Florida Sheriffs Misinform Public about Prison Reforms



Found an editorial over at the Daytona Beach News Journal Online (Overtime served, Reforming Florida's violent incarceration mentality, 12/29/2009) that calls out a couple of Florida sheriffs regarding the passing of misinformation to the public that both tout as gospel regarding the possible legislative reforms of the state's prison system.

Gospel that proved fairly effective when the plate was passed during far different state budgetary times.

(...)

Like other law enforcement officials in the state, Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson is sowing undue fear and misinformation about legislative proposals that would reform the state's overly harsh and unsustainably costly prison system. Johnson is following the lead of Brevard County Sheriff Jack Parker, who claims -- wrongly -- that "Florida is funding prisons less and less" while preparing to release offenders early.

(...)

Writing on the Sheriff's Office's Web site, Johnson wants residents to oppose "a particularly bad proposal that would grant early release to certain inmates 50-years-old or older as long as they have already served at least 25 years of their sentence." He is also building opposition to another proposal that "would reduce the sentence of dangerous youthful offenders under certain circumstances" -- offenders 15 or younger who were convicted as adults.

Johnson makes it sound as if violent offenders are never released (or should never be released) from prison. He should have a look at Department of Corrections reports. Better yet, he should encourage his readers to do so. Last August alone, 3,073 offenders were released from Florida prisons. Of those, 814, or 26.5 percent, were violent offenders. On average, those violent offenders served 53 months. Johnson says, "This is not the type of person we want roaming our streets again." But every prison system in the nation eventually releases a portion of its violent offenders for the obvious reason that life terms are rare. Johnson also makes it sound as if the proposals, if enacted, would result in immediate releases. Not so. Prisoners would have to petition for their release and have their cases reviewed one by one. It's a restoration of parole by other means.

Criminals aren't getting more violent or committing more crimes. The state's incarceration laws have been made harsher since the mid-1980s (when Florida abolished parole) and the 1990s (when Florida harshed up mandatory sentences on adults and youthful offenders and ended the release of any state prison inmate before he or she serves at least 85 percent of a sentence). Yet, criminologists cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of harsher sentences, which contradict the principle of rehabilitation. It's called a department of corrections, not a department of punishment.

(...)

Since 2001, when it was at $1.62 billion, the Department of Corrections' budget has increased by 50 percent. It's at $2.43 billion today, a 5.7 percent increase over last year's $2.3 billion. The department's budget devours almost 10 percent of the state's general revenue to maintain a total payroll of 30,500 that keeps 100,000 inmates in prison -- a 3-to-1 per-inmate ratio. That's about eight times better than the state's teacher-pupil ratio. Despite a crime rate that has fallen steadily through the decade, the inmate population has risen 46 percent since 2001.


More Fun Facts:

(...)

Figures released by the Justice Department reflect 1.6 million persons remain incarcerated in this country's prisons, although "...the rate of growth is slowing as state authorities look for cheaper ways to mete out justice." (Throw in those sitting behind bars in jail and the number rises to a cool 2.3 million).

That's one out of every 133 U.S. residents in jail or prison over the last year.

The states with the largest increases in prison population were Pennsylvania, Florida and Arizona, whose one-year increases were all greater than the federal prison system, which grew by 1,662 inmates. (Miami Herald, 12/8/09)



“They simply cost too much. It’s not ideological, it’s pragmatic. This is the first time that we have alliances on the right and left on this issue, and it’s the money that has forced the issue.”

Professor Ram Cnaan, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania

Feeling (or Not) the Political Love



You love her

But she loves him

And he loves somebody else

You just can't win

And so it goes....



Charlie Crist: I want to feel the love.

(...)

He also has to hope that Jeb Bush, whose work as Governor he professes to admire, doesn't decide to throw his still heavy political weight behind Rubio. (TIME, 12/29/09, Can Crist Survive a Right-Wing Uprising in Florida?)



Miami New Times: Show us the love.

(...)

All of Florida is wondering when Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio will come out and make it official. They are totally in political love, but why won't Jeb put a ring on it by endorsing Rubio over Gov. Charlie Crist in the Senate primary? (Miami New Times,11/09/2009, Why do Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio Continue to Hide Their Love?)



Levi Johnston: Love stinks. Yeah yeah.

(...)

New court documents reveal a heated custody battle between Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, who has petitioned for sole custody over their son Tripp -- the grandson of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. (Us Magazine, 12/29/2009, Bristol Palin Seeks Sole Custody of Son)

(Read more about "...protecting the child’s right to the love and care of both parents after separation or divorce..." over at Fathers & Families).





It's the Holiday Season!



He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes--how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE, Twas the Night Before Christmas



Happy Holidays!

Sunny
Smashed Frog


The Progressive Ménage à trois



Michael Lind over at Salon discusses how best Democrats earn a MBA in Management of the Progressive Ménage à trois ...

... from the Right.
(...)

If we distinguish neoliberals, New Dealers and Greens from one another, then the center-left coalition, at the level of first principles, is not a marriage of two partners but a ménage à trois. It resembles the ménage à trois on the right that unites libertarians, Christian conservatives and neoconservatives. Recognizing that there are indeed distinct and fundamentally incompatible public philosophies to the left of center does not prevent cooperation among the schools for common purposes. The three factions can work together to maintain a Democratic majority, just as the neocons, libertarians and social conservatives disagree on first principles but unite in elections to support Republicans against Democrats.

Democrats should learn from Republicans how to manage a ménage à trois.

Needless to say, choice commentary underlines Lind's post. Read 'em here.

Holistic vs Idealistic Health Care Reform



The Space Coast Progressives devote a web page to the definition of a progressive.

Progressives put "We, the People" first, before profits and special interests, and believe the common good is necessary for individual well-being. Progressives meet life's challenges cooperatively, democratically, holistically and nonviolently with solutions that maximize liberty, imagination, leadership, justice, sustainability and respect for all.

The single word that leaps out from this definition is holistically.

Meaning, "Relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts."

I haven't witnessed much holistic behavior demonstrated among my fellow progressives these past several days. Rather, I've noted more emotionally-driven idealistic behavior , my way or the highway sort of thinking, the political dissection of the Senate health care bill into all or nothing by those same persons who gather together under the umbrella of progressivism.

These past few years, I've grabbed on to the word holistically like a life preserver. In my opinion--and for the cause I advocate--holistic change will be accomplished only via working within the present unusually severe system to effect change as a whole.

As noted by Paul Krugman (Pass the Bill, NYT, 12/17/2009) , these changes stand to be accomplished by the Senate bill (as it reads today).


At its core, the bill would do two things. First, it would prohibit discrimination by insurance companies on the basis of medical condition or history: Americans could no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition, or have their insurance canceled when they get sick. Second, the bill would provide substantial financial aid to those who don’t get insurance through their employers, as well as tax breaks for small employers that do provide insurance.

That's a holistic systems change, progressive in nature, working toward individual well-being.

C.S. Lewis once said, "We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive."

Which road are you on, progressives?

***

(...)

"But let’s all take a deep breath, and consider just how much good this bill would do, if passed — and how much better it would be than anything that seemed possible just a few years ago. With all its flaws, the Senate health bill would be the biggest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare, greatly improving the lives of millions. Getting this bill would be much, much better than watching health care reform fail."

--Paul Krugman

Democrats Prove Their Own Worst Enemy



Democrats are a lot like public school educators.

Both are their own worst enemies.

Take teachers, especially those working here in Florida. The very passion held for the education of children is the Achilles heel of the profession. As an example, most in the Sunshine State haven't seen a pay raise in a couple of years. As a right to work state, strikes are out so the next best option suggested by unions is passive resistance.

Do your job, do it well and leave at quitting time. Meaning, walk out the door when the whistle blows.

How many teachers do you think leave at the stroke of Time to Head Home? School boards know the answer as do state legislatures. As long as teachers continue to shoot themselves in their collective bargaining foot, those in charge of the money train will continue to stomp all over them.

The Democrats are way similar. More than a few years back--long before Obama addressed the 2004 Democratic convention--I was over at the Kos blogging education regarding whatever Draconian law was being shoved down RSO throats at the time, sex offender registries, public notification, take your pick.

A comment caught my eye, something to the effect that these types of special interest issues were exactly what served to divide the Democratic party, what the GOP exploited and if we were to win back the White House, solidarity and a single focus is what would get us there.

Although I felt dissed at the time, the message certainly worked. Dems got their collective act together, won back the White House and the majority in Congress.

The sun set on eight years of this country stuck in reverse and promise of a better life for Americans broke over the horizon.

Health care reform was more than a possibility.

One year later, we as a Party are shooting ourselves in the foot over what the anonymous Kos commenter would claim as special interests inhibiting the passage of what is likely a once in lifetime possibility.

What lesson have we not learned?

Besides not to aim at the big toe?


Lieberman Pulls a Newman



As Joe Lieberman makes noises of support for the Senate health care bill, I can't help but imagine the face-to-face behind closed doors with All the President's Men went a little something like this.....

Screaming Good News


Tossing a bit of belated sunshine your way.....

Back on November 10, 2009:

The Miami Herald:

A sex offender living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway has been cleared of accusations that he went to a park when children were present, violating state and Miami-Dade County restrictions.

Bryan Exile -- one of two plaintiffs named in the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida's lawsuit against Miami-Dade's requirement that sex offenders keep at least 2,500 feet away from places where children congregate -- was released from jail last week. He had been arrested Sept. 4 on misdemeanor charges of violating probation and trespassing.

Exile was accused of trespassing in a housing project, then walking to the park. The charges were dropped Nov. 6 after prosecutors learned Exile was never in the park, the ACLU said.

The ACLU lawsuit, which is before the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami, is an attempt to nullify the county's 2,500-foot law. It alleges local law should not supersede the state law, which calls for sex offenders to stay 1,000 feet away from parks, schools and other places where children gather.


Not one comment beneath the news item.

Which makes me wonder just how far in the fish wrap the story was buried.......

Yet another November positive wisp-o-will....

By a 59-39 vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed David Hamilton to sit on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. President Obama nominated him in March, but Hamilton's extreme views delayed the confirmation.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., expressed his concerns on the floor of the Senate.

"Mr. Hamilton was a board member and vice president of the ACLU chapter of Indiana," he said.

Sessions was also troubled over Hamilton's ruling that the Indiana Legislature could not open its sessions with prayer.

"Many of the prayers expressed mentioned 'Jesus Christ,'" Sessions said. "Yet in a post-judgment motion, Judge Hamilton permitted the use of 'Allah.'"

Hamilton also struck down a sex-offender registry, saying it violated the offenders' right to privacy.

Tom Fitten, president of Judicial Watch, said this could lead the administration to bring more extreme nominees.

"If they think they can push judges like this through with little or no debate," he said, "they're going to have the incentive to push hard on this.

David Hamilton sounds like an extreme thinker to me. And that 59-30 vote?

Good news.

Going Harvard on Nancy Grace



Nancy Grace continues to get hers.

Three years past the death of Melinda Duckett finds CNN and talk show host Grace continuing to squirm on the hot seat of a defamation suit filed by the young mother's parents. Duckett--just 21 years old at her passing--committed suicide after the airing of an interview with Grace in the disappearance of her 2 year old son, Trenton.. (Nancy Grace Goes to Court, 11/21/2006).

Well, all that's coming back around.

Dr. Harold J. Bursztajn, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard--hired by CNN-wrote in a recent court filing that Nancy Grace "...contributed to her (Duckett's) suicide" and "...that Grace "struck a highly accusatory tone " while conducting the interview.

The Los Angeles Times (12/5/2009):

The professor saw "a distraught young woman who is subject to repeated and increasingly sharp questioning by a hostile interviewer who displays increasing suspicion and anger towards Ms. Duckett."

The next day, the 21-year-old Duckett shot herself in the head.

"Her apparently unanticipated public humiliation on the nationally televised program in question was a substantial contributing cause of her suicide," Bursztajn wrote.

The family claims Grace's questioning, along with the network's decision to air the pre-taped interview the day Duckett committed suicide, inflicted severe emotional distress.

Grace and the network have denied any involvement in the suicide, and a CNN spokeswoman declined comment on the filing.

The Orlando Sentinel, (12/4/2009):

(...)

Bursztajn noted in his opinion that the interview about the missing child "substantially diminished her [Duckett's] capacity to protect herself from suicidal ideation and thus was a substantial contributing cause of her suicide the following day."

He also noted that as additional information becomes available as the case heads to trial "this preliminary opinion will be supplemented and the degree of certainty to which I hold it may be revised."


Although I'm no huge fan of Lou Dobbs, I find it simply incredulous that the "advocacy anchor" and CNN have parted ways, yet somehow Nancy Grace remains on-air.

Trenton Duckett has yet to be found.

Georgians for Reform



Passing along an opportunity to get involved.

Georgians for Reform.

Georgians For Reform works to make communities safer and protect our children through education, awareness, and treatment.

We recognize that registration and residency schemes do not and can not work. We encourage effective legislation, based on empirical evidence focused towards an informed society able to recognize and implement strategies that work.

We seek a justice system based in fact and dealing justice based on the actual elements of the case. We seek a justice system that is fair to both the society it serves and the accused it judges.


The Myth

  • Most people on the registry Molested or Raped a Child.

  • Recidivism for Sex Offenders is very high.

  • The Registry and Residency Restriction are effective tools to make communities safer and protect children.

  • Children are at greatest risk of being the victim of a sex crime from a person on the Registry.

  • The most effective way to protect against being the victim of a sex offense is to avoid strangers.

  • A person is in the most danger of being the victim of a sex offense from a person on the Registry.


The Fact

  • The Majority of those on the Registry did not commit forcible rape of an adult or a child.

  • Recidivism for sex offenders is the lowest for all categories of crime with the possible exception of murder.

  • The Registry has had no impact in reducing the incidence of sex offense or in reducing the already low recidivism. rate.

  • A child is at least 18 times more likely to be the victim of molestation, sexual assault, or abuse in their own home than being the victim of a person previously convicted of a sex offense.

  • An adult or child is 19 times more likely to be the victim of a first time offender, a person who is not and would not be on the registry, than a person previously convicted of a sex offense.



More information here.

Check it out.

Increasing Legal Awareness of Collateral Consequences



As job creation surfaces to the top of the Obama Must-Do list, my thoughts turn to those whose search for gainful employment proves difficult.

Those with a felony conviction.

Some "with a past" have managed to become gainfully employed; others feel the rush of the wind past their face once the door slams shuts....repeatedly.

And those whose conviction is underlined by inclusion in the sex offender registries, the search for a job becomes way too similar to the search for Amelia Earhart.

A friend recently forwarded me an accounting regarding the collateral consequences of accepting a conviction. (I've since misplaced the link, so please feel free to post and I'll insert here afterwards or once I finally locate it among my oh-so-not organized files). A similar discussion can be read here: Increasing Awareness of Collateral Consequences Among Participants of the Criminal Justice System: Is Education Enough? by Florian Miedel, Esq.

The gist of the legal conversation rings clearly home. As stated in the above link, "...“collateral” consequences of convictions can have devastating effects on the lives of those convicted and their loved ones." And just how educated are defense attorneys regarding those collateral consequences as how best to advise their clients when considering any sort of plea?

For the last several years, legal malpractice has never been too far from thoughts. If many were privy to what is now known about the collateral consequences of the registry, I'm certain most would've chosen a fight over a lifetime of secondary consequence. My family was certainly not advised.

Many employers will consider hire of person with a felony. Place that same person on the registry and the consideration flies out the window. Even as the details are discussed, employers find themselves unwilling to take a chance. In this job market--with so many out of work--the Collateral Consequence of Unemployment which shadows those designated as a sex offender finds many a resume tossed in the circular file.

As shouted by Georgians for Reform, "the Majority of those on the Registry did not commit forcible rape of an adult or a child."

I'll confirm that. Many have been convicted for a sex offense, with no physical involvement with anyone--child or otherwise--period.

My thoughts turn to what many have demanded. Revisiting the registry as a whole.

It's need, it's purpose, it's usefulness, it's role in our society as well as the registry's impact on families.

In the interim, many qualified, educated citizens jostle for a job, any job, with a double legal monkey on their back.

Mike Haridopolos Blackberries Disinterest in Family Rights to Privacy





The Blackberry is the new doodling.



Instead of drawing box after box after box on a legal pad, apparently working (playing?) on one's phone is the newest form of expressing disinterest.



Reportedly, state Senator Mike Haridopolos is a not so closeted Blackberry peruser, as demonstrated in yesterday's pre-session legislative meeting.



The Florida legislator doodled away as a citizen spoke before the Brevard delegation.



The subject? Collateral damages of Florida laws shouldered by family members of those persons designated as sex offenders by the state of Florida.



The citizen? A child who grew up way too quickly.



Haridopolos tore his attention away from his diversion just long enough to deny declining (refusing?) past requests to meet with the families of RSO's to discuss the laws plaguing private citizens for years.



Sure about that, Mike?



The presentation as written and delivered.



***





Brevard County Legislative Hearing

November 30, 2009

Viera, Florida 32940

I come here today to represent the voiceless minority, soon to be voting constituents. I am their voice, since they have none and I am their strength, because their self esteem has been crushed, their powerlessness palpable and their fears unending. There are 1000's of us in Florida and 100's of us in Brevard County. Some of our lives have seen torment; some of our lives were irreparably harmed and a few of us are no longer living.



We are the children of registered sex offenders; children of men and women whose faces, names and addresses, regardless of the degree of risk, are listed on a public online registry. Did you, the legislators, surreptitiously empowered with influencing lives, know that your deliberate action of placing all of our parents online would create new victims? Us!



Did you possibly think that these offenders may have children; children who live at the same address that is listed on the “sex offender registry?”



I think, I hope you know by now, that the shear volume of offenders online without distinction of risk is worthless as a tool to save or protect children and has not prevented ONE crime. Yet, for those innocent children whose addresses are also listed online, it is nothing other than child abuse.



We are children who want and deserve to have our parents involved in our lives without fear of repercussions, ridicule, ostracization and torment. We deserve to have lives without the shadow of having our parent on line listed as a monster. We love our parents and yet, YOU force us to choose between a relationship with that parent and having friends. Have you forgotten that we too deserve “freedom and privacy” and in fact, need that to grow to be normal, happy, healthy and productive members of society?



Sadly, two years ago, 11 children whose parents are on the sex offender registry, asked to speak with one of the legislators on your panel. We wanted to- needed, to voice our concerns and perhaps consider an alternative to stemming child abuse, without using the tool of one that is not only valueless, but created more victims.



That legislator, Senator Haridopoulous, despite repeated requests for a meeting, declined. Why is that Senator Haridopoulous? Please explain that to my brother, standing next to me, who has no friends and has endured horrendous abuse from people that view the registry to “protect” their own children, why?



I beg to the rest of you, consider my words and help to create laws that actually prevent child abuse, and protect the privacy of the families and especially children of former sex offenders.



Thank you for your time and attention

Jane Doe son #1



A Slip of the They?



Most wouldn't think of the word "they" as a pejorative.

Yet the 911 audio report of the Tiger Woods holiday fender bender certainly spins the situation from bad to worse. Around 00:25, "...they're laying on the ground....", is cited by the concerned neighbor.



A startled from sound sleep interchange of pronoun use? They, he....but note, not a she in the verbiage.

Woods released a statement Sunday, asking to keep the matter private. (Read more here).

FHP must be on board with his request because Tiger has managed to stave off the Florida Highway Patrol by simply refusing to entertain their questions.

Well, you know what "they" say....

Life inside the gates of Windermere is far different than for the rest of us mere mortals.

Wool Over My Eyes



After getting slammed while sitting in Black Friday traffic a few years back, I've learned to stick to thrift shops on the traditional first day of holiday shopping. Yet somewhere between Goodwill and Salvation Army, I got the urge to work in a visit to GAP, my rationale being the replacement of the black tank my daughter "borrowed" during her recent visit.

As I sit here just before 1:00 AM Saturday morning, I think I just needed a Christmas jump start.

Or just a jump start period.

Heavy is the best way to describe this past year. Literally, my head and ears have felt weighed down for months, my sinuses making themselves known to me after a lifetime of sweet solitude beneath my facial structure. I've experienced several changes at home and at work, nothing to write home about, but enough to consider if my stuffy head is some sort of psychosomatic attempt to block out any further infusion of intrusion into my every day.

I figured a jaunt through the throng of a busy crowd would get me in the holiday mood. With my ears cracking and popping, I purchased the black tank and cut an exit through Kid GAP, where a boy about nine repeatedly tossed a wool cap up into the air, oblivious to his mother's clucking.

My life's been a lot like that cap lately, spiraling down only to spiral back up. Something happens, then something else, then yet something else again and more often than not, the something is that someone else's cap has somehow clapped itself down on my stuffy head.

The mother finally jerks the cap out of her son's hands, tosses it back on the display and jerks the kid past me and out of the store. My ears pop as he laughs at his mom and I feel a little dizzy at how easily he repels her frustration.

I turn away from the laughing boy and head through a surprisingly thin crowd towards Starbucks, where coffee at this time of the year often tastes of peppermint.

A Thanksgiving Buzzkill



Happy Thanksgiving.

Bubble-Wrapping Our Kids



A youthful family member recently explained the whole concept of Wii.

With a vision of long ago street kickball games replaying against the back of my eyelids, I asked why the kid just didn't round up a couple of friends, go outside and play?

Pretty much a blank stare, followed by pumped up energy on how much fun Wii was, how everyone had a Wii and I could even play online with other people, you know, if I really wanted to.

Nintendo is one smart bird, figuring out a way to climate-control play, fight back against child obesity linked to inactive children while simutaneously relieving parents of any guilt associated with keeping their kids within tracking range.

Wii has tapped into overparenting.

Although helicopter parenting has been around for years, TIME explores The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting (Nancy Gibbs, 11/20/2009).

The insanity crept up on us slowly; we just wanted what was best for our kids.

We bought macrobiotic cupcakes and hypoallergenic socks, hired tutors to correct a 5-year-old's "pencil-holding deficiency," hooked up broadband connections in the treehouse but took down the swing set after the second skinned knee. We hovered over every school, playground and practice field — "helicopter parents," teachers christened us, a phenomenon that spread to parents of all ages, races and regions. Stores began marketing stove-knob covers and "Kinderkords" (also known as leashes; they allow "three full feet of freedom for both you and your child") and Baby Kneepads (as if babies don't come prepadded). The mayor of a Connecticut town agreed to chop down three hickory trees on one block after a woman worried that a stray nut might drop into her new swimming pool, where her nut-allergic grandson occasionally swam. A Texas school required parents wanting to help with the second-grade holiday party to have a background check first. Schools auctioned off the right to cut the carpool line and drop a child directly in front of the building — a spot that in other settings is known as handicapped parking.
.

And afterwards, go paint four bases out on the street. I'd recommend fluorescent orange. The street lights super-illuminate the diamond for kids involved in sudden death kickball, who just can't let the game go because the sun chose to set at the most inopportune moment.

Organizing Genius


An engineer meets a frog who offers the engineer anything he wants if he will kiss the frog.

"No," says the engineer.

"Come on," says the frog. "Kiss me, and I'll turn into a beautiful woman."

"Nah," says the engineer. "I don't have time for a girlfriend ...but a talking frog, that's really neat."

--Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius

Read more about organizing Great Groups here.

Pulp Diction


Jon Stewart "goes Tarantino" on Nancy Grace

Check it out, beginning on or about 07:00.

Enjoy.

Child Safety Zones Work



Take a few moments today to read Dr. Jill Levenson's 11/14/2009 op-ed over at the Miami Herald here.

(Many thanks to Eye on Miami (11/15/2009) for posting the following comments by a self-described child advocate who has yet to conduct one research-based study proving his claims).

(...)

"Book repeatedly waves his hand in dismissal of any empirical research suggesting that residential restrictions don't work. He misrepresents the research and their authors." And:

"Ron Book is an admirable and tireless advocate for children. But it is time to stop holding onto illusions about what we hope to be true. Continuing to steer resources toward policies that don't work promotes a false sense of security and is fiscally irresponsible. Book should work with other experts and use facts and research to advocate for sexual-abuse prevention policies that will achieve their goals. Don't children deserve that?"

Dr. Levenson, associate professor and sex crimes researcher at Lynn University and chairperson of Broward County's Sexual Offender Residence Task Force, also indicated:

(...)

Book goes on to say that the studies ``conflict with data from Miami-Dade County showing absconding and crimes against children have gone down while compliance with sex-offender registration requirements has gone up.'' According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, child sexual-abuse rates nationwide have dropped 49 percent over the past 15 years.

That is good news, but it can't be attributed to residence restrictions. Sex-offender absconding has decreased in Florida, and that too is good news, but is a comparison of apples and oranges. Book has never cited a published study demonstrating the effectiveness of residence restrictions because none exists.

Ron Book is an admirable and tireless advocate for children. But it is time to stop holding onto illusions about what we hope to be true. Continuing to steer resources toward policies that don't work promotes a false sense of security and is fiscally irresponsible. Book should work with other experts and use facts and research to advocate for sexual-abuse prevention policies that will achieve their goals. Don't children deserve that?

(...)

Florida's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability concluded that residential-restriction laws for sex offenders are ineffective in preventing repeat abuse.

They suggested instead that child-safety zones, which prohibit registered sex offenders from loitering in places where children congregate, would be more successful in achieving the goal of keeping known sex offenders away from children. The legislative policy analyst who testified based the conclusions on published research demonstrating that residence restrictions do not prevent abuse and that an offender's proximity to schools and daycares is not linked to recidivism.



Read and Learn.


Does Residential Proximity Matter? A Geographic Analysis of Sex Offense Recidivism (Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 35, No. 4, 484-504 (2008).

Breaker! Breaker! Education Discrimination?



Question to ponder this weekend.

Can a private vo-tech--conducting CDL training here in Florida--discriminate against acceptance of an ex-felon for training solely on the basis that the school cannot guarantee job placement upon course completion?

Obama's Low-End Option



Will we stay or will we go?

The NYT (11/11/09):

(...)

General Eikenberry sent his reservations to Washington in a cable last week, the officials said. In that same period, President Obama and his national security advisers have begun examining an option that would send relatively few troops to Afghanistan, about 10,000 to 15,000, with most designated as trainers for the Afghan security forces.

This low-end option was one of four alternatives under consideration by Mr. Obama and his war council at a meeting in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday afternoon. The other three options call for troop levels of around 20,000, 30,000 and 40,000, the three officials said.

Mr. Obama asked General Eikenberry about his concerns during the meeting on Wednesday, officials said, and raised questions about each of the four military options and how they might be tinkered with or changed. A central focus of Mr. Obama’s questions, officials said, was how long it would take to see results and be able to withdraw.

“He wants to know where the off-ramps are,” one official said.

Mr. Obama is expected to mull over his options during a trip to Asia that begins Thursday. He is due back in Washington on Nov. 19 and could announce the policy before Thanksgiving, officials said, but is more likely to wait until early December.

(...)


The officials cited in this report spoke under anonymity.

We wait.

Howard Cosell Here...And That Man Can Sing

Throwing a dedication out to all America's vets.

Marvin Gaye. 1979



Thank you for your service to our country.

The Rothstein Hot Seat



When it comes to ill-gotten gains, no one scatters faster than the recipients (or the perceived recipient of).


The Palm Beach Post (11/8/09):

(...)

Revelations that Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein's nearly $1.4 million in political contributions since 2006 - much of it landing in Tallahassee - might be tainted also chilled the marbled halls of the Capitol and its environs.

(...)

The allegations that Rothstein had bilked investors and the law firm he founded out of as much as $500 million unfolded during a committee week in Tallahassee, just as the indictment against another political rainmaker, Broward County eye doctor Alan Mendelsohn, had a little more than a month before.

Both were generous fund-raisers not just for Gov. Charlie Crist but for politicians of all stripes, as they coughed up cash for campaigns and charities.

Lobbyists, lawmakers and staffers were glued to their BlackBerrys monitoring blog posts as the Rothstein drama unfolded from Monday throughout the week. Developments in the saga dominated chatter in the hangouts surrounding the 22-story Capitol. By late Wednesday, the clientele at the popular watering hole Clyde's and Costello's was whispering about an FBI raid on the offices of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler even as it was going down hundreds of miles away in Fort Lauderdale.

For some, it held the same morbid appeal of watching a train wreck. For others, it posed a more ominous threat.

Flynn observed that some were thinking this "could be happening to me. You never know where these things go."


You never know where these things go.

And with the feds on the money trail, all bets are off. Additionally, with so many ties to South Florida, I'm very interested in what the Palm Beach Post describes as entities.

Those on the hot seat of explaining to do....

(...)

South Florida Republicans whose campaigns received money from Rothstein or entities associated with him include Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach, Sen. Joe Negron of Stuart, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, and Reps. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale, Juan Zapata of Miami and Carlos Lopez-Cantera of Miami, according to state records. (U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Lakeland was mentioned previously in the above cited article).

Rothstein also gave to Democrats, including Sens. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, Jeremy Ring of Margate and Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, along with House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands of Weston and Reps. Martin Kiar of Davie and Evan Jenne of Dania Beach. Jenne's father, disgraced Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne, took a job with the lobbying arm of Rothstein's law firm after he was released from prison last year.

Research more contributions here.

Bob Norman of The Daily Pulp posted his September brush with Mr. Rothstein a couple months back. A brief skim of the interlude fairly sums up why Florida's been caught up in a strangle hold all these years. Read Scott Rothstein Calls Himself "Jewish Avenger," Out to Destroy the Pulp here.

Filling the Void




The void over at the Florida House Public Safety & Domestic Security Committee is beginning to fill with education.

The Miami Herald (11/4/09):

(...)

Marti Harkness, a criminal-justice analyst, told the House Public Safety & Domestic Security Committee that studies from Florida, Minnesota and Colorado showed almost no link between a sex offender's residency and the crime he committed.

But onerous residency restrictions increase the chances that offenders will be homeless, hard to track and more likely to commit new crimes, said Harkness, who works for the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability.

``I'm not suggesting we should feel sorry for them,'' Harkness said. ``But I guess what I am saying is that research shows that to prevent a sex offender from living with their families or [to make them live] farther away from work or treatment because of residency restrictions, you may actually in fact diminish public safety.''

Harkness and the committee members said that more electronic monitoring of sex offenders was a better way to control them.

Under state law, sex offenders can't live within 1,000 feet of schools, day-care centers, parks or other areas where kids congregate. But 148 local governments across the state have imposed stricter requirements -- a 2,500-foot ban.

That has led to a crisis in places like Miami-Dade, where sex offenders live under the Julia Tuttle Bridge between Miami and Miami Beach to comply with the law. Showing a map of Miami-Dade, Harkness pointed out that sex offenders have almost nowhere else to live under a 2,500-foot ban -- except for Miami International Airport.

``You could have them lining the tarmac, I guess,'' Harkness said.

Miami Beach Rep. Luis Garcia, a Democrat and former councilman from Miami Beach who supported his city's ban, took issue with the Harkness report.

``As far as I'm concerned, if you want to send them to Georgia, I would be happy,'' Garcia said.

Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, said lawmakers should apologize for comments like Garcia's and ``knee-jerk'' policies like the residency restrictions.

Said Garcia: ``I'm not going to apologize.''

(...)


BTW. For a state experiencing such huge budgetary deficits, I'd say the purchase of electronic monitoring devices for all forced to register has about as much chance of making the Florida must have list as a fleet of snow plows.

300 Feet



What does a 300 foot buffer zone look like to you?

For St. Johns County, Florida, a child safety zone looks a little something like this:

"...County Commission adopted a Child Safety Zone ordinance prohibiting registered sexual offenders and predators from loitering or prowling within 300 feet of specified locations designed for or used by children."(jacksonville.com, 9/5/2009)

Such areas have been traditionally designated as schools, bus stops (when kids are present), parks, arcades, but believe me, the list can mean whatever an officer of the law could make it out to mean. I would say viewing the upcoming Jim Carrey "A Christmas Carol" could be considered a place where children are known to gather.

Leading me to my point.

I perceive loitering as bandying about an area with no specific purpose. In my opinion, utilizing a boat launch located in a public park or dropping your kid off at school is not loitering. Neither is attending a family reunion in a state park or utilizing a public library, all public facilities persons designated as RSO's support via payment of their tax dollars. (Well, those who are still working....)

Would 300 foot buffer zones permit the legal comings and goings of the above described facilities? Or could loitering become as ill-defined as the catch all phrase "where children gather"?

How Safe Are Trick-or-Treaters?: An Analysis of Child Sex Crime Rates on Halloween




Halloween has never proved one of my favorite holidays.

Certainly as a kid, yes. But I must be one of the few adults who prefers a movie over the macabre because over the years, the true October surprise (IMHO) is the morphing of this larger than life holiday into a favorite second only to Christmas.

For those who love Halloween, yet prove restricted to participation, take heart with the latest research. As taxpayers living in a skeletal economy, this study also raises discussion of how police could be better utilized on this holiday, since RSO family or not, we and our neighbors continue to foot the law enforcement bill.

As reported by TODAY, 10/30/2009:

Sex offenders not a Halloween scare for kids...
Study shows that children are not in extra danger while trick-or-treating

(...)

A new study shows that the public has little to fear from sex offenders on Halloween. The research, published in the September issue of Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, examined 67,307 non-family sex offenses reported to law enforcement in 30 states over nine years.

The researchers wanted to determine whether or not children are in fact at any greater risk for sexual assault around Halloween. The answer was a conclusive no:

"There does not appear to be a need for alarm concerning sexual abuse on these particular days," the researchers state. "Halloween appears to be just another autumn day where rates of sex crimes against children are concerned."

Not only is the hype and fear unwarranted, but the study also suggests extra taxpayer dollars spent monitoring sex offenders on Halloween are wasted. All the mandatory counseling sessions, increased police presence, and so on had no effect at all on the incidence of sexual abuse on Halloween.



---TODAY, 10/30/2009


Listen to the podcast

(SEX ABUSE Chaffin et al. 21: 363)
here.

Dr. Jill Levenson, Lynn University and Detective Robert Schilling, Seattle Police Department are interviewed.

  • States, municipalities, and parole departments have adopted policies banning known sex offenders from Halloween activities, based on the worry that there is unusual risk on these days. The existence of this risk has not been empirically established. National Incident-Base Reporting System crime report data from 1997 through 2005 were used to examine daily population adjusted rates from 67,045 nonfamilial sex crimes against children aged 12 years and less. Halloween rates were compared with expectations based on time, seasonality, and weekday periodicity. Rates did not differ from expectation, no increased rate on or just before Halloween was found, and Halloween incidents did not evidence unusual case characteristics. Findings were invariant across years, both prior to and after these policies became popular. These findings raise questions about the wisdom of diverting law enforcement resources to attend to a problem that does not appear to exist.

SEX ABUSE, Vol. 21, No. 3, 363-374 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1079063209340143

Read

How Safe Are Trick-or-Treaters?:An Anaylsis of Child Sex Crime Rates on Halloween in its entirety here.

Mark Chaffin
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK

Jill Levenson
Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida

Elizabeth Letourneau
Medical University of South Carolina Family Services Research Center,
Charleston, SC

Paul Stern
Snohomish County Prosecutors Office, Everett, WA

(...)

It might be argued that Halloween sex offender policies are worthwhile even if
they prevent only a single child from being victimized. However, this line of reasoning
fails to consider the cost side of the cost–benefit equation. The wide net cast by Halloween laws places some degree of burden on law enforcement officers whose time would otherwise be allocated to addressing more probable dangerous events. For example, a particularly salient threat to children on Halloween comes from motor vehicle accidents. Children aged 5 to 14 years are four times more likely to be killed in a pedestrian–motor vehicle accident on Halloween than on any other day of the year (Centers for Disease Control, 1997). Regarding criminal activity on Halloween, alcohol-related offenses and vandalism are particularly common (Siverts, 2002). Although we do not know the precise amount of law enforcement resources
consumed by Halloween sex offender policies, it will be important for policy makers
to estimate and consider allocation of resources in light of the actual increased risks that exist in other areas, such as pedestrian–vehicle fatalities. Our findings indicated
that sex crimes against children by nonfamily members account for 2 out of every
1,000 Halloween crimes, calling into question the justification for diverting law
enforcement resources away from more prevalent public safety concerns.

(...)



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