Posting # 47 –Dear US House Judiciary Committee Members

By:  RSOL of Virginia
Date:  03/13/2009

Dear House Judiciary Committee Members,

I mailed you a letter on March 3, 2009 and I attended the March 10, Judiciary Hearing on SORNA.

Let me begin by telling you my husband is required to register as a Sex Offender in Virginia all because of a lie. In May 2007 my husband and we were asked to assist our neighbor a widow across the street in putting her 14 year old dog down because she was not strong enough to do so, on her own. My husband and I own five dogs and we can not bear to see an animal suffer. The almost sixteen year old daughter of the neighbor accidentally witnessed this discussion to assist the widow and protested the action vehemently. One week later (the day before the planned euthanasia) our County advised my husband that the almost sixteen year old girl had claimed he had touched her in an inappropriate manner. We were advised by multiple lawyers that an accusation is sufficient to convict and after multiple escalations of the original claim my husband was facing Life plus 20 years in prison. Thousands of dollars and five months later the County offered that if we were to accept a no contest plea and a reduction to a misdemeanor with a guarantee of no public media attention, no jail time, and no fines they would end the case; however, he would be required to register for the next 10 years as a Sex Offender. We were given 5 minutes to decide what it turns out would define our lives; not knowing better, we took it. Four months later the Virginia General Assembly met and changed the minimum time on the Sex Offender Registry to 15 years.

All Sex Offender Regulations and Restrictions are retroactive, there is no Ex Post Facto rules regarding this group of people, so now my husband must endure 15 years on a Public Registry where anyone can map to our home or to his place of employment all because a teenage girl wanted to save her dog. By the way, the dog lives on today, it’s almost 16 years old, deaf, frail, left outside through the entire year, receives no love or attention from the two teenagers or the widow, before all this we used to give it food at least. If the State of Virginia doesn’t change the minimum time that my husband is required to remain on the Registry again (but we know they will), the girl across the street will be 31 years old and my husband will be 60 years old. The retroactive approach to new laws being passed needs to cease.

Currently Congress is asking why haven’t all the States become compliant when it comes to SORNA and the Adam Walsh Act.
According to Congress SORNA is the bar that all States must reach to keep their 10% of the Byrne Grant, most States have actually gone further in the passing laws than SORNA even requires. SORNA does not require any residency restrictions but almost every State has enacted Sex Offender Residency Restrictions ranging from 500 to 2500 ft. from ANY school, daycare, library, recreation center, park or bus stop. Take a map of your district with each of these landmarks and draw a 500ft circumference around each one, you’ll be amazed how little of an area it leaves for someone to reside in. Increase it to 2500ft. and you’ll understand why homelessness increased 800% in California in the past year, it leaves no where for anyone labeled a Sex Offender to reside; this includes shelters, which has led to freezing deaths just this past winter.

Some States, Cities and Counties consider an Offender that is driving down Main St. on their way home which happens to pass a school, a violation of a “safe distance” or even the loitering regulations. Those on the Registry have been reprimanded and even charged just for driving home or to work.

Then there are the cities, counties and school district’s that enact their own rules and regulations against Registered Sex Offenders that include entry into zoos, fairs, beaches, fast food establishments and malls that have play areas as well as picking up your child from school or attending your own child’s recital or graduation. Don’t forget the rehabilitation centers, assisted living facilities and children’s hospitals that Registered Sex Offenders are forbidden to visit or become a patient within. Then there are the Social Networking Sites and Dating Sites that forbid Sex Offenders membership, so much for a personal life.

Now try to locate all these regulations and restrictions so that you do not inadvertently break the law. It’s impossible; there is no central location to find the rules. Probation Officers, Sex Offender Task Force members, State Legislators or Attorneys General’s don’t even know all the laws. But you can be certain if they “think” you’ve broken one you’ll be arrested in a minute and then they figure it all out (the old shoot first theology). In most cases, failure to comply with the Registry is a felony offense. This is certainly a harsher penalty to the large number of Registered Sex Offenders who were convicted of a misdemeanor.

SORNA has given every State, City, County and School District free reign to pile on as many restrictions as they can come up with and then they aren’t required to notify the people that are affected by their restrictions. Being listed on a Sex Offender Registry is like being on Probation; whereas, there is a list of rules you must obey, but because the Registry has been deemed “administrative” not “punitive” the rules are not posted or distributed. This is not a game; these are people’s lives that our Government is being reckless with.
Each State publicly posts varying information on Registered Offenders ranging from their employers names, license plates, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and maps to their homes and places of work and yes shoe sizes in Texas. None of this information is required by SORNA, but the States “only care about the children”, with out any regard to the collateral damage. Our States, our Government has virtually dragged all Registered Sex Offenders into a public courtyard, armed the spectators with stones and then whispered softly to the armed spectators, "Now, now, don't throw these", the expected result is obvious.

Many States do not have the 3 tiered system that SORNA has recommended, they just have a non-violent and a violent classification. They publically post the non-violent offenders and in Virginia the General Assembly has re-classified many of the non-violent offenders to violent, both in 2006 and 2008. This resulted in 90% of all Virginia offenders being reclassified as violent regardless of their offense and the original determination of the court

Ohio has attempted three times to pass a law where all Registered Sex Offenders would have a fluorescent green license plate easily marking them to any passer by. Do you think ANY insurance company is going to cover that vehicle? This would remove the ability for persons on the registry to work or even drive to the grocery store as no insurance means no driving.

Currently, Utah is attempting to pass a law that would require the registration as a Sex Offender if someone “flips the bird with their middle finger”, is that what the Sex Offender Registry has become? Sadly yes, it has become a useless tool that includes consensual sex between teenagers, public urinators, mooners, streakers, flashers, teens that “text” nude photos between one another, people that were prosecuted and convicted based on an accusation alone, Government stings where there was never a real victim and people that had a lapse in judgment who had served their time and should be able to become a productive member of society but will never allowed to be because of SORNA, the Adam Walsh Act and the Wetterling Act.

Many States require low and mid level registrants to pay for routine lie detector tests, Sex Offender Treatment Programs as well as GPS monitoring. These types of management should only be reserved for the most dangerous people.

If a registered Sex Offender travels on business or pleasure for more than 7 days, in some States they are required to register their temporary residence even if it’s a hotel. Most states require visiting Sex Offenders to abide by their states Sex Offender Requirements, but how does someone know this is even a requirement let alone find the list of rules?

The state of Virginia has one up’ed the Adam Walsh Act and instead of 14 year olds being required to register they have made it 13 year olds. But that wasn’t even good enough, in 2008 there was a bill proposing it be lowered to 12 year olds, thankfully that bill failed.

It’s a medical fact that the human brain is not fully developed until 20 or 21 years of age. So why is the US Government holding 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17 year olds accountable to a lapse in judgment when they “text” a naughty photo, moon someone out a car window or experiment with their boyfriend or girlfriend? No, this is not the behavior parents or society wants to condone but to list them as a violent or Tier 2 or 3 Sex Offender on a Public Registry for 25 years or life is insane. In most States the school system will have them expelled so that they can not even complete a rudimentary education and they’ve passed laws so that Registered Sex Offenders can not attend college. An entire group of people have been denied their right to an education and will never be able to find employment beyond fast food, garbage collectors or truck driver (but not a tow truck driver, in Virginia they’ve passed a law that forbids Sex Offenders from being tow truck drivers, apparently that was a problem). Then there are the professionals that had a thriving career before the conviction, policemen, lawyers, politicians, people in the medical field, education field, in the media, coaching and even professional athletes. Your career is dead and your education wasted, you will never be able to return because you’ve been labeled a Sex Offender.

A recent study at the end of 2008 by the Josephson Institute titled The Ethics of American Youth Revealed that today’s teens are entrenched in habits of dishonesty, stealing, lying, and cheating at alarming rates. If we know that the human brain isn’t fully developed until 21 resulting in teenagers unable to understand the repercussions of their actions and we also know that today’s teen has no remorse when it comes to lying, how can our Government allow an accusation alone to convict, imprison and stigmatize someone for life? What about States that only allow an accuser 21 days to recant a lie? If DNA is discovered in a murder case a new trial occurs, how can our Government allow a Citizen to remain incarcerated and/or stigmatized as a Sex Offender if the accuser realizes what their lie has done and wants to atone?

SORNA needs to implement that any deviation of the guidelines by a State including going beyond the recommendations will negate Federal funding in order to prevent a state to state competition in order to relocate the registered to a less restrictive state. There also needs to be consistency for the people enforcing the laws and the people attempting to obey the laws.

Low-Level Offenders should never be on a Public Registry, but if SORNA deems that to be necessary then the Registered need to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If they have been good, productive Citizens they should be relieved of the Public Registry after 3 or 5 years. The same with the Mid-Level Offenders, if they have stayed out of trouble for 6 to 8 years they should be removed from the Public Registries. The State can still maintain the information and the tracking, but allow the Registered person to return to society removed from the public posting. The Sex Offender Registries were implemented to protect the public from the most dangerous repeat offenders but the States have made them useless by including any and all offences.

Whatever changes you do make, it is vital that we emphasize that these changes include past convictions, present convictions and future convictions. This is the only time a retroactive approach should apply.

Sincerely,
RSOL of Virginia Organizer