Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Ala. to try anti-clustering bill. Here we go again.

I defeated this bill in 2010, but like bad sequels, they keep coming back, lamer than ever. The bill is not online yet, but when it is I'll post it.

http://www.wsfa.com/story/17040714/law-targets-sex-offenders-living-together


Law targets sex offenders living together

Updated: Feb 28, 2012 10:03 PM CST

By Sally Pitts


"I have three small children, myself..." says Johnny Dixon. "It bothers me that it's so close to home." A check of the area near Dixon's home on Congressman Dickinson Drive showed several sex offenders living nearby at the Regency Inn motel. The registry shows nine registered sex offenders living on the Regency's premises.
Another eight offenders call the Rodeway Inn on the West South Boulevard "home" and in total, more than 27 sex offenders live on the West South Blvd.
"As for the hotel issue on the boulevard, at Mobile Highway, it's relatively inexpensive," explains Lt. L.H. Persky, who keeps track of sex offenders in Montgomery County. "It's hard for these guys to get jobs. Some of them don't have a lot of family support." 
The sex offender law limits where registered sex offenders can live. Lt. Persky says that's why you see them grouped in certain areas of town. A map of Montgomery shows that many live very close to one another.
"I don't have statistics that show whether or not it's a good or bad thing," Persky explains. But he adds that from a law enforcement stand point, it's easier to check on offenders if they live in one area.
State Representative Kurt Wallace (R- Chilton County) is not happy with the close proximity offenders have with each other. "You don't put that many like-minded people together and not have some residual effects," he says. 
Wallace has presented a bill in the Alabama legislature that would make it illegal for more than one sex offender to live at the same address.
"What my bill does is basically say that you can't live within 300 feet of each other, unless you're in a treatment facility or unless you are a family member."
Rep. Wallace says he drafted the bill after he learned of a whopping two dozen registered sex offenders over the last 18 months as listing one home in Chilton County as their address on the sex offender registry.
One of those registered sex offenders is Selid Holt. He has lived with Ricky Martin for the past year. "There's been no kind of offenses committed by these guys that we've helped get out of prison," Martin said. all that have left...have been success stories."
Martin calls it a compassion to help. It's the same reason the Reverend Curtis Browder gives for housing 13 sex offenders in a lot full of trailers off the Mobile Highway. "It's a ministry," he says. "We minister to these guys on a daily basis, and when they get out, they need a place to go."
Wallace says he has no problem with supervised, state-approved and licensed facilities. " I realize that sex offenders need a place to go. I realize they need help. I just know that when you have that many of anybody doing anything together, you worry."
Attempts to contact the Rodeway Inn were met with a decline to comment on this story. The manager at the Regency Inn says he hasn't had any problems with the sex offenders who are living there.
Copyright 2012  WSFA 12 News.  All rights reserved.

Here is State Rep. Kurt Wallace's Info:

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

Representative Kurt Wallace was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives on November 2, 2010.





He describes himself as a Conservative Christian who will “fearlessly defend my God, country, and family against all who would do them harm.”

Monday, February 20, 2012

First look at the newest sex crime legislation for 2012

"Although the act is intended to promote the legitimate and compelling state interest of protecting minors from internet predators, the near total ban on Internet access imposed by the act unreasonably  restricts many ordinary activities that have become important to everyday life in today’s world." -- US District Court Judge Brian Jackson, in a decision declaring Louisiana's internet ban unconstitutional.

I recently mentioned a proposed social networking ban (complete with sponsor Brooks's contact info to oppose the bill), but today, KLTV-7 reports the name of the new bill, SB 161, and Sen. Brooks is getting support from Mark Klaas of Klaas Kids in steamrolling this bill through legislation. In light of the recent federal decision striking down Louisiana's social networking ban, Alabama is merely setting itself up for a costly lawsuit. 

More info on Internet laws in general: http://www.oncefallen.com/InternetLaws.html

A second bill, SB 148, "makes surveillance for sexual gratification an aggravating circumstance," which means they will be added to the state sex offender registry. I'm personally against the bill because it creates more registrants. Below is from an article discussing the bill. Notice the reporter claims it is "not illegal" to peep on others but then discusses it is a class B misdemeanor. The second is the "escalation" theory, which is no more true for sex addicts than cigarette/ pot smokers:


It may come as a surprise that "peeping" at people in inappropriate places is not illegal in Alabama. Watching someone can get you put in jail, but doing so for sexual gratification doesn't increase the penalty. State Senator Arthur Orr says this is a problem. 
 
“Alabama has not done what a lot of our sister states here in the southeast have done which is really tighten the laws for voyeurism,” he explained.  That is why Orr has introduced Senate Bill 148 which makes surveillance for sexual gratification an aggravating circumstance. 
 
"Simple criminal surveillance is a Class B misdemeanor in Alabama which does not qualify for sex offender status,” explained Lieutenant John Crouch of the Decatur PD. “Anyone convicted of that regardless of the circumstances is not required to register as a sex offender.” 
 
If the bill passes that will all change. Crouch says if offenders are forced to register it will be much easier for his department to keep the public safe. 
 
"Anyone engaged in this sort of activity certainly has the potential to escalate to other activities and we feel this will better enable us to keep track of these individuals."


Here is a list of  Senate Judiciary Committee Members:

JUDICIARYBrooksCo-ChairpersonWardCo-ChairpersonColemanFieldingKeaheyOrrSmithermanTaylorWhatleyWilliamsBrewbaker (President Pro Tempore Designee).

Below is Senator Orr's contact info:

SENATOR ARTHUR ORR (R)

3rd District
(Limestone, Madison, Morgan)

State House:


Phone:
Room 730
State House
11 South Union Street
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
(334) 242-7891
Business:Post Office. Box 305
Decatur, Alabama 35602
(256) 260-2147
Personal Website:Senator Arthur Orr


Saturday, February 18, 2012

Alabama looks to add email addresses and social networks IDs to registry

I will add the bill whenever it is added to the "ALISON" legislation tracker, but below we already have some info on yet another idiotic bill. I wonder i this is just another way to just try to fill the state prisons even further, who may be looking to pimp out prison inmates to private businesses looking for more cheap labor. Come on vacation, leave on probation.

http://www.local15tv.com/news/local/story/Adding-Registering-Requirements-for-Sex-Offenders/OAm0ZotD-UK3NH0YFzkfCg.cspx

Adding Registering Requirements for Sex Offenders

Reported by: Andrea Ramey

MOBILE, Ala.) - Alabama lawmakers are considering legislation that would place more registering requirements for convicted sex offenders. State Senator Ben Brooks (R-Mobile) is sponsoring the bill that would make sex offenders register things like their email address and social media log-in names.

"This is a tool that we'll be able to use that we will be able to track them better," said Lori Myles with the Mobile County Sheriff's Office.

Myles says the laws that force sex offenders to register with local law enforcement agencies were written in a time when things like text messaging and Facebook didn't exist, and it's time the laws reflect how potential victims now are contacted.

"We are just now catching up with it. It was a playground for them, for a while," said Myles.

"So much communication takes place on the internet," said Child Advocacy Director Pay Guyton.

Guyton says this proposed law could prevent children from being victimized. He says if sex offenders provided their technology addresses, investigators would have a better idea of what to monitor and would be able to track what offenders are doing online.

"A lot of that can be traced if we have the correct address," said Guyton. "You go on a Facebook account, and someone posts something on your Facebook and says, 'I'm a 15 year old girl and I just want to know what other girls think about this.' And really it's a 65 year old sex offender. You have no way of knowing that. And it happens. Unfortunately, it happens all the time."


It goes without saying ReFORM-AL strongly opposes this bill. 

Flood this Senator with opposition:



SENATOR BEN BROOKS
(R)

35th District
(Mobile)

State House:



Phone:
Fax:
Room 729
State House
11 South Union Street
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
(334) 242-7882
(334) 353-8277

Business:
Home:

Phone:
4953 Audubon Drive
Mobile, Alabama 36619
(251) 666-7116

Saturday, February 11, 2012

HB 137 will raise Age of Consent from 16 to 18

The latestsex offense related bill in AL legislature:

http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACTIONViewFrameMac.asp?TYPE=Instrument&INST=HB137&DOCPATH=searchableinstruments/2012RS/Printfiles/&PHYDOCPATH=//alisondb/acas/searchableinstruments/2012RS/PrintFiles/&DOCNAMES=HB137-int.pdf,,

HB 137: Increases age of consent from 16 to 18. What this does is increase the age one can be charged for statutory crimes. By the way the law is written, a teen couple 25 months apart can fall under the statute.

ReFORM-AL opposes this bill, it will increase the number of individuals placed on the registry for a "Romeo and Juliet" offense.