NJ - Towns can’t ban sex offenders, court rules

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Appeals court decision is here

07/15/2008

Judges say local actions interfere with statewide ‘Megan’s Law’

NEWARK - New Jersey towns cannot ban sex offenders from living near schools, parks, or other places where children gather, a state appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The three-judge panel found that New Jersey’s Megan’s Law was “pervasive and comprehensive” and should be the only law governing how sex offenders are treated. The ruling upheld findings by judges who invalidated ordinances in Cherry Hill and Galloway townships.

Supporters of those ordinances hoped the towns would appeal. Richard D. Pompelio, a lawyer for the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center, filed a brief endorsing the town’s laws.

He questioned how Megan’s Law, which requires sex offenders to register with the state, was pre-empted because it does not impose residency restrictions.

The towns banned adults convicted of sex offenses against a child from living within 2,500 feet of any school, park, playground, church or other place “where children might congregate.”

Similar laws are in place in many states and dozens of New Jersey towns; those in New Jersey will be at risk if the latest ruling stands.

Judges back ’statewide’ law
Appellate Judge Joseph F. Lisa, writing for the court, said the Cherry Hill and Galloway ordinances “interfere with and frustrate the purposes and operation of the statewide scheme.”

Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt was considering whether to appeal the ruling and maintained that the ordinance “is valuable to our community,” spokesman Dan Keashen said.

A message seeking comment from Galloway officials was not immediately returned.

The ruling was applauded by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Megan’s Law is already accepted as constitutional and as the state’s comprehensive approach to sex offenders. The residency requirements do not contribute to rehabilitation and may in fact undermine it,” said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the state chapter.

State Public Defender Yvonne Smith Segars filed a brief urging the appeals court to strike down the laws.

“You can’t impose unrealistic burdens on people and expect them to reintegrate. They paid their debt to society and are under supervision,” Segars said.

Three men challenged laws
The Cherry Hill law was challenged by two sex offenders convicted of violating the law after being placed in a motel by welfare officers with the approval of their probation and parole officers. The two men were considered at moderate risk of committing another sex offense.

A 20-year-old college freshman at Richard Stockton College, in Galloway Township, challenged the law there after moving into a dormitory on campus. The student was considered a low-risk sex offender for an offense he committed when he was 15 against a 13-year-old girl.

Calls to attorneys for the men were not immediately returned.

The three men were among about 11,000 sex offenders registered in New Jersey, the first state to enact a Megan’s Law. It was passed after a 7-year-old Hamilton Township girl, Megan Kanka, was killed in 1994 by a sex offender who lived in her neighborhood. Similar laws in other states and eventually the nation followed.

In New Jersey, neighbors of high-risk offenders are notified by police.

AU - Most police don’t want rape by partner to be reported

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I do not believe this so-called “study!” Where is the link to show the actual data and who did it?

Here is the report, pointed out by the user in the comments.

07/15/2008

• Police discourage women from reporting partner rape
• The crime is difficult to prove and often trivialised
• Many husbands do not consider the crime rape

ONLY one in five police officers believe a woman should report being raped by her husband, according to a study showing the crime is often trivialised.

Nuns, ministers, doctors and police often knew a woman had been raped by her partner but did nothing, the Victorian study found.

Each of the 21 victims interviewed for the study said her partner would not consider it rape, despite some suffering drugging and near-suffocation.

Only six of the 30 police interviewed said they would recommend a woman report partner rape, despite 28 calling it a serious crime.

They cited as reasons “the disrespectful and damaging treatment of women in court”, difficulty in proving it, and long waits before cases got to court.

Health workers told researchers some police discouraged women from reporting rape.

“There were several accounts of police trying to dissuade women who had gone to them for help from taking action … and suggesting the complaint was trivial,” the report said.

The researchers from Women’s Health Goulburn North East and Upper Murray Centre Against Sexual Assault interviewed 21 partner rape victims from the Goulburn Valley and northeast Victoria, and scores of police and health professionals.

The study, to be released today, found the men believed it was their right to do what they liked with their partner and that society often trivialised partner rape, despite it being a crime since 1985.

“One of the women went to her minister in her church, and he said, ‘Go home and pray about it’,” study co-author Debra Parkinson said.

“There was domestic violence as well and she said, ‘What if he kills me?’ And the minister said, ‘Well, at least you’ll go to heaven’.”

The husband of one victim shook their marriage certificate in her face and said, “I own you with this”.

CA - City may tighten law on sex offenders

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07/14/2008

Covina considers more restrictions on residency

COVINA - The city might prevent registered sex offenders from living near each other as well as near day care and child care centers.

A proposed ordinance imposing residency limitations for sex offenders will be voted on at tonight’s City Council meeting.

“We want to make sure the neighborhoods are safe,” police Chief Kim Raney said Monday. “Sex offenders have to live somewhere but no one wants them in their neighborhood.”

The action comes after several residents lodged complaints about a high number of offenders in the city.

There are currently 62 registered sex offenders living in Covina, according to the Megan’s Law Web site. Neighboring West Covina has 65, while Baldwin Park lists 53.

Under Jessica’s Law, offenders are only prevented from living within 2,000 feet of any public or private school or park where children regularly gather.

If approved, Covina’s new ordinance would prevent sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of day care and child care centers. The proposed law would also prohibit sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of each other.

It would also limit occupancy in multi-family homes, mobile home parks and hotels and motels to one sex offender per location.

Jessica’s Law prohibits sex offenders from residing in a single-family home with any other sex offenders unless related by blood.

Raney said cities such as Alhambra, Long Beach and La Verne have passed similar ordinances.

“We are starting to see this trend as loopholes are found in Jessica’s Law,” Raney said. “Cities continue to try and protect the neighborhoods.”

The ordinance would not be retroactive and would take effect the day it is adopted. The council may call for an urgency ordinance, which adopts the law immediately instead of in 30 days.

Community residents belonging to a Neighborhood Watch group gathered at a council meeting earlier this month after discovering that a sex offender lived across the street from a family with two children.

Mayor Kevin Stapleton said he understands the fear in the community.

The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 125 E. College St.

amanda.baumfeld@sgvn.com - (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2108

‘Chipping’ of Humans No Longer the Stuff of Novels; Use of RFIDs Becoming Commonplace in America

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Like I’ve said before, you can stick this chip where the sun doesn’t shine. We will all be chipped soon, all in the name of security. You will notice they marketed it towards children first? Sounds like Minority Report to me. Hopefully this won’t be mandatory. More articles here.

07/14/2008

More and more, George Orwell’s 1984 becoming reality—babies, students, elderly being ‘chipped’.

By Mike Finch

Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFIDs) are finding their way into and onto humans in many ways. There are several ways government and commercial entities are looking to profit through impressive ID and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies. Verichip Corp. successfully marketed “Hugs” Infant Protection System to hospitals in 2005. Since then, infants at many major hospitals receive ankle bracelets something like what many people on probation are currently required to use.

The ankle bracelets were marketed as a remedy for hospital infant abduction. When a child is removed from the infant care area of the hospital, an alarm sounds. About 230 infants are abducted every year from U.S. hospitals. The Hugs system saved one child in 2005. This may be a good idea, but it lays the groundwork for later RFID tagging on children and elderly for “safety reasons.” Some unverified Internet sources report that U.S. and European governments have plans to implant RFIDs in every newborn instead of using ankle bracelets.

A Rhode Island school plans to electronically track the movements of students using Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID). Microchips will be attached to the students’ backpacks next year. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil liberties groups say the RFID chips are an invasion of privacy. “Encouraging the placement of RFIDs on young children, even in this limited and questionable context, can only have the unintended effect of acclimating them to being monitored by the government in other contexts and wherever they go, as if it were perfectly normal and appropriate,” the ACLU said.

The RFID chips will be accessed via satellites through tiny GPS systems within the chips. The school will be able to follow the children anywhere. It is likely, though, that young people will just choose to leave their backpacks at school when they do not want to be followed. School officials may then contend for further invasion of privacy, and require RFIDs to be worn on clothing, or possibly injected.

In 2007, about 200 Alzheimer’s patients were implanted with non-GPS RFIDs in a market test done by Verichip. The devices held medical information that could be scanned with a special reader. Many more Alzheimer’s patients and people suffering with dementia have been implanted since the 2007 pilot program. Soon after the market testing by Verichip, sample RFIDs were handed out at the Alzheimer’s Community Care 2007 Educational Conference. In a 2007 Fox News report Verichip offered free RFID tagging for any interested party that wanted to tag an elderly parent.

Currently Verichip is reported to charge about $200 for the implant. The United Kingdom has concrete plans to implant RFID chips into prison populations. Other nations have been reported to use RFIDs on prisoners, including Sweden and several South American nations. The initial plans are to inject prisoners with RFIDs that can be read by a scanner, with limited access and limited amounts of information. UK Officials said they will soon implant chips with GPS capabilities to monitor a prisoner’s location at any given time.

IBM recently applied for a patent regarding a system that would not only place RFIDs on all clothing items, but also track those items of clothing on a global scale. The patent implies that all clothing sold would have “globally unique” RFID tags in them in the future. The information would primarily be used for marketing purposes, but the government could also use such technology. “The exact identity of the person or certain characteristics about the person can be determined [through the use of this technology],” the patent said. “This information is used to monitor the movement of the person through the store or other areas . . . tracking information can be used to provide targeted advertising and to improve existing store systems and tracking systems.”

The RFID information could easily be used with credit card information for identification. The power and scope of the proposed database would certainly have civil rights implications. Goodyear began using RFIDs in tires in 2003, and all other major tire manufacturers have tested, or are using, RFIDs in tires to prevent tire counterfeiting, reports RFID Update, an industry RFID website. The RFIDs could easily be used to track tires anywhere in the country by private or government interests. Plans are underway for a global tire recognition program, all in the name of stopping tire counterfeiting.
- All people will be tracked like animals…

Hitachi created an RFID chip that is smaller than a grain of sand. The .002-inch-by-.002-inch chip can be imbedded in paper, and could be used to track just about anything. The chips do not have GPS capability, but can store a 38-digit number that can be read by a hand held scanner. This chip is 60 times smaller than the first generation Hitachi micro-RFID. The former smallest of the small, the Mu-chip, measures in at .4 millimeters by .4 millimeters and could fit on the tip of a pencil. The Mu-chip is already used to track and identify items and prevent forgery of concert tickets.

“Invisible tracking brings to mind science-fiction- inspired uses, or even abuses, such as unknowingly getting sprinkled with smart-tag powder for Big Brother-like monitoring,” Associated Press said. The prediction that microchips will be able to interface with nerves and implanted in the brain in the next 30 years was recently put forth by a UK government think tank. The microchips predicted would be able to give sensory input, allow a sort of mind-to-mind communication (like an implanted cell phone) and allow direct to the brain marketing. This Orwellian prediction opens the door for direct mind control in true 1984 fashion.
- Sounds like this man, who calls himself a Cyborg.

Mike Finch is an intern reporter for AFP. He has a master’s degree in journalism and is working on his Ph.D. in communication.

Virtual Bible

Click the image to visit the site

Police caution 13yo girl over sex pictures on MySpace

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07/03/2008

A 13-year-old girl has been cautioned by police after sexually explicit pictures of another 13-year-old girl were posted on social networking site MySpace without her knowledge.

A 17-year-old boy could also face charges over the incident, say Victorian police, who called in the FBI in the United States to help with the investigation.

The case began two months ago when one of the 13-year-old girls sent sexually explicit pictures of herself to her 17-year-old boyfriend at that time, said police based at Bacchus March, west of Melbourne.

The images later came into the possession of a second 13-year-old girl, who then created a false MySpace account using the first girl’s identity and posted the explicit images.

After receiving a complaint, police began an investigation in conjunction with the FBI and Australian Federal Police, who helped obtain computer-based evidence and close the MySpace site.

Detective Sergeant Tony Coxall said the investigation was a timely reminder to all parents to monitor their children’s use of computers and the internet.

“Cyber bullying can be very traumatic and upsetting for the victim and there can be instances where the perpetrator doesn’t know that they are actually breaking the law,” he said.

“Any explicit images can constitute serious criminal offences and are investigated accordingly.”

Det Sgt Coxall said images posted on the internet could be hard to erase and could become a record for many years to come.

“Children should be very careful when creating personalised accounts or posting images of themselves or others,” he said.

Det Sgt Coxall said the 13-year-old who created the false MySpace account had been cautioned, while the boy could be charged on summons for related offences.
- So if the 17 year old is being charged, why isn’t the 13 year old? She received and published child porn… Not that I’d want either on the registry, but just trying to make a point.

VT - Lt. Gov. Dubie urges speciall session for sex offender crackdown

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More knee-jerk reactions, that won’t work either, watch and see.

07/15/2008

MONTPELIER – Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie (Contact) endorsed a slate of reforms to the state’s sex offender laws Monday morning and called on Gov. James Douglas (Contact) to bring lawmakers back to Montpelier for a special session this summer.

Dubie, a Republican running for re-election this year, called for a comprehensive review of Vermont’s criminal justice system and said lawmakers should pass proposals such as Jessica’s Law and chemical or physical castration for habitual sex offenders.
- That explains it all….

He said Vermont needs to ensure that cases such as last month’s kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett never happen again.
- How you plan on doing that? Nothing you do will prevent this from happening again. Come back to reality and stop the GRAND STANDING!!! I’m sure the sheeple will suck it all up though.

“In just over 39 months, three young women have been kidnapped, raped and murdered at the hands of sexual predators,” Dubie said at a press conference Monday morning on the steps of the Statehouse. “The loss of a single life is a tragedy; the loss of three in such a short timeframe is something we cannot turn away from.”

Dubie’s news conference comes days after Douglas, who also is up for re-election this year, floated similar ideas – including reinstating the death penalty in Vermont – at a news conference. He added that he was interested in calling lawmakers back to Montpelier this year, but said he doubted they would seriously consider his reforms.
- This country is so corrupt. All other countries can see it, but the sleeping sheeple cannot.

“His view is we need to have a conversation about how we limit the judiciary discretion that has the unintended consequence of releasing dangerous offenders into our communities,” said Jason Gibbs, Douglas’ spokesman. “A discussion of enhancing mandatory minimums is one he’s prepared to have.”
- I wish I got $1 every time I heard this phrase, I would be able to retire already!

House Speaker Gaye Symington, D-Jericho, who is running against Douglas this year, said in a statement Monday afternoon that any special legislative session would address “why our current laws are not being enforced by the Douglas administration before we talk about adding more laws.”
- Man, you can read these corrupt politicians like an open book. I just cannot wait until these very laws sweep them into the nets, then let’s see what they think. Also, why isn’t Mark Foley on the registry yet? Notice how he just vanished?

“It is much more important right now to find out why this convicted sex offender was set free and fix the problems that lead to his early release so that we don’t have a repeat of this failure,” Symington said.
- How do you plan on doing this? Just sentencing all people accused of a sex crime to prison for life? That won’t work either, more will follow. I am thoroughly convinced we have nothing but idiots in office. Now I know why I never vote, bunch of morons.

Dubie also announced that he has launched a petition drive – with a form available at his Web site – in support of his proposals. The initiatives outlined by Dubie were:
- Just make sure you remember this. Watch and see how many crimes this prevents. More will follow, any person with common sense would tell you that, but common sense died a long time ago!

• A comprehensive review of Vermont’s criminal justice system.
• Adoption of Jessica’s Law, setting 25-year minimum for first-time child sex offenders.
• Mandatory life sentence for second-time violent child sex offenses.
• Civil confinement law extending prison terms for high-risk offenders.
• Chemical and physical castration for habitual offenders.
• Increasing the information on Vermont’s Sex Offender Registry.
• Tougher penalties for those who harbor unregistered sex offenders.
• Expansion and funding of Special Investigative Units.
• Allowing evidence of prior sexual misconduct in sex crime trials.
• Collection of DNA from violent sex offenders.

But Dubie’s proposals got a cool reception from a victim’s right’s group, which said long mandatory minimums can discourage suspects from entering into plea bargains and scare victims out of coming forward.
- Well, they don’t care about that, they care about their careers!

“Long mandatory sentences make us feel really good, but they really do very little to keep people safe from sex offenders,” said Karen Tronsgard-Scott, director of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

According to Tronsgard-Scott, a high percentage of sexually abused children know their attackers or are related to them, which could make them shy away from reporting it if they believe doing so would lead to a long prison term.
- And thus more victims, possibly. This is about “saving face,” and nothing more.

Moreover, about half of child sex abusers are children under 18, and long mandatory sentences won’t deter them since the sentences usually aren’t imposed on juvenile offenders, she said.

Plea bargains, which may mean less prison time, are beneficial because they allow courts and prosecutors to impose sanctions and community-based control, so that offenders get treatment in prison and courts can impose controls that make repeat offenses unlikely once they get out, she said.

“What happens to victims is they’re forced to go to trial and in 65 percent of the cases, the perpetrator walks away without any consequence or community sanction,” she said.

Senate Democrats are expected to announce today their own legislative approach to the Bennett tragedy.

Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will join Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, at a Brattleboro news conference in front of the town’s district court at 12:30 p.m.

Sears said he will pull his committee together for six special meetings, including two to seek input from the public, over the summer and autumn to determine what changes may be needed in how Vermont deals with sex offenders.

This review, which will conclude with a Nov. 15 report, could result in suggestions of new legislation for lawmakers when they return to Montpelier in January 2009. But Sears said these issues “would be difficult at best” to address during a two-day special legislative session this summer.

“Vermont is one the safest states in the nation. That is a fact,” Sears said. “If I picked up the newspapers, I might wonder about that. But we have to remember that we are one of the safest states in the nation.”

Symington endorsed this approach Monday, adding she is declining to call up the House Judiciary Committee right now to insure her campaign for governor is not a distraction during those proceedings.

The Associated Press’ John Curran contributed to this report. Contact Daniel Barlow at Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com.

KS - Sex registry brings up more questions than it can answer

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07/15/2008

The national sex offender registry list is almost complete, but many feel non-violent offenders should not be on the list.

In 2009, the national sex offender registry list will be complete, but Kansas already has a list of offenders within the state. The list includes current information on the offenders’ crimes, their appearance and their current addresses.

Although the registries are created for safety purposes, not all of the offenders are violent offenders.

Here are some situations that could land students on the list:

• A couple trying to spice up their relationship should think twice before doing the deed in public.
• If someone is on the losing side of a bet, it might be a better option to endure repeated harassment than striping down and running around the neighborhood.
• And if a person can’t hold it any longer, peeing their pants might be a safer bet than dropping their drawers and peeing on the corner.

Each of these offenses is considered by the state of Kansas to be lewd and lascivious acts. In court, if the lewd and lascivious act is deemed sexually motivated, then a person looking at a membership to the sex registry list.
- And all the ignorant people out there says urinating in public cannot get you on the registry! As I’ve said before, do your homework…. If I ever see ANYBODY peeing in public, you can bet I will report it and get your butt on the registry as well. Then see how you like it…

In Kansas, first-time adult sexual offenders are required to register for 10 years. A second conviction or some sexual offenses requires a lifetime registry.

A person’s picture, crime and address will become public knowledge. In 2009, the national sex offender registry list will be complete, allowing someone’s information to be looked up anywhere in the country by anyone.

District Attorney Charles Branson said he had mixed feelings about the sex offender list. Although a crime must be proven to be committed out of sexual gratification, the number of possible offenses continues to grow.
- This is a load of crap. All it requires is someone saying you did something, and your life is over!

“The more it expands the less potency it has on the offenses that the registry was created for,” Branson said.
- And I’ve said that many times as well. If we must have the registry, only the people who are truly a risk to society should be on it, or it defeats the purpose and just heightens the FEAR FACTOR!!!

According to Branson, expansion also makes it more difficult to track offenders.

There are currently 67 offenders, including two women, on the Douglas County Sex Registry who live within Lawrence city limits. Nine of those offenders are within the ages of 18 to 22. Another nine live within the “student ghetto,” — which are surrounding neighborhoods of the University.

The Human Rights Watch, a New York City-based agency, said that sex offender registries did more harm than good. According to a report the agency completed in 2007, the lists have become a threat to offenders. In 2005 and 2006, four sex offenders were killed in the U.S. Their information was found through the sex registry.
- If anybody ever sees a politician or someone else peeing in public, report their a$$. When someone who is high profile gets busted, then things might change. Maybe? There is a lot more than 4 who have been killed. I think Human Rights Watch needs to see this list, which I’m sending them now.

Human Rights Watch has found six other countries that use a sex registry­ — Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan and the United Kingdom. However, the registries of these nations are kept in the hands of the police and are only released to citizens on a need-to-know basis.

The harassment and ostracism encountered by sex offenders has led Minnesota to tailor information about sex offenders to the violent nature of the criminal. Prior to being released from prison, the offender is given an evaluation concerning their mental state. Violent offenders’ information is still released, but non-violent offenders information is withheld.

Dan Winters, Executive Director of the Kansas and Missouri American Civil Liberties Union, said that sex registries brought up more questions than they answered.

Winters said that if there was a sex registry then it would be just as likely to create a driving-while-under-the-influence registry. He said he thought there was a problem with punishing people after they had done their time.
- Hell, don’t stop there. Make ALL criminals be on a registry, regardless of their crime, then we’d see how many people like it.

Winters said another problem with the registry was the compiling of violent and dangerous offenders with non-violent offenders. He said a man caught urinating in public is pictured next to someone who has raped a 14-year-old.

“I wouldn’t touch a 14-year-old but I have peed behind the wheel,” Winters said.
- I won’t even ask! Well, actually, yes I will. So why aren’t you on the registry?

PA - Columbia says no to sex offenders - Officials hope to bar home from borough

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So what are you doing to stop the witch hunt you and the media has created by using bogus statistics and fear-mongering?

07/15/2008

Tom Armstrong’s home for sex offenders isn’t welcome in Columbia Borough.

Armstrong, whose first halfway house was chased out of Conestoga Township earlier this year, is now on thin ice in Marietta Borough. The former state representative is presently housing three sex offenders in his own Marietta home.

But Armstrong recently told Marietta officials the situat