OK - Sex registry law needs overhaul

David Slane

Original Article

06/04/2014

By David Slane (Law Firm)

In 2007, the Oklahoma State Legislature approved a new law that required all sex offenders be classified under a three-tier system that placed offenders in a specific category depending on the nature of the sex crime.

However, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) went a step further and made the new registration law retroactive to 1998. However, in June 2013, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the retroactive application of the rule was unconstitutional.

The court’s landmark ruling allowed more than 2,000 sex offenders to remove their names from the statewide registry because their registration requirements had either expired or would be prolonged by the 2007 law.

The law has left everyone scratching their heads about what’s next. The current registration system makes no sense and leaves plenty of room for debate about fairness and public safety.

It makes sense for the state Legislature to return to the drawing board and start over on this law.

Some people are on the registry because they urinated in a public street, and they’re not sex offenders. State officials need to stop wasting time and precious resources on those registrants. For the record, indecent exposure convictions and other low-level offenses require 15 years of registration.

Instead, devote the majority of resources to the high-risk offenders who need the most intensive supervision and strictest registration requirements the state can offer. The high-risk offenders should be required to check in daily, which would give the public a higher level of security.

Level 2 offenders, those who pose a moderate danger to the community, must register for 25 years. Meanwhile, Level 3 offenders, those who pose a serious danger to the community and are likely to engage in criminal sexual conduct, must register for their lifetime.

Part of the problem is that DOC officials, when implementing the system, tossed most of Oklahoma’s sex offenders into the Level 3 category. They didn’t want to take the heat to make an honest assessment of each case.

Changing the system will take a groundswell of public support. Still, reform of any kind might cause consternation for most state lawmakers who have never seen a sex offender law they didn’t like. It’s popular to be tough on crime, which includes drunks who urinate next to their car.

It’s time for Oklahoma legislators to stop thinking about re-election and polls and study what works and doesn’t work with the sex offender registration system.

One solution is to remove the registration assessment out of the hands of DOC only and rework the procedure to include trial judges, district attorneys and defense attorneys. That would provide a higher level of fairness while ensuring public safety. A broken system gives parents and the community a false sense of security while really protecting no one.

When most people think of a sex offender, they think of a baby raper or serial rapist. But the truth is most sex offenders are convicted of nothing even similar. We need to stop painting every sex offender with the same broad brush and look at individuals for what they did and act accordingly.

While high-risk sex offenders need to be closely supervised, it’s critical for others who have completed their sentence to be given a second chance at life.

CA - North State Psychotherapist wants changes to Megan's Law

Dawn Horwitz-Person

Original Article

04/25/2014

Dawn Horwitz-Person is a Sex Offender Treatment Specialist in Chico. She deals with some of the most violent and dangerous convicted sex offenders in the north state. She has also been featured on "Oprah," and "Anderson Cooper 360." Oprah Winfrey flew to Chico in 2010 to meet with Horwitz-Person and four of her patients, who openly discussed how and why they chose their victims.

Horwitz-Person is one of many California Phycho-therapists hoping for changes to the California Department of Justice's sex offender registry Megan's Law, because she says it is misleading. Says Horwitz-Person, "If 90 percent of the people are offended by someone they know and love and trust, how is knowing where somebody lives going to keep your child safe?" She describes what she calls three fundamental problems with Megan's Law. She says it gives people a false sense of security, because they look at the dots on the sex offender map, determine they don't live close to any offenders, and feel safe. She says, "Ok, nobody lives by me. This is safe, and they forget that most offenders offend because they're family. People they know and love and trust. They're people they allow into their homes." Horwitz-Person adds that the registry makes people think about the stranger in the van down the street, instead of focusing on those who are allowed in the home, and given access to their kids. She says, "If it's focused on keeping that stranger danger myth alive, how are we really protecting our kids if they're not getting accurate information? We need to have conversations with our children about 'OK touch' and 'Not Ok touch.' Ninety percent of the current sex crimes are committed by people who have never been arrested, before we know who they are law enforcement knows who they are." Horwitz-Person says many predators are able to plea bargain off the registry, even though they are at high risk to re-offend. She says, "Something that may start out as felony rape will be plea bargained to somebody accepting a felony sexual battery. Felony sexual battery doesn't have to register. That person could be a really dangerous person, and they're not on Megan's Law." She cites one former patient who lives in Chico with multiple sexual battery offenses, who was able to stay off the list. She says, "I'm talking somebody who has crossed all barriers, with children, adults, men, women, animals, you name it. And this person, nobody knows about, and he's not on the registry." She says the final problem with Megan's Law is that it lumps in all offenders together, without taking into consideration the type or date of offense, and the risk assessment. She says it's a waste of money and resources to monitor some offenders, while others who are considered high-risk are not monitored once they're off probation.

The California Sex Offender Management Board has asked Governor Jerry Brown to create a risk-tier system, so that the most dangerous offenders can be more closely monitored. To watch Horwitz-Person's appearance on Oprah, click here.

NJ - State Senate to vote Thursday on Jessica Lunsford Act

DiAnne Gove

Original Article

03/25/2014

By STEVE PRISAMENT

GALLOWAY – A state Senate vote on the Jessica Lunsford Act has been scheduled for Thursday, March 27, according to the District 9 delegation, which has cosponsored the legislation in both state houses.

The vote is the final legislative hurdle for the bill to be sent to Gov. Chris Christie’s desk for approval. It was passed 77-0 Thursday, March 20, by the state Assembly.

That same day it was passed by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, clearing it for this week’s floor vote.

Galloway resident Anna Jezycki said she is hopeful for the act to become law.

“This has been going on for so many years,” Jezycki said. “It would be one of the best things that ever happened for New Jersey.”

For the past dozen or so years, Jezycki has been the leader of CUFFS, Community United for Family Safety, which she started with some neighbors when they learned of a sex offender living near a school bus stop.

“This is long overdue,” Jezycki said. “It’s been a long time coming and will be well accepted by the people.”

She said she expects that if Gov. Christie considers whether to sign the bill, the governor will remember receiving thousands of letters from CUFFS a few years ago during a previous attempt at sex-offender legislation.

The District 9 senator and Assembly members who represent Galloway and Port Republic in Atlantic County and coastal communities to the north have been pushing for the legislation for a while based – in part – on input from Galloway residents.

“For nearly a decade, our delegation has cosponsored and consistently advocated in favor of enacting the Jessica Lunsford Act, here in New Jersey, just as at least 25 other states have done,” Sen. Christopher J. Connors told The Current Monday, March 24. “Mandatory sentencing would serve the interest of public safety, as sexual predators who prey upon children would be incarcerated for longer periods of time as opposed to being released onto the streets.”

The act, which is named after a Florida girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered by a convicted sex offender, requires mandatory terms for persons convicted of aggravated sexual assault against a child under the age of 13. Sentences would range between 25 years and life imprisonment, with 25 years having to be served before parole eligibility.

Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf said victims’ interests would be better served.

“The courts would be enabled under the law to mandate that sexual predators serve sentences befitting of the heinous nature of their crimes,” Rumpf said. “For these and other compelling reasons, there is tremendous support for the Jessica Lunsford Act among concerned parents, grandparents, community groups and local public officials, including in our legislative district, who remain actively engaged in the effort to strengthen the state’s sexual offender laws.”

Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove cited strong support from two major forces.

“It is extremely important to note that this legislation is supported by Mark Lunsford (Video, Child Porn), Jessica’s father, who has worked tireless for Jessica’s Law to be enacted by every state so that a conviction of a sexual assault committed against a child in the first degree carries with it a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 25 years,” Gove said. “Critical to the continued advancement of this legislation is that both the Senate and Assembly versions of the Jessica Lunsford Act have strong bipartisan support from representatives across the state.”

The Assembly Judiciary Committee passed its version of the act, A-892 (PDF), Feb. 24. The Judiciary Committee was the only committee to hear A-892 before it moved to its unanimous Assembly approval March 20.

In the Senate, it required approval from two committees to reach this week’s vote. The Law and Public Safety Committee approved S-215 (PDF) Jan. 30 and the Budget and Appropriations Committee OK’d it March 13.

The 9th District delegation has established an online petition drive in support of the Jessica Lunsford Act as well as other sex offender legislation that residents can sign.

Connors, Rumpf and Gove are also prime sponsors of legislation that would require a sexual offender to be tiered – rated on the risk for re-offense – prior to his release from prison.

Currently, the ability of an offender to obtain housing following release is a determined by his tiering level.

NJ - Legislators Want Sexual Offenders’ Re-offense Risk Determined Prior to Prison Release

Original Article

03/20/2014

To address what they see as a flaw in the state’s current sexual offender laws, Sen. Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblywoman DiAnne C. Gove have reintroduced legislation to require county prosecutors to determine sexual offenders’ risk of re-offense – or tier – prior to their release from incarceration.

Prosecutors classify sex offenders in one of three tiers based on the degree of risk they pose to the public: low risk/tier 1, moderate risk/tier 2, or high risk/tier 3.

“Current law prevents sex offenders from being tiered until they have been released into the community because the offender’s residence status is a factor that is considered in determining risk of re-offense,” the three members of the 9th District delegation said in a joint statement. “To address this glaring defect in the current law, our legislation would remove the residency from the factors used in the determination process so that sexual offenders are tiered before they are released into the community.”

The introduction of this legislation, the lawmakers explained, followed conversations with local law enforcement personnel, including county prosecutors, “who warned about the inherent problems created by tiering convicted sex offenders after they have been released from incarceration. Given the transient nature of sexual offenders, it is not uncommon for these individuals to flee before ever being tiered.”

“As a consequence, in these situations law enforcement and the public do not have a complete picture as to the offender’s likelihood of re-offending. Tiering classifications determine the level of community notification, which includes such information as an offender’s name, description and photograph, address, place of employment or school if applicable, a description of the offender’s vehicle and license plate number, and a brief description of the offense.”

Throughout the past several legislative sessions, Connors, Rumpf and Gove have called for the state’s existing sexual offender statutes to be strengthened to better protect children and communities.

“While there are those that would argue that the residency factor allows for better determination of a sexual offender’s risk of re-offending, we strongly feel that it actually serves to the detriment of public safety and only complicates the responsibilities of law enforcement in tracking persons required to register under Megan’s Law,” they noted.

Upon reintroduction, the measures were referred to the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Both companion measures have bipartisan sponsorship.