The OpEd features a statement from Derek Logue of www.oncefallen.com and this very website:
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/04/are_sex_offender_registries_ef.html
Is Alabama's sex offender registry necessary or 'pointless'?
shaskins@al.com By Shelly Haskins | shaskins@al.com
on April 07, 2015 at 1:22 PM, updated April 08, 2015 at 10:38 AM
Two weeks ago, California became among the first states to relax rules about where registered sex offenders can live in relation to schools and parks, according to a recent article on Slate.com.
In the Slate piece, criminologist Emily Horowitz of St. Francis College in Brooklyn and author of "Protecting Our Kids?: How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us," says that sex offender registries, once thought to be a strong front-line protection against sex crimes against children, are largely "pointless."
"When I saw the research on the registry I was really shocked at how pointless it is. And it was shocking because usually, when you research something, there's ambiguity--there are some good things and there are some bad things. But with the registry, there's really no research that shows it's effective at all," Horowitz told Slate.
Over the past two decades, since Megan's Law ushered in sex offender registries in every state, Horowitz said experts have determined that strangers are not really the problem in child sexual abuse cases. More often than not, sex offenders are under the same roof with the victim, either a family member or family friend.
Opinions about the usefulness of sex-offender registries differ, though. Here are some to consider:
Chris Newlin, executive director of the National Children's Advocacy Center in Huntsville, agreed that sex offender registries haven't really proven to be effective in fighting child sexual abuse:
"All reasonable people would like to see policies and practices in place which create a safer environment for our children, especially regarding those who sexually abuse children. The National Children's Advocacy Center and its partners - law enforcement, prosecutors, social services, medical professionals, mental health professionals and victim advocates - are working daily to make our community, state, and nation a safer place for our children. In the age when "Stranger Danger" was the prevailing understanding of child abuse, the utilization of sex offender registries made a bit more sense - let's identify the dangerous people and make our community aware of their presence. However, over the past twenty years, we have learned on primary sobering fact - most sexual abuse is committed by individuals known to the child, including about 35 percent of all sexual offenses being committed by juveniles. Further, most individuals who commit sexual offenses have no past criminal record for past sexual offending. Thus, the real impact of sex offender registries have been to provide a false sense of security with no significant demonstrated positive impact. Those who have been caught are not the people I worry about the most. The people I worry about the most are those who have been so manipulative and secretive with their behavior to have avoided detection while continuing their sexual offending behavior. This group of individuals are the ones who will be committing a vast majority of the sexual offenses over the next days, weeks, and months. "
Madison County Chief Deputy Dave Jernigan, a former FBI agent, said the sex offender registry is useful not only as a law-enforcement tool, but for the peace-of-mind of citizens and sex-crime victims.
"The state views convicted sex offenders as a threat to society and that's why we have a registry in place. If you are at 100 Main Street, then the people around you are going to get a postcard in the mail that you are a sex offender and you will be living at this particular address."
The Madison County Sheriff's office's website offers "Offender Watch" software, that allows citizens to keep track of sex offenders beyond just their residence. The software is frequently updated with sex offenders' changes in residence, job, school attendance, Internet identifiers and other information they must disclose to law enforcement, Jernigan said.
"If you are the parents of a victim, you can track the sex offender. If you are moving to a new neighborhood, you can track where there are sex offenders living in that neighborhood. This registry is really the only thing that law enforcement has to track the offender and it makes them accountable."
Derek Logue operates a website called Once Fallen.com and advocates for reforms of laws that limit where sex offenders can live and work. Logue, who was convicted of a sex crime in Franklin County in 2001, supports punishment for sex crimes but says punishment should not continue after an offender has served his time.
Logue said he plans to lobby against Senate Bill 272, introduced by Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Sheffield, which would create the crimes of third-degree rape, sodomy and sexual abuse to apply when the victim is under 16 and the victim less than 12. Those crimes would be added to the list of crimes covered by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, which he said would potentially add young children to those on the sex offender registry. The bill is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"The registry doesn't work because it promotes "stranger-danger;" however, a child is far more likely to be abused at home by an acquaintance or family member, and 95% of people arrested for sex crimes have no prior record. The registry fails to differentiate between an 18-year-old who had consensual relations with his 15-year-old girlfriend and an 18-year-old who violently raped a 15-year-old. The registry implies everyone on the list will re-offend because they "can't be cured," but dozens of long-term studies have confirmed re-offense rates are in the single digits, and that number is further reduced by programs like Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA). The registry promotes vigilante violence, discrimination and isolation, which are factors that increase the likelihood of re-offense. The registry is a placebo that feels good but does nothing to prevent sexual abuse."
What do you think? Are sex offender registries necessary or "pointless?"
(Updated on 4/8 to clarify the content of SB 272)
Registered Former Offenders Restoration Movement (ReFORM), restoring hope, rehabilitation, and reintegration to Alabama's registered citizens
Showing posts with label Derek Logue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Derek Logue. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Sex offender speaks out against Alabama bill that would regulate sex offender clusters
ReFORM-AL was not specifically mentioned in the article, but I was gratuitously mentioned in this article. Mike Cason wrote a very good article, and brought up many good questions.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/10/advocate_speaks_out_against_al.html
Sex offender speaks out against Alabama bill that would regulate sex offender clusters
By Mike Cason | mcason@al.com
on October 28, 2013 at 11:33 AM
MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- A registered sex offender is doing what he says few other offenders will do, speaking out against a bill that would further restrict where they can live.
Derek Logue opposes a bill that would make it illegal for sex offenders to live at the same residence without a live-in monitor and a license from the sheriff. Legislators and a prosecutor in Autauga and Chilton counties say the licensing and monitoring are needed to protect the public from having large numbers of offenders in one place.
Logue says it’s already hard enough for them to rejoin society after leaving prison. They can’t live or work within 2,000 feet of a school or daycare.
“There’s not a lot of hope for us,” Logue said. “But transitional housing at least gives people some stability. What you want is to have a chance to reintegrate back into society.”
Logue said they need stability during the first couple of years after prison and said that's when they are more likely to commit another crime. He said the bill would effectively block halfway houses and group homes that could help offenders and reduce recidivism.
Officials in Chilton and Autauga counties say their priority is public safety.
C.J. Robinson, chief deputy district attorney for Autauga, Elmore and Chilton counties, said 49 sex offenders have lived at the same Chilton County address since 2010. An average of about 10 live there on most days, Sheriff Kevin Davis said. They live in trailers behind a small church. It’s not in a dense neighborhood, but there are houses scattered along the two-lane highway near Triumph Church, which is outside Clanton.
Robinson said nothing in state law prohibits such a concentration of sex offenders. Laws pertaining only to Birmingham and Jefferson County restrict sex offenders from living together there.
Robinson compiled his numbers from notices the district attorney's office receives when a registered sex offender moves into the county. He points out that only two of the 49 men committed their crimes in Chilton County.
More than half of the 49 were convicted of rape. Most of their victims were minors, including many who were children.
Sheriff Davis said the men have not caused a problem. Robinson said he doesn’t want to wait until they do.
“I don't have the luxury to morally sit and wait until we have a child or a woman victimized by one of these men,” Robinson said in an email. “They have no ties to Chilton County and I would like to see them return to from where they came. We will take our troubled souls back, other counties should tend to their own as well. This community wants to send a message that we are not a landfill for the rest of the state to dump their sexual predators on.”
Ricky Martin, pastor of Triumph Church, declined an interview request from AL.com.
Logue said he doesn't know Martin or know about the program, but says the fact that the men haven't caused a problem seems noteworthy.
"Despite how they may feel about this group of people, it seems like the program is pretty successful," Logue said.
Bill pre-filed for January
Reps. Kurt Wallace, R-Maplesville and Paul Beckman, R-Prattville, are sponsoring House Bill 21, pre-filed for the legislative session that starts in January. It would define a lot where two or more unrelated sex offenders live as a “residential sex offender cluster.” It would make it illegal for a sex offender to live in a cluster that was not licensed by the sheriff. It would make it illegal for a person to own or operate an unlicensed cluster.
In addition to the place in Chilton County, Beckman said multiple sex offenders live in trailers on a piece of land in Autauga County.
“We’re right now trying to protect the public,” Beckman said. “And the public is saying to us right now in Chilton County and in Autauga County, ‘We don’t want to take care of other people’s sex offenders.’”
Wallace proposed a similar bill during this year’s legislative session, but it failed.
Logue spoke against that bill at a public hearing. He plans to return to speak against the new bill next year. “Most registered citizens are too afraid to speak out,” Logue said. “Somebody has to be a voice because so few of us are willing to speak out.”
Logue operates a website called Once Fallen.com and advocates for reforms of laws that limit where sex offenders can live and work. He supports punishment for sex crimes but says punishment should not continue after an offender has served his time.
Proponents of HB21 say sex offenders living together could negatively influence each other and make it more likely they will commit another crime.
"I don't like the idea that like minds are all together," Beckman said.
Logue takes issue with that and says sex offenders are not a homogenous group.
“We’re not all pedophiles,” Logue said. “We’re not all rapists.”
Proponents of HB21 say they would not oppose sex offenders living in facilities that effectively counsel or treat them, although they say they know of no such program. The bill would authorize the Alabama Department of Mental Health to promulgate rules for residential sex offender clusters.
David Jackson, chief operating officer for the department, said it does not certify treatment programs for sex offenders.
Concern about unintended consequences
A lawyer for a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice reforms said there could be unintended consequences of restrictive laws that make it hard for sex offenders to find homes and jobs.
“First and foremost, I don’t think anyone disagrees that our first priority as a society should be to protect our children,” said Ateeyah Hollie, who works for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. “While I appreciate the lawmakers attempt at doing so, my main concern is that they do so in a practical manner that won’t further endanger our community.
"The more restrictive we get with these residency and employment restrictions, the more likely we’re going to increase recidivism, which I don’t think is the lawmakers’ intent.” Hollie said instability in residency and employment are key factors in recidivism. Hollie spoke against the bill Wallace proposed during this year’s legislative session. She has not read the new bill.
Registration and residency restrictions on sex offenders gained national attention in the 1990s. Congress and states passed what were called Megan's Law, named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was assaulted and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender.
A 2012 report funded by the National Institute of Justice, "Sex Offenders: Recidivism and Collateral Consequences," examined the effect of sex offender registration and notification laws on recidivism.
The researchers found that the laws had limited effect on recidivism. The report said sex offenders have an overall low rate of recidivism but that some are high-risk, and that laws would be more effective if they targeted the high-risk offenders instead of all sex offenders.
Logue said some of the restrictions on residency and work amount to continual punishment after a prison sentence ends.
“When a person has served his time and they get out they should be given an opportunity to become a productive member of society,” Logue said. “We don’t treat murderers the same way. We don’t say murderers can’t live within 2,000 feet of another human being. That would be silly.”
Logue said there are effective rehabilitation programs.
"If we're really serious about trying to prevent reoffending, we should be doing things that we know work," Logue said. "Rehabilitation is not popular, but it's the right thing to do."
Wallace and Beckman said their bill would allow Alabama counties flexibility on how to handle sex offender clusters because it would be up to sheriffs to decide whether to license them.
"Until somebody comes up with a program that can be sanctioned by the state that proves we can improve the frequency of these guys reoffending, I'm just going with what I say is common sense," Wallace said.
© 2013 AL.com. All rights reserved.
http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/10/advocate_speaks_out_against_al.html
Sex offender speaks out against Alabama bill that would regulate sex offender clusters
By Mike Cason | mcason@al.com
on October 28, 2013 at 11:33 AM
 |
| I WANT YOU! To Fight HB 21 |
MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- A registered sex offender is doing what he says few other offenders will do, speaking out against a bill that would further restrict where they can live.
Derek Logue opposes a bill that would make it illegal for sex offenders to live at the same residence without a live-in monitor and a license from the sheriff. Legislators and a prosecutor in Autauga and Chilton counties say the licensing and monitoring are needed to protect the public from having large numbers of offenders in one place.
Logue says it’s already hard enough for them to rejoin society after leaving prison. They can’t live or work within 2,000 feet of a school or daycare.
“There’s not a lot of hope for us,” Logue said. “But transitional housing at least gives people some stability. What you want is to have a chance to reintegrate back into society.”
Logue said they need stability during the first couple of years after prison and said that's when they are more likely to commit another crime. He said the bill would effectively block halfway houses and group homes that could help offenders and reduce recidivism.
Officials in Chilton and Autauga counties say their priority is public safety.
C.J. Robinson, chief deputy district attorney for Autauga, Elmore and Chilton counties, said 49 sex offenders have lived at the same Chilton County address since 2010. An average of about 10 live there on most days, Sheriff Kevin Davis said. They live in trailers behind a small church. It’s not in a dense neighborhood, but there are houses scattered along the two-lane highway near Triumph Church, which is outside Clanton.
Robinson said nothing in state law prohibits such a concentration of sex offenders. Laws pertaining only to Birmingham and Jefferson County restrict sex offenders from living together there.
Robinson compiled his numbers from notices the district attorney's office receives when a registered sex offender moves into the county. He points out that only two of the 49 men committed their crimes in Chilton County.
More than half of the 49 were convicted of rape. Most of their victims were minors, including many who were children.
Sheriff Davis said the men have not caused a problem. Robinson said he doesn’t want to wait until they do.
“I don't have the luxury to morally sit and wait until we have a child or a woman victimized by one of these men,” Robinson said in an email. “They have no ties to Chilton County and I would like to see them return to from where they came. We will take our troubled souls back, other counties should tend to their own as well. This community wants to send a message that we are not a landfill for the rest of the state to dump their sexual predators on.”
Ricky Martin, pastor of Triumph Church, declined an interview request from AL.com.
Logue said he doesn't know Martin or know about the program, but says the fact that the men haven't caused a problem seems noteworthy.
"Despite how they may feel about this group of people, it seems like the program is pretty successful," Logue said.
Bill pre-filed for January
Reps. Kurt Wallace, R-Maplesville and Paul Beckman, R-Prattville, are sponsoring House Bill 21, pre-filed for the legislative session that starts in January. It would define a lot where two or more unrelated sex offenders live as a “residential sex offender cluster.” It would make it illegal for a sex offender to live in a cluster that was not licensed by the sheriff. It would make it illegal for a person to own or operate an unlicensed cluster.
In addition to the place in Chilton County, Beckman said multiple sex offenders live in trailers on a piece of land in Autauga County.
“We’re right now trying to protect the public,” Beckman said. “And the public is saying to us right now in Chilton County and in Autauga County, ‘We don’t want to take care of other people’s sex offenders.’”
Wallace proposed a similar bill during this year’s legislative session, but it failed.
Logue spoke against that bill at a public hearing. He plans to return to speak against the new bill next year. “Most registered citizens are too afraid to speak out,” Logue said. “Somebody has to be a voice because so few of us are willing to speak out.”
Logue operates a website called Once Fallen.com and advocates for reforms of laws that limit where sex offenders can live and work. He supports punishment for sex crimes but says punishment should not continue after an offender has served his time.
Proponents of HB21 say sex offenders living together could negatively influence each other and make it more likely they will commit another crime.
"I don't like the idea that like minds are all together," Beckman said.
Logue takes issue with that and says sex offenders are not a homogenous group.
“We’re not all pedophiles,” Logue said. “We’re not all rapists.”
Proponents of HB21 say they would not oppose sex offenders living in facilities that effectively counsel or treat them, although they say they know of no such program. The bill would authorize the Alabama Department of Mental Health to promulgate rules for residential sex offender clusters.
David Jackson, chief operating officer for the department, said it does not certify treatment programs for sex offenders.
Concern about unintended consequences
A lawyer for a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice reforms said there could be unintended consequences of restrictive laws that make it hard for sex offenders to find homes and jobs.
“First and foremost, I don’t think anyone disagrees that our first priority as a society should be to protect our children,” said Ateeyah Hollie, who works for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta. “While I appreciate the lawmakers attempt at doing so, my main concern is that they do so in a practical manner that won’t further endanger our community.
"The more restrictive we get with these residency and employment restrictions, the more likely we’re going to increase recidivism, which I don’t think is the lawmakers’ intent.” Hollie said instability in residency and employment are key factors in recidivism. Hollie spoke against the bill Wallace proposed during this year’s legislative session. She has not read the new bill.
Registration and residency restrictions on sex offenders gained national attention in the 1990s. Congress and states passed what were called Megan's Law, named after a 7-year-old New Jersey girl who was assaulted and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted sex offender.
A 2012 report funded by the National Institute of Justice, "Sex Offenders: Recidivism and Collateral Consequences," examined the effect of sex offender registration and notification laws on recidivism.
The researchers found that the laws had limited effect on recidivism. The report said sex offenders have an overall low rate of recidivism but that some are high-risk, and that laws would be more effective if they targeted the high-risk offenders instead of all sex offenders.
Logue said some of the restrictions on residency and work amount to continual punishment after a prison sentence ends.
“When a person has served his time and they get out they should be given an opportunity to become a productive member of society,” Logue said. “We don’t treat murderers the same way. We don’t say murderers can’t live within 2,000 feet of another human being. That would be silly.”
Logue said there are effective rehabilitation programs.
"If we're really serious about trying to prevent reoffending, we should be doing things that we know work," Logue said. "Rehabilitation is not popular, but it's the right thing to do."
Wallace and Beckman said their bill would allow Alabama counties flexibility on how to handle sex offender clusters because it would be up to sheriffs to decide whether to license them.
"Until somebody comes up with a program that can be sanctioned by the state that proves we can improve the frequency of these guys reoffending, I'm just going with what I say is common sense," Wallace said.
© 2013 AL.com. All rights reserved.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
ReFORM-AL at the AL HB 85 Judiciary Hearing
UPDATE: The substitution HB 85 is now online. Follow the bill here, and be prepared to address the bill to the full House, because it seems this bill may pass.
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACTIONHistoryFrameMac.asp?OID=79522&LABEL=HB85
Now on to the review of the Judiciary Committee Hearing:
First, the videos. You can click here to view the entire hearing playlist via YouTube (curtesy of the Sex Offender Issues blog:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSTd7IgvNsW3G5cJjDyl9VMqZ1V44D1Rb
Since YouTube limits videos to 15 minutes, I broke the video into three sections:
Here is my written summary of the Judiciary Committee Hearing:
ReFORM-AL at the House Judiciary Committee
For the past few weeks, ReFORM-AL has been trying to raise awareness of, and stop, Alabama's House Bill 85, the sex offender anti-clustering law. This is the second time this law has been raised in the state legislature, but unlike the previous legislation, two state representatives have expressed a personal reason for passing this legislation. More specifically, state representatives (Ball and Wallace) have stated in media reports their intent to pass the statewide law was to prevent halfway houses from forming in their backyards.
Within a couple of days since the public hearing was requested, a public hearing was indeed scheduled for Wednesday, February 27, 2013, at 1:30 PM. Considering how slow Alabama tends to be, I must admit I was caught off guard by how quickly a public hearing was set. I had barely 48 hours to plan, research, and commutes in order to create a presentation before the House Judiciary Committee. Shiloni Transformation Ministries of Birmingham invited me to be a part of their entourage planning to head to Montgomery to fight HB 85. I graciously accepted the offer, and they paid for a bus ticket to Birmingham so we could plan a strategy.
After arriving in Birmingham five hours behind schedule (no thanks to Greyhound) and getting a mere four hours sleep, I met with Bill Grier, the head of the ministry. Counting myself and Grier, six of us endured the two-hour drive from Birmingham to Montgomery. We honestly did not know what to expect.
We arrived at the Statehouse with plenty of time. There were a number of bills on the docket, but the press was far more interested in a controversial educational bill that was garnering a lot of public attention. The room for the House Judiciary Committee was no larger than average classroom, with the desks for the committee members took up more than half of the room. I set up my video camera and waited for the event to begin. Thankfully, the HB 85 discussion was the first on the docket, so we did not have to wait all afternoon. The room was filled with a number of people, including members of a battered women's shelter called Safeway; however, they did not speak out in favor or against this bill.
The hearing began with testimony from State Representative Wallace, who was one of the sponsors of the bill, but was not on the Judiciary Committee. Accompanying him in support of this bill was CJ Robinson, a county prosecutor from Wallace's house district. Wallace explained his intent with the law was to shut down housing options in his county, particularly those offered by a man named Ricky Martin, who runs a place called Triumph Ministries. Robinson read every catchphrase from the victim industry playbook, from claiming higher recidivism rates to stating if this law saves “just one child” then it is worth it.
I was the first of six individuals speaking out against HB 85. Unlike the proponents of the bill, I was given a mere 2 min. to speak, and to be honest, I don't believe I was even given two full minutes. Since there was no microphone, we were asked to speak loudly. This is never a problem for me. Of course, being forced to speak using my natural voice to amplify my words, and my speech consists of a condemnation of residency restriction laws and a rebuke of the phony statistics offered by the previous speaker, it is no small wonder why the legislature sought to cut me off. Apparently they were not prepared to hear the facts. After the speaker cut me off, and I began returning to my seat, State Representative Givan rebuked the speaker for not allowing me the opportunity to give my presentation and a fair amount of time, given the fact that Wallace and Robinson went well over 2 min. to offer their presentations.
However, despite never working before on any projects in the past, and after only having a couple of conversations with associates of Shiloni Transformation Ministries, we worked very well together. Each individual after me offered aid effort perspective as to why passing HB 85 would be a terrible mistake. Since this ministry was impacted by a countywide anti-clustering law in 2010, which impacted their ability to help register citizens, those who work for the ministry could offer proof of the practical effects of the law, which has resulted in their near collapse. Passing HB 85 would allow the injustices created by the Birmingham/Jefferson County ordinance to become a statewide injustice. One of the graduates of the program offered testimony, along with an attorney with the Southern Center of Human Rights, along with another well-spoken associate of the ministry. Each subsequent testimony supplemented the key points of the previous speakers, and addressed new concerns as they arose.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this particular committee hearing, besides having a decent amount of supporters at the hearing, was the fact that a couple of the judiciary committee members were openly questioning this bill. One of the committee members made note that the law does not differentiate between the most serious offenders and relatively minor offenses like public urination. Committee members questioned Wallace's personal motive for pushing this legislation. Robinson took even more heat; Robinson had claimed a 90% recidivism rate for sex offenders, yet when asked how many of the 33 registered citizens in the one cluster in his county have committed a new sex crime, Robinson had to admit that number was zero.
After the committee hearing, as I stood out in the hallway, State Rep. Givan apologized to me for the behavior of the committee head, gave me a hug, and thanked me for speaking out. She stated that it is very difficult to reform the deep-seated mentality of the state, though she is trying. I handed her the research papers I brought as evidence for the committee to consider.
After I left the Statehouse, our group paid a visit to the equal justice initiative, another nonprofit legal group that specializes in criminal justice reforms. We talked for over an hour, with the hopes the EJI may be able to help us with possible litigation should this bill pass. They shared a number of very sad stories with us, including one individual who is on the registry, who was arrested and sent back to prison for picking up aluminum cans along the side of a road, which apparently is considered employment, and arrested him for a work restriction violation.
It remains to be seen if the appearance of ReFORM-AL, Shiloni Transformation Ministries, and the Southern Center of Human Rights made any impact on the Judiciary Committee, but in light of seeing such vocal questioning of the bill by members of the judiciary committee, I remain optimistic this bill will not pass. As State Rep. Wallace passed by me after the hearing ended, I told him his law is going down. I keep the faith that it will.
If you are in the mood to educate that misinformed assistant DA from Chilton Co., here is the staff directory. It seems they don't have email or even a fax! : http://alada19.com/staff.htm
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACTIONHistoryFrameMac.asp?OID=79522&LABEL=HB85
Now on to the review of the Judiciary Committee Hearing:
First, the videos. You can click here to view the entire hearing playlist via YouTube (curtesy of the Sex Offender Issues blog:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSTd7IgvNsW3G5cJjDyl9VMqZ1V44D1Rb
Since YouTube limits videos to 15 minutes, I broke the video into three sections:
Here is my written summary of the Judiciary Committee Hearing:
ReFORM-AL at the House Judiciary Committee
For the past few weeks, ReFORM-AL has been trying to raise awareness of, and stop, Alabama's House Bill 85, the sex offender anti-clustering law. This is the second time this law has been raised in the state legislature, but unlike the previous legislation, two state representatives have expressed a personal reason for passing this legislation. More specifically, state representatives (Ball and Wallace) have stated in media reports their intent to pass the statewide law was to prevent halfway houses from forming in their backyards.
Within a couple of days since the public hearing was requested, a public hearing was indeed scheduled for Wednesday, February 27, 2013, at 1:30 PM. Considering how slow Alabama tends to be, I must admit I was caught off guard by how quickly a public hearing was set. I had barely 48 hours to plan, research, and commutes in order to create a presentation before the House Judiciary Committee. Shiloni Transformation Ministries of Birmingham invited me to be a part of their entourage planning to head to Montgomery to fight HB 85. I graciously accepted the offer, and they paid for a bus ticket to Birmingham so we could plan a strategy.
After arriving in Birmingham five hours behind schedule (no thanks to Greyhound) and getting a mere four hours sleep, I met with Bill Grier, the head of the ministry. Counting myself and Grier, six of us endured the two-hour drive from Birmingham to Montgomery. We honestly did not know what to expect.
We arrived at the Statehouse with plenty of time. There were a number of bills on the docket, but the press was far more interested in a controversial educational bill that was garnering a lot of public attention. The room for the House Judiciary Committee was no larger than average classroom, with the desks for the committee members took up more than half of the room. I set up my video camera and waited for the event to begin. Thankfully, the HB 85 discussion was the first on the docket, so we did not have to wait all afternoon. The room was filled with a number of people, including members of a battered women's shelter called Safeway; however, they did not speak out in favor or against this bill.
The hearing began with testimony from State Representative Wallace, who was one of the sponsors of the bill, but was not on the Judiciary Committee. Accompanying him in support of this bill was CJ Robinson, a county prosecutor from Wallace's house district. Wallace explained his intent with the law was to shut down housing options in his county, particularly those offered by a man named Ricky Martin, who runs a place called Triumph Ministries. Robinson read every catchphrase from the victim industry playbook, from claiming higher recidivism rates to stating if this law saves “just one child” then it is worth it.
I was the first of six individuals speaking out against HB 85. Unlike the proponents of the bill, I was given a mere 2 min. to speak, and to be honest, I don't believe I was even given two full minutes. Since there was no microphone, we were asked to speak loudly. This is never a problem for me. Of course, being forced to speak using my natural voice to amplify my words, and my speech consists of a condemnation of residency restriction laws and a rebuke of the phony statistics offered by the previous speaker, it is no small wonder why the legislature sought to cut me off. Apparently they were not prepared to hear the facts. After the speaker cut me off, and I began returning to my seat, State Representative Givan rebuked the speaker for not allowing me the opportunity to give my presentation and a fair amount of time, given the fact that Wallace and Robinson went well over 2 min. to offer their presentations.
However, despite never working before on any projects in the past, and after only having a couple of conversations with associates of Shiloni Transformation Ministries, we worked very well together. Each individual after me offered aid effort perspective as to why passing HB 85 would be a terrible mistake. Since this ministry was impacted by a countywide anti-clustering law in 2010, which impacted their ability to help register citizens, those who work for the ministry could offer proof of the practical effects of the law, which has resulted in their near collapse. Passing HB 85 would allow the injustices created by the Birmingham/Jefferson County ordinance to become a statewide injustice. One of the graduates of the program offered testimony, along with an attorney with the Southern Center of Human Rights, along with another well-spoken associate of the ministry. Each subsequent testimony supplemented the key points of the previous speakers, and addressed new concerns as they arose.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this particular committee hearing, besides having a decent amount of supporters at the hearing, was the fact that a couple of the judiciary committee members were openly questioning this bill. One of the committee members made note that the law does not differentiate between the most serious offenders and relatively minor offenses like public urination. Committee members questioned Wallace's personal motive for pushing this legislation. Robinson took even more heat; Robinson had claimed a 90% recidivism rate for sex offenders, yet when asked how many of the 33 registered citizens in the one cluster in his county have committed a new sex crime, Robinson had to admit that number was zero.
After the committee hearing, as I stood out in the hallway, State Rep. Givan apologized to me for the behavior of the committee head, gave me a hug, and thanked me for speaking out. She stated that it is very difficult to reform the deep-seated mentality of the state, though she is trying. I handed her the research papers I brought as evidence for the committee to consider.
After I left the Statehouse, our group paid a visit to the equal justice initiative, another nonprofit legal group that specializes in criminal justice reforms. We talked for over an hour, with the hopes the EJI may be able to help us with possible litigation should this bill pass. They shared a number of very sad stories with us, including one individual who is on the registry, who was arrested and sent back to prison for picking up aluminum cans along the side of a road, which apparently is considered employment, and arrested him for a work restriction violation.
It remains to be seen if the appearance of ReFORM-AL, Shiloni Transformation Ministries, and the Southern Center of Human Rights made any impact on the Judiciary Committee, but in light of seeing such vocal questioning of the bill by members of the judiciary committee, I remain optimistic this bill will not pass. As State Rep. Wallace passed by me after the hearing ended, I told him his law is going down. I keep the faith that it will.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
ReFORM-AL in the news: "Sex offender pushes for classification reforms"
Yes, this is Yours Truly on CBS 42, speaking out against the registry. I got a plug for this organization. Too bad we also had to share time with VOCAL (Victims of Crime and Leniency), a previously unknown group. Still, this is a positive story I hope helps encourage those willing to fight the upcoming HB 85. My full interview is online already if you are interested.
The VOCAL people are not very educated, and resorted to slandering me instead of stating fact. Feel free to contact VOCAL and educate them on the facts:
Victims Of Crime And Leniency
422 S Court Street
Montgomery, AL 36104-4102
(334) 262-7197
http://www.cbs42.com/content/special/story/Sex-offender-pushes-for-classification-reforms/_2CTfgsi-EiKNkE78mTS_g.cspx
Sex offender pushes for classification reforms
Reported by : Phillip Ohnemus
Published: 2/20/2013 - 4:46 pm
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - When it comes to a threat of our children nothing raises a red flag like the threat of a sex offender living in our community.
In the last 20 years penalties for sex offenders and laws restricting their movements have grown exponentially.
It's something Derek Logue is fighting. "We still have a far long way to go to determine who is a high risk and who isn't."
Logue uses himself as the ultimate example. In 2001, he was convicted of sexual abuse of an 11-year old girl.
But he says it was an isolated incident and he's no threat to the general public. "I'm not out reoffending… I've been out for 10 years and I haven't reoffended haven't been accused of reoffending and it's not enough to satisfy society. Tthey judge me on something I did in my college years and I'm a middle aged man now."
Janette Grantham and Miriam Shehane say "big deal."Tthey are victims rights advocates.
Through their non-profit organization VOCAL, Victims of Crimes and Leniency, they stand up for victims who cannot or will not stand up for themselves.
Neither has any sympathy for a man who served just 25 months of a six year sentence for his crime.
Grantham says victims aren't so lucky. "It stays with them. If they could serve two years or three years and then they could go on with their life that would be great. But they can never go on with their lives because they are never the same again."
But Logue argues he has paid his penance. He believes the restrictions he and others like him are forced to live under a decade after their release from prison are punitive.
"You send them to prison, they're glorified dog cages. You incapacitate them for years and years they develop no skills they get no treatment when they're in there and when they get out of prison. You deny them housing, you deny them a support network, you deny them jobs. I was homeless for a while."
Logue attributes the homelessness and the fact that he is not working to his status as a sex offender. "I have a degree, I should be out working, but society fears me so much that most people won't hire me because of the label. You're a sex offender."
Logue takes issue with the sex offender database. He says it was intended to allow law enforcement to have a private list to check up on when a child goes missing... But changes in law have made the database public.
Where Logue takes issue there is no classification in Alabama making it impossible for people to determine who is and is not a threat.
Says Logue, "We feel like we have to rely on some list that can't differentiate between a drunken mooner and a pedophile to make a determination on a person's character. You can't judge my character based on a list."
Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls admits the system is flawed. And legislators are working to find a way to better classify and identify who is a danger to society. But Falls says the subject is not a black and white issue.
“It's very delicate trying to create a law that everyone will agree with. The question becomes, should that be required for the rest of their lives? And, every situation is different."
But victim’s advocates have a much simpler solution.
Janette Grantham suggests, "All they have to do if they don't want to be burdened with a sex offender label on their driver's license and everywhere they go, then don't commit the crime."
Mirium Shehane adds "everybody has choices. And you better think about that. What choices you make in life… there are consequences."
The VOCAL people are not very educated, and resorted to slandering me instead of stating fact. Feel free to contact VOCAL and educate them on the facts:
 | ||||
| Miriam Shelane and Janette Grantham of VOCAL need an education | . |
422 S Court Street
Montgomery, AL 36104-4102
(334) 262-7197
http://www.cbs42.com/content/special/story/Sex-offender-pushes-for-classification-reforms/_2CTfgsi-EiKNkE78mTS_g.cspx
Sex offender pushes for classification reforms
Reported by : Phillip Ohnemus
Published: 2/20/2013 - 4:46 pm
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) - When it comes to a threat of our children nothing raises a red flag like the threat of a sex offender living in our community.
In the last 20 years penalties for sex offenders and laws restricting their movements have grown exponentially.
It's something Derek Logue is fighting. "We still have a far long way to go to determine who is a high risk and who isn't."
Logue uses himself as the ultimate example. In 2001, he was convicted of sexual abuse of an 11-year old girl.
But he says it was an isolated incident and he's no threat to the general public. "I'm not out reoffending… I've been out for 10 years and I haven't reoffended haven't been accused of reoffending and it's not enough to satisfy society. Tthey judge me on something I did in my college years and I'm a middle aged man now."
Janette Grantham and Miriam Shehane say "big deal."Tthey are victims rights advocates.
Through their non-profit organization VOCAL, Victims of Crimes and Leniency, they stand up for victims who cannot or will not stand up for themselves.
Neither has any sympathy for a man who served just 25 months of a six year sentence for his crime.
Grantham says victims aren't so lucky. "It stays with them. If they could serve two years or three years and then they could go on with their life that would be great. But they can never go on with their lives because they are never the same again."
But Logue argues he has paid his penance. He believes the restrictions he and others like him are forced to live under a decade after their release from prison are punitive.
"You send them to prison, they're glorified dog cages. You incapacitate them for years and years they develop no skills they get no treatment when they're in there and when they get out of prison. You deny them housing, you deny them a support network, you deny them jobs. I was homeless for a while."
Logue attributes the homelessness and the fact that he is not working to his status as a sex offender. "I have a degree, I should be out working, but society fears me so much that most people won't hire me because of the label. You're a sex offender."
Logue takes issue with the sex offender database. He says it was intended to allow law enforcement to have a private list to check up on when a child goes missing... But changes in law have made the database public.
Where Logue takes issue there is no classification in Alabama making it impossible for people to determine who is and is not a threat.
Says Logue, "We feel like we have to rely on some list that can't differentiate between a drunken mooner and a pedophile to make a determination on a person's character. You can't judge my character based on a list."
Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls admits the system is flawed. And legislators are working to find a way to better classify and identify who is a danger to society. But Falls says the subject is not a black and white issue.
“It's very delicate trying to create a law that everyone will agree with. The question becomes, should that be required for the rest of their lives? And, every situation is different."
But victim’s advocates have a much simpler solution.
Janette Grantham suggests, "All they have to do if they don't want to be burdened with a sex offender label on their driver's license and everywhere they go, then don't commit the crime."
Mirium Shehane adds "everybody has choices. And you better think about that. What choices you make in life… there are consequences."
Saturday, August 25, 2012
For law enforcement and neighbors, sex offender clusters present difficult problem
This is an article from the Mobile County Lagniappe, a local interest paper. I thought it was a very well written piece, not just because I'm in it.
http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=5688&sid=1
For law enforcement and neighbors, sex offender clusters present difficult problem
By Katie Nichols
Issue#
AUGUST 7, 2012
A grandmother sits outside her West Mobile home watching her 6-year-old grandson do figure eights on a bicycle. A typical summertime scene played out in most residential neighborhoods every day until the threatening skies of an afternoon thunderstorm forces little ones and their caretakers safely back inside. But little did this grandmother know there was something far more potentially threatening than the dark afternoon skies living less than a mile away.
The grandmother interviewed by Lagniappe seemed shocked to learn a "cluster” of sex offenders live so close to her. But how could she know? Her home falls just outside the zone required for notification of a sex offender’s presence.
"There’s how many sex offenders over there?” asked the grandmother, who wished to remain anonymous. "There’s 12 sex offenders just up there? Well, he ain’t coming out here by himself anymore.”
The grandmother lives close to one of three groupings of more than 10 sex offenders in Mobile County. She just happens to live near the largest inside the city limits — the Taylor Motel, located at 2598 Government Boulevard. According to county records, 12 convicted sex offenders currently live at the motel.
The grandmother starts to gather the kid’s bike and other toys and said, "He’s not going to be around any of them. I’d trust a murderer with him before I did a pedophile.”
While the grandmother worries about her young grandson, men who are "forced” to live in sparse cinder block motel rooms, like those at the Taylor, say they have served their time, but they’re still in a virtual prison.
Sex offenders all over the nation are convening together, and not because they want to live with other sex criminals, but because the laws are inadvertently creating these "clusters.”
A sex offender cluster is a concentrated group of registered sex offenders who live at the same address. These typically can form in motels and mobile home parks, but can also develop in some apartment complexes. "Clustering” is happening all over the country because, according to experts, it is an "unintended consequence” of state laws that limit where offenders can live.
In Mobile County, there are three clusters with more than 10 offenders living permanently. The largest grouping of sex offenders in Mobile County is at a modest RV park in Irvington, with 15 offenders living at 7530 Highway 90, according to OffenderSearch, an online database for sheriff’s offices. The two other clusters are in Mobile and are less than five miles apart. Twelve sex offenders live at Taylor Motel, and 10 offenders live at Crest Hotel, 4421 Government Blvd., according to OffenderSearch.
Every sex offender Lagniappe spoke to freely admitted they are social pariahs. Securing a decent job, housing or a normal life is nearly impossible, but it can happen if you luck into finding a person willing to help, which is rare.
One person who saw a need for a space for sex offenders to live is Bill Buckner, who owns and operates the RV park in Irvington.
"I’ve been letting sex offenders stay here since 2002, but I’ve owned the place since 1998,” he said. "I do it because a lot of them have no other place to go. I have some mighty fine guys out there, and I have some that aren’t.”
Buckner doesn’t have anything against sex offenders, but doesn’t put up with violent ones.
"I don’t have to run them out of here … the police do that,” he said. "I don’t have a big turnover like some of the other places. Right now I have two or three guys in jail because they weren’t doing what they’re supposed to do. A lot of the guys here are trying.”
Buckner is clearly respected by the tenants and for good reason. The detectives in charge of monitoring the sex offenders call him when there’s a problem.
"It’s not my responsibility to watch them, but, yeah, I do take it as my own,” he said. "If they’re doing what they should, then it’s better for everyone.”
Even though most of Buckner’s tenants are appreciative of his kindness, not everyone likes having an area teeming with sex offenders in their city. Buckner talked about people’s reaction to his tenants and said once people find out they either treat him like a sex offender, which he is not, or don’t really care.
"I can tell when people have a problem. They don’t have to say anything, but I’ve been around the block and can tell when it bothers them,” he said. "You have other people that don’t hold it against you and then you have those that do. It doesn’t bother me though. I’m doing what I think I should.”
One of the people who support Buckley’s decision happens to be residing at the RV Park. Don, who is not a sex offender, didn’t want his last name revealed and has lived in the park on and off for 13 years, said living in the park is "extremely tense.”
Living among sex offenders isn’t Don’s wish, but he said sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
"I wish (Buckner) wouldn’t have done it, but he’s a great person and friend so I’ll respect his decision,” Don said. "There are some people here who I think shouldn’t be on the list and then there are others that shouldn’t be living.”
Don motioned to an RV just a few feet from his camper and said, "This guy here is a piece of trash. He’s a real pedophile. You got guys like him who are just sick and then you got guys that work, try to do right and make something out of themselves. They’re the ones who shouldn’t be on the list.”
Don isn’t just an average person living amongst sex offenders. A long time ago, Don said, a pedophile took one of the most precious things in his life.
"I had a child killed by a sex offender,” he said with tears in his eyes. "That pedophile killed my 9-year-old daughter. I will never get over that. My wife Betty, who is now dead, never got over it.
"There’s no place in this world for a pedophile,” he added.
The grandmother near Taylor Motel felt the same way.
"If you’re found guilty of hurting a child like that, then … I just don’t know. People like that can’t be with the rest of civilization. There’s something just wrong with them, and I don’t think they can get better,” she said. "It’s like once you have that against you, then the rest of the world … the regular world, is against you.”
The sex offenders interviewed said they feel the same — that there are few places for them, and they’re always against everyone else.
"It was incredibly hard for me to find a place,” said convicted sex offender Ron Morrison who lives at the RV Park. "When I got out of prison the law was you couldn’t leave as a sex offender if you didn’t have an address. You couldn’t be homeless and be a registered sex offender.
"Well, I spent an extra 20 days in prison because I didn’t have anywhere to go.”
Morrison was one of many sex offenders who spoke with Lagniappe who was at one time homeless. Morrison however, has a different set of challenges.
"I was living in the woods because I didn’t have anywhere else to go and I almost died,” he said. "I was out there for weeks without supplies for my colostomy. Anyway, I walked out of the woods without any clothes on beside my drawers and a couple of people just happened to pass by. They called 9-1-1 and I spent a long time in the hospital. I didn’t want to live in the woods, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
M.C. Hudson and Gary Padgett, who both live at the RV Park, also had difficult experiences finding a place to live that are accepted by state law.
"It’s pretty tough,” Hudson said. "I’d been several places before here. Whenever the fliers (notifying about a sex offender) go out, that’s when you get evicted and you gotta move again.”
Even among sex offenders, they tend to separate themselves from each other.
During interviews, a clear line separating convicted pedophiles, a person attracted to children, and other sex offenders formed quickly. Non-sex offenders and sex-offenders alike classified pedophiles as the lowest of the low. Other sex offenders who said they should one day be removed the registry also stated pedophiles should never be let out of prison.
"There’s a lot of people on the list that shouldn’t be,” Morrison said. "I was convicted 21 years ago of fondling my niece. My stepdaughter started that mess and even my niece’s mom said I didn’t do anything. I pleaded guilty before I knew what it meant. I haven’t been convicted of any other sex offense since, but I’m still a sex offender.”
Morrison, who was convicted of sexual abuse first degree of a 6-year-old, supported the idea of others that pedophiles are a lower class of sex offender.
"I don’t see how anyone can want a child like that,” he said. "It’s not right.”
Each sex offender interviewed said pedophiles shouldn’t be allowed out of prison, but argued for leniency for their own situations, although some had been convicted of abusing children under 12 years old.
A remedy for the clustering and living arrangements in general for sex offenders is not something easily solved.
The problem, Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said, is no one wants sex offenders living near schools and daycares nor do people want sex offender clusters, but the two create each other.
"There are very few places in the city of Mobile where a sex offender can live, so that’s why you get the clustering,” Cochran said. "It’s easier to find places to live for a sex offender in rural areas, but then they are away from public transportation and places where they get treatment for mental problems and drug or alcohol problems.”
The solution is something that evades legislators and law enforcement officials alike.
"No one wants to appear to be sympathetic to sex offenders especially elected officials,” Cochran said. "That being said, I’m not sure what can be done to deal with clusters and sex offenders living near places where there are children.
"I think if there was a place where sex offenders could live sort of separately and get the help they need would be the best, but that would probably be a problem somehow too.”
In Mobile County, there are 185 active registered sex offenders according to Cochran. Keeping up with them, including the 19 homeless offenders can be tricky, but technology has helped with the problem.
"We now are part of the state’s system that people can check 24 hours a day,” he said. "The deputies can use that to put an address in and see if it violates any rule of living 1,000-feet from a school or daycare.”
Although technology has helped with tracking, ever-changing laws typically mean new challenges for law enforcement, but sometimes the new laws can help agencies.
"Well, usually the laws make it more difficult, but recently a law was passed that sex offenders can leave prison without an address.
"It used to be that we would have to hold them until they found a place to live. That meant I’d have a lot of sex offenders who had served their time just sitting in prison, which costs money.
"Well, now they can be homeless as long as they check in every week. They have to give us an area they live in like a bench or bridge. Even then, they can’t stay in certain areas.”
Keeping up with sex offenders even with dedicated deputies, police, volunteers and technology doesn’t mean there won’t be some who fall through the cracks.
It became apparent in talking with people who live in clusters that not everyone who is registered at an address actually lives where they say they do.
"Oh, that guy hasn’t been here in about a month,” Don said. "There are a lot of them who say they live here, but don’t. They get caught here though because Bill and I’ll tell the police.”
An employee at Taylor Motel spoke to Lagniappe on the condition of anonymity. The employee went down a list of sex offenders who were supposed to live at the motel.
A number of the offenders moved out weeks ago and were not registered at other locations, lived at the motel only on the weekends or simply held that address, but did not actually live there, the employee said.
Even though the likelihood of changing state laws to help sex offenders is slim-to-none, there are a few offenders who work toward the goal.
Derek Logue is a registered sex offender and unless laws change, he will always need to register or check in anytime he moves or goes on vacation more than a couple of days.
Logue pleaded guilty to sexual assault first degree in 2000 after he had contact with an 11-year-old girl in Alabama.
After his conviction and three years served in the Bullock County Correctional Facility in Union Springs, Ala., Logue began trying to change laws regarding sex offenders through groups like ReFORM Alabama (Registered Former Offenders Restoration Movement), in which he is active.
Logue, who now lives in Cincinnati, says if he had it his way, people convicted of a sexual offense would serve their time and be done with it.
"The registry doesn’t work,” he said in a phone interview. "Limiting where sex offenders can live doesn’t work either. We’ve served our time.”
Logue said the rate of recidivism is lower for sex offenders than nearly any other major crime, yet the group is monitored unlike bank robbers, murderers and other criminals.
According to the Bureau of Justice Labor Statistics, the rate of recidivism for sex offenders three years out of prison is 5.3 percent and compared to non-sex offenders released from state prisons, released sex offenders were four times more likely to be rearrested for a sex crime.
The bureau also found about 1 percent of the released prisoners who had served time for murder were arrested for another homicide within three years, and about two percent of the rapists were arrested for another rape within that period.
While murderers and rapists (classified separately) are less likely to commit the same crime than sex offenders, sex offenders are still among the lowest for rearrest compared to other offenses, according to the bureau.
Logue said the stigma attached to sex offenders is what causes problems for the convicts.
"When I was trying to find a place to live after I was released from prison, which you have to do or you’re arrested for failure to register, I searched everywhere for a (half-way) house that took sex offenders,” he said. "Just a few days before I was released I heard back from a house in Ohio.
"I’m from Sheffield, Ala. and I moved back there in 2009. Then, I moved back to Ohio, but if I want to even go visit my mother, who lives in the country (rural area), I have to register there if I’m going to be there for like five days. Other convicts don’t have to worry about registering. The registry isn’t a magical list.”
Not surprisingly, Logue is not in favor of any type of anti-clustering laws, and cited Jefferson County’s 2011 legislation as how laws can create problems and not solutions.
He felt the laws only hindered rehabilitation for sex offenders.
"Sex offenders should have another chance,” he said.
A second chance will be hard to come by though. Law enforcement officials, lawmakers, neighbors and even other sex offenders were not quick to offer another shot at life.
"Why should they have another chance,” the grandmother asked. "If they were found guilty, then they’re guilty.”
Toeing the line of pedophile versus other sex offenders, Hudson, who lives at the RV park and was convicted of sodomy first degree of two females and one male under the age of 16, said people who hurt children shouldn’t be helped either.
Don, the man who isn’t but lives among them and who counts several sex offenders as his friends, said certain convicts shouldn’t be required to register, but others should never be released from prison.
Sheriff Cochran summed up the plight of the offenders.
"Even if you want to help them, you can’t,” he said. "No one can look like they’re helping sex offenders.”
With clusters still legal in the state of Alabama and no a solution in sight, a 6-year-old boy stays with his grandmother less than a mile away from a cluster where two sex offenders abused another 6-year-old, and Don, who’s 9-year-old daughter was killed by a pedophile, lives just feet from an offender who was convicted of abusing an 8-year-old.
The only thing the offenders and non-offenders have in common are neither are happy about the situation.
http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=5688&sid=1
For law enforcement and neighbors, sex offender clusters present difficult problem
By Katie Nichols
Issue#
AUGUST 7, 2012
A grandmother sits outside her West Mobile home watching her 6-year-old grandson do figure eights on a bicycle. A typical summertime scene played out in most residential neighborhoods every day until the threatening skies of an afternoon thunderstorm forces little ones and their caretakers safely back inside. But little did this grandmother know there was something far more potentially threatening than the dark afternoon skies living less than a mile away.
The grandmother interviewed by Lagniappe seemed shocked to learn a "cluster” of sex offenders live so close to her. But how could she know? Her home falls just outside the zone required for notification of a sex offender’s presence.
"There’s how many sex offenders over there?” asked the grandmother, who wished to remain anonymous. "There’s 12 sex offenders just up there? Well, he ain’t coming out here by himself anymore.”
The grandmother lives close to one of three groupings of more than 10 sex offenders in Mobile County. She just happens to live near the largest inside the city limits — the Taylor Motel, located at 2598 Government Boulevard. According to county records, 12 convicted sex offenders currently live at the motel.
The grandmother starts to gather the kid’s bike and other toys and said, "He’s not going to be around any of them. I’d trust a murderer with him before I did a pedophile.”
While the grandmother worries about her young grandson, men who are "forced” to live in sparse cinder block motel rooms, like those at the Taylor, say they have served their time, but they’re still in a virtual prison.
Sex offenders all over the nation are convening together, and not because they want to live with other sex criminals, but because the laws are inadvertently creating these "clusters.”
A sex offender cluster is a concentrated group of registered sex offenders who live at the same address. These typically can form in motels and mobile home parks, but can also develop in some apartment complexes. "Clustering” is happening all over the country because, according to experts, it is an "unintended consequence” of state laws that limit where offenders can live.
In Mobile County, there are three clusters with more than 10 offenders living permanently. The largest grouping of sex offenders in Mobile County is at a modest RV park in Irvington, with 15 offenders living at 7530 Highway 90, according to OffenderSearch, an online database for sheriff’s offices. The two other clusters are in Mobile and are less than five miles apart. Twelve sex offenders live at Taylor Motel, and 10 offenders live at Crest Hotel, 4421 Government Blvd., according to OffenderSearch.
Every sex offender Lagniappe spoke to freely admitted they are social pariahs. Securing a decent job, housing or a normal life is nearly impossible, but it can happen if you luck into finding a person willing to help, which is rare.
One person who saw a need for a space for sex offenders to live is Bill Buckner, who owns and operates the RV park in Irvington.
"I’ve been letting sex offenders stay here since 2002, but I’ve owned the place since 1998,” he said. "I do it because a lot of them have no other place to go. I have some mighty fine guys out there, and I have some that aren’t.”
Buckner doesn’t have anything against sex offenders, but doesn’t put up with violent ones.
"I don’t have to run them out of here … the police do that,” he said. "I don’t have a big turnover like some of the other places. Right now I have two or three guys in jail because they weren’t doing what they’re supposed to do. A lot of the guys here are trying.”
Buckner is clearly respected by the tenants and for good reason. The detectives in charge of monitoring the sex offenders call him when there’s a problem.
"It’s not my responsibility to watch them, but, yeah, I do take it as my own,” he said. "If they’re doing what they should, then it’s better for everyone.”
Even though most of Buckner’s tenants are appreciative of his kindness, not everyone likes having an area teeming with sex offenders in their city. Buckner talked about people’s reaction to his tenants and said once people find out they either treat him like a sex offender, which he is not, or don’t really care.
"I can tell when people have a problem. They don’t have to say anything, but I’ve been around the block and can tell when it bothers them,” he said. "You have other people that don’t hold it against you and then you have those that do. It doesn’t bother me though. I’m doing what I think I should.”
One of the people who support Buckley’s decision happens to be residing at the RV Park. Don, who is not a sex offender, didn’t want his last name revealed and has lived in the park on and off for 13 years, said living in the park is "extremely tense.”
Living among sex offenders isn’t Don’s wish, but he said sometimes you have to do what you have to do.
"I wish (Buckner) wouldn’t have done it, but he’s a great person and friend so I’ll respect his decision,” Don said. "There are some people here who I think shouldn’t be on the list and then there are others that shouldn’t be living.”
Don motioned to an RV just a few feet from his camper and said, "This guy here is a piece of trash. He’s a real pedophile. You got guys like him who are just sick and then you got guys that work, try to do right and make something out of themselves. They’re the ones who shouldn’t be on the list.”
Don isn’t just an average person living amongst sex offenders. A long time ago, Don said, a pedophile took one of the most precious things in his life.
"I had a child killed by a sex offender,” he said with tears in his eyes. "That pedophile killed my 9-year-old daughter. I will never get over that. My wife Betty, who is now dead, never got over it.
"There’s no place in this world for a pedophile,” he added.
The grandmother near Taylor Motel felt the same way.
"If you’re found guilty of hurting a child like that, then … I just don’t know. People like that can’t be with the rest of civilization. There’s something just wrong with them, and I don’t think they can get better,” she said. "It’s like once you have that against you, then the rest of the world … the regular world, is against you.”
The sex offenders interviewed said they feel the same — that there are few places for them, and they’re always against everyone else.
"It was incredibly hard for me to find a place,” said convicted sex offender Ron Morrison who lives at the RV Park. "When I got out of prison the law was you couldn’t leave as a sex offender if you didn’t have an address. You couldn’t be homeless and be a registered sex offender.
"Well, I spent an extra 20 days in prison because I didn’t have anywhere to go.”
Morrison was one of many sex offenders who spoke with Lagniappe who was at one time homeless. Morrison however, has a different set of challenges.
"I was living in the woods because I didn’t have anywhere else to go and I almost died,” he said. "I was out there for weeks without supplies for my colostomy. Anyway, I walked out of the woods without any clothes on beside my drawers and a couple of people just happened to pass by. They called 9-1-1 and I spent a long time in the hospital. I didn’t want to live in the woods, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
M.C. Hudson and Gary Padgett, who both live at the RV Park, also had difficult experiences finding a place to live that are accepted by state law.
"It’s pretty tough,” Hudson said. "I’d been several places before here. Whenever the fliers (notifying about a sex offender) go out, that’s when you get evicted and you gotta move again.”
Even among sex offenders, they tend to separate themselves from each other.
During interviews, a clear line separating convicted pedophiles, a person attracted to children, and other sex offenders formed quickly. Non-sex offenders and sex-offenders alike classified pedophiles as the lowest of the low. Other sex offenders who said they should one day be removed the registry also stated pedophiles should never be let out of prison.
"There’s a lot of people on the list that shouldn’t be,” Morrison said. "I was convicted 21 years ago of fondling my niece. My stepdaughter started that mess and even my niece’s mom said I didn’t do anything. I pleaded guilty before I knew what it meant. I haven’t been convicted of any other sex offense since, but I’m still a sex offender.”
Morrison, who was convicted of sexual abuse first degree of a 6-year-old, supported the idea of others that pedophiles are a lower class of sex offender.
"I don’t see how anyone can want a child like that,” he said. "It’s not right.”
Each sex offender interviewed said pedophiles shouldn’t be allowed out of prison, but argued for leniency for their own situations, although some had been convicted of abusing children under 12 years old.
A remedy for the clustering and living arrangements in general for sex offenders is not something easily solved.
The problem, Mobile County Sheriff Sam Cochran said, is no one wants sex offenders living near schools and daycares nor do people want sex offender clusters, but the two create each other.
"There are very few places in the city of Mobile where a sex offender can live, so that’s why you get the clustering,” Cochran said. "It’s easier to find places to live for a sex offender in rural areas, but then they are away from public transportation and places where they get treatment for mental problems and drug or alcohol problems.”
The solution is something that evades legislators and law enforcement officials alike.
"No one wants to appear to be sympathetic to sex offenders especially elected officials,” Cochran said. "That being said, I’m not sure what can be done to deal with clusters and sex offenders living near places where there are children.
"I think if there was a place where sex offenders could live sort of separately and get the help they need would be the best, but that would probably be a problem somehow too.”
In Mobile County, there are 185 active registered sex offenders according to Cochran. Keeping up with them, including the 19 homeless offenders can be tricky, but technology has helped with the problem.
"We now are part of the state’s system that people can check 24 hours a day,” he said. "The deputies can use that to put an address in and see if it violates any rule of living 1,000-feet from a school or daycare.”
Although technology has helped with tracking, ever-changing laws typically mean new challenges for law enforcement, but sometimes the new laws can help agencies.
"Well, usually the laws make it more difficult, but recently a law was passed that sex offenders can leave prison without an address.
"It used to be that we would have to hold them until they found a place to live. That meant I’d have a lot of sex offenders who had served their time just sitting in prison, which costs money.
"Well, now they can be homeless as long as they check in every week. They have to give us an area they live in like a bench or bridge. Even then, they can’t stay in certain areas.”
Keeping up with sex offenders even with dedicated deputies, police, volunteers and technology doesn’t mean there won’t be some who fall through the cracks.
It became apparent in talking with people who live in clusters that not everyone who is registered at an address actually lives where they say they do.
"Oh, that guy hasn’t been here in about a month,” Don said. "There are a lot of them who say they live here, but don’t. They get caught here though because Bill and I’ll tell the police.”
An employee at Taylor Motel spoke to Lagniappe on the condition of anonymity. The employee went down a list of sex offenders who were supposed to live at the motel.
A number of the offenders moved out weeks ago and were not registered at other locations, lived at the motel only on the weekends or simply held that address, but did not actually live there, the employee said.
Even though the likelihood of changing state laws to help sex offenders is slim-to-none, there are a few offenders who work toward the goal.
Derek Logue is a registered sex offender and unless laws change, he will always need to register or check in anytime he moves or goes on vacation more than a couple of days.
Logue pleaded guilty to sexual assault first degree in 2000 after he had contact with an 11-year-old girl in Alabama.
After his conviction and three years served in the Bullock County Correctional Facility in Union Springs, Ala., Logue began trying to change laws regarding sex offenders through groups like ReFORM Alabama (Registered Former Offenders Restoration Movement), in which he is active.
Logue, who now lives in Cincinnati, says if he had it his way, people convicted of a sexual offense would serve their time and be done with it.
"The registry doesn’t work,” he said in a phone interview. "Limiting where sex offenders can live doesn’t work either. We’ve served our time.”
Logue said the rate of recidivism is lower for sex offenders than nearly any other major crime, yet the group is monitored unlike bank robbers, murderers and other criminals.
According to the Bureau of Justice Labor Statistics, the rate of recidivism for sex offenders three years out of prison is 5.3 percent and compared to non-sex offenders released from state prisons, released sex offenders were four times more likely to be rearrested for a sex crime.
The bureau also found about 1 percent of the released prisoners who had served time for murder were arrested for another homicide within three years, and about two percent of the rapists were arrested for another rape within that period.
While murderers and rapists (classified separately) are less likely to commit the same crime than sex offenders, sex offenders are still among the lowest for rearrest compared to other offenses, according to the bureau.
Logue said the stigma attached to sex offenders is what causes problems for the convicts.
"When I was trying to find a place to live after I was released from prison, which you have to do or you’re arrested for failure to register, I searched everywhere for a (half-way) house that took sex offenders,” he said. "Just a few days before I was released I heard back from a house in Ohio.
"I’m from Sheffield, Ala. and I moved back there in 2009. Then, I moved back to Ohio, but if I want to even go visit my mother, who lives in the country (rural area), I have to register there if I’m going to be there for like five days. Other convicts don’t have to worry about registering. The registry isn’t a magical list.”
Not surprisingly, Logue is not in favor of any type of anti-clustering laws, and cited Jefferson County’s 2011 legislation as how laws can create problems and not solutions.
He felt the laws only hindered rehabilitation for sex offenders.
"Sex offenders should have another chance,” he said.
A second chance will be hard to come by though. Law enforcement officials, lawmakers, neighbors and even other sex offenders were not quick to offer another shot at life.
"Why should they have another chance,” the grandmother asked. "If they were found guilty, then they’re guilty.”
Toeing the line of pedophile versus other sex offenders, Hudson, who lives at the RV park and was convicted of sodomy first degree of two females and one male under the age of 16, said people who hurt children shouldn’t be helped either.
Don, the man who isn’t but lives among them and who counts several sex offenders as his friends, said certain convicts shouldn’t be required to register, but others should never be released from prison.
Sheriff Cochran summed up the plight of the offenders.
"Even if you want to help them, you can’t,” he said. "No one can look like they’re helping sex offenders.”
With clusters still legal in the state of Alabama and no a solution in sight, a 6-year-old boy stays with his grandmother less than a mile away from a cluster where two sex offenders abused another 6-year-old, and Don, who’s 9-year-old daughter was killed by a pedophile, lives just feet from an offender who was convicted of abusing an 8-year-old.
The only thing the offenders and non-offenders have in common are neither are happy about the situation.
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