Messages from RSOL
Short messages for the frontpage of RSOL
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YOU ARE NOT YOUR CRIME
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 06.09.2010
Link to this message: [0081] |
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YOU ARE NOT YOUR CRIME!
Brenda Jones, the RSOL MD co-contact, founded FAIR, which is now the RSOL affiliate. Thanks, Brenda, for this strong message! Brenda´s email is bvjones59@yahoo.com , and FAIR´s (Families Advocating for Intelligent Registries) is fairregistry@gmail.com .
Our entire message to registered members, at FAIR, can be summed up in five words:
YOU ARE NOT YOUR CRIME.
This is the truth. The truth will set you free. Everything else is lies. |
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Vols Needed for Research on On-line Porn Possession caes
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 05.09.2010
Link to this message: [0080] |
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WE URGE YOU TO HELP THIS RESEARCHER!
ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS URGED TO HELP THIS RESEARCH:
Send comments to the researcher, K. Wright, karebear_808@yahoo.com with a copy to alexm60@fastmail.fm . This long-time RSOL participant is working on her master´s in social work, and her project is a two year study of cases of false accusations or convictions for online porn possession. We urge you to contact her and help in this important research.
Alex Marbury |
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Barely a Teenager & Marked For Life!
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By posted by Tonia <toniat@sbcglobal.net>
Posted on 03.09.2010
Link to this message: [0079] |
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BARELY A TEENAGER & MARKED FOR LIFE!
This very important article echoes what RSOL and solresearch.org have been saying for several years now. This is outrageous! We urge all RSOL participants to write In These Times to congratulate them on publishing this important article, and to share it widely.
Also posted on www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org, news page, as news item no. 265.
alex
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Barely a Teenager and Marked for Life
Federal law requiring juvenile sex offenders to register as predators for life does more harm than good
By Caitlin Dickson
IN THESE TIMES
Sept. 3, 2010
URL
http://inthesetimes.com/article/6334/barely_a_teenager_and_marked_for_life
Under federal law, a 14-year-old boy who has sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl could be branded for life.
Juvenile justice experts argue that therapy is the most effective way to deter future offenses and that lifetime registration harms juveniles’ chances of reintegrating into society.
In 1999, Anthony, a 13-year-old boy who weighed 350 pounds, told his four-year-old cousin to expose herself. Anthony, now 24, swears he did not touch her. Nonetheless, her father pressed charges and Anthony was found delinquent for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, sentenced to sex offender treatment, and assigned a lifetime spot on Iowa’s public sex offender registry.
Ten years after beginning treatment at Woodward Academy in Woodward, Iowa, Anthony, who asked that his last name not be published, finds it impossible to lead a normal life. Permanently associated with dangerous pedophiles and pathological rapists, his childhood mistake has hindered his ability to find work, housing and societal acceptance. Although he left Woodward when he was 18, Iowa’s residency restriction at that time—which barred sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school—forced him to leave his family’s home in Des Moines for a trailer with no electricity on land owned by his father in rural Osceola, Iowa.
Anthony’s plight could soon become common among all of America’s juvenile sex offenders, who in 2009 were responsible for one-third of all sex offenses against minors in the United States. Following the 2006 passage of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), the federal government instructed all U.S. states and Indian territories to adopt a new sex offender registry system that includes juvenile offenders. But at the July 2009 deadline, not one state had complied.
Iowa has long required juvenile sex offenders to register their crimes online. And it is moving closer to the federally mandated system—in 2009 Iowa updated its laws to look more like SORNA. As other states consider compliance—the Justice Department has set a new July 2011 deadline—the impact of Iowa’s already strict registry system offers a window into what adulthood might look like for juvenile offenders around the country.
Therapeutic punishment
The new federal legislation organizes sex offenders into three tiers, categorized by the severity of their crime. The tier to which a defendant is assigned determines the punishment and duration of registration. The highest, tier III, covers the most heinous offenses. Anyone 14 or older who has sexually offended against a child 13 or younger is put in tier III, and required to register for life.
Critics of the juvenile registry system believe that tier III requirements are unnecessarily harsh when applied to all juveniles. Only 10 percent of young offenders will re-offend, according to the Center for Sex Offender Management. Yet young offenders who commit crimes against even younger peers are stuck in the most serious category.
Juvenile justice experts argue that therapy, not registration, is the most effective way to deter future offenses and that lifetime registration harms juveniles’ chances of reintegrating into society. All juveniles judged delinquent (the equivalent of being convicted in juvenial court) for sex crimes in Iowa are required to undergo treatment. Woodward Academy, the largest of three sex offender treatment facilities in the state, receives kids from all over the country.
“These kids are young enough that we can teach them right from wrong,” says Tonna Lawrenson, the academy’s program director. Woodward’s long-term sex offender treatment program treats juveniles whose offenses range from what experts call “Romeo and Juliet”-style statutory rapes (where the sex is consensual, but because of the participants’ ages, illegal) to flashing, fondling and forcing younger children to expose themselves.
As is the case with many teen offenders, Anthony’s act against his cousin was not random, but stemmed from his own childhood abuse. When he was nine, a 16-year-old boy sodomized him and threatened to kill his mother if anyone found out.
Children act out sexually for a variety of other reasons. Anthony Rodriguez, therapist and founder of The Men’s Center in Davenport, Iowa, is one of four sex addiction experts in the state and has worked extensively with sexually abusive youth. He says a lack of attachment between parent and child can cause children a great amount of anxiety—an anxiety that is relieved when they do something like look at pornography or touch someone inappropriately.
Lawrenson also sees many young offenders exhibit behavior she says is not natural, but learned. “I’ve never believed that a child is born to be a sex offender,” she says.
Stephen Draminski agrees. “They become what we call ‘sexually reactive,’” says Draminski, who leads a sex offender treatment group at the Robert Young Center in Rock Island, Ill. “They act out sexually in different ways, replaying their abuse over and over again.” He says poor social skills combined with sexual curiosity can also prompt an offense.
Draminski’s group therapy focuses heavily on empathy, teaches kids to manage destructive emotions, and promotes healthy relationships and sexual behavior. At Woodward, intensive one-on-one therapy allows kids to discuss things that might embarrass them in front of peers. In one of these individual sessions, Anthony finally revealed his own abuse to Lawrenson, years after it happened.
‘Big enough to commit the crime’?
Those opposed to lifetime juvenile registration suggest that it does not prevent future offenses, since sexual abuse is most often committed not by strangers but by someone in, or close to, the family. “Registration gives people a false sense of security, a false sense of hope,” says Randy Smith, who reviewed adult and juvenile sex offenders for courts in Chicago and Ohio.
But despite the efforts of advocates, the futures of young offenders like Anthony are in the hands of elected officials unlikely to oppose a law that claims to protect children from sexual abuse. Smith says, “A lot of sex offender laws come from the six o’clock news, from the random person who buries the kids in the woods.”
Iowa State Senator Jerry Behn, who authored the state’s original residency restriction in 2002, admits the law overreached when it applied to all sex offenders, rather than only dangerous pedophiles. But, Behn says, “anyone who votes to fix this now is going to be viewed as light on sexual predators.”
Erin Lovejoy, a detective who tracks sex offenders for the Des Moines Police Department, admits registration is more effective at quelling public fears than preventing offenses. “It’s not going to prevent an act from occurring by any means. Nothing will do that unless they’re locked up,” she says.
Anthony spent one year in prison after moving into his mother’s Des Moines home in 2007 to care for her as she died. This was a violation of Iowa’s harsh residency restrictions since she lived within 2,000 feet of a school. The 2,000-foot restriction was amended in 2009, but Iowa still prohibits registered sex offenders from working at or visiting places frequented by children, such as schools, public pools, libraries and fairs.
Iowa Associate Juvenile Judge Constance Cohen believes employment and residency restrictions should factor in successful treatment and behavioral change. She says, “If you paint with such a broad brush, it will eliminate opportunities for these kids.”
The new 2009 Iowa law also limits the power juvenile court judges once had to waive registration, thus bringing the state closer to compliance with SORNA. Cohen says this will force more juveniles to register whether or not they are at risk to re-offend. Behn, however, opposes judicial discretion. “If a person is big enough to commit the crime,” he says, “they’re big enough to pay for it.”
Those who work closest with juvenile offenders maintain that the negative effects of lifetime registration are well-documented. But it is politicians like Behn who set the rules for juvenile sex offenders. This means Anthony, who at 13—like so many others—was “big enough to commit the crime,” will spend the rest of his life paying for it. |
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Brave Man in Wisconsin!
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 01.09.2010
Link to this message: [0078] |
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A BRAVE REGISTERED PERSON IN WISCONSIN TAKES PROTESTS TO THE STREETS
Randall Saunders is indeed a brave and honest man - he has taken his protest against being classified a ´sex offender,´ when he says he is not, to the streets, as chronicled in 4 videos posted on Youtube
URL
www.youtube.com/user/randalljays
While we don´t agree with everything he says - RSOL favors total abolition of a public registry, while Saunders does not - we applaud his courage and urge other RSOL participants to emulate him.
Randall is part of the excellent Wisconsin RSOL, headed by Francie Baldino, who held a meeting in Detroit this month, which Marshall Burns attended. More than 30 RSOLers participated in this meeting! We also congratulate Marshall for continuing this long odyssey across America, and we look forward to his further documentation. The first part of his trip is already on the rsol-associated site, solreserch.org. Hoorah for Randall, for Francie and for Marshall!
(This will also be posted as Blog 263 on the www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org blog page.) You can email Randall at randalljays@yahoo.com, Francie at reformsolaw_mi@att.net, and Marshall at mburns@solresearch.org |
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New RSOL California Organizer Speaks Out!
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By Alex <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 24.08.2010
Link to this message: [0077] |
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Young California Organizer Speaks Out! "If You Feel Burdened, RSOL Is Your Family.2"
Our newest state organizer, Ryan Donner, has taken on a BIG job - California has over 125 RSOL participants, and is a huge state with very bad laws, more in the offing. His enthusiasm and dedication at the age of 22 for his partner and now for all sex offenders and their families is incredible! We hope it catches everybody´s attention!
Thanks, Ryan. Please send him an email, californiarsol@hotmail.com, and if you know Californians, enlist them in this fight! Alex.
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I am brand new to RSOL. My battles with the opposing side are not numerous, and I don't get much support when I discuss this topic. I too feel very small. So why do I do it? Why do I try and fight something that will take a lifetime (I am 22 mind you) to see turn in my favor?
At first I did start doing it for one person. For my partner. 20 years later, and he still faces issues from his crime. Then I started doing it for myself as well. Why should I receive any flak for a crime I didn't commit, just because I am in a relationship with an SO. Then I started finding other people and listened to their stories. It made me very sad. I became outraged and would go to bed angry! How could a majority of people take away the rights of a minority! Minorities are supposed to be protected classes no matter who they are!
So why do I do what I do? I do it because life isn't fair, but it shouldn't be that way. Life can be fair. The justice system can be fair. If we don't stand up and make it fair then it wont happen, and it will only get worse. There are so many people that need a voice like mine, and like yours, to stand up and fight. These people are so grateful for our voices.
If you feel burdend; RSOL is your family, and you can lean on them!
We must keep moving forward!
Ryan Donner
California RSOL Organizer
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Dr. Phil Doesn´t Do His Homework - Surprise!
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By Joni <joniplcjj@hotmail.com>
Posted on 18.08.2010
Link to this message: [0076] |
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DR.PHIL DOESN´T DO HIS HOMEWORK - SURPRISE!
'A Predator Next Door' - You obviously didn't do your homework on the number that reoffend. Well, you did spout some statistics, but why not mention that over 90% are first time offenders and over 90% are by people known to the child. Or that 95% of those on the registry ARE NOT A DANGER TO CHILDREN! Why didn't you let ignorant Americans know that the vast majority of RSO's are there because of laws that make it impossible to defend themselves; that they are refused to allow evidence of their innocence; that the 'victim' is always right and will be taken at their word; that plea bargaining is the norm and if they don't take it, more charges are thrown on by overzealous DA's, that life in prison is possible on a first offense, that juries don't want to look soft on SO's, so of course they will take the plea. I've lost all respect for you and your one-sided show. You could have let the public know all this to bring the fear factor down, but instead you had on a bunch of people instilling more fear.
Joni
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Joni is a longtime RSOL activist and formerly one of the Women Against the Registry - which RSOL soon hopes to revive! Good going Joni. We urge all RSOL participants to let Dr. Phil know he´s being watched by those who seriously evaluate his lies.
alex
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US HAS BECOME LIKE THE USSR
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By Fima <estrinyefim@gmail.com>
Posted on 14.08.2010
Link to this message: [0075] |
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"I grew up in communist country, and the sad thing is that all the communists taught us about the US was true."
Fima Estrin was a brave resister to Soviet tyranny, and fled to the US, seeking freedom. In this country, he became a victim of the sex offender panic. He now serves as the RSOL Minnesota organizer, fighting Minnesota and US unjust laws. WE NEED TO GET THE WORD OUT TO AMERICA - WE HAVE BECOME LIKE THE FORMER USSR IN OUR APPROACH TO SEX OFFENDERS!
Another strong RSOL state contact, Renate in Illinois (gvr123@aol.com) has added her own powerful comment -
Renate writes,
I am from Germany, i lived 20 km away from the former DDR i remember going into the east sector, i remember the searches, i remember the wall, i remember the watch towers and i also remember all those life's lost trying to get a cross the border. i remember those who were shot in between the boarder, shot and the world to see till they bled to death. i know exactly what fima is talking about, even though i did not grow up in a communistic country. this country is very close to it. government in our houses telling us what we can do and what we can't if you have money, you can buy your way out, same if you have connections it is the hysteria what takes the common sense away. renate
We urge all who agree with Fima and Renate to join us in our struggle!
Alex Marbury |
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The Mother´s Rebellion - CounterPunch
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By JoAnn Wypijewsk <jwyp@earthlink.net>
Posted on 13.08.2010
Link to this message: [0074] |
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Wypijewski Interviews RSOL Moms in DC for CounterPunch
Defending the 700,000 Most Despised
People in America:
The Mother’s Rebellion
CounterPunch, August 2010 Print Edition
By JoAnn Wypijewski
Early this summer an organization representing arguably the most despised people in America, and calling itself obliquely RSOL, for Reform Sex Offender Laws, met in Washington D.C. to allow people from across the country to talk strategy, lobby Congress and simply step from the heavy shadow of fear and shame.
From the looks on their face, it seems never to have occurred to Congressional aides that the 700,000-plus people on America’s sex offender registries might have loved ones, or might themselves finally have grown sick of keeping quiet. The aides surely were as clueless as I had been that in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico some of these people have been stopping ever more punitive legislation
or revising existing law in the direction of sanity, and that the wives and, mostly, mothers of people on the registry had discovered the radical essence of simply speaking up.
I talked to three women. Only one, Mary Duval, who started a group called SOSEN in Oklahoma and co-hosts a weekly radio talk show, wanted to be identified by her full name.
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Sarah: Don’t get me wrong: my son made a mistake. As soon as he saw “14 years old” on that Internet chat, he should have said, click, goodbye. But I want this to be recognized as a total entrapment, by a crooked system. And if I have to walk from Mansfield, Ohio, to Washington, DC, to bring attention to what’s going on in this country, that’s what I’m going to do. I threatened to walk naked, but nobody wants to look at me naked.
JW: That might make you a registered sex offender. But let’s go back a little bit. You are originally from Lebanon?
S: My mother was born here, in Chinson, West Virginia. Her father had come from Lebanon. He worked and accumulated money, took the family back to Lebanon and bought lots of land. My mother married my dad there, and later on she faced a lot of hard times, so when she was 38 years old she left seven kids behind and came back to the United States, the land of freedom and second chances. Uneducated, she worked and brought all her kids here, originally to Wheeling. My older sister, who was like a second mom, she eventually moved to Mansfield, Ohio. Her husband worked at GM, in a new plant there. By that time Wheeling was on the downhill slide, so we just followed her one after the other, and I am still in Mansfield.
JW: Is the GM plant still there?
S: It went out of business last year. So Mansfield right now is on the decline. You can’t hardly get a job. You can’t sell a house. You can’t do anything, so it’s very much a different scenario. I worked at Frigidaire for twenty-nine years, until they moved to Mexico eleven years ago. At one time we had like 2,500 people there. But, you know, if you are a survivor you just say, “There’s an opportunity somewhere else.” I didn’t even apply for unemployment. I got a job in the hospital working in the outreach lab, where we do in-home draws on patients who need blood work.
JW: How many people had worked at GM?
S: About 1,800. We have so many factories closed it’s like rat haven. That’s what we call it because that’s who inhabits the buildings. The steel mill is still there, but, again, it went from almost 3,000 employees to maybe 350. My in-laws, they came here from Yugoslavia after the war. He opened an industrial fabricating business. At one time he had 120 employees, they were working 24/7; now it’s hard to even bid jobs. How he stays in business, because he’s a union shop and they pay high wages, I will never know. They’re using their personal money to keep their doors open. Really, almost all we have right now in Mansfield is a lot of law enforcement. So this is the sign of the time.
JW: Now tell me about your son.
S: I met my husband, a very nice family. He worked for his dad; he did industrial roofing. We got married. We built a house. We had a really good life, and then he got sick and passed away. But before that, we adopted my son from Lebanon. I brought him home December 19, 1982. He was our early Christmas present. His dad died when he was 2 and a half; from then on it was just J. and myself, so I prioritized him in my life. He’s a good kid, graduated high school on the
National Honor Society. J. went to a college in Northern California, in Humboldt County, and, oh, it’s beautiful! The mountains are here, the ocean is here. He started a Greco-Roman wrestling club there, and then he decides that he wants to go to the Olympics as a Greco-Roman wrestler! I said, “J., people who go to the Olympics start when they’re little kids.” He started in high school. But he was relentless, and when he graduated college, in 2005, the coach of the US wrestling team in Colorado Springs said, “I’m going to give you a chance.” So in January 2006 he was training at the Olympic Center, working, pursuing a graduate degree in kinesthiology at University of Colorado, and he was there three months when this happened.
JW: What’s “this”?
S: He was living with other Olympians, and they were never around. He was lonely. It was a Saturday night and he was on the Internet looking for a girl. Unlike what you see on TV, he was on adult Yahoo chat. He said, I’m new in town, I would like a friend to do things with. That’s when cops come in on your conversation. This cop starts alluding to sexual things, and then “she” says, “I’m 14.” This is a 46-year-old cop. His job is to sit behind a computer and do this work on the Internet. Now, what’s a 46-year-old cop doing pretending to be a 14-year-old girl? He and his wife; these are their full-time
jobs. The country is broke, but the federal government funds these people to do this.
JW: Have you seen the transcripts?
S: No. I just requested his whole file, because I want to put it out there. But I know the “girl” asked my son to send a picture of himself. He sent a picture of his wrestling team, five guys, and really goofy-looking guys; you know, wrestlers are the goofiest-looking people you could meet. She typed back, “Is this the best
that you can do?” He said, “What do you mean?” Naïve. Very naïve. She asked him if he has a condom. “Yes, I have a condom, but I’m not interested in sex. You’re too young for that stuff.” The conversation went on, and she asked him to come over. “I’m really tired, it’s 10 o’clock,” he said. “You know, I’m trying to meet friends in Colorado; I’ll come over tomorrow.” She said, “My mother will be here.” He said, “So what? I’ll meet your mother. I’m just trying to make friends.” “No, I want to meet you tonight.” Well, he made a huge mistake; he did go over. But first he asked her to send him a picture. She sends a picture of a 25-year-old Hispanic girl. He said, “You sure look old for 14.” He gets to the decoy house and sits outside thinking about it. And the decoy, who is not a child, she comes to the door and says, “Come on in.” He says, “You come out. I don’t trust too many people.” Finally, after coaxing, he goes in, and there’s a SWAT team there. So he goes to jail; 3 o’clock in the morning they start interrogating him. Well, the guy who interrogates J. tells him, “Of all the nineteen kids we got here tonight, you’re the only one I believe, because I read your [Internet] transcript.” Well, my son starts talking, which he shouldn’t talk, period. He had no experience, didn’t know the law, knows absolutely nothing. That was Saturday night. I get a call on Sunday; he’s in jail. And my life ended right there.
JW: Do you remember the date?
S: March 26, 2006. He called me on Sunday, the 27. I had to arrange a bond of $15,000. They charged him with enticement. Who was enticing who? They charge him with a felony five, attempted sexual assault on a child. What child? And one other charge, I don’t remember. Well, anyways, I cashed my IRAs in and hired an attorney. He didn’t do, excuse me, shit. I think J. said three bad words on the chat; he’s so embarrassed he wouldn’t tell me, but the attorney told me. He said J. kept saying, “What’s a young girl like you doing on the Internet? Are you sure your parents don’t mind you doing this?” The DA accused my son of being nice to get into her pants. Fox News Channel 9 ran a series about the sting for a whole week, “Predators at Your Door.” Before these kids even had their day in court! In the newspaper the sheriff and the DA were saying, Look at these kids: none of them have any prior offenses. None of them look like sex offenders. They mentioned my son, a kid from the Olympic Center. The sheriff, his exact words were, “They’re all 100 per cent convictable.” Finally, J. took the plea. The judge gave him two years’ probation with six months’ work release and lifetime registration. We’re luckier than most mothers, believe me. I talked to a judge in Ohio, a very nice man, and he arranged for J. to do his probation in Ohio, because in Colorado, you not only have to pay $50 a month for your probation, you have to pay $500 a month for your treatment.
JW: I didn’t know people had to pay money for probation.
S: How is the state going to get Money off of you? Why do you think we’re increasing criminal prosecutions?
JW: And Ohio is better?
S: Twenty dollars a month for probation. Twenty dollars a week for treatment. In Mansfield, J. was able to work for family, making plastic piping for steel mills for two years. His probation officer was angry with him because he signed up for college classes without approval. In Colorado, before the sentencing we had to get permission so he could take his finals. Sex offenders can’t go to college in Colorado. Well, he got a 4.0. Under all this stress, this kid gets a 4.0! Now he’s taking earth science courses at Ohio State in Columbus, and doing research on water quality and applying to graduate
schools.
JW: So kinesthiology is out of the picture.
S: That’s working with people. He was told he could never work with people again, ever. In Ohio, he has to register once a year. If he travels – right now he’s in Utah on a research trip – he has to register with the sheriff’s office there, and every state has different rules so you have no idea how many obstacles there are in front of you. In Colorado, it’s barbaric.
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D: My son is 25, on probation in Denver, and before he goes anywhere, he has to fill out a safety plan, and the probation officer has to approve it. He wants to go to the eye doctor, he has to have a safety plan, explaining what he’ll do if a child shows up.
JW: So, say, I will be brought to the appointment by an adult in a car and if a child comes in I’ll run down to the parking lot and sit in the car until the kid is gone?
D: That kind of thing.
S: You have no idea how inhumane. Tell her about that test, D.; what’s it called – plasmo-something?
JW: Plesmograph?
D: You go into a room with an examiner. They hook your penis up to a monitor. They show you pictures of women in different states of dress, and they monitor the flow of blood in your penis. My son’s test came back as “inconclusive.” It didn’t show that he had any sexual deviance, but it didn’t show that he didn’t either. So the recommendation was that he go to therapy to learn to manage his
sexual deviance, and to learn the patterns of his sexual deviance.
JW: “Learn the patterns”? What does that mean?
D: Well, I’m not really sure because he doesn’t have any. In the evaluation it states that he accepted responsibility for what he did. But then it said that he needed to go to classes to learn to accept responsibility and the consequences of what he did.
S: : My son had that test too. We had to pay for that as part of the $1,100 risk assessment to determine how dangerous he is -- on top of the $17,000 for the attorney; $2,500 to the bondsman; travel back and forth to Colorado three times; $3,000 in court costs for the victims. What victim? The state is supposed to be the victim. He passed with flying colors, thank god.
JW: What are some other rules in Colorado?
D: My son was told he was on probation, we got a list of things we had to do for him to comply. We had to take all the alcohol out the house, which is a given. But I was shocked when I was told that I had to take all of the pictures of my great nieces and nephews and anyone under the age of 18 off my walls and out of my house. He has to call his probation officer every morning. He cannot go anywhere without permission. He works at UPS part-time, so he leaves at 2:30 in the morning. He has to call this recorded line, tell them he’s leaving, tell them his destination, how long it’s going to take, what time he’s going to arrive. When he gets there, he has to call in to say he’s arrived. When he leaves at 8:30 in the morning he has to go through the same process. He has to do this process every time he leaves the house. He had to take random urinalysis and breathalizers, which averaged out to be about four breathalizers and one urinalysis a week. We had to pay for those – the urinalysis is $11, the breathalizers $3 – and the place will only accept Money orders or cashiers’ checks. And, oh, you can’t go into the post office or bank, so you have to have somebody else get them. Anyone that comes to our house has to sign a disclosure form saying that they know my son is a sex offender and what the did.
JW: So if someone comes to deliver, I don’t know, a refrigerator?
D: They have to fill out the form. The neighbor asked if my son would rake his leaves. He had to ask permission from his probation officer. There was a girl walking down the street, and he had to run into the house. When we moved, he would open the door, look outside both ways, hurry to the trunk of the car, looking around, get the stuff and take it back into the house. It takes him about fortyfive minutes each time he has to do a urinalysis because he’s so tense. Somebody stands there and watches him pee. You have to take a polygraph exam every six months, I believe. He failed the first one on the alcohol question, so they make him take Antabuse, the medicine that makes you sick if you drink alcohol. He has to go to an office three times a week where they administer the medication, and he has to sit there for twenty minutes to see if he has a reaction. He goes to individual therapy once a week for $70 each time. He goes to group therapy once a week; that’s $50 each time. The polygraph is $240, and you mean to tell me that the polygraph examiner doesn’t know that if he fails the test, he’s going to have to turn around and pay another $240 to take another polygraph exam within a week or two weeks?
S: It’s a racket.
D: And if he fails it, he has to take Consequence Classes for four more weeks, $50 a week. Now, the other important part of my story is that my son has been on antidepressants since he was about 18. The doctors said he was chemically depressed, and what drug works now may not work next month, or next week. In probation he has to continue to take his medication or he’s not in compliance. He made a remark in group therapy once that he was going to stop taking his medication, meaning he was going to get a new one because the old one wasn’t working. His probation officer later said to him, “You know, I can get a court order to make you come to my office every morning to take your medication.” Two weeks ago today I took him to a mental health facility, because he was sobbing, “Mom, please take me to the hospital so I don’t hurt myself.” He was in the hospital, they changed his medication; completely different kid, night and day. But as they were releasing him, he was arrested and put in jail.
JW: Why?
D: Last November he missed two meetings with his individual therapist. Do you know what a hookah pipe is? Well, they’re perfectly legal, and for his birthday he got flavored tobacco and movies, and they were on the table when she came through for a home visit. She told him the hookah was a bong. Then she saw the movies and she said, “You know, R rated movies; you’re not supposed to have them. You need to get rid of all of them.” If you’re noncompliant with your probation, you can go to jail. He just got out.
JW: And what was his original crime?
D: He was 23. He was on the computer, in an adult chat room on aol. This person came in; they started a conversation. I have the transcript so I know how it went down. This person said she was 14.
S: Same detective as my son, but a different sting.
D: The conversation turned sexual, and it was very graphic. I’m not whitewashing that; it was wrong. She asked for his phone number multiple times, and he said no. She asked to meet him multiple times, and he said no. And so they got off the computer. He was on a few days later, and a girl that was 21 from Omaha, Nebraska, started asking questions about the Boulder area, da-ta-da-ta-da. She said she was moving out there for a job, she didn’t know anybody, she was leaving the next day, didn’t know how she was going to get the truck unloaded. My son gave her his phone number, and said “My friends and my brother and I will come and unload your truck for you.” When he gave that phone number, that’s how they tracked him down.
JW: For the 14-year-old? Who wasn’t any more real than the 21-year-old.
D: Right. They called him, portraying themselves as representatives of aol, asking him to come to the Jefferson County Police Department to sign a paper, banning him from aol. He said, “I can’t do that, because I don’t drive.” Earlier he had had a DUI. They said, “Well, where can you meet us?” He said, “The Starbucks at this corner.” He rode his bicycle to the Starbucks. They left the bicycle there when they arrested him.
JW: He never saw it coming. Did he go to trial?
D: He took the plea. We hired an attorney for $10,000; he met with us approximately four times: once in his office, and about five minutes each time before we went to court. In September of last year he got three years of probation. About three weeks in, he told his probation officer, “I’m just coming to terms with what I need to do to get through the three years.” She said, “Well, you know, if I don’t feel that you’re fit to go back into society at that time I can extend that.” Her words to him the first time he went into her office were “This isn’t about your rehabilitation. There is no cure for you.
This is about keeping society safe from you.” The neighbor asked if my son would rake his leaves. He had to ask permission from his probation officer. There was a girl walking down the street, and he had to run into the house. I have told many people that my son didn’t have a problem when he went into the system, but he sure as hell will have one when he comes out.
JW: Hardly any situation is neutral. Say he was here, packing up, and there was a child walking across the parking lot. He’d have to call his probation officer and say, “I’m in the parking lot of the Quality Inn, 501 New York Street NE, Washington, DC, and a child just walked across and nothing happened”?
D: Mhmm. Because if he doesn’t report that and he goes to a polygraph exam and they ask, “Have you been in close proximity to a child?” And he says no and it shows “deceptive” and he comes back and says, “Well, there was this kid in the parking lot but I didn’t report it,” he’s just failed his polygraph. Now, once he passes his first polygraph he has to take a sexual history polygraph, asking about every sexual encounter that he’s had.
JW: How graphic do they get?
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MD: Have you had sex with animals? Have you had sex with dead bodies? When you have sex, what position are you in? What do you do? When you have sex, what position are you in? What do you do? They didn’t actually say “dead bodies” they used a word—
JW: Necrophilia.
MD: Right. Ricky went up to the examiner and said, “Um, my mom and I don’t know what this word is.” The examiner said, “Don’t you bullshit, me, boy.”
JW: So every moment of atoning for your supposed sexual obsession is drenched in sex. Every life experience is turned into a kind of pornography for the treatment provider and the probation officer and the truth examiner.
MD: We mothers are going to change this. Every registered individual is a child of somebody. Somebody loves them. You know we’ve started Women Against the Registry. I, personally, want the registry abolished.
S: That’s where my heart is. I’m very angry with this country. It’s like a pólice state. We’re not a herd of animals that you can stamp some of our foreheads with a number so you can track us down.
JW: Did you feel that way before your son got caught up by law enforcement? Because an awful lot of people have been swept up by what you now call the pólice state for an awfully long time.
S: Oh, no, I was a very happy-go-lucky person. It didn’t affect me, so why should I care? Now it’s hitting a new group of people. We lost the war on drugs; now we have the war on sex. We always have to have a group of people to condemn and punish and ridicule and isolate; look at our history. But I didn’t know that. Oh, no, I was a very happy-go-lucky person. It didn’t affect me, so why should I care? Now it’s hitting a new group of people. Look at our history. But I didn’t know that history before this.
MD: This is a system that is exiling a whole generation of our young men. One-third of the registry is youths under the age of 25. So we need more mothers like Sarah and D. and Mary Sue Molnar from Texas Voices and myself to stand up and do some serious ass kicking. I was just in California, and I’m gonna be very honest, I cried every time I met someone who said, Hi, I’m Mel; I’m a 290. I’m Steve; I’m a 290 – 290 means registered sex offender in California. These are human beings being forced in the streets with nothing. I’m a victim of sexual abuse. I believe in treatment. I believe in rehabilitation.
I meet moms like D. and Sarah and I say, what the hell is going on here? Four years ago I was dumb as a box of rocks. I thought this registry was the most wonderful thing on the planet. I carry guilt with me every day for what happened to my child, and I carry guilt for being so stupid. So my ultimate goal is to link all the moms and fight the fight. It’s not just about the RSO anymore; it’s about human and civil rights in the United States of America.
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COUNTERPUNCH
JoAnn Wypijewski is on the road, filing reports for CounterPunch across America. She can be reached at jwyp@earthlink.net .
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Judith Levine on RSOL & Polanski
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 30.07.2010
Link to this message: [0073] |
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JUDITH LEVINE AND THE RSOL CONFERENCE
Though her report on the rsol conference is buried in an article about Polanski, Judith Levine has really done a service by describing what RSOL is trying to do. please let her know how you feel about her article after she attended the DC Conference. Her email is judith@judithlevine.com . this was sent to us by Fima, the great MN organizer, estrinyefm@gmail.com .
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Redeeming the Worst
SEVEN DAYS
Vermont's Independent Voice
BY JUDITH LEVINE [07.21.10]
Last week in Switzerland, Roman Polanski walked free from the chalet where he’d been under house arrest for a year. Swiss authorities declined to extradite the filmmaker to the U.S. to face new indictments for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old in 1977. After taking her picture and plying her with Champagne and drugs, Polanski allegedly forced sex on the girl. A plea to lesser charges got him 90 days under locked psychiatric evaluation. After serving 42, on the eve of sentencing, he heard the judge planned to scrap the deal, and fled to Europe.
Last year, Los Angeles County prosecutors reopened the case. European artists and intellectuals rose in Polanski’s defense. A survivor of both the Holocaust and his wife’s murder, they said, he had suffered enough — and had repaid society with his prodigious contributions to the cinema. Back in the States, the victims’ rights community bellowed for Polanski’s head.
Meanwhile, another criminal has been gathering sympathy: David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz, whose shooting spree in the 1970s left six New Yorkers dead and several wounded. He said he was following the orders of the demonic black Lab who lived next door. Since then, however, the murderer has found Jesus, and with him a circle of “admirers,” including many evangelicals. According to the New York Times, Berkowitz today enjoys a wide correspondence and participates in several ministries, including one that steers youth from Satanism.
Critics call both these men manipulators of the system. Polanski used his fortune and fame to escape deserved punishment, they say. Berkowitz was a con man on the Evil One’s team (he later claimed members of the cult to which he also belonged committed some of the murders), and he’s still a con man, now allegedly serving God. The cop who took his confession called Berkowitz’s jailhouse conversion a “charade” to get “access to the outside world.”
Of course, Polanski’s elite connections didn’t hurt him, and his wealth bought an armada of attorneys on both sides of the Atlantic.
As for Berkowitz, I wouldn’t put a little calculation past the guy. Even if he was genuinely seeking God, surely being born again into a media-rich, noisily proselytizing Christianity gleaned him a better bang for the Bible verse than returning to the Judaism of his birth would have done.
Still, money and manipulation play walk-on roles in these dramas.
What we’re watching is a morality play about the meanings of crime and punishment, a play whose antagonists have shaped the history of the American penal system.
On one side are those who seek retribution. To them, criminals, especially sex criminals, are unchangeable (or, in modern parlance, incurable), their sins indelible. The state’s duty, therefore, is not just to protect society but also to avenge the victims.
The other side believes, foremost, in rehabilitation — in moral language, redemption. To their supporters, Polanski has attained secular redemption through art; Berkowitz, divine redemption through worship.
Evidence overwhelmingly favors rehabilitation. An inmate who kicks drugs and gets a college degree behind bars is less likely to return to crime than one who’s had nothing to do in prison but deal pot and learn how to hack bank websites. A humanely treated prisoner, moreover, is less enraged when he gets out than one who’s been locked in solitary. The rehabilitation principle dominated American criminology for much of the 20th century.
But in the law-and-order 1980s, the punishers began to win. That was thanks to (among other things) racism, political pandering, privatized prisons that lobby for harsher statutes, and a victims’ rights movement that started out distrusting the police but soon married the punitive state, becoming its financial dependent and political helpmeet.
Lately, recessionary budgets have opened new space for the rehabilitators. Alternatives to incarceration, especially for nonviolent offenders, are back on the table.
Except for sex offenders. The endless sex panic has seen to that.
And so Polanski’s and Berkowitz’s cases are not what they were 33 years ago.
Polanski’s escape tipped the scales of justice hardly a whit. But it humiliated the district attorney. In the past, the prosecutor might have wiped the egg off his face and moved on.
Today, those 48 unserved days allowed current DA Steve Cooley to enlist the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign agents in an extensive international chase. The age of the victim gave him the public support to spend tax dollars on a personal vendetta (and boost his run for state attorney general). “If [Polanski] admitted sleeping with a child, then he should be in prison for the rest of his life,” a typical commenter wrote on a news blog. “Sleeping with” a 13-year-old and sexually assaulting her have now melded both in statute and in public discourse. With the question of her consent deemed irrelevant, the now-adult victim’s beseechings that the prosecutor drop the case could be ignored.
Is there no statute of limitations? Not for the sexual abuse of a minor. Moreover, federal law now requires sex-offender registries to list even people who completed their sentences decades ago, according to the laws of decades ago. The Constitution prohibits ex post facto — after the fact — punishment, but federal courts have thrown that objection out. The registries are “regulatory, not punitive” measures, judges have ruled, even though registrants are condemned to homelessness, unemployment, civic disenfranchisement, social stigma and violence.
The effort to punish Polanski again, and harder, is not uncommon, either. Minor registration infractions — say, failure to report the purchase of a car — can send a sex offender back to prison for as long as his original sentence.
I might add that if the photos Polanski took of that 13-year-old ended up online, a person who downloaded them could get more prison time than Berkowitz got for serial murder.
And what of Berkowitz? He has been interviewed warmly on Focus on the Family radio. A testimonial tract about his life and faith is distributed at rescue missions and motorcycle rallies. A Texas postal worker runs a website for him, called Arise and Shine, and promotes his book, Son of Hope, on it.
Don’t get me wrong. Rehabilition is a good thing. The man went on a homicidal rampage under orders from a dog. He needed treatment, not punishment.
But it is one of numerous ironies of the crime and sex panics that some of those responsible for them are now among the only ones able to find good in people written off as evil.
RSOL CONFERENCE
I spent a recent weekend with both these groups of people — ex-sex offenders, along with their families and allies, at the national convention of an extraordinary national movement, gathered under the umbrella of RSOL, or Reform Sex Offender Laws.
Meeting in the community room of a Washington, D.C., church, the group looked more like a church convention than a civil-rights organization. They were mostly white and middle or working class. Few had ever been involved in politics — until a teenage child was arrested for sex with a 15-year-old, or a brother chatted with a federal agent posing as a minor online. As a group, they are temperamentally libertarian. Yet, from California to Maine, they are writing op-eds, attending community forums, and lobbying to shave away at the massive legal and social iceberg that freezes former offenders out of American life.
According to one of their pamphlets, RSOL members are “average, liberty-loving Americans.” As Americans, they cherish the second chance as a birthright.
These folks are not “sex radicals.” They read sexual nonconformity as pathology and trust in cure. Like AA members, the offenders speak of themselves as “in recovery.” Many are devout Christians; prayer accompanies their politicking. They believe in sin — and in redemption.
The inmates whose crimes had real victims say they feel remorse, have learned empathy and tried to make amends. I was moved by the respect and compassion they show one another.
Yet even these folks can slip into the punitive and paranoid logic of modern sex-offender law. Lobbying their legislatures, some who started out demanding the abolition of the registries as cruel and unusual, and ineffective in protecting the public, now accept registry of “the worst of the worst.” They push to remove only the “low-risk” offenders, such as consensual teen lovers and public urinators, who may compose the majority of the 700,000 registered.
This tactic leaves the question unanswered: Who is the worst of the worst?
Late on Sunday, during an open-mic session, the group got an answer.
“I don’t feel welcome here,” began a tense, middle-aged man named Martin. “You’re all for the ‘innocent’ accused, the falsely accused. But ‘the worst of the worst’ — you’ll leave them to twist in the wind.” He paused, breathing. “Let me tell you who I am.” Then Martin described his crimes: He held up convenience stores and, after robbing the cash register, would make a woman perform fellatio on him at gunpoint. “That’s me. The worst of the worst,” he said.
“But I sat in my cell for 20 years trying to figure out what happened, trying to be a different man,” and in the 13 years since his release, he’s been “crime free,” he continued. “I paid my debt. When do I get to stop paying?”
First there was silence. Then applause. We looked at each other, as if to ask: Who among us has not sinned? Somebody whispered, “Amen.” |
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WATCH FOX TONIGHT! RSOL FIGHTS BACK
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 29.07.2010
Link to this message: [0072] |
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WATCH FOX BUSINESS NEWS TONIGHT! July 29 - DUVAL AND OTHERS FIGHT S.O. PANIC!
July 29, 2010 10:21 AM UTC by John Stossel
Tonight's Show: Sex & The Law (FBN @ 9pm ET)
Tonight’s Stossel is all about sex and the law. (FBN @9pm ET) What are the rules? I tackle several thorny issues, such as “don’t ask, don’t tell,” decency standards for broadcast television, pornography, and the age of consent.
What is the age when you a free to make your own decision about having sex? Age of consent varies by state, as the map shows:
Teens often don’t know – and neither do their parents – that if they are the “wrong” age, having sex can land them in jail. It can also put them on a sex offender registry. One of tonight’s guests, Frank Rodriguez, had no idea that having sex with his high school sweetheart was a crime. He was a 19 year-old senior and his sweetheart, Nikki, was a 15 year-old freshman. Nikki’s mom knew they were having sex and even bought Nikki birth control pills, but after a nasty fight with her daughter, she reported the couple to the police. Frank was charged with “sexual assault of a child.”
What happened next is hard to believe. Frank’s story, and other stories of government intrusion of the most intimate kind are my topic tonight.
Read more: http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/07/29/the-age-of-consent/#ixzz0v6zffXsi
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BILL TO RESTRICT PASSPORTS FOR SOS FILED
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 29.07.2010
Link to this message: [0071] |
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SEX OFFENDER PASSPORTS COULD BE REVOKED IF THIS BILL PASSES
New Bill in Congress: HR 5870 - Passports of Registered Sex Offenders are Under Attack!
RSOL PARTICIPANTS URGED TO CONTACT ALL US REPS AND SENATORS - THIS BILL IS AN OUTRAGE - THE FINAL END OF THE US CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM AS WE ONCE KNEW IT!!!!
Readers will think this bill is crazy, I would agree, in any court I would hope judges agree, but facts of each case may tell a different story. I am talking about: HR-5870 which has "No Name" just a description of its purpose "To restrict passports of certain sex offenders, and for other purposes." introduced 7-27-2010 by Rep. Poe (R-TX-2). the bill was Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
The bill:
SECTION 1. RESTRICTION OF PASSPORTS OF CERTAIN SEX OFFENDERS.
(a) In General- The Secretary of State may revoke, restrict, or limit a passport issued to an individual who is a sex offender (as defined in section 111(1) of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16911(4)) who is--
(1) included in the National Sex Offender Registry established pursuant to section 119 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 16919); or
(2) required to register in a jurisdiction's sex offender registry under title I of such Act and with respect to whom information may be maintained in the National Sex Offender Registry under such section 119.
There is nothing else in the bill, that's it. So, just because someone is properly registered in the National Registry (created by states uploading their registrants to the national registry) and following all laws, on a whim of the Secretary of State, their Passport can be revoked, restricted, or limited. No misconduct is required, it can be done on a whim. The bill's purpose does say "certain sex offenders" but there isn't a word addressing that anywhere in the bill.
This is what they call a Democracy where Due Process prevails, except for former sex offenders. For them, the standard due is "because I feel like it." This sounds like the latest "Hate-Legislation" coming out of Congress, however, here we know who wrote the bill.
So, everyone needs to be contacting their folks in Washington and get them to vote NO on this insanity. OH, also contact every committee member (SEE RSOL HOMEPAGE FOR HOW TO CONTACT) with your thoughts on this one.
eAdvocate@yahoo.com
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CALL SENATE TODAY RE HR 5297
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 28.07.2010
Link to this message: [0070] |
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HR 5297 IS BEFORE THE SENATE - CONTAINS LANGUAGE TO BAN S.O.S FROM RECEIVING AID
Breaking News: The Senate is -right now- considering HR-5297 "Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010," which contains "Offensive Language" and will deny former sex offenders convicted of a crime against a minor any possibility of a Small Business Loan, IF, it passes the Senate.
We urge ALL RSOL participants to call their Senators NOW to get this language deleted from this bill. Send us the results of your lobby effort.
alex |
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RSOL's Kelly Piercy!!! Good work!
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 25.07.2010
Link to this message: [0069] |
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KELLY PIERCY ON FOX MON A.M.
ALL RSOL FOLKS - Watch FOXNEWS - Fox & Friends - Monday, July 26, at 7:30 a.m.!!!! Send feeback to FOX, Kelly and RSOL!
Great work, Kelly!
WATCH THIS NOW!!!!!!
URL
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments=1&v=fCc4yZoSbrU
Here's the press release RSOL sent out about Kelly's great coup!
Press Release
RSOL-National
Cambridge, Mass.
For Immediate Release...
July 26, 2010
Contact: Jennifer Van Waes
270.873.5360
Fox News Hosts Discussion of Sex Offender Laws
Cambridge, Mass.— July 26, 2010 Today, Fox News program “Fox and Friends” missed a golden opportunity for a meaningful dialogue and debate on the effectiveness of our current laws dealing with sex offenders. The program brought together Mark Lunsford, father of Jessica Lunsford who was murdered in 2005 at age 9 by a convicted sex offender, and Kelly Piercy, head of “Georgians for Sex Reform,” an affiliate of National Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL).
Mr. Lunsford, who was instrumental in legislation known as the Jessica Lunsford Act, campaigned tirelessly in a successful effort to make more stringent not only the tracking and monitoring of registered sex offenders but also the sentencing of them. At that point, it became a snowball that didn’t stop rolling, the result being that over 700,000 individuals, the overwhelming majority of whom are not predatory, violent, or putting communities at risk, are now on the registry with thousands more being added yearly.
Mr. Piercy, who was convicted of possession of child pornography, spent time in prison. During that time, he requested and successfully completed treatment. Since being released, he has worked tirelessly to reform laws that research has shown to be ineffective in protecting children. Current laws are not only ineffective but have put our children more at risk, said Mr. Piercy. Due to the efforts of his organization, Georgia’s Supreme Court recently struck down some laws as unconstitutional. The length of time some former offenders are required to register was an issue that was addressed in this action.
If the producers of “Fox and Friends” had seen fit to devote more than four minutes to this “debate,” the potential for the emergence of meaningful information would have been much greater. As it transpired, Lunsford’s greatest contribution to the dialogue was a statement that “…never in the history of mankind has anyone (a sex offender) been reformed.” Piercy rebutted, “Treatment for the first time offender is highly effective.” This is borne out by study after study, (Human Rights Watch, p.2; Iowa Sex Offender Research Council, p.7) and Mr. Piercy was surprised that Mr. Lunsford was unfamiliar with the studies.
Mr. Piercy stated that reform of the laws is essential in order to “…make communities safer and protect our children….” When asked what he thought Georgia should do, Mr. Lunsford said not to change anything and indicated that if a problem arose with unconstitutional laws, they should be handled individually in a courtroom. The clog on our court system that would result from this strategy staggers the mind.
RSOL wishes to thank Fox News for presenting this opportunity for a fair and neutral exchange of opposing ideas on this very sensitive topic. For more information about RSOL, please visit the national website www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org.
Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL), founded in 2006, is a consortium of state affiliate
chapters whose purpose is to promote the prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the
safety and dignity of all citizens through carefully structured laws targeting the truly violent,
forced, and/or dangerous predatory acts of sex. RSOL believes that many aspects of the current
approach to sex offenders seriously undermine justice and actually increase the threat of sexual
assault against others, particularly children. RSOL opposes a publicized registry of sex
offenders and seeks to bring an end to the humiliation of people who have already paid for their
crimes. RSOL asserts that only by supporting justice for all people—offenders and victims alike
—can a truly safe society be built and secured for all Americans. |
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URGENT ATTENTION RE PASSPORTS!
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By Kelly <editor@rsolcc.org>
Posted on 15.07.2010
Link to this message: [0068] |
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APPLY FOR PASSPORTS NOW IF NEEDED!
Thanks to a recent CNN report, there is significant talk about RSO's receiving passports. I strongly recommend all who desire to get a LONG TERM passport ASAP, we all know how these things tend to snowball once they become an issue. You never know when you may want or need one, and a passport is much harder to recall than it is to deny. FHA loans, unemployment benefits, possible social security, now they want to take away our right to travel and a significant form of identification!
Kelly |
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Press Release RSOL DC CONF
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 09.07.2010
Link to this message: [0067] |
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For Immediate Release...
July 9, 2010 Contact: Jennifer Van Waes 270.873.5360
RSOL calls for abolishment of public sex offender registry
Cambridge, Mass.—A group of former sex offenders and experts in the field of sexual offenses recently met with members of the Washington, D.C. press at the conclusion of the 2nd annual conference of Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL) held the last week of June. RSOL seeks to reform or repeal legislation like the Adam Walsh Act, for which Congress has twice set implementation deadlines but which has been functionally enacted by only four states.
Although the abolishment of a public sex offender registry is the long-term goal of RSOL, what is more immediately sought is a directed and focused approach to registration and other laws related to convicted sex offenders. According to one conference presenter, Dr. Chrysanthi Leon, University of Delaware Professor of Sociology and a recognized expert on sex offender recidivism, "The limited resources of law enforcement are being diluted by the blanket registration of all sex offenders." Credible statistical studies over the last 15 years (since the registry was implemented) show that "...it has had no impact on the recidivism rate. We can go back to studies from the 1940’s, long before the registry was implemented, and show that the rate of offenses has remained remarkably consistent over the intervening years."
RSOL advocates a more directed and individualized approach to registration using scientifically based data to identify those offenders who pose a significant threat to society and who are truly dangerous. Right now it is impossible for parents, or even law enforcement, to accurately determine an offender’s potential risk because of labels such as "sexually violent predator" which are indiscriminately applied to all offenders who have committed a specific set of offenses rather than using individualized assessments before applying the designation. Having over 700,000 people on the registry nationwide makes it difficult for law enforcement to narrow the field quickly when a child goes missing.
"We are as concerned about the safety of children as anyone else," says Kelly Piercy, a former offender and chairman of Georgians for Reform, "but we don’t believe that the current legislation is effective in doing so; it wastes resources and punishes those who are trying to reintegrate as productive citizens."
Interestingly, several children, both of non-offender presenters and of former offenders, attended and roamed freely about the conference, seemingly without fear of any kind.
Besides Dr. Leon and Piercy, other presenters at the conference included Lloyd Swartz, New Mexico registrant and reform advocate; J.Tom Morgan, former prosecutor and sex offender registry sponsor from Georgia who now states, "The registry no longer serves the purposes for which it was created;" Norman A. Pattis, Connecticut defense attorney; Nancy M. Steele, PhD, a clinical psychologist and sex offender treatment specialist; and Rev. James L. Powell, PhD, DD, a Methodist minister whose Atlanta-based church welcomes sex offenders. Dr. Powell, a licensed clinical psychologist who regularly counsels with former sex offenders, stated, "There is much that the church and other community based organizations can do to mentor and help former sex
REFORM SEX OFFENDER LAWS
2161 Mass Ave ♦ Cambridge, MA 02140 P: 617.497.5273 ♦ www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org
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offenders who want to reform, thus increasing the net of safety that we all seek when dealing with those who have previously offended, particularly when the offense involves children." Another presenter, Mary Duval of Oklahoma (CEO of SOSEN, another sex offender advocacy group) became vehement in her fight for change after her son Ricky, a teenager, was convicted of having sex with another teenaged girl. At that time there were no "Romeo and Juliet" laws, which, in some states, exempt consensual teenage sex from prosecution. Duval’s lobbying efforts helped create these laws. Though completely blind, Duval actively lectures and campaigns throughout the United States; she also co-hosts weekly radio shows on ARC Talk Radio which focus on human rights and sex offender issues.
The June conference was concluded after a concentrated effort to lobby Members of Congress on Capitol Hill. Portions of the conference were recorded, and three links are available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6XUt_y74kU ; http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Fgb4R78LurE ; and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgb4R78LurE. For more information about RSOL, please visit the national website: www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org.
Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL), founded in 2006, is a consortium of state affiliate chapters whose purpose is to promote the prevention of sexual abuse while preserving the safety and dignity of all citizens through carefully structured laws targeting the truly violent, forced, and/or dangerous predatory acts of sex. RSOL believes that many aspects of the current approach to sex offenders seriously undermine justice and actually increase the threat of sexual assault against others, particularly children. RSOL opposes a publicized registry of sex offenders and seeks to bring an end to the humiliation of people who have already paid for their crimes. RSOL asserts that only by supporting justice for all people—offenders and victims alike —can a truly safe society be built and secured for all Americans.
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RSOL National DC Conf Articles
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By posted by Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 30.06.2010
Link to this message: [0066] |
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FIRST ARTICLES ABOUT RSOL CONFERENCE - SEX OFFENDERS MEET THE MEDIA
While two major journalists, Judith Levine and JoAnn Wypijewski, attended the recent RSOL DC Lobbying conference, at least one other journalist reported on the Monday Press conference. Please go to newsvine.com and vote FOR this article so that it gets prominence on that site. This is a blog by an RSOL member who was posted on the MSNBC site allowing non-journalists to post blogs.
the url is
http://machinatious.newsvine.com/_news/2010/06/30/4589889-sex-offenders-meet-media-
and it's posted as RSOL News Item 0250.
ALSO, see other publicity, including in the Newark Post
URL
http://www.newarkpostonline.com/articles/2010/06/25/news/doc4c254dfcb23a3729767149.txt (this will also be RSOL News Article 251).
and a blog from Norm Pattis, one of the great speakers at the conference, URL:
http://normpattis.blogspot.com/2010/06/sex-offenders-lawyers-and-burden-of.htm
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SEX OFFENDERS MEET THE MEDIA
Newsvine.com
June 30, 2010
By Michael Machinatious
A group of former sex offenders and experts in the field of sexual offenses met with members of the press Monday, following the 2nd Annual Conference of Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL). RSOL seeks to reform or repeal legislation like the Adam Walsh Act, which has a current deadline for implementation of July 1st but has only been completely adopted by 4 states.
Surprisingly RSOL does not seek for the immediate abolishment of the Sex Offender Registry but for a more directed approach to Registration and other sex offender related laws. According to Dr. Chrysanthi Leon, University of Delaware, Professor of Sociology and an Expert on Sex Offender recidivism who presented at the conference, “the limited resources of law enforcement are being diluted by the blanket registration of all sex offenders.” “Credible statistical studies over the last 15 years “since the registry was implement show that “it has had no impact of the recidivism rate.” We can go back to studies from the 1940’s on, long before the registry was implemented, and show that the rate of offenses has remained remarkably consistent over the intervening years.
RSOL advocates a more directed and individualized approach to registration using scientifically based data to identify those offenders who pose a significant treat to society and who are truly “dangerous.” Right now it is impossible for parents or even law enforcement to accurately determine an offender’s potential risk because of labels such as “sexually violently predator” which are blanketedly applied to all offenders who have committed a specific set of offenses rather that using individualized assessment to apply that designation. Having over 700,000 people on the registry nation-wide makes it difficult for law enforcement to narrow the field quickly when a child goes missing.
“We are as concerned about the safety of children as anyone else” says Kelly Piercy, a former offender, and chairman of Georgians for Reform, but “we don’t believe that the current legislation is effective in doing so, it wastes resources and punishes those who are trying to reintegrate as productive citizens.”
Interestingly several children both of non-offender presenters and children of former offenders attended and roamed freely about the conference seemingly without fear of any kind.
Besides Dr. Leon, and Piercy other presenters at the conference included: Norman A. Pattis, Connecticut defense attorney, Nancy M. Steele, PhD, a Clinical Psychologist and sex offender treatment specialist, and Rev. James L. Powell, PhD, DD, a Methodist Minister whose Atlanta- based church welcomes sex offenders but under strict perimeters. Powell is also a licensed clinical psychologist and regularly counsels with former sex offenders. “There is much that the church and other community based organizations can do to mentor and help former sex offenders who want to reform,” thus increasing the net of safety that we all seek when dealing with those who have previously offended, particularly when the offense involves children.” Another presenter Mary Duval of Oklahoma, CEO of SOSEN, another sex offender advocacy group, became vehement in her fight for change, when her teenaged son Ricky was convicted of having sex with a younger teenaged girl. At that time there were no “Romeo and Juliet” laws which exempt consensual teenage sex from prosecution. Duval’s lobbying efforts help create these laws. Though completely blind, Duval actively lectures and campaigns throughout the United States, she also co-hosts weekly radio shows on ARC Talk Radio which focus on human rights and sex offender issues.
The conference concluded Monday after concentrated lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. Portions of the Conference were recorded and links will soon be available online. These and other information about RSOL are available at their national website www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org . |
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WHAT WE´VE BECOME
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By posted by alex <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 14.06.2010
Link to this message: [0065] |
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WHAT WE´VE BECOME BY JOANN WYPIZEWSKI
JoAnn Wypijewski writes the most hard-hitting, honest articles about sex offenders in America. This week´s article in THE NATION, What We´ve Become,¨ is an important indictment of the American ¨justice system.¨ Write THE NATION and congratulate them for this article, and earlier ones by Ms. Wypijewski. You may also email Ms Wypijewski at jwyp@earthlink.net . READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE ON THE RSOL NEWS PAGE - NEWS ITEM 00249. The URL at The Nation is
http://www.thenation.com/article/what-weve-become |
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LOVE IS NOT A CRIME!
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By posted by Alex <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 27.05.2010
Link to this message: [0064] |
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LOVE IS NOT A CRIME - YOUTUBE VIDEO FROM NJ!
WE URGE ALL RSOL FOLKS TO WATCH THIS VIDEO! LOVE IS NOT A CRIME!
The URL is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcm-EvzKcKw
It was put on youtube by the activist RSOL group in New Jersey. It is their second excellent video. We urge all RSOL state groups to use YouTube for posting videos. This one makes all the RSOL points - to end the registry of shame, to stop lifetime commitment, to take juveniles and minor offenders off the registries NOW. It´s powerful!
Thanks to Terry in NJ for this artistic and good political work.
Also posted as RSOL Blog No. 00235, with the email of Terry, the NJ contact person: nowjustice4all@gmail.com |
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OUTRAGEOUS SUPREME COURT DECISION
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 20.05.2010
Link to this message: [0063] |
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THIS OUTRAGEOUS SUPREME COURT DECISION MUST BE CHALLENGED!
WE URGE ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS TO WRITE LETERS OR MAKE CALLS IMMEDIATELY TO NEWSPAPERS AND OTHER MEDIA TO CONDEMN THIS DECISION!
alex marbury
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URL for CNN story
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/17/scotus.sex.offenders/index.html#disqus_thread
The US Supreme Court, even as it struck down life-time sentences for juvenile offenders, also held that ´dangerous´ sex offenders can be held for life, even imprisoned beyond their sentences, if civil commitment centers are not available. The ´dangerous offenders,´ included several whose charges were for child pornography. This is a clear violation of double jeopardy and ex post fact constitutional protections being wholly ignored. PLEASE, RSOL activists, send emails and letters to all media about this!!! We must be heard!
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TEACHER ACQUITTED ON 23 COUNTS IN GA!
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By posted by alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 13.05.2010
Link to this message: [0062] |
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TEACHER AQUITTED ON 23 COUNTS OF MOLESTATION IN GEORGIA
In one of the most important false accusation cases in US history, Tonya Craft, a kindergarten teacher, has been found innocent on 23 counts of molesting children. See the TODAY show interview with her -she is an extremely articulate woman who did research on false accusations for her own case. She, with her lawyer´s backing, insisted on testifying in her trial (many lawyers, often wrongly, advise against this!). She has won hands down - in Ringgold, GA (near Chattanooga). She lost custody of her children, lost her teaching job and her home, and has received death threats. Now she is FREE! See the interview here:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/37103478#37103478
ANYONE WHO CAN REACH HER, ask her to JOIN RSOL and to speak at our Washington conference in June! |
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IMPORTANT S.O. CONFERENCE
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By posted by Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 12.05.2010
Link to this message: [0061] |
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AN IMPORTANT GAY & LESBIAN CONFERENCE ON SEX OFFENDERS WILL BE HELD IN CHICAGO
The Lesbian & Gay Studies Project of the University of Chicago Center for Gender Studies will hold a conference May 27 on the topic, ¨Are Sex Offenders the New Queers?¨. It will be at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, Chicago, from 10AM to 6PM on May 27. Call 773-834-4509 for more information, though advance registration is not required. Speakers include: Dr. Richard Wright, Bridgewater State University, author of The Predictability of American Sex Offender Laws; Dr. Kathryn Bond Stockton, University of Utah, ¨Congress Insists that Children Must be Harmed¨; Dr. Rose Corrigan, Prof. of Law & Politics, Drexel Univeristy, ¨The Local Effects of Sex Offender Laws, When is Rape a Sex Offense?¨; and others. Clips from the new film ZOO (a film about zoophile sex offenders), will be shown, with comments by the film-maker, Robinson Devon. |
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POST COMMENTS ON FACEBOOK OF CANDIDATES
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By alex <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 11.05.2010
Link to this message: [0060] |
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POST COMMENTS FOR SEX OFFENDER LAW REFORM ON CANDIDATES FACEBOOK WALLS
ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS URGED TO POST COMMENTS ON FACEBOOK WALLS OF CANDIDATES
This suggestion comes from Yvonne, dachglobal@aol.com - please send comments to her, with a copy to alexm60@fastmail.fm .
All RSOL folks (except sex offenders in those states which forbid them to visit social networking sites) should go to the FaceBook sites of candidates for office in their states - especially for Governor, but also for Judge, District Attorney, and for State Representative or State Senator - as well as for U.S. Representative. Both incumbents and challengers almost all have such facebook sites - they need to see comments coming from people favoring sex offender law reform
Doing this will make all of the friends and fans of these candidates, as well as the candidates themselves, aware of how these
unfair laws are a problem. |
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STOP INT MEGAN´S LAW NOW!!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 29.04.2010
Link to this message: [0059] |
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OPPOSE SO-CALLED INTERNATIONAL MEGAN´S LAW NOW BEFORE CONGRESS!
TO ALL RSOL participants. THIS IS AN URGENT REQUEST - The so-called International Megan´s Law is now scheduled to be voted on before the summer recess in the House. It has support in high places, such as Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), the Foreign Affairs Committee Chair. It is one of those ´feel-good´ bills that do extreme harm to many people and help no-one. Please contact Rep. Smith of NJ, Rep. Berman, of Ca, and all the bill´s co-sponsors.
See list below!
From eAdvocate (a major sex offender law reform advocate, eAdvocate@yahoo.com).
¨While I have no problem with a law that targets sex trafficking, this law places the blame for sex trafficking on everyone on the U.S. registry, i.e., even Romeo and Juliet cases, juveniles, and those who pee in the park. This is an over-broad law and needs to be stopped. All RSOs and their families need to be contacting their representatives in Congress telling them to VOTE NO on this bill.¨
Here are the original sponsors of the chilling ¨international Megan´s Law Act¨ bill (HR5722). We urge you to contact your own US Representative to urge him or her to vote against, and your Senator to urge opposition when it comes to the Senate. It is especially important for those who live in the districts of these Representatives, to contact them and let them know your opposition. We think the Democrats may be particularly approacheable on this, but members of both parties should be contacted. Let RSOL know of your efforts and the responses - alexm60@fastmail.fm. Refer to Action Items #25 and #26.
HR 5722, ¨Int. Megan´s Law¨ sponsor & cosponsors:
Rep. Christopher Smith [R-NJ], chief sponsor
Original Cosponsors:
Rep. John Boozman [R-AR]
Rep. Dan Burton [R-IN]
Rep. Steven Chabot [R-OH]
Rep. Thelma Drake [R-VA]
Del. Eni Faleomavaega [D-AS]
Rep. Jeffrey Fortenberry [R-NE]
Rep. Frank LoBiondo [R-NJ]
Rep. Donald Payne [D-NJ]
Rep. Joseph Pitts [R-PA]
Rep. Deborah Pryce [R-OH]
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-FL]
Rep. Diane Watson [D-CA]
Rep. Addison Wilson [R-SC]
Rep. Frank Wolf [R-VA] |
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Strong MD Lobbying - Mixed Results
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 19.04.2010
Link to this message: [0058] |
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STRONG MD LOBBYING, MIXED RESULTS
A very determined, spirited lobby effort in the Maryland Assembly has achieved mixed results. Thomas, Brenda and Rebecca are among those leading this effort. Here is their great report - ALL RSOL STATE GROUPS SHOULD LEARN FROM MD!:
FROM THOMAS RYDZEWSKI, MD RSOL Contact
SEVERAL VICTORIES AMIDST HEATED BATTLES
Much of the information was provided by a slew of people. We received help from Larry N. from New Mexico. Several of us went to give testimony on various sex offender bills ranging from retroactivity of the registry (SORNA) to proposed residency restrictions and even weekly registry of homeless offenders.
Some of the more egregious bills defeated involved: residency restrictions; labeling the drivers licenses of sex offenders with a code; restricing the voting rights of sex offenders (so they could not vote at schools); public juvenile registry and retroactive registration for those whose crimes took place years before the registry was in place. We owe a special thanks to Brenda, Rebecca, Susan and Lewis for giving testimony and going to Annapolis several times to speak with legislators.
The major law that passed is essentially the (Maryland version of the) Adam Walsh Act. It establishes Tiers I, II and III for all sexual offenses and lists people on a registry based on that person's offense(s). It also extends the time for which a person must remain on the registry. Many of the other laws were simply harsher versions of already existing penalties: decrease of dimunition credits ("good time" credits for prisoners); lifetime supervision for certain offenders; a crackdown on "human trafficking" (prostitution); longer sentences for crimes involving children and less room for judges to give discretion in the sentencing of sex offenders.
In addition there was a law passed that makes it necessary to inform police if a sex offender is spending time regularly with a child or has regular contact with a child.
One law establishes a Sex Offender Advisory Board (SOAB). This could actually become an assett to our cause and to the community if we are given adequate hearing and ability to communicate with them on a regular basis. Many states have uses such boards as opportunities to have a more personal, direct form of advocacy and representation. At least we have a specific number of names and faces that we can connect with our cause more readily.
To summarize how the course of events ran: we began running to the State House in February. The first set of the 80+ sex offender bills were then being introduced. We wanted to make our presence known and see what we were up against. Throughout February, March and into April several members of RSOL, SOSEN and FAIR attended the hearings and several gave testimonies. We also wrote letters, made phone calls and some even spoke directly with legislators.
Our Maryland Senate session was the most difficult. The session itself had very good representation for registry reform and opposition to the registry itself. We had several well-prepared and well-spoken attorneys who gave testimony, statistics and personal observations about how ineffective the registry was. Also present were ACLU members and even an attorney from Ohio (who came to warn Maryland lawmakers about the catastrophe that the AWA and SORNA were causing in Ohio). Most of the senators were at least quietly attentive. Some got up and left during our testimonies. Some actually badgered people at the end of their testimonies. Senator Jacobs in particular was quite rude to Susan. We later discovered that Senator Jacobs gave impetus to having Mark Lundsford, Jessica's father (as in Jessica's Law) speak at the hearing. As expected, he gave very emotional, very heated testimony. He and members of his family were lead to the stand by Senator Jacobs. She introduced them to the Chairman and let Mr. Lundsford speak without time limit. This, of course, was a major setback for the efforts of the many people who came to speak on behalf of registry reform.
Likewise, Senator Brochin also brough a contingent of people from his own neighborhood. They were upset because a registered sex offender was spending time in their neighborhood (in the sex offender's own house). The problem they had with his visits was that they were perfectly legal. The man visited his ex-wife in his own home after his kids left for school, and he left before they got home. He made a point of avoiding the before and after school rush of kids traveling. We kept shaking our heads saying, "Well, what's the problem?" Senator Brochin and several of his neighbors then went on to explain that they felt that this man ought to be accountable to them and to their neighborhood, since he was owner of a house there and spent time there. This situation gave impetus to the passage of a law that involved registered sex offenders reporting any location in which they habitually spent time (5 or more hours per week) as one of their residences. Both of these dramatic presentations were saved for the second part of the hearings. After most of the opposition (to the proposed sex offender legislation) spoke, the senators brought in their own people to give testimony to support their own bills.
Even so, much of the more extreme legislation was blocked. Brenda led a charge to amend the central bill (AWA) so that it would at least avoid retroactively adding people to the registry from years and even decades ago.
In all we had several victories in the midst of some rather heated, emotional battles.
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COMMENT FROM BRENDA JONES
A WIN? NO WAY, BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE!
I agree that the SOAB may become an asset. I just hope that we will be
able to attend the meetings, at least in a non-voting citizen capacity! Everyone in our little group started out in January with almost no experience with activism, or lobbying. Our names were on Tom's list, and I guess some were signatories or SO members. I think given that fact, and the fact that Maryland had literally just been hit with a high-profile murder case in December and the Governor himself swore that we were going to get tough on sex offenders -- that we can take credit for even one of the "victories" is a major achievement. Not even the Public Defenders had recognised just how
heinous the retroactivity was until we pointed it out to them.
I think we can take credit for killing the residency restriction bill,
in large part. I did a Google search of two areas: one region just west of Baltimore, and one town between Baltimore and DC. With my targeted region on the screen, I then entered the search term "schools," and Google dropped little red dots all over the map. I printed out the map, got a fix on the scale of the map, grabbed a
compass, and drew 2,000-foot circles around every school. I also drew a circle around obvious park areas. There was almost nothing left.
At the Senate hearing, I went second after a Public Defender, who had
been trying to point out that there were umpty-thousand schools inside
Baltimore in a something-square-mile area which didn't leave a lot
available and it would push offenders out into rural areas where there was less supervision and fewer services. I held up a blown-up copy of my Baltimore-suburbs map, with the teensy areas still free outlined in bold, and said essentially, "If you pass this residency restriction, THIS is all there will be available - and I haven't even
located playgrounds and child care facilities." Rebecca Reigel followed up a bit later by reinforcing the problem of pushing people underground, increasing homelessness, etc. Bingo!
After that hearing, mostly all we did was lobby, so we wound up
focusing in more and more on the AWA, and trying to kill as much retroactivity as we could, since we couldn't kill the
whole thing.
And in the end, the committee did remove the worst of the retroactivity wording, which would have had sheriffs and P&POs knocking on the doors of people who had committed crimes decades before, that might not even have been considered that serious at
the time but now would be considered Tier III.
Are we happy with the bill now? No way! But it could have been a LOT
worse. Our next goal? Build our membership, and probably start drafting a lawsuit related to the remaining retroactive increase in registration requirements for those still on paper or on the registry.
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COMMENT FROM REBECCA RIEGEL
WORK 10 TIMES AS HARD NEXT TIME!
I think killing the driver's license marking and 434, the bill that not only included residency restrictions for SOME SOs but would have banned ALL SOs from ALL schools, parks, playgrounds, and "recreational areas where children gather", is something to be proud of. I am, personally, very disappointed about the retroactivity that remains in the AWA clone bill as it will impact my own family directly, making 3 years of registration 15. So, for me to see a "win" is hard, but that is not to say that we didn't accomplish anything, just not enough. And I hope that next year we will have 10 times as many people willing to fight 10 times as hard. |
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LISTEN TO ARC TALK RADIO APRIL 19
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 17.04.2010
Link to this message: [0057] |
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LISTEN TO ARC Talk Radio - LATEST ON JULIA TUTTLE CAUSEWAY SOs
ARC TALK RADIO - Monday, April 19, 2010 (6 p.m. EST)
Call in; (724) 444-7444
Code: 29521#
Chat Room; http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc
ALERT!!
Please join us on ARC Talk Radio, Monday, April 19, 2010 at 6 p.m. Eastern time for a special guest and a special show regarding events at the Julia Tuttle Causeway in Miami, Florida. I just had a call from a resident from Julia Tuttle Causeway. Book and the Homeless Trust moved 20+ residents into a motel in Miami and now those men have been given a two hour eviction notice to get out or else!! It seems the corporate hotel has concerns with this many sex offenders residing in one of their property sites. The men are frantic and a call has been put in to the FL ACLU and we are waiting on word from them. If they return to Julia Tuttle they can and will be arrested for Trespassing... In recent news from the Miami Harold there are claims this colony of former sex offenders has been closed. Some JTC residents are calling this a flat out lie and will be joining us to discuss this and other crucial events effecting the residents of this now famous bridge.
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CALL 20/20 & Other Media: Stop Calling Murderer an RSO!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 17.04.2010
Link to this message: [0056] |
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CALL 20/20 & OTHER MEDIA TO PROTEST REFERRING TO MURDERER AS AN RSO
CALL 20/20 & OTHER MEDIA: STOP CALLING THIS MURDERER AN RSO!
ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS should contact 20/20 & other media who incorrectly refer to Jarred Harrell, the murderer of Somer Thomson in Orange Park, Florida, as a registered sex offender. He is not! Obviously, he is a dangerous criminal, if he's proven guilty, but he was NOT a registered sex offender as 20/20 and other media say. This is exactly how 'tightening up the registry" gets pushed by the media. This story was on April 15 - we may be late, but we can still protest this! See the story on RSOL News Item 0238 for the truth, and then call 20/20 to protest!!!!!!
URL
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/
April 15 |
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CALL OPRAH SHOW FOR MON APRIL !2
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 10.04.2010
Link to this message: [0055] |
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CALL OPRAH BEFORE APRIL 12
The Monday, April 12 Oprah show will feature what Oprah calls "The Most Dangerous Child Sex Offenders in America." Oprah has been one of the worst exploiters of sex offender hysteria. Let us know you called or emailed, and demand Oprah show both sides of the story!
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Here's what one RSOL participant, Vicki, sent already - follow her lead!
This is what I sent to the Oprah producers after we got the notice that Dr. Phil was wanting information on sex offenders:
Dr. Phil just issued a request for input to the sex offender laws and he will have folks on the show to talk about it. I applaud him for that. Because of the media sensationalism over the small number of "violent sex offenders" every man/woman/juvenile on the sex offender list is "assumed" to be someone that snatches, rapes, tortures and murders children. Please educate yourselves and then the public. There are over 700,000 registered sex offenders on the list. The offenses range from urinating in public, possession of child pornography, streaking, conceptual sex in a teen relationship, confessed rape, allegations of attempted rape, allegations of child molestation by an angry ex-wife, incest, sexting, teens getting drunk at a house party and performing oral sex on someone under 18 and on and on.
Oprah, who I know won't read this, made a statement recently on her show that just because you are molested by your father doesn't mean you should do this or that. That is how Oprah feels today in the midst of fame and fortune but, how about when she was 16, 18 or even 24. My son was sexually abused by his biological father starting at the age of 6 when he would go to visit on weekends and summer. We learned this after our attorney forced the military to have my son evaluated by a forensic psychologist after being charged with possession and distribution of child pornography. She said he was looking at the child pornography trying to figure out why it happened to him. In some sex offender treatment programs they have to consent to having a device attached to their penis and be shown images and their reaction is recorded. They have to pay for polygraph testing at regular intervals after being released. They also have to attend and pay for on-going counseling.
They can't live any closer that 1,000 feet from a day care and if they already reside somewhere and a daycare is put in....they have to move, they can't go to the public library, live near a school, bus stop, go on a college campus with the administration being notified and in some cases being escorted while on school ground. Even John Walsh said, "Let's get rid of the sex offender registry with the 700,000 names and monitor the 10,000 "violent sex offenders!" Legislators have said, off the record, that they know they have gone too far but it would be....get this....political suicide to stand up and say this. So, the easier route is to ruin the lives of every person convicted of these non-violent offenses as well as the collateral damage to their families and friends. I implore you to educate yourselves and while at it look at SORNA which is Title 1 of the Adam Walsh Act and you will learn why the majority of states say they cannot comply with this because they simply don't have the money.
Sincerely, Vicki Henry
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Illinois RSOL Leaders Get Good Press!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 06.04.2010
Link to this message: [0054] |
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ILLINOIS RSOL LEADERS GET GOOD PRESS FOR WORK TO HOLD BACK NEW EXTREME S.O. PROPOSALS
Tonia and other Illinois RSOL leaders are to be congratulated for this great work and the good publicity it received!
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April 05, 2010 Volume: 156 Issue: 65
Chicago Law Bulletin
Group tries to educate on sex offenders' rights
By Bethany Krajelis
bkrajelis@lbpc.com
SPRINGFIELD — With her son's story in mind and a new group at her side, the mother of a convicted sex offender is planning to come to Springfield this month to lobby for change. Tonia Maloney recently created Illinois Voices, an organization dedicated to providing education on issues affecting sex offenders. Maloney, who will be joined by a handful of others from her group, hopes her trip to the Capitol building will educate lawmakers, who continue to push for stricter sex offender laws each spring.
"Our goal is to provide factual information to lawmakers showing that all these residency restrictions don't prevent future crimes," said Maloney, a Fairview Heights resident. "We want to get them to recognize the difference between non-violent offenders and violent offenders and start treating them differently."
The introduction of legislation dealing with sex offenders has become an annual occurrence in the Illinois General Assembly. At least a dozen measures were introduced this spring.
The two pieces of legislation that Maloney said she is most concerned about are House Bill 3975 and House Bill 1294, both of which appear to have stalled.
HB 3975 would prevent a child sex offender from living within 1,000 feet —rather than 500— of a school, park or day-care center, and HB 1294 would make it a Class 4 felony for a child sex offender to knowingly be in an area of a public library primarily used by those under 18.
Other sex offender-related bills moving through the Illinois General Assembly include:
• House Bill 5043, which would classify sex offenders convicted of certain sex offenses against victims under 18 as "sexual predators." The measure was approved this month by the House and now awaits action in the Senate.
• Senate Bill 2824, which was approved by the Senate this month and now sits in a House Rules Committee, would prohibit child sex offenders from going to public parks.
• Senate Bill 3084 would require sex offenders previously not required to register to register. In a vote of 57-0, the Senate approved this measure, which has been assigned to the House Rules Committee.
"These laws are making these restrictions on sex offenders so hard that they can't find places to live or work," Maloney said, explaining that sex offender registry requirements forced her son to move 30 miles away. "They're ruining lives."
Maloney said her son's sex offender conviction stems from the consensual sex he had with his 16-year-old girlfriend. He was 19 at the time, which created a situation commonly referred to a Romeo and Juliet case.
A handful of states have enacted so-called Romeo and Juliet laws to provide less harsh punishment in cases involving consensual sex between teens close in age. Other states allow juvenile offenders to petition the court to get their names off of the state sex offender registry list.
Legislation that would have allowed judges to remove juvenile offenders names from the sex offender list has been proposed in Illinois to no avail. In May 2009, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that juveniles adjudicated delinquent on sex-related charges must register on the adult sex offender registry. People ex rel. Joseph E. Birkett v. James J. Konetski, No. 102667 .
Maloney also pointed to the Adam Walsh Act as another piece of legislation that worries her. The act, which organizes sex offenders into three tiers for the purpose of registration, was signed into law in 2006. The federal law appears to have been implemented only in Ohio, where it has received court challenges.
Though Maloney said she believes Illinois' current sex offender laws aren't doing anything to address the root of the problem, she did applaud lawmakers for their work on House Bill 4853. Passed by the House and awaiting Senate action, the measure would soften the penalty for "sexting" so instead of facing a felony child pornography charge that requires sex offender registration, HB4853 would provide for court-ordered supervision and community service. |
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Watch and USE the New Jersey RSOL Youtube clip
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 04.04.2010
Link to this message: [0053] |
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WATCH AND USE THIS NEW JERSEY RSOL YOUTUBE CLIP!
URL - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kejJSVnRy4
New Jersey RSOL has just produced a fantastic YouTube Clip - we urge all RSOL people to watch it and use it. And make more like it!
Good going, Terry in New Jersey! See the affiliated state group page on our website to find Terry's contact information. Her website is www.justiceinjersey.org . |
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PROTEST NAZI-STYLE S.O. TREATMENT (T.H.E.)
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By anonymous <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 03.04.2010
Link to this message: [0052] |
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PROTEST NAZI-STYLE S.O. TREATMENT AT T.H.E. IN COLORADO
RSOL participants are urged to call or email T.H.E., a horrific Nazi-style "treatment" center for sex offenders in the Denver, CO, area, where the draconian 'peter-meter' tests are still in use:
CALL T.H.E., 303-504-6188, or email them, http://about-the.org - condemn their brutal program! For comments, sent them to alexm60@fastmail.fm .
"Once a year, clients at T.H.E. are brought into a room where, individually, they sit down before a screen. With their pants down and a wire attached to their penis, they view pastoral scenes of lakes and falling leaves. They use a slide-show clicker to advance to the next photo, and with each click, the pictures grow more risqué, although none are pornographic. Some are of women in lingerie, others are of shirtless men. Many are of children. All the while, an audio recording of a man whispering suggestive things plays. "I'll never forget this: There was a photo of a newborn baby and a voice-over saying, 'I'd like to snap you up and carry you off,'" says one young sex offender treated at T.H.E. "It was just sick."
Gregg Vieder, T.H.E. director, says sex offenders cannot be cured, and he proposes to lock them up and 'treat' them with savage treatments for life.
Another method T.H.E. clients complain about is the use of noxious smells as a deterrent to perversion. On their own time, sex offenders are supposed to sniff a vial containing ammonia or rotten meat whenever they start to entertain a deviant fantasy. In the daily journals they're required to keep, the offenders are supposed to report all of their sexual thoughts and the methods used to stave them off. Sometimes they're quizzed about their truthfulness on those matters during polygraphs. For the opportunity to participate in this therapy, patients pay $500 a month.
ALL OF THIS IS TERRIBLE - BUT THE WORST THING IS THAT IT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR MORE THAN 25 YEARS! Eight years ago, this was exposed in the article, Arrested Development, by Julie Jargon, at Westward News, Denver (url - http://www.westword.com/2002-12-05/news/arrested-development/4 ). And yet T.H.E. continues!
Stop T.H.E! Flood them with calls. Contact Denver media and demand they expose these atrocities.
THIS ONE IS BIG. RSOL MUST ATTACK T.H.E. AND STOP ITS PROGRAMS! |
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WATCH ABC NIGHTLINE APRIL 1
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By anonymous <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 01.04.2010
Link to this message: [0051] |
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ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS WATCH NIGHTLINE ON SEXTING We urge all RSOL folks to watch ABC Nightline tonight - a good program on teens sexting in Florida. The full article has been posted as RSOL News Item 0226.
TONIGHT, APRIL 1, 2010, ll:35 PM
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IMPORTANT COURT DECISION
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 31.03.2010
Link to this message: [0050] |
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IMPORTANT COURT DECISION! S.O. LAWS OVERTURNED
This is a VERY important and favorable decision for sex offender law reform advocates!
URL - http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20100331/NEWS01/100331007
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — An appellate court has ruled that the state cannot require a man to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life or carry a special driver's license and identification card.
The ruling by a three-judge panel of Louisiana's 1st Circuit Court of Appeal overturns a state judge's ruling against Jimmy L. Smith. Smith was convicted of indecent behavior with a juvenile and carnal knowledge of a juvenile when he was 19.
Smith's attorney said he served his sentence for the 1995 convictions, completed his probation and complied with post-release registration requirements for a 10-year period after he was released from prison.
The opinion issued Friday says Smith fulfilled his duty to register as a sex offender for the period of time that was applicable when he was convicted |
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VIAGRA bill is Dead!!!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 24.03.2010
Link to this message: [0049] |
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FLASH: The Viagra Bill is Dead and RSOL Helped Kill it!
We are so proud of Mary in Virginia and others who lobbied hard on this terrible bill! This is great news.
-----------------------------
The Viagra Amendment by Senator Coburn (physician) to the Obama
Healthcare Reconciliation Bill is dead!
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn’s Viagra Amendment Fails, March 25, 2010:
http://www.newsok.com/u.s.-sen-tom-coburns-viagra-amendment-fails/article/3449000?custom_click=pod_headline-usnational-news
Coburn bill #8217s Erectile Dysfunction Amendment Is Killed, March 24, 2010:
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/coburns-erectile-dysfunction-amendment-is-killed
Mary
RSOL of Virginia
Reform Sex Offender Laws of Virginia
PO Box 98
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
E-mail: rsolvirginia@comcast.net
Web-site: www.rsolvirginia.org |
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FROM BETTER TO BITTER - DISILLUSIONED ORGANIZER
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By anonymous <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 12.03.2010
Link to this message: [0048] |
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FROM BETTER TO BITTER - A DISILLUSIONED RSOL STATE ORGANIZER
This is a message from one of our best RSOL state organizers. It's depressing, but we believe it's important to share, because it shows just how difficult this job of organizing in the US environment of hate and injustice can be. We hope this organizer will re-consider, and we hope that others will stay the course, despite the pain!
Alex
---------------
I give up. Since being released from being incarcerated in the mid90s, I have done nothing but try to turn my life around. Unlike many who become part of the Justice system with never ending trips in and out of prison, I took advantage of the help that was available for me and used the system to help me turn my life around. My first job out of prison was a good one in 1993. By
2004, I had built a career with an income that was well into 6 figures. I was married, had a child and raising the daughter of my wife from a previous marriage.
Then came the knock at my door informing me I had to register because I had moved. Didn't matter the law happened several years after I completed my sentence...didn't matter I didn't know anything about it......because I had done well and we had built our dream house, I was now going to be committed to a life sentence of SHAME ....that is exactly what has happened. My whole personality has changed...I went from "Better to Bitter". The shame and disdain, the fact my career is now in shambles, all lead to a bitterness that eventually ruined my marriage. I am now lonely, beaten down and hopeless.
I am no good to your organization or to the cause. I have given up on ever seeing any real change in this state as long as (those who teach hatred of sex offenders) are in power. I just don't have it in me to continue this fight....I don't know what is left for me..but I am tired to trying to rase above what society has doomed me to be. All the energy I have left I must put toward trying to find a way to make a living. I have a disabled child who needs my monetary help. I am 42 years old and have not worked any type of labor job in the last 15 years. If digging ditches or picking up garbage is all I can do...then that is what I must do. |
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INCREDIBLE GEORGIA CONFERENCE!
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By posted by Alex <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 10.03.2010
Link to this message: [0047] |
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INCREDIBLE GEORGIA CONFERENCE
Kelly Piercy sends this report from his Georgia conference.
WE CHALLENGE EVERY STATE TO HOLD SUCH A CONFERENCE!
We ARE making progress! Way to go, Kelly!
------------------------
6 March 2010, Georgians For Reform held a 12 hour conference in the State Capital. Our attendance was over 180.
Our speakers included a District Attorney who participated in writing the original legislation that created the registry in Georgia, a Defense Attorney who addressed the ex post facto aspects of the registry, a Lobbyist, lawyer, and sociologist who spoke to the wrong directions taken by the registry and thus its detrimental effects on those registered and society as a whole and its consequent ineffectiveness, Religious Leaders who spoke to the Challenge presented by the registry to the faith community, Prison Counselors and Prison Chaplains who spoke to the reality of the registry for those incarcerated and released, and Paul Shannon who established the national presence of RSOL.
Every speaker, including the attorney who participated in the original legislation, told us the registry is failed policy and is punishment.
In addition to those presented above, CNN sent a reporter to chronicle the event.
To put close to 190 people, the majority of who are not on the registry, in the state of Georgia, leaves no room for anyone to say it cannot be done, that the onerous nature of the registry presents too many hurdles to such an event, must now explain how Georgians For Reform accomplished this signature event.
Now, Georgians For Reform issues its own challenge.
Georgians For Reform challenges every State Affiliate and every partner of RSOL to hold a conference with equal visibility in their state. We have moved the ball, we need each and every state and partner to keep it rolling until we gain the momentum to defeat this failed policy and create a policy that makes communities safer, protects children, and recognizes the rights of people to heal and move forward in their life.
Kelly R Piercy
Georgians For Reform
http://www.gasorr.org
semperfidelas@gmail.com
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Check Out Chicago Wrongful Convictions Scandal
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 20.02.2010
Link to this message: [0046] |
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False Convictions ¨Torture Scandal¨ Video
We urge all RSOL participants to check out this Youtube 3 minute video about a false convictions ´torture scandal´ and a great play about it in Chicago. The youtube url is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jumZkwEJwnw
For those in the Chicago area, the play is ¨My Kind of Town,¨ by John Conroy. The play will be read at 6pm on March 8 - sponsored by the Center on Wrongful Convictions - at Northwestern School of Law, Thorne Auditorium , Chicago, IL. This is an important contribution to understanding the extreme injustices against people wrongfully convicted.
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Tribute to RSOL Signatory Howard Zinn
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 28.01.2010
Link to this message: [0045] |
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A TRIBUTE TO HOWARD ZINN, EARLY RSOL SIGNATORY
Howard Zinn, an early RSOL signatory, and a champion of freedom and justice in America and the world, has died at age 87. (See the Boston Globe obituary, News Item No. 0206). Dr. Zinn was known for championing unpopular causes, and for his staunch opposition to U.S. policies that led to wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. He was a major civil rights activist in the early days of the movement for desegregation. He boldly opposed the anti-communist crusades of the Cold War. He was a historian at Boston University, best known for his monumental ¨A People´s History of the United States,¨ in which he told the ´other side of the story,´ from that of the elites. He was especially active in the movement for American Indians and their rights. When Boston activists began the movement to Safeguard Our Children and Our Liberties in the 1990s, Dr. Zinn was an early leader, speaking out publicly against the shaming of sex offenders in the United States. RSOL salutes Dr. Zinn´s memory and hopes his life and work will continue to influence the lives of young people in America. We will keep his name on our signatory list - where he is no. 2 after Paul Shannon! He never shied from the struggle to demand rights for sex offenders and their families. Many of us who knew him, will miss him personally. All those who fight for freedom will miss his presence, though his spirit remains as a beacon to us all. Alex Marbury www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org |
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Researcher Seeks Women w. Relationships to S.O.s
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 27.01.2010
Link to this message: [0044] |
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We Want To Talk To Women In
Relationships With Men Who Have Been
Convicted Of Sex Offenses
How has this impacted your life?
What types of programs could help you?
We want to hear about you and your concerns!
Please consider participating in this research project. We would like to interview you to figure out what you feel could help women in your position. Also, we would like to discuss what impact this relationship has on you. We would like to talk to women about these issues. Your story and experiences are very valuable! Your insights can help us to understand women’s needs and concerns and your experiences can help affect policies to better serve women and their families.
Please Contact Laura Rapp, M.A.
University of Delaware
lrapp@udel.edu
302-438-8619
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Charging 11 Year Old´s with S.O.s
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 24.01.2010
Link to this message: [0043] |
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PROTEST CHARGING CHILDREN WITH SEX CRIMES
Shelley Leadbetter, the Oregon RSOL coordinator (or4balancedlaws@yahoo.com), sends this chilling story from Oregon.
A 22 year old has been charged with 62 counts of child sex abuse against 2 peers when he was ll years old! Help us expose that adults can be prosecuted for something they did as a child and be charged as an adult even though they were a kid when it did or didn't happen. Guilt shouldn't even be the issue here:¨
ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS are urged to write to the TV station that aired this, and to the Governor, Attorney General and Senate in Oregon, protesting such charges.
Here is the contact information:
http://www.kptv.com/news/22312753/detail.html - Article & Comments
http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/contact_us.shtml
- OREGON Governor Ted Kulongoski
http://www.doj.state.or.us/contact.shtml
- OREGON Attorney General's office
http://www.leg.state.or.us/prozanski/
- OREGON Legislative Judicial Committee Chair/State Senator Prozanski |
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ARC Radio Wed Jan 21 - Neb S.O. Interviewed
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 19.01.2010
Link to this message: [0041] |
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NEBRASKA S.O. TALKS ABOUT IMPACT OF NEW NEBRASKA LAW
ARC TALK RADIO
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 (8 p.m. EST)
Dial: 724-444-7444
Code: 29521#
Live Broadcast:
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc
Please join us this Wednesday as we here at ARC Talk Radio welcome John doe and his wife from Nebraska.
On January 1, 2010 LB285 became law which had many new requirements for all registered sex offenders. One of the most harmful and damaging requirements is all Tier 1 and 2, who were previously on a non-public registry in hands of police only, are now subjected to the Megan's law website which will include such information as their current photo, address, criminal charge
etc.
Our guest John doe, Nebraska,has been openly speaking out against this detrimental law which will not only effect his life but that of his family and thousands of other Nebraska former offenders.
In recent weeks he has been on the radio discussing this new law and its issues regarding the constitution as Nebraska Attorney General fights back stating this will protect Nebraska's children and does not violate the state and federal constitution.
Here on ARC we will give John Doe the opportunity to respond to AG Bruning's statements and discuss the issues which he feels are vital to himself and others. If you would like to listen to these interviews please visit the link at the top for ARC Talk Radio's archive to download.
Hope you will join us in support of John Doe's fight as he has took a pro-active stand to overturn LB285, educate the public and stand by our Constitution.
To learn more on Nebraska and John doe's fight visit:
http://constitutionaldefense.org/
ARC Hosts,
Kevin and Mary
www.americansrealitycheck.com
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Coakley - Former witch-hunter in Mass runs for Senate
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 17.01.2010
Link to this message: [0040] |
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Witch-hunter Runs for Senate in Mass
RSOL PARTICIPANTS urged to contact the media to alert them, and to contact Senate candidate Martha Coakley, to try to get a statement from her about this before this Tuesday´s election!
THIS TUESDAY, Massachusetts could choose one of the nation´s worst sex offender witch hunters as Senator. Although she may be liberal on other issues, as Massachusetts DA, Coakley was responsible for the witch hunt in Massachusetts that ruined one more family's life with false sex offense accusations. In the Wall Street Journal, Dorothy Rabinowitz recounted the Amirault case, one of the most grotesque miscarriages of justice in the history of the nation. And Martha Coakley, Democratic candidate for Senator of MA, was right in the middle of it. This woman should be in jail, not in the US Senate.
This alert is from Ingrid, in CA - edh_advocates@live.com
Here's the Wall Street Journal article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575003341640657862.html
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ARE CONCENTRATION CAMPS HERE ALREADY?
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 12.01.2010
Link to this message: [0039] |
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ARE U.S. CONCENTRATION CAMPS HERE TO STAY?
The ongoing use of extended ´civil commitment´ for sex offenders violates the most basic rights guaranteed in the Constituion. As this article rightly points out, this is a creeping fascism - the laws may be extended to other types of prisoners after they have completed their sentences. We must call and write NPR to congratulate them on this, and to add our voices to the cry for the civil commitment laws to be overturned! The North Carolina case is urgent for RSOL.
From NPR radio.
URL
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122452485
READ the article at RSOL News Item No. 0197.
Federal Prisoners Kept Beyond Their Sentences
by Nina Totenberg |
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America´s Reality Check, Jan.6!
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By Mary <rickysmom@rickyslife.com>
Posted on 31.12.2009
Link to this message: [0038] |
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Please listen Wed Jan 6 to America´s Reality Check!
-----------------
American’s Reality Check
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
8:00 p.m. Eastern
Dial: 724-444-7444
Code: 29521#
Chat: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc
Please join us Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 8:00 pm Eastern, as we here at American’s
Reality Check (ARC) Welcome James of the video “not a sex offender- please help”.
Young James was 18 when he and a friend were at a party and met a couple girls who they had consensual sex with. These girls told the youths they were 16 and 17 and led both young men to be misled..
James fought his case in the courts for two years and the young lady’s family supported him acknowledging their daughter lied to him the night they met.
Read article here: (copy/paste link to browser if it fails to load)
http://www.lincolntimesnews.com/archives.asp?Story=10762&Sect=20&Y=2006&M=6&D=28
Recently, James created a video in desperation to get his newborn daughter back who was taken from him and his ex-girlfriend due to a child abuse case and his status as a Registred Sex Offender. Under the current law James has five years left to register but has shown great courage and strength to go public in hopes to seek help in regards to getting his baby girl back.
View video: (copy/paste if it fails to load)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ASVUWoX2yE#normal
Please show your support and encouragement by attending the ARC show and sharing James story across the world. This young man’s cries for help must be heard!
ARC Hosts,
Kevin and Mary
www.americansrealitychekc.com
.
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GREAT NEWS FROM MAINE!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 23.12.2009
Link to this message: [0037] |
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GREAT NEWS FROM MAINE - Maine Supreme Court Strikes Down Retroactivity in Sex Offender Laws
We urge all RSOL participants to send congratulations to Maine RSOL contact, Jane Cantral, ladyfurebear@yahoo.com, and to get involved in YOUR state to support challenges to the retroactivity of S.O. laws - clearly a violation of the ex post facto clause in the US and most state Constitutions. Let´s make this a national trend!
For more information, see New Item No. 0189 on our News Page, or go to this url
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/133336.html
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SEND LETTERS TO OHIO SUPREME COURT
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 17.12.2009
Link to this message: [0036] |
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URGENT LETTERS NOW TO OHIO SUPREME COURT
The Adam Walsh Act has passed in Ohio, and is now being reviewed by the Ohio Supreme Court. It is up next in Illinois. We need every RSOL participant to write urgent letters to the Ohio Supreme Court to arrive before Christmas! Tell brief but real stories of hardship for offenders and families if the AWA is enforced! WRITE NOW. See Action item no. 0071 for more information! |
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This Should Never Happen In America!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 09.12.2009
Link to this message: [0035] |
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TO ALL RSOL PEOPLE - THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN IN AMERICA:
When will we finally say enough is enough???? This happened in Fayetteville, W. Va., and although I sent out an appeal to W.Va. rsol participants, no-one showed up! PLEASE DON´T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN!
From Bobby, a W.Va. father and Combat Veteran:
Our son was sentenced to 35 to 100 years Dec 4. We spent thousands of dollars for the best attorneys. He was examined by Forensic psychiatry. He showed no signs of being a sex offender. He was given a polygraph and passed. They do not let you use them but the psychiatrist stated that they are used in treatment of offenders and that it brings out the truth. He said Scotty did not need any counselling. This doctor is on the Board at Marshall University. He is starting a new program at West Virginia University. This Judge, John Hatcher, stated that he did not agree with the psychiatrist´s logic! There were 3 others who spoke up for Scotty at the hearing - his Mother his daughter´s mother and his pastor, as well as Dr. Miller. He had support from family and friends. There was no-one there from RSOL. There was no-one at the hearing for the victim´s family, but only people from Child Protectivd Services. They are the people who pushed this through. The victim´s family stated previously that this did not happen. The doctor´s report stated that this did not happen.
Pray for Scotty, his three children and our family. I am a combat Vietnam Veteran and I am haveng a hard time accepting that they have take my son´s freedom. We are going to appeal. This should never happen in this great country we live in. Freedom is not free. |
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A Different Kind of Christmas Tree
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 06.12.2009
Link to this message: [0034] |
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| Last year, before Christmas, we posted a news item, No. 077, about a sadistic police chief in North Baltimore, Ohio, who decorated a Christmas tree in a public place with local photos from the sex offender registry. We don´t know if he´ll repeat that atrocity. But Linda Gallagher, one of our California RSOL contacts, suggests a different kind of Christmas tree: ¨we need to put up our own trees, with drug dealers, drunk drivers, murderers, Domestic Violence offenders, burglars, and so on. Any of these "criminals" are of danger to our children. Oh, and maybe a tree with our California pols: Mark Sanford, Ensign, John Edwards, Gov Arnie (Schwarzenegger), Mayor Johnson of Sacramento........¨ I prefer this kind of tree - in every state, there are plenty of such ornaments! (Alex) |
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Write America's Leaders About THIS IMPORTANT BOOK!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 30.11.2009
Link to this message: [0033] |
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WRITE PRESIDENT OBAMA and other U.S. leaders and media people to urge them to read one of the most important books written on sex offender laws - "SEX OFFENDER LAWS: FAILED POLICIES," by Dr. Richard Wright. (See RSOL Research Item 012 for a summary of the book and information on how to buy it.) Mary and John of Virginia RSOL (rsolvirginia@comcast.net) have initiated, at their own expense, sending out copies of this important book to Obama and many other leaders and media people. They ask you to write those leaders and urge them to read the book - and urge the media to interview Dr. Wright. See also Action Item No. 067.
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URGE MASS NOT TO BAN S.O.s FROM SHELTERS
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 18.11.2009
Link to this message: [0032] |
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URGE MASS NOT TO BAN S.O.s FROM SHELTERS
Massachusetts is about to become the 2nd state in the US (after Florida with it`s infamous s.o. homeless camp under a bridge in Miami), to ban registered sex offenders from homeless shelters. (See RSOL News Item 017) This shameless bill, pandering to the never-ending hysteria, has the support of an otherwise progressive group, the Mass. Housing & Shelter Alliance. WE URGE ALL RSOL FOLKS to contact MHSA, Executive Director & President, Joe Finn - email, jfinn@mhsa.net, tel. 617-367-6447, PO Box 120070, Boston, MA 02112, to condemn a homeless advocacy group for increasing sex offender homelessness. Also, contact the Mass. ACLU (ACULM, John Reinstein, Legislative Director, email - jreinstein@aclum.org, tel. 617-482-3170) to praise them for their outstanding work against repressive sex offender laws. Finally, write Globe Reporter, David Abel - dabel@globe.com - and give your opinion. |
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ARE WE HUMAN? Civil Commitment in VA
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 02.11.2009
Link to this message: [0031] |
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ARE WE HUMAN? HELP THOSE HELD IN SQUALOR IN VIRGINIA!
"We are sex offenders with a variety of offenses, but we are also your sons, fathers, brothers and friends. But most importantly, we are human beings in America. We have paid our debt to society that was set forth by an official elected by citizens to give the sentence that we have completed. We ask you all…where are our human rights? Where are the organizations to protect out human rights?"
(From the Petition by 25 of the former sex offenders being held in "civil commitment" - read concentration camps - at Piedmont Regional Jail, Farmville, Virginia
Mary of RSOL Virginia has sent letters to every member of the Virginia State Legislature and to many Virginia media people. SHE HAS NOT RECEIVED ONE RESPONSE! Mary says, "What is wrong with our country! Sorry, I'm just frustrated with the complacency of our lawmakers and media I want to scream." WE WANT TO SCREAM, TOO! Please email Mary - rsolvirginia@comcast.net, and also see Action Item No. 0065 for the whole petition, and for specific legislators and media people to contact. |
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J.S.O. therapists need evidence of Rom & Jl. cases
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By Geoffrey Birkey <ethical_treatment@yahoo.com>
Posted on 30.09.2009
Link to this message: [0030] |
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Juvenile sex offender therapists need evidence of Romeo & Juliet cases put in treatment
Geoffrey Birky of Ethical Treatment for All Youth (ETAY) has brought up
his concern that ATSA (Assoc. for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers) seems
to treat all juvenile sex offenders as persons who have abused someone -
when there are many cases of consensual sex among teens and young adults
that result in placement in treatment (Romeo & Juliet cases).
Please send Geoffrey (ethical_treatment@yahoo.com) and David Prescott of
ATSA (vtprescott@earthlink.net ) any specific evidence of such cases.
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Lynch Mob in Kirkland, WA
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By posted by Alex <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 17.09.2009
Link to this message: [0029] |
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URGENT ACTION REQUIRED! The Kirkland Reporter (Kirkland, Washington) published on Sept. 3 a hateful, fascist cartoon, showing a hangman´s rope and saying that ALL level 3 sex offenders deserved it! We have posted the url below. Already, many RSOL people have responded - and SOSEN also. Thanks to SOSEN and Jane Cantral in Maine for alerting us to this. ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS SHOULD BOMBARD
THE KIRKLAND REPORTER with letters. We demand a retraction, and an apology for literally urging on vigilante justice and the possible murder of sex offenders - including in some states, teenagers who have had consenusal sex and are placed on the registry! WE MUST ACT ON THIS!
NOTE: See News Item No. 0171, a response by the newspaper to the many SOSEN and RSOL angry comments. We urge you to contact the newspaper and keep up the pressure for a full apology for publishing this offensive cartoon.
Kirkland Reporter, Kirkland, WA, Sept. 3, 2009
Cartoonist, Jeff Johnson
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/kir/opinion/56412527.html?success |
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Larry King Lets Judge Judy Lie About S.O.s
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By posted by Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 13.09.2009
Link to this message: [0028] |
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OUTRAGEOUS lies on Larry King Live by Judge Judy about sex offender recidivism rates and other statistics. THESE NEED ANSWERING. Go to CNN and listen to Judge Judy. Then contact CNN and demand a retraction! We can´t let these false statistics stand. (See 10 Myths on RSOL Discussion Page).
THE URL IS
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/09/09/lkl.judge.judy.cnn |
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Dugard Kidnapping: Proof that S.O. Registries Fail!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 03.09.2009
Link to this message: [0027] |
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THE JAYCEE LEE DUGARD KIDNAPPING: PROOF THAT S.O. REGISTRIES DON´T WORK!
ESPECIALLY SEE THE NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL, SEPT 12, 2009 - Write the NY Times to agree, and add our own experience!!!! Read it on RSOL News Item No. 0170.
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If a registered sex offender can kidnap and sexually abuse an ll year old girl, and hold her captive in his backyard in a small California town for 18 years, isn´t that proof enough that the Regitries don´t work? Some say yes, MAKE THEM STRICTER! RSOL says it´s because these registries ensnare hundreds of thousands who are NOT dangerous, and thus the truly dangerous go unnoticed, and also that public humiliation does NOT keep people from offending - it may even drive them underground to commit worse actions. ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS are urged to write letters to editors of the New York Times, USA Today and all other media that have covered this case, urging that it launch a complete re-thinking of the repressive sex offender registry laws that clearly don´t help anyone! Send copies to alexm60@fastmail.fm . See also News Items 0162 and 0163, blog No. 0167, and Action Item 0061. |
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American´s Reality Check , Sept 2
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 30.08.2009
Link to this message: [0026] |
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Mary Duval´s great computer radio show is important to hear again this week. We urge all RSOL participants to tune in:
American’s Reality Check
September 2, 2009
9:30 p.m. Eastern
Dial: 724-444-7444
Code: 29521
Chat: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=29521&cmd=tc
Please join us this coming Wednesday, as we here at American’s Reality Check (ARC) welcome Associate Professor Peter Cummings of York University in Toronto, Canada.
Here is a brief biographical note:
Peter E. Cumming is an Associate Professor of Children's Literature and Culture in the Department of Humanities at York University, Toronto, Canada.
His recent paper, to be discussed this week, is entitled:
"Children's Rights, Children’s Voices, Children’s Technology, Children’s Sexuality."
Below is information from Peter's faculty Website (http://www.arts.yorku.ca/huma/cummingp/research.html ) in relation this conference paper which he presented about teen "sexting" and the response it has generated.
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Sign Petition to Michael Moore
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 19.08.2009
Link to this message: [0025] |
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URGENT PETITION
Petition to ask Michael Moore to do a documentary on the
"Injustice System". This would obviously include the unjust system of so-called justice for sex offenders! Please send confirmation that you have signed to alexm60@fastmail.fm and julia.miller1@hotmail.com
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We need everyone's help once again. A Petition has been created to send to Michael Moore urging him to do a documentary on the "injustice" system. It is sponsored by the National Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform. They are trying to get 1000 signatures. These petitions really only take a minute of your time so please everyone, take a minute and sign this very important
petition.
julia.miller1@hotmail.com
Go to this URL and sign -
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ask-michael-moore-to-document-the-injustice-system
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No New S.O. Laws in Virginia!
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 18.08.2009
Link to this message: [0024] |
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| HOORAH! NO NEW SEX OFFENDER LAWS IN VIRGINIA IN 2009 - the first time since sex offender laws were introduced. This is due to the great work of John and Mary, the RSOL of Virginia contact people, and to the many RSOL signatories and non-signatory supporters from Virginia. CONGRATULATIONS, VIRGINIA! Send your support to rsolvirginia@comcast.net |
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RSOL NEEDS YOUR HELP NOW!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 11.05.2009
Link to this message: [0023] |
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RSOL CONFERENCE WAS A SUCCESS - NOW WE NEED SOME CASH!
The RSOL first National Conference was a success, in the eyes of almost all the 130 people who attended either in Boston or in Austin. Despite added unexpected expenses, we came out even, BUT, we had to draw on RSOL general funds. SO -
RSOL NEEDS YOUR HELP NOW!
If everyone who is involved in the struggle against unjust sex offender laws gave just $1, we´d have more than we need! Just rsol participants alone, at $1 each, would be nearly $3000. We need some quick cash to continue the Support Hotline, to pay for the RSOL website, the solresearch website, for the prisoner project, and all our other great programs! PLEASE SEND whatever you can - $1, $5, $100. Make checks payable to Paul Shannon, and send by regular post, c/o Indochina Newsletter, 2161 Mass Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140. Donations are NOT tax deductible. THANKS!¨ |
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Mary and Ricky on Univision, Cristina Show
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By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 15.04.2009
Link to this message: [0022] |
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WATCH UNIVISION (Spanish-Language TV), Monday Night, April 20, 10pm, to see RSOL´s powerful Oklahoma organizer, Mary, and her equally articulate son, Ricky, interviewed by Cristina Saralegui, on the Cristina Show on Univision, the nation´s leading Spanish-language TV network. The show will be broadcast throughout the US, Latin America, Spain and other European countries. (Outside the US, it may be at other times and on other stations.) It features those falsely accused of crimes, including sex crimes, among them Ricky, Mary´s brave son.
Check your cable service or local tv listings for the channel of Univision in your area or on your service.
For English and Spanish language summaries, and great photos of Mary, Ricky, Cristina and others, go to
http://www.cristinaonline.com/english/show/index.asp |
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Witch Hunt Premier This Sunday!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 10.04.2009
Link to this message: [0021] |
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WITCH HUNT film premier THIS SUNDAY (EASTER), 7pm PST, 10pm EST,
MSNBC! Watch it! also see www.witchuntmovie.com
Sean Penn and a great cast give us the best documentary yet! |
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RSOL Activists Visit ¨Sex Offenders¨ Under Miami bridge
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 07.04.2009
Link to this message: [0020] |
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| RSOL and SOSEN activists Mary Duval and her son Ricky have written a beautiful account of their recent witness for truth and justice as they visited the camp of homeless ¨sex offenders¨ under the Julia Tuttle Causway in Miami. See our Blog No. 128 for her incredible story, and also to find the URL to see the photographs. This outrageous treatment of ¨sex offenders¨ in Florida goes on and on - when will our country finally learn to respect our Constitution? |
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Chief Justice Blocks Sex Offender Release
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 04.04.2009
Link to this message: [0019] |
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U.S. SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE BLOCKS SEX OFFENDER RELEASE
Obama Administration Evidentlay Does Not Stand for Change on S.O. Issues
(Please see RSOL News Item No. 00126 for the whole story.)
Many RSOL participants had hoped that the new Administration would not simply maintain Bush policies on ¨sex offenders.¨ The Federal Court decision had been a promising sign that indefinate civil commitment laws might be struck down. Although such appeals are usually automatic, that Atty. General Holder and the Justice Department would take this active opposition to the decision, and urge the Supreme Court to block release of nearly 80 ¨sex offenders¨ who have completed long sentences, is disappointing. While some of them may indeed be dangerous, and possibly should be held, evaluated by actual risk they pose and the factual description of their actual actions (not merely the name of their ¨crime¨, such commitment could still be managed by the states. We urge all RSOL participants to write Atty. General Holder and the Obama Administration, urging them to reconsider their position on this urgent matter. |
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NEW RSOL-LINKED RESEARCH WEBSITE
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 28.03.2009
Link to this message: [0018] |
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RSOL (www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org) is proud to announce a new, sister website, with important material. SOL Research, prepared by Dr. Marshall Burns, presents the results of research on sex offender laws and their effects on people and society. We have linked it to our site, and it was prepared in collaboration with us, over a period of more than a year.
The URL is:
www.SOLresearch.org
We urge everyone to look at this stunning site now!
Dr. Burns has done an excellent job with a difficult research subject. He also worked closely with the RSOL webmaster, and later with the entire RSOL team, to assure that his work was compatible with ours. He also assisted in making slight changes to the original RSOL statement, where there were minor errors, and he has provided footnotes to the statement, which are mentioned throughout his site. We regret that due to technical problems, these changes and footnotes are not yet incorporated into the RSOL site. We hope to
remedy this quickly. In the meantime, the footnotes that will appear on RSOL shortly may be viewed at www.SOLresearch.org/~SOLR/~RSOL/doc/notes.php .
The new site offers several excellent articles about issues confronting sex offenders, their families and the public. Among these are:
-Introduction to Sex Offender Registries - providing a brief overview
and history of the registries.
-Criminalizing Child´s Play and How Children Are Harmed - showing how
juveniles are harmed by these laws, including putting those who engage in consensual sex on the registry. ¨Criminalizing Child´s Play includes altered photographs of some of the juveniles registered, in order to illustrate the horror of putting children on public registries.
-Look Who´s a Sex Offender Now! - revealing the types of people who may wind up on the registry, including those with minor offenses, or even with no offenses at all. This also deals with false accusations of many kinds.
-Throwing Away the Key and Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders - two
articles that reveal draconian sentences for sex offenders, including some with minor offenses, and also the double jeopardy of re-incarcerating offenders as ¨detainees¨ after sentences are completed, sometimes for life.
-Families and Strangers - refuting some myths about stranger danger
-False Accusations of Sex with Juveniles
-A Congressman Stands Alone Against the Adam Walsh Act
-U.S. Federal Age of Consent Laws |
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RSOL PLANS NATIONAL CONFERENCE THIS SUMMER!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 16.03.2009
Link to this message: [0017] |
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Reformsexoffenderlaws.org is planning a face-to-face National Conference this summer. The conference will be simultaneous at two sites, one in Texas and one in Greater Boston, MA., Friday July 10, starting at 6pm, til Saturday evening, July ll, 2009. Texas and Mass. participants will be linked by video. The conference is NOT a public meeting. It is open ONLY to RSOL participants who register in advance. The two Conference goals are:
(1) To provide all of us with important information and research that we must know to make our work more effective and to help unmask the mythology used to build the hysteria hinding us at every turn. (2) To examine strategies to bringing about the changes that we seek. We will examine what's working, what is not, and what might work.
We believe the conference will also provide the space for individuals and families who carry the burden of the sex offender label to meet and support each other.
REGISTRATION: Participants will need to show they are signatories or
non-signatory participants of RSOL or one of it´s 32 affiliated state
groups. They must provide full true names (which will be kept in
confidence by the conference committees), phone numbers (including a
cell where they can be reached during the conference), full postal
addresses and email addresses. Those who ask to be anonymous at the
conference will be known by their first name or email tag, but they
must give real identity to the organizers. There is a $20 voluntary fee (more if you can) for registrants. No-one will be refused because of inability to pay. Fees cover speakers´ transportation and housing, costs of conference meeting places, teleconferencing costs, and refreshments. We aim for 100 participants at each site. Participants must pay for housing, but efforts will be made to find inexpensive lodging. Registrants should contact Paul Shannon, and make checks payable to him (not tax exempt). Paul is a well-known peace educator. Paul will forward Texas registrants to Mary Sue Molnar, contact for Texas Voices. Mail checks and registration information to Paul Shannon, c/o Indochina Newsletter, 2161 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140. MORE INFORMATION WILL FOLLOW! See you in Boston or Texas! |
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March 10 Hearing on AWA & SORNA: View It Now!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 11.03.2009
Link to this message: [0016] |
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URGENT! The US Congressional Hearing on the Adam Walsh Act and state compliance with SORNA (the national sex offender registration) was held March 10 by the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terror and Homeland Security. Among those presenting written testimony was Laurie Peterson of RSOL. Alden Baker´s excellent SDP123a site provides two and one half hours of televised testimony by subcommittee members and experts invited to testify by the subcommittee. The Chair presiding is Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia. Panelists and many Congressmen made it clear that aspects of the national Registry are ineffective and unfair. Key points raised were whether juveniles should be on the registry; whether some aspects of the national registry, including its retroactivie portions are unConstitutional (as found by at least 6 Federal Courts to date); and whether the offense-based classification system of SORNA is fair and effective. More hearings will be scheduled. We urge ALL RSOL participants to view this hearing and send comments to your US Representatives, and to be prepared to come to Washington to testify in the future. The URL for the hearing (via SDP123a) is
http://www.sdp123a.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=707&Itemid=1
It can also be viewed via the Ohio RSOL affiliate´s web connection at URL
http://vimeo.com/3607467
ALSO - See RSOL Action Item 0037 for Laurie Peterson´s final report on the hearings, and contact her with feedback. Other notes and reactions are being posted as blogs, beginning with Blog No. 117. Send us your comments, and we´ll post them. |
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URGENT CONGRESSIONAL HEARING MARCH 10
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 08.03.2009
Link to this message: [0015] |
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| URGENT ACTION FOR ALL RSOL PARTICIPANTS: A major Congressional Hearing on the Adam Walsh Act takes place this Tuesday, March 10, at 2pm, in Room 2141 Rayburn House Office Bldg, before the Judiciary Committee Subcommitee on Crime, Terror and Homeland Security, chaired by U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, tel. 202-225-8351. Though no public testimony will be taken at this hearing, contact your Rep and give him or her a comment - as well as urge them to speak to RSOL people there, especially Laurie Peterson. (See BLOG Item No. 0016 for Laurie´s take on the hearing, and her position on the rights of ¨sex offenders.¨) A coalition of groups, The Adam Walsh Act Working Group, will seek reforms less sweeping than those proposed by RSOL. We urge you also to contact Alisa Klein at 413-586-9123 or Nicole Rittman, 267-6766, to ask them to include RSOL and its state groups in their working group. All participants should contact their own Representative as well as the chair and members of the subcommittee. See also RSOL Action Item No. 0036 for further details. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! |
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Support Georgia Bill
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 20.02.2009
Link to this message: [0014] |
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| The Southern Center for Human Rights in Georgia is urging support of Georgia Senate Bill No. 157, which makes important changes in sex offender requirements, restoring some privacy and civil liberties and allowing certain offenders to get off the registry list. Go to www.schr.org, or see RSOL Action Item No. 0035. These are the first signs that significant reform can occur at the state level. Also, contact Kelly, the Georgia affiliated state contact, at gasoem@gmail.com. |
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Please Contact Dr. Phil
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By Kelly Piercy <gasoem@gmail.com>
Posted on 08.02.2009
Link to this message: [0013] |
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WE URGE all RSOL participants to contact Dr. Phil about his February 3 show, in which he referred to a recent report on internet contacts beween predators and kids - and completely misrepresented the findings of that report! Also, read Kelly's letter to Dr. Phil as an example, and then write in to the show! Kelly's letter is Blog No. 107 on our Blog page on this site.
The URL for the show is http://drphil.com/shows/show/1217
and the URL for the email feedback form is
http://drphil.com/plugger/respond/2plugID=9164 |
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Sex Offender's Death Because of Laws.
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 05.02.2009
Link to this message: [0012] |
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A week ago, we posted the news story from Michigan (News Item No. 00102)about Thomas Pauli, a homeless sex offender, who was turned away from at least two shelters because of his status, and who died of exposure in the snow on an incredibly cold night. Now, his brave son, Eric Pauli, has joined RSOL as a signatory. We hope this man's death and his son's courage will renew the determination of all of us to change these dreadful, unAmerican laws. They are a new form of the death penalty for people like Thomas. Keep on trying to get to our government, before one more person dies needlessly! Please send your statements of support for Eric in this difficult time, to alexm60@fastmail.fm, and we will forward them.
Eric wrote: "My father was turned away from a shelter too close to a school for his 20 year old offense. With no other place to go,he passed away in the cold snow the same night he was turned away." |
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CONTACT OBAMA AGAIN!
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 15.01.2009
Link to this message: [0011] |
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| All RSOL activists! The Obama Briefing Book has closed. We sent in hundreds of votes and many good comments, urging the new President to consider real sex offender law reform. We can only hope that somehow these got to Obama´s top team members. We urge all of you to keep in touch with your RSOL state contact people, and to keep contacting your state and U.S. legislators, as well as the new President via letters and emails. Also, write letters to the editor, and aricles for the newsletters of all the groups to which you belong (unions, professional groups, community groups, churches). The message is: current sex offender registry and residency laws are NOT helping, and they are causing great pain to hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens, including former offenders and also their families. Please help reform these laws NOW. America can´t wait for this justice! |
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MOST UP-TO-DATE S.O.ONLINE SURVY
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 13.01.2009
Link to this message: [0010] |
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URGENT: All RSOL participants should check out this fantastic news story from the nonprofit Pew Foundation. THIS IS A MUST READ!
The article includes the most up-to-date, state-by-state, survey of online information about ¨sex offenders,¨ showing about 678,000 currently required to register in all 50 states, and listing more and more intrusive information shown online about offenders. Mary Sue Molnar, Texas Voices, RSOL affiliate, is quoted as are others, in an excellent analysis of why these public shaming devices are bankrupt and should be abolished. There are also excellent comments at the end of the article, all calling for reform or repeal of the ¨sex offender¨ registries.
Go to the News Item 0095 on this site, or to the URL
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=367676
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URGENT: Keep Contacting Obama
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By Kelly Piercy <gasoem@gmail.com>
Posted on 09.01.2009
Link to this message: [009] |
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URGENT: KEEP CONTACTING THE OBAMA TEAM!
Our message will only be heard if it is asked and voted. We need to do this over and over!
1. Click THIS LINK. (or just go to change.gov and follow instructions)
2. Select Additional Issues
a. Log in or Register. (Trick: You can use any name you want or even gobble-dee-gook, you must use a real email address.)
3. Submit a question if you have not already done so. (Trick: You may submit more than one question.) KEEP THE QUESTION SHORT AND SIMPLE!
4. Enter the term sex offender in the search window at the top of the question field (after you submit your question if you did this.)
5. Take the time to VOTE on each question. There are some questions that need a no vote, you can usually tell after the first few words.
6. Go back every couple of days and vote again. The system will not record a vote for any question you have previously voted for or against.
a. Tricks: If you have more than one email address, register under each email and vote again and again and again...
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 every two days until this question period closes..
You will be notified when a new question period opens after the current question period closes.Link: http://change.gov/page/m2/3855d469/6842f93a/2bc5e140/5e6bcaf8/882084685/VEsF/ |
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CALL IN: Larry King tonight!
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By anonymous <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 08.01.2009
Link to this message: [008] |
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TONIGHT - THURSDAY, JAN 8, 9pm, Eastern ST! Larry King Live interviews Priscilla Presley
LARRY KING LIVE tonight will interview Priscilla Presley about her marriage and relationship with Elvis, who would be 74 today.
Several RSOL participants urge us to contact the show and ask what Priscilla thinks about today´s laws that would make her relationship with Elvis as a teenage girl, illegal, and would have required Elvis to register for life as a ¨sex offender.¨
Contact the show through the url below, then click on the prompt, ¨here to be part of Larry King Live,´ and then find the prompt to send an email question.
Let us know what happens!
url
http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/ |
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RADIO ALERT: Texas Voices,MARY SUE & BILL
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By Mary Sue Molnar <marysueintx@yahoo.com>
Posted on 06.01.2009
Link to this message: [007] |
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| RADIO ALERT - FRIDAY, JAN. 9, 9pm,CST. Texas Voices coordinator, Mary Sue Molnar, and Atty. Bill Habern, RSOL Signatory, will be interviewed on ¨sex offender¨ issues on PRISON VOICES, a weekly radio show on KPFT, Houston Pacifica Radio, 90.1 FM. Listen on the radio, or online at www.theprisonshow.org, and click ¨listen live.¨ Long distance calls are accepted, starting at 9:20pm, and local calls at 10:20pm - if busy, redial. Tel. 713-526-5738. RSOL participants are encouraged to listen, and to call in! |
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Inquisition21 and Day of Reckoning
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By Alex Marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 21.12.2008
Link to this message: [006] |
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| Inquisition21 is one of the most important websites working against unjust ´sex offender´ campaigns in the world. (See two websites - http://www.inquisition21.com, and http://www.reckoning.obu-investigators.com/ ) Based in Ireland, it began its work to support thousands of Britons falsely accused in a huge internet porn sting campaign, called Operation Ore. It has often featured RSOL material, including the article, EXILE, from our last digest. It´s new campaign, Day of Reckoning, exposes politicians, the media, vigilantes and others who profit from unfair attacks on ¨sex offenders,¨ and on the ongoing world sex panic. Among those targetted are Rupert Murdoch, Oprah Winfrey, Ga. state reps Keen and Ralston, and the PJ vigilantes. |
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MARY DURAN INTERVIEW EVERY THURSDAY!
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By Mary Duran <rickyslife@windstream.net>
Posted on 11.12.2008
Link to this message: [005] |
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FLASH! Mary Duran, the RSOL Affiliated state contact for Oklahoma, and the champion of her son´s case, is interviewed every Thursday at 8:05 p.m. - see below for link. Tune in and call in if you can. Let us know what you think!
Alex Marbury
NOTE: The ¨author¨ is really me, but I want you to send comments to Mary after the show, with a copy to alexm60@fastmail.fm
INTERVIEW WITH MARY DURAN, CFC Oklahoma, RSOL Affiliated group.
TONIGHT!
Talking Points Radio
> http://www.talkingpointsradio.com
>
> EVERY Thursday Night 8:05 p.m. Central
> CALL: 724-444-7444 |
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Twenty-five Affiliated State Groups!
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By Alain Lévesque <alain360@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 10.11.2008
Link to this message: [003] |
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Great news: RSOL has finally reached its goal for the year 2008! With the creation of a new affiliated state group in Utah, RSOL now has a total of 25 affiliated state groups throughout the whole country! Our presence in half of the States of the country gives our organization a great visibility, and most importantly, an even greater opportunity to help individuals and families affected by the current legislation. To find out if your State currently holds an RSOL affiliated group, please visit the section of our website dedicated to our affiliated groups(http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org/groups/index.php). And if you live in a State that does not currently have an RSOL affiliated group and you wish to get involved, please contact Alex Marbury (alexm60@fastmail.fm) or our state group coordinator, Alain Lévesque (alain360@fastmail.fm).
URGENT ACTION. The Obama Administration has set up a website for everyone to tell him their story and vision. This is where we can tell the government about the terrible, disproportional consequences that the registries have on millions of Americans.
Go to: http://www.change.gov. Under the tab "American Moment" you can tell your story (be brief, there is not a lot of space) by clicking 'Share your Story'. Under the same tab you will find 'Share your Vision'. This is where we can make our voices heard! |
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Welcome Back to RSOL for 2008!
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By RSOL Team <info@reformsexoffenderlaws.org>
Posted on 04.01.2008
Link to this message: [002] |
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| Welcome back to RSOL for 2008! As you can see, our site has been given a new coat of paint, and some important new features. We've added a special section for activities and actions RSOL is working on, called Action Items. Our favorite section is probably the one devoted to registered individuals and those who live and work with them, called Tales From the Registry. Their experiences are central to our work, and everyone needs to read about them. Besides that, we've got a news ticker for headlines on the registry and SO news, and now everyone can read our monthly digest, not only our email membership. There's more coming from RSOL, so stick around. |
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