SexGreedPolitics

A Super Hero To The Rescue?

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:22:00 +0000

A look across the states shows many contradictions in how sex offenders are being dealt with. Some areas are concentrating on residency restrictions long after other areas have discovered they prevent nothing. One has to wonder why such people don’t just look around at all of the failures.
In TX there is a new law on the table that will require parents to attending counseling with their teens involved in sexting. This is interesting. There are cell phones available without cameras that would prevent teens from sending or receiving any sort of photographs. Getting back to basics would solve the problem.
TX is also considering the deregistration of some youthful offenders. It might have happened sooner but there was always the 10% penalty in Byrne Grant Funding that held the hostage. Now TX is saying NO to the Adam Walsh Act (AWA) and the 10% can only be taken once. For the first time since registration began states that refuse compliance with AWA have the freedom to handle registration however they please.
The feds will not give up on AWA. Force will cause the defiant states to dig in deeper. Money to sweeten the pot might do it but states have learned the hard way that there are strings attached. Many in society are screaming about the Feds overstepping and change is being demanded.
There is one thing that could change the picture and work to the benefit of the feds. What they really need to whip everyone back in line is a grisly murder by a registered sex offender. Unfortunately it will happen. Some poor child will be victimized, brutalized and murdered. The offender will escape and Americans across the country will be glued to television sets as we watch a manhunt take place. John Walsh will be everywhere to spread his message of “these monsters” although it will be an act by a single individual.
Some horrible crimes have been committed against children and it is such a boost to an already thriving business of exploiting children for fame and fortune. John Walsh would be out of a job is these things stopped happening. One of the most difficult things to accept is that we have a whole slew of people that are working hard to make sure it continues.
We all know the aftermath of the Jessica Lunsford case. Suppose a similar story could be written with an action hero. He is a step ahead of the law and when authorities find the John Couey character he is dead. We don’t know exactly how but our action figure announces to the world that this was one man that caused their panic and heartbreak and he no longer exists. All sorts of stories with messages of prevention and words to heal victims could be a part of these stories. Can we make comic books as a beginning to change our image? They could reach television. The super heroes from comic books are becoming very popular again and it would be a good tool for cutting off the politicking that accompanies these issues. Building self-esteem in children would be a great goal.

Marlboro Gold, Marlboro Red or Marlboro Green?

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 05:20:00 +0000

Marlboro Gold? Marlboro Red? Marlboro Green?
Soon California voters will decide on the legalization of marijuana and it looks as though it might pass. The Cato Institute says it is a winner and many residents agree. The many teachers with pink slips in their hands would really like to keep their jobs. Many others are in the same boat. This seems to be the state’s only chance of returning as a leader. And they will be leaders. Other states will be playing catch-up.
This change would not do away with the drug cartel but the damage will be felt. Many smugglers on both sides of the border would have to find a new line of work. Maybe we could stop giving Black Hawk helicopters to Mexico and the number of enforcement officials fighting this war we can’t win would drop of dramatically.
Our prison population would drop dramatically as we deport the illegals and release the citizens that are serving time on drug charges. Parole, probation and drug courts could see daylight again. Would we all become addicts? Sales would probably spike as the check out something new and far from ordinary. Addicts will be those that become addicted regardless of law. Taking the taboo label away and allowing adults to make personal decisions is the crux of the fight. Marijuana is a vehicle for pushing the agenda and a huge step in reclaiming personal rights. This would be a very meaningful beginning in taking back our country that is over-powered, over criminalized, over-penalized and over-politicized. Change is coming and it is about time that ordinary people stand up to government suppression and say “You work for me”!
Failure to pass this bill will be an indication that people like things the way they are. Many of us that see the benefits have never smoked pot nor do we intend to do so unless it is proven to have medical benefits that personally affect us. So this is not about a lot a potheads and hippies that desire to get stoned. Freedom of choice and the freedom to make the right choices are the issues we are facing. Being able to keep jobs, homes, pensions and savings are on the line. Brutal violence and mass murders are a constant exercise just across the border. This is a war we can win and should have done so years ago. Just vote for the passage of the bill and results will be instantaneous.

Halloween and Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 21:15:00 +0000

Halloween is quickly approaching and being scared gets the adrenalin flowing. Big money is spent on costumes, haunted houses, horror movies and practical jokes. Local authorities are out in force to make a political statement and garner votes. Our children are used as an excuse to say “you need me”.

Actually their offer only applies to those that have already been caught. They have no idea which children and parents belong together so their message of reassurance is dangerous. There is no evidence that there is a spike in sexual needs or that people tend to go rogue on this one day of the year. Any stranger that gets near my child will be eyeball to eyeball with me. That includes strangers with badges.

Over the years we have learned that a parent is the key when it comes to stranger danger and that applies every day of the year. We all know the horrible story of Megan Kanka and how this 7 year-old roamed the neighborhood and dropped in to visit neighbors. There should have been household rule that this behavior is appropriate only when an adult family member is available to roam with her. Megan was such an easy target and she could have been prevented from being a target at all.

Adam Walsh was left alone in the toy department. Reve Walsh claims she was in the lamp department for 7 minutes. It would have been wise for her to have spent 7 minutes with Adam in the toy department and then taken him with her to spend 7 minutes in the lamp department. Seven short minutes of leaving a 6 year old unprotected made Adam a target and cost him his life.

We are aware that bad things can and do happen. These two high-profile cases show gaps in diligence and common sense. We cannot police the entire world and few children encounter stranger-danger. Most of us would never let our young ones roam at will or leave them alone in public areas. Most of us have a fear of losing our children in crowded areas so we keep a closer watch in those situations.

Parental instinct guides us to protect our young. Ignoring those instincts can be deadly and everybody in the world can be blamed for a lapse in judgment. The truth is that these are examples of such lapses and these losses could have been prevented.
This year alone 48 children have died from being left in hot automobiles. In spite of all of the warnings this is an all time high. The time of rushing too many directions and being distracted is costing the lives of our children.

Halloween is approaching and it is should be a time of light-hearted fun with parents seeing that their small children have a safe and enjoyable few hours of creating memories. Authorities can do nothing but rain on our parade by turning this into a day of gloom and doom. No, we don’t need political interference. Votes are earned on performance throughout the term so there is plenty of dazzle time. One day a year to come together under the pretense of caring for our children is a ploy that voters are seeing through. Votes are not likely to be won on Halloween procedure but they sure can be lost.

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

5000 Pentagon Officials Involved in Child Porn

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:52:00 +0000

http://news.suite101.com/article.cfm/pentagon-officials-used-government-computer\
s-to-access-child-porn-a265806
Pentagon Officials Used Government Computers to Access Child Porn
Jul 25, 2010 Karen Stephenson

Pentagon Child Porn Investigation - Wikimedia Commons
On July 23, 2010, the Boston Globe reported a disturbing story about U.S.
officials in the Pentagon not only viewing, but purchasing child pornography.

Federal investigators have identified dozens of Pentagon officials and
contractors with high level security clearances who have allegedly used
government computers to purchase and download child pornography. Some of the
Pentagon workers have been charged, some have been sentenced and others have had
charges dropped against them.
Pentagon Child Pornography Investigations
Child porn offenders are individuals who were working for sensitive
Pentagon-related agencies. The Boston Globe states that employees of the
National Security Agency (NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office, and the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other organizations with the
Defense Department are involved. These agencies deal with some of the most
sensitive work in defense and intelligence.
The Boston Globe writes that these individuals who have access to government
secrets have put national security agencies at high risk of bribery, threats,
and possible blackmail. One report by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service
from late 2009 says that these individuals had access to military installations.
A government official provided the Boston Globe with a copy of the child porn
investigative documents after they were approved for public release.
Project Flicker
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation called Project Flicker
triggered the Defense Department investigation that dates back to 2002. Among
the 5,000 people who had ordered and paid for child porn from websites located
overseas were some Department of Defense employees. They included military
personnel, intelligence officials and defense contractors. These cases were
referred to the Department of Defense for additional investigation.
This news has only surfaced now because the investigation has been kept secret.
Some of the workers were prosecuted and some have been fired. Out of thirty
known cases of child porn use, only one individual has been convicted and
sentenced to five years in prison plus life on probation. A contractor with
access to sensitive information is believed to be hiding in Libya. Many cases
were dropped because evidence was not conclusive enough to convict the
perpetrators.
Read on
• Female Porn Addiction
• Sexual Predators: Internet Danger to Children
• Criminals and Terrorists Tracked by FBI Systems
According to the investigative service, some cases still remain open.
CBS News Reports of Child Porn
On The Early Show on Saturday Morning, longtime online child crimes prosecutor
and security expert Hemanshu Nigam said, "What's amazing about this is that
there were 5,000 individuals being investigated," he continues, "It puts our
country's security at risk and at risk for the people watching at home. I say
that because now you're (the government employee or contractor) vulnerable to
bribery. You may have downloaded a virus that puts a back door into a government
system that can be used in a cyber-terrorist attack or by an enemy foreign
state."
Nigam called these individuals idiots for doing this on government time. He said
on CBS News that the government needs to be looking at proper monitoring,
filtering and blocking systems on government computers. Nigam also stated that
this is one of the worst cases egregious abuses of office equipment he has ever
known.
Copyright Karen Stephenson. Contact the author to obtain permission for
republication.

Long but worth the read

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:44:00 +0000

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/issue/story?oid=oid:1080261
HOME: SEPTEMBER 10, 2010: NEWS

Sex Offenders Exposed
Sex offender laws are supposed to punish ‘predators’ and promote public safety. Critics argue that they increasingly produce precisely the opposite effects.
BY JORDAN SMITH

Henry met Sarah in the summer of 1994, when he was 19 years old. They lived in the same small New Jersey town but hadn't met until Henry was two years out of high school, living with a friend's family. "It was a transitional period," he recalled recently. "I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life." Henry (fearing retaliation, he asked that we not use his real name) met Sarah (also not her real name) through a friend at Sarah's family home, which Henry says was a "social center. A lot of kids hung out there." He met Sarah's siblings and parents, and before long the two were dating; Sarah was 16, he says he was told. Henry didn't think much of the age difference and neither did her parents. They saw each other regularly, and her family included Henry in their outings – including a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure. That summer day, they'd piled into the family van for the trip to the amusement park; on the ride Henry and Sarah held hands. They'd kissed and touched but never took their affections any further, he says.
Then Sarah ran away from home; it wasn't the first time. "There were domestic problems," Henry recalls, "and she ran away a lot." Looking for the girl, the local cops contacted Henry. They asked Henry's age and peppered him with questions about their relationship. "We didn't have a sexual relationship; that was my saving grace," he said. Yet in the end, that "didn't matter." As a result of that investigation, Henry was charged with "sexual contact" with a minor for "fondling outside of the clothes," he said. As it turned out, Sarah was just 14 – a fact that surprised Henry. He had no idea she was that young; he had no reason to think she was not as old as she'd said.
The charge was a fourth-degree misdemeanor in New Jersey, and as a result of a plea bargain – Henry took the deal because he'd been told if he didn't he would get jail time – he was given 18 months probation and was required to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years. Notably, under New Jersey law he was registered on a database of offenders that was private and used only by police. Henry completed his probation and complied with the registry requirement – updating his personal information and address at designated intervals. His case didn't get through the system "until 1997, so I didn't start the list until 1997," he said. "In 2007, it would've been 10 years, and it would've been over."
And then, in 2004, he moved to Texas.
When he was preparing to move south to be closer to his new wife's family, he checked in with police. They told him that because his charge was so minor they weren't sure he'd have to be listed on Texas' sex offender registry, and that even if he did have to register, his information would remain on a list compiled for police eyes only. "The police told me that it would be private," he says. "They lied." Not only are Henry's name and addresses – including that of his employer – now listed on the wildly expanding Texas sex offender registry, but even though New Jersey considered his offense a low-level misdemeanor, under Texas law the charge is considered a felony offense of "indecency with a child." As a result, he would have to have his personal information listed, publicly, for life. When he balked about the arbitrary change in terms, he says he was told that if he didn't like it he should "feel free to leave Texas."
Who Is Dangerous?
Henry's story is not an uncommon one, says Mary Sue Molnar, founder of the nascent sex offender law reform group Texas Voices. Molnar's son is in prison for what she says was a consensual sexual relationship with a girl six years his junior. In the wake of her son's conviction, Molnar began doing research on sex offender laws, about which she then knew nothing; what she found she calls "un¬be¬lievable." Indeed, in Texas and across the nation in the late Eighties and early Nineties, lawmakers expanded the number of crimes considered sexual in nature, increased the consequent punishments, created onerous probation and parole restrictions and requirements for sex offender treatment, and vastly expanded the number of people who would also be required to register publicly as "sex offenders."
The original idea for increasing penalties and restrictions, and for creating the public registry, was that harsh punishment and the public branding of offenders would enhance public safety – saving children, especially, from falling victim to sexual predators. In practice, however, the rapid expansion of crime and punishment in this area of the law has created a clumsy system that has diluted those original intentions beyond recognition. As of March 1, there were nearly 63,000 persons on Texas' public database administered by the state's Department of Public Safety, which adds roughly 100 new names to the list each week. The database includes not only serial rapists and pedophiles but also thousands of offenders like Henry and like Molnar's son, whose conduct, while considered criminal because the girls involved were younger than the legal age of consent (in Texas, that's 17), is hardly as alarming as that of a middle-aged man with a demonstrable sexual penchant for prepubescent girls – the sort of predator that in theory the laws target.
The registry now includes not only these "Romeo and Juliet" cases – youthful, consensual relationships – but others caught in the criminal justice web for things such as indecent exposure (which also includes the "poor drunk" popped by police while urinating behind a 7-Eleven in the middle of the night, says attorney Bill Habern, a veteran Texas pardon and parole specialist); it has never been retooled to differentiate among offenders and their offenses. So the crimes of serial rapists and pedophiles have been conflated with much more minor offenses under the catch-all term "sex offender," leading many to believe that everyone listed on the registry is in fact worthy of continuing public scorn and fear. "The public in general only hears, 'He's a registered sex offender.' Through ignorance, they believe that is synonymous with 'sexual predator,'" says Austin Police Department Lt. Greg Moss. "Registered sex offenders are not only sexual predators."
An expert on the enforcement of the state's sex offender laws, Moss is the former supervisor over the APD's Sex Offender Apprehension and Registration Unit, a three-detective squad tasked with keeping track of more than 1,500 sexual offenders registered as living in the city of Austin – including Henry. Of those on Austin's list, Moss estimates that just 10% are "your sexually violent predators," those folks who "we should be proactively monitoring, to ensure they're abiding by probation and parole." But APD is responsible for monitoring everyone on the list – a task that is expensive and time-consuming and has very little, if any, positive impact on public safety.
Instead, a growing body of research on the effect of broad sex offender laws reflects that requiring thousands of individuals to register for increasingly long periods of time actually undermines public safety. "That's what the current science is telling us," says Liles Arnold, a sex offender treatment provider and chair of the state's Council on Sex Offender Treatment. Moreover, research also reflects that the restrictions placed on individuals by the municipalities in which they live – such as barring individuals from living near schools, parks, or in a home with young children, even if they're the offender's own children or siblings – create extensive collateral damage. "There are a growing number of registrants, not just in Texas but across the country," says Arnold. But there's no "delineation of who is dangerous or not."
While neither Molnar nor Henry, who is also a member of Texas Voices, argue that the state shouldn't be tracking individuals who are high-risk sexual predators, they do argue that current laws trap too many people and do much more harm than good. In short, the state should make sure that it stays true to the original intent of the registry and other sex-offense-related laws – such as by creating viable ways for some to earn a way off the registry. But the ability of the state to actually create a path to deregister people is currently stalled. At issue instead is whether the state will move in 2011 to implement the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, a federal law passed four years ago that would, in essence, require the state to again expand its registry while making it even more difficult for low-risk offenders, like Henry and hundreds of others who are among the ranks of Texas Voices, to earn a chance to escape the list.
The political tide may finally be turning. There were once very few voices at the Capitol decrying the extremely punitive consequences of sex offender laws, and even fewer were the voices of former offenders whose lives have been permanently damaged. That's now changing, says Huntsville attorney Hab¬ern, as advocacy groups established by former sex offenders are beginning to appear. One is Texas Voices, which Molnar started in 2007. What began with just a handful of participants has grown to include 600 active members and more than 1,800 who have signed on to a petition to support reforming Texas law. "This tells me that there are hundreds of families out there suffering," says Molnar. "There are hundreds that don't know what else to do to deal with the mess that's been created."
Invisible Sanctions

Members of Texas Voices started by San Antonio mother Mary Sue Molnar (c) at the Capitol
Photo by Jana Birchum
Seven-year-old Ashley Estell disappeared from a Plano playground on Sept. 4, 1993. The following day her body was found on the side of a road, six miles away; she had been strangled. Police quickly found and charged with the crime 23-year-old Michael Blair – he'd been seen driving past the site where Estell's body was dumped with several teddy bears in his car, and prosecutors later said that hair found at the crime scene was a match to his. Although Blair proclaimed his innocence, he was convicted of capital murder and, after a 90-minute jury deliberation, sentenced to death.
Estell's murder prompted Texas lawmakers to get tough on those who would harm children and, although there was no evidence that Estell was sexually abused, to focus that toughness on laws aimed at punishing "sex offenders." At the time of Estell's disappearance, Blair, who'd previously been convicted of burglary and indecency with a child, was on parole. The facts surrounding Estell's disappearance and death combined with the facts of Blair's criminal history prompted state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, to call for swift and strong action against sexual predators. "So that we may never forget the life that was lost and certainly the tragedy that occurred in Plano, I plan to call these Ashley's Laws," Shapiro told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1994. "No community is safe while we have a broken criminal justice system. We always wait for the big tragedy before anything is done. Michael Blair should never have been free to roam that park."
In the years since Estell's death, Texas laws relating to sexual offenses and sexual offenders expanded dramatically. They now include more than 20 offenses considered sexual in nature, many of which will land a convicted person on the state's sex offender registry for life – indeed, one of Shapiro's successful bills made registration retroactive for individuals convicted of crimes dating as far back as 1970.
Have these laws made the public safer? The answer from a growing number of experts is a very firm "no." In fact, many researchers are now suggesting that these registration and public notification laws might actually harm public safety. In a recent study, Jill Levenson, a professor at Lynn University in Florida, and Richard Tewksbury, a professor at the University of Louis-ville, found that public disclosure also negatively impacts the families of sex offenders. "The public disclosure to which sex offenders are exposed is unprecedented, and therefore [registration and notification] is unique in the degree to which invisible sanctions are inadvertently imposed upon and experienced by the loved ones of offenders," they wrote. As such, these laws create "impacts that are broad, and ... deep and lasting. Family members, even those who do not live with [registered sex offenders], experience harassment, threats, violence, economic hardships, difficulties with housing, and psychological stresses simply because they are related to a sex offender," continues the study. "Whether intended or not, the criminal justice system, via [registration and notification] policies, extends punishments to a wide swath of society beyond sex offenders."
Many of these laws were rushed onto the books with little thought to their consequences and without the benefit of scientific research. What we thought might have been a good idea hasn't turned out that way – not unlike the way the Estell case turned out. Blair was exonerated in 2008 after new genetic testing proved that the hair from the crime scene was not his. Estell's real killer remains at large; the laws rushed onto the books in the wake of her murder remain – and, many argue, they pose a mounting problem for the state's criminal justice system.
Permanent Punishment
For the June 10 Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Jus¬tice meeting, the room was packed. On the agenda was the committee's first interim charge, to study the "efficiency and fairness" of the sex offender registry system and make recommendations for improving it "if necessary" and to consider whether Texas should implement the Adam Walsh Act. Among the more than 100 people in attendance were dozens from Texas Voices – so many that the committee had to open up an overflow room to accommodate the crowd. It was the best turnout so far for the fledgling group, which only started working Capitol halls during the 2009 session. Molnar, a gregarious 52-year-old mother of two from San Antonio, now spends her days fielding dozens of calls and letters and coordinating with Jan Fewell (a member from Williamson County, who joined after a friend of her daughter landed in prison for a "Romeo and Juliet" teen romance), who works tirelessly to investigate the veracity of the stories offenders share with the group.
Molnar recalls talking with attorney Habern when she was just beginning to get the group together. Don't be surprised, he told her, if this project never gets off the ground. It's a population of offenders so marginalized that they're unlikely to want to go public with their stories, he advised. Instead, the opposite occurred. "Once they find out that there are other people that understand, then they feel like it's OK and that people will understand what they're going through," Molnar said recently. "They start telling their stories, and they'll say, 'I've never told anyone this before.' And then they're inspired."
The ranks of Texas Voices have swelled in just two years to include some 600 active members – folks who come to meetings (now held in cities across the state), who call and write lawmakers to lobby for a more sober approach to sex offender laws, and who are willing to attend meetings at the Capitol and publicly share their stories. In a short period of time, Molnar says, she's learned a lot – including that many of these cases are not what they seem. "We know there are tons of falsely accused people out there," she says. And there are countless other cases "where it looks like one thing and then," when you hear the underlying facts of the case, "you find out it's something else."

Heather Kelley
Photo by Jana Birchum
That's certainly the case with Henry and with others just like him, including Heather Kelley's husband, who will also have to register for life, the result of a relationship he had with a 15-year-old girl when he was just 19. Peter (Kelley asked that we not use his real name) was still in high school when he met and began dating his "victim." He – like Henry and presumably thousands of other teens – had no idea that his youthful relationship could run afoul of criminal statutes. In Peter's case, a teacher turned him in after finding a note the girl had written, which included details of their relationship; the teacher told a counselor, who told police.
Peter took a plea bargain for five years probation and lifetime registration. He was doing fine to begin with, attending the weekly sex offender treatment sessions. But then, three years later, he got a DWI; he was sent to prison, where he spent four years and eight months. Since then, it's been tough for Kelley and Peter, who now have twin toddler sons. The onerous terms of probation – and the specter of being labeled for life as a sex offender – have really taken a toll on the family. Peter has a hard time finding any work; Kelley, who is disabled, cannot work. They've found few places where they can afford to live. And since getting out of prison, Peter has continued to struggle.
Peter completed his sentence on the original charge of sexual assault of a child but has since been popped for assault for defending his dad in a bar fight. Even though his latest trouble does not involve any sexual offense, as part of his current probation he must again attend sex offender treatment classes. He's now behind in paying for his treatment ($25 per week), and Kelley fears he's dancing dangerously close to having his probation revoked again. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has said that a person cannot be kicked back to prison strictly for falling behind in such payments, that doesn't seem to apply in Williamson County, say Molnar, Kelley, and others. All it takes, they note, is a single violation – including missing a treatment session – to trigger the revocation process. And some counties are more prone to take action. "When you're on sex offender probation they can always find a violation if they want to," says Molnar. Indeed, she says she was recently notified that one Harris County Texas Voices member is facing revocation for TV channel surfing and for sending an e-mail to a member of his Alcoholics Anonymous group; under the terms of his treatment contract he is only allowed to watch TV if he knows what channel he wants to watch, and he is banned from sending e-mails not work-related. "Come on; it's ridiculous," says Molnar.
The restrictions placed on many offenders take a toll. Kelley is convinced that Peter's subsequent troubles are a direct result of the burden of being branded a sexual offender. "Losing jobs, [offenders] can't pay for what they have to pay for, so they need welfare and they're filling up prisons," Kelley says of the plight of people in Peter's position. Peter has had to get "special permission to go to our church for the Easter egg hunt" because it is a place where children congregate, "and he can't go out on Halloween" with his kids. "He has to stay inside with the lights off." It's no wonder, she says, that he's depressed and has again found himself in trouble with the law. "If he had committed any other crime, he would have finished his sentence and they would've said, 'You're done,'" she notes. "Why is he suffering again for this same offense?"
A Broad Brush
The stated motivation for keeping such a tight leash on "sex offenders" is the belief that they are more prone to reoffend than other types of criminals. But that simply isn't true. First, there's the issue of who exactly commits sex offenses, especially those against children. Although a conceit of the law is that children are in danger of being assaulted by strangers, statistics show otherwise. According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, 93% of assaults against children are perpetrated by people they know. Moreover, according to a 2003 report by the BJS, which tracked more than 272,000 individuals, including more than 9,600 convicted sex offenders, just 3.5% of sex offenders were rearrested and convicted of another sexual offense during the study period. The general recidivism rate for sexual offenders was 43% – meaning it was far more likely that these folks would be arrested for some other sort of crime, as happened with Peter. Notably, however, that's a lower rate than for non-sex offenders, 68% of whom were rearrested during the three years following their original release from prison. In other words, the notion that sex offenders are a special class of criminal, more prone to committing further acts of sexual violence, is by and large not true. "It's what B.F. Skinner and that crowd call 'one-trial learning,'" says Philip Taylor, a licensed sex offender treatment provider in Dallas. "The ritual of standing in front of the community and acknowledging an offense seems to be very effective treatment for the majority of folks."
Nonetheless, despite the research findings, no one seems especially eager to change the laws. "Any time there is a horrific case, there comes a law that is usually rushed into service with very little discussion or debate, and once it is passed it is impossible to delete it," notes Taylor. That's the case in Texas, he says, where thousands of names are added to the registry each year despite the growing body of research that demonstrates such laws to be ineffective. The Texas registry, says Taylor, is "ineffective at best and panic-mongering at worst."
State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chair of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, says that dealing with sex offenders "in general" is probably "our number one challenge." First, he says, there's the problem of public perception: "There is a fear factor," he notes. Second, there are the problems that current laws have created: "We're painting everybody with a broad brush." Third, there's the prospect of the Adam Walsh Act, and whether Texas will adopt the broad new federal requirements for registering and reporting sexual offenders. Whitmire is among a growing number of criminal justice professionals, including police, who believe that implementing the new federal law would likely make the current situation worse. "I don't think we do Adam Walsh," he said during a recent phone call from his Hous¬ton office. "Law enforcement says it's not necessary and might hurt their crime fighting."
The Adam Walsh Act, passed by Congress in 2006 with little debate or fanfare, is named for the 6-year-old boy whose 1981 Florida abduction and murder prompted the first modern wave of criminal statutes aimed at protecting children from predators – and simultaneously distorted the public perception of the number of stranger abductions and murders as well as the consequent legislation. The AWA requires states to add a host of new offenders to their sex offender registries – including juveniles as young as 14 – and requires the public reporting of additional information on those registries, including the name and address of a person's employer. (The idea behind the law was in part to standardize the registries kept by each state and federally recognized Indian tribe.)
The law also makes changes in the duration of registration for individuals within a tier system based on offense only, without consideration of empirical risk assessment. Although states and tribes were given until 2009 to "substantially" implement the law, to date just three states and two tribes have done so. Part of the issue is the cost of implementing the unfunded federal mandate; according to Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Justice Policy Institute, implementing the AWA could cost Texas nearly $39 million (conversely, not adopting the law would mean the loss of just $1.4 million in federal funding). Even bigger issues are what the tier system would do to the classification process and the pressure it would place on police agencies required to monitor registered offenders.
Since 2000, Texas' registration system has relied, in part, on one or more risk-assessment tools designed to determine the threat of reoffending. Under the new federal law that system would become obsolete, and police and treatment providers believe that would lead to a large number of offenders being tagged as high-risk, a designation that requires the most strict scrutiny by police. "There are a few areas of concern" with the AWA, says Council on Sex Offender Treatment Chair Arnold. One major concern is that there would be "lots of misclassification of offenders who are low-risk as high-risk" and vice versa. For example, said Lt. Moss, under the act, Henry would be considered a high-risk offender and would be required to check in with police in person, repeatedly, throughout the year, at a considerable cost to APD, which right now is running a ratio of about 400 offenders for each of the unit's detectives.
Henry's case "is probably the best example" of what the AWA would do. Technically, he says, Henry's offense was sexual indecency with a child, but realistically, he's a thirtysomething man with two children who had a youthful indiscretion. "What are the risks of [Henry] reoffending?" asks Moss. "Probably so low as to be unmeasurable." Under AWA, he would nonetheless be subject to a heightened level of scrutiny – and that comes with a big price tag for local cops. (Another offender, however, who might be a higher risk but who had pleaded his case down to a lower-level offense might receive a lower-risk designation and be able to escape much scrutiny at all.) To keep up with the current registration requirements, the APD has had to seek federal grant funding to train beat cops to do sex offender checks, and that money hasn't kept flowing, says Sgt. John Herring, the current supervisor of the sex offender unit. In 2010 alone, the city has had to fork over an additional $55,000 to help police do additional checks. Under AWA, that money would have to keep coming, notes Herring, or the department would have to shift more people to his small unit. "Either way, you're going to be spending more."
Under an extended federal deadline, the state has until July 2011 to decide whether to adopt the act. The ranks of experts and advocates lined up against adoption are swelling – they include not only Texas Voices' 600 active members, but key state lawmakers, including Whitmire; a growing number of lawyers; the Council on Sex Offender Treat¬ment (which has officially come out against implementation); and even some police officers, including Moss. But many lawmakers remain hesitant, at best, to take any steps that might make them appear "soft" on molesters – an always-handy campaign wedge issue. That axiom was clearly on display last year when conservative Euless Republican state Rep. Todd Smith drew a primary opponent who attacked him for having sponsored a bill that might allow certain "Romeo and Juliet" offenders to escape having to register altogether. (Although an overwhelming majority of lawmakers favored the modest measure, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the bill.)
In the meantime, however, in anticipation of the possibility that the state might implement the act, the state has begun putting specifics about offenders' employers onto the online registry. The addition to the public domain was a decision made by Attorney General Greg Abbott in response to several official inquiries, says Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Molnar believes the addition of that information is now serving as a further barrier to re-entry for sexual offenders, because many employers simply don't want to deal with any potential public hassles. "It is an obstacle to re-entry. Do we want these people to be working, or do we want them homeless?" she asks. "Which makes us safer?"
The uncertainty about what will happen with the AWA has completely stalled efforts to find a way to let people like Henry apply for removal from the list. At issue, says Allison Taylor, executive director of the Council on Sex Offender Treatment, is a provision of statute that ties any deregistration plan to federal law. At the time the statute was revised, the controlling federal law was the Jacob Wet¬ter¬ling Act, which in 1994 essentially created the model for public registries in place across the country. It allowed for "early termination potential" from the registry for four main crimes, including sexual indecency with a child, says Taylor. The state has not moved to implement that deregistration mechanism, however, because of the federal adoption of the AWA, which changes the offenses that can be considered for deregistration and how long an offender has to wait to apply.

Martin Ezell is married to his “victim,” with whom he has three children.
Photo by Jana Birchum
Should the state decide against implementing AWA altogether, then lawmakers would have to revise existing law to untie the state and federal statutes, which would allow the state to develop its own unique deregistration procedures. "We've had hundreds of requests for early termination," says Taylor, but the council has been unable to process them. "We have taken lots of steps backwards because of the AWA. It is definitely a very flawed situation."
How Many Voices?
To Molnar and others in Texas Voices, the situation is more appropriately described as an ongoing disaster. "It is such a mess, and it's taken a lot of years and a lot of bills to get us into the mess we're in," says Molnar. "And I suppose it's going to take that again to get us out of it." First on the to-do list, says Molnar, should be a way to weed out people who are not dangerous and get them off the list. "It boils down to differentiation: whether someone poses a threat or whether they ever did [pose a threat] in the first place."
That is the only hope for potentially thousands of people who have wound up charged, convicted, and registered because of a youthful relationship, including those like Martin Ezell, who is married to the woman he is labeled as having assaulted as a child. He was much older than her when the two met in the late Nineties; he was already 32, and she was just 16. But they fell in love and have remained together for more than 12 years and now have three children. He has a master's degree from St. Edward's University and had hoped to teach high school; that can't happen now, and as a result his wife has to work more than one job to keep the family afloat. After a friend of their then-10-year-old daughter found Ezell's photo online, the couple had to sit their daughter down to try to explain what, exactly, a sex offender is and why her father is considered one. Not surprisingly, she didn't understand.
Ezell isn't sure he understands either – and he certainly doesn't understand why, all these years later, he's still being punished for something that the state has otherwise closed the book on. "If I had been convicted of drinking and driving I would've done my sentence, and I would be done. That doesn't mean that I'm still not drinking and driving," he says. But there's no online registry for DWI offenders. "So if you're my neighbor, you don't know that I'm a drunk, and if your kids are outside and playing and I've been drinking out at the lake, you're not going to know until I come wheeling around the corner." If public safety is a motivating factor for having him register, why doesn't the state seek to do the same for others? That's certainly not the solution, he says, but it does raise the question of what is fair and what is just. "If we don't start standing up and speaking for ourselves," he says, "nobody will."
That is exactly what Molnar hopes the members of Texas Voices will spend 2011 doing: speaking up and trying to change things inside the Capitol. Otherwise, she fears things will get far worse before they get even a little bit better. "What is going to happen when we get to 100,000 people on the list? To 200,000? Will we be safer?" she asks. "How much larger is our group going to have to grow?"
________________________________________
By the Thousands: 'Sex Offenders' by County
The following list includes the entire registered population in a selection of major and Central Texas counties, including all police agencies in each county, per Department of Public Safety registry, as of June 6.
Registered
offenders Offenders
per 1,000
population
Harris 5,922 1.48
Dallas 4,308 1.80
Tarrant 2,761 1.57
Bexar 2,588 1.58
El Paso 917 1.22
Travis 1,526 1.51
Williamson 356 0.88
Hays 211 1.39
Bastrop 203 2.75
Caldwell 122 3.31
Fayette 31 1.28

From one of my favorite bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:26:00 +0000

You can tell it's election season ...
You can tell it's election season when politicians begin launching demagogic proposals to get "tough" on sex offenders, as Gov. Rick Perry was doing in Houston this week in this speech. Commenters at the Texas Tribune following the story pretty universally viewed this as a transparent campaign ploy and counterproductive to actually managing sex offenders, but who know how such tactics resonate with the average voter?

It's not as though sex offender laws don't need revamping. Some lawmakers, with support from law enforcement, would like to pare back the sex offender registration list to focus supervision on serious, violent offenders so that there's some actual benefit from the expensive, time-consuming program which problematically soaks up local police and probation resources. Jordan Smith at the Austin Chronicle recently wrote an excellent story detailing the various ways the registration system has ballooned with less serious offenders until it's taxing law enforcement's ability to effectively oversee anyone. Perry's press hit, however, portrays everyone on the registration list as "predatory, high-risk sex offenders" and simply suggests spending more money for arrest and enforcement.

It's ironic that his complaint comes just as Stephen Brodie, the deaf man who was this week exonerated for a 1990 rape he didn't commit, was released from prison for violating the conditions of his sex-offender registration (because he never committed the underlying crime and so shouldn't have been registered).

Many more on the list committed much less serious offenses - often Romeo and Juliet style romances (I've met sex offenders who are married to their "victim") - which is a problem because a) many don't deserve the extra punishment and b) they divert scarce resources from more intensively supervising the most serious, violent offenders. In that sense, the public furor surrounding the registry, mostly promoted by self-interested politicians and lazy journalists, promotes false threats and ill-conceived hype that damage the community more than it protects it.

In political campaigns, the public expects politicians to debate the issues that concern them (even if Gov. Perry has decided it's not in his interest to debate at all), so it's regrettable that election season has become the one time when such important subjects are least likely to be discussed thoughtfully or productively.
» Read full article on[Grits for Breakfast]

Pew: Incarceration reduces employment, long-term economic growth

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:30:00 +0000

Pew: Incarceration reduces employment, long-term economic growth
A new study from the Pew Charitable Trusts quantifies a lamentable trend that's retarding the economy and employment for millions of Americans: Incarceration strongly correlates to reduced employment and long-term earnings. What's more, the economic harms from imprisonment extend to inmates' children. Here's a remarkable excerpt from Pew's press release:

Incarceration reduces former inmates’ earnings by 40 percent and limits their future economic mobility, according to a new Pew report,Collateral Costs: Incarceration’s Effect on Economic Mobility. This is a growing challenge now that 1 in every 28children in America has a parent behind bars, up from 1 in 125 just 25 years ago.

“People who break the law need to be held accountable and pay their debt to society,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States. “At the same time, the collateral costs of locking up 2.3 million people are piling higher and higher. Corrections is the second fastest growing state budget category, and state leaders from both parties are now finding that there are research-based strategies for low-risk offenders that can reduce crime at far less cost than prison.”

The report authored by Pew’s Economic Policy Group and the Pew Center on the States shows that:

* Before being incarcerated, two-thirds of male inmates were employed and more than half were the primary source of financial support for their children.
* After release, former male inmates work nine fewer weeks annually and take home 40 percent less in annual earnings, making $23,500 instead of $39,100. That amounts to an expected earnings loss of nearly $179,000 through age 48 for men who have been incarcerated.
* Of former inmates who were in the bottom of the earnings distribution in 1986, two-thirds remained there in 2006, twice the number of non-incarcerated men.

“Pew’s past research shows a variety of factors influence economic mobility both within a person’s lifetime and across generations. This report finds that incarceration is a powerful determinant of mobility for both former inmates and their children,” said Scott Winship, research manager of the Economic Mobility Project of Pew’s Economic Policy Group.

Incarceration’s long-term economic repercussions are felt by increasing numbers of families and communities now that 2.3 million Americans are behind bars, equaling 1 in 100 adults. Up from 500,000 in 1980, this marks more than a 300 percent increase in the United States’ incarcerated population.

Collateral Costs details the concentration of incarceration among men, the young, the uneducated and African Americans. One in 87 working-aged white men is in prison or jail compared with 1 in 36 Hispanic men and 1 in 12 African American men. Today, more African American men aged 20 to 34 without a high school diploma or GED are behind bars (37 percent) than are employed (26 percent).

The report also shows more than 2.7 million minor children now have a parent behind bars, or 1 in every 28. For African American children the number is 1 in 9, a rate that has more than quadrupled in the past 25 years.

Mosque at Ground Zero

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:28:00 +0000

What are the thoughts on this? Our constitution allows us to worship any God we please. However, out constitution makes no determination as to where a house of worship can be built be it Muslim or Methodist.
We are now being told that Muslims worship daily near the Pentagon. Adding an additional place at Ground Zero has the feel of marking territory that has been has been ravaged.
Now I know there are moderate Muslims just as there are moderates in every religion. The people in charge of this project see it as a practice in tolerance. That is something I believe in as well. Except this time the tolerance should be on the side of the Muslims. Respect could be earned by moving this center to another location since it is clearly a dividing issue in America. We need to be united. Do Muslims believe in the Constitution? This is not something that Americans should be fighting over. Our American Muslim friends will hopefully have the sensibility to choose another location.

What happened to them?

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:18:00 +0000

Some months ago we heard a chilling story about a family of men that had abused children during their younger years. The accusation was based on repressed memories. The men were jailed and heavy equipment was dispatched to find jars with notes describing bad memories and remains of one baby or several. Does anyone have follow-up information? Are the men still jailed. Is the search continuing after all of this time? Did authorities flub up?
Stories like this get the attention of the nation. Apologies are not what the public wants to hear and no explanation is given on a national level. There are no apologies for the terror they have caused or the men that will always be viewed with suspicion. Of course nothing is done to the alleged victim for fear incidents will go unreported. It would be a real shame if liars learned not to take their lies to authorities . Someone down the road might get a plea bargain and innocence has never been a big concern.
In TX an 18 year old man was convicted of rape. 27 years later he as been proven innocent. Nobody can give back his lost adulthood. Over the weekend the family was still waiting for his release. This is more bull. Processing out could be done in the free world.

Adam Walsh: Blame It On The Dead Guy

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:39:00 +0000

( This is a rewrite of the op/ed posted earlier. New information surfaced that needed to be included)

Adam Walsh: Blame it on the Dead Guy

There is no proof that Jeffrey Dahmer was at a Hollywood, FL mall on July 27, 1981.
There is no proof that Ottis Toole was at this mall on July 27, 1981.
Most of all there is no proof that Adam Walsh was at the mall on the 27th of July, 1981. We do know that Adam was killed somewhere and by somebody.

A staged abduction at the mall would serve many purposes. Focus would be taken off the family. They would be viewed as victims. This public location offered a variety of scenarios and a wide assortment of possible suspects. In a private setting there are usually a small number of people directly tied to an incident. Let’s look at what we would have seen if public attention had been on the Walsh home.

John Walsh was a big man in a compact body. It appears that loving the females was proof of his masculinity as he made his way through college and went on to become a lifeguard on the beaches of Florida. He eventually decided his dangerous lifestyle would likely lead to an early death unless he got married. That is when he remembered Reve Drew from college.

Getting married does not always mean settling down. As he became a known figure he often made the tabloids with his choice of the day. It seems like morals have never been a requirement for being an expert on our kids. His own children were put through hell by sexual obsessions that have kept him captive for many years.

Being diagnosed as a sex addict was a revelation that he is the man he has spent years warning parents about. This is a condition that is very real and some of the symptoms are fantasy, masturbation, porn, seeking out multiple partners and an overwhelming feeling of regret once it was over. This tells us that we don’t know where he has been, where he is going next, the ages of those that have experienced the direct abuse. He is correct in saying it is an illness but this secret is also a betrayal of public trust. It is certainly possible to get the demons under control but his entire livelihood depends on sexual issues. It is not an environment in which to recover.

Now this is the same man who claimed to be a partner in a multi-million dollar hotel construction project in the Bahamas. It has an impressive sound and may be entirely true. However, the job he was reporting to and getting a paycheck from was in Bal Harbor where he arranged conventions for a hotel in the Bahamas. Salesman is a big step down from hotel magnate but it does help explain why his home went into foreclosure and his utilities had to be paid by others. Without a regular paycheck most of us would have the same experiences and there is no shame in needing help.

Let’s take another step back in time and look at Reve Walsh and her 4 year affair with James Campbell, friend of Walsh and godfather of Adam. After a 2 year stint as a house guest John kicked him out and there was an argument between the two men. But Campbell did not stay away. According to police reports he claims to have gone to the Walsh home on the very day that Adam was reported as missing. His visit took place after John had gone off to work at his sales job and James says he was closer to Adam than than his biological father. This appreciative guest wanted more than was offered.

This is the story that Campbell told more than once while attached to a lie detector. On the other side of the coin John Walsh has stated that Campbell was still living in the home when Adam disappeared. It can’t be that difficult to know who was living in the household. Either way there are still all of the ingredients of a dysfunctional family and disaster.

Police checked and rechecked this entire situation. It led nowhere. They checked and rechecked every lead concerning the mall. There was nothing to indicate that it was the scene of abduction. Over the years all sorts of speculation have been thrown into the mix but no concrete evidence has surfaced. It was a shock when a man that had been a rotting corpse for 10 years was named as the murderer and the case was closed. This has the makings of a cliffhanger and an opening is available for a sequel.

When Walsh dies he may find Toole waiting on the other side with a piece of lead pipe. In life this man did not have the opportunity to face his accusers or speak in his own defense so it was a slam-dunk for Walsh. Blaming a dead guy is a lot less messy and a timetable based on political expediency was possible.Toole had been silent for 10 years so the case was closed based on speculation.

Closing a 27 year old case would have been a great relief to those that were investigated and scrutinized over the years. A stumble by any of them could have swayed the whimsical public. A closed case would likely be reopened only with hard evidence such as a valid confession or an eye witness with inside information.

Losing a child does not make one an expert in saving them. In many cases it does not even make them better parents. Living with any kind of addict can be a huge burden. Living with one that has so much power must be a nightmare. But the dishonesty and sexual escapades speak for who we are as a nation. Morals are not a requirement for being a spokesman for our children.

Parents must show some common sense. Media teaches our children all of the details of illegal acts. We are all aware of the copycat incidents that give these actions momentum. Criminals our our creation.

Concrete answers concerning Adam would be a blessing for this entire nation. Papa John should take his rage and leave the world stage. Society should insist. The public view of an addict is someone who is weak, diseased, despised and disgraced so an inner turmoil is fierce and constant. Self-loathing is also a part of addiction. It must be very frustrating to want normal and find it is so elusive.
Angel McDade
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/15/lkl.00.html
http://www.wisn.com/news/10903529/detail.html
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118782905698506010.html
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960317&slug=2319536
All rights retained by Angel McDade and Associates

Child Safety by the numbers by Shirley Lowery

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:03:00 +0000

Some interesting statistics about dangers to children
________________________________________
Labels:MythsAndFacts,UserSubmitted
________________________________________

The laws enacted to monitor and control sex offenders are extraordinary. I think we can all agree to that. The general public believes these extraordinary laws are justified. The faces of murdered children, killed by sexual predators, are flashed on the TV urging us to "consider the children." And who could resist? Who would want to? Surely it is justified to face the threats to our children.

But what are those threats really? Is there a way to know?

Actually, yes...

- U.S. Department of Justice, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children.

http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/documents/nismart2_overview.pdf

This report states that in 2002 an estimated 1,325,600 kids went missing. 797,500 were reported as missing.

628,900 of these children were identified as runaway/throwaway kids.

Of the other 528,100 children their parents didn't even bother to file a report.

Yet the we hear the constant scream of "if it saves one child". Oh, there are so many more than that who need to be saved so let’s look at where the danger lies.

Out of 1,315,600 missing kids 115 were snatched in the sense that everybody is worried about. And that includes kids that were snatched for ransom, and kids that were snatched by a disturbed or distraught person who wanted a child of their own, so how many are left that were snatched and killed by the sex offenders that are hiding behind every tree? That's what we're really worried about, right? Actually, the report tells us that number is 40 but let’s be generous and use the entire 115 who were snatched out of the 1.3 million who went missing.

You will find that less than 1/100th of 1% were snatched but the number that people care about and are willing to spend our resources on is much lower. To qualify for an outcry there must be a combination of sex, violence and death.

Page 11 of the report states that "…40 missing children who were stereotypicall y kidnapped and killed (an estimated 35) or were still missing (approximately 5) at the time of the study." Yes, that is too many. But are we going to ignore all the others to concentrate on less than 1/200th of 1%?

Now, it is a sad fact that there are more children who die each year than just these 40. Many more. How many more and how are they dying?

Center for Disease Control

http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus10.html

A quick look at Top Ten deaths in minors in 2002 shows that there were 17,759 kids who died (excluding infant mortality).

Of those:

1296 were shot to death by someone,

145 were stabbed to death,

89 were strangled,

37 were burned alive,

17 were poisoned,

603 shot themselves,

559 hung themselves, and

6132 were killed in traffic accidents.

This tells us that in 2002:

Your child was 1400% more likely to hang themselves than be snatched and killed by a sex offender.

Your child was 1500% more likely to shoot themselves than be snatched and killed by a sex offender

Your child was 3200% more likely to be murdered by firearm by someone besides a sex offender.

Your child was 4000% more likely to be shot, stabbed, strangled, burned alive or poisoned than snatched and killed by a sex offender.

Your child was 15300% more likely to be killed in a car crash than snatched and killed by a sex offender.

We find more information here.

The American Journal of Psychiatry

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/162/9/1578

- Among children under age 5 years in the United States who were murdered in the last quarter of the 20th century, 61% were killed by their own parents: 30% were killed by their mothers, and 31% by their fathers

- Compared to other developed nations, the United States has the highest rate of child homicide

61% of murdered children under age 5 were murdered by their own parents. We are not speaking of accidents or carelessness that leads to death. Statistically speaking, parents are, by far, the greatest threat to a child’s life. So much for "protect the children!"

You may have noticed above that car accidents were the leading killer of children. Sadly, many of these are completely avoidable.

The American Journal of Psychiatry

Center for Disease Control

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5304a2.htm

- "Motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among children under 1 year old in the united states".

- "One in four crash-related deaths among child passengers aged under 14 years involves alcohol use."

-"…68% were riding with the drinking drivers; the majority of these children were not restrained."

- "The majority of children who died while riding with drinking drivers were not restrained at the time of the crash."

- "The majority of drivers in these crashes survived, suggesting that certain children killed in alcohol-related crashes might have survived had they been restrained properly."

This tells us that car crashes are killing our kids in great numbers. And that 25% of the time it’s because of drunk drivers. Where is the real rage? Where is the extraordinary response to an extraordinary threat?

It gets worse. It turns out those more than 50% of those drunk drivers was a parent of the dead child. Is this acceptable to Americans?

"The majority of drivers in these crashes survived, suggesting that certain children killed in alcohol-related crashes might have survived had they been restrained properly"

Your child is 2600% more likely to be killed by you because you couldn’t be bothered to put their seatbelt on when you felt like driving drunk with your kid in the car. Are these the same parents who scream for tougher laws to protect their children against sex offenders??

These are huge numbers of children being killed in brutal ways - it's like a war zone out there. Or is that an exaggeration?

We, as a nation, are so outraged by our causalities in Iraq. Cindy Sheehan let the world know of her personal outrage and why not? Losing a child is not easy.

The war in Iraq started in March 2003. As of 7/11/2007 we had lost 3610 fine men and women. That is an average of 902.5 lives per year. Let’s do some more comparisons of numbers using the numbers above.

More kids are shot to death each year in American than Soldiers are killed in Iraq. 1296 versus 902

More kids kill themselves each year in America than Soldiers are killed in Iraq. 1162 versus 902

More kids are killed by drunk drivers (usually their parents) than Soldiers are killed in Iraq. 1533 versus 902

Combine just those categories and you get 3991 kids who are either shot to death, kill themselves, or are killed by drunk driver versus 902.5 soldier killed in the Iraq war - that's four times as many.

Considering that one of the main points of contention of the Iraq war is the casualties, you’d think we’d be at least as concerned about our children.

Remember this?

The American Journal of Psychiatry

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/162/9/1578

- Among children under age 5 years in the United States who were murdered in the last quarter of the 20th century, 61% were killed by their own parents

- Compared to other developed nations, the United States has the highest rate of child homicide

61% of murdered children under age 5 were murdered by their own parents. We are not speaking of accidents or carelessness that leads to death. Statistically speaking, parents are, by far, the greatest threat to a child’s life. So much for "protect the children!"

Some of our children manage to make it to adulthood in spite of the adults in their lives. I kept wondering why a nation would make a mockery of child safety by latching on to the least likely threat. The answer is not so difficult.

Hating sex offenders is easy. Screaming loudly shows your concern about your children. No action is required on the part of the parents except an opinion that is acceptable in society.

Dealing with a runaway or unruly child takes a lot of hard work. A suicidal or addicted child can tear your heart out. A drink now and then saves your sanity. And kids know how to push your buttons and make you mad enough to kill but, of course, you would never do such a thing.

Adults no longer have a vested interest in their children and everyone in the family goes their own direction. Ignoring is much simpler than arguing and disciplining. They are going to do what they want anyway so why bother with a ruckus. Right?

When next you rail against sex offenders ask yourself why you aren’t taking on the big risk issues? The reason, in many cases, is that it would draw negative attention to lifestyles that are counter-productive to a child’s safety. By trying to divert attention elsewhere you expose yourself as a phony and it will come full circle. Count on it.
________________________________________
"The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of a civilization. We must have a desire to rehabilitate into the world of industry, all those who have paid their dues in the hard coinage of punishment." - Winston Churchill (United States Constitution)
________________________________________

Posted On Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 7:38:00 PM by ZMan!
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A SO in Ga Amen! I don't think I've seen a better use of the government's own numbers. So Bravo to the author!
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Thursday, July 16, 2009 – Flag – Reply

Kirk Yes a very well writen article. I think a copy should be sent to all of Congress and lets not forget the Governers across the country.
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Thursday, July 16, 2009 – Flag – Reply

Guest just proves what i've said before. If society wants to "Protect the children!" Fine ROUND UP ALL THE PARENTS and lock them up for life.
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Friday, July 17, 2009 – Flag – Reply

Hi Darrell

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:49:00 +0000

Hi Darrell,
You have such an interesting story to tell. I live in TX where we execute guilty and innocent. We recently had our first case of a dead man being proven innocent. He died of natural causes in prison. I think his name is Tom Coleman.
I have taken a special interest in sex offenders because 95% confess and I know of cases where inmates are innocent. The best way to get a confession it to tell the defendant that going to court insures that he will be made an example for others to follow. 20 years sounds like a bargain when the prosecutor is asking for 50 years.
When an SO has a jury trial they are folks just like you and me. Even if they believe someone is innocent they have to give them a little punishment due to peer pressure. Life on the registry is not a small sentence. There is no such thing as a small slap on the wrist when someone is labeled a sex offender.
I spent 5 years talking with sex offenders and there were hundreds. Three let me down. The dept of justice shows a study that gives the recidivism rate as 5.3%. I went to my local sheriff and asked to see documentation on so's that had been convicted of a new crime in the past year and the answer is zero.
You must have found me by accident because I have spent little time here and have yet to tell anyone what I am doing. I am not sure I am savvy enough to carry it off. I am glad you are here. Feel free to comment.

Adam Walsh: Blame It On The Dead Guy

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:32:00 +0000

At the same time Adam Walsh disappeared James Campbell, a friend of John Walsh, was living in the Walsh home and having an affair with the Walsh wife. John said he didn’t know about it until much farther down the road. That is the correct answer but it may not be the truthful one.

Authorities knew that James was living there but this man stayed so far below the radar that most of the public failed to pick up on him and the betrayal that was taking place in the home. We have heard nothing about Campbell over the years. It would be interesting to see what he has to say and what kind of life he had led. Walsh claims that Campbell would not have killed Adam but neither his wife nor his friend were trustworthy.

Walsh claims there were no financial problems but shortly after Adam’s disappearance the Walsh home went into foreclosure and there was a struggle to keep the utilities on. The time frame suggests that this downhill slide started before Adam’s disappearance.

And John Walsh has always loved the ladies. His efforts to settle down appear sincere but over the years he has left many notched on bedposts. It took many years of denial before he accepted that his behavior was deviant and sought medical care. If infidelity were a crime Walsh would be a lifer.

This was an explosive situation. The adults in the household were busy seeing to their individual needs and a special trip to the mall to get a lamp and spruce up the home hardly fits the picture. A lonely little boy, seeing and hearing too much, could have easily got caught up in the adult anger that was swirling around him. There has been years of speculation that Adam never reached the mall. There is no proof that he was there. A mother’s claim with nothing to support it has never carried much weight. A nation was being persuaded to believe people who could not trust one another. For the next 27 years these adults remained as suspects in an open murder case.

Toole was a nasty character but had no involvement with children. There was no evidence to charge him when he was alive but, in death, he was convicted. A new pair of eyes looked at the same old information and decided guilt. It was closure on more than a quarter of a century of being suspects. Everything else remains the same. When John Walsh dies there will be so many stories and, like Toole, there will be nothing he can do about it. It would be wonderful if Adam could communicate so the finger-pointing would stop. Such children must surely hate whatis done in their names.

A staged abduction at a mall would account for a missing child, direct focus away from the home, depict the family as victims and increase the number of suspects from 3 to 300 or 3000. Reve Walsh has a crucial but minimal role. After making her public outcry she was hustled away to the background. James Campbell remained quiet and kept his head down. All of the details we have heard over the years have been made by John Walsh who only had hearsay information from his wife.

There appears to be no information available as to when Adam was last seen by someone outside the home. His remains cannot pinpoint exact date of death but it would have taken a couple of days to plan a distraction at the mall. The business partners could probably shed some light on John Walsh’s schedule and attitude the couple of days prior to Adam’s disappearance.

The John Walsh we see on camera is warning us about the John Walsh off camera that we only hear about. This leaves him with no standard to judge normal behavior and it has caused many males to take a step back from relationships with their children. So many years were spent getting father’s more involved in child rearing. Now they are afraid to change diapers or hold their little ones in their laps. It’s a loss for all of us.

Over the years we have watched the bizarre Walsh marriage stumble along. Marriage protects them from being forced to testify against one another should such an occasion ever arise.

Like everything else out there this is more speculation that can neither be proved nor disproved. There is still time for truth to emerge or be reaffirmed into something with substance. Three people know what happened during that time period and only one has spoken. That also seems odd in such a high profile case.

Who's Homeless Now?

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:49:00 +0000

The number of homeless people continues to rise. How many of us must experience this tragic situation before we as a nation realize that we have absolutely no right to force sex offenders and their families from their homes and communities. Payback is a bitch but it has not affected enough of the right people.

Recidivism is also a bitch so let’s see who we should be watching in our neighborhoods.

• Released prisoners with the highest rearrest rates were robbers (70.2%), burglars (74.0%), larcenists (74.6%), motor vehicle thieves (78.8%), those in prison for possessing or selling stolen property (77.4%), and those in prison for possessing, using, or selling illegal weapons (70.2%).
• Within 3 years, 2.5% of released rapists were arrested for another rape, and 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for homicide.
• The 272,111 offenders discharged in 1994 had accumulated 4.1 million arrest charges before their most recent imprisonment and another 744,000 charges within 3 years of release. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/rpr94.htm

Approximately 4,300 child molesters were released from prisons in 15 States in 1994. An estimated 3.3% of these 4,300 were rearrested for another sex crime against a child within 3 years of release from prison. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm#sex

Hmmmm. This information is from the Department of Justice. It proves that this issue is pure politics and our elected officials are trying so hard to get a billion dollar national SORNA/AWA passed. But this is the same issue that got many of them elected so a solution would be fatal to many careers. But Americans have so much faith in the government. They would not lie to us or mislead us, would they? Of course not.

Ernie Allen, head of Missing and Exploited Children, was before Congress exploiting children. He has been known to tell the truth when flustered and it happened again. "Registration is not about prevention, it's about regulation". He spoke those words in front of God and everybody and his political friends must have cringed. It is one of those things that they know but it doesn’t get talked about in public.

Laura Rodgers, who was the entirety of the SMART office, wrote the SORNA guidelines wrote the SORNA guidelines. This one-person department is responsible for tying the states in knots and filling the courts with lawsuits. In her presentation she stated that SORNA/AWA is not about recidivism but about supplying communities with information so individuals can protect themselves.

It is truly amazing that all agree the problem is in the communities so why are we being led to send our money the opposite direction. By the time everyone gets their share of the pie there are only crumbs left for the communities where the problems exist. The most amazing thing about all of this is that the public is supporting it rather than taking to the streets in protest. The next several generations will be footing the bill for our foolishness and inability to take care of ourselves and to spot a scam when it slaps us in the face. Regardless of what you have been led to believe rejecting this law does not put you on the side of sex offenders.

Mark Lunsford was there and chatting it up with those in attendance. When asked about charges against his own son in Ohio Lunsford wasn’t shy about telling how he blackmailed the court by threatening to expose every sex offender case where they showed leniency. It worked. Joshua Lunsford served 10 days and does not have to register as a sex offender.

At one time Lunsford was going to file charges against the Citrus County sheriff in connection with precious little Jessica’s death. They came to an understanding very quickly. The word that trickled out was that the sheriff only had to remind Lunsford of the child porn that was on his computer the morning Jessie disappeared. Anyone wanting to verify this information should contact the Jessica Marie Lunsford Foundation. The phone numbers listed are cell phone numbers for Mark and his mother, Ruth Lunsford. These are the same steps I took to make a donation.

We may not like the things some people do but no family deserves to lose a child. Thankfully death such as Jessica’s make up less than 1% of sex crimes and it is a blessing that it isn’t higher. Until we give help to the mentally ill we will suffer grave consequences and SORNA/AWA does not address the problem. It would fall under prevention so it is an individual problem.

Many of us have experienced bad touches at sometimes in our lives so why the pretense about stranger-danger? You know who touched you. We are spending mountains of money to put the focus “out there” while 93% of incidents are “right here” with no strangers involved. A rapidly growing registry proves that new offenders from my home and your home are committing 95% of sex crimes. Do you think a national law is going to change that?

Government should be funding non-governmental community agencies staffed with mental health workers and others with a true desire for prevention who can step in BEFORE a child is harmed. Saving a child often means saving an entire family.

With 93% of incidents having no relation to strangers why do we need a national program that is based entirely on stranger danger? We have many sex offenders who have gone underground simply because they continue to be forced out of neighborhoods.

This is a million dollar problem caused by misuse of registry information. Look at unbiased studies so you can recognize the lies. Those of you who wrinkle your nose in disgust and force registrants to go underground are liabilities we cannot afford. In a healthy community the goal is for everyone to succeed.

There is a wide range of people on the streets and no labels. Al l are pulling together in an effort to survive. Are there enough honest people among us to influence your state to take the registry offline and give immunity to those who are willing to resume registering under saner circumstances? One state that has the fortitude to break out of the mold will become the brightest star on our flag. As we are balancing on the brink of disaster what better time is there to strike out in a different direction? There IS a better way.

Where has our freedom gone?

noreply@blogger.com (Angee) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:23:00 +0000

Before the TX congress sits a potential 7,000 new felonies, new misdemeanors and enhancements. We are eager to give up our remaining freedoms We hear about decreasing prison population. We see a wider net being cast in order to lock up more people.

While prisons and punishment are necessary the entire nation has gone way overboard. Although the accused have a right to a jury trial about 90% are terrorized into plea bargains. Those who can’t afford an attorney are especially easy prey. We know that innocent people get convicted. Those who exercise their right to a trial and lose are used as examples for those who follow. You can bet your boots that innocent people take the plea. Great work is being done through the Innocence Project and those facing the death penalty are rightfully at the head of the line. The innocent with lesser sentences do their time and seldom get above the poverty line when released back into the community

The prison in Huntsville started out as a slave plantation. Not much has changed in all of these years. At all of the facilities have hoe squads with an armed overseer on horseback. It takes one back to yesteryear.

Many outsiders have a mental picture of inmates lifting weights and swapping tales. When one works the hoe squad, the kitchen, the laundry or any other kind of labor 5 days a week many don’t have the strength to lift weights.

Inmates should work. Then they can return to their cages where the temperatures sometimes reach 130 degrees and cover themselves with a wet towel to try and get relief. There is no air conditioning and nobody has a TV in their cell.

Prison beef is prime and brings a good price. It is sold off to processors who sell the scraps to the next company. The prisons get back what is left at that point and each box is marked “Not for human consumption”. A lot of soy is mixed in and this is what prisoners eat.

There is something wrong with a society that puts people in cages, treats them like animals and expect them to act like humans when released.

Our next governor should be someone who will rip down the current parole system and build something that works. Parole has a job to determine how well an inmate has done while in the system. Making a judgment based on the nature of the crime is what the Judge does at the time of sentencing. The inmate can do everything right in prison but there is no way to change the nature of the crime that brought someone there. It is things such as this that make us want to throw the whole bunch out and start over. Elections are coming up. We don’t elect parole board members but we can throw out the bums that appoint them give them unlimited power and sit back and watch them screw with everyone around them.

Prison is expensive. We are paying $20,000 and up for every year an inmates remains locked up. How many of them are you willing to support and for how long? We can start making a list of individuals that are willing to be financially responsibility for one or more inmates. Please limit your demands for longer sentences only to individual inmates that you support. This country is filled with people who want to lock'em up and throw the key away. If asked to put your money where your mouth is there would be little cash and lots of attitude. If we had as many wise people as we have wise asses our country would not be rocking on the edge of disaster. Every dime the government has comes from our pockets.. Cutting prison populations and spending more on education would be my preference. That is not the way things are done in a nation of people who already know everything.