A Myth and Its Effects
Webster’s dictionary describes a myth as: An imaginary person or thing; an invented story. It has been said that if you repeat something often enough, people will believe it is factual regardless of the reliability of the statement. Let me tell you about a myth that is affecting a large segment of our society.
Somehow the myth got started that 90% of convicted sex offenders commit new sex crimes and are subsequently returned to prison. While popular opinion has it that these type never change, nothing could be further from the truth. The myth that 90% of sex offenders will re-offend is exactly that, a myth. According to a fact sheet published by the National Center on Institutions and Alternative Sentencing, 87% of once-caught sex offenders do not go on to be re-arrested for a subsequent new sex offense. Hardly a day goes by that we don’t see a report on the evening news about someone being arrested for a sex crime. Generally our impression is, “another sex offender being re-arrested.” However, if you listen closely, you will usually find this is not a convicted sex offender, but a new offender. While the nay sayers in the news media and some legislators continue to propagate the myth of high recidivism for convicted sex offenders, their reporting is not based on corroborative data. NCIA’s information shows that their recidivism figures have been substantiated by multiple studies. The problem is our legislators have, on the basis of the aforementioned myth, passed laws that make it extremely difficult for once convicted sex offenders to find housing and employment. To add to the dilemma, local administrators of the zoning codes and the general public have been so influenced by these myths, that ministries that have the capability of assisting these people are not able to function.
Are you aware of the problems these men face in attempting to find employment and housing once they are released? Immediately upon release from prison a sex offender must register at the driver’s license office. This is so they can be listed in a national database. Every time they move they must re-register within 24 hours. They must also report to the local Sheriff’s office and their probation office. The Sheriff’s office puts a notice in the local newspaper as to where they will be living, and often announces this information on a local TV station. This information is also put on an Internet database that can be accessed by anyone who has an interest. Sheriff Deputies usually canvass the area where this individual will be living and warn the neighbors that this “dangerous” sex-offender is moving into their neighborhood. If their crime involved a minor child, they are not permitted to live within 1,000 feet of any place where children congregate. This includes schools, parks, churches, daycare centers, etc. Can you imagine how difficult it is for them to find a residence that doesn’t have any of these places within 1,000 feet? The latest law passed by our misinformed Florida legislators says that they cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school bus stop. This has tightened the noose on numerous former sex offenders that were living productive lives in our communities. Come let us reason together. Does anyone think for one minute that placing a 1,000-foot invisible barrier from where there might be unattended children is going to deter anyone bent on harming our children? A sexual predator is not likely to commit crimes that close to where he lives! Recently in Okeechobee we became involved in three incidences where former sex offenders that had secured housing were ordered to move within 24 hours or be arrested because it was found that they were in violation of this new law. In one incident Sheriff Deputies were ready to put handcuffs on the man before we were able to intervene. These men would have gone to jail if we had not been able to help them.
Look for a moment at the notification done by law enforcement. Now I ask you, if you were a landlord would you want to risk the wrath of your neighbors if you rented to one who is so branded? I have grandchildren, and if there is a dangerous sexual predator in the area, I certainly want to know it. But only a very small minority of those convicted of sex crimes are dangerous predators. While these laws are not really doing anything to protect our children, they make it extremely difficult for these individuals to find housing.
I have only listed a few of the conditions these our citizens are facing. There are others that also make it extremely difficult for them to make a successful transition back into our communities. I submit that these strong arm methods are not helping to keep these men from re-offending but driving many into despair making them more likely to re-offend. Rather than making it easier to monitor their activities, we are forcing many of these men to abandon their attempts to conform to these oppressive conditions and go underground. When that happens, we have defeated the purpose for which these laws were passed. We have lost the ability to monitor their activities.
A few years ago we would hear accounts of how communist governments had become police states that monitored every movement of their citizens. We were appalled. Is what we are doing to this segment of our society any less oppressive?
Continually harassing those who are truly repentant for their past sins, is not going to protect our children from sex offenders. If you really want to know how to protect your children visit our web site www.matthew25ministries.org and read our article on Sex Offenders on the link “Dick’s Writings.”
Fifty years ago a handful of people started a sexual revolution. They declared we should break off the bonds of sexual restraint and we started down a slippery slope. Their cry was for “sexual freedom.” Sex never was free, and today we are paying the price for opening the door that has led to so much depravity. We need to get back to the moral values that this nation had 50 years ago, where sex wasn’t being promoted in every media and marriage and family were honored. We need a new sexual revolution. We need to make a radical 180-degree change and get back to sexual purity.
In the year 2000 we had established an aftercare program to assist ex-offenders who had been charged with committing sexual crimes. We were very successful in operating that program until a zoning problem forced us to close in 2003. Given only 10 days to close our facility, neither our clients nor our staff was able to find housing in any county that was acceptable by the Probation Department for the 14 men we had to relocate. It was very difficult to find either a program or a housing situation that probation officers would approve. This is a national problem. We have a chance to be in the forefront of addressing this problem. With your help we will overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of our assisting those who want to become productive citizens.
We’re not just talking about statistics, but people’s lives. In our sex saturated society it is not uncommon for one to become involved in activities that would lead them to cross over the line and commit a sex crime. Often these offenders are so devastated once their crimes are discovered that they cry out to God for help. I serve a God that hears these types of cries and He is a God of grace and mercy for all men. Yes, even for convicted sex offenders. I have been involved in prison ministry since 1990 and have ministered to hundreds of these men and know of their sincerity in wanting to live lives that are pleasing to God. When this person completes his sentence and tries to find a support group that will help him overcome the hurdles he must face, usually he finds all doors have been closed.
If you have any questions about the content of this article, or the opportunities of assisting ex-offenders as they transition from prison back into our communities, contact:
Rev. R.D. Witherow
(561) 670-5564
\”Often these offenders are so devastated once their crimes are discovered that they cry out to God for help. I serve a God that hears these types of cries and He is a God of grace and mercy for all men. Yes, even for convicted sex offenders.\”
FINALLY, SOME GRACE!!!
Wake up, people of God, and show show that you truly are children of God by showing GRACE and MERCY. There is only ONE Judge and and ONE judgement seat from which He alone judges. Your place in the Kingdom is to love hurting people back into God\’s loving arms…
I always though that the Constitution of the United States could NEVER be altered. Boy was I wrong. In my 47 years on this earth, I have seen “many” changes! And it is because we let our politician get away with it.
How, in this day and age could the people of the United States been lied to so much in such a short time. I am a convicted sex offender. Since my crime I have been through lots and lots of counseling. It was not until I took full responsibility and admited to all that I had done, that I could finally start to work through my problem and dig deep into the core of WHY I could do something like this…and you know, since I did (with God’s Grace and help) I finally got past it. I have been living in my community now for 7 years with not one offence of any kind. I am not dangerous at all but the new laws being passed are blanket type. They do not take in consideration my rehabilitation nor my family. In fact, untill these new laws were passed, I was doing fine. Now I constatly worry, tensions and stress run high in our household. When will the madness stop. Going overboard with the laws just to make these politicians look good is not the way to create safety or justice. By the way…what everhapped to “once you pay your debt to society….your done????”
LINKS:
* http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/04/my-thoughts-sex-offender-law-issues.html
* http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/03/couey-trial.html
MISCELLANEOUS:
http://www.nacdl.org/public.nsf/2cdd02b415ea3a64852566d6000daa79/Rules&Reg_attachments/$FILE/SORNA.pdf
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (“NACDL”) is a nationwide, non-profit, voluntary association of criminal defense lawyers founded in 1958 to improve the quality of representation of the accused and to advocate for the preservation of constitutional rights in criminal cases. The NACDL has a membership of more than 12,800 attorneys and 92 state, local and international affiliate organizations with another 35,000 members including private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, active U.S. military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness within America’s criminal justice system. In these comments NACDL urges the Attorney General to repeal 28 CFR Part 72 because the regulation, as promulgated, violates the ex post facto clause of the Constitution, and will cause widespread confusion and instability in the efforts of many convicted sex offenders to comply with the law and maintain a non-offending lifestyle.
INFO:
* I do not believe in registries period, but if the sex offender laws are kept, why discriminate? I DEMAND WE HAVE A CRIMINAL HISTORY REGISTRY, SO I KNOW IF YOU ARE A MURDERER, GANG MEMBER, DRUG DEALER/USER, DRUNK, THIEF! IT’S MY RIGHT! Why won’t this fly? Because then the senator, mayor, governor, president, celebrities or you may be on a publicly accessible registry to face the shame. But why not? Why discriminate? So the rich can implement their “master plan?”
* When will people ever realize no matter how tough on crime, all the zero tolerance, all the registries in the world will not prevent a murderer from murdering, a thief from stealing, a dealer from dealing, a user from using, a rapist from raping….accusations on any sex crime, child abuse, or domestic violence will literally nail your butt to the wall! No DNA has to be present, No violence has to be present….. HEARSAY ALONE IS LITERALLY NAILING THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO THE WALL BECAUSE THESE LAWS ARE BIASED.
* Living is already almost impossible for “sex offenders”, and the more and more laws that are passed daily, eventually they are going to explode, and it won’t be a pretty sight. You must be realistic when making laws, these draconian laws make it impossible for anyone to live ANY type of life. Everyone is for treatment and punishing those violent offenders who are making other sex offenders lives hell, but like I said, we must be realistic.
* For all the people being charged with Child pornography, is the law checking the computers to make sure they are not infected with a virus? Many people are ignorant when it comes to computers, and if they click on some attachment in an email, their machine can become infected with a virus, trojan, spyware, adaware program which stores child porn on their machine. Are these so called “experts” checking this? Or ignoring this possibility?
* The issue with sex offenders Internet email addresses, IM names, etc being collected, this is another “feel good” law that will not stop crime. If someone wanted to commit a new crime, they’d create a new email address and commit the crime. This is stupid and won’t work. It is just another waste of the taxpayers money.
* Think!! Come up with solutions, not “feel good” laws, which make it harder and harder for sex offenders to get on with their lives.
* “Buffer Zones” are a false sense of security!
* “Buffer Zones” are banishing people from their town, state, and possibly the country!
* “Buffer Zones” create homelessness, which costs society lost productivity, individual dignity, and creates additional problems for enforcing any accurate registry!
* “Buffer Zones” do nothing, except banish! It could be 50 miles and if someone wanted to re-offend, they’d just get in a car and drive!
* It should be MANDATORY that anyone in prison get therapy, and out of prison, if needed. Therapy does work. If you just lock them up without therapy, when they get out, they will be worse off. Therapy teaches people how to not act out and help, regardless of what the general public thinks. Just ask a therapist.
* We need to STOP this hysteria and get sex offenders the help they need.
* You can pass all the laws you want but without therapy this “mob” mentality will not solve anything!
* I am sick of politicians using children to get their laws passed! Who would want to vote against anything that is “for the children”?
* “Stranger Danger” is a smoke screen & hype! Most child sexual offenses occur by someone the child knows, like a family member or close friend!
* These laws are being passed by politicians using sex offenders as scape goats, for votes!
* Registries do NOT protect anyone or prevent crimes!
* Registries are punishing sex offenders as well as their families and children, and opening them up to vigilantism. DON’T THE FAMILIES AND CHILDREN OF sex OFFENDERS COUNT? They are suppose to be “for the children”, right?
* Registries are NOT being updated in a timely fashion, so the public is getting false information! How is this helping the public or protecting them when they cannot rely on them?
* Registries are putting families and children of sex offenders in a public position to be socially outcast and discriminated against with regard to employment, housing, schooling, etc!
* About 90% of the people on the registry are NOT violent offenders that these laws were meant for in the first place!
* These laws cost millions, if not billions to enforce, and they cause prison over-population, which is already a problem, especially in California, and taxpayers pay for all this.
* GPS does not prevent sexual crimes! Another false sense of security which cost tons of money! Plus the offenders are supposed to pay for this, which will make them eventually go homeless. MAKE THE TAX PAYERS WHO WANT THESE LAWS PAY FOR THEM!
* These laws cause sex offenders to go underground and into hiding, due to the strict nature of the laws! How is this protecting anyone?
* These laws are all about money for law enforcement and votes for politicians. Prison is a business! Politicians are salaried and want to get elected/re-elected! Law enforcement get paid for people in jails, prisons or on the registry!
* These laws blatantly disregard the United States constitutional rights of all citizens! (i.e. ex-post facto, due process & others)
* These laws are cruel and unusual punishment! A sex offender cannot go to a fast food restaurant which has a playground! Why? They have just as much of a right as you to get a burger! Plus they cannot go anywhere kids congregate. (i.e. Amusement parks, Movie theaters, the list is endless)
* Sex offenders can go to church, but must leave immediately afterwards. If a sex offender owns a business and someone decides to put a church or school next door, they have to now sell their business and move. This is not right, move the church or school, the sex offender was there first!
* These laws continue to punish people even after a sentence has been served, and they are trying to get on with their lives! (i.e. ex-post facto)
* These laws are driven by fear-mongering, opportunistic politicians and will do nothing to actually protect children!
* There are over one million women and children whose lives are inter-twined with a sex offender in the United States. They should matter too!
* Follow the money trail, these laws are conveyor-belt laws to benefit law enforcement! They get paid for the number of people in jail, prison or on the registry!
* They are currently a one-size-fits all for sex offenders! Not all sex offenders are violent offenders that these laws are supposed to be for anyway!
* They are modern day witch hunts and a scarlett letter!
* If sex Offenders are re-offending, why do the registries grow each day? Because new people are being added daily for stuff like “public urination”, “mooning”, “consensual sex”, “young children playing ‘Doctor’” and various other minor offenses that we need not worry about. We need to worry about violent offenders!
* Now they are trying to make it a law that a sex offender, if they have kids, cannot “take a picture” of anyone under 18. This is totally stupid! Can’t even take Christmas pictures, birthday pictures, etc!
* Also, because a sex offender owns a business in town, many people are trying to get the business shut down! The sex offender had the business for awhile. If you don’t like it, MOVE!!!!