Lawyer Meaghan Ybos to be President of Women Against Registry
The great Meaghan Ybos is set to take over as President of Women Against Registry (WAR). As WAR’s Past President Vicki Henry writes, “Meaghan is a surprising ally: a prominent and outspoken survivor of rape who is dedicated to abolishing the registry, ending systems of perpetual punishment, repealing pre-crime preventative detention laws, and shuttering shadow prisons.
Vicki further writes, “in 2003 at the age of sixteen, Meaghan was raped in Memphis. She was revictimized by the state when law enforcement did not investigate the case or test her rape kit for more than nine years. Meaghan strategically used the (all-too-common) mishandling of her rape case to raise awareness about needed policy changes. In 2015, Meaghan and a group of lawyers and community organizers formed People for the Enforcement of Rape Laws (PERL), which advocates for criminal justice reform and for several years provided the community’s only peer support for people who experienced sexual violence. She is also a contributing writer at The Appeal, part of the Harvard University School of Law’s Fair Punishment Project. Meaghan holds a BA in English from Rhodes College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi.
Vicki “will continue on as a senior strategic advisor for the next six months to help Meaghan stand up her new Board — after which I intend to take a sabbatical to focus on my family and pivot my work to the dire need for prison and sentencing reform. WAR will be announcing new additions to its Board over the coming months as Meghan builds her team to create meaningful systemic change.
“Over the past dozen years, I’ve met thousands of people from all over the country from every walk of life and level of income who have been baptized by fire into this movement — people who share my commitment to ending the sex offense legal regime. I’m excited about this new chapter in my life and can’t wait to see where this new, youthful leadership will take us in the fight for the rights of our families to live free from the stigma of the registry.”
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/desantis-signs-into-law-harsher-penalties-for-sex-criminals/ar-AA1bJHUV?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=99b2cf4c0c7c4ddd8dae0dc26cfd91b0&ei=71
FAC Contributer #12:
I think the problem is that you don’t understand the context or the ongoing projects with VOCAL. As I stated, VOCAL recommends that everyone stay in compliance with the law.
However, there are those who choose to stand their ground. The people who make that choice to stand their ground are doing so at the risk of being charged with a crime. Granted, in Michigan that crime might only be a misdemeanor, but they are still technically facing jail time even if they don’t actually serve that time.
Michigan is also an unusual state.
We are in regular contact with registrants in Michigan. We advise them to stay compliant. However, if you go to the Michigan registry you will see that several thousand registrants are non-compliant. No other state comes close to Michigan as far as non-compliance rates are concerned [citation needed]. If you read our blog you will see that we don’t just post a story. We do a deep dive into each story and we will be going into the reasons for Michigan’s non-compliance rate which are rather complex. To complicate things is the paucity of prosecutions for FTR in Michigan. We will be doing this story and in the winter getting more feedback from registrants and doing interviews with the police and prosecutors in order to get a clearer picture of what is actually going on in Michigan. We are also preparing to FOIA every prosecutor’s office in Michigan, so this is going to be quite an endeavor.
Anyway, they keep rejecting my comment as too long so I have to stop here. I had to cut down a lot of my comment, but suffice to say, there is no shortage of comments here that people are ready to take the risk and stand up and fight.
Are you trying to get more people prosecuted?
Let’s calm down people. We’re all on the same side. Don’t do something to get arrested. Fight in the courts and media. Educate, educate, educate. Just like slavery ,it took a long time and there are still those with prejudice but it’s better. If it just gets better , that’s an improvement. One step at a time.
With all due appreciation for David M’s level-headedness, here is an example of some of the complete nonsense that FAC allows to be published on its own site:
“If someone wants to enforce those rights, where do they turn to? FAC turns them away, VOCAL won’t.”
This site is a great platform, but let’s not take it for granted.
Jacob:
I also want to touch on the different perspectives between VOCAL and FAC.
VOCAL was founded in 1984 in response to caretakers being falsely accused of sex abuse, mostly by children in their care. FAC was founded by family members of “sex offenders”. The people who founded VOCAL say that they are innocent, and we believe that they are innocent. The members of FAC say “we are guilty but the registry has turned us into pariahs and outcasts”.
We are not naive. When we were holding meetings the majority of the people who claimed to be innocent probably weren’t. Our view is to give them the benefit of the doubt.
The members of FAC are saying that “we are rehabilitated and ready to rejoin society”. VOCAL supports that rehabilitation because society benefits when offenders rehabilitate themselves. We are happy that you have taken the initiative to make the changes that need to be made in your life so you can participate in society again. We wish you a peaceful and prosperous future in your new found freedom.
FAC was founded on rehabilitation and working within the system. VOCAL was founded on directly confronting the system and saying that these people and others are innocent. FAC is looking at rehabilitation while we are looking at innocent people standing on their rights. Our perspectives are different because of the way members in each organization are oriented.
Not everyone who posts here agrees with your perspective. They are more inclined to stand on their rights even if they are guilty and we will support them if they choose to stand on their rights.
FAC limits the length of comments so I will have to leave it at that.
Jacob:
VOCAL is working on a story on the non-compliance rate in Michigan. That’s the reason for these comments. Someone got us off topic.
We are not trying to get people prosecuted. We are writing a story.
If you would take the time to go to Michigan’s registry and see the number of non-compliant people and research news articles looking for FTR prosecutions in Michigan you would understand. Most people won’t take the time to do this which is why we are doing this. The question is, why does it appear that Michigan isn’t prosecuting FTR’s despite thousands not being in compliance. We have been looking for news articles for an FTR prosecution in Michigan and cannot find any in the last two years. We will be FOIAing every prosecutors office in Michigan in order to try to get accurate information and will post it once we get the results. You can help us out by searching for FTR prosecutions in Michigan within the last year or so and sending it to us at [email protected]. Or goal is to pass on accurate information, not to misinform everyone.
There are several people working on this story and we all have to work to support ourselves. We have to coordinate what we are doing and all of this takes time and, like FAC, we are all volunteers. Be patient. This story and others that we are working on will add a lot to this conversation and maybe change some of the public’s opinion and, just maybe, you will be seeing some of our work being cited in court cases.
Such a story might feed the perception that sex offenders are getting away with breaking the law. It might raise awareness, but not necessarily in a way that would benefit registrants who are working hard on their rehabilitation. How do we think elected officials and prosecutors would respond to such a story?
Jacob:
There is no perception here. VOCAL is just reporting the facts. Don’t think that we don’t appreciate your input because we do. It is important that we hear from, not only the people who agree with us and our work, but people who disagree with us as well.
Your input is important. Please continue to respond to our posts.
The above was VOCAL’s reply to Contributor 12.