OK: Oklahoma lawmakers could rethink state sex offender registry
An Oklahoma legislative committee is rethinking the state’s Sex Offender Registry after hearing from experts and advocates about how indiscriminate restrictions in state law are negatively impacting victims in unforeseen ways. Oklahoma senators heard testimony and expertise from victims and advocates Tuesday, Sept. 6, on why state laws about the registry should be updated. Statements from convicted offenders and assault victims alike said unintended consequences from the Sex Offender Registration Act continue to adversely affect them.
Representative Suzanne Schreiber, a Tulsa Democrat who co-led the hearing, admitted the topic was uncomfortable and difficult, but emphasized that it was the legislature’s duty to address hard problems. She said cases she was also hearing from constituents weren’t isolated situations but instead pointed to systemic patterns and issues. “When the registry was created, we were trying to answer how to protect families from our most dangerous predators, and that’s a very legitimate goal,” Schreiber said. “But in the years since, it has been layered on and layered on, and now we have a question of whether we are actually getting in the way of public safety with the Sex Offender Registry and the way that it has evolved.”
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They need to also acknowledge that law enforcement officers as well as vigilantes like Roo Powell and her organization SOSA have been violating this law, with their fraudulent sting operations, without ever being held accountable for it:
OKLAHOMA — 21 O.S. §172
“All persons concerned in the commission of crime, whether it be felony or misdemeanor, and whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense, or aid and abet in its commission, though not present, are principals.”
The Oklahoma Uniform Jury Instructions explain that someone who doesn’t physically commit the offense but “aids, promotes, or encourages” another person’s commission of the crime can be a principal when the person acts knowingly with criminal intent or knowledge of the other person’s intent.
It’s happening in almost every state. In Florida, these are the laws those law enforcement officers and vigilantes like Chris Hansen have violated with no accountability at all for their criminal conduct:
Florida Stat. § 777.011 — Principal in the First Degree
“Whoever commits any criminal offense against the state, whether felony or misdemeanor, or aids, abets, counsels, hires, or otherwise procures such offense to be committed, and such offense is committed or is attempted to be committed, is a principal in the first degree and may be charged, convicted, and punished as such, whether he or she is or is not actually or constructively present at the commission of such offense.”
Under this statute, a person who aids, abets, counsels, hires, or otherwise procures the commission of an offense may be charged, convicted, and punished as a principal, even if that person did not personally commit the underlying act. The State would still have to establish the elements required for principal liability, including the requisite participation and criminal intent, and the underlying offense must have been committed or attempted.
Florida Stat. § 777.04(2) — Criminal Solicitation
Florida also separately criminalizes solicitation:
“A person who solicits another to commit an offense prohibited by law and in the course of such solicitation commands, encourages, hires, or requests another person to engage in specific conduct which would constitute such offense or an attempt to commit such offense commits the offense of criminal solicitation, ranked for purposes of sentencing as provided in subsection (4).”
It wouldn’t be so if they had targeted adults who were already seeking minors online to exploit, but that’s not what they do. Instead, they target men whom they KNOW are seeking consensual, casual, sexual encounters (and are in the right places to find that). They lure those men under false pretenses to then solicit and encourage them to commit the felonies those men are later charged with and convicted of.
Whatever happened to “the law is the law”? Why have these law enforcement officers and vigilantes like Chris Hansen been allowed to violate these laws over and over again with no accountability? Why haven’t they been prosecuted for violating the law?
http://youtube.com/post/UgkxOOOvIFZ_lx99flRpKuGYTOyQrV7Pw26D?si=8CFxZsXNnZKz5GaI
StingingBack, I hear you. If we are going to say “the law is the law,” then we should also be willing to question how these operations are carried out.
The whole conversation matters. Where did it start? When was an age mentioned? Did the person try to walk away? Was there pressure to keep going? Those are fair questions, and they deserve real answers.
I would be careful about saying those statutes alone prove that an officer or decoy committed a crime. That takes evidence, and entrapment depends on the facts of each case. But that does not mean their actions should be beyond review.
Protecting children matters. So does making sure an investigation is fair. We should be asking for the full messages and recordings, not just the parts chosen for a headline or video. Accountability should apply to everyone.
yea, Oklahoma is one state with as burdensome and onerous SO laws as Florida. Good that they may be waking up to the fact that the SOR is nothing more than a feel good political weapon. I wouldn’t count on it though until I see anything come out of the hearing…
I am considering retiring somewhere in Europe.
Father, we pray for these legislators to remove the life sentence and burdensome requirements of the registry. Please help them to see & understand the dangers the registry imposes on both the registrant and their families. Please let other states follow Suite of removing the registry as a continuing punishment. In Jesus Name 🙏 🙏
Amen!