Restorative justice for sex offenders can work
A major Australian Institute of Criminology evaluation shows restorative justice in the ACT has improved victim wellbeing and significantly reduced reoffending in domestic and sexual violence cases.
The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was a global leader in extending restorative justice into the fraught area of domestic and sexual violence – and it has resoundingly worked.
A comprehensive Australian Institute of Criminology research report has found victims felt better supported, perpetrators learned that victims are not to blame and – most importantly – the frequency of re-offending has dropped.
It was the re-offending findings that were most startling: “All the persons responsible who completed a post-conference survey agreed or strongly agreed that, because of the conference, they were committed to not offending again; they understood how their actions affected people; and they felt that they could move forwards. “Further, the recidivism analysis found that adult persons responsible who participated … had a lower rate of domestic or family violence reoffending than a matched control comparison group.”
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TS
I am going to write to them and tell them every time someone is put on the registry, it is not just us who can be harmed but our families as well. For example, if someone did not like us and had no idea you lived with a family, and they threw a flaming cocktail bomb and burned the house down. In this scenario, lets say the registered person was at work at the time but your wife and kids were in the house and passed away.
This is just an example of course but go back in the F.A.C history and look at all the people on the registry who have been either attacked or even sadly, killed. In one instance on F.A.C, they stated that one person was attacked and I think if I remember correctly, they were killed, but the person was not even on the registry and they targeted the wrong person.
I cannot think of any other punishments that are said to not be punishment, that are worse in the U.S other than maybe someone in prison being executed and might or might not been innocent. And you can see three or four therapist who state that their client has a very low risk of re-offending but many judges don’t agree or just don’t want to look soft on sex offenders and deny your request to be removed from the registry.
And on a personal note, what happened to innocent until proven guilty? I mean that for the press and news. They pounce to come to your house and do a breaking news story but if you are found not guilty, I bet you a lot they do not do a follow up or retraction that you were found guilty.
@CherokeeJack
I wish you all the success with that letter writing campaign and hope someone reads it who is touched by it as they need to be. They need to be made aware of what it could feel like if it was to hit close to home or at their home literally.
For the registry to be: 1) declared non-punitive though non-legislative declaration despite what reality is happens to be very crazy in thought, 2) allowed to be ex-post facto applied is mind numbing, and 3) overall Constitutional given its application and impact is mind blowing. This goes to your judicial point and bewilderment the justices and judges show with their lack of critical thinking overall on the topic. The judicial system needs a big reset IMHO.
I should also add the fact that the registry is confinement though outside the cinder block house with bars. I know there is a case fighting for this fact currently, IIRC.
Restorative justice will work as intended if given the chance to be properly allowed to with all parties involved after being created correctly for success and not just for the sake of saying they are doing it for publicity. I don’t know if it will work 100% but if given the chance, the success rate will be higher and lower the already low PFR repeat offense rate. Nothing will be absolute (except death and taxes (and taxes on you after you die)).
However, that does not work for those in the punishment correction job field or those who believe victims should continue to be victims for the rest of their life.
The US refuses to learn from successful initiatives in other countries. Look at the prison system here. Look at the education system.
Their hubris will be their downfall as we are already seeing, sadly.
I completely agree. You reap what you sow.
And we in the U.S have low rates of re-offending but the powers who be, say otherwise. We sure don’t want their precious funding to go away if people are released from the registry.
How come we cannot sign a paper stating if we are removed from the registry and then commit another sex offense, we agree to go to prison for life? I would sign that because I know that my past is just that, the past. But not allowing people to have restoration after decades, then lying stating there is a high recidivism rate is just ignoring the issues of reality. Then they turn around and say, Well the registry keeps you in check and without it you would re-offend. If someone is going to reoffend, no piece of paper or registry is going to stop them from doing so. Reality check.
As a side note, these lawmakers could care less that the registries also affect our families, loved ones, friends and even our jobs (If you work). And the hate we get from neighbors and others as we hand over our driver’s licenses that can be read by law enforcement or other officials that give telling information that could harm us and even cause one to not find employment. Many of us got jobs then later when an employee or customer recognized us and complained, we were fired.
Well articulated @CherokeeJack in a summary fashion. Polish that up and send it to all the elected FLA officials letting them that PFRs et al know they don’t care.
Sounds like it’s best not to pick up any information that could harm you or your family.
Nemo
I live alone so that I do not have my family being harassed. They live in a different county but since I am not on probation, I am allowed to go to their county but law enforcement in their county is a lot more aggressive than where I live so I have to make sure I do not stand out in a crowd or traffic.
Wouldn’t want to get a ticket for “Driving while on the registry”. Not funny but at the same time hilarious in a way because of the stupid laws that hold people down who have done their time decades ago. I assume, me and others whose crime were 20, 30 or even 40 years ago, and have not reoffended, are we just waiting for the right victim to come along? Just pure ridiculousness.
When it comes to the registry there seems ZERO logic applied as we are all thrown in one basket of eggs, oranges and cauliflower. Even though we do have a somewhat tiered system, no matter the serious or not too serious crime, it is very hard for any of us to be removed from the registry, even those who just viewed photos online and never physically met or touched a live person, which almost means there was no victim in a sense. (Not downplaying someone having their photos posted online without their consent, especially underaged or those who were trafficked.)
Finally, why the path off the registry very seldom materialized due to several factors. One being not having the funds to petition for removal, and secondly, losing that money if you are denied. And in some instances, if you are denied, it is unlikely you will get another chance. And even if you did get a second chance, where is that second round of money coming from?
Mercy, prayers, thoughts and love to all my fellow registrants and their families. Stay and stand strong, if not for yourselves, then for your loved ones. The battle has not been won, but we also have not lost faith or backed down.
Re: “Then they turn around and say, Well the registry keeps you in check and without it you would re-offend.” Ask them why in the few and far between occasions where a registrant commits another ACTUAL sex crime, the accused is always registry-compliant.
I’ve yet to run across a story about a recidivating registrant where the accused is also charged with a concurrent registry violation. The closest I’ve seen is where someone was registered for a sex crime committed 30 years ago, got hit with a few violations in the 90s and 2000s (notably when violations were all but impossible to avoid) and caught the new charge recently. Point being the registrant was perfectly compliant at the time of the new charge.
I may try to communicate that to the ACLU and try to get them to make that point in their case in Michigan. As well as to argue the precedent that holds that a constitutionally questionable law must actually accomplish what it was enacted to do when assessing constitutionality. SOSEN had it in their archives, but I can’t recall the case.
Don’t forget to ask why the registry does not prevent first time offenders from offending the first time…thought it was supposed to scare people straight outta doing a sex crime.
Perhaps first time sex offenders don’t know about the risk of ending up on the list before committing an illegal act with a minor. Or the risk was so enticing first time offenders didn’t care if they were caught and added to the registry after conviction.
Dustin
No one can tell us why the registry is not considered punishment, but if you make a mistake, you are arrested for something that is so called not punishment? By their standards that what they are saying, is you can go into a store, but if you rob the store you get arrested? I don’t buy it. It is either punishment or it isn’t. The law is not worth the paper it is written on because it is an oxymoron. (Oxymoron is a figure of speech that pairs two opposing or contradictory words together.)
Even those in power who kind of side with us have little power unless others get on board, which is seen as “Being weak or sympathetic to sex offenders”. BTW, why are we still called sex offenders if we have not offended in years or even decades? Is someone who broke into a house 50 years ago still a burglar?