Citizens for Legislative Change, America

Supreme Court Justices Sidestep the Constitution

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:05:00 +0000

Court to hear offender registation case

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether the federal sexual offender registration law can be challenged when applied retroactively.

The 2006 Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, requires every sex offender to register in any state with a registration requirement. All 50 states have such requirements, and the law requires all sex offenders to keep their registrations current, SCOTUSBLOG.com reported.

In 2007, the U.S. attorney general issued a rule that the requirement applied to all sex offenders, even those who committed their offenses before the law was enacted in 2006.

In a Pennsylvania case, Billy Joe Reynolds pleaded guilty to failing to register and was sentenced to 18 months. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled that Reynolds did not have "standing" to challenge the attorney general's regulation because the language of the law applies to all sex offenders.

The nation's appeals courts are split on the issue, a prime consideration when the Supreme Court agrees to review a case. In agreeing to hear the case, probably next term, the justices refused to consider whether the retroactive provision is constitutional, only whether Reynolds and others have "standing" to challenge the regulation.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/01/24/Court-to-hear-offender-registation-case/UPI-74901295892029/#ixzz1C152jyoj

I say,
SORNA and the Proposed Regulations Are Ex Post Facto Laws Prohibited by Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States of America.
The proposed regulations apply SORNA retroactively in violation of Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibiting the passage of ex post facto laws. NACDL has previously raised this concern in comments dated April 30, 2007, in OAG Docket No. 117.

These Tyrrants who are called Supreme Court Justices evade the issue. The issue is outlined above.
They sit there ruling the underclass, YOU the tax payers...
When is America, the Sheeple going to rise up and end this Tyrannical Rule on the people.
These Injustices are Bought and Paid For.
cfcamerica, just google that.. you will find us
.Amanda King

DOWNLOAD CASE

Second Chances for Some?

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:02:00 +0000

FORWARD

12,800 attorneys examined the guidelines set forth in the Adam Walsh Act and SORNA and all have rejected the Federal Acts as having a great many flaws. They found the imposition of these regulations upon not only the states but also the citizens to be ineffective at protecting society as well as unconstitutional and harmful to men, women, children and families as a whole.

If you will take the time to read the full article, and realize this article has the backing of THOUSANDS of professional who work in the criminal justice system you will see, these professionals know full well SORNA and the Adam Walsh Act were put together by people who had no clue the impact or legality of what they had created.

If you are a politician or lawmaker and want to be a leader, someone who actually cares about America and her people, I would suggest you promote the work being done here at Citizens for Change, America. A full blown investigation into just how and why the Adam Walsh Act ever was made into law. Ask yourself after you look into this matter, To what level of corruption was this law implemented? Who stands to profit from the Adam Walsh Acta and SORNA. Who is already profiting? If you follow the money.. I am quite sure you will come up with some very interesting things.

Thank you,

Amanda King
Citizens for Change, America

I. Introduction

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (“NACDL”) is a nationwide, non-profit, voluntary association of criminal defense lawyers founded in 1958 to improve the quality of representation of the accused and to advocate for the preservation of constitutional rights in criminal cases.

NACDL has a membership of more than 12,800 attorneys and 92 state, local and international affiliate organizations with another 35,000 members including private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, active U.S. military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness within America’s criminal justice system.

On February 24, 2007, NACDL issued a comprehensive statement on sex offender legislative policy.

NACDL opposes sex offender registration and community notification laws but also believes that if such laws are passed they should classify offenders based upon true risk, with full due process of law.

Community notification provisions should be reserved for offenders who are at a high risk to re-offend. Unfortunately, with the passage of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Adam Walsh Act), Congress went in a different direction.

The Adam Walsh Act includes the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

SORNA sets forth a federal supervisory program that, if implemented by the states, is likely to significantly de-stabilize offenders, cause substantial confusion over registration and notification requirements and eventually make our communities less safe. Equally, the recent implementation of SORNA retroactively starting January 28, 2011 is a direct violation of the constitutional ban on retroactive law.

Unfortunately, in enacting SORNA Congress failed to recognize several important facts about sex offenders. Sex offenders, as a class, exhibit low recidivism rates and are less likely to re-offend than other convicted criminals1. Additionally, research suggests that community notification laws do little to reduce recidivism2. At least one study found that “the passage of sex offender registration and notification laws have had no systematic influence on the number of rapes committed” in the jurisdictions which were studied3. At the same time sound research demonstrates that sex offenders are not a homogeneous group4 and come from a wide range of offenders including the rare but highly dangerous treatment-resistant offender as well as the more common offender who, once convicted, is unlikely to commit additional offenses. Requiring the same registration and notification provisions for all sex offenders diminishes the ability of the community to ascertain the truly dangerous sex offender. It also undermines the ability of the non-dangerous sex offender to maintain employment, family ties, and treatment programs. Many sex offenders report negative consequences, including physical assaults, resulting from registration and notification programs5. NACDL believes that a determination of offender risk must be based upon the individual characteristics of the offender and not solely on the offense for which the offender was convicted. In fact, many states now have registration and notification programs that are tiered upon the basis of individual risk assessment studies performed by competent mental health professionals. In this regard, SORNA is a step in the wrong direction. SORNA and the regulations proposed in this docket will cause substantial confusion in the states and impose exorbitant costs for states to convert to a less safe system of registration and community notification.

See, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Recidivism of Sexual Offenders Released From Prison in 1994, November, 2003, State of Washington Sentencing Guideline Commission, Special Sex Offender Sentencing Alternative Report (2004), State of Ohio, Ten Year Recidivism Follow Up of 1989 Sex Offender Releases (2001). See also, Hanson R.K. and Morton Bourgon, R.K., Predictors of Sexual Recidivism: An Updated Meta-Analysis, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada (2004); Harris and Hanson, Sex Offender Recidivism: A Simple Question (2004); Hanson, R.K. and Bussiere, M., Predicting Relapse: A Meta-Analysis of Sex Offender Recidivism Studies, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (1998).
See, Welchans, S., Megan's Law: Evaluations of Sexual Offender Registries, 16 Criminal Justice Policy Review, 123-140 (2005)
See, Jeffrey T. Walker, et al., The Influence of Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws in the United States, available at:PUT LINK HERE
See, Lisa L. Sample and Timothy M. Bray, Are Sex Offenders Different? An Examination of Re-Arrest Patterns, 17 Crim. Justice Policy Rev. 83 (2006).
See, Jill S. Levenson and L. Cotter, The Impact of Megan’s Law on Sex Offender Reintegration, 21 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 49 (2005); Richard Tewksbury, Collateral Consequences of Sex Offender Registration, 21 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 67 (2005).

Nonetheless, NACDL recognizes that the Adam Walsh Act and SORNA have become law. In these comments NACDL will highlight portions of the proposed regulations that ignore certain important constitutional rights or are otherwise inappropriate for an effective and fair registration and notification system.

II. Fifth Amendment Rights

The proposed regulations fail to allow the exercise of important Fifth Amendment privileges. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from compelled self incrimination. The proposed regulations do not recognize or provide a means for an individual to exercise Fifth Amendment rights. The proposed regulations do not require the registration authority to advise a registrant of the Fifth Amendment right not to answer any question that may tend to cause self-incrimination. Indeed, several areas of the proposed regulations suggest that uncovering prior criminal activity of the registrant is a goal of the regulations. Additionally, certain types of registration information required under the Attorney General’s “expansion authority,” will compel information from the registrant that will cause self-incrimination. For instance, the proposed regulations require registrants to provide their social security numbers as well as all “purported” social security numbers. The proposed regulation specifically recognizes that such social security numbers may be false. Admitting to the use of a false social security number can expose an individual to prosecution for a number of crimes including identity theft. Similarly, the Attorney General exercises his “expansion authority” to require a homeless registrant to provide information identifying where he “habitually lives.” In many jurisdictions providing such information will subject the homeless registrant to criminal prosecution for offenses such as vagrancy, loitering, public urination, indecent exposure and the like.

The regulations should require that offenders who are required to register be advised that they are not required to disclose information that may tend to incriminate themselves. Additionally the regulations should clearly state that the exercise of the Fifth Amendment privilege cannot be the basis of a criminal prosecution. Alternatively the regulations should require that the registrant be immunized from prosecution based upon information provided pursuant to the proposed regulations.

III. Principles of Federalism

The regulations, as written, infringe upon important state rights and disregard the notion that our legal system is based upon principles of federalism, which value state sovereignty especially in the area of criminal justice. The regulations disregard state sovereignty in areas pertaining to pardons, annulments, and expungement of convictions; juvenile delinquency; and state legislative discretion as to appropriate sentencing.

Many states, either constitutionally or via legislative enactment, have procedures that permit the annulment or expungement of criminal convictions for reasons other than actual innocence. Likewise, many state governors and pardon boards have the authority to pardon criminal convictions for reasons other than innocence. In most cases such annulments or pardons are based upon recognition that the former offender has been rehabilitated. State constitutions and annulment statutes place a high value on rehabilitation and the need to remove the stigma of a criminal conviction in certain rare but important cases. Section IV, A, of the proposed regulations specifically requires that a state continue to register a former offender regardless of the annulment and pardon laws of the jurisdiction except in cases where the former offender is pardoned on the ground of innocence. SORNA does not require that former offenders who are pardoned or whose convictions are annulled or expunged be included with those who must register. The proposed regulations violate fundamental notions of federalism and are well beyond the authority granted to the Attorney General to promulgate such regulations.

Similarly, the proposed regulations violate fundamental notions of federalism in the juvenile delinquency area. Juvenile delinquency is an area of the criminal justice system that, for the most part, is left to the exercise of state authority. Many states recognize the fact that juveniles are different than adults and reflect such differences in their juvenile justice systems. In many states, delinquency is not considered to be a criminal act and great emphasis is placed on rehabilitative efforts and confidentiality. In most states a juvenile delinquency finding is not considered to be a criminal conviction. Applying registration and community notification requirements to delinquent children is likely to substantially interfere with state systems designed for the rehabilitation of children. In addition registration and community notification put those children who are required to register at risk for sexual exploitation by others as their identifying information will be freely available in the public domain. In addition to the risk of exploitation, the registration and community notification provisions will unnecessarily stigmatize children and impose impossible challenges for such children in school and in the community. In creating juvenile justice systems most states have recognized the importance of providing a rehabilitative process that is best approached in confidence. The proposed regulations disregard this important policy concern which has already been addressed in virtually every state. The proposed regulations violate fundamental notions of federalism and will likely cause unnecessary harm to a significant number of children6. The proposed regulations should not include registration of children. At the very least the proposed regulations should be amended to eliminate the community notification and web site requirements for delinquent children.

Another area which is constitutionally left to the sound discretion of the states is sentencing for criminal conduct. The proposed regulations, as required by the statute, lay out a specific requirement that the maximum sentencing penalty for a failure to comply with SORNA be at least greater than one year. This provision interferes with the rights of individual states to legislate appropriate criminal punishment. It is also unwise in that the complexities of the proposed regulations may force many former offenders into a technical default which is neither knowing nor intentional but nonetheless exposes them to felony prosecution.

IV. The Proposed Regulations Exceed the Statutory Authority Granted By SORNA And Will Not Foster the Real Purpose of the Legislation

The Attorney General, relying on SORNA § 114 (a) (7), expands the types of registration information that must be provided beyond that required in the statute. The “expansion authority” exercised by the Attorney General is well beyond the authority permitted by the statute, will not foster the goals of the legislation, and will subject former offenders to exploitation, vigilantism, shame and ridicule. The Attorney General indicates that he has exercised his “expansion authority” to require additional information to be provided by persons required to register as sex offenders. However, the exercise of this authority is unnecessary to the purpose of the Adam Walsh Act and is unwise policy. The stated purpose of the Adam Walsh Act is to protect the public by creating a comprehensive system for the registration of sex offenders. The act was not passed to impose a non-judicial probation or supervisory status over persons who have been convicted of sex offenses. The “expansion authority” exercised by the Attorney General to require far more information than the statute requires does not enhance its purpose, which is simply to create a registry. The proposed regulations invoke the “expansion authority” to require the following information at the time of registration: remote identifiers (screen names and e-mail addresses); telephone numbers; “habitual living” places of offenders lacking fixed abodes; temporary lodging information; other employment information such as travel routes; professional licenses; additional vehicle, watercraft and aircraft information; and, date of birth.

6 The efficacy of juvenile registration and community notification is further diminished when one considers the fact that the recidivism rate of juvenile sex offenders is very low. See, National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth, Center for Sex Offender Management and U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Protection, (2001). Juveniles Who Have Sexually Offended: A Review of the Professional Literature Report. http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org.

Requiring such information will expose former offenders to exploitation, vigilantism and public shame and ridicule without any benefit to the establishment of a comprehensive system of registration. Requiring the provision of telephone numbers and dates of birth will subject former offenders to the very real possibility of identity theft. Providing information about where a homeless former sex offender may “habitually live” (e.g., a certain park bench or under a certain overpass) would expose that vulnerable individual to the likelihood of assault and battery by vigilantes in the community. Similarly, former offenders may hold professional licenses that have nothing to do with children or sex (e.g., electrician or plumber’s license) and the only purpose of publishing such information is to shame and ridicule the former offender in his community. Requiring such information endangers the public rather than making it safer. Social science research demonstrates that sex offenders are more likely to re-offend when they are put into de-stabilizing situations7. The additional information required under the Attorney General’s “expansion authority” serves to de-stabilize former offenders and may render them unemployed and unemployable, subject to vigilantism and other types of exploitation. The “expansion authority” should not be used to require this information. At the very least the regulations should mandate that none of the information obtained via the “expansion authority” shall be made available to the public in any format.

V. The Proposed Regulations Fail to Require Fundamental Due Process

The proposed SORNA regulations fail to require states to provide any due process protections to registrants so that they can contest their designation as a Tier I, Tier II, or Tier III offender. SORNA § 118(e) requires the states to include on their web sites, “instructions on how to seek correction of information that an individual contends is erroneous.” However, the proposed regulations do not mandate that a state have such a method. The proposal’s only example of compliance with the act is a suggestion that a state web site might refer someone to the state agency responsible for correcting erroneous information. That suggestion is insufficient and fails to require states to protect the due process rights of registrants.

7 See, Kruttschnitt, C., et al., Predictors of Desistance among Sex Offenders: The Interaction of Formal and Informal Social Controls, 17 Justice Quarterly 61 (2000); See also, Colorado Department of Public Safety, Report on Safety Issues Raised by Living Arrangements for and Location of Sex Offenders in the Community, 2004, http://dcj.state.co.us/odvsom ; Levenson, J. And Cotter, L., The Impact of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions: 1000 Feet from Danger or One Step from the Absurd?, 49 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 168 (2005).

The system of registration and community notification contained in SORNA and in the proposed regulations is, in reality, a system of supervision of former offenders. It amounts to another method of probation, supervised release or parole. Therefore the regulations should require that each state must have a system for the proposed registrant to contest his or her designation as a sex offender accompanied by the full panoply of due process protections including, but not limited to, the right to be represented by counsel. The effects of registration and community notification on the registrant are severe and life altering. The registrant must have due process protections and the Attorney General ought to recognize and require such protections of all state programs.

VI. SORNA and the Proposed Regulations Are Ex Post Facto Laws Prohibited by Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States of America.

The proposed regulations apply SORNA retroactively in violation of Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibiting the passage of ex post facto laws. NACDL has previously raised this concern in comments dated April 30, 2007, in OAG Docket No. 117. Those comments are incorporated by reference herein.

VII. Conclusion

In enacting the Adam Walsh Act and SORNA Congress succumbed to myths about sex offenders which are not supported by the existing scientific and social science research. The proposed regulations in this docket fail to protect important constitutional rights of sex offender registrants and go beyond the statutory authority granted to the Attorney General to promulgate regulations that implement a registration system. The system created by the confluence of SORNA and these regulations is a non-judicial system of supervised released coupled with the ever present specter of additional prison time for even the most minor of violations.

1150 18th St. NW, Suite 950 Washington, DC 20036

7 (202) 872-8600 - Fax (202) 872-8690

www.nacdl.org - assist@nacdl.org

Sign the Petition to Abolish the Public Registry

SHORT LINK TO THE PETITION
http://bit.ly/f7Z4MJ

Abolish the public humiliation of families in America. Sign the petition.

American Media Creating Rapists and Murderers

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:07:00 +0000

Media creators for years have been creating, mass marketing and promoting movies which depict graphics sceens of Rape Murder and Dismemberment.
Americans were led into their hunger for these mind polluting perversions gradually as society gleefully accepted anything which Hollywood produced.
What would have been rejected and created an outcry for decency just a few decades ago, is now widely accepted and proclaimed to be Entertaining.
Just a few of the top sellers at the Box Office listed below...
Natural Born Killers, SAW, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, HIGH TENSION, HOSTEL, TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, and the list could go on for ever...

These movies MADE MILLIONS for Hollywood. These movies depict violence and sex, and sexual violence...
My question. When will Americans and our Federal Communications Commission say ENOUTH and realize making laws to punish those who rape and murder is like telling a cancer patient to take two asprins and call me in the morning.

We have to get at the root of the problem. To stop any further creations of serial rapists and murderers, we need to STOP THE SEX AND VIOILENCE IN THE MEDIA... Get back to Wholesome Family Values.
Your thoughts are welcomed.

Category: Entertainment

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After Somer Renee Thompson, Letting Our Kids Walk To School

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:01:00 +0000

The word insane comes to mind when thinking of the situation in Florida with little Somer Renee Thompson, the other similar cases around the nation and the thousands of very similar cases which will come.

Anyone who has lived in these United States for the last 40 years has seen CHANGE sweep over this nation in such a huge way that our country is not even recognizable from what it once was.

There is a saying which goes something like this, "With freedom comes much resonsibility". Americans have fallend down on the JOB in the responsibility area of maintaining sanity in our country.

To reflect upon our current situation. Our government is full of corrupt people. Our Judicial system is full of corrupt people. Our city officials in countless cities across the nation are being caught in corruption. There is sexual scandal in the churches, in the political offices, the courts, the police offices, in social services offices and in day care centers.

Our media pushes every kind of sexual immorality into the minds of not only our adults but also our children. One could even see advertisements on television using a sexually provocative man or woman to sell broccoli.

Sex and violence sells and that is what the media supplies. Supply and demand has always been the way of business in these united states. Due to the steady supply of sexually explicit material being broadcast and distributed on a daily basis for decades, we now are reaping what we have sown.

That media containing sex and violence coupled with sex offender laws which even Congressmen have admitted,
"Once you are on the registry, your life is basically over", creates a scenario where people will kill their victims just to ensure they do not have a witness which can get them sentenced to a lifetime of registration on the sex offender registry.

Upon hearing the news of the little girl in Florida, killed and thrown into a trash bin. I can only think of one thing. Why on earth would anyone let a 7 year old girl walk 1 mile to or from school?

As a parent of two teenagers and a 2 year old, I would never allow my children to walk a mile to or from school. Not in these times we live in.

Just 30 years ago, you could go out into any neighborhood and see children everywhere, riding bikes, skateboarding, playin and having fun. Typically, and without fear, children would leave the home in the morning, say bye to mother and tell her they were riding their bikes to town....

Not today. You can walk or drive around any neighborhood today and you will not see very many children running around riding bicycles, skating or playing. They are all inside, watching television, playing xbox 360s, playstations or Wiis.

Their have been studies conducted on the effects of watching sex and violence on television day after day and the results are shocking and alarming to say the least. But you do not have to look to studies to see the resluts.
The largest industry in America is now the combined legislature, courts, police, sheriff and prison systems and all that those businesses support. Tied to these are countless businesses. Psychiatrists, psychologists who the court orders felons to pay to go see. Grocers and suppliers, contractors, lawyers and the list is too great for this article.

It would seem that every thing it takes to completely and utterly destroy this nation from the roots, the family, up is being done on purpose.

Heaven forbid I should mention Jesus Christ and the fact that it is almost a swear word now to say, "God" in any government office or public school... that one sentence will probably ban this article from even being published.

No, the problem facing little girls like Somer is not all those sex offenders living in her vacinity. The problem is that this nation has sat by and watched and even participated in the destruction of any semblence of morality, decency, and restraint involving sex and violence for decades.

Saying we need to get TOUGH ON SEX OFFENDERS to cure the sickness which America suffers from is like telling a cancer patient to take this asprin and a glass of water each day and all will be well.

To get to the heart of the matter, this nation needs to wake up and realize our minds have been infected with immorality.

Insane is it to think you can pump sex and violence into the minds of children and adults alike for decades. Twenty for hours a day, 7 days a week, day after day, year after year and then expect them to NOT act out on it.

You break down the family unit from a father, mother and children to 1 parent always working, the child home watching tv or being entertained by the pervert next door and what do you get.. just what we have now. Murder, Rape and sex crimes on the rise.

But you know what. That will not happen. Everyone is so use to getting their daily fix of sex and violence from the media. Why do you think anyone is even reading about little Somer? It involves sex and violence. There you have it.

I feel great compassion for the family, friends and neighbors of this little girl.. but I tell you as sure as I am sitting here writing this... this country has not even come close to seeing what is to come. This practice will become more wide spread as our media takes us further into sexual depravity.

By Staff Writer Dave Smith

Z The Legal Blog and Monthly Newsletter: Sex Offender Hysteria

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:42:00 +0000

Z The Legal Blog and Monthly Newsletter: Sex Offender Hysteria

Punishing Americans for Old Crimes - Banishment

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:16:00 +0000

When a person commits a crime, and is sentenced or takes an offered plea agreement, that person enters into an agreement with the state which he or she is being sentenced for that crime.

The united states constitution and the constitution of every state in the union strictly forbids anyone from creating a new law that again punishes, or adds more punishment on that person for that same crime.
That is called Ex Post Facto law, or Retroactive application of law.
The United States Constitution says this:
Article I, Section 9, that "no state shall pass any bill of attainder or ex post facto law."
In the Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court, Harvard's Professor Laurence H. Tribe has defined a bill of attainder as a legislative act "that inflicts punishment without a trial."

The late Edgar Bodenheimer, professor emeritus at the University of California, identified an ex post facto law as a statute "that prescribes a greater punishment for a crime already committed."
When an ex-offender is forced to move from his/her home, thus having to sell it, cannot find another home within the law due to the residency “buffer” zones, get fired from their jobs due to being on the registry, cannot find a new job due to being on the registry, their husband/wife lose their jobs due to a significant other being on the registry, their children lose their friends and are harassed and bullied in school due to a family member being on the registry, thus destroying the children’s lives, ex-offenders are forced into homelessness and to live under bridges, harassed by police, neighbors and probation/parole officers, have to wear “I’m a sex offender T-shirt” or have a neon green license plate on ALL their cars, have “sex offender” on their drivers license and forced to renew their licenses every year, forced from shelters during tornadoes or hurricanes, cannot give blood at some places due to being discriminated against for being on the sex offender registry, denied housing due to being on the registry, signs placed in their yards inviting harassment and ridicule from the neighbors, forced to move when the neighbors start picketing outside the ex-offenders home, the list is endless.

I THINK THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT, BEYOND THE EXTREME!

If someone has served their time for a crime many years ago, and now the states come along with new laws… that punish that same person again for that one crime committed and served many years ago… that action is totally unconstitutional

What parent would punish their child again years later for someting they did many years ago?

It does not take a rocket scientist to understand this principle, so why do our legislators persist in holding to these unconstitutional laws? VOTES and Ignorance… that is why.

It is clear they care absolutely NOTHING for the children, men and women.. whole families who are devestated by these draconian laws.

The girl's diary later showed she had been sneaking out of her parents' home in the middle of the night to have sex with a group of boys and men.

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:54:00 +0000

This story is a shame. A Tragedy of epic proportions. Americans should not stand for this, and it is happening everywhere in this country.

Oakland youth in sex diary case found dead, committed suicide after finding out he would be placed on the sex offender registry for life.BY MARSHA LOWFREE PRESS STAFF WRITERJustin Fawcett, whose name was among 22 penned in a 14-year-old girl's sex diary, was found dead in his bedroom Friday.

The Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office has yet to determine the cause of death, but David and Gayle Fawcett said their son died of a drug overdose.

Fawcett, 20, learned recently that his name would appear on the state's sex-offender list. His parents said they believe learning that he would live as a marked man came as a shock, and he faltered.In May 2002, at age 18, Fawcett was one of four young men charged with statutory rape for having sex with a 14-year-old Andover High School student.The girl's diary later revealed she had been sneaking out of her parents' Bloomfield Township home in the middle of the night to have oral and anal sex with 22 boys and men. In a May 2002 interview with the Free Press, the girl conceded that she was a predator and a victim: "I declare I am both. Yes, I'm a victim. I was a victim who was deceived by my own emotions and ignorance, of misplaced confidence, a victim of my own fantasies . . . Yes, predator for I chase people who themselves were victims of misplaced confidence."In September 2002, Fawcett pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of seduction, allowing him to avoid jail time and registry on the sex-offender list.But a complicated series of legal events would later change that plea agreement, to the surprise of Fawcett and his parents.Fawcett was sentenced under the state's Holmes Youthful Trainee Act.

Under the act, Fawcett's record would have been wiped clean as long as he met the requirements of his probation. In this case, Fawcett was instructed to stay out of trouble, not use drugs or alcohol and to pay his court fees.Instead, Fawcett violated probation in December 2002 when West Bloomfield police found him illegally possessing prescription drugs.

He also failed to pay court fees. And in January 2003, he was arrested for stealing from a vehicle. He served 10 months in the Oakland County Jail.Pleading to seduction as Fawcett did in 2002 meant his name would not appear on the sex-offender list. But changes last year require those who pleaded guilty to seduction to appear on the list, said the county's Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley.Fawcett was released from jail on Dec. 30.He enrolled at Oakland Community College with the hope of earning a business degree.

He was earning good grades and making plans to take a job this spring, his father said. His parents said he was working toward cleaning up his life.In late February, Fawcett proudly took his well-received school reports to his probation officer as proof that he was a man getting his life in order, David Fawcett said. He was told then that he would be placed on the sex-offender list.His parents called it a devastating blow to their son.The state enacted New Laws and applied them Retroactively, which is against the United States Constitution. His parents said it was wrong to for the state to break an agreement, their plea agreement, and do this to their son.They said they believe the plea agreement he made two years ago should stand.The Fawcetts said juveniles have consensual sex all the time. And though they do not approve, they said they believe it is a mistake for the law to mark their son for life and label him a danger."We thought he was on the road back," David Fawcett said. "He would sometimes say he'd kill himself, and that worried us. But we watched him and we didn't think he was suicidal."Fawcett's parents described him as a strong-willed and artistic boy who played the piano and enjoyed baseball and soccer.

The Fawcetts said they will work to give meaning to their son's life. They plan to campaign against drug use and to make the sex-offender list more meaningful."The sex-offender list was created so that people could know if there is a predator in their neighborhood," David Fawcett said. "Justin was not a predator, he was not a threat to anyone, and he should not have been on that list."Citizens for Legislative Change, America's Thoughts:This boy should have never been treated like this by the United States Government.

This is happening all across this country. Children and men being arrested and charged with sex crimes, then branded for LIFETIME REGISTRATION AS A SEX OFFENDER.Being branded a sex offender ruins your life. You cannot join the military, go to college, school, parks, or get a job. You can just about live NO WHERE. All of this is in place to send a person who gets branded a sex offender back to prison. But politicians, the ones making these laws, do not get prosecuted. They get off free.This is a tragedy that is being played out all across this land. Original Story

Man falsely accused of sex with young girl, held 7 months in jail after teen admits to lying.

noreply@blogger.com (CFCAMERICA) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:56:00 +0000

Grant County settled a lawsuit with a Quincy man for $250,000, after he was kept in jail for seven months after they knew he was innocent of touching the girls sexually.

Felipe Vargas sued the county and his first public defender, Tom Earl, for violating his civil rights in U.S. District Court in Spokane, according to court records. He claims the county’s policies denied him the right to effective counsel.

The county’s insurance company negotiated a settlement to end the federal lawsuit at the end of December.

Vargas claimed his rights were violated when he was arrested and held in the Grant County Jail for seven months, after a victim recanted the accusation of being molested.

His girlfriend’s children reported he touched them in a “sexually motivated way” on Nov. 5, 2003, while Vargas was living in Quincy, according to a criminal complaint.

The next day Vargas was charged in Grant County Superior Court with child molestation in first degree, child molestation in the second degree and indecent liberties.

When Vargas came back from having dinner with his girlfriend, they found the girls weren’t at home, according to Vargas’ attorney. They found a handwritten note stating the children were at the Quincy police station. When they arrived at the station, Vargas was arrested.

“The accusations against Felipe Vargas were completely false,” the complaint states. “At the time they were made, (Vargas) lived with Delfina Velasquez and her two daughters ... Her daughters resented his presence, so a friend of (one of the girls) suggested a solution: They should simply accuse (Vargas) of child molestation.”

Soon after making the accusation, one of the girls admitted she and her sister made up the story, according to the complaint. She told her mother, family friends, the prosecuting attorney’s victim-witness coordinator and the Quincy police.

After she recanted her story, it took seven months before Vargas was released from jail, according to the complaint.

Three attorneys represented him during the time he was in jail, including Thomas Earl, who was disbarred during the time he was Vargas’ attorney.

Earl was assigned to the case, but he never met with Vargas outside of the court room, according to court records.

During the criminal case proceedings, Earl was being investigated by the Washington State Bar Association. He was accused of failing to provide adequate representation as a public defender.

He reported handling 550 criminal cases a year, which meant he could only spend about 30 minutes on each case, according to Vargas’ attorney, George Ahrend.

The county was aware of the bar association’s investigation, but didn’t do anything to address the situation, according to the complaint.

Once Garth Dano, Vargas’s last criminal defense attorney, was able to investigate the situation, he discovered the victim withdrew the accusations, according to the complaint. The charges were dismissed on Aug. 31, 2004.

During the time he was in jail, Vargas lost his job at the J. R. Simplot food-processing facility in Quincy, according to the complaint.

While the county settled with Vargas, his civil case against Earl remains scheduled in U.S. District Court in Spokane for Jan. 26. Dano said similar cases have resulted in judgments of about $1 million per year the victim spent in prison.

Vargas’ attorneys are seeking punitive damages to deter people from doing the same thing. Ahrend said the firm hired an expert who determined defendants in Grant County were twice as likely to plead guilty when Tom Earl was a public defender.

“Over the time he was the public defender, he collected about $1.5 million,” Ahrend said. “Our position is that he didn’t earn that fee.”