Registry Matters

Episode 11

Do residency, work, presence restrictions do anything to help public safety?

I just want to say that if you’re finding us from NARSOL, welcome! There is an email notification on the registry matters site that will email you as soon as a new episode is posted. But even better, would be to subscribe to the podcast however you get your podcasts.

We’re now on TuneIn. Just ask say “Alexa, play Registry Matters on TuneIn” to listen to the program. This is so cool!

But first, we have some news items to cover

From the Post Gazette: Legislature passes bill addressing legal concerns about Pa. sex offender registration law. A bill meant to bring Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional sex offender registration rules into compliance with state and federal law unanimously passed the state Legislature on Tuesday and is expected to be signed by the governor soon. But critics of sex offender registration laws believe that what the Legislature has done will further complicate the issue, likely forcing future court challenges.

From the Seattle Times: This is a change in law that criminalizes teen sexting. Teenagers should not be labeled as sex offenders simply for texting intimate pictures of themselves to someone else. But that is exactly what can happen right now in Washington state. The state’s child pornography laws make no distinction between teens who send pictures of their own bodies and adults who take explicit images of children to exploit them.

From The Baxter Bulletin: ‘Pedosexual Movement’ must be stopped in its tracks. Recently, through various social media outlets, I have come across a few articles concerning the ‘pedosexual movement,’ and their lobbying for the legalization and normalization of pedophilia. If you don’t know what that word means, look it up. If you have a minute, and choose to do your own research, you will find that the pedosexual movement is indeed a real thing, with its own flag, and its own agenda. They are coming, and they are bringing an army of lobbyists and lawyers with them. So far they have been really good at keeping their efforts relatively quiet.

From The LA Times: California must consider earlier parole for sex offenders, judge rules. California must consider earlier parole for potentially thousands of sex offenders, even those convicted of pimping children, a state judge said Friday. The judge preliminarily ordered prison officials to rewrite part of the regulations but Gov. Jerry Brown promised voters all sex offenders would be excluded. That goes too far, the judge said in rejecting Deputy Atty. Gen. Maria Chan’s argument that the ballot measure gave state officials broad discretion to exclude any class of offenders whose release might harm public safety. “If the voters had intended to exclude all registered sex offenders from early parole consideration under Proposition 57, they presumably would have said so”.

From Reason.com: 22-Year-Old Woman Facing Sexual Assault Charges for Rel

Episode 10

Is it better to do something versus nothing? Can you do more harm than good by a poorly thought out action than by sitting on the sidelines. That is the topic we’ll be covering tonight

A quick announcement is that we’re now on Patreon. patreon.com/registrymatters. If you want to help support the program, even donating $1 per month would be amazing. I don’t want to push on this as we’re doing this as a public service, but there are server and hosting costs not to mention our time. And if you happen to be listening to the show via the website, know that you can also download the podcast in your podcast app, or iTunes, Google play, and Stitcher.

From the Des Moines Register: Man who pleaded guilty to lascivious acts with child appears to win $100K lottery prize

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/01/27/man-who-pleaded-guilty-lascivious-acts-child-appears-win-100-k-lottery-prize/1070467001/

From the Virginian Pilot: Lawmakers are unfair in targeting sex offenders. A bill in the senate will require registrants to self-disclose if they go to an evacuation center. It will be a felony if they don’t. However, no notification will be sent to the individuals affected by this change. A similar bill senators closely scrutinized the bill because it didn’t include a notification element for those affected. Mary Davye Devoy said “Is this inconsistency? Is it cherry-picking? Is it hypocrisy? Whatever you want to call it, it’s 100 percent intentional and dishonorable.”

From the New York Post: Oklahoma considers chemical castration for sex offenders. A Republican lawmaker is pushing to add Oklahoma to the list of states in which so-called chemical castration is an option for certain sex offenders, albeit an option that rarely gets used. If approved, Oklahoma would join at least seven other states that have laws allowing courts to order chemical treatments that reduce male testosterone for certain sex offenders, although experts say the punishment is rarely carried out and one described it as a “half fantasy” version of criminal justice. “When I knocked on that guy’s door when I was campaigning, he said: ‘I’ll vote for you if you’ll run this bill,’” West said.

From SOSEN.org: Four years after being called out on poor public policy, Florida is STILL putting children at risk. “Why are the  many children and families of former offenders being placed in danger from missed opportunities of effective legislation?” “Are the children of citizens on the sex offender registry less valuable to lawmakers?” Nearly four full years later, we are still awaiting a satisfactory answer. As of May 24, 2017, there were 69,917 people listed on the Florida state sex offender registry and the number grows daily. Legislators have neglected to accept the fact that registered citizens have families and children who are also affected by these restrictive laws and become victims of vigilante crimes, harassment, community ostracism and detrimental restrictions placed on them.

From Handbasket notes @ blogspot.com: Iowa legislator wants to

Episode 9

Who represents the victims? NARSOL, SOSEN, WAR and many other organizations are fighting for those of us on the registry.  Why are we fighting for the rights of those that have committed crimes?

From The Press Herald: Sparked by reports to Augusta police, a proposal to bar sex offenders from photographing children faces an uphill climb, but it raises issues worth discussing. The effectiveness of public sex offender registries, for instance, is highly questionable, with studies showing little impact on sex crimes or recidivism. https://www.pressherald.com/2018/01/26/our-view-legislation-should-start-dialogue-on-stopping-predation/

From The Review Journal: Las Vegas man says he killed over dislike of sex offenders, report says A Las Vegas man told his neighbor he killed two homeless people behind a central-valley swap meet because one of them was a sex offender, court documents show. “The neighbor explained he had been sexually assaulted as a child and took offense to sex offenders,” 32-year-old Michael Thompson’s arrest report said. https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/homicides/las-vegas-man-says-he-killed-over-dislike-of-sex-offenders-report-says/

From The Star Tribute: Minnesota sex offenders challenge residency restrictions. Criminal justice researchers have found that geographic-based residency restrictions are largely ineffective at preventing sex crimes, in part because offenders tend to victimize people they know rather than pursue strangers living in close proximity to them. http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-sex-offenders-challenge-a-city-s-ban/470718623/

From The Tallahassee Democrat: Felons’ rights proposal goes on November ballot The “Voting Restoration Amendment,” which was approved Tuesday to appear on the ballot as Amendment 4, would automatically restore voting rights to felons who have served their sentences, completed parole or probation and paid restitution. Murderers and sex offenders would be excluded. http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/23/felons-rights-proposal-goes-november-ballot/1058885001/

From MassLive.com: Westfield officials hesitant to repeal sex offender ordinance despite high court ruling “Why is everyone so concerned with the assailant’s rights?” he asked. “We need to find another outlet so these (level) twos and threes can’t live in certain areas. … When they do something like that, they throw their life away.” http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/01/resident_speaks_out_against_re.html

From The Atlan

Episode 8

1/20/2018/

Scenario:

You’ve transferred your supervision to a new state. And in the new state you commit a supervision violation. An example might be a curfew violation. Another example might be something like being around a minor beyond accidental

Reflections from 2017:

Packingham North Carolina Supreme Court and ban on social media

Michigan 6th circuit Doe vs Snyder

Pennsylvania Muniz ex post facto case

Things to watch in 2018:

Arizona – 9th Circuit – burden shifting – affirmative defense – easier to get convictions

International Megan’s Law

Continuous exam of 6th circuit

Illinois park restrictions case

Civil Commitment

http://reason.com/blog/2018/01/17/federal-appeals-court-approves-continued

Breaking any law – what constitutes a law, misdemeanors, traffic violations

Extradition is a fugitive from justice???

What is the standard that needs to be met to be sent home: Probable Cause

Reasonable Suspicion, Probable Cause, Preponderance Of Evidence, Clear And Convincing, Reasonable Doubt

Probable cause simply means that you ‘probably did it’.

Punishment is the infliction of some kind of pain or loss upon a person for a misdeed. In criminal law, punishment is allowed due to the wrongful intent involved in the crime. A punishment such as incarceration seeks to give any victim involved retribution against the offender, deter the criminal from future criminal acts, and hopefully rehabilitate the offender. This is distinguished from civil law, which seeks to compensate the injured party rather than punish the wrongdoer.

Justifications for punishment typically take five forms: (1) retributive; (2) deterrence; (3) preventive; (4) rehabilitative; and (5) restitutionary. There are limitations on the punishment that may be imposed. The U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment states: ‘Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.’ A number of state constitutions also contain the same, or similar, provisions.

cruel and unusual punishment definition

The average length of time served by federal inmates more than doubled from 1988 to 2012, rising from 17.9 to 37.5 months.1 Across all six major categories of federal crime—violent, property, drug, public order, weapon, and immigration offenses—imprisonment periods increased significantly. For drug offenders, who make up roughly half of the federal prison population, time served leapt from less than two years to nearly five.

Mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the elimination of parole, and other policy choices helped drive this growth, which cost taxpayers an estimated $2.7 billion in 2012 alone.Despite these expenditures, research shows that longer prison terms have had little or no effect as a crime prevention strategy—a finding supported by data showing that policymakers have safely reduced sentences for thousands of federal offenders in recent years.4

Who determines the sentence? Judges? Legislators? Jury?

Concurrent versus consecutive sentences

Should we punish an eye for an eye?

How do you have equitable punishment when the convicted individual has varying degrees of means at their disposal to mitigate the punishment. Bond, commissary, etc.?

Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to 60 years. He is eligible for parole after 30 years being convicted of 45 of 48 counts against him

Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for a massive $36B ponzi scheme. Only repaying $2.6B to customers

Jared Fogle was sentenced to 15 years in prison, plus $175,000 in fines, forfeit $225,000 in assets in addition to $1.4M in restitution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks

Larry and Andy discuss various strategies that prosecutors use in determining sentences, is there a difference between Federal prosecution and state level prosecution prosecutors try to throw the book at you or are they empathetic?

Sexual harassment in the context of powerful men being accused by men and women and children of some form of improper action cast against the backdrop of the statute of limitations and what is admissible evidence.

I want to make it explicitly clear that I am not in favor of anyone using their position to gain favors with another party. We aren’t trying to litigate whether the accuser is lying or not. The subject is to cover the statute of limitations, which is being eroded in many states. I am also pretty sure that a double standard will get covered as well

What is STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS?

Time frame set by legislation where affected parties need to take action to enforce rights or seek redress after injury or damage.

Purpose

The purpose and effect of statutes of limitations are to protect defendants. There are three reasons for their enactment:

In Classical Athens, a five-year statute of limitations was established for all cases except homicide and the prosecution of non-constitutional laws (which had no limitation). Demosthenes wrote that these statutes of limitations were adopted to control “sycophants” (professional accusers).

The limitation period generally begins when the plaintiff’s cause of action accrues, meaning the date upon which the plaintiff is first able to maintain the cause of action in court, or when the plaintiff first becomes aware of a previous injury (for example, occupational lung diseases such as asbestosis).

Statute of Limitations for Criminal Actions

For some crimes, including homicide, there is no statute of limitations. A number of states have also abolished time limits for bringing criminal charges in cases involving the alleged sexual abuse of children. The statute of limitations for all other crimes varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction based on their general classification as either felonies or misdemeanors. Generally, the time limit starts to run on the date the offense was committed and not from the time the crime was discovered or the accused was identified.

What Is Sexual Harassment?

Workplace sexual harassment is defined by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that explicitly or implicitly affect an individual’s employment, unreasonably interferes with an individual’s work performance; or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.” . Examples of sexual harassment might be as straightforward as unwelcome touching, being pressured to go on romantic dates, or being called an offensive sexual nickname.  It can also include less obvious behavior, like making derogatory or offensive remarks about others, posting sexually explicit pictures or regular conversation of a sexual nature.

Civil Lawsuit – A lawsuit brought about in court when one person claims to have suffered a loss due to the actions of another person.

The Speedy Trial Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy trial”[1] The Clause protects the defendant from delay between the presentation of the indictment or similar charging instrument and the beginning of trial.

Alex Marlow is the Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart. He said “We used to all know what it [rape] meant. And now we don’t know what it means. And then we don’t know what’s credible and what’s not. And now everyone is going to come forward.”

Wha

Just a RM quickie to let you know that we haven’t gone far, but between technical difficulties, and travel, we’ve had a hard time working out when we can record.

https://dcs.georgia.gov/sex-offender-special-conditions-supervision-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probation

Larry sheds light on the complexities of how one transfers their supervision to another state.

Interstate Compacts

About ICOTS

The Interstate Compact Offender Tracking System (ICOTS) is a web-based system that facilitates the transfer of supervision for probationers and parolees from one state to another. In 2016, the 50 states and 3 territories that comprise the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision (ICAOS) used ICOTS to process over 91,000 transfer requests and more than 1.3 million compact activities for 116,000 active supervision cases. These activities include notifications of departures, arrivals, progress, violations, and case closures. ICOTS also serves as a conduit for miscellaneous communication exchanges and helps to promote effective supervision strategies for offenders under supervision in another state.

https://www.interstatecompact.org/

http://www.oncefallen.com/travel.html

http://www.un