Politician Lies and Media Myths Hurt Women and Children

The following article appeared yesterday, Feb. 16th, in The Macon Telegraph, (Macon, Georgia). It is followed by my letter to the Publisher, Editor and Reporter.

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The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia

Posted on Fri, Feb. 16, 2007

Peach sheriff launches sexual offender tracking

By Becky Purser

TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER

FORT VALLEY - A new feature of the Peach County sheriff’s Web site offers an e-mail notification when a sexual offender moves within a one-mile radius of your home, child’s school or day care center.

The e-mail notification is part of a $2,500 Watch Systems computer software program that tracks sexual offenders in Peach County, Sheriff Terry Deese said.

The service is free to the public and is accessible at peachcountysheriff.com.

“It’s a little peace of mind,” Deese said. “This Web site isn’t going to to prevent offenders from re-offending but I think as parents, we have a right and an obligation to know who are neighbors are. … It’s just another way to let us know when someone who has a history of committing sexual crimes moves into our community.”

The public may sign up for multiple e-mail notifications of when a sexual offender moves within a mile of a residence, school, park or whatever address where your child may frequent and that you wish to enter into the system, the sheriff said.

The sheriff’s Web site offers an online presentation on how to use the public registry and tracking system.

Offenders may be tracked by name or address.

The registry includes the offender’s name, age, address, physical description, the crime committed and a photograph.

A map of registered addresses of sexual offenders may be displayed as well as a list. There were 39 registered sexual offenders listed on the site as of Wednesday.

The Web site also features safety tips and warning signs for parents and children.

State law requires sheriffs to keep a list of sexual offenders on a public Web site, Deese said.

Some sheriffs’ Web sites refer to other sites, such as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Sex Offenders registry or the Georgia Sex Offenders registry. On the Houston County sheriff’s Web site, there is a link that sends visitors to the Georgia Sex Offenders registry.

Deese decided to use Watch Systems after reviewing information about the software and talking with other sheriffs about what has worked well for them.

The Peach sheriff has a staff person who is responsible for entering offender information into the system. Sexual offenders are required by state law to register with the sheriff’s office in the county in which he or she lives.

A feature of the system that Deese likes is that the software automatically tells his staff whether or not a sexual offender’s address meets a state law mandate that prohibits a sexual offender from living within 1,000 feet of a school, day care center, park or other location where children gather.

There were a few wrinkles in the system when it first went online last month that had to be ironed out, including GPS tracking, he said.

The sheriff found that simply entering an address into the system may have resulted in the location being off.

“With any GPS system, there are going to be some places here or there that aren’t exactly right. Most programs have a pre-set GPS, and we had to work that out. For example, if we sent them an address, we had a couple living out in the ocean or in Atlanta or in Crawford County.”

So, the sheriff sends a deputy out to get the exact GPS location and has that mapped into the system.

Also, sheriff’s deputies physically check the addresses of sexual offenders on a random basis, Deese said.

Last week, a sexual offender was arrested because he wasn’t living at a relative’s address that he gave the sheriff’s office as his home address, Deese said. That violation of law led to his probation being revoked, the sheriff said.

Something that popped up right away when the new system went online was multiple offenders listed at the same address, which turned out to be a Fort Valley motel, Deese said.

Several offenders were living at the same motel while looking for permanent residence, the sheriff said.

The 1,000 feet law displaced some sexual offenders living in more densely populated Houston County, and those offenders relocated to more rural Peach County, the sheriff said.

Feedback from the public about the registry has been positive, the sheriff said, although one person complained that it doesn’t do anything to prevent sexual offenders from committing future crimes.

Deese says he likes being able to tell the public where sexual offenders are located in the county.

He added that he would like to eventually get a software program that would allow him to inform the public of localized crime trends, such as burglaries plaguing a certain neighborhood.

“If there’s something going on in their neighborhood, they would know to be a little more alert,” the sheriff said. “This is just a step in that direction.”

To contact Becky Purser, call 923-3109, extension 243, or e-mail bpurser@macontel.com

© 2007 Macon Telegraph and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.macon.com

 

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My Reply to Macon Telegraph Publisher P.J. Browining, the Editor and Ms. Purser:

Dear Ms. Purser,

Thank you for the report on this subject, it shows great courage and journalistic fairness. What should scare parents even more is there are no restrictions on people who could do real damage to their children, like drunk drivers and “meth lab operators” or drug dealers.

Sheriff Deese is using unsupported facts to justify spending tax dollars on 39 sex offenders, only 20 of which were charged with a crime against a child and 5 of which are incarcerated. What he is not saying is this system is a subscription program, not a one time computer application purchase, meaning more money will have to be spent again next year. He states sex offenders will re-offend, however all recent studies show that sex offenders, who have successfully completed treatment, are less likely to reoffend than other types of criminals.

On looking at the Watch Systems web site, their sales brochure misrepresents the facts as well. They quote “statistics” offering no supporting documentation. Example, they say that 45 percent of sexual assault victims are under age 12. However, the FBI-UCR, National Crime Victimization Survey reveals that 23 percent of sex crimes are against someone under 18. They say that 75 percent of crimes against children are committed by someone known by the victim. The fact is 90 percent of the sex abuse cases are committed by relatives or someone trusted by the victim and family and 95 percent of that is by a FIRST TIME OFFENDER, NOT A REPEAT OFFENDER. This begs the question, which woman or child is being protected?

We need to get past the myths and misinformation and speak to the truth and facts. Perhaps you would consider part of the following missive for an editorial comment or better yet, a follow up report.

Let’s consider the merits of our current state and national sex offender registry system, along with all state and local proximity (safety zone) laws.

When Megan’s and Jacob’s Laws were originally passed, there was a decided lack of empirical evidence to support or question the effectiveness of these laws. Now, state and local governments, for easy political gain and against the advice of experts in criminal justice, behavior therapy, and law enforcement, are attempting to a write harsher laws than their neighboring cities or states.

This trend is now banishing an entire class of people as we find new laws that exclude EVERYONE on the registries, regardless of charge, along with their wives, children, parents, and siblings, from living within in these supposed safety zones.

The overwhelming evidence and statistics, as provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, state correctional studies, local law enforcement, and treatment experts, show that residency restrictions or safety (proximity) zones have not proven to enhance public safety and in fact have let to unintended consequences for communities and the innocent family members of intra-familial offenders.

In a statement regarding the effectiveness of Iowa’s Sex Offender Registry and Proximity laws, Sgt. Bryce Smith, who has charge of monitoring the registry in Scott County said; “If the 2,000-foot rule had been in effect 10 years ago, I can’t think of a single case from our files that would have been any different.“

Let’s look at a five-tiered risk level system, which allows offenders to earn the right to return to society. (The U.S. Congress is now doing this,) It separates risk level in an understandable fashion, making enforcement more efficient and community notification more understandable. It allows jurist to consider the merits of each individual case and rule appropriately. Additionally, parents (notice the onus is on the parents not the government) will know how safe their neighborhoods are and better able to educate their children who to avoid.

Let us return control of criminal justice to the courts, correctional officials, and therapists, and support amending current laws that go beyond the original intent of monitoring the most dangerous and high-risk individuals. We need to set right these egregious laws that obviously usurp the Constitution and provide additional punishment for a single group of people as well as their families. We need to recognize these laws are morally, ethically, and legally wrong, and put us on a very slippery slope by banishing an entire class of people along with their wives, children, parents, and siblings from our cities, towns, and villages, making them pariahs. We need to acknowledge we are creating a group of second-class citizens and this alone is dangerous ground.

Join me in calling for a National Sex Offender Policy Forum. This would help state and local governments formulate workable, cost effective laws that protect the rights of all citizens. Forums should include mental health professionals, jurist, law enforcement and corrections personnel, victims and their families, offenders and their families.

I invite you to read The Impact of Residency Restrictions on Sex Offenders and Correctional Management Practices: A Literature Review; by Marcus Nieto, Senior Research Specialist and Professor David Jung, Public Law Research Institute, Hastings Law School. Additionally, pick up a copy of Failure to Protect - America’s Sexual Predator Laws and the Rise of the Preventative State, by Eric S. Janus, Vice-Dean, William Mitchell College of Law.

At the end of the day, it is up to parents to educate themselves, and protect their children. For the sake of their future, let’s support real solutions, and not depend on the government to do it for us.

As watchdogs for our society, I pray the media steps up to this challenge. For more information, visit: sosnet.bravehost.com

 

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