MA: New Bill Proposes Changes to Sex Offender Laws in Massachusetts
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is setting out to toughen sex offender laws.
He is proposing two changes: (1) an increase to the penalty for rape of a child with force by someone who has already been convicted of sexual offenses to life without parole. and the establishment of a new charge for the rape of multiple children with force, which would carry a mandatory life sentence, and (2) release from civil commitment would require a hearing by a new, five-member “sexual dangerousness review board” as opposed to the opinions of two “qualified experts” that is currently required.
According to the Gloucester Times, “Baker’s proposal is backed by many police chiefs and other law enforcement officials who argued that serial child rapists like Wayne Chapman are likely to reoffend. “They do not just commit their crime once and stop,” Marblehead police Chief Robert Picariello told the panel. “They’re serial offenders who perpetrate their crime again and again.” But Michael Ryan, an attorney with the Committee for Public Counsel Services who has represented defendants accused of sex crimes, told the panel that convicted sex offenders have one of the lowest rates of recidivism.”
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The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. There are kids as young as 9-though mostly teenagers, boys & girls labelled a sex offender for life for “sxting”, ie, sending their friends provocative images of themselves. They do not appreciate the future legal & social ramifications in my opinion that because of double messages in the media of sxualized kids & young adults, legal adult prnography perhaps in their home, and underdeveloped frontal lobes in their brains. Teens, approximately the same age are labelled as sx offenders for having a relationship with someone under age 18, like a 16 yo and her 18 yo boyfriend. Man, woman, adult or child who engage in these activities & view images online with no acting out in real life (though this needs to be dealt with IMHOP with counseling & parental and IP controls) are called “Sx Offenders”& in the eyes of the public are lumped in with the most egregious offenders who rape children. There is no scientific evidence that those who look at such images, like your 17 yo son or daughter (or even your spouse), progress to becoming rapists. The two groups are not the same. Respectfully, I say that scientific evidence, not fear mongering, should inform the sx offender laws.
FACT!
There are over 90K Children under the age of 18 labeled as ‘persons forced to register’
There are a few people that need to be removed from the streets till it has been determined that they are no longer a threat. Most of these are very emotionally unstable and need a lot of private counseling and spiritual guidance. These things can be done. If they are then there is no need for a registry. But then the fear mongers wouldn’t be able to dominate everyone else.
It’s really so sad 😞 that’s this human lawmaker who is trying to make a great national name for himself is the first one who is really going to end up on this topic
There are certain people that all the counselors in the World combined could not have helped. Think Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy. What about Charles Manson?
Some people are so filled with evil that only God can deal with them. Since all of them are dead, they got their day in court before the ultimate and final judge.
Maybe, just maybe, if someone had noticed when they were kids and made corrective action but who knows.
On the flip side, there are people who made some stupid mistakes, or got wrapped up in the heat of the moment with someone and messed up their entire lives over it.
I for one own the fact I will have a felony for the rest of my life. Having said that, I never agreed to be on a registry for life. After 25 years of no paper you can file to get off but that doesn’t mean you WILL get off. And why do you think so many people not on probation are getting arrested for minor things like not registering every car on their street that they may think about driving which for a non registrant would not even be a crime?
The reason is, even if they dropped the charge, you will now have that on your record and never, ever get off the registry unless the law changes.
I think it is going to take 55% of the U.S population to be on a registry for their to be change.
I think we should be encouraging the narrow tailoring of sex offender laws for those who are indeed proving themselves to be dangerous “serial child rapists.” It can be easy to be get so deep in the important facts and rhetoric of the movement and forget that dangerous people do exist and should be dealt with appropriately. That nuisanced message is especially important when dealing with the public, most of whom assume that all of us are dangerous serial child rapists simply because we’re on the registry. What Mass. is doing could be a good thing. Sex offender law reform might happen in some states as a result of passing more laws first in an effort to focus on who actually needs the attention before the bad laws affecting the rest of us are let go.
When I went back to court to get off probation, the prosecutor said offenders “Are always on the hunt for new victims”. I said I had not done anything new in a decade since the charges ( This was back in the late 90’s ).
She fired back that I just didn’t get caught. I said I took an FBI polygraph test and passed and she then said I am just a good liar with no conscience. Wow
Anyway the judge thank God sided with me and my probation was ended almost 2 decades ago.
The goal with law makers is to have us all sent to special offender camps for life. We would work in factories for free making products that pay for the prison camps we would be in. Florida already brought back chain gangs once in the past 30 years. In 2013 Sheriff of Brevard county started a chain gang for inmates.
The more pressure we put on the courts , the more pressure law enforcement and law makers put on us.
This action further removes the ability to seek a plea agreement, which is unheard of!!!
Not one of the ppl released under the existing standards has re-offended. We know this because, had even one of them re-offended, those quoted in the article would say so, and you would never hear the end of it.
So existing standards already are working as intended.
So what is the problem they are trying to solve? NOT prevention of cold sexual abuse. Instead, they are trying to address public outrage as to whether someone who’s ever done something so reprehensible, should ever again enjoy any freedom. And we can have a legitimate debate about that. But don’t lie to me and tell me that this has to do with prevention.
I see that as the problem of us getting removed from the registry. They will use that as ammo to say registries work to keep us out of trouble and if relieved from them, we would all in mass run out that day and start kidnapping victims in an out of control frenzie.
It is a double edge sword.
While I agree with your statement, I also forsee this as a way for them to change simple charges considered molestation to that of rape, hence handing out life sentences like never before.