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Posting #169 – The Intent of the RegistryBy: Bob A RSOL supporter, Bob sent the below e-mail to reporter Jerry Markon after reading his article, Tracking Sex-Crime Offenders Gets Trickier Anytime you feel inspired to write to a reporter, feel free to use the information we’ve provided on our web-site.
Dear Mr. Jerry Markon, I read your inaccurate article this morning and trust you will have the courage to perform accurate research and post the truth of why there is a 78 percent increase in sex offender registries and assist in changing these toxic and ineffective sex offender laws. The issue of sex offender laws in Virginia needs to be reviewed and changed for the following reasons: Virginia does not evaluate individuals or determine if someone convicted of a sex offense is dangerous to society. Instead, Virginia legislators decided to make their tier determination by statute and not by a real evaluation tier 1-3 system. This means all Virginia statues are written to include all offenses as violent felony offenses wasting millions of dollars with vague and useless laws that do NOT protect anyone, but cost Virginia tax payer’s needless money and resources. Worse, the 1% who is dangerous is not identified as all people convicted are lumped into the 16,000 and growing registry as life time punishment making them pariahs to society, which was NOT the initial intent of the registry. There is no chance of recovery and all the misguided toxic legislation and news media (such as yours) causes more harm than good and raises serious constitutional issues. Your article innuendos and misrepresents that all sex offenders are predators lurking by using technology to prey on children, when in fact there are an extraordinary few sex offenders on the registry for such crimes. What about the families of sex offenders and their civil rights being stripped from the children and wives of sex offenders from the legal harassment, death threats, which their neighbors openly provide? What about the sex offender children that suffers from legal mental abuse from adult neighbors who harass them daily because their parent is on the registry, threats and harassment from other children at school? Even the extended families of sex offenders are affected as well as the human services money spent on sex offenders since they cannot find somewhere to live or work since it is a requirement their work address and the name of their employer must go on the registry. I don’t see how this protects children or anyone else…and has proved ineffective in the Cleveland case and Jaycee Lee Dugard simply because there are thousands who should not be on the registry and are not dangerous to society, yet they continue to be punished because of inaccurate news media and the horrific actions of the few. I did not see ALL law enforcement officers nationwide facing civil/criminal charges resulting from the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. Teachers are being laid off from work due to lack of funds, and all most all of people on the Virginia sex offender registry are not predators or dangerous to society. Are you aware that the most prevalent persons listed on the registries are those who were found guilty where there was actually no real victim (internet stings) or agreed to a plea agreement to avoid public humiliation and life in prison, or one whose crime was statutory in nature (Romeo and Juliet) but they are listed as rape, carnal knowledge and sodomy on the public registries. These facts are important to mention. Additionally, there are a large number of people on the sex offender registry that were evaluated by Virginia Circuit court sex offender experts as no risk to society and were removed from the registry. That is, until the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), these people were placed back onto the registry even though they proved to the Virginia courts they were not dangerous, which Virginia courts took extraordinary serious and certainly no easy feat. I have seen the bogus figures that have come out of the crime commission and posted on the internet for recidivism rates 90%, 100% and sex offenders hiding behind every bush. The real documented expert statistics are 3.5 to 5.5 percent. The list of Studies, Reports and Books that conclude the proliferation of “Sex Offender” Legislation over the past 20 years in America that was meant to memorialize an assaulted, murdered or missing child has largely FAILED at a costly monetary and human price. This is especially true for the families of sex offenders and the human beings on the registries trying to be productive members of society. The Residency Restrictions, GPS Monitoring, stigmatizing and publicly posting Juveniles and first time offenders has NOT, reduced Sex Offender recidivism rates (5.5%), provided safety, healing or support for victims, reflected the scientific research on sexual victimization, offending and risk, or provided successful strategies for prevention. Official statements, reports and books also do not confirm the real recidivism rates for sexual assaults which are 3.5 to 5.5%, NOT the 70, 80, 90 and 100% that State and Federal Politicians and the media continue to claim. For the real statistics on sexual assault recidivism you might want to look at these:
* No Easy Answers: Human Rights Watch Study, September 11, 2007 Virginia spends far more than they are supplemented by the federal government to comply with SORNA and currently Virginia exceeds most SORNA requirements. The majority of the people on the registry is NOT dangerous to society and should be taken off the failed registries and some sense put back into the laws which govern sex offenders. Just because people are on the sex offender registry does not mean they are predators as portrayed. I hope you will look at the true statistics provided above and assist to make the changes to Virginia (national) laws, these people on the registries have already paid their debt to society and it’s time to bring some sanity to the laws of Virginia for sex offenders and their innocent families rather than look the other way and political posturing. Sincerely, |
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