CA - Sex-offender laws are ineffective and unfair, critics say

Original Article

10/17/2014

By Puck Lo

Frank Lindsay, 62, is a father, small-business owner and avid surfer. He’s also one of 105,000 people in California — and 760,000 nationally — listed as a sex offender. In accordance with federal law, his name, photograph and home address appear in a public, online offender registry. In 1979, Lindsay, then 27, was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14.

“I thought I could do whatever I wanted,” Lindsay says. “Add on some alcohol, and I was a real asshole.”

Today, Lindsay considers himself a reformed man. He says he hasn’t had a drink in 30 years, is a Taoist and advocate for restorative justice — encouraging violent people to make amends for their actions. But, he says, “It seems that I can never be forgiven.”

Few groups are as widely despised as sex offenders. Activities prosecuted as sex offenses vary by state, but can include public urination, consensual sex between teenagers, streaking, prostitution, downloading child pornography and rape. In some states, law-enforcement officials distribute flyers to notify neighbors of registrants’ convictions. Some registrants are prohibited from using the Internet. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that indefinite detention at psychiatric hospitals — or “civil commitment” — of sex offenders is constitutional.

The first law requiring sex offenders to register publicly and for life was passed in California in 1947 and targeted gay men, according to Andrew Extein, executive director of the Center for Sexual Justice. But many of today’s laws have their origins in the late 1970s, when feminists and social conservatives worked together to publicize high-profile “stranger danger” attacks on children, says Roger Lancaster, anthropology professor at George Mason University and author of “Sex Panic and the Punitive State.”

Beginning in the mid-1990s, several laws went into effect that changed how sex-offense cases were prosecuted. In 1994, states were required to create databases of sex offenders. Two years later, Megan’s Law, named for a 7-year-old in New Jersey who was brutally raped and murdered by a neighbor with two previous sex convictions, allowed states to make those registries public. States passed their own versions of the law; in some cases, they required that neighbors be notified of paroled offenders’ previous convictions. Later laws moved those sex-offender databases online, created a national registry, required lifetime registration of people 14 years old and up and imposed harsh mandatory minimum sentences for crimes involving children.

But almost 20 years after the passage of Megan’s Law, criminologists and judges, along with a burgeoning movement of sex-offender registrants and their families, are challenging not only the constitutionality of the laws but their effectiveness in reducing sexual assault. In January, a California court ruled in favor of a paroled sex offender who had argued that city and county “child-safety zone” ordinances prohibiting people in the registry from using parks, beaches and similar recreation areas were an unconstitutional form of banishment. In April, the state Supreme Court upheld the ruling by declining to review it.

See Also: California Reform Sex Offender Laws

Read the entire article

VT - Sex offender registry under fire again

Original Article

07/18/2014

By Jennifer Reading

MONTPELIER - It's another black mark for the Vermont Sex Offender Registry.

"There are errors. And they should not have been there," said Doug Hoffer, D-Vt. Auditor.

Hoffer says the system needs work. A performance audit by his office found critical errors in 253 offender records. That's 11 percent of the total registry.

"The Legislature has said very clearly that they wanted information to be available to the general public, as is the case in other states," Hoffer said. "And we all have a right for the information to be accurate. Not only for the people in the community, but for the offenders."

The registry is a tool for law enforcement and the public to keep track of sexual predators living in the community. That's something Chelsea Merrill, 21, couldn't do for a while. Her abuser, _____, was convicted of lewd and lascivious conduct. He targeted her for five years while she was a child. Yet his photo wasn't on the public registry until recently. And she worried he'd find more victims.

"That he will offend again," she said. "That he will get close to another child and feel comfortable with them. And this will happen again."
- So are you saying that if his/her photo is online then they won't re-offend?  The problem is, most do not re-offend in the first place!

An audit conducted in 2010 found the system was rife with errors. Hoffer says four years later, the Legislature tasked his office with a follow-up examination.

His team uncovered:

• 11 registration errors where offenders were either incorrectly added, omitted or still online after their deaths.
• 179 errors related to how long an offender should stay on the registry.
• 71 mistakes regarding which offenders' information should be posted online.

Hoffer says these mistakes undermine the credibility of the registry. It's managed by two people within the Department of Public Safety's Vermont Crime Information Center or VCIC. But the auditor says state courts and corrections also play a role.

"They have not worked together as well as they could," Hoffer said.

"The program is still a work in progress," said Jeffrey Wallin who heads the VCIC.

Wallin says since the audit's conclusion in mid-May, almost all the mistakes have been fixed.

Many of them were a result of human error from manual data entry, a problem the center has been working to streamline. Last February, VCIC unveiled new software called OffenderWatch to help automate data entry. Despite a few technology glitches, Wallin says it's improved the accuracy of the registry.
- It doesn't matter how expensive or nice the program is, as long as you have humans entering data, then there is always potential for human errors.

"Right now the public can be fairly confident in the registry," Wallin said. "We are always looking to improve. Provide better information, better service and better response to the community, but also to the individuals listed."

Moving forward Hoffer has recommended the courts, corrections and VCIC reconvene a working group to hash out their communication breakdown. It's a suggestion the auditor's office also made after the 2010 audit.

"And they did. And then they kind of let it go," Hoffer said. "So they certainly need more coordination between them."

And victims like Merrill say fixing these mistakes should remain a top priority.

"If it was one of their kids, would they want to know if their neighbor was a sex offender or had done such a crime with a child? Would they want their kid walking to school past their neighbor's house every day knowing that they live there?" Merrill said.
- So why don't you walk to the bus stop with your child?  You know, be a parent!

In 2009, Vermont lawmakers approved a measure to post sex offenders' addresses to the online registry. The move was contingent on a favorable audit. Problems discovered in 2010 prevented that from happening. This audit was a second chance. But more errors likely mean the addresses of sexual predators will remain under wraps.

Audit Reports:

• Click here to read the 2014 audit
• Click here to read the 2010 audit

NEW ZEALAND - Fresh calls for a public registry of sex offenders

Derryn Hinch

Original Article (Video available)

07/11/2014

An advocate for a public registry of sex offenders is in New Zealand to campaign for changing the country's name suppression laws.

New Zealand-born Australian broadcaster Derryn Hinch (2011 Video) will speak to the Sensible Sentencing Trust this weekend with the aim of getting a public registry of convicted sex offenders in New Zealand.

Speaking to TVNZ's Breakfast programme this morning, Mr Hinch says he believes it's "common sense" to have a registry for sex offenders and that the public has a right to know who and where sex offenders are.

"You should know that someone's out there in the community," he told the programme. "You have a right to know as a parent."
- So where is the online shaming hit-list for all other ex-criminals?

Mr Hinch is an outspoken advocate for a sex offender registry in Australia and New Zealand and has been convicted and imprisoned multiple times for contempt of court for breaching suppression orders by revealing details of offenders.

He believes naming sex offenders won't necessarily identify the victims of abuse and says in some cases the victims want to be named so their attackers can be convicted.

"I'd do anything to protect a victim's identity. They've been through hell so they should be protected," he says.

The media personality says the current system of suppressing sex offenders names is not working and is letting the public down.

Mr Hinch says nearly 150,000 people have signed a petition calling for changes.

OH - New search allows check for sex offender email, phone numbers

Original Article

07/04/2014

By Jessie Balmert



Concerned your child is chatting with a sex offender? There’s a new tool to help you check.

A new function on the Electronic Sex Offender Registration and Notification (eSORN) Database will allow parents to input phone numbers, email addresses, social media screen names and video game handles to check if they are linked to a registered sex offender, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced at a news conference Thursday.

If the information is linked to a registered sex offender, a screen will advise parents to contact the local sheriff’s office or the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, DeWine said. Specific information about the sex offender will not be listed, according to a news release from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

From there, deputies can investigate whether sex offenders have violated the law by contacting children, DeWine said.

Sheriffs in Ohio’s 88 counties already collect detailed information about registered sex offenders, but now it will be available for the public to check.

“Our communication capabilities are better than ever before. We can talk on our smart phones, we can email people, we can post pictures and share our experiences through social media. But it’s that kind of access that can open the door for predators to have access to our children,” DeWine said.

Ohio joins seven other states that allow residents to investigate whether sex offenders are contacting their children electronically. The eSORN database contains nearly 18,000 people required to register as sex offenders after convictions for offenses from soliciting sex to rape.

Playlist Link

MD - Are Sex Offender Registries Effective?

Original Article

07/03/2014

By Jemie Lee

MARYLAND - It gives a sense of security for many parents – having access to the state's sex offender registry.

"It's a way for us to be safe as parents for our children. I use an app to find out if there's any in the neighborhood. That's what my sister and I did before, and we actually found some. So we would know to keep an eye out, especially for my daughter that I'm worried about," Christie Sarminto said.

But a controversial ruling by the Maryland Court of Appeals could immediately remove about a third of those currently on Maryland's sex offender database. It's cause for concern, but experts say the registry itself isn't a good tool to keep our children safe.

"There are cases where someone is pleading to a lesser offense, which doesn't require registration on the sex offender registry," executive director of the Life Crisis Center in Salisbury, Md. Michele Hughes said.

Hughes was also on the governor's sex offender advisory board. She says she's seen cases where the judge won't order the offender to register, and many cases, especially those involving children, either never go to trial or end in a not guilty verdict.

"The child can't articulate clearly what happened to them, even though the child may have been offended against. Those people show up nowhere and those are the people you have to worry about, because no one is looking at them," she said.

So, what's the best way to keep our kids safe?

Hughes points to good parole and probation departments that have programs in which sex offenders go to therapy, take lie detector tests periodically, and are heavily monitored.

"There are a lot of studies that say that this works much better than sort of public shaming on the sex offender registry. So perhaps we need to look more at things like that and be less dependent on public lists," she said.

The problem is, these programs are extremely expensive, and funds are already limited. So until we can find a way to change the system, Michele says, for now, the responsibility lies on the parents.

"Parents should not get a level of comfort knowing that no one in their neighborhood for instance is on the sex offender registry, because it is not a panacea. You still need to be vigilant with your children. You need to make certain that your children are not left alone with adults, one on one," she said.

Hughes also says that often times parents focus solely on stranger danger, when in fact most children are not abused by strangers. They're abused by people they know and trust. So it's important to understand that the sex offender registry, and teaching our kids to run away from strangers, isn't enough to keep them safe.

See Also:

• Ruling could scrub quarter of sex offender registry

CA - California looking at purging sex offender list

Video Description:
The state of California is looking to remove some sex offenders from it's official list. The state says it will save millions of dollars by thinning the sheet of names to just the worst of the worst.

See Also:

• Sex Offender Board Calls For Registry Overhaul

NH - State's sex-offender registry overreaches

Original Article

05/20/2014

The N.H. Supreme Court is pondering the fate of a man convicted, several decades ago, of sexually assaulting his teenage stepdaughter. The man has served out his prison sentence, undergone years of counseling and been deemed “rehabilitated” by the court. Now in his 60s, he is disabled.

None of which would be fodder for the state’s highest court, except that since he was released from prison in 1990, the state has repeatedly enacted laws calling for those convicted of sexual assault against children to register with the police, so a legal — and public — eye can be kept on them. And yes, such laws include those who were sentenced long before the new laws were enacted.

The man now before the Supreme Court seeking relief from these laws has been dubbed John Doe to protect his anonymity. It’s ironic that Mr. Doe can hide his identity from the public in court, because the reason he’s there is that he can’t hide it anywhere else. Thanks to these laws — both state and federal — John Doe and others must allow not only the police to know where they are, they must let everyone know, by keeping their current address in a database accessible to anyone online.

And in many cases, they must do so for life. There is no mechanism for getting off the list, and failure to keep the information updated carries harsh penalties in itself.

If all this seems over the line of reasonable punishment, in many cases we agree. However, the state has argued inclusion on this public online registry is not a punishment, but a regulatory matter.

We think that reasoning is absurd. Clearly, it is a punishment, tantamount to those on the list being forced to wear a large letter “P” pinned to their chests in public.

And while belling the cat may be a good idea for those whose crimes indicate they will continue to pose a threat, there are some crimes designated as sexual in nature that may not, such as public urination.

This is not to ignore the real danger posed by sick minds — the hardcore predators who will never be rehabilitated. Given the recidivism rates involved in sexual assault cases, especially those victimizing children, there’s a lot to be said for keeping the public informed of legitimate threats. There does need to be some way for the public to be informed.
- What recidivism rate?  You mean that sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates of any other ex-felon?

Hearing the arguments of the John Doe case earlier this month, the justices seemed taken aback by the logic of the laws. One argued a paraplegic on the registry who now poses no threat to anyone could himself become a victim of vigilantes who look up his address online. If that seems far-fetched, consider the case of Stephen Marshall, who in 2006 killed two men whose names and addresses he’d looked up on Maine’s sex-offender registry.

We, too, worry that inclusion on a public registry could make a target of people who have otherwise served their sentence for crimes committed. We hope the court’s review will result in a close look at the state’s sex-offender registry, including how long someone who has been deemed rehabilitated by the courts should be on it and whether the list of crimes for which one qualifies needs to be culled.
- It also puts the lives of family members (innocent people) in danger as well, not just the ex-offenders!

NY - Registry won't make us all safer

Placebo

Original Article

05/15/2014

The problem with feel-good public safety initiatives like the proposed Violent Offenders Registry is that they lull us into a false sense that we're doing something legitimate to protect ourselves from harm.

The state Legislature, once again borrowing from a tragedy involving a child, has proposed setting up a list of people who've served time for violent crimes. The bill, dubbed "Brittany's Law," is similar in design and purpose to the sex offender registries that became popular two decades ago.

Like the state’s 18-year-old sex offender registry, this bill would require violent felons to register with the state. Those subject to registration would be anyone convicted under the "violent offender" section of state Penal Law -- which covers such crimes as murders, assaults, kidnappings, terrorism and gang violence.

The information available to the public from the registry could include the person's name, address, photo and information about the crime he or she committed. How much information that would be available on each subject would be determined by ranking, again similar to sex offender registries, based on a subjective determination of the felon's propensity to commit more violent crimes, with Level 1 being the lowest and Level 3 the highest.

The crime upon which this bill is based is the 2009 murder of 12 year-old Brittany Passalacqua and her mother, Helen Buchel. Their killer, John Edward Brown, was on early release from prison after serving most of a 3-year sentence for violently assaulting his infant daughter.

Supporters of the registry claim Brittany's Law could have prevented their deaths by alerting the victims to the presence of a killer living among them.

It's true, it would be nice to know when a violent felon, like a sex offender, is living in the neighborhood. But in reality, how many of us regularly check the lists to find out? The new registry wouldn’t take into consideration the fact that many violent crimes are committed by people under duress, or influenced by alcohol and other circumstances that might be precipitated by a single incident. In other words, a lot of violent people in your neighborhood, just like people with a propensity to abuse children or commit sexual assaults, wouldn't necessarily appear on this list unless they’d been caught and convicted. The registry also doesn't take into consideration the fact that most victims of sexual or domestic violence already know their assailants. So how extra-safe would this list really make the rest of us?

Several studies conducted over the years have questioned the effectiveness of such registries in preventing sex crimes, while other studies have challenged the validity of the recidivism rankings in assessing individuals’ propensity to repeat their crimes. Some studies have found that registries compel offenders to get treatment and behave themselves, while others have shown being on the list stresses out some offenders, drives them into hiding, discourages them from getting treatment and/or compels them to commit more crimes.

The registries do often allow police to keep better tabs on individuals with criminal backgrounds, which could lead to quicker identification of suspects in new crimes. But knowing someone's address doesn't mean their whereabouts is known 24 hours a day, to police or potential victims.

There's also the question of whether a person should be subject to registration after they've served their sentence. Even when a person is off the list, either by timing out or having their conviction overturned, the Internet would make their listing a permanent one.

For police and certain victims of violence, having a registry of violent offenders could provide a useful tool. So it's probably not a bad thing for the Legislature to set up.

But for most of us, it might make us feel like we're a little safer. But actually, we're all still just as safe ... and all still just as vulnerable.

OK - Thousands come off sex offender list months after new law

Original Article

05/13/2014

By La'Tasha Givens

A new law took thousands off the sex offender registry.

Exposing yourself near a playground, urinating in public or peeping in a bathroom stall are just some of the actions that have landed thousands of people on the sex offender registry.

Now many of those names are disappearing from the list.

“If you were to slap a woman on the behind, that would be sexual battery and you would have to register for 15 years and that has nothing to do with children on the playground,” said attorney David Slane. “People who urinated in public or fall under what we call the Romeo and Juliet situation, where the young man may have been just a little bit older than the girl or vice versa. They’re the ones typically being removed.”

Slane said he’s taken on over 400 sex offender cases, more than anyone else in the state.

In many situations the offenders were on the list way past their punishment because the laws kept changing.

“They’ve had a number of changes or revisions of sex offender registration act over the last ten or 15 years and the court said those later laws could not apply retroactively,” said Jerry Massey spokesperson for the Department of Corrections (DOC).

Out of the 2,400 now off the list, Slane said most are level one or level two offenders which does not include those who committed violent and heinous sex crimes.

He also said under the new law a judge is able to decide a punishment on a case by case basis and not paint all offenders with a wide brush.

Slane said, “The more serious cases are the one we should spend our resources on, not someone who urinated in public.”

DOC officials say they still have another 2,700 cases to review to see if there are more offenders who are eligible to come off the list based on the new law.

AUSTRALIA - Fears the sex offender register is not the solution to keeping kids safe

Original Article

05/09/2014

By Sally Whyte and Elizabeth McKenzie

Community fears have been heightened with reports a known sex offender has been seen loitering near children in Melbourne.

In a separate incident, police are investigating reports that a man approached a boy at a Daylesford school on Thursday afternoon. The boy notified a teacher, who passed the information to police.

Former head of Victoria Police's child protection squad Chris O'Connor, said the community is understandably alarmed at such cases.

Mr O'Connor said he is comforted that in 2014 the community is positively responsive to this kind of activity.

Mr O'Conner said there are thousands of people on the sex offender registry, and 24 hour police surveillance would be impossible.

'There are thousands of people on the registry we clearly and very quickly come to the realisation that we would never have enough police to be able to satisfy totally the community as to their level of protection against these people.'

Mr O'Connor says parents have a responsibility to protect children, but warns against the public taking the law into their own hands.

'Vigilantism is often the result of a couple of things, victimisation or ignorance or a total lack of understanding of the circumstance. It is irrational behaviour.'

Mr O'Connor said children should be educated about how to respond in the unlikely event they come into contact with sex offenders.

'Teach them basic crime prevention, be aware of who is around, remove yourself or call out to somebody. If somebody approaches you, you yell the living daylights out.'

Sex Offender Intimidation & Extortion

Video Source | Related Stories

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

GUAM - Offender list to go public: Registry to list repeat family violence offenders

Sen. Dennis Rodriguez

Original Article

04/03/2014

By Cameron Miculka

A registry aimed at providing Guamanians with a list of repeat family violence offenders is scheduled to launch next week.

Carlina Charfauros, spokeswoman for the Office of the Attorney General, said the registry will be launched Monday.

A press conference about the registry is scheduled for the same day.

According to a 2011 law, the Office of the Attorney General is required to keep a database of those convicted of at least two family violence offenses.

The law was created through a bill introduced by Sen. Dennis Rodriguez, D-Dededo.

The registry has been in the works for close to three years, but stalled several times due to a lack of staffing and resources.

Charfauros said yesterday that the AG's office has been able to divert some resources from within the office to get the registry online.

Rather than hiring staff exclusively to set up the registry, she said, the office was able to use its interns and has "drawn from other divisions to get this registry up and running."

Charfauros said the registry will be retroactive to 2011, the year the bill became law.

That means that anyone who has had two family violence convictions during or after 2011 -- or had one family violence conviction before 2011 and a second one during or after 2011 -- will appear on the registry. In some cases, such as if a crime involves a deadly weapon, a person can be placed on the registry for a first offense.

In cases where one of those convictions is expunged, the offender can be removed from the registry. The law also provides an avenue for those on the list to petition for removal.

Charfauros said the registry was set up without any funding outside of the AG's budget.

She said the only future anticipated costs would be associated with software upgrades.

Charfauros said the registry is something her office hopes is used by the entire island. "We want everybody to utilize it," she said.

Rodriguez said yesterday he was "very thankful for the AG and his people."

The senator said he hopes the registry protects people from abusers by providing them with access to the knowledge of who the repeat offenders are in Guam. "I think it's a step in the right direction," he said.

Both Charfauros and Rodriguez said the registry will be useful for people starting relationships.

"It's targeted for people who might not know who they're getting into a relationship with," said Rodriguez.

The two also said that they don't anticipate the registry to lead to harassment or vigilante action against those who appear on the list.

Rodriguez said that the island's sex offender registry performs a similar role on the island and that he hasn't seen any violence directed at sex offenders on that list. "That's not the intent of this," he said.
- Doesn't mean it won't happen.  Vigilantism of those on the sex offender registry is a problem in the USA so I assume it will be in Guam as well since it's a US state.  Why don't we have an online registry for all ex-felons?

Charfauros noted that the law expressly forbids the use of the registry to stalk or harass people on it.

MA - SJC ruling keeps 6,000 Level 2 sex offenders off state web registry

Original Article

The entire registry should be offline and used by police only! It doesn't prevent crime nor protect anybody, it's nothing more than a glorified phone book for vigilantes.

03/26/2014

By Laurel J. Sweet

Thousands of Level 2 sex offenders will remain hidden from the state web registry of predators, thanks to a ruling today by the Supreme Judicial Court that found only criminals who were classified after a July 2013 law should be listed (Case Info).
- Not all those who wear the "sex offender" label and are on the online hit-list are predators!

“While we recognize that the Legislature enacted these amendments in the belief that Internet access to the registry information of level two offenders would reduce the number of new sex crimes committed by these offenders by enabling individuals to identify them as sex offenders and take cautionary steps to protect themselves and those under their care, there is no evidence in the record to indicate that any sex crime has been prevented, or that the incidence of sex crimes or sex offender recidivism has decreased by such publication,” Supreme Judicial Court justices wrote in their opinion.

The law, signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2013, would have put all 6,000 Level 2 offenders on the Sex Offender Registry board’s web site alongside Level 3 convicts — those deemed most likely to reoffend. Under the SJC’s ruling, those offenders cannot be grandfathered in, and only new offenders will be listed.

“Nothing in this order affects the ability of SORB to publish on the Internet the registry information of any individual who was given a final classification as a level two sex offender after July 12, 2013,” the court said, ruling in favor of public defenders who sued last year to temporarily enjoin those names from being published.

The state has made available to the public online the names, home and work addresses and sex-crime convictions of Level 3 offenders since 2003.

“When SORB gave a sex offender a level two classification after the 2003 amendment (that put offenders’ names online), SORB implicitly determined that the offender was not so dangerous that the interest of public safety required Internet publication of the offender’s registry information, because SORB would have given the offender a level three classification if it believed that Internet publication of the offender’s registry information was warranted,” the SJC found. “Thus, the practical consequence of the recent amendments is that offenders whose degree of dangerousness, according to SORB, was not so substantial that Internet publication of their information was needed to protect the public safety would now be subject to Internet publication of their registry information. And further, those offenders who did not challenge their level two classification, either administratively or through judicial review because they specifically relied on their accurate understanding that a level two classification did not carry the consequence of Internet publication of their registry information, would now be subject to exactly that.”

SORB directs to local police stations anyone interested in obtaining information on the whereabouts of Level 2 offenders classified prior to July 2012.

AUSTRALIA - We don’t want consensual sex teens listed

Bill Byrne

Original Article

03/25/2014

Rockhampton MP Bill Byrne said at this stage a public register was only theoretical, and he would reserve his judgment until he had the opportunity to review all information.

"I have seen commentary that's been put out by the LNP cabinet ministers and they seem to be equally divided, as I imagine the rest of the community would be, about such a matter," he said.

"There are reasonable concerns that the notion of vigilantism would rear its head; there have been examples of that in Queensland."
- Oh it will!  All you have to do is look at these examples.

"While I'm not defending the histories of those that are targeted, it does give me concern that the prospect of vigilantism exists."

He also raised concerns about people who were not a danger to the community being placed on a public registry.

One example of this could be underage teenagers having consensual sex, which is technically illegal.

"We don't want to have two 15-year-olds that have had what I consider to be a consensual relationship to end up on the sex offender register," he said.

"It could be a catch-all legislation that has ramifications well beyond the intention of the legislation."

"The bikie legislation was meant to target the criminal element of motorcycle gangs, and it has had a much broader effect than what was the intention of the legislation."

He maintained that the idea behind the justice system was to hold people accountable for their actions, but to also offer them a chance of rehabilitation.

IL - Commission recommends removing juvenile offenders from sex registries, bolstering treatment

Original Article

03/25/2014

By JOHN O'CONOR

SPRINGFIELD - Requiring juveniles to register as sex offenders impairs rehabilitation efforts for a crime that very few of them ever commit again, a study released Tuesday says.
- The same applies to adults as well, if you look at the facts!

The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission's report recommends ending the practice of making offenders younger than 17 add their names to sex-offender registries, which can negatively affect an offender for years. Every juvenile convicted of a sex crime must register, and 70 percent of the 2,553 currently registered must do so for life, the report said.

The 150-page review of laws and treatment practices regarding juvenile sex crimes calls for the state to abolish the categorical requirement for young offenders' registration. The report, which the General Assembly requested in 2012, says sex crimes committed in youth are seldom repeated in adulthood and that individualized, community-based treatment plans are highly effective and more productive than incarceration.

"Automatic, categorical registries do not protect public safety," commission chairman George Timberlake, a retired chief circuit judge from Mount Vernon, told The Associated Press. "There's no evidentiary basis that says they do and more importantly, they have very negative consequences in the effects they have on the offenders' life, and perhaps the victim's life."

Timberlake said the victim, often a family member, loses confidentiality through offender registration and can also suffer from not being able to resume a familial relationship with an offender who is required to register. He added that a registry might be appropriate based on risk. Many states offer courts flexibility.

The report recommends developing statewide standards and training for courts and law enforcement professionals for intervening with young sex offenders and victims. It also calls for a consistent assessment tool for evaluating risks an individual juvenile poses. Also, the report says, offenders whenever possible should be kept in treatment programs in their homes that involve parents as opposed to locking them up.

There were 232 juveniles arrested for sex crimes in Illinois in 2010, down from 434 in 2004. Timberlake said only a few dozen of those were incarcerated for their crimes. He said locking the juveniles up should be a last resort for reasons including the state Juvenile Justice Department not having enough money to provide proper treatment.

More than half of juvenile sex offenders are younger than 14, he said.

"They're very young," Timberlake said. "Most of this conduct can be explained by a lack of maturity, literally, developmental disabilities, a lack of social skills, or that they were abused themselves."
- And by today's mass hysteria.  Many of these "crimes," in the old days, would not be considered a crime!

CANADA - Privacy concerned about database listing sex offenders

Original Article

03/20/2014

By AARON BESWICK TRURO BUREAU

Canada is getting an online public database of convicted sex offenders, but it’s not being run by the government.

It’s being set up by the Sexual Abuse Network of Canada and was expected to go online Thursday night.

“We have about 260 verified names right now for the list and another 400 we are verifying right now,” Dave Mantin, director of the network, said Thursday from Saint John, N.B.

“We have contacted a legal team and they have explained to me and given me documentation on how to do this word for word.”

Mantin said the website, is a three-tier system with varying amounts of information on convicted sex offenders available to police, journalists and the public.

The general public will not require a password to access the site and will be able to get the identity and convictions of an offender. They will also be able to access “the general vicinity of where the perpetrator resides,” Mantin said.

His organization will provide log-in information to journalists from what he called “reputable media outlets” that will allow them to access all the information held by the organization except for names of victims.

Police officers will also be provided with their own log-ins that will give them full access to the information.

Mantin said data will be collected from “reputable newspapers” and confirmed with court documentation.

Online registries of convicted sex offenders have resulted in vigilantism.

In 2006, a Cape Breton man used a registry run by the Maine government to access information about two convicted sex offenders who were subsequently murdered. Twenty-year-old Stephen Marshall killed himself on a bus in Boston when he was approached by police regarding the deaths.

David Fraser, a privacy lawyer with the McInnes Cooper law firm in Halifax, said he has “grave concerns” with the registry.

“What kind of accountability is there with this database?” Fraser said.

“I have grave concerns with the accuracy and where they’re getting their information. If your information is misreported in a government database, you have a right to have that corrected. What mechanisms does this group have?”

Fraser said the group could be endangering the reputation and safety of someone with a name similar to a convicted person who lives in the same area.

“These things do tend to lead to vigilantism,” he said.

Mantin said such cases were “rare” and had to be balanced against the public’s right to know.
- They do happen and they are increasing (See here).

“I’ve spoken to both the RCMP and local police agencies, and they’ve both informed me that if a road officer wants to know if Joe Blow is on the federal sex crime registry, he can’t just go look it up.”

“He has to fill out a request form, have it authorized by his sergeant and then have the sergeant take it to the sex crime registry to be searched.”

This claim couldn't be immediately confirmed with police agencies.

Police are obligated to release the names of people deemed to be a high risk to reoffend when they are released into the community after serving their sentences. Mantin said he believes the public should be aware not only of these people but anyone who has committed a sex crime against a minor.

He called the registry “another tool for people to protect their children.”

When asked whether he might be concerned about potential legal action, Mantin said, “We’ve got lawyers.”
- But how much money do you have?

AUSTRALIA - Provest supports national public sex offender register

Geoff Provest

Original Article

There are already laws on the books for murder so why is another useless law named after a dead child needed? Is it just so this man can look like a "savior" of children to help his career?

03/21/2014

By Alina Rylko

Tweed State MP Geoff Provest has supported the call for a national public sex offender register to prevent heinous crimes against children.

The push for the legislation, dubbed Daniel's law, follows the conviction of _____ for murdering 13-year-old Sunshine Coast boy Daniel Morcombe.

_____ was a known sex offender who broke parole numerous times before kidnapping Morcombe from a bus stop.
- If he broke parole numerous times, then that's an issue in your parole system that needs to be fixed, not something more laws will fix.

"In the Tweed, offenders can move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction to avoid prosecution, so a national approach is needed," Mr Provest said.

"Therefore I'm very open to an unrestricted list of sex offenders."
- Which will just open them, their families and their own children up to vigilantism, which is a problem all across the world where online registries exist.

"Any parent will want to know if there are sex offenders in their area and if they're safe."
- What about all the other ex-felons who are dangerous?  Sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates of all other ex-felons, yet they are singled out?  What about an online registry for every ex-felon?

"You can never get back a child's innocence once they have been sexually assaulted; it's a lifetime sentence for them."

"Therefore it should be a lifetime sentence for the offender, who I believe should loose a lot of their rights."

CANADA - Conservatives propose public sex offender registry, despite its failure in the U.S.

Peter MacKay

Original Article

03/05/2014

By Robyn Urback

The federal Conservatives have announced they are continuing their pursuit of the lowest of low-hanging fruit: registered sex offenders. The Tougher Penalties for Sexual Predators Act, which was formally tabled in the House of Commons Feb. 26, includes nine proposals for dealing with those convicted of sexual offences, including increasing prison sentences for certain child sexual offences and harsher penalties for violations of release conditions. Some of the proposals, quite appropriately, assign greater severity to a system of punishment that if often derided as far too lenient. But nestled among the fairly uncontroversial amendments is a proposal to create a public sex offender registry that would be accessible to anyone in Canada. While Canada already has a database of registered sex offenders, this proposal would make the names and personal information of high-risk sexual offenders available to anyone who wishes to seek them out.

Sex offenders are surely the easiest of targets for the Tories, who relied on the consensus of ill-will toward them in trying to push through their 2012 online surveillance bill, when then-safety minister Vic Toews foolishly suggested the bill’s critics were siding with “child pornographers.” The Tories haven’t gone that far this time, but are framing their proposal for a public sex offender registry as a child safety initiative. “This isn’t to encourage vigilantism,” said Justice Minister Peter MacKay. “It’s to encourage protecting children from past proven behaviours.” One would hope longer prison sentences and tighter release conditions — which are covered in the bill’s other proposals — would offer that protection, not mom or dad logging onto an online database. But an at-your-fingertips list of sex offenders is just gravy on an easy-win bill for the Conservatives.

There’s just one problem: public registries of sex offenders have proven to be an abject failure in the United States. While cases of extreme vigilantism are rare, they do happen. Convicted felon Patrick Drum, for example, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 after he killed two registered sex offenders in Washington because, according to Drum, “they deserved to die.” But more often, vigilante justice takes more subtle forms including harassment and vandalism, which forces many registered sex offenders out of communities and onto the streets. Countless studies show higher rates of recidivism among homeless offenders, and one report from the Journal of Law and Economics in 2011 found slightly higher rates of sex crimes in states where sex offender registries are made public. Why? Offenders have a much harder time reintegrating into normal society and embracing rehabilitation when their name is on a public list. Thus, they become more likely to reoffend.

Read the rest of the article

NEW ZEALAND - Another attempt to establish a sex offenders register

Anne Tolley

Original Article

03/06/2014

By Felix Marwick and Sam Thompson

The Police Minister says research has been done on how to establish a sex offenders register in New Zealand.

Police and the Corrections Department are working on the proposal and legislation enabling a register could go to Parliament before the election.

Police Minister Anne Tolley says they've had a look at problems that were identified when former ACT MP Deborah Coddington tried - and failed - to establish such a register a decade ago.

"Certainly had a look at that. I've looked at other jurisdictions and we've tried to learn from that."

Ms Tolley says police and corrections are already sharing information around the issue.

"I'd like to see the legislation in the house before the election but it's a pretty full programme. It will work its way through the Cabinet process."

She says the register would be administered by police in conjunction with the Corrections Department.

Deborah Coddington is welcoming Anne Tolley's move.

There have been arguments that the register will be used by vigilantes to attack the sex offenders.

But she says the register wouldn't be a wholesale release to the public.

"I think that people like school principals, police, those sort of people will always be responsible with this information and it will no doubt keep a lot more children safe."

But the latest bid has already fallen foul of the Greens.

Co-Leader Metiria Turei says her Party's never supported a register in the past as they don't think it's the way to provide safety for families and children.

"It is something of a distraction from what's really needed which is investment in families and children, investment in services that protect against family violence."