Friday, December 16, 2011

Alabama well represented in the 2011 Shiitake Awards





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Follow this link to vote via Survey Monkey:

[VOTING CLOSED DECEMBER 31]

For those unfamiliar with the Shiitake Awards, it is an annual event that spotlights some of the absurdities of people who exploit sex offender laws and registrants for personal gain. Alabama is up for worst state of 2011, AL's new SORNA law is up for worst law, Michael Hill of Huntsville is up for Everyday Zeroes (vigilante) award, and Tuscumbia, AL chief Tony Logan is up for dumbest quote of 2011. Simply follow the link to cast your votes and represent this "fine" state.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Yet another idiot wants to push for anti-clustering laws

In 2010, a law on anti-clustering was considered, but only passed for Jefferson County. Now another dumb politician wants to create another state-wide anti-clustering law. This must be stopped before it starts. Contact State Rep. Kurt Wallace and let him know these laws are a bad idea.


REPRESENTATIVE
KURT WALLACE

(R)


42nd District
(Chilton and Shelby)



State House:Room 522-C
11 S. Union Street
Montgomery, AL 36130
(334) 242-7772
Home Address:24 Maple Drive
Maplesville, AL.  36750

Work Phone: 

(334) 366-4211

Email:

representativewallace@gmail.com


On to the article itself.

http://www.clantonadvertiser.com/2011/12/09/bill-would-ban-sex-offenders-from-living-at-same-residence/

Bill would split up sex offenders

Published 5:28pm Friday, December 9, 2011



Sex offenders living together at the same residence in Chilton County could be the catalyst for a statewide law banning such arrangements.
In the past year and a half, 23 people convicted of sex crimes have been released to the same address, 40 County Road 374 off Enterprise Road south of Clanton, according to information provided by C.J. Robinson with District Attorney Randall Houston’s office.
Nine of the registered sex offenders were living at the address as of Thursday morning, according to Chilton County Sheriff’s Department Investigator Erric Price, who is responsible for keeping track of sex offenders.
State Rep. Kurt Wallace said he plans to file a bill that would place a limit on how close such people could live, effectively outlawing them from locating to the same residence unless it were a treatment facility and the sex offenders were under supervised care.
“I’ve talked with several other representatives, and they said they would sign onto it, too,” Wallace said. “I don’t think [the situation in Chilton County] is a good thing.”
Wallace said he plans to pre-file a bill before the state Legislature reconvenes in February 2012.
The owner of the property at County Road 374 declined to comment Friday. The registered sex offenders apparently are housed in campers behind Triumph Church, which is under construction.
Two residents in the area interviewed Thursday expressed concern about the situation but did not want to be quoted for this story.
Convicted sex offenders must notify the state about where they plan to live once they are out of custody.
“I began noticing the same address listed for offender after offender,” Robinson said. “This is not a licensed halfway house, nor am I aware of any type of specialized training that someone can give to rehabilitate a sex offender. This is a serious problem facing our community.”
Robinson said he received notice about 23 sex offenders being released to 40 County Road 374 from August 2010 through October 2011.
None of the men were arrested for crimes committed in Chilton County, according to Robinson’s information. The crimes include rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, assault with intent to ravish, aggravated sexual battery, and attempted rape; and the given ages of victims range from 4 to 29.
There is also a listed relationship between the sex offender and the person the offender is being released to. These relationships include clergy, manager, halfway house and friend.
Price said sheriff’s department officers have been called to the residence on at least a couple occasions because of fights between residents of the same address but that no crimes have been reported by neighbors.
“We’ve also gotten multiple calls from neighbors about them walking up and down the streets, knocking on doors and looking for work,” Price said.


That last sentence is intriguing. Nothing is scarier than looking for a job or walking down the street, eh?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

December 2011 Introduced Bills

Here is a quick rundown of the latest bills introduced for the upcoming session:

HB 34: "Continuous Sexual Abuse" Act

 Section 1. (a) A person commits the crime of continuous sexual abuse when the person intentionally engages in three or more acts of sexual conduct with another person who was under the age of 16 years when the first act of sexual conduct occurred.
(b) The term "sexual conduct" includes any of those sexual acts defined under Sections 13A-6-61, 13A-6-62, 13A-6-63, 13A-6-64, 13A-6-65.1, 13A-6-66, 13A-6-67, 13A-6-69.1, and 13A-13-3 of the Code of Alabama 1975.
(c) Continuous sexual abuse shall not include sexual conduct that meets all of the following:
(1) The sexual conduct did not involve force and was only a crime due to the ages of the victim and offender.
(2) At the time of the sexual conduct, the victim was 13 years of age or older.
(3) At the time of the sexual conduct, the offender was not more than 4 years older than the victim.
(d) Continuous sexual abuse is a Class A felony

ReFORM-AL's stance: Oppose-- this bill will effectively make all sex crimes involving minors a Class A felony,  with a minimum 10 year sentence. Such an increase will ultimately lead to a decrease of reporting of sexual abuse cases and may compel the minority of violent offenders to cause more harm to victims. This law will obviously be used to force an increase of pleas to those wrongfully accused.

SB 67-70: A series of bills regarding death penalty reform. Personally I prefer the death penalty to be abolished, but a three year moratorium and reforming the policy on who is eligible for execution is a start. Don't worry, no one has suggested executing registrants, that was abolished by the 2007 Kennedy v Louisiana decision.