Opinions

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Opinions

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We recently replied to an OpEd in the Aug. 20th Edition of the Houston Chronicle written by Jim Shields. The OpEd is an excellent example of how "child saviors" manipulate the facts and spread myths and lies. His OpEd and our response can be viewed by clicking on the MEMO button below.

The New Outcast

The word outcast is ringing in my head as I try to absorb the news coverage of the new sex offender law that is ubiquitous on my TV and in the newspapers. Everyday it seems that a new law is being past in a new child’s name, a law d’jour if you will. There is Megan’s law, Jacob’s law, Jessica’s law and now Adams law. What about a law that protects the hundreds of thousands of children of registered sex offenders? These children are being ostracized in the name of one child. Where is the law for those children? We are guaranteeing two generations of outcasts. The 600,000 registered sex offenders, (which is growing every day); they’re loved ones and their children. How do I know what it is like to be on this registry? I am the wife of a registered sex offender. I am an outcast by proxy. Believe me, these registries DO constitute cruel and unusual punishment, I am living it. There have been 39 murders of offenders on the registry as of this writing. There has been homes’ set on fire, pets poisoned, children bullied, offenders and their families forced to move from their homes. People are losing jobs and can’t provide the basic needs of their families. My only crime is aggressively addressing the molestation of my child and working through it as a family. How dare society tell me that I cannot help my child confront her offender and let us move on with our lives in private.

Let me ask you a question; is it possible that our schools are a mirror image of our society? Have we all forgotten Columbine? The outcasts striking out against the apathetic general population? We as a society are condoning the ultimate scarlet letter to quite a significant number of the populations. Just think about the repercussions.

There has to be a more humane way to assimilate these data banks than to humiliate people and their families. This is by far the cruelest most inhumane way to deal with people who have already paid their debt to society. Not every sex offender is the same. This cookie cutter approach is not the answer. Is the offender a true predator who is high risk and needs to be monitored very, very closely or just some one, who made a mistake, received intense counseling and has not re-offended. As it stands now it does not matter. There needs to be a panel of experts that evaluate the risk to the community before an offender is placed on the public registry. Every victim and every offender is different. I believe that the police need to keep a separate registry of all offenders that is not made public on the Internet. Have we gone back to Puritan times when the punishment was to get stoned in the village square?

What does work to keep our children safe? EDUCATION!!! We need to empower our children. There are definite tools you can arm your children with that truly make a difference. Demand programs in our schools that deal with child assault prevention. TALK to your children on this subject. Shining a spotlight on the “bad people” is going to give a false sense of security to the parents of this country. The “STATE” cannot be your babysitter. The real crime is not dealing with your issues or worse yet making it impossible for either victim or offender to get help without tearing the family apart at the seams. Will mothers be willing to get help for their children if she knows it is a virtual death sentence for her spouse or sibling? What could possibly be worse than the dual betrayal of the child?

I am so scared for my child. Not because of people like my husband who has grown so much as a person, but because our politicians are creating a false sense of security at the same time we are creating a whole new class of outcasts.

Linda

Re-classify sex offenders

An Opinion posted in the Walton Tribune Published July 07, 2006

By Sharon Swanepoel
The Loganville Tribune

    We all think of the registered sex offender as that person who really should still be in jail. The creepy old man who was caught molesting a child, will probably do it again sometime and could land up raping and possibly murdering another innocent child.

    We need all our children protected from people like that.

    But in truth the sex offender registry possibly has more people on it who don't fit that profile than those who do.

    Shouldn't our resources and manpower be concentrated in giving our children protection where they really need it? Spreading those resources out over such a broad definition significantly dilutes them and could prove a lot more dangerous than beneficial.

    As Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman said, the law should differentiate on a much clearer basis with degrees of severity for the offense committed. Let those with the profile we all associate as the typical sex offender get the full attention of our law enforcement resources.

    When the law classifies any 18-year old who has sex with his 16-year old girlfriend as someone who could face some of the same penalties, we are asking for trouble. Without advocating rampant premarital sex among teens, reality tells us that every single high school, church group and many, many families have some of these so-called criminals in their midst.

    If there are circumstances that need prosecution in this group, go ahead and do so. But at least make it so that 10 years down the line, when that now 28-year old is married to his now 26-year old high-school sweetheart, they can find a place to live where they can go to church as a family and their children can go to school.

    Sheriff’s departments across the state are already stretched pretty thin financially. And where are all those who are likely to defy the bill going to be housed? If they are true sex offenders of the worst kind, finding resources to put them away will be worth the effort. But finding room in our jails for those whose conviction and branding as a sex offender in the first place is probably questionable, seems like a true waste of resources.

    House Bill 1059 might have sounded great on the face of it because we were all thinking of that "typical" sex offender. And I'm sure even those who foresaw the problems it could cause weren't about to say so.

    Nobody, especially those facing re-election, were going to appear to be going to bat for sex offenders. Even sheriffs from departments across the state who tried to point out the flaws had to be cautious with this one.

    After all, the sheriff's office is also an elected one. Once this was on the table, it was definitely going to pass.

    Thousand of dollars have already been spent by sheriff’s departments across the state, gearing up to police the law as it originally stood before the last minute court interventions.

    I hope those who took credit for advocating it in the first place are now going to take responsibility for not thinking it through. — including those parts of it that cost thousands of taxpayer dollars in preparation at the outset and are likely to cost plenty more in legal fees before it's all said and done.

Our Reply

During the spring session, I, along with others told the Senator Preston Smith and the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Iowa experience with harsh residency restrictions for sex offenders. Additionally, I sent letters to the members of the House Judiciary Committee.

Iowa noted a substantial rise in absconding. They noted offenders were already monitored in approved living arrangements by the Dept. of Corrections. Last year 140 of the 6,000 people on Iowa's sex offender registry were listed as "whereabouts unconfirmed”. There are 400 now.

Other jurisdictions around the United States have seen similar results from harsh proximity laws. In some, the rate of absconders jumped to fifty percent. Families now have no idea who is living next to schools, playgrounds, etc. The same thing is already happening in Georgia. As an example, at the end of May, in Cobb County, there were 17 reported absconders. Today there are 26.

According to the Jacob Wetterling Foundation, most sex offenders live in an area due to its proximity to their family or therapy provider. Chasing them away from therapist and family support network is not in the best interest of public safety. It is proven, sex offenders are less likely to re-offend if they live and work in an environment free of harassment.

The public needs to be more concerned about high-risk sex offenders and absconders, not the low risk offenders who are working hard to comply with their probation and therapy guidelines or who have paid their debt to society and are on the Sex Offender Registry by law. Because law enforcement has to spend precious resources tracking low risk offenders, instead of high-risk absconders, children remain at risk.

Due to the school bus stop ban, almost all offenders’ in Georgia, and their families, has to move. How can anyone look into the eyes of a child and tell them that they deserve to be homeless, stigmatized, and made a pariah? Do the children of registrants even count? According to our Legislators, Attorney General, Lt. Governor, and Governor, they do not. It is time we demand logic and common sense. If they cannot or will not do what is right, they need to be removed by the voters in November.

We must have more faith in ourselves than in government to solve the sex abuse problem. Citizens, communities, journalist, media personalities, and legislators should demand a National Sex Offender Public Policy Forum to address these issues. This would help state and local governments formulate workable, cost effective laws that protect the rights of all citizens. Forums should include mental health professionals, jurist, law enforcement and corrections personnel, victims and their families, offenders and their families. The offender’s families are secondary casualties of ill-conceived laws. In lieu of fostering a fearful witch-hunt mentality for election year sound bites, legislators should step up to this societal challenge. They should strive to dispel the myths and create the environment for policy and subsequent legislation to succeed, creating a safe society for all children.

The following opinions were sent in to the Atlanta Journal Constitution in response to the new Georgia legislation HB1059. We have removed their names to protect their privacy. The original is on file.

Monday, July 3, 2006

Legislators went too far

While the residents of Georgia were not paying attention, a group of overzealous representatives wrote a law that effectively will prevent a whole class of people from, among other things, attending religious services under penalty of 10 to 30 years in prison. I am ashamed to say that our General Assembly passed this law and the governor signed it. Were they afraid to oppose this unconstitutional law for fear of losing political gain?

This seems to be the year of "stick it to the sex offenders," although supporters of the law say it's meant to protect the state's children.

This is a free country that has a Constitution guaranteeing certain rights to all its citizens, regardless of their class. I hope people without a political agenda will work to remove this law from the books, and if further laws are needed to protect our children, I hope they'll be written by smarter people.

LS, Lindale

Churches shouldn't be off limits to anyone

I understand and support the need to protect our children from sex offenders. However, I feel there is a message in the new law the majority of people are missing.

While you might not invite a sex offender to a ballgame, a skating rink or some other similar activity, why wouldn't you invite one to church? What type of person would discourage someone from attending church? When it becomes illegal for anyone in society to attend church, we need to be scared.

Georgia lawmakers are proud of this new law and defend it. Adolf Hitler defended his actions and was proud of what he did, too. Do you really feel any safer because of this new law? What kind of state are we really trying to create?

SM, Dahlonega

Blanket policy not the best way to go

I have have a problem with the definition and categorization of a sex offender.

There is a world of difference between the 18-year-old who has consensual sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend and gets caught, and the predator pedophile who trolls the parks and school grounds looking for children, or the serial rapist who brutally attacks women.

Until a distinction is made between the types of offenses that occur, any blanket policy intended to keep sex offenders away from children will be immoral, if not unconstitutional.

SVJ, Decatur

From the Bill Allen Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog:

(Click here to visit the blog.)

Remember, those on the registries aren’t there only for serial rapings or child sexual abuse. A number of other “acts” which can land one on these lists are: urinating in public, sex with a 17 year old male or female, innocent touching which can be misconstrued. Don’t forget that undoubtedly some of these people on the lists were falsely convicted. After all, in some cases, it simply his word against hers with no physical evidence or a child’s word against an indicted molester. Also DAs love to pile up charges and see how many stick. (I have personally seen this occur.)

Megan’s List is being mis-used as a witch hunt against many, and society will come to regret it. For pointers, read Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. I teach it in school and it’s a real eye opener.

- Shelly

Those people who care about how cruel and impossible this law is need more information on how to reach reasonable men and women in a position to change the trend of banishment, ostracism, and ignorance. The treatment we are talking about sets our laws and our right to privacy and our faith in the power of the human being back hundreds of years.

- Susan

How is living 1,000 feet from a school bus-stop going to prevent a sex offender from re-offending? If known alcoholics weren’t allowed to live next door to the liquor store, does that mean he would be sober the rest of his life? If these people are so dangerous, what in the world are they doing out of prison? If the state sees fit to release a criminal from prison, leave him alone and let him get his life back together. This life-long harassment will do nothing to protect children.

- Denise

Do we still live in America or what? How can we as Americans do this to our own people not only will this law hurt the offenders but it will also hurt their families too, I think the politicians better read the constitution, this laws is wrong and when will the politicians stop, never if we don’t stop them frist, they just want to buy votes they don’t really care about the kids, if they did they would of found a way to stop all the drugs from being sold in our country a long time ago.

- Gary

Thank you for your comments. HB1059 is outrageous. I have spoken with law enforcement personnel that helped write this law and the part that prevents a RSO from living or working within 1000 ft of a school bus stop was intended for predators only, yet the person who sponsored this bill went against the overwhelming recommendation of the people who counsel and police the RSO’s and thanks to election year politics, this bill was passed. The comment was made that “it might be an inconvenience for some”. BS!!! Anyone who has tried to comply with the 1000 ft of a school bus stop requirement has found it completely impossible. There is an existing law that severely limits where a RSO can live, we did not need anything new. As noted in other comments, there currently is no risk assessment system (even though this law says there must be prior to it being enforced), and all offenders are treated as though they all raped a child. In the state of Georgia, out of 11,000 RSO’s there are 14 convicted sexual predators.....I have read the entire HB1059 and I am deeply disturbed that this bill was so carelessly written, it is all about punishment without provisions. It is painfully obvious that if they had taken the time to spell out all of the exceptions and special provisions for people who are elderly or disabled, or fall in the catagory that HB1059 now deems no longer a felony,etc, that this bill would have never cleared the floor in time to be enacted into law in time for election year politicians to benefit from it.

- Vivian

As one who has been a Christian and a conservative for many years, I am embarrassed at how Georgia Republicans acted like liberals with this sex offender legislation. Conservatism is based on fact and rationale thought...... Legislators are sworn to uphold, support, and defend the Constitution. That means not passing laws that contradict the Constitution. In a democracy, the majority rules and we see laws like this that run roughshod over our Constitution. For example, this law adds to a previously convicted felon’s sentence without due process - a clear violation of the 14th amendment and a passel of ex post facto case law..... Democrats will have a field day with this sorry legislation come fall. Its abject failure will be hung around Republicans heads like an albatross. The innocent spouses, children, and grandchildren of those classified as sex offenders who are not a danger to others will be victimized. Rep. Keen, in seeing that as an “inconvenience” is showing his true liberal colors.

- Dan

The law is stupid. You can’t live/work within 1,000 ft of any place children congregate but you can live right next door to a child.. Hmmmm, think about that people—makes a lot of sense. Typical backwards Georgia to think of something so dumb. Things should have been left the way they were.

- Katie

Thank you for this article! Finally there is a voice of reason! Everyone agrees that our children need and deserve protection from violent predators, those same people need to realize that only a very small minority of sex offenders are categorized as violent predators..... Restricting where those forced to register as sex offenders does nothing to protect our kids and in fact hurts the family members, including children..... Yes, let’s protect our children, but let’s get it right so that our kids are protected!

- Lousie

When people hear the same story over and over it begins to have the ring of truth. Underneath it is still a myth but people will argue that it is fact. Myths about sex offenders have caused coast-to-coast hysteria and created a rash of unworkable laws. The state of Georgia is a prime example..... The truth is that we all must live somewhere. We must all send our children to school. All children should enjoy the church, the parks and the pools. Before you further destroy innocent children and other family members, arm yourself with the knowledge from an unbiased source. Once that is done you must have the courage to do what is right.

- Ohara

If people want to keep their children safe from sex offenders, their first step should be to tell the politicians to stay out of it and dump the ones to don’t. With the one exception of the registry, every law that has been passed has been useless at best and most are counterproductive. Even the registry is only useful for law enforcement purposes..... The bottom line Mr. legislator is that this is an election year isn’t it and for the poor uninformed masses sex offenders are easy targets aren’t they? Well you low life you had all of these facts. You knew what happened with the banishment zones in Iowa Where the county attorneys are now begging for their repeal. You knew that you were making the public FEEL safe with these laws but you also knew that you were making Georgia’s children LESS safe by passing them. You had the facts from therapists, child advocacy groups, the Sheriffs Association and the state of Iowa and you chose to ignore them just to garner votes. We see you touting this every day in your campaign ads. Well, I for one hope every one of your worthless butts gets kicked come November.

- Joe

I agree with your comments on sex offender laws there seems to be no research and no consideration on what the real problems are . There seems to be a large amount of lying going. To say it is OK to destroy peoples lives knowing you may be in error is not what America is about. As a tax Payer I expect my government to perform research and find out the facts then use this process along with professionals in the field of sex crimes to solve the issues.

- John

Read the Op-Ed: Sexual Fascism in America

Is it not time citizens demand a National Public Policy Forum to help state and local governments adopt legislation that not only makes sense, but protects the rights of all society?

SOS-Net supports RATIONAL LAWS that protects ALL CITIZENS and provides for PEOPLE who want to CHANGE..........Contact your legislators and demand a National Sex Offender Policy Forum..........this will enable them to draft sensible laws that work!

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