Sex offender statute becomes tormentor

Family’s ordeal shows how Ga. law goes way too far

By Maureen Downey

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday, October 31, 2008

Andrew Norton grew up in a brutish household. His stepfather beat him and his brothers and made them watch pornography with him. Norton was forced to sleep at the foot of the bed while his mother and stepfather had sexual relations. After the state eventually intervened and terminated parental rights, Norton was placed in a foster family when he was 13.

Norton, now a married man with two children of his own, has since found solace in his family and his church, where he has been an active volunteer. But the state of Georgia that was once his protector has become his persecutor. After driving him out of four homes in the past four years, state officials now want to drive him out of his church as well.

Back when he was 12 or 13, police allege, Norton committed a sex offense against his half brother (the case is still in dispute in court, roughly a dozen years later). Unless that case is resolved in his favor, Norton will be on the state’s sex offender registry for life. And that means that Norton has no life.

The General Assembly has decreed that anyone who commits a sex offense —- even a minor one —- can’t live near schools, churches, swimming pools, school bus stops, day-care centers, parks, rec centers or skating rinks, or work around schools, churches or day-care centers.

In 2005, Norton and his family were ordered to leave his in-laws’ house because a school was nearby. They moved to a trailer park where they spent $1,500 to render the mobile home safe for their young children, only to be required to move again because there was a swing set within 1,000 feet.

The Nortons then found a home in Austell, where they lived for 10 months before being told to leave because it was too close to a school bus stop. When they couldn’t find another home, the family was forced to split. Norton went to a motel, while his wife and children returned to her parents’ house. Then Norton had to uproot himself again when a church was built near the motel. The reunited family has since found a rental home that complies with all the prohibitions. But officials now want to boot Norton from his church, citing a ban in state law on sex offenders serving as church volunteers.

“During these difficult times, my church community created one of the few steady environments in my life,” Norton stated in his court declaration. “Does it mean that I cannot volunteer to participate in Bible study? Does it mean that I cannot read scripture aloud at church services?”

Norton shared his saga to bolster a legal challenge to the state’s sex-offender law filed by the Southern Center for Human Rights, which contends the law criminalizes religious practice. The case will be heard Nov. 13 in U.S. District Court. The state has already lost several other legal challenges to the overarching law. Just this week, the state Supreme Court threw out a provision of the law that made it a felony for a sex offender to be homeless. Under the law, if a sex offender could not list a specific home address at a local sheriff’s office, he or she could be imprisoned for life.

Under that same law, homeowners on the sex offender list could be forced to sell their homes and move if a day-care center or church moved in near them. The state Supreme Court struck down that provision last year as a violation of property rights protected by the Fifth Amendment. In its legal challenge of the law, the Southern Center intends to argue that renters deserve the same protection.

In another inequity, the law makes no distinction between serious sexual predators and far less egregious sex-related crimes. For example, a 17-year-old who engages in consensual sex with a 15-year-old is subjected to the same severe and lifelong restrictions as a repeat child molester.

The most notable victim of that inequity was Douglas County teen Genarlow Wilson, who was sentenced to 10 years for having oral sex with a 15-year-old when he was 17.

A year ago this week, the state Supreme Court overturned Wilson’s conviction, freeing him after three years in jail. Today, he attends Morehouse College, where he hopes to play football next year. In its zeal to appear punitive, the Legislature has continued to enact hollow laws that do nothing to protect children from sex offenders. In 90 percent of such cases, the perpetrator is not a stranger who lives nearby, but a family member or family friend of the victim.

Federal law does require states to maintain registries of offenders convicted of sex crimes or offenses against children. That law also requires notification of schools, day-care centers and parents when sex offenders move into a community. However, Georgia lawmakers have carried their crusade far beyond what federal law and common sense dictate, passing the most drastic limits in the country on where offenders can live or work.

Perhaps the greatest flaw in Georgia’s approach is its stubborn refusal to acknowledge gradations in the dangers posed by sex offenders. State lawmakers did establish a board of experts to evaluate sex offenders and rank them on the risks they pose to others, but in practice the state ignores those rankings altogether.

Of offenders evaluated thus far by the Georgia Sex Offender Registration Review Board, 65 percent qualify as Level One, which means they pose little threat, says therapist Susan Strickland, who chairs the board. The board opposes any residency or work restrictions for Level One offenders.

The board has categorized 30 percent of the offenders as Level Two, a category in which residency and work requirements are justified, according to Strickland. The remaining 5 percent of offenders are truly dangerous and should be subject to all restrictions as well as lifetime monitoring, she says.

A change in the law would allow police officers to concentrate their time and resources on tracking truly dangerous predators, some of whom have gone underground rather than comply with onerous registration rules. Instead, police find themselves hounding people such as Andrew Norton, who is trying to overcome his own heinous childhood and provide his children a better one.

Sex offender statute becomes tormentor

Family’s ordeal shows how Ga. law goes way too far

By Maureen Downey

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday, October 31, 2008

Andrew Norton grew up in a brutish household. His stepfather beat him and his brothers and made them watch pornography with him. Norton was forced to sleep at the foot of the bed while his mother and stepfather had sexual relations. After the state eventually intervened and terminated parental rights, Norton was placed in a foster family when he was 13.

Norton, now a married man with two children of his own, has since found solace in his family and his church, where he has been an active volunteer. But the state of Georgia that was once his protector has become his persecutor. After driving him out of four homes in the past four years, state officials now want to drive him out of his church as well.

Back when he was 12 or 13, police allege, Norton committed a sex offense against his half brother (the case is still in dispute in court, roughly a dozen years later). Unless that case is resolved in his favor, Norton will be on the state’s sex offender registry for life. And that means that Norton has no life.

The General Assembly has decreed that anyone who commits a sex offense —- even a minor one —- can’t live near schools, churches, swimming pools, school bus stops, day-care centers, parks, rec centers or skating rinks, or work around schools, churches or day-care centers.

In 2005, Norton and his family were ordered to leave his in-laws’ house because a school was nearby. They moved to a trailer park where they spent $1,500 to render the mobile home safe for their young children, only to be required to move again because there was a swing set within 1,000 feet.

The Nortons then found a home in Austell, where they lived for 10 months before being told to leave because it was too close to a school bus stop. When they couldn’t find another home, the family was forced to split. Norton went to a motel, while his wife and children returned to her parents’ house. Then Norton had to uproot himself again when a church was built near the motel. The reunited family has since found a rental home that complies with all the prohibitions. But officials now want to boot Norton from his church, citing a ban in state law on sex offenders serving as church volunteers.

“During these difficult times, my church community created one of the few steady environments in my life,” Norton stated in his court declaration. “Does it mean that I cannot volunteer to participate in Bible study? Does it mean that I cannot read scripture aloud at church services?”

Norton shared his saga to bolster a legal challenge to the state’s sex-offender law filed by the Southern Center for Human Rights, which contends the law criminalizes religious practice. The case will be heard Nov. 13 in U.S. District Court. The state has already lost several other legal challenges to the overarching law. Just this week, the state Supreme Court threw out a provision of the law that made it a felony for a sex offender to be homeless. Under the law, if a sex offender could not list a specific home address at a local sheriff’s office, he or she could be imprisoned for life.

Under that same law, homeowners on the sex offender list could be forced to sell their homes and move if a day-care center or church moved in near them. The state Supreme Court struck down that provision last year as a violation of property rights protected by the Fifth Amendment. In its legal challenge of the law, the Southern Center intends to argue that renters deserve the same protection.

In another inequity, the law makes no distinction between serious sexual predators and far less egregious sex-related crimes. For example, a 17-year-old who engages in consensual sex with a 15-year-old is subjected to the same severe and lifelong restrictions as a repeat child molester.

The most notable victim of that inequity was Douglas County teen Genarlow Wilson, who was sentenced to 10 years for having oral sex with a 15-year-old when he was 17.

A year ago this week, the state Supreme Court overturned Wilson’s conviction, freeing him after three years in jail. Today, he attends Morehouse College, where he hopes to play football next year. In its zeal to appear punitive, the Legislature has continued to enact hollow laws that do nothing to protect children from sex offenders. In 90 percent of such cases, the perpetrator is not a stranger who lives nearby, but a family member or family friend of the victim.

Federal law does require states to maintain registries of offenders convicted of sex crimes or offenses against children. That law also requires notification of schools, day-care centers and parents when sex offenders move into a community. However, Georgia lawmakers have carried their crusade far beyond what federal law and common sense dictate, passing the most drastic limits in the country on where offenders can live or work.

Perhaps the greatest flaw in Georgia’s approach is its stubborn refusal to acknowledge gradations in the dangers posed by sex offenders. State lawmakers did establish a board of experts to evaluate sex offenders and rank them on the risks they pose to others, but in practice the state ignores those rankings altogether.

Of offenders evaluated thus far by the Georgia Sex Offender Registration Review Board, 65 percent qualify as Level One, which means they pose little threat, says therapist Susan Strickland, who chairs the board. The board opposes any residency or work restrictions for Level One offenders.

The board has categorized 30 percent of the offenders as Level Two, a category in which residency and work requirements are justified, according to Strickland. The remaining 5 percent of offenders are truly dangerous and should be subject to all restrictions as well as lifetime monitoring, she says.

A change in the law would allow police officers to concentrate their time and resources on tracking truly dangerous predators, some of whom have gone underground rather than comply with onerous registration rules. Instead, police find themselves hounding people such as Andrew Norton, who is trying to overcome his own heinous childhood and provide his children a better one.

Sex offender Darwin Brown charged with loitering near school

by Lisa Medendorp | The Muskegon Chronicle
Thursday November 13, 2008, 4:53 AM
Darwin M. Brown

A Norton Shores man who spent 13 years in prison for sexually assaulting an emotionally impaired boy has been arrested for "hanging out" near an elementary school.

Darwin Michael Brown, 44, of 5982 Lake Harbor, a registered sex offender, was arraigned Friday before 60th District Judge Maria Ladas Hoopes.

He is charged with being a sex offender loitering near a school, in this case Churchill Elementary, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to a year in jail for the first offense. Bail was set at $5,000 and a pretrial hearing for 9:30 a.m. Dec. 12. Due to jail overcrowding, his bail was reduced Monday to personal recognizance, and he was released.

Norton Shores Detective Tony Nanna said police also executed a search warrant at Brown's home Nov. 6 as part of an ongoing investigation.

The arrest was the second in less than a month in Norton Shores of a registered sex offender for violating the student safety zone by coming within 1,000 feet of a school.

Jeffrey Thomas Partlow, 38, of Muskegon Heights was arrested Oct. 22 at his parents' home, 1637 Lawnel, which is near Mona Shores Middle School, 1700 Woodside.

Partlow, who allegedly resisted police at the time of his arrest, has been bound over for trial in 14th Circuit Court.

"The safety of our kids in the community is of the utmost importance to this department and this detective and will not be tolerated," Nanna said. "Anytime we get a complaint of a possible violation, we'll investigate fully."

The complaint about Brown came late last month from neighbors and school personnel at Churchill Elementary, 961 Porter, according to police.

Nanna said Brown was cutting trees in a wooded lot 328 feet from school property for about a week. He was helping a friend and was not there due to employment. "He admitted he was hanging out," Nanna said.

At the time, Brown was out on bond after being arrested for refusing to pay a one-time $35 fee for registering his address as a sex offender, police said.

Brown was released from prison last December after serving time for third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was a part-time firefighter with Norton Shores when the incident with the 14-year-old boy occurred in 1994. Authorities said Brown used his position to lure the boy into several sex acts.

Boxer aide accused of distributing child porn

Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, November 13, 2008

(11-13) 10:26 PST WASHINGTON --

An aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has been charged in federal court in Virginia with receiving and distributing child pornography.

Jeff Rosato, 32, of Arlington, Va. was arrested Friday on a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Virginia. Boxer's office fired him the same day.

Rosato was released from custody pending a future court appearance and was told not to leave the Washington, D.C., area without permission. A judge ordered him not to contact any children or have access to computers and told him to undergo medical or psychiatric treatment.

Rosato's attorney, Patrick Anderson, was not immediately available for comment today.

In a statement, Boxer's communications director, Natalie Ravitz, said, "Sen. Boxer has zero tolerance for crimes against children, and the employee was immediately terminated. Our office is cooperating fully with the Department of Justice in this matter."

Rosato started as a legislative assistant in Boxer's personal office in 2005. Last year he became a senior policy adviser and counsel to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which is chaired by Boxer.

He focused on issues including endangered species, water policy and oceans. His congressional salary was $101,020 last year.

He previously worked for Sen. Bob Torricelli, D-N.J., starting as a staff assistant in 2001.

On Friday, FBI agents searched his home and confiscated four laptop computers, a desktop computer and two external hard drives. One of the laptops contained 200 images of child pornography, FBI Special Agent Chad Gallagher wrote in an affidavit.

"Many of the images and videos depict prepubescent boys engaged in sexual acts," the affidavit said.

The computer also contained numerous Google Hello folders that Rosato had used to share child-porn images with an undercover detective who Rosato believed was a 13-year-old boy, the affidavit said.

From Jan. 2 to Jan. 23, Rosato sent the detective more than 600 files of graphic images during 15 online chats, Gallagher wrote. Evidence showed that Rosato had also been trading child porn with other Google Hello users, investigators said.

Authorities subpoenaed Google Inc. and Comcast to identify Rosato, the affidavit said.

Chronicle staff writer Zachary Coile contributed to this report. E-mail Henry K. Lee at hlee@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/13/BA5J143VAU.DTL

Sex offender calls her match with teen boy 'perfect'

Indianola Record-Herald

Indianola, Ia. - Shannon Michelle Rew faces up to 10 years behind bars and a lifetime as a registered sex offender, but the 37-year-old Indianola mother of three is unapologetic about her sexual relationship with a teenage boy.

"We both cared about each other. That's what the basis of our relationship was," she said. "Our sense of humor and our personalities were a perfect match."

Rew, who pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of third-degree sex abuse, said she and the boy "cared a lot about each other" and "kind of let emotions just take over," which prosecutors say led to an ongoing relationship that included pornography, explicit text messages and a sexual encounter in her van while she was free on bond.

"The fact that you went ahead and committed a subsequent offense of the same nature does not give the court a lot of confidence that you've learned anything in this matter," said Warren County District Judge Darrell Goodhue, who recommended that Rew be put on probation for life as part of her sentence.

Her name will be added to the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, and she will have to pay an as-yet-undetermined amount of money to the boy and his family.

"Everyone's making it out to be some big sexual relationship that we had," the self-described "soccer mom" said. "And that's not how it was at all."

Rew's story is similar to a number of high-profile U.S. criminal cases in recent years that have involved adult women and young boys. The most sensational centered on teachers and their male students, but a majority dealt with women who abused the children of friends or acquaintances. Last month, a 26-year-old New Oxford, Pa., woman who had sex with a 15-year-old boy she met at a fair was sentenced to six months of house arrest and four years of probation.

Experts say prosecutions of women in sex abuse cases have risen slightly in the past decade. Many believe sex scandals that involved Catholic priests put more focus on authority figures. Others say the trend reflects the erosion of a double standard applied to men and women, brought on by the growth of female prosecutors and police officers.

Rew said she and the boy met after her 16-year-old daughter dated him for about six months.

"He was a really nice kid, a really nice person," Rew said. "He would do anything for you. He was having a lot of personal problems and family problems to where he came to me a lot, you know?"

Warren County Attorney Bryan Tingle said Rew's alleged concern for the boy's welfare was questionable.

People who are charged with crimes try "to make excuses to justify their crimes and take the focus away from what they did wrong under our laws by focusing attention on the victims," he said. "She took advantage of an emotionally unstable individual. That's what a criminal does. He or she takes advantage of someone who is vulnerable or in a fragile state."

Rew was arrested Sept. 17 after her mother found explicit photographs of her daughter and the boy, court documents show.

The boy, who told police that he and Rew had sex "at least a dozen times," said Rew gave him a cell phone so the two could communicate. Rew said she gave him the phone after he threatened suicide.

"He was mostly upset about what happened with me. He didn't want me to think he was the one who turned me in ... so I told him that if he promised not to harm himself, I would find a way for us to talk," she said.

Rew was arrested again Oct. 16, after the boy's mother found explicit text messages that detailed sex the two had while she was free on bond.

Rew, a Des Moines native, graduated from Hoover High School in 1989. She spent nearly two years in business school and moved to Indianola in 2000 with her three children, ages 19, 16 and 9, after a divorce. Rew worked for seven years at a child care center, where co-workers described her as an upstanding employee.

"I was what you'd call a soccer mom," she said. "I pretty much worked full time and drove my kids everywhere."

Rew said she pleaded guilty to avoid a "touchy" trial and because she would rather start her prison term immediately and get back to her children as soon as possible.

"I've messed up my whole life, and I've messed up my kids' lives," Rew said. "I'm sorry for it. I just love them so much. I thought it was the best idea to go ahead and take the plea."

Tingle said that "anytime both sides can come to a resolution that seems fair, a resolution that is acceptable to the victims ... it is best in the case of a sexual assault or sexual abuse to avoid going to trial, because of the nature of allegations and the nature of testimony that would come out.

"I do know this plea agreement was all right with the mother and son," he said.

It is The Des Moines Register's policy not to identify victims of sex abuse.

Rew said she disagreed with the media's portrayal of her as a pedophile. She said she had never had a general attraction to young boys or sought out young boys for sex.

Rew said she never meant to hurt the boy or his family.

She said that if she had caused them pain, she regretted doing so, but that she wasn't sorry about the relationship.

"We had a really good time together, and I don't regret that. I just regret that because of what happened, everything that came out of it - I would never have done it if I knew that would be the case," she said.

"It's crazy. They can be 16, and you don't get charged with anything. They can be 15, and you get charged with life parole. Who's to say this 15-year-old isn't as mature as an 18-year-old?

"I don't think, when you care about somebody, that age really matters."

[Ed: It is true that women defendants in these cases receive vastly greater sympathy (see reader comments following the article) and usually far less severe sentences than when men are involved (especially when the minor is a boy). Rather than join the growing chorus of those who believe that this means that women need to be punished just as severely as men, however, I would propose that any punishment be commensurate to the degree of force or coercion employed in the offense.

Police check nude images on Tunkhannock students' phones

TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. (AP) _ Prosecutors say state police are investigating nude and seminude pictures on five cell phones seized from students in a northeastern Pennsylvania school district.

Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. says one of the phones confiscated from students in the Tunkhannock Area School District contained about 100 pictures.

Skumanick says male students were allegedly trading pictures of female classmates. He says the students with the cell phones ranged in age from 11 to 17.

Skumanick says state police are analyzing the phones to determine whether the pictures are of minors. If they are, he says the youths could face criminal charges including possession of child pornography.

[Ed:
A. Children and adolescents are sexual. Get over it!
B. Children and adolescents, being sexual, gravitate to sexually stimulating images for gratification just as adults do. And what do they find stimulating? In many cases, other children and adolescents!

So does it follow then that we reach the simultaneously absurd and logical conclusion that they should be prosecuted as "child pornographers"? If your own impulse is to charge children and adolescents as "child pornographers" then I would argue that it is YOU who are seriously deranged and possibly in need of institutionization.]

Mountain View Sex Offenders Warned After Attacks

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Mountain View police Friday are investigating two separate attacks on registered sex offenders living in the city that police say may be connected.

The sex offenders attacked in each case were convicted more than 15 years ago for sex crimes against children, police spokeswoman Liz Wylie said. Both men have been problem-free and compliant since living in the city, she added.

The latest attack was carried out Thursday around 7:15 a.m. when a suspect used a wooden stick to force his way into the home of a registered sex offender living in the northern section of the city, according to police.

The suspect attacked the man, hitting him several times over the head before fleeing the area. The suspect indicated that he was attacking the victim because of the victim's sex offender status, Wylie said.

Wylie would not reveal what the suspect did to indicate his intent in attacking the victim.

"We're not sure if it will be important to the investigation," she said.

Police were unable to locate the suspect, and the victim, who suffered several lacerations to his head, was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Another attack was carried out last month, when on Oct. 19 around 9:40 a.m. a suspect armed with a bat left a Molotov cocktail device at the front door of a registered sex offender's apartment on the west side of the city, police said.

A witness approached the suspect, who indicated in some way that he was at the home because the resident is a registered sex offender, Wylie said.

The suspect, who took the Molotov cocktail device and left the scene, was not located, but police did locate two Molotov cocktails in the area.

In both cases the suspect was described as a man in his 20s standing about 6 feet tall wearing all dark clothing and a dark baseball hat.

However, in Thursday's attack the suspect was described as a white man in his 20s weighing about 170 to 175 pounds and in the Oct. 19 case the suspect was described as a Hispanic man in his 20s.

"(The description) is exactly the same other than race," said Wylie, who added that police are considering the possibility the crimes were carried out by the same man.

"We know people see things differently," she explained.

Police Friday had not yet released sketches of the suspects.

Investigators have called nearby police agencies to see if similar attacks had occurred outside of Mountain View, but no other attacks have been reported, Wylie said.

Both of the sex offenders who were victim to the crimes were convicted more than 15 years ago, an indication the young suspect is not likely connected to the victims' cases, according to Wylie.

"It doesn't seem likely he was involved (in their convictions)," she said.

Wylie said one of the sex offenders was convicted in Santa Clara County but did not know where the other had been convicted. She would not release further information about the men.

"Who they are might have a lot to do with why they were picked," Wylie said.

Investigators sent letters out to the estimated 80 registered sex offenders living in Mountain View, a figure that fluctuates frequently, according to Wylie. The residents have been warned to be extra vigilant with their safety and contact police if they see anything or anyone suspicious.

"We want to be sure they understand that we don't care about their status as a sex offender," Wylie said. "If they're a victim, they're a victim."

Paranoia, Not Sex Offenders, Are Greatest Threat to Trick-Or-Treaters

November 2, 2008

Boy Is Fatally Shot Trick-or-Treating

SUMTER, S.C. (AP) — A 12-year-old boy trick-or-treating with his family on Friday was shot from inside a home and killed, and his father and brother were wounded by the gunfire, the authorities said.

A suspect in the shootings, Quentin Patrick, was in custody, a jail official said. Mr. Patrick, 22, has been charged with murder and three counts of assault and battery with intent to kill. The jail official said she did not know whether Mr. Patrick had a lawyer, and his telephone number was unpublished.

The family was headed home from a city-sponsored event here, when they decided to stop at a few homes to trick-or-treat, Police Chief Patty Patterson said. The father and his four children approached a home with a porch light on about 8:30 p.m., while their mother waited nearby in a vehicle.

At the door, family members said they thought they heard fireworks. The 12-year-old boy, his father and brother were all hit by the gunfire. The boy died at a hospital, Coroner Verna Moore said. The other two children were not hurt.

The boy’s father and brother were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The authorities have not released the identity of the family, and Chief Patterson would not release any more details about the shooting.

[Ed: The man who shot this youngster who was trick-or-treating, no doubt emotionally unstable, was as influenced by the irrational paranoia sweeping our nation - fear of the stranger - as all of our citizens and politicians who regard sex offenders as the greatest danger children face on Halloween, despite a complete lack of evidence to support such fears.

Pay attention! Your child is THOUSANDS of times more likely to be hit by a car, drown in a pool, or be shot by gang members, than to be sexually assaulted by strangers on Halloween. This obsession with "stranger danger" comes at the cost of your children themselves and is THE major contributor to the perilous erosion of trust and respect in our society.

Leaving aside for a moment the motivations of those who ostensibly wish to protect children, whether it be out of genuine concern for their well being or out of some dark and vicarious titillation derived from an obsession with children and sex, I urge you take the time and the effort to consider ACTUAL dangers to children and adolescents and instead express your concerns towards their remedy.]

Paranoia, Not Sex Offenders, Are Greatest Threat

Teacher ordered to stand trial over charges he abused teen

Salt Lake Tribune

In another case, the girl had sex with a West High counselor; 'I have lied a lot,' she says.

Is she a troubled teen who fabricated a story about sexual encounters with a teacher, or the victim of a predator who coerced her into a sexual relationship?

Both sides of that question were argued during a Tuesday preliminary hearing for a West High School teacher accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old student. Jose Fanjul, 45, is charged in 3rd District Court with five counts of first-degree forcible sodomy and five counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse in connection with allegedly having sex with the girl inside his classroom and at other locations. After listening to testimony, Judge Ann Boyden ordered Fanjul to stand trial on the abuse allegations, saying prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to advance the case. She set a Nov. 10 arraignment.

The case against the teacher will be the second for the teen accuser, who also had a sexual relationship with a West High guidance counselor before the alleged relationship with Fanjul. That prior relationship could become a factor in the case against Fanjul, because defense attorney Ken Brown questions whether the girl pursued a relationship with teachers. He said during Tuesday's hearing that the girl has a history of lying and had fabricated stories about her relationship with Fanjul. The girl testified she had lied to investigators and doctors during interviews about prior sexual behavior.

"You've made a habit of lying," Brown told the girl.

"Yes," she replied, but claimed she had been "under the influence of a predator" when changing her story. "I have lied a lot."

The girl struggled to answer many questions posed by Brown, often pausing before saying she didn't remember dates and some details about her time with Fanjul. But prosecutors maintain the girl is being truthful about her encounters with Fanjul, which began, she said, when she provided feedback on how to improve his teaching after he expressed frustration about the class performing poorly on a test. The two began exchanging e-mails about classwork, which later took on a sexual tone, prosecutors said. The girl testified she and Fanjul engaged in various sexual activities between March and July, both at his home and at school.

Several family members attended Tuesday's hearing in support of Fanjul, who is not in custody. The girl left West High School in late May and is undergoing counseling, her father said in court on Tuesday.

[Ed: One should always keep in mind, guilty verdicts in sexual assault cases are often based upon nothing more than the willingness of the jury to believe the alleged victim; no further evidence is required.]

Sex offender seeks Supreme Court ruling on park ban

Indiana Star

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union warn that if Plainfield's ban on convicted sex offenders in the town parks is allowed to stand, similar bans and permanent punishment could spread across the state.

The ACLU, representing a Marion County man identified only as John Doe, have asked the state's highest court to review a September ruling by the Indiana Court of Appeals that upheld Plainfield's ban.

The state's high court is expected to decide by mid-November whether to accept the case or allow the appeals court decision to stand.

Plainfield's Town Council adopted an ordinance in 2000 that prohibits anyone on the Indiana registry of sex offenders from being in the town parks or recreation center.

In 2005, Plainfield police saw an Indianapolis man they recognized as a convicted sex offender in one of the town park facilities. He was with his young son. Police later told the man about the town's ordinance and told him not to return.

Court rulings have allowed Doe to remain anonymous even though his real name and criminal history are public and listed on the registry online. He has completed a prison term and probation.

The ACLU sued Plainfield in November 2005. Since then, the town's ordinance banning convicted sex offenders from town parks has been upheld in Hendricks Superior Court and the state Court of Appeals. So Doe and other sex offenders are still prohibited from Plainfield parks.

ACLU Legal Director Kenneth J. Falk said in the recent 19-page filing with the Supreme Court that Plainfield's ordinance, if allowed to stand, has the potential for far-reaching and statewide impact.

Greenwood, Lafayette and Michigan City have enacted similar bans. The ACLU has a suit pending against a Jeffersonville ordinance.

An Indianapolis ordinance passed two years ago was struck down in court as being too broad because the geographic areas of the ban covered most of the city.

Falk said the central issue in the appeal of the Plainfield lawsuit is whether access to the parks and recreational facilities is a legally defined "core value" for everyone in a community.

Plainfield claims convicted sex offenders do not have that right.

The ACLU claims that a permanent ban, even after an offender has completed prison and probation, is excessive punishment.

Sending Messages, Receiving None

It used to be that, as a society, we valued the analysis and recommendations of those whose knowlege and expertise surpassed our own.

Residency restrictions for sex offenders popular, but ineffective

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Despite research that shows sex offender residency requirements actually hamper the rehabilitation of offenders, jurisdictions across the country continue to pass them, including Allegheny County last year.

Experts say the laws, which prohibit convicted sex offenders from living within a certain distance of schools, day care centers and parks, also don't work to help cut down on recidivism.

These types of residency restrictions have been passed in at least 30 states and thousands of municipalities nationwide. Even as prosecutors, criminal justice researchers and child advocates say they don't work, parents and legislators continue to push for the tough laws.

County Councilman Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park, who was the primary author of the local bill passed in October 2007, said he wrote the law that parents wanted.

Mr. Gastgeb said he originally intended for the restrictions to apply only to offenders whose victims were children. But after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the county this month, Mr. Gastgeb learned that the law actually applies to all registered sex offenders, no matter their victims' ages.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of six sex offenders who said they could not find anywhere to live because of the restrictions.

At the time the suit was filed, Mr. Gastgeb said he would amend the law so that it applied only to sex offenders whose victims are children.

But days later, he changed his mind.

"I do think it's legally sound, and I do think we'll prevail in court," Mr. Gastgeb said. "So a certain section of the county is off-limits. That's the way it is.

"There's plenty of places for people to live."

Even if there are "plenty of places for people to live," those who have studied the issue know that residency restrictions push sex offenders outside of metropolitan areas into rural communities.

That means less access to family, housing, employment and treatment programs, said Dr. Jill S. Levenson, a professor at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., who has been studying sex crime policy for six years.

"At first glance, these laws sound good in theory," she said. "But it's much more complex than that."

The visceral reaction of "not in my neighborhood," needs to be balanced with pragmatism, she said.

Part of the problem, she continued, is that residency restrictions are often one-size-fits-all.

They often don't distinguish among the types of crimes that have been committed, Dr. Levenson said. Just because someone is designated a sex offender under state law does not necessarily mean that that person is a sexually violent predator or a pedophile.

Further, studies conducted by the Minnesota Department of Corrections and Colorado Department of Public Safety have not shown any correlation between sex offender recidivism and living near schools or parks.

And though residency restrictions might prohibit a sex offender from living in a certain neighborhood, they can't keep such a person from sitting across the street from a playground.

"They really do nothing at all to stop sex offenders from having access to children during the day," Dr. Levenson said.

On the other hand, there is ample scientific evidence that shows residency laws do interfere with the reintegration of sex offenders into society.

"Criminal offenders who have stable housing, stable employment and support systems in their lives, those people are less likely to go on and commit new crimes," Dr. Levenson said.

Sex offender residency restrictions were approved in Iowa in 2002, though the law was put on hold pending the outcome of a court case. In 2005, the state Supreme Court upheld the law there.

Law enforcement opposition

Almost from inception, law enforcement entities have been fighting to get it repealed, said Corwin Ritchie, the executive director of the Iowa County Attorneys Association.

The prosecutors' group issued a policy statement on the issue, outlining what it sees as numerous problems.

In addition, residency restrictions have made it less likely for people charged with sex offenses to plead guilty, for fear that they will lose their homes.

That means that more cases must go to trial -- potentially causing additional trauma for victims -- or more offenders go free because sex crimes can be hard to prove.

Another important factor to be considered, Mr. Ritchie said, is the vast amount of resources being spent to enforce residency laws with few tangible results.

In Iowa, according to his organization, the state has lost track of more than half of its registered sex offenders since restrictions went into place, making the jobs of probation and parole officers much more difficult and time-consuming.

Also, Department of Justice research shows that at least 90 percent of children who are abused are victimized by someone they know and trust.

"[The incidence of] stranger danger is tiny," Mr. Ritchie said. "It's tragic, but its incidence is really, really small."

And despite public opinions to the contrary, research shows that sex offenders are among the least likely criminals to re-offend, Dr. Levenson said.

But in Iowa, legislators don't want to hear any of that, Mr. Ritchie said.

"We ran into the politics of it," he continued. "No one wants to be seen as soft on sex offenders.

"It's just politically untenable."

Soon after Iowa's law went into effect, a small panel of legislators who wrote it told Mr. Ritchie that they were wrong and that it should be overturned, he said.

But those same lawmakers said they would not be the ones to do it, he said. Instead, they left it up to the courts.

"They're a fearful bunch," he said. "They've done such a good job of selling it, they can't turn and go the other way."

Advocates for repealing Iowa's law came close two sessions ago, Mr. Ritchie said. They will take up the fight again in 2009.

"The general public doesn't really care if it's good public policy," Mr. Ritchie said.

Parents insistent

The decision by Mr. Gastgeb to write the local law was influenced by listening to many parents in Mt. Lebanon speak at community meetings.

They were outraged last year to learn that a convicted sex offender was living near Howe Elementary School in the Sunset Hills neighborhood.

Last week, parents there continued to support the residency restriction law.

"It would be very difficult to have a whole lot of sympathy for sex offenders at all, having three children," said Kathy Graziano, who lives in the community.

One of the reasons she feels so strongly about the restriction is that the Mt. Lebanon School District does not have a busing system. Many students walk to and from school, she said, which makes them more vulnerable.

"There were children passing his residence at any time of the day," Ms. Graziano said. "We don't have buses . . . or designated adults that would be one more set of eyes."

She doesn't care if local sex offenders have access to housing or jobs.

"Then I suppose they should work out in a cornfield in the middle of Iowa," she said.

Another neighbor, Bill Crock, who has four children, believes the residency restriction should stick.

"From what I've read, these guys don't get better," he said. "It's a lifelong problem."

A teacher, who also lives in the community, was the only one to express mixed feelings on the issue.

She wouldn't give her name for fear of reprisal from her school district, but the woman said she felt sorry for the offenders.

Though the most important thing is to protect children, she also added that sex offenders do have to live somewhere.

That's a notion that Dr. Levenson backed up.

"When sex offenders become homeless, they do become more difficult for probation and parole to track," she said. "That, in itself, defeats the very purpose of Megan's Law."

Though most jurisdictions pass residency restrictions when they are introduced, the Kansas legislature in 2006 chose not to after listening to expert testimony during two days of hearings.

"This is not about sympathy for criminal offenders," Dr. Levenson said. "Housing instability is one of the strongest indicators of recidivism in the criminal justice literature."

If jurisdictions want to enforce some residency restrictions, Dr. Levenson suggests that it be done only after an evaluation is performed to assess the person's potential for future danger.

Parents should not rely simply on sex offender registries to keep their children safe, she said.

"With the reliance on sex offender registries, we do parents a disservice," she said. "They need to be aware of what to look for in anyone who spends time with their child."

[Ed: Continuing to promulgate bad public policy, despite the evidence of both its ineffectiveness and damage to society, is the definition of irrational behavior. When politicians pander to the most irrational and  hotheaded amongst us to the exclusion of all reason, we must fear for our safety and our liberty. ]

Judge Blocks Rules Limiting Sex Offenders on Halloween

New York Times

A federal judge in Missouri on Monday temporarily blocked parts of a new state law that requires sexual offenders to remain in their homes on Halloween evening and to avoid any contact with children related to the holiday.

The judge, Carol E. Jackson, of United States District Court in St. Louis, said the law was unclear, questioning language that prohibits “all Halloween-related contact with children” and allows sexual offenders to leave their homes from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. only if they have “just cause.”

Two issues raised by the case were whether sexual offenders could celebrate the holiday with their own children or grandchildren, for example by hanging decorations or carving pumpkins, and on what grounds they could leave home during the curfew.

The attorney general’s office said it would appeal the order, but declined to comment further.

Chief Judge Jackson allowed two provisions in the law to stand, requiring sexual offenders to post a sign stating “no candy or treats at this residence” and to turn off any porch lights.

Illinois and Louisiana have also passed state laws restricting sexual offenders’ activities on Halloween, and some other states have similar agency regulations or municipal ordinances.

Missouri’s law was enacted as part of broader legislation cracking down on sexual offenders.

“We’re counting it as a victory that kids going trick-or-treating will be a degree safer,” said State Senator John Loudon, a Republican who sponsored the legislation, speaking of Monday’s ruling. “And then we’ll have to go back to the drawing board depending on court action.”

The ruling came after four anonymous convicted sexual offenders sued this month, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri. They say the law is not only vague but also unfair and unconstitutional, an argument their lawyer vowed to keep pushing. “Once people have completed their sentences,” said the lawyer, Anthony E. Rothert, “you can’t go back and punish them for the same crime.”

Detective Gary Coxen of the St. Louis County Police Department had planned to knock on doors to ensure the sexual offenders were home, but he worried they would ignore him, mistaking him for children trick-or-treating. After the ruling, he said his job would be easier; he would simply go to each house to ensure that a sign was posted and the porch lights were off. “It takes the guesswork out,” he said. [Ed: This ruling provides only the slightest bit of justice in a sea of ex post facto persecution]

Law Enforcement Cracks Down on Sex Offenders as Halloween Nears

Chattannoga, TN-

Halloween is a time of fun and games for kids, but for sexual predators it can mean easy prey, that's why local law enforcement will crack down on sex offenders leading up to the 31st. Tennessee passed a law in July that prohibits convicted sex offenders from impersonating, or dressing as, or professing to be any fictional character or real person that would entice a minor to come around them.

 The Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole has issued restrictions to sex offenders during the Halloween season. Offenders are not allowed to pass out candy, decorate their homes for Halloween, go to haunted houses or other seasonal activities, or wear costumes.

 "Halloween is about children, and it's a time of disguise, and that's one of the reasons why.", says Hamilton County Sheriff's Detective Jimmy Clift.

 "It would be very difficult to prosecute a case of a stranger on a child if all we have is he was dressed as a baseball player or had a mask on or whatever, we can't really determine that."

 Despite the Halloween crackdown, officers say Tennessee law hinders them from doing more.

 "I believe in Georgia or Florida, one of the neighboring states, they have to post in their yard they are a convicted sex offender.", Clift says. "In Tennessee, we're kind of lax in that area, and it's not the Police Department or Sheriff's office, we can only enforce the laws that are on the books." 

That means parents must do more to ensure a safe Halloween for their children. Clift stresses the best way to do that is to go to the TBI's Sex Offender database and "know who's in the area they are going trick or treating in, you know know the addresses, and don't let your children go there. Not every offender is a predator, but I can't know that and I would treat all offenders as dangerous."

[Ed: Hey kids! It's "Boogey-Man" time again! And there ain't nothin' scarier than a nation of ignorant and bigoted adults brain washin' children to be extra paranoid about non-existent threats.  Hell, they don't need no damned statistics to tell them otherwise!]

Dangerous and depraved: paedophiles unite with terrorists online

The Times of London

For some, the internet is merely a hiding place — a web of secret corridors where all manner of shameful deeds unfold. But the police never expected that it might become a strategic platform where two groups of society's outcasts, terrorists and child sex abusers, could meet to exchange operational secrets.

The realisation that there might be something in common between violent Muslim fanatics known for their supposed piety and sexual deviants who prey on children has only slowly dawned on officers. Cracking the mystery of how these worlds overlap is expected to improve understanding of the mindsets of both types of criminals and has been hailed as a potentially vital intelligence tool to undermine future terrorist plots. “A way of finding who the extremists and terrorists are”, an anti-terror source said, “is to go through the child-porn sites.”

The link might have remained unknown but for the case of a Muslim preacher from the East End of London who in 2006 was being investigated by police over his suspected links to a jihadi terrorist gunrunner.

To Scotland Yard's surprise, the 26-year-old Abdul Makim Khalisadar, a former primary school assistant, was discovered to be downloading considerable quantities of child pornography. A DNA test showed he was the wanted “Whitechapel Rapist” who had violently attacked a woman in the street a year earlier. He was jailed for ten years for rape and perverting justice. Khalisadar, who has never been convicted of terrorist offences, and some friends concocted a false alibi that he was preaching at the East London Mosque when the attack happened. He was accused of possessing photographs of child sex abuse but these 11 charges were allowed to lie on file.

RELATED LINKS

Not all jihadis are spiritually driven men on a mission

Police link child porn and Muslim terrorists

Paedophile, 73, found strangled in remote woods

Khalisadar's case came hot on the heels of the unexpected discovery of a few dozen images of hard-core child pornography during a raid on a suspected Muslim terrorist's home during a separate investigation. It was enough to convince some officers that they had discovered a potentially important link.

But an investigation by The Times has discovered that the first evidence actually came on the Continent within a few weeks of the 9/11 massacres. The unlikely setting was the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan. This place of worship was, according to the book Al-Qaeda in Europe, by the terrorism expert Lorenzo Vidino, expressly “built to create a new gathering place for militants in the southern part of the city”. It was run by the al-Qaeda recruiter Abdelkadar Mahmoud Ed Sayed.

During a crackdown on the mosque, police were astonished to discover pornography on computer hard drives. But what was not reported then was that the haul included images of children being sexually abused that were encoded with messages as a clandestine method of communication. Ed Sayed was sentenced to eight years in absentia in 2004 for terrorism-related offences.

Stefano Dambruoso, Italy's anti-terror magistrate, said: “In our experience in investigating Islamic cells linked to al-Qaeda, they use pornographic images simply to camouflage the content of their messages. They use the images — of men, women and children — as an instrument to hide messages of quite a different content.

“I would exclude the idea that they have paedophile tendencies. The most you can attribute to them is a relationship between men and women different from that of us Westerners, in which — as in many parts of the Arab world — wives are often very young girls of 11, 12 or 13 who because of family negotiations are given in marriage to men much older than them. But that is not paedophilia, it is a question of Arab culture.”

The Times has also found a case in Spain where an Islamic terror suspect is accused of downloading child pornography, a case in Yorkshire where child protection officers stumbled on a nail-bomb terror plotter, and a case in Salford where officers discovered a chemistry student visiting explosives websites and also downloading child abuse images. The Spanish case, still before the courts, resulted from raids by the Guardia Civil directed at breaking up a terrorist cell in October 2007. Thousands of hardcore pornographic images of young children were found on home computers.

Abdelkader Ayachine, an Algerian in his forties working in Burgos, is in custody awaiting trial for terrorism. He is accused of incitement to jihad via the internet by recruiting volunteers to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of sending money to prisoners belonging to an Islamic terrorist movement. But he had a dual use for the internet, if another charge is proven. Prosecutors say “he regularly downloads and transfers” from the internet to the computer installed in his home “numerous video and photographic files of child pornography, in which the main characters are minors having sex among themselves or with adults”.

In police raids on him and five other suspects, investigators discovered bomb manuals and text, audio and video in which he and the other suspects were said to praise jihad. He is linked to the Islamist terrorist group that killed 45 people in a suicide bomb attack in Casablanca in 2003.

One area that British anti-terror investigators are now keen to look at is the startling similarity in the way that jihadis and paedophiles target vulnerable young people, first befriending them and then slowly introducing them to warped behaviour that comes to be seen as normal. “What we were starting to see was a similarity in grooming that goes on in paedophilia and grooming that goes on in extremism,” said the anti-terror source.

The source explained that both types of criminal also share a need for great secrecy and indeed it is the paedophiles' status as outcasts as well as their expertise in encryption techniques that may have first attracted the terrorists. Hardline Muslim recruits are often given passwords and keycodes to terrorism sites via internet chatrooms, although sometimes they come from sympathisers in local mosques. But recently British police have managed to crack some of the codes that prohibit outsiders from accessing the more hardcore jihadi sites. Using child porn sites might be one way round this.

Some paedophiles have become adept at encrypting information and burying it so deeply in the internet that no outsider can easily find it. Paedophiles then meet in cyberspace and swap notes on how to reach the images. None is likely to rush to police saying they suspect that they have spotted a terrorist loitering on their child porn website.

Another area investigators will want to explore is the similarity between the personalities of paedophiles and terrorists. “If they are going out, a lot of time is spent by going to the mosque or going off to internet cafés,” the source said.

Shahien Taj, the director of the Henna Foundation, which deals with domestic violence against women and children, said that both terrorists and paedophiles were obsessed with control and domination. She attacked the hypocrisy of terrorists who claim to espouse religious motives on one hand while degrading children on the other.

Not every terrorist downloading child pornography is a Muslim, though. The British Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre was investigating the case of paedophile Philip Thompson, known as the Librarian because he lent out his 241,000 images of child abuse. They sent an intelligence file to police about a suspected associate, Martyn Gilleard, 31, a forklift truck driver and Hitler enthusiast from Goole on Humberside.

When officers turned up looking for child abuse images, they found 39,000 of them. But they also stumbled across Gilleard's stash of machetes, swords, bullets, gunpowder and nail bombs. He wanted to start a race war.

There is another case involving a white man that may be telling. Edward Mattison, a 21-year-old chemistry student from Salford, was jailed in 2006 after he admitted explosives offences. He created homemade bombs using chemicals including a deadly substance known as “Mother of Satan”, used in the London bombings and by Palestinian suicide bombers. He admitted offences relating to seven images of child pornography, though his lawyer said this happened just once through curiosity. He was never accused of terrorism.

Through glimpses of these characters, a pattern can be seen: the same kind of obsessive, sometimes paranoid, individual who becomes skilled in locating the rotten fruit of the internet, from bombmaking instructions to child pornography.

Just as the paedophiles have been getting cleverer at hiding their abuse images, the authorities have been raising their technological game. But it is feared that clues to terror plots may have escaped police attention because of a lack of communication between Scotland Yard's child protection and anti-terrorism specialists.

“It's worth researching this [link between terrorism and child pornography] further because we will get an operational strategy with the paedophile unit when they are infiltrating a paedophile site,” the source said.

“If we are now seeing that they are using these kind of sites as a smokescreen, as a safe haven, they will never think we are cops.”

[Ed: The Times presents no evidence whatsoever that "paedophiles" and Islamic terrorists have linked-up in any way. A very cynical British press continues to fan the flames of hysteria to an extent even beyond that of the American press. Is it any wonder that the U.K. is leading the world in deploying continuous and ubiquitous surveillance of its citizens?]

Paedophile, 73, found strangled in remote woods

Times of London

Great Witchingham An elderly paedophile who was found strangled in remote woodland may have been murdered in revenge for his crimes, police said.

The body of Gordon Boon, 73, was discovered in an area used by fly-tippers near the headquarters of the Bernard Matthews poultry company in Great Witchingham, Norfolk, on Monday, three days after he was last seen alive.

Boon, a former cider factory worker, was on licence after being released from a six-year prison sentence for assaulting three girls, and had been placed on the sex offenders register for life. At his trial in 2001 he admitted assaulting one of his victims, a 13-year-old, after plying her with alcohol and playing strip poker with her. He also took pornographic photographs of the girl.

Boon, who was living in Attleborough, Norfolk, when he carried out the offences and is thought to have moved to Norwich on his release from prison had also admitted indecently assaulting another 13-year-old and an 8-year-old. Police would not confirm when he was released.

Sex offenders challenge Mo. law banning them from Halloween activities

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

St. Louis — Four Missouri sex offenders are challenging a new state law that confines them to their darkened homes on Halloween and restricts them from contact with children that night.

Their lawyer says the law leaves them uncertain of whether they can even costume their own children or grandchildren.

The suit they filed in federal court in St. Louis claims the provisions are too vague to enforce and improperly add punishment to sentences already served.

A spokesman for Attorney General Jay Nixon vowed to defend the statute.

The provision, part of a broader bill signed into law this summer, says convicted sex offenders must "avoid all Halloween-related contact with children" by staying inside their homes from 5 to 10:30 p.m. "unless there is just cause to leave," such as a job or emergency.

They also must keep outside lights off and post a sign that says "no candy or treats at this residence."

A violation is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail.

With the law, Missouri joined Illinois and at least a handful of other states that either monitor sex offenders during Halloween or bar them from participating.

The suit, filed Friday on the offenders' behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, complains that the measure fails to provide enough guidance to police to prevent arbitrary or discriminatory enforcement.

The ACLU legal director, Tony Rothert, said offenders can't be sure of their status even with their own children or grandchildren. He said the terms "Halloween-related contact" and "avoid" and "just cause" are not clear.

The law could even endanger sex offenders, Rothert said, by requiring them to post signs that could make them targets.

"There's already pranks on Halloween," Rothert said. "If someone wants to harass you and cause you problems that night, you can't even turn your lights on."
The two sentences about Halloween were inserted at the request of Sen. Brad Lager, R-Maryville, in a bill generally tightening restrictions on sex offenders. Lager said Tuesday that a constituent suggested it.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. John Loudon, R-Chesterfield, said following the law is simple: "If they have children or grandchildren, then the one spouse takes them out, or you go to a party, or you go to something neutral. But we don't want predators opening their homes on Halloween."

Up until now, Loudon added, "There's nothing that prevents a brazen predator from trying to hand out candy to kids on Halloween."

Loudon also said that he does not consider the law to be additional punishment.
"I think life goes on without Halloween in your own home," he said. "There are lots of other opportunities for people. I think it's kind of silly that people are raising the constitutional right of people to hand out candy on Halloween."

The plaintiffs' names are not used in the suit. But the suit and the sex offender registry show that three have local ties: a 48-year-old Maryland Heights grandmother convicted of two counts of statutory sodomy in 2003 involving a 15-year-old boy; a Ballwin man convicted of statutory rape and statutory sodomy and now living with his stepchildren; and a Cape Girardeau, Mo., woman who admitted having sex with an 11-year-old boy in the mid-1990s in Lake Saint Louis.

The Post-Dispatch deduced the names of two using their descriptions in the suit. Neither responded to calls seeking comment.

Rothert said lawyers were still trying to serve all the defendants with the suit, including Gov. Matt Blunt, Nixon and police chiefs and prosecutors in the areas where the offenders live.

Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson said, "We're not surprised that they're now suing the governor to make it easier to victimize children."

[Ed: Sex offenders nationwide may want to consider visiting Missouri, en masse, for Halloween. Maybe "teepee" the State Legislature?]

Sex offenders shut out of student neighborhoods

Lawmakers and college administrators are trying to shut paroled sex offenders out of one of the few places they can still live: Student neighborhoods near major U.S. universities.
More than 23 states ban registered sex offenders from living close to schools or other places frequented by children. But nowhere is that protection extended to the areas surrounding college campuses.

"A convicted sexual felon should not be able to live next door to your college student," said Jamie Ison, an Alabama state representative who sponsored a bill that would include universities under the legal definition of a school.

Online databases of sex offender addresses show that the issue affects universities across the country — wherever there are student neighborhoods with plentiful apartments and cheap rent.
In Los Angeles, 60 offenders live within a mile of the University of Southern California. Nine live within a mile of Duke University in Durham, N.C. In Chicago, six can be found within a mile of Northwestern University. Within a two-mile radius of Jacksonville University in Florida are 93 paroled sex offenders.

Ison and others are especially mindful of the risks facing young college women: "They're living away from home for the first time. They're staying out late. I know they're drinking. We need to ensure their safety."

Some schools such as the University of Washington have sought to push sex offenders out of campus neighborhoods without the aid of legislation.

Gov. Chris Gregoire raised concerns earlier this year with a landlord whose tenants included sex offenders. The landlord ousted 13 of the 25 parolees living near the Seattle campus, which was one of the first in the nation to begin establishing a buffer zone that would be off-limits to sex offenders.

Now the state Department of Corrections is trying to avoid placing convicts near the campus. But that effort does not extend to Seattle's other colleges and universities, including two private four-year schools in areas with more sex offenders than the University of Washington.
"It's a real problem to find them a place to live," said Anne Fiala, a corrections administrator. "People end up living under bridges or in cars. We would prefer they have a roof over their heads."

The Alabama bill died on the last day of the legislative session after critics raised doubts about whether there had been any reports of sex crimes instigated by a registered sex offender living near a campus.

But some students insist it's the state's responsibility to protect them.

"We deserve to feel safe on our campuses," says R.B. Walker, a University of Alabama senior who spent the past year lobbying for the bill. "For people to say this isn't a priority because it's based on the possibility of harm is just wrong."

Like many states, Alabama currently restricts sex offenders from living or working within 2,000 feet of any school or child-care facility.

At Jacksonville University in Florida, at least one official says college students are old enough to protect themselves, and he opposes legislation barring offenders from the school's urban campus.
"For the most part, these people have done their time," Public Safety Director Michael Kanaby said. "We're better off educating students and preparing them to take accountability for their own public security."

Convicted sex offender Chris Swires lived near the University of Oregon for close to four years while completing his degree. A landlord eventually evicted him because of complaints from neighbors who learned through an online sex-offender registry that he had been convicted of molesting children in 1998.

Swires, 33, later purchased a home in another area. But he is concerned that new laws would only make it harder to find housing.

"It's a stereotype based on bad myths," he said. "I think it's just a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that doesn't exist. It's going to make things 10 times worse."

But students say they don't want more laws, just clarification on existing rules. Walker and other Alabama students hope to revive the sex-offender bill and to see other states adopt similar changes.

"I think student safety should be a top priority for all schools," Walker said. "Anything less is unacceptable."

Crusading ex-Pa. lawmaker takes in sex offenders

Thursday, August 14, 2008 Marietta, Pa. --

A former tough-on-crime Pennsylvania lawmaker has adopted a new and unpopular cause, taking into his home three sex offenders who couldn't find a place to live — a stand that has angered neighbors, drawn pickets and touched off a zoning dispute.

As cities across the nation pass ever-tighter laws to keep out people convicted of sex crimes, Tom Armstrong said he is drawing on his religious belief in forgiveness and sheltering the three men until he can open a halfway house for sex offenders.

"I think that our system is trying to treat everybody under a particular brand and it doesn't work," he said. "And because of that we're creating housing problems, we're creating employment problems, we're creating community problems, and it's needless and it's not warranted."

Nearly 100 Pennsylvania municipalities have ordinances restricting where sex offenders may live. The ordinances generally bar them from moving in next to schools, playgrounds or other places where children might gather.

In early June, Armstrong quietly allowed a rapist and two other sex offenders who had served prison time to move into his 15-room century-old home 75 miles west of Philadelphia after another town blocked his plans for the halfway house. Soon, word got out after Armstrong's address appeared on the state Web site that lists the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders.
Residents of this former mill town of 2,700 on the Susquehanna River packed community meetings, circulated fliers with the men's mugshots and pressed officials for action.

"I understand how everybody deserves a second chance and all, but I'm not willing to risk my children and my neighbors to find out if they're rehabilitated or not," said Elizabeth Fulton, a mother of four who lives two blocks from Armstrong.

The town's zoning officer promptly taped a violation notice to the former lawmaker's door, citing an ordinance that limits the number of unrelated people who can live together. Armstrong is fighting the violation.

A Republican, Armstrong served 12 years in the Legislature before he was defeated in a primary in 2002. He was known for taking conservative positions on abortion, taxes and crime but also for his role in later years supporting prisoner rights. Over the past two decades, he also took in homeless veterans, and more recently he has been a mentor to ex-cons.

The 49-year-old insurance agent said his compassion for people he says are being treated as modern-day lepers stems in part from personal experience: Eleven years ago, he said, his brother was convicted of exposing himself to girls and was jailed.

"My evolution in this whole process, if it's meant to create positive change, then great, I'm all for that," he said.

Armstrong has a son, 19, and a daughter, 16. His son still lives with him, but his wife and daughter left to care for a sick relative and have no immediate plans to move back in, he said. The sex offenders are barred under the terms of their probation from living under the same roof with minors.

Municipalities across the country and at least a dozen states, from Georgia to Arizona, have placed limits on where sex offenders can live, sharply narrowing their options. In some cases, the rules have made entire cities off limits.

"It's what I call a tough policy that's not smart," said John Q. La Fond, a retired professor of law at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and an expert on sex offender policies.
He said there is no evidence that the laws reduce the number of offenders who commit another crime, and he said they frustrate efforts by ex-convicts to find housing, jobs and treatment.
Besides the rapist, Armstrong's guests include a man who fondled a 15-year-old neighbor girl and one who was caught with child pornography on his computer at the university library where he worked. Armstrong said they do chores around the house while they look for work and contribute whatever they can, up to $100 a month each, toward the utility bills.
He said defense attorneys and prison counselors had contacted him for help and assured him they were no threat to anyone.

When Armstrong heard pickets were planned, he put a cooler full of cold drinks on the sidewalk next to a cardboard sign with a handwritten verse from Jeremiah: "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sin no more."

Jessica's Law may not be hospitalizing more post-prison sex offenders

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jess11-2008aug11,0,4411640,full.story
From the Los Angeles Times
NEWS ANALYSIS
Jessica's Law may not be hospitalizing more post-prison sex offenders
Under the law, more inmates who have completed their prison terms are being evaluated and recommended for indefinite hospitalization. But the number of commitments has not increased.By Charles Piller and Lee RomneyLos Angeles Times Staff WritersAugust 11, 2008When voters overwhelmingly approved Jessica's Law in fall 2006, many assumed it would lock away predatory child molesters and rapists who had slipped through the cracks of existing law.But by key measures, Jessica's Law may be failing to deliver on its promise -- and in some respects producing the opposite of its intended effects.As a Times investigation reported Sunday, the law has led far more sexual offenders to be evaluated and recommended for indefinite hospitalization after their prison terms end. But the number of commitments has barely budged.In the 18 months after Jessica's Law took effect, only 42 of 67 defendants in civil commitment trials -- 63% -- were sent to hospitals, compared with 41 of 51 -- 80% -- before the law.The finding is only the latest sign that the law, named for a 9-year-old rape and murder victim, is not working as intended, despite carrying costs that are expected to reach several hundred million dollars annually within a few years.Critics have cited problems with another key provision that banned registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park, in some cases ruling out entire cities.The limits were meant to keep children safe. But the California Sex Offender Management Board suggested in a January oversight report that strict parolee residency requirements might tend to increase rather than reduce sex crimes. The panel said the number of offenders listing themselves as transient rose by 44% to nearly 2,900 in the first year after Jessica's Law passed."Current research concludes that suitable and stable housing for sex offenders is critical to reducing recidivism and increasing community safety," the panel said.John La Fond, a retired law professor and author of "Preventing Sexual Violence," put it this way: "We're locking up a small number, then releasing the rest and saying 'Good luck, and you can't live anywhere.' "State Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster), who introduced Jessica's Law, said the concerns were strictly theoretical, unsupported by data showing an increase in sex crimes."We were prepared" for increased transience among sex offenders, he said. "That's why we require GPS."He was referring to a provision of Jessica's Law that requires lifetime monitoring of many offenders using the global positioning system. But that part of the law has proved controversial as well, because local law enforcement agencies, which would eventually handle most of the monitoring, say they lack money for it."I'm not aware of any sheriff in the state doing GPS," said Jim Denney, director of the California Sheriffs Assn. "There is no local funding tied to Jessica's Law."Jerry P. Dyer, Fresno's police chief and president of the California Police Chiefs Assn., said that most GPS monitoring of sex offenders, for now, was handled by the state."The concern under Jessica's Law is who has the responsibility for purchasing GPS units and monitoring offenders once the individuals are no longer on parole," he said. If it is a local responsibility, "that needs to be funded by the state."Runner has argued that Jessica's Law, which was mandated by 70% of voters, is sound, even if it could benefit from small adjustments."Our job is to implement what the voters have asked us to do," he said.To that end, Runner has sponsored Proposition 6 on the November ballot, which would move money from the state general fund to crime control, including $15 million annually for GPS monitoring by local law enforcement of gang offenders, violent offenders and sex offenders.Both the police and sheriffs associations support the measure, but Dyer expressed doubts that the funding would prove adequate and suggested that it might be necessary "to focus on the most serious sex offenders."The latest provision in Jessica's Law to come under question pertains to "sexually violent predators" -- a small minority of sex offenders believed to be committing crimes because of mental illness. They can be committed indefinitely to hospitals for treatment if a jury affirms the diagnosis of two psychologists or psychiatrists. A single sex crime can now lead to lifelong commitment.The evaluations cost $31 million in the last fiscal year, including payments to contract evaluators.Defense attorneys said the decline in the rate of hospital commitments followed new research about sex crimes -- much of it, ironically, sparked by statutes such as Jessica's Law. The studies have helped persuade some juries that sexually violent predators are far less common than previously believed."Five years ago sex crime recidivism was thought to be 50% or higher. Now we know it is closer to 3%, particularly for older men," said Todd Melnik, an attorney who has successfully defended several clients in such cases."Five years ago no one criticized the key assessment tool" used to estimate recidivism risk in sex offenders, he said. "Now people know it's about as bulletproof as Swiss cheese."As a result, jurors are more open-minded," he said. "They are looking beyond their natural fears and paranoia associated with these cases."Juries may be growing skeptical about evaluators who receive "flabbergasting" fees, said Michael Suzuki, Los Angeles County's supervising public defender for such cases.According to state records, 14 experts earned more than $500,000 for the evaluations, and two earned more than $1 million."Where do you draw the line? Where does the amount of money you are making influence your decisions" and exert subtle pressure on evaluators to recommend commitment? Suzuki said. "Is it $100,000? Is it $500,000? Is it $1 million?"Stephen Mayberg, director of the state Department of Mental Health, which manages the evaluation program, defended the state's implementation of the law.It "has heightened our awareness and has probably done a better job identifying high-risk sex offenders," he said. "The fact that we are trying to protect the public, and that there is so much attention and energy going toward that, really reflects the public's desires."Mayberg said the state does not track whether high-earning evaluators tend to recommend civil commitment more often.Runner said that because many trials are pending, it would take at least a year to see if the declining rate of commitment holds."The trend will be more [sex offenders] being held," he said, adding that even a small increase would justify the law.Others question the law's fundamental fairness. La Fond, the retired law professor and author, called the commitment provision "indefinite detention masquerading as involuntary treatment.""It's like the roach motel," said Dr. Howard Zonana, psychiatry professor at Yale University and medical director of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. "Once you check in, it's hard to check out."California is hardly unique in its approach, however. Nineteen states have adopted civil-commitment laws, some similar to the Golden State's, said Eric Janus, dean of William Mitchell College of Law and a national expert on the laws.Other states have rejected civil commitment in favor of longer prison terms and more intensive monitoring of parolees -- with good results at lower cost.But after statutes such as Jessica's Law are passed, it becomes almost impossible, politically, to rein in the programs regardless of their cost-effectiveness, Janus said."Once the box is opened you can't shut it," he said. "No one is going to say it's too expensive."charles.piller@latimes.comleora.romney@latimes.com