Persistence

I want to thank the South Florida Daily Blog for linking to my recent post, Move Over, Julia Tuttle.

F- Smashed Frog details her family's search for housing that is complicated by a family member's status as a sex offender.

I am happy report that the home (well, more a shack at this point) was well over 1000 feet as the crow flies from any day care, school or park. God knows how my family member could fly over or walk through houses to gain access to areas off limit to those convicted of what Florida calls a sex offense these days, but we are definitely using the morality compass as we plan our Sex Offender Tour of Homes.

For those of you who haven't paid a visit to SFDB, it's a great way to start and end your day. Lunch time reading is highly encouraged.

Speaking of encouragement, comments left by two thinkers were especially so. (Read their thoughts here).

I'd like to repost my response.

I'm not asking for pity. I'm asking people to become educated about this issue and question, question, question as both who posted comments have done.

I also ask thinkers to consider how family members suffer the collateral damage of these laws, having committed no crime but to stand in support of a loved one. Yet, their privacy rights are compromised every day.

And as noted by Incertus, "...these sorts of restrictions are unfair because they continue to punish offenders after they've done their time." That's called ex post facto punishment...and that's supposedly unconstitutional in this country.

I would highly recommend the Voice of Reason for those interested in learning more about the research, news, court findings as well as the legality of this issue.

I leave you with a thought expressed by Senator Jim Webb as he introduced S. 714 on 3/26, a bill to establish the National Criminal Justice Commission:

"I start with a premise I do think not a lot of Americans are aware of. We have 5 percent of the world's population. We have 25 percent of the world's known prison population. We have an incarceration rate in the United States, the world's greatest democracy, that is five times as high as the incarceration rate in the rest of the world.

There are only two possibilities. Either we have the most evil people on Earth living in the United States or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice."

Thank you for reading Smashed Frog.

Residency Restrictions Impact Tax Revenue

As most Froggers know, I've joined the ranks of prospective home buyers. In fact, I viewed a house tonight that was in such bad shape, I jumped immediately in the shower upon my return home just to slough off the creepy crawlers, imaginary or otherwise.

I am happy report that the home (well, more a shack at this point) was well over 1000 feet as the crow flies from any day care, school or park. God knows how my family member could fly over or walk through houses to gain access to areas off limit to those convicted of what Florida calls a sex offense these days, but we are definitely using the morality compass as we plan our Sex Offender Tour of Homes.

(While trekking about with the realtor, I had this great idea that perhaps I should open a Bed and Breakfast just for SO's. Not a member of the club? No special designation on your driver's license? No vacancy at the inn, baby.)

Discrimination at its finest.

But enough of my musings and back to the house hunt. I actually found a lovely bungalow for sale with the asking price reduced by $20,000. Unfortunately, with a park within sight and a school down the street, I had broken through the decency perimeter lawmakers have allowed my family.

Which is too bad. I could've purchased the home and within a month or so, been an upstanding Payer of Property Taxes. For a state suffering an economic meltdown due to tax revenue lost because of a sputtering housing market, I'd think anybody's money would be green enough.

But alas, instead the Florida Legislature has chosen to concentrate people behind invisible picket fences and as a result, lost 2000 grand in potential tax dollars payable by moi.

It's about time the cost of legislating morality kicked our state lawmakers in their fiscal behinds.

May cyberpolice hiding behind their avatars be the first to be booted out the budget door.

Move Over, Julia Tuttle

My landlord called a few days back and inferring family difficulties, made me an offer he thought I quite possibly would not refuse. He'd knock a few hundred off my astronomical rent if I'd allow him the use of the back room of the house as his office slash getaway.

I politely declined and immediately, made the decision to buy a home.

Which ain't easy when dealing with residency restrictions, delineating areas where one can live when a loved family member is branded with sex offender status.

When finding a property seemingly within the guidelines, hopes are quickly dashed. A quick Google map of the listed property will turn up something exclusionary, like some innocuous parcel of land meeting park status due to the placement of one bench and a tire swing. Or a "licensed day care" pops up which could be more aptly described as a stay-at-home mother slash teacher on maternity leave acting as a babysitter for her returned to work educator colleagues until her short-term medical benefits run out and by the way, I take cash under the table. That sort of day care.

The properties that appear acceptable are located out in the scrub or in areas of town where most families would never dare call home, due to the number of hookers trolling the boulevard or the shimmer of the sun off the used syringes cast about the sidewalk. But I must reframe my viewpoint of the blight, looking beyond the grime to picture urban renewal or community redevelopment because of the constraints encumbered upon me by Florida state and local politicians who scream protect the children. (Of course, it's fine if my children live in these areas, so call me crazy, if I'm not real certain how the same laws are protecting my kids).

Anyway, blessed with the brand--although I've committed absolutely no crime--I phone my local police department (which is ironic in itself) and ask they run a report of calls made within the last three months to help me determine if I dare consider the risk involved in simply scheduling a viewing of the property. In less than ten minutes, the report is emailed and I find myself pondering whether shots fired might have been just a couple of crazy kids shooting off firecrackers.

I think it might be easier to live under a bridge.

Someday My Prince Will Come

Snow White has moved back in with a bunch of guys, but this time around, it's under a bridge.

Miami's Julia Tuttle Causeway, to be specific.

As reported by the Miami Herald's Fred Grimm, Ms. White is none too happy:

(...)

In a peculiar nod to gender equity, the Florida Department of Corrections informed her last week that she too had only one residency option in Miami-Dade County -- the Tuttle. ''They just give me a blanket and a pillow and sent me . . . here?'' she asked, talking over the incessant thump-thump-thump of the freeway traffic overhead. ``I just broke down.''

A community backward enough to create a subterranean de-facto prison camp of male sex offenders thrusts a single woman into the mix -- just to see what happens.

It's an ironic setting for Voncel Johnson. The 43-year-old woman, who grew up in poverty and neglect in the Brownsville section of Miami, told me she was sexually molested at age 6 and gang-raped at 16. ''I have a hard time trusting men,'' she said.

In 2004, Johnson pleaded guilty to a charge of lewd and lascivious exhibition (without physical contact) with a minor. She claimed Monday the charge was unfounded but at the time a plea offer with one year probation and no prison time seemed prudent. Except she twice failed to meet sex-offender registration requirements. Her probation was revoked. She did 10 months at Broward Correctional Institute.

(...)

She repeated a common refrain -- sometimes delusional -- among the bridge outcasts. ``I never would have done that plea deal if I'd known they'd send me here. I could've fought those charges.''

For those branded with sex offender status, when struggling with residency restrictions in attempt to find housing, it's a small world after all.

Bill McCollum's Face

Everyone's a critic.

Including Jaemi Levine.

The South Florida resident and founder of Mothers Against Predators supports cybercrime messenger Bill McCollum, but wastes no time taking pot shots at his message.

None too impressed with what the Attorney General is attempting to pass off as what walks like a public service announcement but talks like a campaign ad, Levine had this to say about that.

''I can't imagine spending that kind of money on an ad that doesn't get anything across except Bill McCollum's face.''(Miami Herald, 3/24/09)

Next P.R. bit, McCollum will plaster his mug on the side of milk cartons statewide and justify the move as some sort of Amber Alert on missing kids.

Mr. Bill's $1.4 million ad targeting online cybercrime was awarded to a former campaign advisor through a no-bid contract. The FL GOP is now crying "partisan witchhunt", which is a hugely ironic catch phrase from the same team who slapped thousands of faces online via state registries for cybercrimes created by cybercops.

Armed with a keyboard, a donut and the skills to pass one's self off as a 15-year-old, voila! A political witchhunt rivaling Senator Joseph McCarthy's own red paintbrush.

For the truth about online safety, review the current research here.

Against All Odds

Liam Neeson and Vanessa Redgrave

I thought this photo starkly beautiful in its tragedy, but yet inspirational, a tribute to those who support a loved one in the aftermath.

Many who frequent this blog support family members who somehow manage to get out of bed every single morning and place one foot in front of another, despite the societal and legal odds against them.

It is those who suffer the heavy hand of ignorance alongside the loved one--the family members who have committed no wrong but have lost just as much--who pull the husband, the wife, the child, the branded--through the isolation of an overpowering daily grief.

Someone once said, "At different states in our lives, the signs of love may vary: dependence, attraction, contentment, worry, loyalty, grief, but at the heart, the source is always the same. Human beings have the rare capacity to connect with each other, against all odds."

The grief rings resolute in the fierce determination to undue the political wrongs against our families.

Today, we honor those who offer the shoulders, who keep the light on and the candle lit.

Ex Post Facto

Funny how ex post facto was no problem with everyday America when the Adam Walsh Act was passed, but now considered terribly "unconstitutional" when applied to AIG ?

Reaching back retroactively to snatch back what's left of someone's reputation to fill the public registries with those who have paid their debt to society is somehow okay, but to snatch back a bonus specified in a contract, that's unthinkable, unconstitutional and quite ironic.

Repeal the Adam Walsh Act.

Drop and Give Me Twenty

Can you hear me now?

Camera phones are becoming quite the scourge of our society.

Most stories involve sexting and the ultimate charge/conviction (can anyone say wrongful) of teens under child pornography laws.

But this story features a gym teacher who continued to bring his phone into the boy's locker room after parents "thought" the teacher might be taking pictures of the students in various states of undress.

I'll state the obvious.

Stupid. Yes.

But.....

If pictures were saved to the phone, losing his job would be the least of this teacher's worries.

In fact, the incident was investigated and closed.

Sounds to me like this guy is getting fired for what other people think happened although it didn't.

Think of it as a public stoning by the Thought Police.

Read the entire story here.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Be safe out there.

AIG Plays Ball

West Palm is the halfway point between the two areas of Florida I call home---the hell called Central Florida and the tropical hell called South Florida (and I do say that with love).

Anyway this past weekend, my mom and brother met me at one of WP's upscale malls for lunch. Afterwards, while zenning over a synchronized fountain and watching the beautiful people shop, a kid walks back us wearing a vivid red AIG tee-shirt with the name of a soccer team emblazoned across the back.

Knowing that AIG has been under fire to address the burning question--where did all the money go?--I turned to my family and deadpanned, "I think we paid for that kid's shirt."

What else is funny, in a not so ha-ha way. The feds have no problem handing over our registered loved ones' tax money to give away to this bottomless pit, while standing in silent support of residency requirements through the provision of state grant funding that restricts same said tax payer from living near a community park to watch or attend a kid's soccer game.

Just one of many ironic governmental twists when a citizen is granted the status of persona non grata.

Read more about AIG's explanation here.

Read Jill Levenson's work regarding residency restrictions here.

Listening In on the SORNA Hearings

As the March 10th congressional hearing plays in the background while I post, I'd like to give kudos to sdp123a for being the first to upload the video online.

I'd also like to suggest the read of a post by Laurie Peterson, who attended the hearings. Over at Citizens for Change, Peterson writes about her discussion held with Mark Lunsford that same day.

"...After taking a seat next to Mary (in the 2nd row!) I approached Mark Lunsford. I indicated that my husband was on the registry for life for a teenage consensual offense, much like his son would have faced if it were not for Mark's intervention. Mark indicated that his son served 10 days, but did still plea to a felony. He said that he advised OH prosecutors that he would expose every sex offense case where they gave a lenient sentence to a true sex offender if they treated his son like one of those predators. And so, his son avoided registration..."

"...a true sex offender..." You see, even Lunsford knows. Many listed on the nation's registries have no business being there. (Read how the rest of Laurie's conversation went with ML here. Also, I have to give Lunsford a sarcastic kudo for revictimizing his daughter's tragic death by choosing to wear a tie depicting her face as he testified before the hearing. Classy).

I'd also like to point out that another soul from Citizen of Change posted their opinion over at Daily Kos and were subsequently dismissed by two who bothered to comment at all. (I put my two cents in here.) But take it from this Frog who has stopped posting to the Kos pond a long time ago....in a way, the two comments shout volumes. My past attempts to educate that crowd fell on the truly uneducated ears of those who stood unafraid to blast their ignorance in those initial dark days. Their silence today reflects the education by the grassroots is being heard.

And that word continues to be heard as evidenced by these links post-hearing.

After finding out the hard way that I could not stop and start the video (heavy sigh) my initial impressions of the minority thus far is their refusal to let go of the Friendly Stranger myth.

But to scramble a quote from Shakespeare, they "....doth protest too much, methinks."

Why? As suggested by the prosecutor from Louisiana, "the devil lies in the details."

And from what I'm hearing as the video drones on, those details lie with the construction of this Act itself. Not by lawmakers, but by a couple of employees from the SMART office who drafted the guidelines. With no staffing and short-handed, with no funding to hire, somewhere along the line somebody made a decision to hey, let's go ahead and write it anyway. IMHO, that's criminal.

As I close this post, the statement "...not all sex offenders are alike...." is voiced before the Subcommittee. With thoughts of those who have worked so hard to hear this simple truth (among others) spoken before those responsible for the misery placed upon our loved ones while burdening our innocent families with collateral damage, I remain ever hopeful.

I listen on.

see more pwn and owned pictures

FL AG Bill McCollum's Use (Misuse?) of Public Safety Money

Florida Democrats are on to Bill McCollum's cyber crime fighting.

According to the those who see the world more blue than red, the AG's "...long-running television ad promoting awareness about Internet predators"...looks suspiciously like "...a thinly disguised campaign commercial using state funds."

Per the Miami Herald's Political Currents:

The same Philadelphia-based firm that worked on McCollum's 2006 campaign got two no-bid contracts totaling $1.4 million to produce the ad and buy television time statewide.

''Our cybercrime unit is doing everything possible to catch these predators, but we need the help of parents and grandparents -- your help,'' McCollum says in the ad, before directing viewers to his website on Internet crime at www.safeflorida.net. It's not unusual for politicians to appear in public service announcements, but McCollum's use of his longtime campaign ad man raised hackles among some Democrats.

''He's using money that should be promoting public safety to promote himself,'' said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff.

Asked to respond, McCollum, a Republican, said, ``I think they're thinking too much about politics and not enough about kids and families.''

Really, Bill? How about the politics swirling about kids and families sequestered by Florida's state, local and hyperlocal residency restriction laws? Or do those citizens count?

There's more. (Isn't there always?)

McCollum's chief of staff, Joe Jacquot, said the office could hire McCollum's former campaign media consultant, Chris Mottola, without competitive bids under an ''artistic services'' exemption for state contracts.

State Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Palm Beach County Democrat and potential candidate for attorney general, said McCollum is relying on a rarely used loophole meant to apply to works of art.

The 30-second ad features McCollum speaking directly to the camera, with children walking school hallways and using a laptop in the background.

`GRAY AREA'

''It's a gray area whether the artistic exemption should apply. That's something the Legislature should revisit,'' Aronberg said.

Jacquot said Mottola obtained a 5 percent discount from TV stations. Mattola's cut amounted to 10 percent of the cost of the television time, plus about $38,000 for production. That means Mottola earned about $136,000 on the deal -- more than the $87,511 he was paid by McCollum during the 2006 campaign.

The ad is scheduled to air for two weeks starting Wednesday from Miami to West Palm Beach in English and Spanish. It ran in South Florida for part of January and all of February, and for six weeks over the summer in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Panama City and Gainesville.

Kyra Jennings, a spokeswoman for Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, said, ``The state is in the midst of a budget crisis right now, and the CFO is concerned that spending state funds on television ads at this time may not be the most appropriate use.''

And better yet, the Herald takes a slap at Bill's "fuzzy" statistics.

Seventy-seven million children go online every day. One out of seven will be solicited for sex.''

That sounds like 11 million kids are getting propositioned every day. But McCollum is melding numbers from two different sources: a U.S. Department of Justice estimate of children online nationwide, along with a survey of 1,500 children backed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that found one in seven had been asked for sex online over the past year.

But the BEST BEST part was the Herald's mention of a certain study that might take a bite out of Bill's cyber crime political run for any office he is potentially considering.

A recent report by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University said bullying by peers is the most common threat to minors online.

In a written response to the study, McCollum said it was based on outdated research and a lack of input from law enforcement. The study ``minimizes the actual risks children currently face online, even though the sexual solicitation of children online is still rampant, distribution of horrific pornography involving small children remains enormous, and the unlimited spread of materials most parents would find harmful to children of all ages is completely unfiltered and prolific.''

Yep. As evidenced by that teen now lives as a sex offender for sexting. That--in any other century proceeding this one--would be considered....bullying. Which of course, proves the point of the Berkman report.

D-OH! Send Bill McCollum home to his own little world.

Frog Me! AWA Hearing Fades to Black!

Well, if you can froggin' believe it, about three seconds into the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Hearings on Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA): Barriers to Timely Compliance by States, the dang feed went to black.

Aaaggrrrhhh!

So, I had to settle for the Witness List read, which actually sounded sort of promising in their own self-serving way.

I also ran across a post over at PCMag--States Failing to Comply with Sex Offender Registry--where Rep.(and Chair) Bobby Scott asks the obvious...

Rep. Scott questioned whether an expensive registry would help reduce crime.

"I don't think there'd be much question in the minds of the states [about implementation] if they were convinced that it would have a significant impact on crime," he said.

(I love this guy).

Also, seems like the development of a task force "...to examine the practical effects of the Act on public safety and possible reform to address the concerns raised here and those recommended by the task force..." is a possibility.

But...

...nothing is as great as being there, so if anyone downloaded the video, please feel free to post the link. Also, I'd love to hear your thoughts, observations, who was there, (specifically Deb Wasserman Schultz) who wasn't, what you thought, etc. etc. etc.

I want to know!

Witness List Highlights

The Majority

Emma J. Devillier
Asst. Attorney General
Criminal Division
Office of the Attorney General of LA
Chief Sexual Predator Unit
Baton Rouge, LA

"We, however, believe very strongly that SORNA, did not get it right.
SORNA is not the pinnacle of good public policy where sex offender tracking is
concerned. In fact, in some respects it is not good policy at all."

FIRST HURDLE: LACK OF TIMELY AND ACCURATE GUIDANCE
SECOND HURDLE: GUIDELINES ARE NOT PRACTICAL
THIRD HURDLE: SMART OFFICE DETERMINATION THAT SUBSTANTIAL COMPLIANCE MEANS ACTUAL (STRICT) COMPLIANCE
FOURTH HURDLE: RETROACTIVE APPLICATION OF THE ACT

***

Madeline Carter
Principal
Center for Sex Offender Management
Center for Effective Public Policy
Silver Spring, MD

Point #1: Sex offender policy and practice should be evidence based
Point #2: Not all sex offenders are alike. (No kidding?)
Point #3: Risk assessment is an important tool in our management arsenal. If a one size fits all approach is not appropriate, we need a way to distinguish among sex offenders.
Point #4: There is no silver bullet.
Point #5: We should use the lessons of research and experience to build a better, stronger approach to reducing victimization.

***

Det. Robert Shilling
Seattle Police Department, Sex and Kidnapping Offender Detail
Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit
Seattle, WA

"Prior to becoming a detective in the Special Victims Unit, I like many citizens, believed the only way to manage sex offenders was to put them on a distant island where they couldn’t victimize anyone else. My feelings were naïve, yet a heartfelt response to a very complex problem. (...)"

"I’ve trained law enforcement officers from all over the world in the art of educating the community about sex offenders. I’ve stated: “You can’t do community notification without community education. To do so is like smoking a cigarette while standing in a pool of gasoline.” Without education there’s misinformation. Misinformation leads to heightened anxiety, which in some cases, leads to vigilantism. The community deserves to know who the high-risk sex offenders are in the community, about the relatively low sex offender recidivism rates, and what research tells us. Citizens can and will act responsibly if we are honest with them. They are better able to protect themselves and their loved ones when we educate them about sex offenders."

"I ask that you consider how the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) impacts the public safety aims of effectively managing sex offenders in the community. The SORNA does not mandate community education as a component of community notification. This is a recipe for disaster and leaves citizens trying to sort out fact from myth, truth from emotion, and what to do next. This creates public safety concerns and does not have the citizens invested in offender success. It has the opposite effect."

***

Amy Borror
Public Information Officer
Office of the Ohio Public Defender
Columbus, OH

"Sex offender registration and notification laws are supposed to be forward-looking, aimed at protecting the public from future crimes. Risk-based systems, like Ohio’s prior scheme, do a much better job of addressing the stated aim of sex offender registries: protecting the public from future criminal acts.

In its position paper on the Adam Walsh Act, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence(NAESV), a victim advocacy organization that conducts the public policy work of state sexual assault coalitions and rape crisis centers, states that, “over-inclusive public notification can actually be harmful to public safety by diluting the ability to identify the most dangerous offenders and by disrupting the stability of low-risk offenders in ways that may increase their risk of re-offense. Therefore, NAESV believes that internet disclosure and community notification should be limited to those offenders who pose the highest risk of re-offense.”

"The Adam Walsh Act, however, is not concerned with the likelihood of future crimes. It looks only at past offenses and labels offenders based on those past offenses, without considering what those offenders might do in the future."

"The effects of the Adam Walsh Act, once implemented, contravene the Act’s well-intentioned goals. An act intended to unify registries across the country has instead placed an incredible burden on courts and law enforcement and created confusion from one jurisdiction to another. A law aimed at protecting children from sexual predators instead places thousands of juveniles, many of whom have been sexually abused, on an online registry and into harm’s way. A system meant to simplify sex offender classification has instead muddled the meaning of offenders’ designations, and left the public to only speculate about which prior offenders might pose a future risk."

The Minority

Ernie Allen
President & Chief Executive Officer
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Alexandria, VA

"In our judgment, providing such funding is the key to being able to finally implement this critical system. However, with the compliance date looming and with essentially no funding having been provided to date, we think it imperative that Congress act to keep the Adam Walsh Act alive by extending the deadline for compliance and reauthorizing the statute."

Mark Lunsford
Father of Jessica Lunsford
the Victim of a Sex Offense
Homasassa, FL

"In Florida, the law is so slacked that the public is only notified of sexual offenders, and thatis at the discretion of each sheriffs department. The public is not notified when a sexualpredator moves, (sic)" (BTW, the notification statement is a flat lie).

AWA Hearings Tuesday, March 10, 2:00 p.m.

In anticipation of the legislative hearing on the Adam Walsh Act’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) scheduled Tuesday, March 10th at 2:00 pm (Read more here: Dear Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Your Attendance at the AWA Hearings is Requested...), I wanted to pass along a link to the history behind the passage. Read everything you wanted to know about the morphology of the AWA here.

Also, watch tomorrow's hearing live here.

The New York Times ran an article 3/8/09--Effort to Track Sex Offenders Draws Resistance-- reporting what should have been reported some time back, but at least it's in print at this point. Definitely worth a read. For all those John Walsh watchers who may have been wondering what he's thinking right about now, well, this is what he told the NYT:

John Walsh, Adam’s father and the host of the television show “America’s Most Wanted,” said the law was vital to monitoring sex offenders but suggested Congress postpone the compliance deadline. Mr. Walsh said the many obstacles — most recently the recession, which has made it tough for some states to pay for the law’s provisions — need more time to be worked out.

He warned, however, that delays come with a cost. Criminals like Mr. Duncan, who has been sentenced to death, are glaring examples of why the law must succeed, he said.

“As long as it isn’t fully funded and implemented,” Mr. Walsh said, “the bad guys can still float through the country and commit horrible crimes.”

Typical.

As far as "horrible crimes", I'm certain Mr. Walsh didn't appreciate the following citation one paragraph above his quote.

There are also concerns that the law does not take into account the individual circumstances of each sex offender, including the likelihood of committing more crimes. Instead, it lumps all offenders into broad levels of dangerousness based on the crime for which they were convicted, allowing, the law’s critics say, the worst offenders to blend in with less threatening ones.

People are listening.

Take the time today to phone or fax an invite to members of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, especially if any such member represents your state.

Check out my letter to sweet Deb Wasserman Schultz, District 20 here.


MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

DEMOCRATS

Rep. Bobby Scott, Chair (VI, 3rd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-8351

Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi (Puerto Rico) - Telephone: (202) 225-2615

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY, 8th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5635

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA, 16th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3072

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX, 18th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3816

Rep. Maxine Waters (CA, 35th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-2201

Rep. Steve Cohen (TN, 9th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3265

Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY, 9th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6616

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL, 20th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-7931


REPUBLICANS

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX, 1st District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3035

Rep. Ted Poe (TX, 2nd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6565

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VI, 6th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5431

Rep. Daniel Lungren (CA, 3rd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5716

Rep. J. Randy Forbes (VI, 4th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6365

Rep. Thomas Rooney (FL, 16th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5792

Dear Representative Wasserman Schultz: Your Attendance at the AWA Hearings is Requested: March 10th, 2:00 PM

The Honorable Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL, 20th District)
U.S. House of Representatives
118 Cannon H.O.B
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-7931
Fax: 202-226-2052

March 7, 2009

Dear Representative Wasserman Schultz:

As a member of the Florida Progressive Coalition, as an activist and as a Floridian with great concerns regarding the legislation of human dignity, it is my request you attend the Tuesday, March 10th legislative hearing on the Adam Walsh Act’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). It is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

As a Member of the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Judiciary Committee, I encourage you to support the goals of the hearing:

- to consider the issues and insurmountable barriers posed by the call for SORNA compliance by states;

- to consider how SORNA may impact public safety aims;

- to examine current research and best practices for the assurance of public safety;

- to seek alternatives to the SORNA for effective sex offender management;

- to push back the date for final compliance with the SORNA;

- to establish research committees to examine the variety of issues both
logistical/practical and in terms of the effectiveness of the public safety aims
of the SORNA, including but not limited to how SORNA impacts juveniles, the use of actuarial risk assessment-based tiering of sex offenders v. offense-based tiering, the impact of the demand for SORNA implementation in sovereign Indian nations, and the possible legal issues and ramifications of SORNA implementation; and

- to consider possible statutory reform of the SORNA portion of the Adam Walsh Act.

Thank you.

Sunny/Smashed Frog
Faxed/Posted/Emailed: 3/7/09

Congress to Hear Testimony on the Adam Walsh Act, March 10, 2009

The Adam Walsh Act Working Group would like to inform you of a LEGISLATIVE HEARING

on

The Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act's Sex Offender Registration and
Notification Act (SORNA): Barriers to Timely Compliance by States By Direction
of U.S. Representative Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Chairman of the U.S. House
Judiciary's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security


DATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009

PLACE: Capitol Hill, 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

TIME: 2:00 p.m.

WITNESSESS:

Majority

Amy Borror, Public Information Officer, Office of the Ohio Public Defender

Madeline Carter, Director, Center for Sex Offender Management, Center for Effective Public Policy

Emma Devillier, Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana, Chief Sexual PredatorUnit

Robert Shilling, Detective, Seattle Police Department

Minority

Ernie Allen, Executive Director, National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children

Mark Lunsford, Father of Jessica Lunsford

MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME OF THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

DEMOCRATS

Rep. Bobby Scott, Chair (VI, 3rd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-8351

Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi (Puerto Rico) - Telephone: (202) 225-2615

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (NY, 8th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5635

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA, 16th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3072

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (TX, 18th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3816

Rep. Maxine Waters (CA, 35th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-2201

Rep. Steve Cohen (TN, 9th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3265

Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY, 9th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6616

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL, 20th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-7931


REPUBLICANS

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX, 1st District) - Telephone: (202) 225-3035

Rep. Ted Poe (TX, 2nd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6565

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VI, 6th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5431

Rep. Daniel Lungren (CA, 3rd District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5716

Rep. J. Randy Forbes (VI, 4th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-6365

Rep. Thomas Rooney (FL, 16th District) - Telephone: (202) 225-5792

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A live video webcast available at:

http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/calendar.html

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, D.C. March 5, 2009

U.S. Congress to hear testimony regarding the Adam Walsh Act

On Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 2:00 p.m., the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Congress will hear testimony regarding the Adam Walsh Act (AWA) in a public hearing at 2141 Rayburn House Office Building.

The Adam Walsh Act Working Group (AWAWG) is comprised of national and tribal organizations and experts whose goal is the establishment of effective policies to protect children from sexual violence. The members of AWAWG support the legislative hearing as means of examining the difficulties government agencies are experiencing in trying to come into compliance with the law, and the Act's unintended consequences and uncertain public safety gains. Complying with the AWA carries large costs for states struggling with budget shortfalls, while the burdens on law enforcement
and the impact of registration for families--particularly for youth who appear on registries-- undermine the law's intended purpose and impede the outcome of ensuring public safety. The AWA has also raised serious questions about implementation and compliance for sovereign Indian nations.

The Adam Walsh Act Working Group is asking policymakers to push back the deadline for requiring state compliance with AWA until Congress has an opportunity to thoroughly review the evidence related to the effectiveness of the requirements of the law and to consider possible statutory reform.

AWA mandates (via penalties for non-compliance) that states participate in a national registry of people convicted of sex offenses and expands the type of offenses for which a person must register. Registration applies to both adults and children aged 14 or older convicted of certain offenses. "In the push to protect children from sexual violence, lawmakers have cast the net so wide that some children are branded as sexual predators and placed on sex offense registries, in some cases, for the rest of their lives," says Nicole Pittman of the Defender Association of Philadelphia and representing the National Juvenile Defender Center. "This is inconsistent with the goals of the juvenile justice system, and doesn't take into account that children are different than adults and are the most responsive to treatment."

In the last two years, states have analyzed the financial costs of complying with AWA and many have concluded that the costs and requirements of implementation may far exceed the penalties for noncompliance and, indeed, may exceed requirements in the Act itself. The deadline for compliance is July 2009. Furthermore, given that the AWA is duplicative of requirements under many states' own sex offender registries, this burden of compliance with the federal statute may actually hinder public safety.

"The new requirements of the Adam Walsh act will place additional financial strain on our already cash strapped state budget," said Anne Jordan, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety and National Criminal Justice Association Advisory Council member. Tracy Velázquez, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute added, "States may have to choose between implementing these new regulations and the practices that have already been proven to be effective in protecting public safety. The Act also limits states' discretion in doing what they think is right in this very sensitive area of justice."

The Adam Walsh Act, as it is currently written, does not utilize the evidence-based practices that both states and researchers have found to be effective tools in preventing sexual violence and holding accountable people who have been convicted of sexual offenses. "State struggles with compliance are bringing to light the misalignment of AWA with what is known about sexual violence prevention and intervention," says Alisa Klein of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.

The hearing, called by Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Crime, will be the first public hearing held for the Adam Walsh Act, which was passed in 2006. The hearing will include testimony from:

Majority

- Amy Borror, Public Information Officer, Office of the Ohio Public Defender

- Madeline Carter, Director, Center for Sex Offender Management, Center for
Effective Public Policy

- Emma Devillier, Assistant Attorney General of Louisiana; Chief, Sexual
Predator Unit

- Robert Shilling, Detective, Seattle Police Department, Sex and Kidnapping
Offender Detail and Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit, Interpol Specialists
Group on Crimes Against Children

Minority

- Ernie Allen, Executive Director, National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children

- Mark Lunsford, father of Jessica Lunsford

The Adam Walsh Act Working Group, which is continuing to attract a growing number of organizations and experts across a number of professional disciplines concerned with the prevention of sexual violence and the protection of children, currently includes the following members:

Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers The Council of State Governments CURE Defender Association of Philadelphia Justice Policy Institute National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers National Congress of American Indians National Conference of State Legislators National Criminal Justice Association National Juvenile Defender Center Office of the Ohio Public Defender

***

“Therapy works for these people. Let them be punished for their crimes, let them out and let them get on with their lives. Let them work. Let them have stable homes and families and let them live in peace. Harassing them, making them move and continually punishing them does far more harm than good. A sex offender in therapy with a job and a place to live is less of a threat than one that is constantly harassed.”

— Robert Shilling, Detective, Seattle, WA Crimes Against Children Division

What You Can Do.

Please contact the Members of Congress below who sit on the House Judiciary
Committee's Subcommittee on Crime. Please call their offices, especially if you
are from the state or district of one of them, and share with them (or their
staff members) the following "talking points":

- State your name and address, and if you care to, the work that you do in preventing sexual abuse and working on sex offender treatment, management, and research issues

- "I would like to encourage Representative _____________ to attend the Tuesday, March 10th legislative hearing on the Adam Walsh Act's Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). It is at 2:00 p.m."

- I encourage Representative ______________ to support the goals of the hearing:

- to consider the issues and insurmountable barriers posed by the call for SORNA compliance by states;

- to consider how SORNA may impact public safety aims;

- to examine current research and best practices for the assurance of public safety;

- to seek alternatives to the SORNA for effective sex offender management;

- to push back the date for final compliance with the SORNA;

- to establish research committees to examine the variety of issues both
logistical/practical and in terms of the effectiveness of the public safety aims

of the SORNA, including but not limited to how SORNA impacts juveniles, the use of actuarial risk assessment-based tiering of sex offenders v. offense-based tiering, the impact of the demand for SORNA implementation in sovereign Indian nations, and the possible legal issues and ramifications of SORNA implementation; and

- to consider possible statutory reform of the SORNA portion of the Adam Walsh Act.

It's About the Homeless, Mr. Book

BREAKING NEWS!

Remember Bobby Scott, the single Representative who voted against the Adam Walsh Act?

Now Chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, Representative Scott will hold the first legislative hearing on the Adam Walsh Act.

More details tomorrow on what you can do....but if I'm grabbed by alien sometime between now and then, hang on to this...

DATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 2009

PLACE: Capitol Hill, 2141 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

TIME: 2:00 p.m.

Live video webcast available on the Committee's website here.

And if you just cannot wait, read more over at Constitutional Fights-Repeal the Adam Walsh Act Laws!




I'm not certain what's going on over at the Miami Herald, but the last few months, the paper has actually been worth bringing up online to read. Whatever is happening, keep it up.

Bringing me to MH columnist Fred Grimm. And Ron Book.

Froggers who follow my ramblings know that Mr. Book is forever financially secure as a successful Florida lobbyist. He is--as we say--connected to the max and because of that, has used his power to lobby a devastating personal blow to an extreme legislative level, influencing lawmakers--again successfully--to support child protection laws based on dated research.

If that's not enough, back at home, Book has managed to hold positions of local power to ensure compliance with personally important passed laws. Currently, he serves as chair of the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust.

The mission of the Trust is simple. To Eliminate Homelessness in Miami-Dade County.

Unfortunately, Mr. Book seems to think that mission is inapplicable to a group required to register as sex offenders camped out under the Julia Tuttle Causeway--living under the span due to the inability to find affordable housing in Miami--due to city/county residency restrictions that overlap state law, actions which Mr. Book supported and which obviously contradict in his current focus on the homeless.

The Herald's Mr. Grimm calls out Book in his column, provided below in its entirety as such great opinion pieces have a tendency to disappear from our online world.

"If those people aren't employable, if they don't have financial resources, that's an issue of their criminal convictions. There are people convicted for other offenses who have similar difficulty finding housing.''

--Ron Book

Lobbyist pushed laws that push outcasts into homelessness

BY FRED GRIMM

3/4/09

In the bowels of the Julia Tuttle Causeway, an ever-growing number of community outcasts live amid the putrescence of a shocking community failure.

No fresh water. No toilets. No trash dumpster. And no indication, after two years watching a public disgrace metastasize into a public health hazard, that the $41 million-a-year Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust would intervene.

Wednesday afternoon, I called and left a message for Homeless Trust Director David Raymond. The call was returned by the ubiquitous Ron Book.

Book, among his many incarnations, serves as chairman of the Homeless Trust. But the colony of sex offenders beneath the bridge were essentially forced into homelessness by a burst of overlapping city and county residency restrictions championed by this same Ron Book.

Book, the most powerful lobbyist in South Florida, pushed for sex-offender restrictions in town after town. When Book pushes a city commission, he gets results.

LAWS DEFENDED

I wanted to know why the Homeless Trust hasn't provided a few basic necessities for a homeless camp. It was the wrong Book to ask. He launched into a defense of the laws that put them there. And he claimed that the restrictions leave three areas in the county not yet off limits for sex offenders.

But Greta Plessinger of the Florida Department of Corrections said those areas just aren't affordable. ``The bottom line is that we've been working with the offenders, but we haven't been able to find a legal place for them to live that they can afford.''

Book countered, ``If those people aren't employable, if they don't have financial resources, that's an issue of their criminal convictions. There are people convicted for other offenses who have similar difficulty finding housing.''

Except other convicts aren't forced to live under a bridge.

The colony has burgeoned to 48 men, living in tents, scrap-wood shacks, rusting campers, the back seats of cars. Thirty-three are on probation, most after serving prison terms. The others are forced to live there because, under Florida law, ''sex offender'' becomes a life-long designation.

Plessinger said that residency laws intended to protect the public have the perverse effect of making ex-sex offenders more difficult for DOC to monitor. ``We're concerned that it's more dangerous. That homeless sex offenders are more likely to abscond.''

WHY NO TRASH DUMPSTER?

Most social scientists, and studies by corrections officials in Minnesota and Colorado, have come to the same conclusion. But the wisdom of residency laws was beside the point. All I wanted to know was why the Homeless Trust, which has done so much heroic work for Miami's transient population, hasn't at least provided a trash dumpster for the Tuttle outcasts.

Book said no. He has a policy against providing services (such as outdoor feedings) that enable the homeless to remain adrift. Except laws that Book championed preclude ex-sex offenders from entering a homeless shelter.

The men have been banished to a dank permanent netherworld that Book, as much as anyone, helped create. Shouldn't the trust do something?

''You should pose that question to the Department of Corrections,'' Book insisted. ``They put those people there.''

A Nation of Agoraphobics?

A friend of a friend of a friend told me about his friend who recently enrolled her son in an elementary public school after many years of attending a Montessori counterpart.

Good public school. Lots of NCLB credentials, A-school, the whole nine yards of my school is better than your school.

After attending one semester, the parent decided to home school the kid to address her learning style. Apparently, once Montessori, always Montessori.

Holding nothing against home education or any sort of alternative instruction, I still have to ask... When does a kid get back on the bus and head back into school, i.e. the real world? But after thinking about it, the answer is actually never.

A child can be home-schooled K-12, attend an online college and these days, jobs of the future can be conducted via computer. And from what I hear about Second Life, relationships have gone virtual in a big way.

Looks like technology is creating a society of recluses, without the whole cool hermit stigma.

Plugging Up Rush

I have discovered the joy of ear plugs.

And I'm not the first. Slate's Ulrich Boser describes the turn down service as having "reached nirvana". The writer happily dwells in self-imposed silence for sometimes up to 16 hours a day.

Anyway, I roll two every night, thread cautiously through my ear canals, and boom! (or not)...

...I'm living inside a sea shell.

For now, this light sleeper only indulges this exclusionary sport in a search for the ever fleeting solid eight hours (I'll take six) of slumber every evening around 10 PM.

Which brings me to my dog. The terrier mix will bark at anything at moves outside the plate glass front window separating her from the natural environment called a busy neighborhood. Whatever it was yesterday--animal, biker, jogger, dog walker--the girl lit into sporadic engagement of interval yelping.

I turned on the Dog Whisperer, a show guaranteed to engage her interest. Something about the trainer transfixes the canine and typically, her owner, hypnotized by his inner doggy zen. To my chagrin, the episode had just ended, so I surfed away from whispering to heckling.

Chris Matthews' Hardball. My thinking? If I increased the volume to just the right tone, his screeching and the dog's barking would synchronize to the perfect decibel pitch and completely drown each other out. A sort of audio neutralization.

Until the shouting turned to Rush Limbaugh. One HA! and the pup's under my computer chair, quivering from a Matthews bleat. Looking at me with her liquid brown eyes, I could almost read the thoughts from a mind typically engaged in scenarios featuring the quick lunge at strangers who walk too close to her mom or the perfection of the chase of small squirrels up a tree. Make them stop talking about this insignificant mouthpiece. Please.

As much as I enjoy hearing the Left, let's make it relevant, shall we?

I reach for my ear plugs and consider offering my sweet girl a couple for herself.

Tough Choices for Florida

Where are the jobs in Florida? And why so expensive to live in this Beautiful State of Mine?

Two good questions asked yesterday by a Frogger hot on the pursuit of the answer to my incessant question--What in the heck happened to Paradise?

My fingers point to a Republican-majority state legislature, held since the days of Walkin' Lawton Chiles. But let's get beyond my basic distaste for those who have strangled the life out of this land I love and take a look at what FSU's LeRoy Collins Institute has to offer via Tough Choices:Update 2009.

Where are the jobs?

Construction has gone bust.

Construction jobs in Florida have dropped off sharply since a 2006 high.... As we noted in Tough Choices:Update 2008, Florida income per resident actually increasedfrom 2004-2006 and was largely attributed to construction following the real estate/hurricane rebuilding boom, which provided relatively well paying jobs for many Floridians. Butthis boom has come to an abrupt halt. As the housing bust of 2008 hit Florida and continues to trickle down, many families have found themselves out of a job and out of a home. Florida had the nation’s second highest foreclosure rate with one in twenty-two housing units in the state receiving at least one foreclosure notice. Few expect to see much relief for the state and its homeowners in 2009.

Broke people don't do Disneyworld.

Florida has traditionally relied on tourism as a large source of funding. Without the inflow of money from other sources (such as a state income tax), Florida is reliant on tourism to meet many of its budgetary needs. But tourism is unlikely to sustain Florida through hard economic times. ...growth in tourists slowed significantly in 2005. Florida benefits from taxing tourists on purchases, entertainment, meals, and gasoline. Localities benefit from hotel taxes. Both have been adversely affected by the national economic woes. For example, in November 2008, Orange County (Orlando) saw its hotel-tax collections fall by more than 13% over November 2007—the sixth straight month that tax collections had fallen in that tourist mecca.

Where is the money?

Can't tax what's not there.

Florida has experienced a recurring general revenue reduction of 17.1% over the last three years and will experience a continuing decline until at least 2010. The coming year’s (2009-2010) budget shortfall is more than $5 billion despite a $6 billion reduction in the state budget over the past three years... Cuts have come in critical areas such as health care and education.

(...)

A myriad of factors plays a role in the drop in revenues. Since Florida relies so heavily on the sales tax, when citizens curtail their buying and when the number of tourists falls, ourrevenues respond in kind. Of course the recent housing woes have also adversely affected our tax yield and the number of jobs in the state.

Growth has always saved Florida's rear; however, "...in July of 2008 the United States
Census Bureau reported that 9,300 more citizens left Florida than moved in during the previous 12 months...."

I can vouch for that. As many Florida boomers see the big "R" rise over the retirement hill, most of us are looking to pull up stakes and head elsewhere.

Preferably somewhere where the living is easier and life can be lived among the free. (And I'm taking my retirement with me).

The Florida Legislature Heads to Work

A few fun facts as the Florida legislature heads into session on this very day--

Per the Gainesville Sun:

(...)

Florida has the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation. Tourism has slowed significantly. Some 680,000 unemployment claims were filed last year, the most since 1992. And Medicaid expenses now account for more than a quarter of the state's budget.

And lest anybody think we're going to "grow" our way out of this mess any time soon, the update notes that "9,300 more citizens left Florida than moved in during the previous 12 months ... the attraction of Florida for young working professionals appears to be waning as other states provide cheaper housing and better education."

So what to do? Just keep cutting spending, resisting new taxes and hope for the best?

And that Froggers, is the question of "...untenable fiscal bind...".

"Less than 30 years ago, Florida was the fifth-cheapest place to live, with plenty of jobs in construction, tourism, retailing and agriculture. But now, "we're not the fifth-cheapest, we're the 14th-most expensive."

Mark Wilson, President
Chamber of Commerce