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“If we can imagine how we would build a system to address sexual abuse if the victim was our daughter and the offender was our son then we will be closer to the right response.” - Dr. William Samek, The American Justice Foundation http://www.amjf.org

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Sex offender laws have unintended consequences

by Dan Gunderson Minnesota Public Radio | Published on: June 18, 2007
 

"... POLICIES DRIVEN BY ANGER AND FEAR

Patty Wetterling says it's an example of sex offender laws that go too far. Wetterling has been a vocal advocate for laws to protect children since her son Jacob was abducted 18 years ago. He's never been found.

Wetterling says it's easy to just get tough on sex offenders, but she's tired of tough.

"Tired of tough"

"Everybody wants to out-tough the next legislator. 'I'm tough on crime,' 'No, I'm even more tough.' It's all about ego and boastfulness," says Wetterling.

Wetterling says she wants public policy to be effective. She says broad sweeping laws that treat all offenders the same waste resources and lives.

Wetterling recently met a 10-year-old boy going through sex offender treatment. She says the boy was sexually abused, and later was convicted of abusing a young cousin.

"He finishes his sex offender treatment program and then he goes home to another state, and his picture is on the Internet while he goes back to middle school. What are the odds that kid could ever make it?" says Wetterling. ..." 

---

	"...The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation." - Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf (1925)
	Demand an End to Child Life Without Parole Children can and do commit terrible crimes, however, when they do, they should be held accountable in a manner that reflects both their culpability and their special capacity for rehabilitation. Send a message to your Governor saying children under 18, who by law are not responsible enough to vote, live on their own, sign contracts, sit on a jury or get married without parental consent are too young to be sentenced as adults spending the rest of their lives in a prison cell without any chance of review or parole.

Officials arrest 7 convicted sex offenders with MySpace profiles Seven Texans behind bars

Associated Press

(6/14/07 - HOUSTON) - Seven convicted sex offenders with profiles on MySpace.com have been arrested in what Texas officials said was the country's first large-scale crackdown of registered offenders who use the social networking Web site.

The men were arrested in Houston, Austin, Round Rock, and Glenn Heights during a two-week operation by the Texas Attorney General's Cyber Crimes and Fugitive units. They were picked up after MySpace.com released the names of offenders with online profiles to the state Attorney General's Office, which had issued a subpoena for the site's subscriber information.

"Texans will not tolerate criminals who prey on our children," Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement.

After it was criticized for failing to protect underage subscribers, the site supplied names to attorneys general in other states, and began checking subscribers' criminal histories through Sentinel Safe, a database of registered sex offenders. In Houston, officials arrested Patrick Joseph Blevins, 49; Reginald Lee Collins, 27; Ronald Daven Metoyer, 41; and Robert Shepard Walter, 23. Walter was also charged last month with failing to register as a sex offender. Each was ordered held without bond in the Harris County jail. Motions were also filed to revoke the parole of Blevins, Collins and Metoyer. Scott Peter Hansen, 44, was arrested in Glenn Heights, a Dallas suburb; Jason Labronte Carr, 31, was taken into custody in Austin; and Jeremy Bryan Polak, 28, a parole violator accused of failing to register as a sex offender, was arrested in Round Rock, an Austin suburb.  

Commentary: The impression here is that because they were registered sex offenders "they were preying on our children." What this article barely mentioned is the fact that these were parole violations or pre-existing warrants, the idea here is to make you the reader believe that all registered sex offenders are the source of the problem by focusing attention away from the real issue and to capitalize on the political placebo effect of the MySpace stupidity. 

Does Myspace really believe they are  free of registered sex offenders who were not hiding their identity to begin with? The problem with the MySpace idiocy is that it defies the basic logic of Megan's Law or "The Right To Know" and the whole concept of knowing who your talking too?

Makes one wonder how long it takes law enforcement to pick up these parole violators or those with failure to register violations? All these people appear to already have had pre-existing warrants for their arrest and some appear to have violated their parole for accessing a computer.

If these individuals had time enough to play and fiddle around on MySpace (despite the absence of vast numbers in contrast to the general populous of anyone registered as a sex offender "preying on our children" over the internet), why all of a sudden does Mr. Abbott make an issue out of this other than to get media attention?

Nice try AG Gregg Abbott, everybody please clap for this stupid attempt at grandstanding and making it appear these people (because they happened to be registered sex offenders) were "preying on our children" over the internet. We suppose this will falsely justify future unwarranted search and seizure violations without probable cause against registered sex offenders and their family?  Blame shifting? Everyone knows it is the members of general public that are "preying on our children?"  Likewise Mr. Abbott should be held liable for false accusations and his immunity shield revoked for violating his oath of office, and for not following the mandates set out by the state constitution. It's a shame we have liars in office. (modified/updated 08/13/07)

National

Creator of MySpace sex offender database is ex-cop, data expert
gainesville.com | Published on: July 31, 2007
 
The man behind the technology that recently enabled MySpace to expel almost 30,000 registered sex offenders from its cyber community is a fast-talking, cop-turned-database expert with little tolerance for his targets.

John Cardillo, 38, spent more than a decade working as a police officer in the Bronx before leaving for the private sector. In that time, he said his encounters with sex offenders convinced him that evil does exist.

"We wouldn't want them to walk into a school yard; we certainly wouldn't want them in these online communities," Cardillo said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Seeing a void in the tools available to reliably identify sex offenders in these spheres, the Miami resident created a company five years ago to help Web sites like MySpace do just that. According to two state attorneys general, MySpace found 29,000 registered sex offenders among its 180 million profiles - four times more than the company had cited two months earlier.

Where Sentinel Tech Holding Corp. differs from name-and-age match systems is in its wealth of data and its verification technique. Cardillo's staff compares the Web site profiles of potential matches with the biographical, criminal and geographic history of the offender, gleaned from various sources.

Some cases are clearly false matches, Cardillo said, but others warrant a closer look, so the person's profile is flagged and suspended. That person receives a notice that such action was taken and is provided Sentinel's 800-number to call if they believe a mistake was made.

If the person calls, Cardillo's staff asks them questions about their background, like their address from a certain period or their former neighbor's name, to determine if they have the right person or not. The questions are rotated to keep offenders on their toes.

Most people are very cooperative and appreciative of Sentinel's intentions - except for those who turn out to be sex offenders, Cardillo said.

"They're enraged they're kicked off the site, they've threatened my staff... They truly show their character when we exclude them from our communities," Cardillo said. "I like hearing this because it reinforces every day that we're doing the right thing."

Sentinel isn't without its critics, though. Some argue that those who have served their sentences should not be barred from MySpace and other online communities.

"I simply don't care. My sympathies don't lie with the pedophiles, they lie with the victim," Cardillo said. "We can never afford not to err on the side of safety." 

Commentary:

One of many problems with the "Mr. Cardillo's" entire argument? One being, is that this carefully orchestrated psycho babble cannot be based on anything real as far as protecting anyone in reality, in the sense of prevention, it is very detached and far from it. What is happening here is that they are placing people in more likely situations to become victimized by anyone.

MYSpace is not a real time chatroom, I do not understand the logic here other than kicking people off a webpage so they can comeback and re-establish an account anonymously, it is a fruitless endeavor to claim "having no sympathy," while Mr. high strung emotional ex-cop is busy sucking up a paycheck from Sentinel for panic peddling, he is also making it more difficult if not impossible to prevent a crime before it happens, which would lead anyone with any sense in their head to logically conclude that Sentinel Tech and MySpace destroys any chance for a potential victim to know the identity of their attacker BEFORE THE FACT. Exploiting Sentinel Tech's weak arguments is the key to exposing a fraudulent scheme that endangers children.

Why not start screening people before they come onto the website since they already have the infrastructure in place to do that? Just the fact that anyone can sign onto MYSpace even if they are caught and flagged as an RSO is pure stupidity on the part of MYSpace and Sentinel. Since you DO NOT have to be logged-in to ACCESS a MySpace page that leads me to my next formula in the argument.

Here is a great headline "Myspace NOW a meat market for pedophiles" ...The man behind the technology that recently enabled MySpace to expel almost 30,000 registered sex offenders from its cyber community is a fast-talking, cop-turned-database expert with little tolerance for future victims, he is more concerned about "having no sympathy" for registered sex offenders then he is about preventing crimes before they happen.....    That's a real attention grabber.

If parents start drawing the real conclusion that MYSpace is creating a meat market that exploits their teens or children like pheasant under glass; as the result and consequences of kicking off all registered sex offenders, then that philosophy will change.

Why are webpages "social networking" with teens or children publicly accessible to adults in the first place?  peer-to-peer? Who is doing the exploiting?

The solution to the problem and that is to require all social networking websites to separate

 (1) children

 (2) teen

 (3) adults 

Three (3) distinct categories and additionally require that those sites only be publicly accessible to those said age groups the exception being parents who are supervising their own children (were the responsibility needs to be encouraged and really belongs).

Providing heavy fines and criminal penalties for ‘social networking websites’ that refuse to comply would be the real way to protect children from ALL online predators and encourage parents to watch their own children.

 Targeting registered sex offenders to do with protecting anyone and has the reverse effect because you will make it so that true predators (the general public) will take the extra effort to mask their identity--- is that what is good for America’s children? 

It is the general public (majority of child predators) that are preying on the children over the internet not the “registered sex offenders.”

Only 10% (*a very tiny group) of registered sex offenders reoffend sexually and this may be less than 1% nationally where a registered sex offender would actually utilize the internet to facilitate a sex offense against an actual minor or otherwise. *Source (Pub 2003): "Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from Prison in 1994." (NCJ 198281). http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/rsorp94.pdf

 The Foley scandal and Datelines “To Catch a Predator” are primary examples of the general public preying on children sexually over the internet? I am really disappointed that you would support this insanity that ultimately does nothing?

Registered Sex offenders who are law abiding citizens are not collectively responsible for online predatory acts committed against children and still maintain inalienable rights; First Amendment, Freedom of Association, Freedom of Assembly.

The constitution needs to be respected and laws created based on facts not emotion.

       Keith Olberman on the death of "Habeas Corpus"

  Keith Olberman on the "Bill of Rights"

Friday, August 03, 2007

Sex offenders on MySpace: Some context  NetFamilyNews.org | Anne Collier

ast week Larry Magid and I co-wrote a commentary that ran in the San Jose Mercury News Sunday. Hundreds of news outlets worldwide had picked up the story that MySpace has deleted the profiles of 29,000 registered sex offenders. The news may have been shocking to a lot of parents of teen social networkers, so we felt parents deserved some perspective on this. Here's a slightly condensed version of what we wrote….

Finding and expelling sexual predators from social Web sites - something MySpace says it now does routinely - is a good thing. Other social sites are similarly cooperating with law enforcement. But this announcement from North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (see General Cooper's "Protecting Children from MySpace," a link under "What's New" on his page) was only possible because MySpace took the initiative to develop a law-enforcement tool the federal government called for in a recently passed law but failed to create: a national sex offender database that MySpace then donated to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for broader use.
 

Beyond the Web. Sex offenders aren't just in social-networking sites online. They're in chatrooms and newsgroups, on discussion boards and file-sharing networks. They've been on the Internet since before there was a World Wide Web, long before social networking took off. Now social sites are helping to expose their online activities.
 

The numbers. Let's put the 29,000 profiles in context: More will probably be found, but there are more than 190 million profiles on MySpace at the moment. Now let's move from the Net to "real life." There are 602,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. That's just registered ones - those who've been caught and convicted. The vast majority of child molesters are not strangers whom children meet online. Very, very few are strangers in real life even: According to the California Department of Justice, “90% of child victims know their offender, with almost half of the offenders being a family member. Of sexual assaults against people age 12 and up, approximately 80% of the victims know the offender."
 

Actual cases. Last spring I was looking for a solid figure for sexual exploitation of minors in social-networking sites after hearing Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's reference to "the towering danger of sexual predators" (see "Predators vs. cyberbullies"). General Cooper's office told me there were approximately 100 known cases in MySpace in 2005, but that number was based not on government statistics but a Lexis-Nexis search of news reports. That's 100 cases too many, but an extremely small proportion of the 12 million teens who use such sites, and it pales compared to the number of kids molested by acquaintances and family members.
 

No kidnappings. In all those cases, a teenager willingly got together with someone he or she met online and, contrary to what many people think, the kids often knew what they were getting into and, in every known case, went to meet the offenders themselves. This doesn't excuse these crimes in any way, but parents need to understand how this victimization works and what signs to look for….
 

Who's actually victimized. At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, David Finkelhor, director of the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, gave a profile of what he described as a fairly typical victim of online predation: "Jenna" was 13 and "from a divorced family, frequented sex-oriented chatrooms, had the screenname 'Evilgirl.' There she met a guy who, after a number of conversations admitted he was 45. He flattered her, sent her gifts, jewelry. They talked about intimate things. And eventually he drove across several states to meet her for sex on several occasions in motel rooms. When he was arrested, in her company, she was reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement authorities" (see the full story). "Jenna" is not a typical teen or social networker; she's a typical victim of online predation, a high-risk teen offline, representing somewhere between 2% and 5% of online teens, Dr. Finkelhor indicated in a recent briefing on Capitol Hill.
 

Social networking's very individual. Whether it's a positive or negative experience depends on who uses it. The vast majority of our online kids are for the most part using social sites to socialize with their friends at school. Some are decorating their pages and learning graphic design, writing software code, playing with digital photos, producing and editing video, and so on, all in a very collective way. Unfortunately, some teens are seeking the wrong kind of validation online for destructive behaviors such as eating disorders, cutting, and substance abuse. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline told us over a year ago that MySpace was its No. 1 source of referrals, so teens are also getting help in MySpace for depression, domestic violence, loneliness, and substance abuse, as well as suicidal thinking, through the work of 120 crisis centers nationwide whose work the Lifeline coordinates.
 

Cyberbullying affects a lot more teens. So far two nationwide surveys in the US have found that about one-third of online teens in this country have been victimized by cyberbullying (one in Canada put the figure at about two-thirds for Canadian kids!). That's at least 8 million young people in the US (this too in "Predators vs. cyberbullies"). This peer harassment needs to be addressed, which will certainly happen at home and in school, as we teach our kids to be good friends and "citizens" online as well as off.
 

So let's keep these scary predator announcements in perspective. We want parents to have the facts so they can remain calm. When parents (and officials) overreact and start banning things, kids just go underground - as they have since the beginning of time. Only now they can do so online too - on hundreds of social networking sites, in IM, on phones and all sorts of other devices and at proliferating connection points in parks, libraries, cafes, and at friends' houses.

The State of Sex Offender Registry Laws showing Affect & Effect on Registrants and Their Families Today

The United Nations,

Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

 1948-1998 with violation/s shown

 within the respective

Article that is violated.

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