(CROSS POSTED FROM ABSOLUTE ZERO) http://absolutezerounited.blogspot.com/
Friday, December 21, 2007
Sarah Tofte finds it striking...
Sarah Tofte, a researcher for Human rights watch, who we mentioned here, recently went on WYNC New York Public Radio with Pro-Sex Offender Activist Linda Pehrson. Aside from the usual blame gaming you expect from the likes of Linda Perhson and the talk of "Restorative Justice," what we found interesting was a statement made by Sarah Tofte:
"This is a number that always strikes me, that I think people don't pick up on as much, but to me I find this the most striking number. Is that every year, of all new sex crimes, eighty-seven percent of new sex crimes are committed by someone who has no previous sex crimes convictions."
The implication being that 13% of new sex crimes are committed by people who already have been convicted for sexual offenses.
If we were to compare the number of people who are sexual offenders (627,217) with the entire population of the U.S (301,139,947) we'd find that sex offenders make up roughly 0.2% of the entire population.
Going by her own statistics, I wonder what it is that Sarah Tofte finds most striking about her statistic which illustrates that such a tiny percentage of the population is accounting for a disproportionately large percentage of new sex crimes - 13% committed by 0.2% of the population.
Labels: Human Rights Watch, Linda Pehrson, Recidivism, Sarah Tofte, Sex Offender
jacey posted at 1:35 AM
Friday, December 21, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
H.R. 4623 - Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention
H.R. 4623 - Child Obscenity and Pornography Prevention
Act of 2002
(Rep. Smith (R) Texas and 69 cosponsors)
The Administration strongly supports House passage of H.R. 4623, which would revise and strengthen the Nation's child pornography laws in light of Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition. Passage of the bill would be an important step in protecting children from abuse by ensuring effective child pornography prosecutions.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/107-2/HR4623-h.html
RON PAUL VOTED NO AGAINST THIS ACT.
Act of 2002
(Rep. Smith (R) Texas and 69 cosponsors)
The Administration strongly supports House passage of H.R. 4623, which would revise and strengthen the Nation's child pornography laws in light of Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition. Passage of the bill would be an important step in protecting children from abuse by ensuring effective child pornography prosecutions.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/107-2/HR4623-h.html
RON PAUL VOTED NO AGAINST THIS ACT.
Rock Against Child Pornography In Devon!!!
----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: ROCK AGAINST CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ™
Date: Dec 19, 2007 5:40 AM
Hello Friends :)
we have some good and important news to share with you.
on the 25th and the 26th of January 2008 we will hold a
Rock against Child Pornography Rock weekend in Devon.
Host to this is
The Marlboro Club in Ilfracombe.
Terrific Bands will play till their fingers bleed and their voices fade!
Watch out for the announcement posters on our page!
Ray, the owner and organiser of this weekender, is a strong supporter to our cause!
The aim will be to raise at least 2000 Pound! that is: two thousand!!
This money is desperately needed to man the ABUSE HELPLINE for children.
Every Penny and Pound collected on these nights will go towards this Helpline.
We need the place packed to the roof, we need YOU to come down and rock with us. Tell everyone and everybody you know to come to this one and make your voices heard! Loud and clear!!
COME AND ROCK WITH US AGAINST CHILD ABUSE AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY !!
Please visit Ray at: www.myspace.com/themarlboroclub
Thank you for your time and attention!
kindest as always
Carmen and the great Team
@
From: ROCK AGAINST CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ™
Date: Dec 19, 2007 5:40 AM
Hello Friends :)
we have some good and important news to share with you.
on the 25th and the 26th of January 2008 we will hold a
Rock against Child Pornography Rock weekend in Devon.
Host to this is
The Marlboro Club in Ilfracombe.
Terrific Bands will play till their fingers bleed and their voices fade!
Watch out for the announcement posters on our page!
Ray, the owner and organiser of this weekender, is a strong supporter to our cause!
The aim will be to raise at least 2000 Pound! that is: two thousand!!
This money is desperately needed to man the ABUSE HELPLINE for children.
Every Penny and Pound collected on these nights will go towards this Helpline.
We need the place packed to the roof, we need YOU to come down and rock with us. Tell everyone and everybody you know to come to this one and make your voices heard! Loud and clear!!
COME AND ROCK WITH US AGAINST CHILD ABUSE AND CHILD PORNOGRAPHY !!
Please visit Ray at: www.myspace.com/themarlboroclub
Thank you for your time and attention!
kindest as always
Carmen and the great Team
@
Monday, December 17, 2007
KEVIN MISNER AKA DEVILMANN26
Reading a blog by Absolute Zero I saw in their comments a link to a page that displays a comment that a sex offender had made. In this comment the sex offender who calls himself, DEVILMANN26 said:
devilmann26
Subject: My way of getting back at the MAN
"As some of you know I am forced to wear this GPS tracking device.Anyway I have found that electromagnets destroy the components of these devices.So everyday at work I accidently get to close to one and oops the tracker stops working.So they have been replacing them 3 a week at least now.Maybe they will ban me from using welding equipment…They say each device costs over 1500 dollars so I have cost they state well over 10000 so far as they already replaced 7 trackers…I love it what a waste ao taxpayers money.Oh wait I pay taxes too so i guess i am screwing myself.Oh wait cant i press charges on myself for screwing myself then i wont be able to be within 25 feet of myself.What a perfect system we have here in good ol New Jersey….Kevin Misner"
Now just by googling his screen name interesting stuff pops up, like his email address is devilmann26@yahoo.com which takes you to this myspace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=179861818
The person at this profile under that email address goes by the name,Cal and this is the default picture used for that profile.
It also lead me to find that he also goes by the name, devilsrule on a Apple support site for his computer. And just by googling his real name even more interesting stuff pops up, like this article below:
12/14/2007
Megan’s Law violator
STONINGTON — Kevin P. Misner, 31, of 70 Wilson Ave., Keansburg, N.J., has been charged by state police at Stonington with two counts of failing to comply with Megan’s Law, which requires a sexual offender to register a new address with state police.
State police said Misner informed police that he was residing at 1011 W. Spruce St., Coal Township, but never officially resided there. Police said Misner also failed to report his New Jersey address.
Misner was arraigned at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday by Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III and committed to Northumberland County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19114603&BRD=2715&PAG=461&dept_id=556561&rfi=6
THIS IS HIS SEX OFFENDER INFORMATION:
Name - KEVIN P MISNER
Type - Mappable
Address - 1011 WEST SPRUCE STREET
COAL TOWNSHIP, PA 17866
Conviction(s) NJ004 - SEXUAL ASSAULT
http://www.familywatchdog.us/ViewOffenderDetails.asp?oID=PAdfadaddg&aID=&at=1&sid=&sp=1&nm=
Here is the WIKI on him http://www.wikisposure.com/Roar_for_Freedom
It say's on his WIKI:
-Kevin P. Misner- aka devilmann26 - Convicted of SEXUAL ASSAULT against a minor in New Jersey in 1993 after spending 5 years in prison he has been charged with failing to register in NJ though he did register in PA which has less strict registration requirements. Kevin has stated that he purposefully destroys his GPS monitor just to cost the state money, claiming he's damaged over $10,000 worth, he hides his computers from the authorities and registers dozens of emails simply to overload the system.
Then his WIKI takes you to this screenshot of him from the states Megan's Law website:
http://www.wikisposure.com/Image:Kevin_Misner.png
AND THIS ARTICLE WITH A MAP: (click on the sex offenders tab)
KEVIN P MISNER
70 WILSON AVENUE
KEANSBURG, NJ 07734
Locate on Map
IMAGE UNAVAILABLE
http://www.propertymaps.com/location/mls/usa/new+jersey/keansburg/07734
AND THIS ARTICLE:
Seaside Heights Councilman William Akers stands at Barnegat and Hancock avenues, not far from playgrounds and the Hugh J. Boyd Jr. Elementary School, areas off-limits to sex offenders. Because Seaside Heights is a vacation spot, borough officials are trying to determine if they can force authorities elsewhere to tell them when sex offenders visit as tourists.
Originally published: January 12, 2007
Laws leave offenders fewer places to live
By MICHELLE SAHN
and JAMES W. PRADO ROBERTS
STAFF WRITERS
Billie K. Nichols, convicted of sexually assaulting three children, was told by police to leave his rented room in Keansburg. The 65-year-old was informed that he lives too close to the beach.
About half a mile away, Kevin P. Misner, deemed by a judge to have a higher risk of committing another sex crime, is allowed to live within 1,000 feet of two day care centers and two schools in Keansburg.
Under the borough's residency ordinance, Misner is allowed to stay where he is because he is a homeowner, not a renter.
Keansburg is one of at least 45 towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties that have passed measures since June, restricting where convicted sex offenders can live. And like Keansburg's, some measures have quirks, inconsistencies and seemingly contradictory passages that may run afoul of state law.
Monmouth and Ocean counties were home to 1,220 registered sex offenders in January, according to State Police information. The names and addresses of just 253 were posted on the state's Megan's Law Web site; most of the rest are known only to law enforcement.
Because of the growing number of residency restrictions, an unknown number of sex offenders may be forced from their homes this year. With fewer and fewer locations in which to live, more registered sex offenders could move to areas outside the exclusion zones — from inner-city enclaves to suburban neighborhoods.
Maureen Kanka, who campaigned for Megan's Law in 1994 after her 7-year-old daughter, Megan, was raped and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender, said she agrees with the concept of residency restrictions. But Kanka, of Hamilton, said she opposes municipalities that completely ban registered sex offenders from moving in.
Brick effectively did that last year when it set sex-offender-free zones around all school bus stops. Bradley Beach imposed an effective total ban by including zones around a bowling alley, religious institutions, and a recreation building.
"I don't think it's fair for towns to push them out onto other towns," Kanka said. If an alternative is to sentence sex offenders to life behind bars, Kanka said that would be an avenue worth exploring.
Some offenders have put up a fight, saying they shouldn't have to move.
In January, a judge temporarily barred Keansburg from enforcing its ordinance after one borough sex offender challenged the measure in Monmouth County Superior Court. As a result, Nichols and 13 other Keansburg residents who pleaded innocent to violating the local restrictions may remain in their homes, at least until the lawsuit is resolved.
The lawsuit may prove effective — Egg Harbor City in Atlantic County amended its ordinance following a similar court fight. It now allows low-risk offenders to move into exclusion zones, but it still bars offenders deemed to have a moderate to high risk of re-offending.
In Monmouth and Ocean counties, only Middletown permits offenders deemed to be low risk, but bars moderate- and high-risk offenders. Upper Freehold bars high-risk offenders from living 2,000 feet from places including schools and horse farms with formal riding programs for minors, while moderate-risk offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of those places and low-risk offenders are barred from living within 500 feet.
Local officials say their residency rules are designed to protect communities — particularly children — from sex offenders.
Critics say the ordinances are unconstitutional and interfere with the statewide Megan's Law, which requires community notification about offenders considered more likely to commit another sex crime.
Under Megan's Law, about one offender in five is considered sufficiently high risk to be listed on the State Police sex offender Web site.
The names, photographs and addresses of 115 from Monmouth County and 138 from Ocean County were listed on the State Police Web site on Jan. 5.
Out of those 253 registered offenders in the two counties, about 90 lived within 1,000 feet of a school, according to a Gannett New Jersey review of the addresses.
In Monmouth County, there were three high-risk, or tier three, offenders.
In Ocean County, there were 18 tier three offenders listed on the Web site. Another was added last month.
About half of the offenders listed in Monmouth and Ocean counties in January were in seven towns. They are: Dover Township (28), Neptune (19), Lakewood (19), Brick (16), Asbury Park (16), Seaside Heights (13) and Manchester (10).
Of those seven, all but Asbury Park have new ordinances that now restrict where sex offenders may live.
"Measured legislation to provide buffer zones for children is simply common sense," said Terence M. Wall, the Keansburg borough manager and a Holmdel committeeman.
Keansburg's ordinance would make virtually the entire borough off-limits to Nichols and other convicted sex offenders who rent or want to move into town. Holmdel also has residency restrictions.
Locally, exclusion zones range from 500 feet to 2,500 feet. In most municipalities, sex offenders who ignore the ordinances can be fined up to $1,250, jailed for 90 days or subject to 90 days of community service.
But there are inconsistencies among the 45 municipalities — more than half of the 86 towns in the two counties — with exclusion zones:
In 15 communities, renters must move but homeowners may stay.
In 29 municipalities, sex offenders who lived in the community before the local rules were adopted may stay. Neptune Mayor Thomas J. Catley said that clause was added to his township's ordinance so it does not run afoul of the U.S. Constitution's ban on retroactive laws. But in Neptune, if a renter with no history of sex offenses is later charged and convicted of a sex crime against a child, that renter would have to move from a prohibited zone, Township Attorney Donald L. Beekman said. A homeowner, however, who committed a similar crime could stay.
In 14 of the 45 municipalities, the rules apply to both adults and juveniles who are sex offenders. All but one of these communities would force a teenager living in an exclusion zone to move, unless the teen's name is on the deed of the home. A teenager who is a registered sex offender may not live near a school — but local rules do not stop him from attending a school.
In 28 communities, only sex offenders whose victims were minors face restrictions. Those locales would allow someone convicted of raping adult college students to live next to a high school. But the measures would bar an 18-year-old convicted of having consensual sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend.
Nichols, of Keansburg, said the boom in residency restrictions has added to a stressful life. He is upset about the prospect of being kicked out of his home and isn't sure where he would go.
An offender may have little money to finance a move: 85 percent to 90 percent of Megan's Law offenders are indigent, according to state Office of the Public Defender spokesman Thomas Rosenthal.
"I've got to live somewhere," said Nichols, who spent 16 years at the state prison for compulsive sex offenders, the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woodbridge. In 1988, he pleaded guilty to aggravated sex assault against three girls who ranged in age from 5 to 11, records show.
In prison, Nichols said, he learned how to live in society and how to recognize his "warning signs" so he won't commit another sex crime. If he hadn't responded to treatment, the state could have tried to civilly commit him after he served his sentence, he said.
"You've gotta do your work in there to get out," he said.
After Nichols was released in November 2004, a Superior Court judge declared him a moderate risk of re-offending. He must check in with local authorities every three months.
Now that he is free, he is not about to break the law again, he said.
His $115-a-week room at the Belvedere Hotel is not much, he said, but it's home. In fact, it is about the same size as his former prison cell, he said.
His bed was pressed against the far wall. A roll of toilet paper and cleaning supplies sat on one dresser. A small television set sat atop the other.
"NO SMOKING" was stenciled in white on the paneled wall near the door. Black plastic bags of belongings lay on the floor, and his golf clubs were propped against a wall.
"I just have to find a place I can afford," said Nichols, who works as an assistant greenskeeper at a private golf course. "If you mess up, I can see that. But if you go about your business, and you're not disturbing anybody . . . We used to talk in jail — they should make some kind of island for us. We've got to live someplace."
The exclusion zone is not designed to be a cure-all, but it reduces the likelihood of an offender breaking the law again, borough manager Wall said.
"Others would say that 80 percent of victims are assaulted by people they know," Wall said. "True. The 20 percent matter as well."
In December, Bradley Beach became off-limits to convicted adult sex offenders who attacked minors. The mayor says there are "less than a handful" of offenders, perhaps five, who live there.
Borough resident Harriet May Savitz, 72, who lives a few blocks from at least one of the borough's sex offenders, said the restrictions are a "great idea," and further believes offenders should get longer prison terms.
"I don't want them in anyone's back yard," said the grandmother of four. "I think they lose the right to live in society when they touch a child. That's automatic."
If every community created exclusion zones, it would mean sex offenders could only live in rural areas because suburbs and cities have more schools and churches, said Jackson Tay Bosley, a psychologist and the president of the New Jersey Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.
But most jobs are in cities and suburbs, he said.
Most sex offenders need to be employed, in treatment, and monitored, said Ken Singer, a licensed clinical social worker and the executive director of that treatment association, who also runs therapy groups for both sexual abusers and abuse survivors.
The residency rules are "basically a stupid, feel-good idea," he said. "It doesn't do any good for someone to drop out of sight, and not register. It doesn't make anyone safer."
What does work, he said, are programs such as Child Assault Prevention, a state-funded educational program that empowers children and teaches them to be assertive.
Further, because New Jersey already has sex offender laws, municipalities are pre-empted from imposing their own restrictions on Megan's Law offenders, said John S. Furlong, a Trenton-based lawyer, who co-wrote the second edition "Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification: A "Megan's Law' Sourcebook."
Besides sex offender registration and community notification, New Jersey sex offenders convicted after Oct. 31, 1994, are subject to supervision by parole officers for 15 years to life. Parole officers have the power to bar them from living near schools or with minors.
The state also has civil commitment for convicts deemed sexually violent predators but who have completed their prison terms.
In January, there were 343 such people confined to facilities in Kearny and Woodbridge, and their cases are reviewed every six months, according to William Plantier, an official with the state Department of Corrections. Such people are "not in control of their deviant sexual behavior," he said.
Regardless of how well sex offenders did in their therapy sessions, officials in Seaside Heights don't want any more offenders who abused children living within 2,500 feet of a school and other locations. That's most of the borough.
"If this makes it harder for them to seek housing, or if they wanted to go to one community and they can't, I won't lose any sleep over it," Councilman William Akers said. "I think these are bad people, and every community has the right to protect themselves from bad people."
Because Seaside Heights is a vacation spot, it is even more important for borough officials to know where offenders stay and, if possible, keep them out of town, Akers said. So officials are trying to determine if they can force authorities elsewhere to tell them when sex offenders visit as tourists, he said.
Sex offenders, and people with mental health and social service issues, seem to come to Seaside Heights, perhaps because the community has many low-cost motel and hotel rooms in the winter, Akers said.
Thirteen Seaside Heights sex offenders were listed on the State Police Web site in January. The site reported that one was in custody and two were fugitives.
"We seem to be taking on a lot of responsibility for a lot of different people, and we don't have facilities to help these people," Akers said. "We take on a big burden every year."
http://thnt.gns.gannettonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B3/20060305/SPECIAL07/101120004
THIS IS WHY WE NEED MEGAN'S LAW, JESSICA'S LAW AND APRILS LAW PEOPLE!!
devilmann26
Subject: My way of getting back at the MAN
"As some of you know I am forced to wear this GPS tracking device.Anyway I have found that electromagnets destroy the components of these devices.So everyday at work I accidently get to close to one and oops the tracker stops working.So they have been replacing them 3 a week at least now.Maybe they will ban me from using welding equipment…They say each device costs over 1500 dollars so I have cost they state well over 10000 so far as they already replaced 7 trackers…I love it what a waste ao taxpayers money.Oh wait I pay taxes too so i guess i am screwing myself.Oh wait cant i press charges on myself for screwing myself then i wont be able to be within 25 feet of myself.What a perfect system we have here in good ol New Jersey….Kevin Misner"
Now just by googling his screen name interesting stuff pops up, like his email address is devilmann26@yahoo.com which takes you to this myspace page:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=179861818
The person at this profile under that email address goes by the name,Cal and this is the default picture used for that profile.
It also lead me to find that he also goes by the name, devilsrule on a Apple support site for his computer. And just by googling his real name even more interesting stuff pops up, like this article below:
12/14/2007
Megan’s Law violator
STONINGTON — Kevin P. Misner, 31, of 70 Wilson Ave., Keansburg, N.J., has been charged by state police at Stonington with two counts of failing to comply with Megan’s Law, which requires a sexual offender to register a new address with state police.
State police said Misner informed police that he was residing at 1011 W. Spruce St., Coal Township, but never officially resided there. Police said Misner also failed to report his New Jersey address.
Misner was arraigned at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday by Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III and committed to Northumberland County Prison in lieu of $10,000 bail.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19114603&BRD=2715&PAG=461&dept_id=556561&rfi=6
THIS IS HIS SEX OFFENDER INFORMATION:
Name - KEVIN P MISNER
Type - Mappable
Address - 1011 WEST SPRUCE STREET
COAL TOWNSHIP, PA 17866
Conviction(s) NJ004 - SEXUAL ASSAULT
http://www.familywatchdog.us/ViewOffenderDetails.asp?oID=PAdfadaddg&aID=&at=1&sid=&sp=1&nm=
Here is the WIKI on him http://www.wikisposure.com/Roar_for_Freedom
It say's on his WIKI:
-Kevin P. Misner- aka devilmann26 - Convicted of SEXUAL ASSAULT against a minor in New Jersey in 1993 after spending 5 years in prison he has been charged with failing to register in NJ though he did register in PA which has less strict registration requirements. Kevin has stated that he purposefully destroys his GPS monitor just to cost the state money, claiming he's damaged over $10,000 worth, he hides his computers from the authorities and registers dozens of emails simply to overload the system.
Then his WIKI takes you to this screenshot of him from the states Megan's Law website:
http://www.wikisposure.com/Image:Kevin_Misner.png
AND THIS ARTICLE WITH A MAP: (click on the sex offenders tab)
KEVIN P MISNER
70 WILSON AVENUE
KEANSBURG, NJ 07734
Locate on Map
IMAGE UNAVAILABLE
http://www.propertymaps.com/location/mls/usa/new+jersey/keansburg/07734
AND THIS ARTICLE:
Seaside Heights Councilman William Akers stands at Barnegat and Hancock avenues, not far from playgrounds and the Hugh J. Boyd Jr. Elementary School, areas off-limits to sex offenders. Because Seaside Heights is a vacation spot, borough officials are trying to determine if they can force authorities elsewhere to tell them when sex offenders visit as tourists.
Originally published: January 12, 2007
Laws leave offenders fewer places to live
By MICHELLE SAHN
and JAMES W. PRADO ROBERTS
STAFF WRITERS
Billie K. Nichols, convicted of sexually assaulting three children, was told by police to leave his rented room in Keansburg. The 65-year-old was informed that he lives too close to the beach.
About half a mile away, Kevin P. Misner, deemed by a judge to have a higher risk of committing another sex crime, is allowed to live within 1,000 feet of two day care centers and two schools in Keansburg.
Under the borough's residency ordinance, Misner is allowed to stay where he is because he is a homeowner, not a renter.
Keansburg is one of at least 45 towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties that have passed measures since June, restricting where convicted sex offenders can live. And like Keansburg's, some measures have quirks, inconsistencies and seemingly contradictory passages that may run afoul of state law.
Monmouth and Ocean counties were home to 1,220 registered sex offenders in January, according to State Police information. The names and addresses of just 253 were posted on the state's Megan's Law Web site; most of the rest are known only to law enforcement.
Because of the growing number of residency restrictions, an unknown number of sex offenders may be forced from their homes this year. With fewer and fewer locations in which to live, more registered sex offenders could move to areas outside the exclusion zones — from inner-city enclaves to suburban neighborhoods.
Maureen Kanka, who campaigned for Megan's Law in 1994 after her 7-year-old daughter, Megan, was raped and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender, said she agrees with the concept of residency restrictions. But Kanka, of Hamilton, said she opposes municipalities that completely ban registered sex offenders from moving in.
Brick effectively did that last year when it set sex-offender-free zones around all school bus stops. Bradley Beach imposed an effective total ban by including zones around a bowling alley, religious institutions, and a recreation building.
"I don't think it's fair for towns to push them out onto other towns," Kanka said. If an alternative is to sentence sex offenders to life behind bars, Kanka said that would be an avenue worth exploring.
Some offenders have put up a fight, saying they shouldn't have to move.
In January, a judge temporarily barred Keansburg from enforcing its ordinance after one borough sex offender challenged the measure in Monmouth County Superior Court. As a result, Nichols and 13 other Keansburg residents who pleaded innocent to violating the local restrictions may remain in their homes, at least until the lawsuit is resolved.
The lawsuit may prove effective — Egg Harbor City in Atlantic County amended its ordinance following a similar court fight. It now allows low-risk offenders to move into exclusion zones, but it still bars offenders deemed to have a moderate to high risk of re-offending.
In Monmouth and Ocean counties, only Middletown permits offenders deemed to be low risk, but bars moderate- and high-risk offenders. Upper Freehold bars high-risk offenders from living 2,000 feet from places including schools and horse farms with formal riding programs for minors, while moderate-risk offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of those places and low-risk offenders are barred from living within 500 feet.
Local officials say their residency rules are designed to protect communities — particularly children — from sex offenders.
Critics say the ordinances are unconstitutional and interfere with the statewide Megan's Law, which requires community notification about offenders considered more likely to commit another sex crime.
Under Megan's Law, about one offender in five is considered sufficiently high risk to be listed on the State Police sex offender Web site.
The names, photographs and addresses of 115 from Monmouth County and 138 from Ocean County were listed on the State Police Web site on Jan. 5.
Out of those 253 registered offenders in the two counties, about 90 lived within 1,000 feet of a school, according to a Gannett New Jersey review of the addresses.
In Monmouth County, there were three high-risk, or tier three, offenders.
In Ocean County, there were 18 tier three offenders listed on the Web site. Another was added last month.
About half of the offenders listed in Monmouth and Ocean counties in January were in seven towns. They are: Dover Township (28), Neptune (19), Lakewood (19), Brick (16), Asbury Park (16), Seaside Heights (13) and Manchester (10).
Of those seven, all but Asbury Park have new ordinances that now restrict where sex offenders may live.
"Measured legislation to provide buffer zones for children is simply common sense," said Terence M. Wall, the Keansburg borough manager and a Holmdel committeeman.
Keansburg's ordinance would make virtually the entire borough off-limits to Nichols and other convicted sex offenders who rent or want to move into town. Holmdel also has residency restrictions.
Locally, exclusion zones range from 500 feet to 2,500 feet. In most municipalities, sex offenders who ignore the ordinances can be fined up to $1,250, jailed for 90 days or subject to 90 days of community service.
But there are inconsistencies among the 45 municipalities — more than half of the 86 towns in the two counties — with exclusion zones:
In 15 communities, renters must move but homeowners may stay.
In 29 municipalities, sex offenders who lived in the community before the local rules were adopted may stay. Neptune Mayor Thomas J. Catley said that clause was added to his township's ordinance so it does not run afoul of the U.S. Constitution's ban on retroactive laws. But in Neptune, if a renter with no history of sex offenses is later charged and convicted of a sex crime against a child, that renter would have to move from a prohibited zone, Township Attorney Donald L. Beekman said. A homeowner, however, who committed a similar crime could stay.
In 14 of the 45 municipalities, the rules apply to both adults and juveniles who are sex offenders. All but one of these communities would force a teenager living in an exclusion zone to move, unless the teen's name is on the deed of the home. A teenager who is a registered sex offender may not live near a school — but local rules do not stop him from attending a school.
In 28 communities, only sex offenders whose victims were minors face restrictions. Those locales would allow someone convicted of raping adult college students to live next to a high school. But the measures would bar an 18-year-old convicted of having consensual sex with his 14-year-old girlfriend.
Nichols, of Keansburg, said the boom in residency restrictions has added to a stressful life. He is upset about the prospect of being kicked out of his home and isn't sure where he would go.
An offender may have little money to finance a move: 85 percent to 90 percent of Megan's Law offenders are indigent, according to state Office of the Public Defender spokesman Thomas Rosenthal.
"I've got to live somewhere," said Nichols, who spent 16 years at the state prison for compulsive sex offenders, the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woodbridge. In 1988, he pleaded guilty to aggravated sex assault against three girls who ranged in age from 5 to 11, records show.
In prison, Nichols said, he learned how to live in society and how to recognize his "warning signs" so he won't commit another sex crime. If he hadn't responded to treatment, the state could have tried to civilly commit him after he served his sentence, he said.
"You've gotta do your work in there to get out," he said.
After Nichols was released in November 2004, a Superior Court judge declared him a moderate risk of re-offending. He must check in with local authorities every three months.
Now that he is free, he is not about to break the law again, he said.
His $115-a-week room at the Belvedere Hotel is not much, he said, but it's home. In fact, it is about the same size as his former prison cell, he said.
His bed was pressed against the far wall. A roll of toilet paper and cleaning supplies sat on one dresser. A small television set sat atop the other.
"NO SMOKING" was stenciled in white on the paneled wall near the door. Black plastic bags of belongings lay on the floor, and his golf clubs were propped against a wall.
"I just have to find a place I can afford," said Nichols, who works as an assistant greenskeeper at a private golf course. "If you mess up, I can see that. But if you go about your business, and you're not disturbing anybody . . . We used to talk in jail — they should make some kind of island for us. We've got to live someplace."
The exclusion zone is not designed to be a cure-all, but it reduces the likelihood of an offender breaking the law again, borough manager Wall said.
"Others would say that 80 percent of victims are assaulted by people they know," Wall said. "True. The 20 percent matter as well."
In December, Bradley Beach became off-limits to convicted adult sex offenders who attacked minors. The mayor says there are "less than a handful" of offenders, perhaps five, who live there.
Borough resident Harriet May Savitz, 72, who lives a few blocks from at least one of the borough's sex offenders, said the restrictions are a "great idea," and further believes offenders should get longer prison terms.
"I don't want them in anyone's back yard," said the grandmother of four. "I think they lose the right to live in society when they touch a child. That's automatic."
If every community created exclusion zones, it would mean sex offenders could only live in rural areas because suburbs and cities have more schools and churches, said Jackson Tay Bosley, a psychologist and the president of the New Jersey Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.
But most jobs are in cities and suburbs, he said.
Most sex offenders need to be employed, in treatment, and monitored, said Ken Singer, a licensed clinical social worker and the executive director of that treatment association, who also runs therapy groups for both sexual abusers and abuse survivors.
The residency rules are "basically a stupid, feel-good idea," he said. "It doesn't do any good for someone to drop out of sight, and not register. It doesn't make anyone safer."
What does work, he said, are programs such as Child Assault Prevention, a state-funded educational program that empowers children and teaches them to be assertive.
Further, because New Jersey already has sex offender laws, municipalities are pre-empted from imposing their own restrictions on Megan's Law offenders, said John S. Furlong, a Trenton-based lawyer, who co-wrote the second edition "Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification: A "Megan's Law' Sourcebook."
Besides sex offender registration and community notification, New Jersey sex offenders convicted after Oct. 31, 1994, are subject to supervision by parole officers for 15 years to life. Parole officers have the power to bar them from living near schools or with minors.
The state also has civil commitment for convicts deemed sexually violent predators but who have completed their prison terms.
In January, there were 343 such people confined to facilities in Kearny and Woodbridge, and their cases are reviewed every six months, according to William Plantier, an official with the state Department of Corrections. Such people are "not in control of their deviant sexual behavior," he said.
Regardless of how well sex offenders did in their therapy sessions, officials in Seaside Heights don't want any more offenders who abused children living within 2,500 feet of a school and other locations. That's most of the borough.
"If this makes it harder for them to seek housing, or if they wanted to go to one community and they can't, I won't lose any sleep over it," Councilman William Akers said. "I think these are bad people, and every community has the right to protect themselves from bad people."
Because Seaside Heights is a vacation spot, it is even more important for borough officials to know where offenders stay and, if possible, keep them out of town, Akers said. So officials are trying to determine if they can force authorities elsewhere to tell them when sex offenders visit as tourists, he said.
Sex offenders, and people with mental health and social service issues, seem to come to Seaside Heights, perhaps because the community has many low-cost motel and hotel rooms in the winter, Akers said.
Thirteen Seaside Heights sex offenders were listed on the State Police Web site in January. The site reported that one was in custody and two were fugitives.
"We seem to be taking on a lot of responsibility for a lot of different people, and we don't have facilities to help these people," Akers said. "We take on a big burden every year."
http://thnt.gns.gannettonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/B3/20060305/SPECIAL07/101120004
THIS IS WHY WE NEED MEGAN'S LAW, JESSICA'S LAW AND APRILS LAW PEOPLE!!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Suspect has sex-offender past-Neighborhood upset over sex offender case
Suspect has sex-offender past
Man accused of attack on girl served 12 years
Michael Kiefer and Leigh Munsil
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 14, 2007 12:00 AM
A man accused of sexually assaulting a 4-year-old girl at a Phoenix playground earlier this week spent nearly 12 years in prison for committing a virtually identical crime.
And in November, he was arrested and jailed after police saw him running naked down Van Buren Street. He was then released on his own recognizance, despite his sex-offender status.
Court records describe William R. Speed, 35, as psychologically troubled and prone to hearing voices.
About 7 p.m. Wednesday, Speed reportedly approached a girl playing on a jungle gym in a park near Van Buren Street and 12th Avenue. Police said Speed had partially removed his clothes and the girl's clothes before family members and witnesses heard the girl's screams and pulled him off her. They held him down until police arrived, according to Phoenix police spokeswoman Stacie Derge.
The girl did not suffer any serious physical injury, Derge said, but was traumatized by the attack.
The attack appeared to be random, Derge said, and police have no reason to believe that the girl knew him.
Speed was charged with sexual conduct with a minor.
The attack bore close resemblance to a 1995 attack on a 7-year-old girl that sent Speed to prison for nearly 12 years.
On September 23, 1995, Speed approached a girl who was walking her dog near his apartment. As the child was cleaning up after her dog, according to court records, Speed sat down next to her and removed his pants, then partially disrobed the girl and sexually assaulted her. Onlookers chased Speed and caught him.
Because of that attack, Speed was charged with kidnapping and sexual conduct with a minor, but in July 1996, he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual conduct with a minor and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
During interviews for his presentence report and a psychological evaluation in the court record, he told evaluators that he heard voices in his head and on the radio that told him to "have sex with a baby." He thought the girl in the 1995 attack was enticing him, he said.
Speed is originally from San Jose, Calif. He told evaluators that his stepfather was sent to a mental institution for child molestation and that a stepmother had sexual relations with him as a teen. He was arrested but not charged for a pair of petty incidents in the 1990s before the attack that sent him to prison.
Speed was first released from the Arizona Department of Corrections in January 2006 after serving 85 percent of his sentence but was sent back a year later to finish out his term after a technical parole violation that corrections officials did not specify. He was released Oct. 5.
A little more than a month later, at about 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 7, he was arrested after running naked behind a bar in the 1800 block of West Van Buren Street. Speed told the arresting officer that he had just smoked cocaine and felt like taking off his pants and running, court records show.
Speed was charged with indecent exposure in that incident and initially held on bond. Then, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, he was released on Nov. 16. He was allowed to go free on Tuesday of this week following a hearing, according to court records.
Because of the 1996 conviction, Speed is registered as a Class 3 sex offender, the highest level, and Derge said he kept his sex-offender registration current; he listed his address as an overflow homeless shelter on Madison Street, a half-mile south of the park where Wednesday's attack took place.
There were no stipulations in Speed's registration that say he cannot be around children, Derge said.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1214sexarrest1214.html
Neighborhood upset over sex offender case
Ryan Kost
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 14, 2007 06:48 PM
Phoenix neighborhood advocates are upset with the Arizona Department of Corrections after a man sexually assaulted a 4-year-old girl at a playground earlier this week.
Residents of the Capitol Mall and University Park areas said Friday that the department uses a nearby homeless shelter as a dumping ground for ex-convicts who have nowhere else to go and then forgets about them.
The local community, they said, suffers as a result.
For proof, residents point to what happened Wednesday night at a park near Van Buren Street and 12th Avenue. There, William R. Speed, 35, - who was released this October after serving 12 years in prison for assaulting a 7-year-old girl - is accused of approaching a young girl playing on the jungle gym.
Speed then grabbed her and began to remove his clothes and the child's until she screamed, alerting family members and witnesses who came running to her defense, Phoenix police said. The girl did not suffer serious physical injury, but was traumatized by the attack, according to police.
A month ago, court records show Speed, who has a history of mental illness, was arrested after running naked behind a Phoenix bar. He was charged with indecent exposure and released the following week. By law, the court could not hold him without bail for a misdemeanor.
Before Wednesday's attack, he was one of dozens of registered sex offenders who lived at the nearby overflow homeless shelter run by Central Arizona Shelter Services.
"This has got to be preventable," said Shannon Dubasik, the executive director of the Capitol Mall Association. "This is wrong on every level."
Dubasik said the problem is not the fault of the shelters, which must admit the ex-convicts, but rather it is that of the local law enforcement agencies that continue to drop people off without additional help. "They don't have a chance of being successful," she said.
A spokesman for the Department of Corrections said Speed had completed all of his jail time and there was nothing more the department could do.
"It's not us, it's the law," said Nolberto Machiche. "Legally, we have no voice or authority over them once they've completed their sentence."
Mark Holleran, the chief executive officer of the shelter, said the neighborhood has every right to be concerned. Outside of the prison system, his shelters have the highest concentration of sex offenders, he said. Wednesday evening, Speed was one of about 80 - maybe more.
"This isn't new," Holleran said. But it's "something that can't continue."
Reporter Michael Kiefer contributed to this report.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1214sexoffender1215.html
Pro-Sex Offender Rally - HIJACKED!
CROSSPOSTED FROM:
http://absolutezerounited.blogspot.com/2007/12/pro-sex-offender-rally-hijacked.html
TAGS: Cheryl Griffiths, Columbus Ohio Rally, Derek Logue, Jackie Sparling, Linda Pehrson, SoClear, SOSEN, Tom Madison
Monday, December 10, 2007
Judy Debates An Idiot!
I don't know about the whole Republican verses Democrat stuff, but the interview makes it's point that this guy is a REAL DUMMMY who does NOT care about ANY children or any victims of sexual crimes!
Who supports this creep? OH, it must be pedo's & sex offenders, because this guy does NOT speak for ALL democrats!
WHAT A LOSER!
_______________________________________________________
Judy "Predator Patrol"
Date: Dec 6, 2007 6:19 PM
There are two video's here. One has the introduction on it but cuts off near the end debate over Debra LaFave. See the 2nd video and drag the bar towards the end to see the end of the show.
If you would like to see them on BleepinTruth.com here is the link:
There are two different video's here that are the same as the ones below.
BleepinTruth.com Video's
Thanks!
Judy
First Video
December 4, 2007: My Debate With A True Dummy!
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Second Video
December 4, 2007: My Debate With A True Dummy! (#2)
Who supports this creep? OH, it must be pedo's & sex offenders, because this guy does NOT speak for ALL democrats!
WHAT A LOSER!
_______________________________________________________
Judy "Predator Patrol"
Date: Dec 6, 2007 6:19 PM
There are two video's here. One has the introduction on it but cuts off near the end debate over Debra LaFave. See the 2nd video and drag the bar towards the end to see the end of the show.
If you would like to see them on BleepinTruth.com here is the link:
There are two different video's here that are the same as the ones below.
BleepinTruth.com Video's
Thanks!
Judy
First Video
December 4, 2007: My Debate With A True Dummy!
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Second Video
December 4, 2007: My Debate With A True Dummy! (#2)
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