http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-thoughts-sex-offender-law-issues.html

LINKS:
* http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/ (Educational Sex Offender Blog)
* http://www.badcopnews.com (Why aren’t these in the media?)

MISCELLANEOUS:
http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/2cdd02b415ea3a64852566d6000daa79/Rules&Reg_attachments/$FILE/SORNA.pdf

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (“NACDL”) is a nationwide, non-profit, voluntary association of criminal defense lawyers founded in 1958 to improve the quality of representation of the accused and to advocate for the preservation of constitutional rights in criminal cases. The NACDL has a membership of more than 12,800 attorneys and 92 state, local and international affiliate organizations with another 35,000 members including private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, active U.S. military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness within America’s criminal justice system. In these comments NACDL urges the Attorney General to repeal 28 CFR Part 72 because the regulation, as promulgated, violates the ex post facto clause of the Constitution, and will cause widespread confusion and instability in the efforts of many convicted sex offenders to comply with the law and maintain a non-offending lifestyle.

INFO:
* I do not believe in registries period, but if the sex offender laws are kept, why discriminate? I DEMAND WE HAVE A CRIMINAL HISTORY REGISTRY, SO I KNOW IF YOU ARE A MURDERER, GANG MEMBER, DRUG DEALER/USER, DRUNK, THIEF! IT’S MY RIGHT! Why won’t this fly? Because then the senator, mayor, governor, president, celebrities or you may be on a publicly accessible registry to face the shame. But why not? Why discriminate? So the rich can implement their “master plan?”

* When will people ever realize no matter how tough on crime, all the zero tolerance, all the registries in the world will not prevent a murderer from murdering, a thief from stealing, a dealer from dealing, a user from using, a rapist from raping….accusations on any sex crime, child abuse, or domestic violence will literally nail your butt to the wall! No DNA has to be present, No violence has to be present….. HEARSAY ALONE IS LITERALLY NAILING THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO THE WALL BECAUSE THESE LAWS ARE BIASED.

* Living is already almost impossible for “sex offenders”, and the more and more laws that are passed daily, eventually they are going to explode, and it won’t be a pretty sight. You must be realistic when making laws, these draconian laws make it impossible for anyone to live ANY type of life. Everyone is for treatment and punishing those violent offenders who are making other sex offenders lives hell, but like I said, we must be realistic.

* For all the people being charged with Child pornography, is the law checking the computers to make sure they are not infected with a virus? Many people are ignorant when it comes to computers, and if they click on some attachment in an email, their machine can become infected with a virus, trojan, spyware, adaware program which stores child porn on their machine. Are these so called “experts” checking this? Or ignoring this possibility?

* The issue with sex offenders Internet email addresses, IM names, etc being collected, this is another “feel good” law that will not stop crime. If someone wanted to commit a new crime, they’d create a new email address and commit the crime. This is stupid and won’t work. It is just another waste of the taxpayers money.

* Think!! Come up with solutions, not “feel good” laws, which make it harder and harder for sex offenders to get on with their lives.

* “Buffer Zones” are a false sense of security!

* “Buffer Zones” are banishing people from their town, state, and possibly the country!

* “Buffer Zones” create homelessness, which costs society lost productivity, individual dignity, and creates additional problems for enforcing any accurate registry!

* “Buffer Zones” do nothing, except banish! It could be 50 miles and if someone wanted to re-offend, they’d just get in a car and drive!

* It should be MANDATORY that anyone in prison get therapy, and out of prison, if needed. Therapy does work. If you just lock them up without therapy, when they get out, they will be worse off. Therapy teaches people how to not act out and help, regardless of what the general public thinks. Just ask a therapist.

* We need to STOP this hysteria and get sex offenders the help they need.

* You can pass all the laws you want but without therapy this “mob” mentality will not solve anything!

* I am sick of politicians using children to get their laws passed! Who would want to vote against anything that is “for the children”?

* “Stranger Danger” is a smoke screen & hype! Most child sexual offenses occur by someone the child knows, like a family member or close friend!

* These laws are being passed by politicians using sex offenders as scape goats, for votes!

* Registries do NOT protect anyone or prevent crimes!

* Registries are punishing sex offenders as well as their families and children, and opening them up to vigilantism. DON’T THE FAMILIES AND CHILDREN OF sex OFFENDERS COUNT? They are suppose to be “for the children”, right?

* Registries are NOT being updated in a timely fashion, so the public is getting false information! How is this helping the public or protecting them when they cannot rely on them?

* Registries are putting families and children of sex offenders in a public position to be socially outcast and discriminated against with regard to employment, housing, schooling, etc!

* About 90% of the people on the registry are NOT violent offenders that these laws were meant for in the first place!

* These laws cost millions, if not billions to enforce, and they cause prison over-population, which is already a problem, especially in California, and taxpayers pay for all this.

* GPS does not prevent sexual crimes! Another false sense of security which cost tons of money! Plus the offenders are supposed to pay for this, which will make them eventually go homeless. MAKE THE TAX PAYERS WHO WANT THESE LAWS PAY FOR THEM!

* These laws cause sex offenders to go underground and into hiding, due to the strict nature of the laws! How is this protecting anyone?

* These laws are all about money for law enforcement and votes for politicians. Prison is a business! Politicians are salaried and want to get elected/re-elected! Law enforcement get paid for people in jails, prisons or on the registry!

* These laws blatantly disregard the United States constitutional rights of all citizens! (i.e. ex-post facto, due process & others)

* These laws are cruel and unusual punishment! A sex offender cannot go to a fast food restaurant which has a playground! Why? They have just as much of a right as you to get a burger! Plus they cannot go anywhere kids congregate. (i.e. Amusement parks, Movie theaters, the list is endless)

* Sex offenders can go to church, but must leave immediately afterwards. If a sex offender owns a business and someone decides to put a church or school next door, they have to now sell their business and move. This is not right, move the church or school, the sex offender was there first!

* These laws continue to punish people even after a sentence has been served, and they are trying to get on with their lives! (i.e. ex-post facto)

* These laws are driven by fear-mongering, opportunistic politicians and will do nothing to actually protect children!

* There are over one million women and children whose lives are inter-twined with a sex offender in the United States. They should matter too!

* Follow the money trail, these laws are conveyor-belt laws to benefit law enforcement! They get paid for the number of people in jail, prison or on the registry!

* They are currently a one-size-fits all for sex offenders! Not all sex offenders are violent offenders that these laws are supposed to be for anyway!

* They are modern day witch hunts and a scarlett letter!

* If sex Offenders are re-offending, why do the registries grow each day? Because new people are being added daily for stuff like “public urination”, “mooning”, “consensual sex”, “young children playing ‘Doctor’” and various other minor offenses that we need not worry about. We need to worry about violent offenders!

* Now they are trying to make it a law that a sex offender, if they have kids, cannot “take a picture” of anyone under 18. This is totally stupid! Can’t even take Christmas pictures, birthday pictures, etc!

* Also, because a sex offender owns a business in town, many people are trying to get the business shut down! The sex offender had the business for awhile. If you don’t like it, MOVE!!!!

Second problem, the vast majority of child sexual abuse comes not from strangers on the internet or in parks, but from people are close friends or relatives of the children. (The same is true for rape or adult women–most rapists are acquaintances.) Media outlets are totally unwilling to acknowledge this reality. It’s just not as comforting to people as catching stranger pedophiles.

The gender issue also bothers me. If you watch TV, you would think young boys and girls are equally likely to be the victims of child sexual abuse, but all the evidence we have indicates that they are not. Girls are much more likely to be targeted. I think there is an underlying homophobia that encourages them to focus so much of male victims because the whole goal of these shows is to create “moral panic” and moral outrage. And little girls being victimized doesn’t create the same kind of outrage.

Since most children are molested by a relative or friend of the family, though, a rule like that can only go so far.