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October 30, 2006
The unintended consequences of residency restrictions
California voters, as noted here, will next week consider Proposition 83, which restricts any registered sex offender from living "within 2,000 feet of any public or private school, or park where children regularly gather." Today, the Los Angeles Times has this long article discussing some unintended consequnces of Iowa's similar sex offender residency restriction. Here is a snippet:
[M]uch of urban Iowa is off limits to those whose past includes a sex crime against a minor. As Californians prepare to vote next week on Proposition 83, which would impose a similar residency ban, Iowa is becoming an example of the unintended consequences of such measures.
Prosecutors, police officials and even victims rights groups say the crackdown has backfired, driving some offenders into rural towns and leaving others grouped at motels, campgrounds, freeway rest stops or on the streets. Many have simply gone underground, authorities say, with more than twice as many registered sex offenders now considered missing than before the law took effect.
Some recent related posts:
- The scattered law of sex offender residency restrictions
- California's sex offender residency restriction proposition
October 30, 2006 at 07:37 AM | Permalink
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Sentencing Law Policy links to a recent Los Angeles Times piece about the unintended consequences of work and residency restrictions on sex offenders. In Iowa, reports are that many sex offenders have effectively been banished to rural towns and many [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 30, 2006 10:50:42 AM
Comments
Most of these sex offenders have families, friends, relatives, and
children. Some are required to register for much lesser crimes of
flashing, prostitution, and a host of other moral offences.
contrary to the media’s torch, grouping all registered sex offenders
as dangerous. Even the DOJ in a report states American politicians have lied.
This you can find on the Department Of Justice website,
November 2003, NCJ 198281. http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/rsorp94.txt
In fact only 3.5% of new sex offences are committed by offender on the sex offender's registry. The rest are committed by unregistered citizens.
Most are contributing to their neighborhoods as workers tax payers and
family supporters. Is that what people want so badly to destroy?
To say it is the moral way to deal with the situation is not true.
To try to say sex offenders can not be rehabilitated is a criminal
statement by Politicians.
To continue to inflict suffering on those that are meeting society’s
needs is criminal.
I am offering a video that will only take 26 min. out of your life on
this subject. or you can see it on You Tube at,
Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aWiRcNxd9k
Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Y04JqUAbY
Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCm6tnzRUIc
Please remit your mailing address, Post Office Box, or Mail Stop, and I
will send a copy free of charge.
Best regards,
Keith Richard Radford Jr.
http://www.SOSunite.com
Posted by: Keith Richard Radford Jr. | Oct 30, 2006 2:51:34 PM
Keith Richard Radford Jr.,
Having read your website, I have am truly encouraged that perhaps the pendulum of public hysteria may one day find some sense of correction. Thank you for all your fine work in correcting the bad data which is infecting people's ability to differntiate between public safety issues and political agendas.
In '92-93 I was falsely accused and wrongfully convicted of crimes against a child after sharing my apartment with a meth addict and her two kids back in '88-89. Three years later, while in therapy with an unlicensed therapist-intern, one of the boys makes up a story in order to avoid having to move to Florida with his father and be removed from his mother.
After eight months with the same therapists, the brother who initially claimed nothing ever happened, now began to remember "stuff" to corroborate his brothers story.
Following a mistrial which ended in a 9-3 verdict in favor to acquit, I was retried in a different courtroom and found guilty of 7 counts to include one initial count plus an additional count for each month they lived with me. It didn't help that my appointed counsel failed to recall the very expert from the first trial who called into question the validity or reliability of my accuser and who called into question the methods used to elicite these memories. The coffin was effectively nailed shut when the prosecutor stated to the jury nine times (without a single objection from defense counsel), that my accuser was "a proven truth-teller" which of course is "vouching" and definitely considered misconduct.
My accuser came forward in '99 to admit that he had exaggerated certain portions of his testimony and wanted to come forward to "do the right thing and clear his conscience", and he admitted to his mother two years earlier that he had lied. Since then, he has been interviewed in greater depth and recanted even more of his original testimony while the brother, it turns out, recanted his testimony after the first trial and now points a finger directly at the therapist who constantly pressured him to remember "stuff" and corroborate his brother's story. I served over ten and one-half years in prison and am due to complete parole in a couple of weeks.
I have been more fortunate than most in that I was successful in finding a good paying job with a future and currently work with several organizations which deal with not only paroled sex offenders but with re-entry programs as well. I often speak with Jenifer Warren (via e-mail) at the LA Times on related issues and recently conducted an interview for the Swedish National Public Radio. I currently manage one of the few 290 houses in the San Fernando Valley and advocate for common sense, the truth in reporting, re-entry housing and second chances.
My ultimate goal at this time is to encourage through example, those who come through this house to become sober, law-abiding, tax-paying productive members of society. We have a good rapport with law enforcement and parole and no one at this house since its inception has ever re-offended although some have violated a condition of parole resulting in a technical violation.
With as much advocacy work as I do, I fear becoming involved in a relationship where she may one day suffer the indignities of having become involved with a convicted sex offender. I fear that no matter where I move, one day some neighbor will elect to publicize my past and cause so much grief and perhaps cost me my job. The recent article on Michael Miletti in the LA Times is a reminder of exactly what can happen when meighborhood vigilantes elect to ostracize and harass someone from Megan's registry (even though it is a misdemeanor). The baggage I carry as a wrongfully convicted person also takes its toll on a daily basis even though I try and maintain a positive attitude by helping others.
My only real goal in life at this time is to find someone who will review my case and attempt to secure an evidentiary hearing. I have spent thousands on private investigators and an attorney who have accomplished little.
In the meanwhile, what I am offering is my willingness to provide feedback to you or your organization regarding what happens to sex offenders once they are released from prison. Nothing can ever replace the ten plus years I spent in prison but with a good attitude, I can try and make something positive out of a negative.
Your feedback is welcomed.
Sincerely,
mv
Posted by: Mark Verba | Dec 11, 2006 4:15:39 PM
So many opinions, the facts failed to make it to print
Wapello Street Residents respond to the December 5, 2006 article, “On his block, a molester” by Peter Y. Hong, Times Staff Writer
While we appreciate Peter Hong’s article for shedding light on our neighborhood’s ordeal, we are dismayed that crucial facts didn’t make it to print, or were misrepresented altogether. We make no apologies for taking steps, within the law, to protect our children from convicted pedophiles.
The article states that Michael Miletti “was” a child molester. How about “is” a convicted, incestuous child molester? Regardless, we feel LA Times readers must know the following:
· Children were invited to Miletti’s home without their parents being informed he is a convicted pedophile.
· Children did, in fact, visit Miletti’s house on multiple occasions.
· In the article, Miletti states that he is not “generally” attracted to children.
· Miletti previously worked for LA Unified School District, demonstrating a pattern of selecting employment that requires him to be near children.
· Did not properly register pursuant to Megan’s Law. He circumvented the law by using his father’s Sunland address for over a year, when in fact; he was residing almost exclusively at his wife’s address in Altadena.
In addition, the article identifies us as “anti-Miletti organizers” ---That we are not. We are opposed to convicted pedophiles living in our neighborhood illegally. As Hong correctly noted, we have consulted repeatedly with the Sheriff’s Department to make sure we are staying within the law. Just the same, we feel the article sought to portray us, through quotes of those not involved in our efforts, as zealots and vigilantes bent on taking the law into our own hands. This is simply not true.
As far as the heated exchange Joseph Llorens and Erik Hargrave had with Miletti, it was reported that Llorens and Hargrave “felt” Miletti was trying to bait them into hitting him. That is not true. Miletti specifically taunted Llorens and Hargrave by stating, “hit me” twice during the exchange. Hong also failed to note that the entire altercation was the result of Miletti’s wife tearing down signs on private property.
The article implies that the Megan’s Law database has instilled unwarranted fear and resentment towards Miletti. Again, this is not true… Our outrage stems from the fact that Miletti illegally lived among us for over a year without properly registering. More appalling, children were invited to the home without informing the parents of his criminal past. We stated this repeatedly to Hong during each of our interviews and put him in touch with neighbors that can confirm our assertion. For reasons unknown, Hong declared this fact unsubstantiated.
In closing, we feel Miletti is a continuing threat to our children. He has repeatedly shown a pattern of deception and his mea culpa is disingenuous at best. According to court transcripts, Miletti had sexual relations with his daughter for 10 YEARS and served only 3 years of a 6-year sentence. This was not a one-time occurrence, an accident or a mistake. He had, as Miletti claims, “a codependent thing” with his daughter.
We, Michael Miletti’s reluctant neighbors, find that statement nauseating.
Wapello Street Residents
Posted by: Joseph L | Dec 23, 2006 5:30:38 PM
love
Posted by: Ben | Feb 11, 2007 2:02:12 PM
Discrimination allows superiority where truth is hidden and corruption tends to creep in.
This is the human equation.
People change day to day. Things change, steal rusts while conceited blows away, but the energy that makes us who we are moves
through us as we experience our lives.
Governments, Advocates, Churches, and Media put pressure on sex offenders who are struggling daily to make a way for their
families.
These groups are one in the same who have created the realm of secrecy and oppress for gain.
To be ashamed of being a flawed human who makes mistakes, is the responsibility of the person/group/s allowing laws of decimation
which is abuse.
Inflicting pain on any person who has been betrayed by that societies recklessness to hide the truth because of its own shame is
the ultimate in irresponsibility.
By continuing to advocate lifetime sentences, separation, eradication, concerning sexual offenses is recognition of the breakdown
of group/s and any system/s which supports this human rights abuse .
There can be no justice where the responsible party is the society which refuses acceptance of its error.
Thinking that labeling anyone concerning life and death decisions with regard to sexual offenses has no validity.
The stigma/demonization/and continuance of the myth is perpetrated by the group/s and any system/s that makes people suffer for a
belief that has only for centuries hidden its own truth.
Please take time to write those who can change our laws.
What ever we do we do to ourselves as money and power leads us by the ring in our nose rendering us unable to hear or see beyond
sound of our own greed.
Mr. & Mrs. Keith Richard Radford Jr.
http://www.SOSunite.com
http://www.youtube.com/sosunite
Posted by: Keith Richard Radford Jr | Aug 2, 2007 7:44:40 AM
