KYMA and Jenny Day take third crack at article and still get it wrong
Yuma, Arizona’s KYMA and reporter Jenny Day have now taken their third crack at an article that garnered strong reaction from the advocacy community and from experts in sex offender treatment and research.
This third try (which can be read here) still bears the title “Released to Reoffend” implying persons on the registry are being released to inevitably reoffend and also still contains the false statistic attributed to “Amberly’s Place”, only now it includes a walk-back of the 99% statistic and some additional (more accurate) sources.
Still, the article cherry picks statistics from offenses that have a higher rate of recidivism than average as well as people diagnosed with pedophelia, but fails to concede that most on the registry do not fall into those categories and the OVERALL rate of recidivism for ALL people on the registry is definitively less than their original claim of 99%, still less than their cited current rates for the most serious offenses and actually in the single digits.
It’s still not good enough and it does not undo the damage caused by their first version which implied that all on the registry (aside from 1%) will inevitably re-offend.
What we want are two things; first an apology for the article and a retraction – whether Umphress was misquoted or editors didn’t fact check the story before going to broadcast, this was irresponsible journalism; second, another article based on information taken from actual experts. not anecdotal opinion. KYMA needs to look no farther than ATSA for a referral to one.
The overwhelming majority of those on the registry were not “released to reoffend”. MOST were released to live lives as good citizens in their communities, productive members of society and valued family members. It’s what we all should want them to do. Articles like KYMA impede that.
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Pedophilia cannot be cured because it is not a disease! It is a thought process. This is actually taught in group therapy that is require by the State!!! Again she gets it wrong! Point this out to this idiot!!!
As far as pedophilia being a thought process rather than disease empowers the individual to change that thought process which, if successful, is the cure.
The cure then is found in ones conscious.
It’s not just them. Look at what another media source is reporting:
https://www.wesh.com/article/fighting-sextortion-technology-opens-kids-to-world-of-twisted-people/29868194
Meanwhile, another Florida politician (not Lauren Book this time) is pushing for more laws to increase felonies that will require sex offender registration.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/311850-linda-stewart-amy-mercado-seek-to-make-flashing-a-felony
The bill is about flashing. That hasn’t required registration?
Prosecutors will use this law to go after those who forgot to close their window while getting dressed. I’m not familiar, though, what the implications are of changing a first-degree misdemeanor to third-degree felony. I thought some misdemeanors required registration in FL, but I could be wrong.
In the town where I live, the local flasher thought about retiring, but he’s decided to stick it out for another year.
This article combined legit info about protecting your kids from sextortion, with free advertising for the sheriff and the “Innocent Lives Foundation” (?).
At least it was not dumb enough to target persons required to register, the way KYMA is doing.
I know that all I want to do is live my life and be left alone. I live in fear everyday of being accused of something that I didn’t do. Fear that I have overlooked something to do with registration and being locked away again for no real reason. I pray every day that god would just take me. Living like this in fear is just not living. I’m not suicidal and have no thoughts of harming myself. But there is nothing wrong with asking.
Not only are the statistics wrong but the article reads like it was written by a seven year old. How does something like that even get published?
“…the article reads like it was written by a seven year old. ”
Maybe this is a silver lining. People will be more likely to dismiss it if it appears amateurish :).
Can we as a group file a defamation of character civil suit againest them. Yes we are registered sex offenders but we are still human beings. We made a mistake that follows most of us for life. A very large percentage do not recommit any crimes either sexual or criminal in nature. Drug dealers and murders have a higher recidivism rate but it’s ok for them to live next door to you. Get your facts right you have defamed a group of people who have nothing to lose in fighting back in court.
They still state “Again, Amberly’s place statistics have stayed the same for 20 years, showing 99% of child sex offenders cannot be cured and often re-offend.” That simply is not true. If they can’t be cured, the recidivism rate would be much higher. And what exactly does “cure” mean? “Often re-offend”…. for what. a technical violation?
These idiots still have no clue.
Maybe it is true? What is there to be cured of? People treat $EX like idiots.
Are we worried about “curing” people who break into people’s homes and stick guns in their faces? Why not? Because that is not as dangerous as a person who looks at illegal pictures?
It makes no sense at all that a person who commits a $EX crime needs “therapy” and yet people who do other, even more anti-social behavior do not. And I think the hang up about it is only because it involves $EX. Only.
We don’t need for people to be “cured”. We need for them to not commit crimes. I guarantee you that there are a LOT more people who think like people who have committed child molestation crimes than these Registry Nazis want to believe. Guarantee it. How are they going to be “cured”? They don’t have to be. For the same reason that we don’t have to cure people who have thought about gunning down their neighbors. We need for them to not do it. The end.
Registries make people want to commit crimes. Registries encourage and promote it and yet do nothing to hinder it. Pure stupidity.
But big government specializes in stupidity. Look at their War on Drugs. Total failure. Don’t they care? Of course not. Results aren’t important at all. The point of the war is to create a business for them, make them feel better, and grow big government. They love the games. Same with the Registries.