Posting #5 – Hate Crimes & Intimidation Tactics

By: RSOL of Virginia
Date: 10/27/2008

Dear ACLU, Civil Rights Coalition, Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Virginia Lawmakers and U.S Representatives from Virginia,

The RSOL of Virginia introduced itself to you and your office in an e-mail or letter dated October 23, 2008.We hope that you did take the time to review the information as well as our suggested reading materials.

As we have just started the process of enlightening and educating Virginians on how unjust the current requirements and restrictions that are imposed upon registered sex offenders are, we are trying to prepare ourselves for what is to come.

One RSOL member mailed us and stated that they had previously attempted to exercise their constitutional right to educate others and question laws affecting their life and in turn found themselves slandered, harassed and intimidated by some vigilante groups. These groups “profile” registered offenders on their sites and will go as far as contacting offenders’ neighbors and employers about the offense. They have listed people who have signed petition’s to reform sex offender laws on their website along with links to “additional information” about those people and their families, including, the signatory’s job history, previous names and business information. There are several lawsuits across the country regarding their slander and very dangerous vigilante tactics. They alerted us to the following:

• __________         (Name and link of a vigilante group was included in original letter.

RSOL of Virginia will not give this group the satisfaction of being mentioned) 

• __________         (Name and link of a second vigilante group was included in original letter.

RSOL of Virginia will not give this group the satisfaction of being mentioned) 

RSOL of Virginia is interested in the opposing viewpoints and visited these web sites. We were appalled and thought you would be interested in what types of groups you are inadvertently supporting.

Despite the fact that State Sex Offender Registries tend to use language similar to the following,
“Unlawful use of the information for purposes of intimidation or harassing another is prohibited and willful violation shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor”, the unrestricted flow of information to not just the lawful browser but the criminal vigilante has resulted in entire families, including children, being harassed, beaten and yes, murdered.

We know as lawmakers you could not possibly condone this behavior and as such we want you to take a good hard look at some of these groups and realize that it is your civil and moral right to defend any and all citizens under your protection.
The definition of a Hate Crime (also known as bias motivated crimes) is a crime that occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation.Hate crime can take many forms. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters.

RSOL of Virginia believes this definition of a hate crime clearly includes registered sex offenders. A registered sex offender is a member of a group that has political repercussions. Registered sex offenders have been made into targets by the government upon being forced to post their photo, list their employment and residential information on the internet with the added convenience of mapping directly to them. Vigilantes who have no affiliation with the registered person have stalked, harassed, threatened, intimidated, slandered, injured and even killed registered sex offenders simply because they are on listed on the internet as a sex offender.

A key element of the Adam Walsh Act is that it establishes standards to promote greater uniformity across public Sex Offender web-sites. The Wetterling Act required the establishment of State Sex Offender web-sites, but left discretion to states about which registrants and what information would be posted. AWA establishes minimum requirements regarding which sex offenders and what information must be made available to the public through state and the National Sex Offender Public Website, and it sets forth specifications about required search capabilities. Information that is statutorily exempted from public dissemination will be included on law enforcement’s National Sex Offender Registry.

RSOL of Virginia is requesting:

• Addition of registered sex offenders to the list of groups included in Hate Crimes. Any person or persons committing a crime against a person listed on the registry solely due to the listing shall be punishable to the full extent of the law under “Hate Crimes”.

• Removal of the employment information from public view on the Sex Offender web-site as it serves no purpose other than to intimidate and influence the employer and will be used by vigilantes.

Both of these changes are extremely important and need to be addressed immediately.

Currently the U.S. government has virtually dragged 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.

The fear and loathing against registered sex offenders that is currently considered acceptable needs to stop before additional citizens and communities are harmed.

We look forward to your response and to making strides towards righting these obvious wrongs.

Sincerely,
RSOL of Virginia Organizer