to multiple offenders, according to the state’s sex offender registry.

Some cities have adopted ordinances to attempt to disperse offenders or to bar them from living within a certain distance of parks, schools and other locations. Oshkosh does not have such an ordinance, but residents of impacted neighborhoods have begun arguing that it’s time of the city to take a hard look at correcting the imbalance in offender locations.

“Our neighborhood is not suggesting extreme residency restrictions,” said Lori Palmeri, who lives in a central city neighborhood west of Main Street. “We’re looking at a solution that would be a guided placement based more on dispersion and density to prevent clustering.”

DOC silent on placements

The Department of Corrections declined multiple Northwestern phone and email requests over the past month for an interview to explain the role the department plays in determining where an offender will live.

In declining the request, a DOC spokesperson responded with an email that said in most cases, offenders are required to live in the county where they were convicted after they are released from prison, unless they have no ties to the county other than the offense. In those cases, the offender is able to live in their county of residence at the time of the offense, said Joy Staab, director of public affairs for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

DOC tries to assure the residential population density of serious sex offenders is proportionate to the number of cases that originate in the county, however, DOC did not indicate whether they try to assure proportional population density within cities or among cities in a county.

Stan Stojkovic, dean of the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee said its important for residents of impacted neighborhoods to look beyond the just simple number of offenders in their neighborhoods.

Stojkovic, who has an extensive background in researching sex offender placement within communities, said “sex offender” is a broad term that can take on many different meanings depending on the context of the crime he committed and not every sex offender poses a danger to the community.

Many of the individuals who are required to be listed on the state sex offender registry committed offenses against a family member or friend. The sexually violent offenders only make up 3 to 5 percent of the sex offender population, Stojkovic said.

“There are guys in the bushes, but they’re far and few between,” Stojkovic said. “You’re more likely to be assaulted by someone you know.”

Managing sex offenders in a community requires a balance of protecting the community by establishing rules and supervision for the offenders, while not violating the constitutional rights of the offenders, Stojkovic said. However, he said, many community leaders prefer to highlight the fear that most offenders are violent, rather than make informed decisions and try to address the problem of managing the offenders that are in the community.

“We have to have them in the community,” Stojkovic said. “It will never get addressed if there’s lack of political leadership.”
- Politicians like to pass laws further punishing ex-offenders to help their reputations and careers, if they speak out against these laws, then they could lose their jobs, and they don't want that, so "political leadership" will never happen!

Offender restrictions

Since the mid-2000s, municipalities around Wisconsin have been enacting ordinances that have placed restrictions on where sex offenders can live in communities. At least 110 municipalities in Wisconsin have adopted some kind of ordinance, including the town of Algoma.
- And that is what is causing this clustering!

Stojkovic argues those ordinances do nothing to protect communities from offenders. Rather, Stjkovic said the ordinances are often written too broadly and include every sex offender that’s on the registry instead of focusing on the violent or dangerous offenders that the community needs protection from.

“All of those do nothing,” Stojkovic said. “It’s more political fodder for politicians who want to make hay.”

The town of Algoma enacted a residency restriction ordinance in November 2006. The ordinance prohibits sex offenders who victimized a child under 16 years old from living within 2,000 feet of parks, playgrounds, churches, schools and bike trails.

The ordinance, which covers about 99 percent of the town, does have a mechanism which allows offenders to live within the town if they already have an established residence with a family member who previously lived in the town, said town chairman Tim Blake.

Only one offender resides in the town of Algoma, Blake said.

While the restriction essentially eliminates sex offenders from living within the town, Blake said the intent was not to push offenders off on other communities.

“We weren’t looking to shove anybody anywhere,” Blake said. “We were looking to protect the kids. And we still are.”
- But the residency restrictions do just that!

Oshkosh efforts

Neighborhood advocates and the city have begun exploring options that may help prevent the clustering of offenders in a small area.

Last year, Cummings and Palmeri met with officials from the departments of corrections and probation and parole along with Oshkosh Police Chief Scott Greuel to learn more about placement of sex offenders within the community.

Greuel recently said that he does not support Oshkosh instituting a sex offender residency restriction due to concerns it may force offenders underground, resulting in law enforcement and members of the community not knowing where they are living.

Palmeri sent a follow-up memo to city leaders earlier this month that discussed alternative ways to handle sex offender placement in the city, including an option that sought to address offender density to ease the burden on neighborhoods like hers.
- A free person can live anywhere they wish.  You don't have the government telling you where you can or cannot live, so stop stomping on others rights for your false security!

Among her suggestions was creating a residency review committee that would need to be consulted before an offender moved into the community. Anouther option could involve placing offenders throughout the seven Oshkosh Police districts in the community on a rotational basis.
- Yeah like that will work!  Then you will have this committee just denying everybody the ability to move into their neighborhood, so the problem will still exist.

“I know that’s not a perfect solution since some districts don’t have rentals,” Palmeri said. “It may be the case that we not start with that approach, but maybe instead a distance requirement of how close they can be to each other.”

Palmeri said she has not received a response to her memo from the city.

While more than 100 cities, villages and towns in Wisconsin have created ordinances that restrict where offenders can live, Palmeri said the idea she has proposed — which avoids outright restrictions and instead addresses the population density of offenders within an area — is not utlitized as much. She has identified two communities, the village of Allouez and the town of Wheatland in Kenosha County, that have adopted a hybrid-type ordinance that not only restricts, but also addresses density.

“It hasn’t really been looked at in the state of Wisconsin,” Palmeri said. “I think most of the municipalities have been more clear that they don’t want them here.”

At minimum, she would like the city to create a task force to investigate the issue and work with residents and rental-property owners to address residents’ concerns.

Cummings said the city is exploring ways to limit the number of offenders who live in the city’s older neighborhoods through a zoning rule that would limit the number of non-related people who live in a unit or other moves, such as design standards or creating an apartment registry, that could be made to help reduce the number of low-rent properties in the neighborhoods by either increasing the rental price or turning rental units into single-family homes.

“The major issue why Oshkosh is a good dumping ground is the older sections of the city have very low rents,” Cummings said.

IN - Indiana Law Gives Sex Offenders Freedom To Live Anywhere Three Days Each Month

Original Article

The very laws are what is creating this problem. Remove the residency laws and you won't have any more of this clustering and people can live where they want and find a job.

03/06/2014

By Rachelle Spence

FORT WAYNE (21Alive) - Wednesday's near condemnation of the Hallmark Inn left many wondering where those on the Allen County Sex Offender Registry would relocate to.

The extended-stay motel is a common place for offenders to live, since it is a thousand feet from any school, daycare, or park.

According to the Allen County Sheriff's Department, there were eleven registered sex offenders living at the Hallmark Inn.

Although the owner of the property received an injunction in the case and some residents are still there for the time being, detectives say several of the registered offenders had already packed up and left.

The above maps (see video) show places where predators and offenders against children cannot live. When all of the images are laid on top of one another, it's easy to see offenders don't have much of a choice.

While many consider the 2006 "thousand-feet" law a safe measure, one Allen County Detective says it's a big negative for those neighborhoods outside of the colored areas.

"We've got a trailer court with a ton of offenders in it. Whereas, before it may have only had one or two. Before, the kids going back and forth to school, only had to worry about one sexual offender. Now, they have twenty. It becomes a virtual minefield the kids have to walk through," said Detective, Jeff Shimkus.
- Once again a police officer making it appear as if all sex offender are out preying on children when many didn't actually harm a child.

Shimkus also explains that offenders have a three night window every month that they can stay with friends or family, regardless of whether or not that home is near any of the prohibited areas.

GA - Albany organization lobbys for ex-offenders

Dr. Charles Ochie

Original Article

03/06/2014

By Nicole Rosales

ALBANY (WALB) - Albany Second Chance hopes to bring attention to the hundreds of people in Dougherty County who are having a tough time creating a stable lifestyle. Members say its partly because a their criminal record holds them back.

President of Albany Second Chance, Dr. Charles Ochie, feels the meeting will allow them to communicate to lawmakers how important it is to address the issues that ex-offenders face. He says it's not only a member's concern but a community concern, because it involves the safety of Dougherty County citizens.

Dr. Ochie feels in order to get to the root of our crime problem have to find a way to break the cycle. They hope to bring awareness, generate a support system and develop solutions to get those previously imprisoned back on track.

"We try to get them back into the community, find them jobs, connect them with their families, with the church, so they feel they are part of the community again," Dr. Ochie said.

Vice President, Dr. Patrick Ibe, says some of these people are family men, brothers and uncles, they have paid their dues and need to be given a chance.

Albany Second Chance says that is what they will be fighting for during Thursday's meeting at the state capitol. Members feel grateful and are excited for the opportunity to be a part of something that is very important to them.