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December 15, 2004
Intriguing report about sex offenders
A few months ago in this post I noted that the law and policy of sex offender sentencing is always interesting and often quite depressing. A recent report from the Washington Sentencing Guidelines Commission reveals that it can also be surprising.
The report, entitled simply Sex Offender Sentencing, is available here, and the executive summary reports these notable and perhaps unexpected facts:
- Nationally, according to the United States Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the number of substantiated cases of sexual abuse of children declined 40% from 1992 to 2000. Victim-reported sex offenses involving children declined by 56%.
- In Washington, sex offenses account for a small percentage of felony sentences entered annually. During fiscal year 2003, of the 27,213 felony sentences imposed in the state, 1,403 involved sex offenses.
- On average sex offenders serve longer terms in prison and jail than persons convicted of other felony offenses. In fiscal year 2003, the average sentence length for all felonies was 37.3 months, compared to 90.8 months for sex offenses.
- Sex offenders re-offend at lower rates than those convicted of other felonies. After five years, 15% of sex offenders return to prison for new offenses compared to 43% of offenders convicted of property crimes
The full report is an intriguing and even heartening read, in part because presents an example of the sentencing reform process at its best: the Washington Sentencing Guidelines Commission conducted many public hearings and marshaled an array of data and information in the process of assessing the state's sex offender laws and policies. Here's the report's own account of all the stakeholders who worked with the Commission on these issues:
During the seven public hearings, the Commission heard comments and concerns on almost every aspect of sex offenders and offenses. Persons who made written and oral presentations to the Commission included victims (teenagers and seniors), parents and family members of victims, professional victims’ advocates, victim treatment providers, legislators, judges, city and county officials, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defense counsel, community custody/supervision officers, sex offender treatment evaluators and treatment providers, sex offender family members, proponents of a citizen’s initiative aimed at enhanced punishment, students, educators and members of the general public who attended the meeting to learn about the issues. In two locations, Seattle and Vancouver, the Commission staff spoke with convicted sex offenders and their supporters.
December 15, 2004 at 09:32 AM | Permalink
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Comments
At least they are servering more time than other felons. I will assume that the other felons are not killers or anything like that.
Posted by: Joe | Dec 15, 2004 12:21:39 PM
The harsh sentences being handed down are not suprising, considering the relatively recent push to jail every sex offender and throw away the key (the "real" purpose of the PROTECT act, state registrations, etc). The recidivism numbers are the most surprising to me, because they seem contrary to the "conventional wisdom" that sex offenders are MORE likely to reoffend (i.e. the fallout from that North (?) Dakota case where a sex offender was (gasp) released from prison!) and thus should be incapacitated longer than your "average" felon. I wonder if it's because of the number of sex offenders who are internet porn/inticers who, once they're caught, simply stay away from the internet (or if it's because registration and notification requirements result in the released offender being a de facto leper, isolated from the community and away from children....).
Posted by: District Clerk Battling Blakely | Dec 15, 2004 2:35:41 PM
D.C.B.B. has an interesting point about Internet porn. A lot of the modern child porn laws make very little distinction between production and consumption. Sometimes, mere possession of forbidden images triggers a much harsher sentence than is meted out to those who created the images in the first place. It could be that the rehabilitative prospects for possession offenders are better than for sex offenders generally.
Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Dec 15, 2004 2:53:58 PM
Thank you for your site of information. The people should know that there are falsely, wrongly and corruptly convicted people who should not have had to go through a corrupt road . For some, who sought justice to clear their name were only met with a corrupt abuse of power. Corruption has to be exposed.
Posted by: realamerican | Jan 1, 2005 4:48:54 AM
Thank you for your site of information. The people should know that there are falsely, wrongly and corruptly convicted people who should not have had to go through a corrupt road . For some, who sought justice to clear their name were only met with a corrupt abuse of power. Corruption has to be exposed.
Posted by: realamerican | Jan 1, 2005 4:49:23 AM
If you look at the Justice Dept report on sex offender recidivism. Only 5% commit another sex crime. 43% are sent back to prison for "other" crimes. I suspect that most find it impossible to meet their release conditions and thereby go back to prison. Sex offenders are intended to go back to prison in this country. I wonder why anyone pretends that they are going to be "rehabilitated". Although many (perhaps) did "something", many of them were innocent of what they were actually charged and convicted of and many were completely innocent of any wrongdoing but will never be able to prove it and will pay and pay and pay for the rest of their lives. No one will hire a labeled "sex offender" especially when they are branded with a scarlet letter. So what exactly does the government and society think will happen to these oppressed people? I'm amazed no one has commented that only 5% commit another sex offense again in their lives. This particular witch hunt has absolutely no basis in fact.
Posted by: Jewel | Jan 13, 2005 7:50:17 PM
First understand that my comments are form someone that has had a little training in the law enforcement field and I was also a community leader (teaching Community Safety). I have many other credintials, but will not list them all now.
I was accused of a sexual offence, took a plea of 10 years probation and regestering (either that or 7 to 8 years in prisoon).
Our Goverenment has taken many steps to convict all those accused of sexual crimes. On the other hand that same Government seams to avoid all efforts to educate the public on facts vs. myth of sex offenders. Therefore they are creating a situation where there is no true effort to help those charged in getting back into a "NORMAL" life. If you look at (estimaiting) 95% of the work the Government is doing to educate the public. It is more directed to "What to do if your sexually abused" or "How to protect yourself from being sexually abused". These are great things to teach, as long as you also teach the public that not all convicted sexual offenders are a threat.
To teach one without the other is to creat mass histeria. That is where we are at today.
Being in the position I am in today, I am willing to devote the rest of my life if needed to see that the laws are made fair, the public knows to protect themselves against abuse (Note: I said abuse not limiting it to sex offenders) and that the public is educated on just how those accused (no matter if guilty or innocent) are treated with injustice.
I do agree there are some sex offenders that need to be locked away for life, but those are the few. Today you can murder someone and be out of jail faster then someone that was wrongly accused of a sex offence and not permited to provide the need metiral to prove their innocence.
Think about the fact that about 95% of thouse accused of sexual charges take a plea. That alone should show you that the system won't give them a fair chance in the court room. 95% is just a little to high a number for me.
I invite you or anyone looking to help make our justice system operate in a justly manner to visit us at http://groups.msn.com/Anti-OffenderLaws We are just getting ourselves rolling. But we are on the right track. Join us and help make our ride a little easier.
Posted by: Artie (http://groups.msn.com/Anti-OffenderLaws) | Feb 19, 2005 9:58:51 PM
I am a parent of a child who has been molested. My personal opinion regarding the sentencing of these horrible people that offend the inocent. First offense castration, 2nd offense death.
My daughter is now 18years old and is still seeking help to deal with what has happend to her.
She has informed me that she does not want children when she gets married, because she fears this will happen to her children.
Posted by: Betty Rauen | Mar 14, 2005 12:15:26 PM
My morning paper ran a report which indicated that Florida will soon (very likely) pass a bill which will require sexual offenders, charged with certain offenses-not yet named of course-to wear GPS devices-this legislation is in repsonse to the murder of a young girl by a so-called offender-actually, a person with a long history of crime and two convictions of hands on touching, which actually, should have had this person listed as a predator.
I will agree with many of the posters on this site. The government does no PR regarding the difference between offenders and predators. The courts and the statutes do not give any first time offenders one chance, whatsoever. It is very difficult to move through the court system with such a politically incorrect charge. The statutes in Florida are so written that a judge cannot use any sort of judgement he feels is fair-it is a sad state of affairs.
The reason so many offenders take their own lives is the courts, the state, the police take everything the offender has-lives, family, reputation. Remember, when an offender is listed on the registry, the address is there for all to see-other persons are effected by that posting, i.e. the family members of the offender. My thoughts regarding that-is the privacy of these family members protected by the US Constitution?
I feel great empathy for the mother who posted previous to mine. What I would ask you to understand, as has been previously stated in this arena-persons are being labeled as sexual offenders for offenses that do not involve any sort of physical contact at all-in the state of Florida, if a person makes an inappropriate choice-such as urinating outside and a child happens to view that act-it can be considered lewd and lascivious conduct-if found guilty, this person becomes a sex offenderunder statute 800.04. It does not matter if the crime does not fit the statute.
Law enforcement will make certain it does fit somehow and will go to great lengths to make certain persons are listed on the registry. My friend was convicted of lewd and lascivious solicitation-he was "caught" in an undercover sting operation "talking on the computer" in a chat room. No victim, no travel, just talking. He is now listed as a sexual offender because law enforcement was able to threaten him with federal sentencing guidelines, instead of state sentencing guidelines, which everyone in this arena knows, would be enforced. Minimum jail time would be five years in prison.
This has been an eye opening experience for me...my hopes are those convicted and labeled with the Scarlet O will finally fight back for their constitutional rights, at least for their family members. I plan to contact the ACLU and see what my rights are as a family member.
I would encourage anyone who frequents this site to get educated and if you know anyone who make think fooling around in an online chat room is innocent behavior, think twice. Take away their computer. Unsubscribe from Internet service. It is not worth it.
My friend has five years regular and sexual probation for a "crime" that involved no victim whatsoever. If anyone out there has resources that we can use to fight back or become part of a class action law suit, please let me know. My hopes are someone will take this to the Supreme Court and much of this will be either revised or thrown out on a constitutional basis.
One last sad note-the state guidelines for sexual offender registry are in place because of federal legislation. All states receive federal dollars for having these guidelines in place.
This country is truly becoming a police state.
Thank you.
Posted by: Sherry | Mar 31, 2005 9:57:48 AM
I can hoestly say from first hand experience that he way that Washington state handles the sex offenders, is not fair I have A friend who is a Level 3 sex offender. He was convicted of Child Rape in the first degree and Assault with sexaul motivation at the age age of 14 years old. He served 3 1\2 years in Maple Lane for his crime and he was released at the age of 18 years old and he is now 20 years old facing life at the Special commitment center for allegedly having unsupervised contact with children the lawyer that he has is not helping him with his case and tells him that he has no idea what he is talking about and he has 2 evaluaors that work for that state who have conflicting opinon one says that he meets the criteria the other one says that he doesn't cause he was a juvenile at the time the crime that the crime was commited. Being that he aws a child himself at the time. He has trial in JUne and I feel that with the way things are going that he will be civilly commited by JUne. We are looking for a lawyer who actually help him and listen to him instead of going against but we have very little money and very little time until his trial. We are also looking for different evaluator as well and was hoping to get some help or some advice. I was hoping that maybe I could find someone that has the right connections and can direct me in the right place.
Thankyou for your time
Posted by: Nancee | Apr 11, 2005 6:21:16 PM
As a victim of sexual molestation I can honestly say that I believe the findings of this article to be highly inaccurate. I believe that sex offenders almost always reoffend. In fact it has been proven and noted by many psychiatrists that they cannot help themselves. I believe that they do not get caught as much as other criminals because there victims are either children who are too scared to tell or victims who cannot make a positive identification. I believe the reason the sentencing is so severe is because this is one of the most violent crimes there is. It takes a piece of your life that cannot be replaced. I believe that rapists and child molesters should spend their lives in jail. The reason this is not as big of an issue as it should be is because the law makers of this country are mainly made up of men. Sexual predators mainly prey on women and children. I believe that men do not honestly have the fear of being raped in them as they are walking down the street alone, but women do. There should be no exceptions no chances. People should be held accountable for the crimes they committ. Living your life after you have been victimized is one of the most difficult things you can go through, the people who committ these crimes should have to lead a difficult life as well.
Posted by: ashlee | Apr 29, 2005 8:24:02 PM
Brandee,
Just because "you feel" that something is so does not MAKE it so. Studies PROVE that the recidivism rate for sex offenders is low. I am sorry that you were a victim of a sex offence, but please do not allow that to distort reality.
Posted by: john doe | May 29, 2005 8:16:49 PM
I believe there is a BIG difference between being a sex offender and a sexual predator. In fact if we were to go into a majority of our nations drinking establishments and clubs, observed the behavior of the patrons, these places would be condemned for contributing to the actions of sexual predators. Men and women of all ages and backgrounds are looking for sex in those places. If you are looking for sex in the U.S. you are a sexual predator? The truth is "sexual predator" goes hand in hand with "deviant" or "abnormal" sexual behavior. Behavior that is intended to mentally or physically harm someone, whether it's a child or adult. There are many criminals that are not committing sexual crimes that are INTENT on harming someone mentally or physically or taking something from us that has great personal or monetary value. Our lawmakers must ascertain which of these offenders pose a real threat to society. If its not a sex crime that has caused great mental or physical injury then treat it as such. If another type of crime has been committed by an individual that has mentally or physically injured another human being, then do the right thing and post their name and address so that the public can protect themselves. If you are out there, and you think that this is all being blown out of proportion, then the RIGHT thing to do is protest this nonsense. The reason this is happening is because the "victim advocates are being heard. They are speaking up. They are making a small, but powerful group of people(legislators)listen. We are all going to lose our rights before this is over. We are all going to be "nosing" in each others lives in an attempt to "protect ourselves". We need to help one another, and understand that we all have different opinions and views. I, for one, intend to voice my opinion about all off the registration BS and I can't be wrong in assuming that there are hundreds of thousands op people that agree with what I'm saying. If you are out there and want to do something about this, please e-mail me. We need to rise up and take the bull by the horns. There is strength in numbers. I will take the lead for you, if necessary, all I ask in return is to back me up. Lets get [email protected]
Posted by: nickrsf | May 29, 2005 8:23:05 PM
I am glad to see websites like this one out there, a few years ago there was none. First I would like to say to the woman the wrote in about being sexually molested. I'm sorry that happened to you, you are not alone. I also was, as was my two sisters. That being said no matter what happened to me, I still believe we need the registries to be fixed if they can be. Too many people are on that registry that are not a harm to anyone and shouldn't be subjected to the wrath that has been brought down on them. I have a friend who was convicted 25 years ago of a sex crime and the guy still to this day doesn't even know if he really committed it being as they were all very drunk the victim included. After serving 6 years in prison and 7 on parole, he became a good citizen, with a great job and family. Then came the changing of Megan's law, his life was over, after paying for a crime he might not even have committed. What bothers me the most is that when I read her grand jury testimony, I could see big holes in her story and no one cared to check on these facts, including his public defender. Being convicted of a sex crime doesn't always mean you are guilty sometimes it is just who the jurrors choice to believe, him or her. I also fear for my son who is now 18, the number of teenagers being charged because their girlfriends are 16 and 17 is crazy. Yes there are some real true sexual devients out there, and they need to be punished, helped and watched but this has gone to far. It won't be long before everyone will have someone in their family dubbed a sexual offender.
Posted by: Marie | May 31, 2005 5:15:07 PM
Retired Army SFC, Retired S/S Medial Provider and Certified Teacher & College Professor. I have lived thru the Sexual Offense Registry, and the Nightmare of Unjust laws concerning the UnRich like Michael Jackson. I live for my Son who for the grace of God does not committ Suicide and am trying to get him off the Sex Registry, which 14 years ago he went on, for 15 yrs? I am also trying to get a motion to get his firearms Rights back. I am fighting most everyone and sometimes people spit in my face, and call me names, But, guess what I spit back, and I will find a way to help all rehabilitated Sex offenders, and there are alot of them out there. I feel like we all need to get mad, and take these Bigots, and the State of Washington to task-make the laws apply for the crime and give more to Rehab and people who do not offend, and reoffend, you can tell the type of people who vote for George Bush, It is ok to kill, but make a sexual mistake, and you are better off Dead than saying, Guility, and I would like to repent, are we any better than what the Kuran teaches us about- it is ok to kill Americans-if they do not become Muselum? I would like to start a movement here in Snohomish County, and invite all Sexual Offenders and especially 1st timers, never again to offend, in 10 years or ,more to join me.
Posted by: Don D. Whedonsr | Jun 14, 2005 2:46:39 AM
This conversation is sorely needed!
Sexual abuse of anyone is criminal and needs to have adequate deterrence and punishment, but when that punishment extends to the family of the offender and violates their rights to privacy there is a problem.
There are numerous problems with the Sex Offender Registry [SOR], privacy of the registrant's family being one, double jeopardy, and ex post-facto violations are some others.
This is not to even speak of the false sense of security it provides the public with the corresponding false sense of urgency! The registries are a patchwork of systems employed [sometimes in duplicate and triplicate] by states, counties and municipalities. Now the US gov't is putting up a "master list" with links to the SORs of 48 states. The DOJ plans to exert all its influence to those 2 remaining states to "encourage" them to participate; that equals withholding millions of $ annual federal funding unless they agree to play along.
The major problems are: there is not enough info listed for the public to make an ACCURATE determination of risk - the date of offense is not listed, neither is the age of the registrant at the time of offense, nor the age of victim at time of offense. This leads people who see a man in his 40's with a "lewd & lascivious on a minor under 16" to conclude that a) the offense was recent, b) that he targeted and molested [while in his 40's] a young child, and c) that the victim was far from his age at the time of the offense.
When someone learns of a registrant who lives near them, there is a legal limitation on WHO gets to notify the public, however, there are numerous incidents of private citizens taking the initiative and distributing flyers - ILLEGAL - yet NO ACTION IS TAKEN, even when they are reported to law enforcement, even if they CONFESS to doing so, and even to outright violent vigilantism!
Now, no one is condoning or excusing sex crimes, but as previous posters mentioned, the range of actions which constitute a "sex crime" is ridiculously large! Unfortunately, it nets a huge number of folks who did not commit a crime of a sexual nature, who are not a danger to the public.
This is a massive disservice to the public, because as law enforcement is running around trying to keep track of the almost 800,000 "sex offenders" in America, MAJORITY of which are non-violent, low-risk/no-risk to reoffend, the FEW who are truly dangerous, demented and determined are able to slip through the cracks to commit other offenses.
Every time one of those FEW does so, more draconian legislation is introduced and passed with little discussion and almost no forethought as to whether or not it will work in the long-term. The laws punishing the whole are made because of less than 8%!
The terms "predator" "violent" and "habitual" are thrown around with nary a care to their actual definitions. When anyone hears "sex offender" they hear "sexual predator" - this is confusing and is also a disservice to the public.
For example - my mom was 18 and my dad was 16 in the early 70s - that would make MY MOM A *SEXUAL PREDATOR* today!
How old were your grandparents when they got together? My bet is that your old grandpa would be considered a sexual predator today as well!
Also, as someone intimated about internet porn and child pornography - there is NO distinction whether it is INTENTIONALLY on the computer or NOT. For example, we have a member who downloaded files from Kazaa [in a zip format]; upon opening one zip file, he saw that there was child [I mean pre-pubescent] pornography included! He was NOT looking for that- he deleted that entire file and the other zip files WITHOUT OPENING THEM. He is now listed as a sex offender, multiple counts of having child porn [they counted the files contained in the UN-OPENED zip files as well]...
SOhopeful International is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating the public, legislators and the media as to the real recidivism rates for sex offenders, the reality of how the current system is NOT working, and what we CAN DO to fix it so it works as it was intended to...
You may not have heard of us... big surprise! But undoubtedly you have heard of Parents for Megan's Law. Why is that? Because we are saying what many DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW - it is very threatening to those in a position to garner votes for their "tough on crime" stance, which is really "stupid on crime" - but they keep getting elected and keep asking victims and their families to dictate policy.
We have a group of dedicated, intelligent persons [registrants, family members, interested citizens and professionals in the legal and mental health fields] who are working hard to stem the tide, to bring some sanity back into this discussion.
Because if we DON'T:
- if your TEEN participates in consentual activity with a peer - they ARE A SEX OFFENDER
- if a girlfriend/ex-wife decides to "get even" and accuses you or a family member - they *WILL* be a SEX OFFENDER
- if you are in the middle of a divorce or custody case - you are at RISK of being FALSELY accused, losing custody and being labeled a SEX OFFENDER
- if you work with children [daycare, youth sports, church activities or the neighborhood "house mom" - YOU are at risk of being FALSELY accused and being labeled a SEX OFFENDER
- if you DON'T CHECK ID of your date - YOU are at risk of being manipulated by an underaged youth [this is VERY prevalent] and either being BLACKMAILED [yes, that happens a lot, too] or outright CHARGED with a SEX OFFENSE - remember - IGNORANCE of their REAL age *IS NO EXCUSE* in court!!
- if you go fishing, camping, hiking, etc. DO *NOT* UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES URINATE OUTSIDE! That will make you a SEX OFFENDER
- if you take YOUR children across state lines without the other parent's foreknowledge or express [in writing] permission, in many states this is AUTOMATICALLY A SEX OFFENSE! Even if NO sexual impropriety occurred...
I implore everyone to just take some time to read the many government and other agency documents in our Library and see for yourself what they say - the recidivism rate is LOWER than for any other category of crime [except murder & white collar crime such as embezzlement], the MAJORITY of sex offenses are committed by someone the victim knows, and the social stigma of the "Scarlet O" as someone else so eloquently put it, stains the CHILDREN of the registrant, most likely who is the VICTIM.
We accept all who are interested in educating themselves and others - join us at www.sohopeful.org/forum - click the "Register" link at the top.
Posted by: Carolyn, Exec. Dir. SOhopeful International | Jun 21, 2005 4:15:55 AM
I would like to send you some links to publications
about my criminal case. I worked for Mitsubishi
Electric Automation in Vernon Hills, IL, USA.
My case are getting public attention now as an example
of miscarriage of justice. I could not defend myself,
because I did not have enough money for computer
expert. I was forced to confess for possession of
child porn. I got browser hijackers while browsing the
web. I was redirected to illigal sites against my
will. Some illigal pictures were found on my hard
drive only after
recovering in unallocated clusters, without dates of
files creation/download.
I do not know how can courts press widely on people to
convict them, while whole Internet is a mess.
This is my story in inquisition21.com. There is all
information about case written by Irish writer Brian
Rothery.
http://www.inquisition21.com/article~view~7~page_num~3.html
This is publication in Wired news
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,63391,00.html
This is publication in Theregester
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/13/browser_hijacking_risks/
Article in Globe and Mail newspaper
http://ctv.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040617.gttwhijac17/tech/Technology/techBN/ctv-technology
Article in ZDnet
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5344831.html
This is article in Washington Times, May 22, 2004
There is information about my case.
http://www.cato.org/cgi-bin/scripts/printtech.cgi/dailys/05-30-04.html
Article in Crime research center:
http://www.crime-research.org/news/07.22.2004/506/
Article in Dallas, TX Newspaper
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13614767&BRD=1426&PAG=461&dept_id=528214&rfi=6
The problem for me now is to find lawyer, who can
review the case. When I pleaded guilty, there were no
any publications, like in wired news. This article was
posted on hundreds sites, published in newspapers,
discussed on many boards, and translated to many
languages.
I think the problem with my confession was prosecutors
pushed case to trial without any thoughts about
computer experts. Judge answered NO for any requests.
Prosecutor promised couple years in prison. My lawyer
came to me and said 'You must answer in next 5
minutes, after that they call jurors for trial'. 100%
you will get conviction, no doubt.
100% to get conviction, and go to prison for couple
years. This was opinion of very experienced lawyer.
Going to prison with child sex conviction, there were
possibilities to get raped, bitten, or even killed.
These were real, very real.
So it was pressing like criminals pressing on victim.
I am political refugee from Soviet Union, and in my
understanding, there are no difference between
prosecution, court, police and criminals. I got
another prove of this.
People are silent in this country because charging
with any crime is very easy, but defence costs huge
money. Most people do not have $15,000 for lawyer, but
this is not enough. I think $200,000 is not enough to
defend yourself. So police and and procecution enjoy
abusing of power, like masters with slaves.
I just tryed to explain why there was plea agreement.
Some people do not understand this. They asking
questions like why admitted something you are not
guilty of. Josef Stalin victims admitted to any crime
just to exchance for easy death. Also you probably
read Orwell '1984'
Fima.
Posted by: Fima Fimovich | Jun 23, 2005 3:23:34 PM
Families In Support is a group that was started in Iowa to help ex-sex offenders and their families deal with their lives as left them by unfair laws, the miss informed public, and the daily harassment. What is an ex-sex offender? Someone that has made a mistake or in some cases was wrongly accused or received unfair treatment for the crime they committed. We do not support sex offences, but are greatly interested that true sex offenders are punished properly.
The public has been informed that a sex offender WILL re-offend, no question about it! But are confused that the statistics say only 8% of sex offenders on the registry re-offend. Is the low rate of re-offenders on the registry due to the great rehabilitation programs put in place by the government? (Personally attending some of those so-called rehabilitation programs, coming from the other side of the slate, the victim, I know this is not true!) Or is it because there are so many people on the registry that are not true sex offenders! Is the registry helping to protect the community? No, I think not. The registry gives the community a false sense of security.
Being a victim of sexual abuse it is very easy for me to see the real offenders and the people who made a mistake. That mistake could have been as simple as receiving an email from a trusted buddy, to having concenitual sex with a 16 year old at the age of 19, or as far committing a one time offence. These people are not the true offenders; the true offenders have committed crime after crime after crime and are the people you rarely hear about.
Ex-offenders admitted to a crime and truly repented the sin, and were punished and accepted a punishment, and are left the name of a truly sick individual. They were left with a life sentence.
What is this life like? I married an ex-offender and can truly tell you horror stories that as a victim totally appall me. Part of the healing process for a victim is forgiveness and realization. It is not unlike the healing process for anyone. We would hope as victims, to give us a feeling of security, that sex offenders have either the opportunity to be healed or they are correctly dealt with.
Grouping and labeling a bunch of people together that are not true offenders is only clouding the issue. Keeping people oppressed is starting a whole new problem we have yet to feel the wrath of! I as a victim do not want to be around when the government realizes what they did wrong in oppressing these people or giving the power to the public to judge and condemn. When did we bring back vigilantes and the hanging tree?
Being labeled as a sex offender is a life sentence. They are verbally abused every day, mentally abused every day, stoned everyday and never…never are allowed to heal. The processes that are intact today do not allow sex offenders to better themselves, create stability in their lives or gain any part even the tiniest peace of healing. Instead, they move from job to job, if they can find one, are pushed from community to community by stoning, are labeled unfairly and we as the public let them know they will never amount to anything! They can not improve their lives, but are instead beat down every day.
Does having a bunch of oppressed people living in your community make you feel better? Does it make you feel more secure? Or does it just give you the same power of the father who is abusing a child?
Everyone can sympathies with a child who is being mentally and physically abused in a violent home. The community wants to see this child helped, realizing that the child has issues that will need to be dealt with. The community bends over backwards to help this child obtain a life that is somewhat normal. NO ONE sees what they are doing daily to ex-sex offenders. They are being mentally and physically abused every day in a violent world. No one wants to help them, even when they realize they have issues that need to be dealt with. The community bends over backwards to hurt these people every day, and hopes that they will commit suicide instead of choosing to live. How wrong is this? The same child that you may have helped could be the ex-offender you are refusing to appropriately deal with.
Does taking an ex-sex offender's home away because it is too close to a school, make everyone more secure? The statistics say that most offences are committed by someone the victim knows or someone in the family, so how is taking the home away from a truly repenting ex-offender going to cure a problem. Can you even imagine what that ex-offender had to go through to be able to buy a home? Or does taking the home away from an ex-offender cause other problems?
It seems to me that if the corrective system (a system that is set in place for people that committed a crime not only punish them but to correct them to live in society properly) does not work, it needs to be revamped.
Families In Support is trying to fight the unfairness. We were part of the court case in Iowa that found the 2000-foot law unconstitutional, and are now preparing for the case that will soon be filed to re-defend that ruling. We would like to bring up the issues handed down to ex-offenders to make life better. We are interested in fair and just laws for those who re offend. We are also interested in the victims right to heal. If you would like to contact us we may be reached at [email protected]
Posted by: familiesinsupport | Jun 26, 2005 11:51:30 AM
I work as a Texas Child Advocacy lobbyist pushing for stricter sentencing guidelines and the abolition of the statute of limitations. The recidivism argument as posted earlier is interesting because it lumps sex offenders together as one whole group and they are not. Research has proven that pedophiles in general are the group that is most likely to recommit. All sex offenses are deplorable but the person who rapes after drinking too much in a bar is alot less likely to recommit. In Texas this past session we worked on putting the age of the perp at the time of the incident and the age of the victim on the registry. I agree that this needs to be considered when looking at an offense.
Most of society is concerned about the serial pedophile who stalks and scares the child victim into silence for the rest of their lives. When they are able to feel safe, their time has run out. I run a non profit by the name of Their Voice - Speaking for Victims of Child Sexual Assault. This list is devoted to quite a few sympathetic to the offender. The devastating effects of a sex assault on a child will last a lifetime and society as a whole pays for this over and over. The offender may or may not be incarcerated. The victim is left with guilt and shame and takes it out through prostitution, drugs, and a litany of felonies. Everyone pays. I as a mother should be afforded the protection by the government in knowing that a sex offender lives in my neighborhood. What is on the registry, how it gets there can and should be debated but the existence of it is essential. Rhonda
Posted by: Rhonda Kuykendall | Aug 1, 2005 10:29:33 AM
My boyfriend was a married youth pastor who had an affair with an adolescent girl in his youth group. He was 24 at the time and it was consensual. He did not have sex, but did have physical contact.
Everyone knew she was infatuated with him. She was emotionally needy and called him daily. He simply provided counseling as he did for many of the troubled youths. He fell when he turned to her for comfort from his troubled marriage.
It became a 6 week affair before he confessed (and repented) to his pastor. The pastor then told him to turn himself in to the police which my boyfriend did. The police, however, mistranscribed or perhaps twisted his testimony around. So in court, he took a plea of 1 count child molestation and 1 count statutory child rape after being threatened with 10 years if he didn't. Even the victim stated that they did not have sex, but he is now stuck with 1 conviction he didn't do.
Anyways, my boyfriend was originally a level 1 before prison. After he got out, the end-of-sentence-review board decided to dub him a level 3. We don't know why. We think its because he was released "untreated" which is considered "high risk". However, they wouldn't let him into treatment while in prison because there were other offenders that were considered higher risk. He couldn't believe some of the people who were getting released as level 1s and 2s while he was a 3 just because they were "treated". The government just isn't good at doing this.
What they call "treatment" goes against basic psychology and is just an extension of the punitive system. In therapy, they treat everyone like a predator and apply the same approach to everyone. It consists of labeling, put-downs, "admitting" that you will commit more crimes, being trained to sniff animal urine when you have sexual thoughts, etc. This is not therapy! I worry for those who were molested as children and who became sex offenders as a result. They need help!
If you speak up about it, they say you're in denial. My boyfriend spoke up and denied that he would do it again. He got kicked out of treatment and was sent to prison.
They also need to take teen sexuality and teen predators into account ie, the 3 youth pastors after him fell into the same hole. This church is in a ghetto area of Seattle. Aside from the current (5th) youth pastor, every youth pastor has had an affair with someone in the youth group. I am not saying this is excusable. I am saying this category of "sex offenses" should be distinguished from "sex predators". The system also needs to differentiate between consensual affairs with adolescents and people who are violent or serial pedophiles (prepubescent).
As our relationship: when I met him through a mutual friend at church (which kicked him out when they found out), I saw a sweet gentle human being with tremendous potential for good and who turned to the wrong place for comfort. What he did was immoral, but he has repented and was very broken-up about it. Making him register for 10 years and notifying the neighborhood only made him dependent on food stamps, bankrupt and unable to get jobs.
For the religious folks:
To continue to see his sin is to say that the death and blood of Christ is not good enough to cleanse this sin and make it "white as snow". It is to defy the judicial authority and absolute sovereignty of God to remove sin from a person. It is to declare that God's forgiveness is not recognized by you.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all our unrighteousness.
It is a JUST act for God to forgive this sin because it's already been paid for.
Posted by: Girlfriend of ex-offender | Aug 6, 2005 2:22:35 PM
My boyfriend was a married youth pastor who had an affair with an adolescent girl in his youth group. He was 24 at the time and it was consensual. He did not have sex, but did have physical contact.
Everyone knew she was infatuated with him. She was emotionally needy and called him daily. He simply provided counseling as he did for many of the troubled youths. He fell when he turned to her for comfort from his troubled marriage.
It became a 6 week affair before he confessed (and repented) to his pastor. The pastor then told him to turn himself in to the police which my boyfriend did. The police, however, mistranscribed or perhaps twisted his testimony around. So in court, he took a plea of 1 count child molestation and 1 count statutory child rape after being threatened with 10 years if he didn't. Even the victim stated that they did not have sex, but he is now stuck with 1 conviction he didn't do.
Anyways, my boyfriend was originally a level 1 before prison. After he got out, the end-of-sentence-review board decided to dub him a level 3. We don't know why. We think its because he was released "untreated" which is considered "high risk". However, they wouldn't let him into treatment while in prison because there were other offenders that were considered higher risk. He couldn't believe some of the people who were getting released as level 1s and 2s while he was a 3 just because they were "treated". The government just isn't good at doing this.
What they call "treatment" goes against basic psychology and is just an extension of the punitive system. In therapy, they treat everyone like a predator and apply the same approach to everyone. It consists of labeling, put-downs, "admitting" that you will commit more crimes, being trained to sniff animal urine when you have sexual thoughts, etc. This is not therapy! I worry for those who were molested as children and who became sex offenders as a result. They need help!
If you speak up about it, they say you're in denial. My boyfriend spoke up and denied that he would do it again. He got kicked out of treatment and was sent to prison.
They also need to take teen sexuality and teen predators into account ie, the 3 youth pastors after him fell into the same hole. This church is in a ghetto area of Seattle. Aside from the current (5th) youth pastor, every youth pastor has had an affair with someone in the youth group. I am not saying this is excusable. I am saying this category of "sex offenses" should be distinguished from "sex predators". The system also needs to differentiate between consensual affairs with adolescents and people who are violent or serial pedophiles (prepubescent).
As our relationship: when I met him through a mutual friend at church (which kicked him out when they found out), I saw a sweet gentle human being with tremendous potential for good and who turned to the wrong place for comfort. What he did was immoral, but he has repented and was very broken-up about it. Making him register for 10 years and notifying the neighborhood only made him dependent on food stamps, bankrupt and unable to get jobs.
For the religious folks:
To continue to see his sin is to say that the death and blood of Christ is not good enough to cleanse this sin and make it "white as snow". It is to defy the judicial authority and absolute sovereignty of God to remove sin from a person. It is to declare that God's forgiveness is not recognized by you.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all our unrighteousness.
It is a JUST act for God to forgive this sin because it's already been paid for.
Posted by: Girlfriend of ex-offender | Aug 6, 2005 2:22:56 PM
Thank you for your website. My husband was recently convicted of aggravated sexual abuse. Although the judge said he didn't think my husband was a sex offender or a threat to the community, he found him guilty and gave him time served and 30 months probation and told him he would have to register for 10 years. However in the state that we live in if you are convicted of aggravated sexual abuse you are listed as a sexual preadator and have to register for life. The 10 year old "victim" said at the trial that she was not afraid of my husband and when asked how she felt about what he alledgedly did she said she was insulted. Part of my husband's treatment is he will have to take a polygraph and may be subject to something called phallometry. I don't exactly know what that is but from what I've read it sounds like sexual abuse.
Truly those convicted of sexual offenses are treated like lepers. I made that point in a letter to the editor recently however they did not publish my letter. I also want to draw attention to the fact that our schools and planned parenthood are actually contributing to the abuse of young girls by giving them birth control. Do they really know who the young girls are having sex with?
What makes me the angriest in all this is how easily others judge those accused of sexual offenses. If we judged sex offenses as God does there would be very few of us who would be innocent.
Posted by: wife | Aug 6, 2005 9:03:14 PM
Americans are notorious for discriminating against any person labeled with any stigma. Kind of like the flavor of the month, Americans use the stigma of the label as a driving force.
The bigger the fear the less the solution is questioned.
The fact that someone is doing something to kill the bogyman for the people in fear is all they need to hear. By not reading the laws passed they are adding special interest laws to these legislations which bring billions of dollars to these special interest groups, which in turn will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep there bogymen alive.
There are over 800,000 sex offenders registered and living in neighborhoods throughout America. Most of these sex offenders have families, friends, relatives, and children. Not all of them are ready to kidnap, rape, and murder your child. Some are required to register for much lesser crimes of flashing, prostitution, and a host of other moral offences. Of all required to register only 11% of registered sex offenders reoffend within 5 years of there release, 9% reoffend within 10 years, and 5% within 15 years, and 1 % within 20 years after their release. In short most sex offenders never reoffend contrary to the media’s tendency to group all registered sex offenders as dangerous. This you can find on the Department Of Justice website.
Every registered sex offender has a story that can never be told by the brief, easy to rush to judgment facts and stats as posted on the sex offenders’ websites. Listening to registered sex offenders and finding out just who they are is the only way to make individual assessments on a case by case basis. As I said above, not all sex offenders are ready to kidnap, rape, and murder your child. In fact only 3.5% of new sex offences are committed by offender on the sex offender's registry. This can also be found on the Department Of Justice website.
Most offenders have families, supporters, and friends and 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 a justification. God is Love, and love forgives all things hopes all things and endures all things. To try to say sex offenders can not be rehabilitated is a criminal distortion of the truth.
It is true some sex offenders do not want to change their behavior and will not change. That is not the status quo. Most people want to better themselves. It is true just like homosexuality that some are predisposed to being gay. Those can be likened to pedophiles with no desire to have any other sexual focus in life than a child. This is a very small number compared to the numbers of situational sexual abusers that have the free choice of sexual focus.
To continue to inflict suffering on those that are meeting society’s needs is criminal. It does not justify the abuse sex offenders experience daily at the hands of society through laws not well though out. These laws are proof that something is desperately wrong with the system on matters of sexual abuse.
Religious intervention in societies reasoning will be exposed for what it is. The bible speaks of the sheep and the goats and a clear separation of the two. Goats are bullies. Today religion is proving its selves to be the ones that do not allow for free moral choice. Religions want to force their moral standards on mankind. This is contraire to the teaching of Jesus. To be a Christen you must be a footstep follower of Christ, that is the definition of a Christen. Jesus held open arms for all sinners because all mankind are sinners. The only time that Jesus ever forced anything was when he was in the temple and used a whip to force those that were sinning out of his temple. Not all mankind wants to be in a temple that forces there morality on those outside the temple. That is goat like.
Thank you for taking the time to read this information. We can only pray that you have an open heart in this matter. The 800.000 sex offenders do have families, friends, and supporters. The number grows each day. These people deserve to be counted as individuals. Each person is a free moral agent with a place in this world. Sinners casting stones is not the answer.
Thank you for considering this matter with an open mind. Please know that I respect my American brothers and sisters very much. We were all kids once; don’t allow the abuse to continue through their whole life.
Posted by: spreading the truth | Sep 5, 2005 8:44:44 AM
I am a survivor of sexual, physical, and mental abuse, that of which began at the ripe old age of 11.(At least that is where I begin my vivid memories) I am now 36 years old and believe that I am a whole person, only because I am one of the lucky ones who received help in many ways. I have no regrets for who I am and how I got here, yet I do at times wish it had not been with such violence and intrusion. I do believe there are many issues, factors, feelings, reasons, excuses, disorders, addictions, and so on, that can make each situation its' own. I will briefly though, only refer to my own experience. At the age of 15, I was removed from my home, away from my parents and my younger brother, and placed for a short time in a "safe shelter." This was 1984. The other "protected" children I found myself surrounded by were of all types. Some, all of us in my "dorm" were ages 15 to 17, were pregnant by relatives, (one was an uncle, another was by the grandfather), already had some form of addiction, (if we didn't then - we were to have one soon), suicidal, or just did not care anymore. I spent 7 days there, when I was then thrust back into my home, my father had moved out, (court order), and I, 2 days later, found myself calling 911, for my mother attempted her first of many, suicide attempts. That was the last day I ever lived at "home." By the time I was 18 I had tried every drug known to mankind, slept with anything that acted remotely interested, dropped out of school my sophomore year, and had no idea as to who I was. At that time I dedicated everything I was to my abuser, my father. I hated him, my mother, and anyone who would even think of trying to find reasons as to what he had done to me. At 18, I then learned of the beating that he extended my brother, (not the first - but the last), that got my brother removed from the home. It was that day that I decided I had no more to accept from that person and that I was done being a victim.
Between then and now, it has been a very long haul. I have not taken the easy road, but I have learned lessons that I would never give up. Being a "victim" of a sexual and violent crime, I have my own opinion as to rehabilitation. I think that anyone who can initially think that it is okay to do what was done to me, HAS A PROBLEM. If we think that merely putting them into the system, with no therapy is the answer, we are wrong. I am not saying though that therapy is the cure. If I knew the cure, abuse would not exist. I do know one thing, if we turn a blind eye to it, CHILDREN PAY! I wish I could say I have the answers but I don't. I know that support, awareness, talking about it openly, taking an interest in that child we are just not sure of, and not turning away from things we want no part of, is a good step forward.
I know that I may not have done anything but rambled but I must say, THANK YOU, for even having a site that makes us feel heard. It is places like this that give me hope.
Posted by: Andrea | Sep 22, 2005 4:38:47 AM
I was surprised to find this website & pleased to read most of the posters, it is nice to know that there are some sympathetic to the persecution of registered sex offenders. I understand the anger and hostility expressed by a few of these victims of sex crimes. I too was the victim of horrific sexual molestation as a child. While there is a significant potential for former victims to become perpetrators, it caused me to be inclined to lobby for the rights of victims. It took a tragic turn of events for me to understand the injustice that occurs all too often with sex crime cases in the American justice system. As I read the opinions of former victims, I remind myself that they are not addressing me or the circumstances under which I came to become involved in this issue. But to declare that all those who have been convicted of a sex offense should be castrated and a subsequent offense should mandate execution is so radical and barbaric that is in contradiction of the very essence of a civilized society. And what shall be done with those who are later exonorated of their offense? Do you just return their testicles? There is reason to believe that there is a reason why 90-95% of all sex crime cases result in plea bargains. The defendant has too much to lose and the prosecutor gets to tally up another victory for the "good guys." When I was 19 and a freshman in college, I had a brief relationship with a girl who was 16 and a junior in high school. Her parents found out and took her to the doctor to try to see if they could determine if we were having sex. The doctor was unable to determine if she was sexually active, but being a mandated reporter, the doctor was required to file a report with the local police department. When interviewed by the police, she said that we weresexually involved, though it was entirely consentual. After charges were filed, she went to the police and explained that she made the conscious decision to be involved with me and she did not want to press charges. The detective informed her that she was a minor and therefore incapable of making a choice in this matter. The state took the case and filed the charges against me. I was inexperienced with the American legal system and I, like most Americans, held the common misconception that justice will prevail. I had no idea what lie before me. I hired the first attorney I consulted in this matter. I bought into the lies he told me. Whether he was merely incompotent in this sort of case, or he was deliberately lying to me I don't know. He asked my goals for this case, which were: 1)To avoid serving prison time 2)To be able to continue attending school, and 3)To minimize public exposure. During the preliminary hearing I was presented with my options of trial or plea bargain. The sentence that I would face if I were to choose to go to trial and subsequently lose would be anywhere from a minimum of 36 months in prison up to s possible 15 years, along with . However, if I were to accept the plea bargain, there would be only 30 days in jail with 2 years probation and registering as a sex offender. In addition, I was told that if I were to successfully complete the terms of probation, I would be eligible for expungement of the charge so many years after the completion of probation AND I would only remain on sex offender registry for 10 years. I would find out later that neither of these were the case. This charge was not applicable for expungement and I was to remain registered for life. I later sought counsel in an attempt to press charges against this attorney for malpractice incompotence. Nothing amounted to the attempt since there was no changing the fact that whether or not I entered into the plea agreement aware of the circumstances involving expungement and the registry, the nature of the offense would still mandate these conditions. Since that time I have become an addiction counselor. I treat patients regularly who suffer from various diseases ranging from substance abuse to sexual addiction. I have been working for some time and have finally found new employment. I moving to China to live & continue my counseling work pending the US State deparment validating my passport and China's US embassy issuing my visa.
With the stigma that is placed on those convicted of sex offenses, it would be far more kind to just put all offenders in jail for the rest of their lives. For those who have been wrongfully convicted, pressured into a plea & admission of events that are in fact false, and for those who have violated unjust Romeo & Juliet laws, the burden, pressure, and isolation is unbearable. Our country has gone completely paranoid regarding sex offenders.
Posted by: Mattheis | Sep 27, 2005 2:22:19 PM
I am married to a man who was convicted of child molestation ten years ago and was given 15 years, he is now out serving his probation. he has five years left, he has always proclaimed his innocents,We now have small children and they don't understand why daddy can not keep them or stay with them, they have to almost live with the baby sitter, i belive that he did not do it or i would not be with him, but do you know the funny thing is the 10 year old that he was accused of is now 20 and she told me that he did not do it, that it had been her father and her mother had made her tell them it was my husband so that her own husband would not go to jail,now that is a living hell we go though every day and the courts do not want to hear it and the lawyers I have talk to said dont worry about it he only has five left on his probation, but that is not the point we have the rest of lives to live with this. thank you, "living in hell"
Posted by: life is a living hell | Oct 11, 2005 2:24:21 PM
I am the Chair person of ROAR 4 Freedom. We are group dedicated to helping to end sexual abuse. The current laws and the Registry are not going to stop abuse. If you think they are you are quite wrong. I haven't found a case yet where the Registry has saved a child. Actually, the Registry is causing a whole new set of victims. These are children of the rehabilitated former sex offender. These children are harrassed, ostracized and beaten up by their peers. They are called names by their peers and their peers parents. They are the victims no one cares about. Yet, they will stand by their parent. They know in many cases that the parent did something, but they also know that the parent loves them. You also have children who have been reunited with the former rehabilitated sex offender. One may be the victim. So these children are victimized all over again by society. What are these children going to grow up like? Are they going to grow up full of hate that society has taught them? Or will the parents love for them override that hate? I hope the latter will be the case but we will not know the outcome for a few more years. The proof is there in the statistics that sex offenses have the lowest recidivism rate of all crimes, other than murder. Where are the registries for the others? Yesterday, Joe Smith was found guilty of murdering and sexually assaulting Carlie Brucia in Florida. His previous convictions were for drugs and violence, but not any sex offenses. Why was he not on a registry? Why did this little girl die? Why do these things happen to any child? These are the things we are hoping to work on in our group. Please join us to help make sense of this mess. Our website is http://www.roar4freedom.com and our Yahoo group is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roar_4_freedom
Thank You
Amber Leaf
ROAR Chair
Posted by: Amber Leaf | Nov 18, 2005 4:12:34 PM
I am amazed at the ignorance of some people. To say that they find the information inacurate because they have been molested and they believe nearly all sex offenders reoffend, is to say that since you have been molested, you will some day committ a sex crime.. Think about how stupid that sounds..
The facts are the facts. I challenge any of you to prove them wrong. Maybe you will get an education in the process. Maybe you will stop feeling sorry for yourselves and get over it..
I was drugged and raped when I was 18. There was only one man who did that terrible thing. I didn't see anyone else around, and I didn't blame anyone but that man.
The only way a person can talk about other people not being able to change is if the person doing the talking is unable to change. That is your choice. But for the rest of the world, we can make changes in our lives.
It is a fact that of all the people released from prison in 1994, 87% of those who were re-arrested for a sex crime were in prison for non-sex related crimes. 13% were in prison for sex related crimes. That is a fact. It don't change because you don't want to believe it..
What is most amazing though is as long as a sex offender serves to satisfy the need for vengence, the majority of the people committing sex crimes don't get on the websites that are "protecting" society.
I put out this challenge, if you are brave enough, look at the websites.., tell me how many on those websites are actually committing crimes?
Now tell me how many of them were convicted more than one time.. It is common for people to have more than one charge they are convicted of, that isn't what I am talking about. Tell me how many of them have been convicted more than one time.
Now tell me how many sex crimes are being committed.. Who is it that is committing these crimes? Please don't tell me what you think, would like to think, or what you believe.. Find out the true facts before you show what you really know..
Thank You,
Louis
Posted by: Louis | Nov 18, 2005 5:13:52 PM
I'm making a comment after reading all of these others in response to everyone's belief that sex offenders are really nice people. Hey move to Grand Forks North Dakota with me and find out what its like to have someone you know abducted and mrudered ina town where many people don't lock their doors or even take their keys out of the ignition of their cars. I think you'd be singing a different tune when it happens to you. As for me I am a Law student at the University of North Dakota so I know more than the average schmuk about law and sex offenders and you all make me sick when your more concerned about the costs than what actually happens when someone is abducted.
Posted by: Jason | Nov 26, 2005 6:00:52 PM
thankyou for this informative website.i recieved more hope reading this than i have in the past year of hell my husband and i have been through.i was sexually abused .i was repeatadly raped from the age of 9 to the age of 12 .i was one of those people who say castrate them untill my husband became a s.o .he touched the breast of my 14yr old sister and told a therapist who reported him .my sister said she wanted it going no further but it was pursued by the state .my sister also told the state when my husband was given a plea that she did not want him to recieve any jail or prison time .oh i forgot my husband told the therapist 4 yrs after the fact he was trying to deal with past sexual abuse he had and decided to be honest about that too .my sister said it wasnt that big a deal .my mom and dad said many times you (the state)are not tearing our family apart my husband and i have a son and daughter together so she was concerned because with the case we couldnt see each other .my husband continued with therapy for the ten mths prior to him accepting a plea he also lost his job of 6yrs and got another which has sent us a letter that they will accept him back anytime.he was honest with everyone involved even the state attorney.we also had a therapist the court used also tell them my husband was not a s.o.but it didnt matter.he recieved an 11 mth29day sentence in jail the max you can get .we felt lucky at that point because we lived where carlie brucia was abducted in sarasota ,fl.and the sentences are getting pretty harsh now.what a wake up call this has been .i am so concerned when he comes home in april for my little family .my husband truelly wants to do the right thing and i will help him as much as i can .i know the looks people give or the snide remarks and i can handle those but when it comes to my babies i have a hard time accepting the way people look at this.i understand 100%that we need to protect our children but at least if the family is still in tact then help them succeed in life dont thow new conditions on probation just because some sick person raped and MURDERED a child.if i had one wish right now it would be that each case would be looked at individually. thankyou for listening
Posted by: cassie | Nov 29, 2005 3:43:35 PM
I am a criminal defendant. I am being court-martialed in the United States Air Force. My house was raided a year ago by city authorities who suspected me of possessing child pornography. They analyzed my computer and decided not to prosecute. The Air Force diligently picked up the case. At the military equivilent of a grand jury, they presented 26 images/movies they intended to charge. There own expert concluded three of the images were child pornography (they had been deleted and showed no signs of ever having been opened). The investigating officer (the military grand jury) recommended five counts of the offense get charged.
Because I am in the military system, the grand jury recommendation is simply that, a recommendation. The convening authority charged all counts even though the prosecution's evidence suggested the majority of the individuals are of age.
Then, instead of charging me with possessing child pornography, they changed it to "bringing discredit to the Air Force" by having child pornography. Thus, they need not prove the alleged child pornography is what they say it is. Of course, a conviction means certain sex offender registration.
All offenders, I dont consider myself a sex offender since I didnt "sexually offend" anyone, must be able to become good members of society. I have a college degree, a good military career, a daughter, and have much to offer in the future. Should all of that be mitigated by a non violent, non aggravated, misdemeanor offense?
Posted by: Patrick | Nov 29, 2005 4:31:34 PM
I am the mother of a "sexual offeneder". I read with intrest the comments made. My son was convicted for having sex with a minor. First time offeneder.I am also have a daughter, so I see it this from both sides. Yes, my son was an knothead for doing what he did, but also, some of these young girls, don't look or act like 13 or 14 year old girls. The young lady my son was caught with, was a minor, but it was not her first sexual encounter, nor will it be her last. My daughter, now 24, says that it was a big deal in school to see who could go out with the oldest guy!!!! So, these stupid men think with the wrong head and go to prison. All I can think about, is something my mother of 78 years would say "If its put in front of a man hes going to take it!" That's the way it was in the 50's and that's the way it is today!
I also feel, that if some respondiblity was put on the parents for these minor girls, we would not have such a long list of men. My step son was living with his 16 year old girlfriend and her mother for 4 months, the girl got pregant, surprises!, the first thing the mother did, was call the police and try to press chargers!! after she let him live there. If my step son would have been one year old, they would have try to convict him. This judicial system is so messed up, its unreal. Something really needs to be done, and blaming the men only, is not right.
Posted by: bigrig | Dec 28, 2005 9:20:26 PM
Hello, i would just like to say that I am both a victim and criminal. I was molested when I was about 8 years old. For 2 years I though these things were the norm. I told my mother what happened she said I was lying. When I was about 16-17 I had sex with my 7 year old sister. I didnt force her, but its all the same to the courts. My mother made sure charges were pressed. Never been any kinda trouble before I pleaded out 4 years probations and regristry. I also had to do 1 year of group counseling. Which cost me 20$ a week I didnt have so I sold blood to keep myself outta jail. The counseling did nothing all day but tell me how I was the worst kinda person, how society should fry me when I even glance at a child. I believed him. For we are worst than murderers. Tried to kill myself a few times, as you can already tell Im bad at it. Im honest on my job application, maybe alittle too honest, so getting hired is not going so well. I had a girl friend, but when I told her what I was she told me she never wanted to see me again. My family makes me eat holiday meals in the next room away from the family. Ive never once even attempted or thoughtabout such a thing since my conviction.(or committed so much as a misdeminor) Here I am 6 years later wondering when just a little light will shine on me.
Posted by: JOHN DOE | Jan 27, 2006 2:25:10 AM
benny donald todd is a sex offender lives in andrews south carolina and he lives and work in columbia south carolina but is not resister in columbia please help on having this looked into thank you please do not mention my name
Posted by: todd | Feb 14, 2006 3:44:26 PM
Wow, I am so happy to find this website that I am crying as I write this. My husband (we are newlyweds)was convicted of multiple counts of child molestation of his step daughter. This of course is the nightmare from Hell for us. This is the SECOND time this young woman has made sexual molestation allegations against one of her mother's ex-husbands JUST when they made it known they were going to re-marry. This young girl recanted on the first charges (5 years after the fact). We have audio tapes of the mother "rehearsing" her daughter in the making of the charges against the first husband. THESE TAPES WERE NOT ALLOWED to be used as evidence in my husband's trial. NOR were we allowed to put the ex-wife on the stand. The judge that heard my husband's trial is currently under investiation for judicial misconduct. Apparently, his court clerk has made a sworn statement (on file with the courts) that he would have her call the DA to ask them what question he should ask in the trial to "nail" the defendant. My husband is a 65 year old physician who had a large and valuable piece of property in California...this ex-wife claimed multiple times that she would "get that property" from him... We believe this entire nightmare was an attempt to get his property AND/or to stop our marriage. There are many many more complications to this case...my husband worked for the prison system in California and so going to prison for him is a death sentence. He got (are you sitting down) a sentence of 52 years for sexually molesting ONE person. If he had murdered her, he would have gotten less time. WHAT is wrong with this picture? It will take two years for his appeal, if he lives that long in prison. Pray for us. He did not do this. We have proof that this young girl has used false allegations in the past (coached by her mother) to get what she wants.
Posted by: Renee | Mar 11, 2006 11:20:54 AM
should consentual sex with a minor mean your a sex offender?
my girl friend and i were to get married. we had perental permission and such, however since she was under age and i was 20 the state of oregon charged and convicted me for rape. what a bad rap i got! now i have to be a registered sex offender and go to group counseling with a bunch of child molesters and people that actually forced others for sex. its not fair! they also dont allow me to be around any minor children, even family? i agree with how strict the probation rules are for child molesters and people that actualy raped someone, however to charge me and many others with rape even though it was consentual and with parent consent is ludicris! now the whole world see's that im a registered sex ofender and all kinds of thoughts go through their head. there are hundreds of people in every comunity that are going through the same thing, and i dont think that the law makers will ever change they way they charge people when it comes to statutory rape. by the way when you get busted for statutory rape the charge is not statutory rape, the charge is rape! to me and hopfully you to rape means "by force or without consent" so from now on when you think of registered sex offenders please remember that not all registered sex offenders are preditors, infact less than half of them in the united states are actually preditorial sex offenders, the laws just dont differ between the different kind of offenses. a registered sex offender could be someone who just made a sexual comment to a guy or girl in the work place (which i dont condone those actions) however to label them a sex offender along with the sick'os is not right and it ruins that persons whole life. i was with my girl friend for 4 years and was almost married to her, our relationship was an awsome one, and there was nothing sick about it, but now i am look at as if i did something sick, and im stuck with it for the rest of my life. no body will hire a sex offender and people dont trust a sex offender, wich is good but not if they are going to call people like me sex offenders! i would not and have never even thought about forcing sex on anyone espeacially a child, but i have been permanently labeled as otherwise? i would love to here your comments on this subject and i would be happy to answer any questions regarding my case or others. see my blog @ http://sex-offenders-statutory-rape.blogspot.com/
Posted by: jtr | Mar 18, 2006 7:19:03 PM
My husband of fifteen years is a registered sex offender. He plead guilty to rape nearly eighteen years ago. At that time he was only nineteen years old and of course had no money for a good lawyer. He did almost three years in California Youth Authority. We thought this was done and over with and we could continue with our lives. We have four children, one who is disabled and needs help with various things, three girls and one boy. We knew one day we had to be open with our children and explain the situation, but because of Megan's Law, someone else got ahead of us and told my 11yr old son that his dad was a child molester. Why do all sex offenders have to be put in the same category? Why can each case be looked at individually? If Jessica's Law passes not only will my husband not be able to attend special meetings at school for my disabled child or any school event. He won't be able to take my children to the park. We probably will have to sell our house. He will have to wear a GPS device and he will most likely loose his job. I can't work because my disabled child's needs, so maybe we will go on welfare.
Posted by: vikki | Mar 21, 2006 12:13:50 AM
Falsely convicted sex offender (witchhunt victim) and victim of a teacher molesting me when I was young (I know what real molestation looks like, i take it seriously and i condemn it, but i also condemn false convictions).
I kicked a kid on his bottom in the middle of the cafeteria in 1998 (teacher)
three years probation, three years of counseling.......i committed a crime, but not the one they accused me of......and few in the world can exonerate a person with the false accusation of sex offenses on them with the existing hysteria (who has the money to fight these despicable and false accusations, not that they would btoher to follow the constitution regarding these crimes
required to register for life with the scarlet letter (S/O - sex offender)
NOTE: One reason why so few sex offenders repeat their crime (or any crime) is that they werent guilty of the crime in the first place, and wont re-offend despite being limited in almost every possible way.
Hysteria is required for all witchhunts and the brand of feminsim that is popular today, is, at least in part, responsible for the hysteria that exists today. the media is to blame in a big way, as well, since they seem to work to misinform more than they inform........
Posted by: boston | Apr 10, 2006 3:30:19 PM
Some one had it right up above. SOR is nothing but a witch hunt. It all boils down to mental 'health' if you will: The same feelings I have for my wife(which by the laws I should be a SO because we had under age sex), is caused by the same feelings you have for your spouse, is the same feelings gays have for same sex partners, is the same feeling for someone who 'loves' animals, is the same feeling for someone who is attracted to the dead, is the same feeling for persons attacted to children. Everyone has different tastes. Back in the 1800's, it was nothing for a 13 to 16 year old to marry and have a family. We need a voice to stand up to the 'victims' and disband a law that is illegal per the greal law of the US. I start by saying to these people that the only reason most of us are not SO's is that we didn't get caught or charged.
Posted by: KeAnMe | Apr 13, 2006 8:08:42 PM
I am just becoming new to all this since my nephew 13 years old at the time had oral contact with a 12 year old girl. Well after the father of this little girl found out what she was doing and becoming sexually active took it all to coart. Now my Nephew is a Sex Offender? He just turn 16 and is still going to class, treatment with adults!!? Real creepy sexual preditures this is not only emotionally screwing him up, it has him thinking he is the worse person in the world. And the Counsler and Social workers really dont care... They are trying to Terminated him and send him to a junvenille inpatient care program, where he would be til hes is 20??(Lock up!) Just because my nephew open him self up and told them he has had 5 sexual partners. THE system sucks and I feel for my young nephew just as the other on here going through the same thing. I really dont know what to do and My sister-in-law is going crazy with this to. What are you suppose to do when you are wrongyfully accused. This was just too young sexually questioned kids. Not rape of force like they make it seem. and at a young age this will drag on and on...Anyone wit some advice Please let me know. Thanks. [email protected]
Posted by: Samantha | Apr 21, 2006 11:18:29 AM
after reading about some of the disaster on this site I shift somewhat from self pity to anger of
this highly flawed extention of megan's law.
I myself was convicted of sex assault 4, unlawful restraint (2 years ago for an event that occrred 3 years ago). I received 3 years probation and 10 years on the SOR. the complaintent in this case, at various times, has admitted she was not treatened or forced in anyway. there was never a sex act. I do take resposibility for exposing myself, but there was never a history nor do I ever feel compelled that I will "offend" in the future. The plain truth is that there are unproven circumstances that has me on the connecticut SOR sight, embaressing myself, my family and friends. I have been lucky enough to remain employed, but if I lose my current job, I feel it will almost be impossible to remain in my 25 year Information Technology career. I have payed out nearly $20K in lawyer, treatment and court fees. I have been lucky enough to have been paired with a CATSO certified consular for my "treatment". My motion to be removed from the states SOR is open. it is very trying, I call my very patient lawyer almost everyday. My marriage is hanging on the edge. A purpose of the SOR is supposenly to ease low/non-risk re-offenders back to society, nothing could be further from the truth. I have not only been self evaluated as "no-risk for re-offense", but have been officially deisgnated as the same by my (CASTSO) consular. The original event, has unproven misconceptions, I never did force or treaten or restrian the complaintant in anyway.
what I am guitly of is public exposure and at the time was under extreme personal and job pressure, high on a pain killer of dental issues and a had very sugar level (diabetic, over 300!) The courts decided that none of that was relevent. at the time of my conviction, there was a big polical push to fill the SOR with members, as it had recently been reinstated in Ct.
My actions that day although was a mistake had no way treatened or intimidated anyone. period.
there is NO distiction on the SOR between and people who have been accused of rape, child molestation or other violent crime. This is clearly the worst thing that has ever occured in my 48 year old life. BTW, the complaintent in this case was in her early 30's. if granted my motion I will offer the state court system my time to council other non-vioilent offenders (because with only laymen skill sets, I am under qualified to cousil violent, hasher offenders) regarding general issues in trying to just live life as normal as possible. if you knew me, personally you would know my catorization by the courts of CT., as an S.O. to be ridiculous.
I remain a family guy and known to my freinds family and co-workers as a respecful, gentle and certaily never a threatning person.
I really think it is inedivalbe for the law makers to draw the line between 1 time mistake makers and violent, dangerous reoffenders. the varible is when, maybe too late for us in this generation of this new condition of probation or paroll to ever live our life normal again.
Soon as we progress into the next generation I fear, as a society, with the current SOR guidelines we will be plagued by citizens into the millions count who will have become finacially, psycologically and socially in great liability and for 9 out of 10 of the cases, for reasons that were plainly unnessesary. It has has just evolved to really satisfy a polical agenda (fanned by the news medias), and not to make our streets a safer place. If there is liability of reoffence than to have a "big brother watch" is certainly warrented, but our lawmakers have a professional, moral and constitutional obligation to take a closer look at what that truly is, because in addition to a population of sex crime victims, we will be soon be faced with an entire big city full of people (number of people, in this country) who have had their lives ruined by the virtue of the megan's law extension - for no good or effecient reason.
I am sadly one of them.
I urge others in my situation to rememeber God remains by you even if the court system doesn't.
thank you for this site, big time!
Posted by: steven | May 3, 2006 3:55:49 PM
Wow This looks like a great site. Just wish more people would read this. Wish this stuff didn't get put on the back burner because it doesn't give the News Media a high rating, or not enough money. Alot of people are uninformed in a lot of different things because they only listen or watch the news that is put out by the main Media which controls what we see and hear. And it is all run either by money or politics.
Posted by: Donna Flye | May 20, 2006 10:46:31 PM
I came across this site while doing some research on sex offenders and I am very surprised to see that there are so many people out there dealing with the same emotions as I am. First let me say that I am a survivor of molestation at 6yrs of age and Rape at the age of 17. I have had the chance to view this topic from both angles. I do believe that there is astrong difference between sexual predetors and sex offenders. I have a friend that I use to date whom I just found. He is in jail for talking to a 13yr old male on the internet in a sexual manner. This 13yr old was a cop conducting a sting. The press release says he was arrested soley on conversation there was no physical meeting set up. While I do not condone the conversation at all I have to wonder why he was arrested and given no bail. He says he has been bullied like many others into pleading guilty or else face a definite 5 yrs. I personally get on the internet and I cannot stand to go into chat rooms because the conversation is always about sex. There are probably a million people who engage in sexual conversation everyday just for fun. Why don't they lock everyone up.I believe that some authority figures abuse their power and turn common people into criminals. Its not right. Now he has to take a plea bargain or face an uncertain future in a federal facility. I also think the media tends to blow things out of wack. They always want to put a negative twist on things. Why not tell it like it is. 10 and 13yr olds should not be allowed access to adult chat rooms or any for that matter maybe adults should be keeping better tabs on their children.
Posted by: April | Jun 8, 2006 12:43:33 AM
I stumbled across your site and am very glad that i did. I am a retired nurse of 30 years and i have son in law who is a registered sex offender due to something that young people in high school never think or thought about but perhaps now they do since our country has become completely obsessed with sex and sexual predators and offenders.he was a senior in high school and went a party and had sex with a girl that was 16 years old and he was 18 years old at the time.
there were other people at this party as well having sex and doing things that they really should have not been doing ,this was a party where there was no adult supervision and no permission by the parents to even have a party or people over and when the mom came home it was in full swing so the police were called and several young men were charged with lewd and lascivious acts on minors 16 and under. The parents of these teenagers did not have money for lawyers at least the majority of them did not so they had public defenders that advised these young men all between the ages of 16 and 18 to take a plea for no jail time so they received 10 years probation and are all registered sex offenders for life for not using the good sense that God gave them and for doing something that teenagers who really don't think do quite often . It was a stupid thing to do and i don't condone what my son in law has done but he is now 28 years old and married to my wonderful daughter and have beautiful 5 year old twins and people will not leave them alone to live their lives and raise their children.They are constsntly harassed by law enforcement even though he reports and does exactly what he is supposed to do . It is very sad because people want to group all sex offenses together. I'm trying my best to help him before he becomes so depressed that he ends his life because he says he just does not know how much more of the harassment he can take.he's paid his debt for a stupid mistake he made when will it end?
Posted by: joy j | Jun 10, 2006 1:48:19 AM
I am the mother of a son who has been charge with a sex offend. What I want to know is what kind of jobs can they get when when they are charge with a sex offense. What kind of things can they study in college. Can they go into law and become an attorney or anything in the medical field. What about becoming a doctor. Can someone lead me to information about what kind of life a person with a sexual offense.
Posted by: Vivian | Jun 11, 2006 1:49:50 AM
I posted a question do i get an answer
Posted by: vivian | Jun 11, 2006 4:01:54 PM
CALIFORNIANS AGAINST JESSICA'S LAW can now be accessed at http://www.nojessicaslaw.org/
Posted by: Will | Jun 11, 2006 10:28:03 PM
as a victim of childhood sexual and physical abuse i would like to talk about manditory sentencing,yes manditory but not for the abuser ,any victim of childhood abuse automaticly recieves a life sentence ,no plea ,no trial no jury ,no parole ,just a life of selfdoubt and pain .my abuser took a plea not because he was innocent but because it was an easy way out for him ,he got 7 years and reoffended within months of getting out ,for those who want to change the laws i ask you this would you leave the rehabilitated offender alone with your preteen children ? i am a member of a group of former victims ,there are over 3000 survivors in my group and this is one of many . it might be politicly correct to say we can fix them ,but its moraly insane to try ,as for them getting jobs? what about the man who is so traumatized by his abuse that he cant even apply for a job let alone keep one.what about the victims? we know what happens to the abuser ,he gets a plea he gets rehab ,he gets another chance ,consider that no one wonders about the victims or their families,they are forgotten as soon as the trial ends,what about the mother who posted above ,does she blame herself for not being able to protect her child ?yes ,even though she has no blame she will carry it forever.what was my crime? my only crime was being an innocent 11 year old boy ,as we speak i am 10 years into my sentence with no end in sight ,if my spelling or grammerv is bad here its because of the long term effects of my abuse ,i get no reprieve from the damage done to me ,can anyone take away the seizures that i endure due to head injuries?or the feeling that i am somehow damaged beyond repair. go ahead change the laws its no big deal till its your son or daughter that is brutalized .it never goes away .i feel for the ones who may be innocent of the charges ,because i am serving a life sentence for being a kid .just a kid ,all i ever wanted was to just be a kid ,but what the kids want is beside the point .
Posted by: adam | Jun 12, 2006 9:34:39 AM
What with the rapid explosion of pro paedophile sites, it sickens me to read yet another one, this one.
The apologists for paedophiles and haebophiles are just as bad as the offenders themselves and invaribly back up the justification that offenders usually find within pages such as this. If someone else has done it it must be ok.
As a survivor of systematic childhood sexual abuse I have a life sentance, I may be able to now deal with the triggers and flashbacks at fifty years of age but the nightmares still occur and it is not just the survivor that suffers it is their family, their partners, husbands and wives. The damage that CSA can cause is much like alcoholism and drug addiction it AFFECTS the WHOLE family.
All sex offenders cannot be cured just supervised and in that sense they should be incarcerated for their lifetime, they should not be alolowed to be free to offend again.
I am a volunteer that supports CSA survivors
Posted by: Kirk | Jun 12, 2006 1:36:26 PM
I am not hear to defend all Sex Offenders. I just ask that they not lump all SO's into one category. My husband was charged with Carnal Knowledge of a Minor(VA's version of statutory rape) of a girl that he did not know was underage. There are 6 other men in prison for sleeping with this girl as well. What he did was a crime, but he had no criminal intent when it happened. The laws are supposed to protect our children, so many of the people on the registry are not a threat to our children and their lives are being ruined and millions of dollars are being wasted in the process. Think of all that they could do with the money if they used the registry as it was originally intended, for dangerous repeat and sexual offenders. These registries are giving people a false sense of security and creating more victims. What about the innocent children of SO's? Does my daughter deserve to suffer for an act her father commited before her parents even met? Do you think she will not have emotional scars because noone will let their children play with her or because they changed the law once again and her daddy cannot live in the same house as her? I don't know the answer, but I do know that something needs to change. People that have served their time are being given a life and sometimes death sentence.
Posted by: LJ | Jun 14, 2006 10:34:51 AM
Surviving at the Whim of Madmen
News of a horrific crime, reporters telling the
details over and over, mugshots of the suspect on the screen, revelation that the suspect is a
registered sex offender. Even though such a crime
might occur hundreds of miles away, I panic.
That crime could cost my son any remaining chance of a normal, stable childhood. It could cost me the choice to live peacefully with my husband, the right to live free of the terror that someone will show up on my doorstep intent on murder.
Why? Because in response to horrific crimes, society now lashes out at law-abiding citizens who, in the past, broke the law. Punishes them again by broadcasting their daily whereabouts to the world, driving them into joblessness and homelessness, banning them from walking down a city street or taking shelter in cases of emergencies. And the law thoroughly punishes their families. Spouses must either live under the same dangers, restrictions and privacy invasions, or abandon their marriage. Children lose friends, homes, and the right to be free of mockery and assault and fear.
We don't speak out often. Being legally required to provide personal information to those who wish to kill us tends to stifle public discourse. If a death threat is made, we cannot protect ourselves by staying with relatives or in a hotel for a few days. The law requires we keep the potential killer updated as to where we can be found. And that potential killer would have more rights under the law, even if he murdered us, than we do as people trying to remain in compliance with ever-changing laws.
My husband was convicted decades ago of a sex crime against an adult. He served time, he participated in years of treatment during and after release, he spent additional years under supervision. Then a court, and a panel of mental health experts, deemed he was no longer a danger to anyone. Not medium risk, not low risk. No risk. He set out to do what hundreds of thousands of ex-cons do--build a new life--and he succeeded. We married and had a child. We worked hard, contributed to our community,
enjoyed life, made plans for the future.
Then society demanded a do-over, and contrived to do so through "regulation." So another court decided there was no punishment attached to retroactive registration of sex offenders, nor in the highly publicized dissemination of their whereabouts. Even though we are no longer subject to criminal supervision, "civil" laws have taken our privacy, our right to live and travel where we choose, and our right to be free of harassment.
Politicians, the media, and the public make it clear to us: We are human garbage. Toxic waste. Unfit to breathe the air. Unworthy of life. Deserving of death at the hands of vigilantes.
Yes, I say "we," even though my husband is the only sex offender in the family. For years, the public, politicians, and certain advocacy groups have gotten away with failing to acknowledge the swath of collateral damage their law-making has inflicted. If a mere third of offenders are married, almost a quarter million spouses are recklessly placed in jeopardy by the laws. If a third live with a parent, almost a quarter million family members are at risk. If a third have a single child, almost a quarter million children are--daily--endangered by public
notification and the prevailing, rabidly encouraged public sentiment that any registered offender should be tormented at every opportunity. Our lives are ones of fear.
There is no way to appeal it. There is no escaping it. No matter what we do--no matter how well or how long we abide by the laws--we lose more and more rights and freedoms every day. And that loss is based upon pure hysteria and statistical manipulation. The testimony of mental health experts is ignored by politicians and the mainstream media. True recidivism rates are under-reported, or are not reported at all. Even victim advocacy groups and prosecuting attorneys are disregarded when they speak against these punishments. And discussing the
consequences of the laws is, apparently, taboo in
the public forum.
Some will say it would be shameful to repeal laws
intended to protect children. I tell you the
recklessness with which hundreds of thousands of
innocent American citizens have been triumphantly
stripped of their privacy, family, and safety is
shameful indeed. Politicians and advocates tell us that such "civil" abuse heaped upon sex offenders is worthy if it saves a single child. By default, they name the pain and loss and endangerment inflicted on other children worthy as well. Shameful indeed.
I don't ask that you welcome us with open arms. We ask for something far more simple: to be left alone, just as we were all those years in which we did nothing wrong under the law. However, if you demand that every offender be eternally punished for his or her past, then show the moral courage to hold yourself accountable for the present.
When you demand offenders be pushed out of your
community, say out loud, "and their children should be hounded out of their home, too."
When you demand longer and broader notifications,
state bravely, "and I want their children to be
shamed whenever they leave their home, to live in
terror of vigilante violence forever."
When you demand offenders be banned from schools,
proclaim as well, "and I want their children to be mocked and beaten by their classmates, to never have a friend."
When you demand the government step in to 'protect the children,' say to the offender's child, "But you I will purposefully endanger. Your family I will destroy, and claim its destruction as my victory."
When you demand an offender be again punished for a decades-old crime, at least have the decency to say you're willing to inflict certain damage on thousands of children in exchange for the many-times disproved promise of better security for yours.
Don't like the way that sounds? Tough. Stand up, be honest, and live with it. We do. We live according to the whims of civil madmen every day. Ilah
Posted by: guest | Jun 14, 2006 10:40:20 AM
I live in west virginai I would like to be notified. When Samuel Alfred Lansberry he is in Texas prison right now. not sure when he gets out. I thought 2006. But he broke his probation. He had ten years probation and he had I think 4 years left maybe not tho. cause I dont know when he got out of prison the fist time. he lived with a women Named Kim Jones in Graton West virginia. Kim and Sam had a child togather Becky Lansberry. she will be 9 in Aug. and when he got arrest the second time Kim was pregent for a nother kid from Sam. she will he 4 I belive in Oct maybe 5 not really sure on that one. my consearn is that when he gets out I dont want him around them two girls. I dont know Kim or Sam that well But I use to rent off of Kims mother in Preston co. west virginia. if you could please notified me. when he gets out I would really be happy. that way if he goes back to Grafton wv to live with Kim and the girls I can report him to the state police. other wise noone else will report him. and if it was me in the same boat I would expect someone to report me. What Kim thinks is if when he gets out she is going to pack up and go wher ever he is living. and she knows better. and I belive if she done that after she knows that he is a sex offender and it could happen to her and his girls then she needs to be in prison to. cause she knew and knows now that he is a sex offender. once a sex offender to me is always a sex offender. hope to hear back from you very soon thanks for your time. Pam
Posted by: Pamela | Jun 14, 2006 9:06:29 PM
when you say society punishes the family of a convicted sex offender your wrong its the offender who causes the problems for his family,why do most of the post here make excuses for sick perverted people ?poor guy might get hurt in prison ,so what? stop defending these child killers ,yes killers cause even if the kid survives in a way he died just as sure as if the perp used a gun ,the perp wants his life back? i want my childhood back!!,the perp can serve a short sentence and get his life back ,i cant get my childhood back ,i was falsly accused ,i was abused myself ,yeah perps have all kinds of excuses ,do you people forget what they did to innocent children?no one is gonna cop a plea to child abuse unless they know they cant get out of it any other way,if you got arrested chances are you are guilty,if not prove it in court ,take a plea when your innocent? yeah right adam
Posted by: adam | Jun 15, 2006 12:59:31 PM
Being the victim of a sex crime is truly a terrible thing to happen to anyone, let alone a child. And for those people who are into hurting little kids, they deserve their sentences. But many of them as well as most felons in prisons will eventually be released to society. I think it would be better for everyone, if these ex-cons could start their life over again, concentrate on being better citizens as opposed to being ostrocized for life. The only resort they have left is to feel bad about themselves and commit more crimes. This is not to say that these people have suddenly become good people, but after they have paid for their crimes, it would be better for all of us if they were allowed to rebuild their life the right way, and prove that their are no longer a threat to society.
As for sex offenders, it seems that the judicial system wants everyone who committed any 'sex' crimes to be on that list. There should be a differentation between the level of offense for the people on those list. If the system is going to put their names/address/photo, why can't they put also what their offense was and when it happened. If that information was present, you would see that most of them are just "normal" guys that might have had a lapse of judgement at one time in their life.
These days, it seems like the rage is those so-called "internet sex sting". I bet 80% of the people they catch are just 'dumb, and stupid' men who just happened to be lonely, and wanted some company. These guys would have chatted the same way with a 13 year old (usually a 35 year old cop) or a 45 year old. Yes it is wrong to meet a 13 year old for anything that remotely linked to sex. But a 'dumb and stupid' man is not the same as a sexual predator who searches for 12-13 year old victims only. That is a sick and perverted man that should be imprisoned. It is just becoming too easy to jump on the band wagon and labelled everyone a sex predator, instead of using the tools that we have such as psychoanalysis, and other conseling programs, to keep the truly violent and predators that are out there. Quality should prevail over quantity if we want to make our society a safer place.
Posted by: Al D. | Jun 15, 2006 7:10:18 PM
if i want psychoanalysis or therapy for what was done to me ,i have to pay for it ,does the state provide it free for me?i cant afford it because well the government taxes me to pay for the rehab of the animal who hurt me ! you think the system is unfair to the abusers? your dream of rehabilitating all sex offendesr is a noble cause ,but your on the wrong side !
Posted by: | Jun 16, 2006 12:13:23 PM
You know I have been following this discussion for a couple of weeks and one thing really strikes me. Some of the people who are opposed to this page need to stop being victims. I was raped and molested and I came out ok. We do not need to become victims even if we are abused. Our life is what we make it. If we use abuse as an excuse does this make us any better than the normal offender who also uses abuse as an excuse for his action. All anyone really is trying to establish here is that sex offenders should not all be put in one category and that maybe lawmakers should make some revisions reguarding the laws. Noone is saying that people shouldn't be punished for their crimes. There is an extreme difference between Sexual predetors and an 18 yr old who has sex with a 16yr old that by the way is only 2 yrs difference and had that 16 yr old been 18 and the other 20 it wouldn't have been a problem. Please do not throw mess up at me about what if it was you or your child. I've been there and done that what can you say to me since I was once sexually abused myself. Noone makes excuses for them and most of them are dead wrong. But.... there are some that do not deserve to have their lives ruined for a teenage mistake.
Posted by: | Jun 16, 2006 8:16:30 PM
CALIFORNIANS AGAINST JESSICA'S LAW can now be accessed at http://www.nojessicaslaw.org/
Posted by: Joe | Jun 18, 2006 11:11:51 AM
Joe if you don't like all sex offenders lumped together then do something to change the law. Untill the laws are changed they will all be treated the same. And Al D internet predators are not lonely. They are looking for children to have sex with. If it was just loneliness they could get a dog!
Posted by: sel | Jun 19, 2006 11:22:04 AM
Loneliness is not a good excuse to go into a chatroom and have a conversation with an underage child. Now come on. AL D. do you honestly believe what came out of your mouth?
Posted by: sel | Jun 19, 2006 11:24:52 AM
No sel but ignorance is a good reason why an under age child is being allowed to access chat rooms in the first place. Where are their parents? Noone is defending the guilty. But I think we should lock everyone up since their are millions who do the same thing every night.
Posted by: | Jun 19, 2006 11:31:50 AM
Ignorance by the child or the adult that that engages in a conversation with an admitted 13 year old child? Parents should not allow their children onto these sites- I agree. The child is not to be held responsible the adult should be. If the adult engages in sexual talk with a child on line yes they should ALL be locked up.
Posted by: sel | Jun 19, 2006 12:38:53 PM
An adult talking sex to a child is not a lapse in judgement. That would be considered a sick pervert.
Posted by: sel | Jun 19, 2006 12:41:42 PM
For all you women that stay with these sex offenders-What the heck are you thinking? Why in god's name would you want to be with a man that is sexually attracted to a child? That doesn't say much about you either. Sounds perverted on your part.
Posted by: sel | Jun 24, 2006 4:14:18 PM
californians against jessicas law?do any of you even know who jessica was or what happened to her? if you and your childern choose to live with a pervert then you better be ready to suffer the consequences of that choice ,dont blame the sane peop0le in the world for your own insanity.how dare anyone come here and ask survivors to feel sorry for those that hurt kids.there are no excuses ,there are no little offenders ,well he didnt know the kids was underage ?preteens are pretty easy to recognize even on the internet.
Posted by: adam | Jun 24, 2006 4:32:31 PM
Way to go Adam!
Posted by: sel | Jun 24, 2006 5:29:18 PM
What I am now wondering is if some of you who have your little negative comments would feel the same way if it just happens to be your own child or dear family member who might make a once in a lifetime mistake and you then become a parent to a sex offender for life.... What... I don't hear anything don't say never it happens to good kids every day. Its easy to sit on the other side of the fence and judge unfairly until its your life and your family that is affected. Not everyone here is trying to change a law. Some are here because they need to know there are others out there in the same situations. How dare you come in here and treat people like they are crazy just because something bad has happened to their family and they want to express themselves. you need to look at it from both points of view after all it could be your family going through it one day.
By the way I'm not taking everyone's side here only a few. Those who are serious offenders and a danger to society should be locked away and given limits to live by.... others should not everyone is not in the same boat no matter how much you want to make it so. Also don't blame kids for being in the same house....some of them have no choice. You cannot say a thing about anyone in here unless you have been in their shoes. People are not trying to throw the rules out the window. Our kids need protection. Once again they may need to look at the way people are lumped together instead of labeling them all the same.
Posted by: | Jun 24, 2006 10:36:43 PM
I really don't think I could say one thing positive about a sex offender. If that offends you then you have a seriuos problem. If my son ever sexually offended a child I would not support him. Get real!
Posted by: sel | Jun 24, 2006 10:55:26 PM
You know what after this I'm not going to honor you with any more responses. You do not deserve them. Putting down other people is not a strong point of mine. God bless you for labeling me. How about you get real because I would love and protect my child at any cost unless they murdered someone or commited a truley preditorial sexual crime. By the way Jessica was a child killed by a REPEAT offender that should not have been let out in the first place. But We are not trying to protect him are we. I am talking about the ones who are trying to live on the straight and narrow who have paid their debt to society. You act like I am some poster child for Sexual Offenders world wide. What's so funny is I am a survivor of several types of abuse and I have no one around me who is a sexual offender...yet I still manage acknowledge that some people are falsly accused. I choose to be a survivor who doesn't judge based on my life experience alone. Guess that's what having GOD in your life will do for you.Oh but I am crazy and have so many serious problems. You get real!!! If you oppose the people here so much why even lavish your opinion. Why not delete this page from your browser and go on with life.
Posted by: | Jun 25, 2006 12:38:03 AM
Yes Jessica was killed by a repeat offender. He also was a first time offender at one time. They gave him a second chance and look what happened. I would still love my son but I would not have him in my life. Yes some people are falsely accused but very few. That's a whole different agenda. This is a debate I do not have to agree with you and you do not have to agree with me. This thread is not for therepy it's for a debate. And as far as opposing the people here -your confused. Not everyone here defends sex offenders.You will find in this world that a very small majority defend them. But that's their right to defend whatever! Molesters should not get second chances to offend again. It's a big chance to take when it comes to hurting a child. They can't be cured. It's a sexual obbsesion with children that drives them. There will always be children in this world and there is no room for these men and women that want them for their pleasure. NO ROOM!
Posted by: sel | Jun 25, 2006 8:44:56 AM
quote,what i'm wondering now,is if some of you who have your little negetive comments if it happens to be your child or dear family member 'in my case it was a as you call it a dear family member who hurt me .and thanks to family members who are as blind as you are i now do see it from both sides ,it is your way of thinking that cost an 11 year old not only his innocence but his connection to any thing resembling family,yes my family felt like you do ,oh he just made a little mistake ,we will let the family deal with it ,well guess what i am the result of his one little mistake! you speak of family and children as it stands now i will never enjoy either of these things,thanks to people who just made a mistake ,i am unable to function in your normal world , my life was put on hold at age 11 all the things i should have been learning to help me be an adult ,well i had other things on my mind ya know? i'm so glad that you mentioned god in your response ,aparently you have god in your life ,thats good ,but someone like your dear family member even took that away from me ,ever remember what god means to an 11 year old? ever felt the disappointment of realizing that the one you always thought would protect you dont exist. loosing your innocence or even your life is bad ,but he took away my faith ,now i have to live with the fact that i dont believe in god ,or he is there but i didnt deserve saving .it seems that people believe that when the abuse stops its over for the victim ,well guess what its not ever over for the victim ,surviving sex abuse is so much more than just staying alive,the real pain starts after the abuse ends. i would like to say that this is not a personal attack on anyone ,far from it we feel strongly about our opinions on this subject and i think i have the right to try to help others understand that this is not a black and white situtation .i am trying to see both sides of this but on one side i see excuses,on the other side i see destruction ,total destruction of a human being ,of an innocent child. i have seen responses from victims here who side with the abusers ,maybe you still dont realize the extent of the damage done to you ,also i am not a victim ,i am a survivor ,there is a difference.
do you allow me to feel sorry for myself ?no, so dont expect me to feel sorry for the one that did it.i refuse to be ashamed of my views on this you cant make me feel bad ,i am proud of the fact that i survived ,i am proud of the fact that my dear family member is in prison for the rest of his life ,i did the right thing ,you cant make me feel bad about that or feel sympathy for anyone who is locked up for abuse or even for as you call it a mistake in judgement. even your response about jessica proves my point exactly! she was killed by someone who just made a little mistake in judgement ,damn i'll bet that makes her family feel much better! what about the good kind ,progressive thinking people who let that bastard out of prison ?people using logic like yours.what about jessicas family?did you ever consider jessicas family ,do you think what your going through compares to that? if the abuser was my son or dear family member i would put a bullet in his head and do the world a favor .then i would consider doing it to myself for bringing a monster into this world.this he made a little mistake kind of thinking cost me everything , i was thrown into foster care and lived in hell for 10 years because i had the guts to speak out about my abuse i was 11 ,do you think you can convince me to be silent about it now!?thank you for honoring us with your responses ,but maybe your dropping out because you cant win this debate,what if at 11 i had been able to stop my abuse ,if i had been strong enough to kill him ,would i get off scot free because i made a little mistake in judgemn=ent?if you feel sorry for your abuser then your still a victim ,have the guts to be a survivor . adam
Posted by: adam | Jun 25, 2006 11:38:22 AM
So sorry for your pain Adam. That's exactly why I feel no sorrow or sympathy for child molesters. It's because of the long term pain that they have inflicted on their survivors. Hold your head high Adam. Your worth it. Thanks for your post. It said a lot!
Posted by: sel | Jun 25, 2006 1:26:49 PM
My dear Adam, Let me start off by saying it was another to whom I was speaking about not honoring responses. We could obviously go on for ever with this conversation. Just so you and SEL know I am not this AID person. I am an outsider who came to this site and saw what what written. So what ever this mistake in judgement business is I really do not care. Maybe it is my faith in God that has brought me to where I am. You should try it. I do not feel at all sorry for the 2 people who abused me. I feel the exact same way you do. I know about Jessica's family and I as well as alot of other people feel their pain. I think maybe you should take the time to really read over what I've said. I never asked you or anyone else to forgive their abuser. As a matter of fact the only thing I feel really strongly about is Internet stings because people can be loored into a conversation and unfairly punished. Everything else well who cares and I never did. By the way if you had been able to kill the guy at 11 you would have gotten off its called self defense. I'm a criminal Justice Major and Know the in's and out's of the system. I think you did the right thing to turn that person in and Once again I never said you didn't have a right to. You know what... I went through the same mess you did. Withdrawel from people self esteem issue, But I got help and learned how to live. It can be done. Maybe you should try it. It's like saying my family member was a drunk so I'll be... or a drug abuser let me do the same. If we use our life experiences as lessons instead of excuses maybe we would get somewhere. Since you don't have faith I guess this wouldn't apply to you but God gives us trials in our life to teach us humility and make us stronger. This does not however give anyone the right to violate you. I'm saying take all that anger bottle it up and do some good with it. If you do feel this strongly then maybe you should do some type of public speaking to warn the children you so desperatly seek to save. Oh and just so you know I am going for my Master's in Social work now so I am quilified to say what I say in both fields. And by the way a debate never started on this page until you 2 started writing. I haven't the time to say much more right now I have to go take care of a sick family member but I will be back to continue.....
Posted by: | Jun 25, 2006 2:33:05 PM
I'll tell you where the debate came into play. There are so many on this board that seem to be whining about how society treats sex offenders and their families. Think about that for a moment if you can. Who was the one that committed the crime? Who is responsible for what his or her family is going through now? Who actually pays the price for what the offender did? His victim and his family pays the ultimate price brought on by him NOT society. Do any of you honestly think that the MAJORITY of society is going to back down from these sex offenders? Not if we're civilized we won't. And further more a sexual offense perpetrated on a child cannot be called a mistake-bad judgement or a moment of insanity! It is a sick crime perpetrated by a person with sick ideals about children. A danger to children no matter which way you cut it. It's not normal for adults to want or to have sex with children. I don't see how this can be debated in any other direction. Wrong is wrong!
Posted by: sel | Jun 25, 2006 4:04:50 PM
i,m sorry about your sick, family member ,and if you signed any of your posts we would both know who we are talking to.it didnt seem to be a debate untill survivors started posting ,i dont think this was meant to be a pro pedo post,i made it clear that my comments were not personal ,but if someone wants to take it that way what can i do ? if you dont like the answers your getting maybe your asking the wrong questions ,also if your going into social work i suggest you should be much better at dealing with people like me. thats where lots of us end up you know? in therapy but i guess your one of the strong ones who has recoverd from abuse with no lasting effects ,first one i,ve seen ,i salute your courage and strength. adam
Posted by: adam | Jun 25, 2006 6:32:25 PM
I want to start by saying that I do not defend/excuse child molesters. I will say however, that teenage girls (even those as young as 13) aren't what they used to be. There are 3 men in prison, 3 with charges pending and 3 more under investigation because of the girl involved in my husbands case. The whole situation took place in the home, with the mother there. The girl drank alcohol and used drugs with all of the adults present. The mother never once told any of these men that her daughter was under age, and her being about a double D in the chest you wouldn't have looked at her and thought otherwise. I do not defend my hubands actions(this took place before we met) he used poor judgement, he committed a crime but he did not do so with criminal intent. He is not a threat to children or anyone else for that matter. There is a huge difference when someone is forced to do something against their will, and they say that people under the age of 18 aren't old enough to make decisions about whether to have sex, but when that same 13-18 year old commits a crime, these same people are quick to charge them as an adult. So tell me why it is ok for our government to change the age of a child to fit it purposes.
I am a mother, I believe in the original purpose of the registry. I just think that it is sad that politicians are using SO's as their ticket to votes. People in this ountry are so uneducated and believe everything that they read or hear on TV. They never take the time to lookup statitics that they hear, they just take them as fact. I do not know how many times I have heard about the high rate of recidivism amongst sex offenders, when they have one of the lowest rate for reoffending. Most sex offenders, if they go back to jail do so because the restrictions placed on them make it almost impossible for them to live their daily lives.
I hate what has happened to the ones of you on here who have posted your stories. No matter what happens and what our family has to suffer just to try and live a normal life, I promise you that I will never let my children grow up to be victims. They will learn to be survivors and learn and grow from experience good or bad that comes our way. My children will have to pay for a mistake my husband made, and thousands of othe peoples children will as well, but if the lawmakers don't open their eyes more peoples children will sufer as well.
The registry gives people a false sense of security....
*put a 2,000 ft buffer around a school
--> how long does it take you to walk or drive 2,000 feet? If someone really wanted a child do you think that this imaginary buffer zone will keep them away?
*Make repeat sex offenses punishable by death
-->Give bad people an incentive to kill your child instead of just abuse them. Hey, they are going to get the death penalty anyway, why leave witnesses. (I would personally rather have a child that has been abused than one that was murdered.)
*residency restrictions...again
-->force people underground because there are entire states that are off limit to them. Take away anysense of a normal life and expect them to remain law abiding citizens.
Maybe we could invest some of the money spent on this rediculous registry by focusing on the truly dangerous offenders and provide some much needed counselling to victims. We could institute educational programs that could better teach our children how to act in compromising situations. Empowering our children with the know how to tell us when bad things happen to them and how to protect themselves is a much better defense tactic than drawing an invisible line around your neighborhood schools.
I could go on, but I will stop as I am sure nothing I say will get through to a lot of you because I am in lve with a monster. My daughter's father is a monster and we are now inherently monsters as well.
Posted by: LJ | Jun 26, 2006 9:54:31 AM
Your post is dismissed! You married a sex offender and you knew it. I cannot imagine any decent woman going into a relationship with a man that molested a child. Why in god's name do you find attractive about a manthat is attracted to children? Quit making excuses for him. That enables them to reoffend. No one owes a sex offender anything. Residency laws of course do not keep children safe. It's a tool for the police. Whatever it takes to get rid of them is a good thing! It's always the same story when it comes to sex offenders and the women that find it exciting to marry them. He didn't know she was underage. He made a mistake. Please-that get's old and it's a feeble excuse. There is no excuse to offend a child or to marry a known child molester. It's a shame your children have to be subjected to this because of your terrible judgement and lack of character!
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 10:58:02 AM
LJ-you talk about focusing on the truly dangerous predators? Any man that finds children sexually attractive is surely a dangerous predator. You also said you would rather have a child that is abused but alive. You need to talk to some of these children that have been abused and you would be so ashamed of yourself! To them it's like a death after they have been molested.
Posted by: | Jun 26, 2006 1:38:25 PM
SEL - First of all I do not have to defend my self to you or anyone. I am a college educated professional that is smart enough to see both sides of every story. This instance my husband was charged for took place before we got together, but he was not charged until after our daughter was born.
This girl was a minor not a child. There is a difference. There was no force involved and believe me she did not look like a minor. By the age of 15 this "child" had consentual sex with more men than several "adult" women combined. She was very experienced and as I said her mother was there and never once said anything. He did not know and he will pay for his ignorance for the rest of his life.
To the unamed poster - I would much rather have a child that has never been harmed, but what I am saying is that if you give people the incentive to kill rather than harm you might get what you are asking for. I know that some people that are abused grow up fighting these deamons for their entire lives. I just am trying to express that not all "sex offenders" are people that prey on children. When the average person thinks of sex offenders they think of the men that steal little girls from the bedroom, rape, and kill them. You must admit that they are few and far between. They put people on the SO registry, but a murderer can serve his time and move in next door to you, do you not want to know about them? The registry is a joke and it needs to be corrected.
Call me and my husband what you will, but I guarantee that if you continue to support the government taking away rights from people that are supposed to be guaranteed under our constitution, sooner or later they will take away rights that effect you and it will be too late then.
Posted by: LJ | Jun 26, 2006 1:51:29 PM
Yes 13 is a child. Your education is not shining through! I also think a murderer should have to register too. You say there was no force involved? He was the adult. It was up to him to use some sense. Of course she became permiscous. That's what happens sometimes when a child is taken advantage of. No I do not look at all sex offenders as men that steal little girls. I deal mostly with children that were molested by a friend or family member. No matter how you word it and make excuses sex with children of any age no matter the situation is vile.If you can live with one have at it. Sex offenders should have no rights! NONE. One day they won't have any! Enjoy while you can! You putting down your husbans victim is common for sex offenders and their families. It makes you feel better about what he did. Lower the victim = raises the offender. It actually does the opposite in the majorities eyes.Your trying to get out of what you said earlier. You knew your husband was a sex offender before you married him. Trying to deny it now is too late.Like I said if you can live with yourself for picking a man that enjoys sex with 13 year old children then so be it.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 2:11:58 PM
ooooooohh oooooohhh Everybody put your boots on cause the stuff is getting thick. Hey Sel I was wondering if you have ever been mistreated by a sex offender? I never established that. I think it's alright to have people here with opposite sets of opinions. It lets everybody get it off their chest. LJ you gotta be strong girl you will have strong opposition here. You have strong points but someone will always try to get a leg up on you. your right though if he didn't know... he just didn't know. people act as if it's so obvious. It's not, when I was 14 guys thought I was 18 or 19. I also have a big chest. It's funny how girls progress and develop these days. I think its interesting how all of this really became about children. SO's are not primary child hunters. A sexual offense can be commited on people of any age. I don't think you are crazy and I really think that regardless there should not be name calling in here. Adults should respect one anothers opinions. Everybody has one. There is a way to speak about things that does not put people down. Things have probably happened to each one that makes him or her feel the way they do. Some just do not need to be so harsh about it. It's not like writing on this page is gonna change a law for anyone. Pro's or Con's can't we act like the adults that we are?
Posted by: | Jun 26, 2006 2:57:35 PM
No I am not a victim but I work to implement ordinances and laws against sex offenders. Which to date is many. I also am an advocate for sexually assaulted children under the age of 17. You say act like adults? Starting your sentence out with oooooohoooooooh was very adult like. I'll keep that in mind.Thankyou.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 3:24:50 PM
Thanks anonymous
Sel - I am not trying to get out of anything. I was elaborating so that you might have a better picture of the situation. Not that it would matter because you are completely closed minded. I never tried to make the girl look bad, I simply stated the facts. She was a wild teenager that was encouraged by her mother. She was allowed to do drugs, drink and have sex while her mother was there. In no way did I say anything to put down the "victim". I feel sorry for this girl that she was raised in that environment, but that does not change the fact that a lot of lives are being ruined by this one situation. Honestly, do you believe that there were 9 men in a small VA town that would sleep with this girl knowing that she was a minor?
I applaud you for being an advocate for assaulted children, but there is a difference between statuatory rape and assault. I know that when I was a teenager a couple of guys could have went to prison because of me. They are not bad guys, they do not deserve to be locked up. A lot of teenage girls like older guys, if they are instigating and minipulating these men the situation is different. Even if someone shows you a fake ID or you meet them at a bar you will still go to jail.
You never commented on the government use age of consent to fit their own agenda. You are a "child" if you have sex under 18, but you are an adult if you kill someone. Explain this?
Posted by: LJ | Jun 26, 2006 4:09:17 PM
Who else Belongs on the Sex Offender List?
Which of them ever in their life:
When they were 18 or older dated a person 15 or younger and had a make out session (fondled) that person? (statutory rape; intercourse not required)
When they were dating drank a lot and while intoxicated had sex with someone who said "no" at any point even if talked into saying "yes" afterwards (date rape)
Picked up a girl in a bar who had ID indicating she was 21 and had sex with her - and it turns out she lied about her age and was under the age of 18 (statutory rape)
Had an intimate relationship with an employee or someone they coached (abuse of position of power)
Urgently needed to urinate and couldn't find a bathroom so they pulled over to use a bush (public urinating)
Thought it would be a funny prank to streak (Indecent exposure)
While taking a walk, glanced at a house and saw something indecent in a window (peeping tom voyeurism)
Posted by: | Jun 26, 2006 4:15:02 PM
For the one that posts without a name-you need something in the way of identifying who we are talking to.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 4:58:05 PM
Not closed minded at all. I just know what's right and wrong. Having sex with a child under 17 is a crime. The end! If you don't like the laws do something about changing them instead of whining about your sex offender husband being mistreated. You get no where in life by whining.Take some action if you think your right.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 5:03:51 PM
My oooohh ooooh must have been mis interpreted oh well it's ok. Boy there are some good points being made here today. I'm sure there will be some interesting responses. What's interesting is the statistics at the top of the page that prove what some of us are saying... But hey what are numbers right? I do not think we can fairly judge based on the few that actually do re- commit crimes.I say we just let the statistics speak for themselves.
Posted by: | Jun 26, 2006 5:07:59 PM
There are several people talking with no names its not only me.
Posted by: AMS | Jun 26, 2006 5:10:41 PM
don't worry I know how to put things into action also and I am. Just so you know. One cannot assume that just because it is not being said that we are not doing anything.
Posted by: AMS | Jun 26, 2006 5:13:05 PM
You get different numbers in every study if you notice. Most studies show the recidivism rate is high for sexual offenders. They rarely offend only once.They all have the same story. They were drunk-didn't know her age-made a mistake. Most are just careful after getting caught the first time. You will hardly ever see one child in a family that is sexually assaulted. After talking with the other children usually they all have suffered sexual abuse.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 5:13:55 PM
We should always assume that the sex offender will reoffend. To not assume only puts children in danger.That's the only way to keep children safe. Never put your guard down when it comes to sexual offenders.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 5:19:11 PM
If you have any of those web sites I'd love to see them. I agree that one should never let their guard down. I never do but I don't guess that is the issue at hand. What happened to LJ did she drop out?
Posted by: AMS | Jun 26, 2006 5:39:48 PM
You also have to remember these studies are only done on the ones that are caught. There is no way of knowing how many actually reoffend. Look them up.Working with children I know the ones I've dealt with most all reoffend another family member if they are not separated from children.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 6:15:30 PM
For you that are against the rules put against sex offenders-just exactly what do you want? I'm curious! And also please be exact about what you want.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 6:57:40 PM
http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=671e0a9ff4c02cb3 ordinance for signs in sex offenders yards.
Posted by: sel | Jun 26, 2006 7:51:51 PM
“The general plan of the ordinance is that it only applies to the worst kind of sex offenders, those who have violated children,” Boyd said. “The ordinance does not apply to convicted minors, nor sex offenders who have assaulted adults.”
This is interesting and just what I was talking about. These people see the difference in the offenders. I completely agree. This is what I have been talking about the whole time. My whole deal has been do not put them all into the same category some of them do not deserve to be labeled as the same. My point exactly.
Posted by: AMS | Jun 26, 2006 10:27:27 PM
i just need to add a couple of comments from one of the people here who is living through what those who are married to or family members of offends can only imagine and not very well at that. i dont think there is a difference between a murderer and a molester ,notice i didnt say child molester,the sentences should be the same . and they should all be put on billboards nationwide ,but there wouldn't be enough billboards would there? can you truthfully say that the innocent child that was molested lives through it? no they dont a person lives through it but the child is gone forever ,its not the same person so someone really did die. yes i'm talking about children now ,but what do you consider a child ? also are you aware that after prolonged sex abuse that many kids become very good at pleasing their abusers,or peoples future husbands?what if the girl involved ,you know the girl who didnt look her age had been abused since she was very young,which seem likely since her mother was involved ,also what the hell was he doing there in the first place ,was he forced to have sex with this girl ,while her mother watched?anyone who would do that with mom watching seems a little you know weird to me.does a normal kid want mom to watch?does a normal adult male want mom to watch? you speak of numbers and stats,has anyone one thought to look at the stats of how many abuse victims commit suicide?or end up on welfare or in state hospitals ,unable to function? where do the stats about sex offenders come from ,stats like the huge number of them that were abused as kids themselves,well lets see they sit down with the offender and ask ,why did you do it ,and they respond that they were abused as kids,almost all of them ,so whats really happening here ,the offenders are using the very thing they did as an excuse ,the abuse excuse ,the biggest statistical joke ever! but they are believed and numbers are generated and used to change things like jessicas law. why ?why are they believed ,they are masters of deception ,hiding who they are is a way of life . i really cant believe that a childs breast size is being used as an excuse in this thread !thats just plain wrong !!hey what are the stats on a 13 year old with big breasts,becoming sex fiends? i agree that the registry is not effecient,because they could never possibly put all the sick people on it that belong there,i have an idea ,lock them up ,now you dont need a registry ,you always know where they are ,you cry about it being unfair to the offender ,how many of them would still be in prison without it ?it is a very ineffecient way to let these animals out because they deserve another chance ,the government cant watch them so they register and its up to the public to watch them ,it works much better if they are kept locked up .i do agree with doing away with the registry just dont let them out and we dont need it. i am posting to this thread because i feel i am obligated to stand up for all the little children who have been wiped out by abuse,murdered just as sure as if they used a gun,and for young girls with big breasts ,thats unbelievable! adam
Posted by: adam | Jun 26, 2006 11:04:45 PM
Legal definition of a child:(any person underthe age of 17).It is something else isn't it Adam? Blame is always put on the victim. If they dress a certain way or if they are well endowed it seems by some standards they were asking for it. I have dealt with children that were sexually abused by their fathers, stepfathers or a family friend --and some of the time their mothers will say"well if she wouldn't walk around dressed like she was we wouldn't be going through this". As far as I'm concerned if a child is walking around butt naked -no one-- I mean no one has the right to compromise that child in any sexual way! It just goes to show you we live in a society where a few animals roam. They always have an excuse for what the did. There are no excuses. We should protect our children in any way possible. If we don't stand up for children-then we don't stand for anything!
Posted by: sel | Jun 27, 2006 8:29:24 AM
AMS, It's not that they see the difference in sex offenders or at least that's not the reason they pass them that way! They only exclude other sex offenders because these cities don't want to end up in court. Council members know that if the ordinance is brought to court by a sex offender of children -claiming he or she is unfairly treated by the ordinance-that it will be thrown out. No offender of children has won a case against these ordinances so far and there have been hundreds that have tried. The only thing the judges have ordered is to go back and fine tune the ordinance.That's why in the city that I reside only sex offenders of children are in the ordinance. The council didn't want to worry about it being challenged in court. Most Judges won't even hear the cases.
Posted by: sel | Jun 27, 2006 8:52:17 AM
First of all....I never said the mother watched. The mother was in the home and encouraged the situation. She told my husband that he should date her daughter, that he would be good for her. Thus, reinforcing his belief that the girl was older. I never said she deserved anything becasue she had large breasts, what I said was based on her physical appearance along with the other circumstances he had every reason to believe that she was older. I am sorry that this girl was raised by the mother that she has and that she was exposed to thing early. I do not excuse the fact that teenage girls are lying about their age and men are going to prison. I do not deny that he committed a crime, but again with no criminal intent.
I do believe that there is a lot of sick people in this world, but throwing people in prison with no rehabilitation is not going to change anything. Anyone who forces anything on anyone no matter what the age needs help and they need to be put away until they can be treated. We as a country cannot afford to lock everyone up forever, so we lock people up for years, offer no treatment and turn them loose. What will that get you?
Posted by: LJ | Jun 27, 2006 9:35:56 AM
