Last Updated: Sat, Sep 07, 2013 00:16 hrs
Donor is behind effort to ease sex-offender rules
"As the politically connected owners of a multi-state tobacco store chain, Jon Rand and Sharie Keil have contributed thousands of dollars to Missouri politicians and even hired their own lobbyists. But the cause they are pushing right now has nothing to do with cigarettes.
The husband and wife are on a behind-the-scenes mission to pass legislation that would remove hundreds of people convicted of sex crimes as juveniles from the state's online listing of registered sex offenders. Their cause is intensely personal, because their son is among those whose name, photo and address would come down from law enforcement websites.
Their persistent, methodical efforts have set up a political showdown that would have seemed implausible just a few years ago, when the Republican-led Legislature was heaping new restrictions on sex offenders that barred them from coaching youth sports, coming near playgrounds and swimming pools or even passing out candy on Halloween.
"Certainly, I've used whatever access or influence that I've gotten," Rand, the president of Discount Smoke Shop Inc., said in a recent interview. He added: "Anybody on the registry is a target for people who like to hurt other people.""
http://www.sify.com/news/donor-is-behind-effort-to-ease-sex-offender-rules-news-international-njhaqjeajfc.html
Showing posts with label Residency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Residency. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Friday, 6 September 2013
Sex Offender Recidivism Is Surprisingly Very Low
September 6, 2013
Shana Rowan: Sex offender laws target wrong people
"While well-intentioned, a focus on previous sex offenses ignores the fact that virtually every perpetrator convicted of a high-profile murder against a child shared something else: a lengthy criminal rap sheet of mostly non-sexual convictions.
No sex offender law — not a mandatory sentence, public registration, or banishment from schools and parks — will prevent sex crimes if they target the wrong people. Treating every offender as a future child rapist and killer is counter-productive.
People who have been offense-free for years, and have families and children of their own, are being forced out of their homes, into fields and under bridges, while those who pose the greatest risk are, as the Sun Sentinel put it, "set free to rape and molest again."
If we as community members cannot find the maturity or courage to have an intelligent conversation about sexual violence, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when your paper runs the same story next year."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/fl-another-viewpoint-offender-laws-20130906,0,6444436.story
September 6, 2013
Other Views: Reform sex-offender registry
"When sex offender registries were created, the World Wide Web was booming. It offered promise as a tool for the public to track criminals who had committed sexual crimes against children. Parents were told how to log on to a state website for registered sexual offenders. There, with the click of a mouse, they could find a map of their community with red arrows indicating where sex offenders lived.
... Extensive research has been conducted on the types of sexual offenders who will repeat their crimes, and the frequency — or more often, infrequency — that it happens.
A study by the state of Michigan showed that an average of just 3.5 percent of registered sex offenders repeat their crimes. The other 96.5 percent do not."
http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/x865772224/Guest-Editorial-Reform-sex-offender-registry
Shana Rowan: Sex offender laws target wrong people
"While well-intentioned, a focus on previous sex offenses ignores the fact that virtually every perpetrator convicted of a high-profile murder against a child shared something else: a lengthy criminal rap sheet of mostly non-sexual convictions.
No sex offender law — not a mandatory sentence, public registration, or banishment from schools and parks — will prevent sex crimes if they target the wrong people. Treating every offender as a future child rapist and killer is counter-productive.
People who have been offense-free for years, and have families and children of their own, are being forced out of their homes, into fields and under bridges, while those who pose the greatest risk are, as the Sun Sentinel put it, "set free to rape and molest again."
If we as community members cannot find the maturity or courage to have an intelligent conversation about sexual violence, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when your paper runs the same story next year."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/fl-another-viewpoint-offender-laws-20130906,0,6444436.story
September 6, 2013
Other Views: Reform sex-offender registry
"When sex offender registries were created, the World Wide Web was booming. It offered promise as a tool for the public to track criminals who had committed sexual crimes against children. Parents were told how to log on to a state website for registered sexual offenders. There, with the click of a mouse, they could find a map of their community with red arrows indicating where sex offenders lived.
... Extensive research has been conducted on the types of sexual offenders who will repeat their crimes, and the frequency — or more often, infrequency — that it happens.
A study by the state of Michigan showed that an average of just 3.5 percent of registered sex offenders repeat their crimes. The other 96.5 percent do not."
http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/x865772224/Guest-Editorial-Reform-sex-offender-registry
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Studies and Papers on Residency Laws (USA)
2013
Studies and Articles on Residency Restrictions
"The following links are to research studies and journal articles on the issue of the effectiveness and impacts of sex offender residency laws.
Studies done to date have found that living in close proximity to places where children gather IS NOT A FACTOR IN RECIDIVISM.
As these research articles reveal, residency restrictions often can leave law abiding registrants, and by extension their families, with few, if any, housing opportunities in a community – a steep burden to bear for a policy lacking in any empirical data to justify it.
As with all sex offender sanctions, this policy is rooted in the myth of high recidivism."
http://www.usafair.org/residency_law_studies
Studies and Articles on Residency Restrictions
"The following links are to research studies and journal articles on the issue of the effectiveness and impacts of sex offender residency laws.
Studies done to date have found that living in close proximity to places where children gather IS NOT A FACTOR IN RECIDIVISM.
As these research articles reveal, residency restrictions often can leave law abiding registrants, and by extension their families, with few, if any, housing opportunities in a community – a steep burden to bear for a policy lacking in any empirical data to justify it.
As with all sex offender sanctions, this policy is rooted in the myth of high recidivism."
http://www.usafair.org/residency_law_studies
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