SOSEN: BRANDED: A Woman’s Life on the Sex Offender Registry
Jan has agreed to share her story to raise awareness about the inhumane and devastating effects these continuously changing laws have on the former offender, their families, children and society as a whole. Although this is Jan’s story, it is similar to the over 850,0001 men, women and children (as young as 8) who are on a sex offender registry in this country.
My name is Jan. I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and grandmother. Twenty six years ago, when I was 22, I made a very stupid choice. I had consensual sex with a 15-year-old boy.
I subsequently pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of sexual conduct with a minor, and I served one year probation. I tried to move on with my life in a positive way putting my one and only crime behind me. I married, had a family, furthered my education, and became gainfully employed.
Arizona law requires anyone convicted of any sexually related offense to register as a “sex offender” for life regardless of a crime’s severity. In 1992, registration consisted solely of informing the Sheriff’s Department if you moved. But over the last 26 years, subsequent legislative sessions have created new laws prohibiting “registered sex offenders” from many things and requiring new conditions which apply regardless of a person’s risk or date of the offense. Failure to abide by any of these new laws can be a felony. These new laws apply to me even though I have already served my time.
I want to share my story and give you insight of what it is like to live on the registry. In 1999, Megan’s Law passed to “make communities safer” by making the registry available to the public. My four children and I were declined housing due to my “status as a sex offender”. A credit reporting agency falsely listed my crime as felony child molestation implying my victim was under 12 years old. I also received a letter from the Department of Public Safety in 2002 stating that I must obtain a new driver’s license or state ID card that is only valid for one year. People not on the registry in Arizona only have to go to the MVD every 12 years for a new photo and eye exam until they are 65 years old. Having to go back every year to get it renewed is a huge source of anxiety and humiliation, and great cost due to the $10 renewal fee. Additionally, I have had difficulty renewing my license many times which puts me at risk for felony charges.
In 2004, the picture from my driver’s license was shown on commercials on a news broadcast called “The Face of Danger,” which highlighted Sheriff Arpaio’s plan to install software in all public schools that would alert local police if a “registered sex offender” showed up on campus. I have three children and was petrified every time I had to go to their schools. My children and I missed out on many activities and memories because I stayed away from their schools, even though I had legitimate reasons to be there. I feared for my children if my presence had triggered an alarm.
Lawmakers pushed to make everyone on the registry subject to community notification. I started a website under a pseudonym to protect my family’s privacy and spoke out against these laws. I became the target of vigilantes. They threatened me, exposed my real identity, published many websites with my picture stating that I was a “pedophile,” pro-pedophile,” “child molester,” and “child abuser.” They published my address, telephone numbers, and email address. They told businesses I worked with to sever ties with me or be placed on their “Corporate Sex Offenders” website and be outed a “Pro-Pedophile” and the companies complied. The vigilantes stated they knew the names of my children, had their photos and were watching them. The FBI refused to help. The local police department responded to me with, “What do you think the registry is for?” When I filed a federal lawsuit in 2008 to try to force a federal judge to order an investigation into the vigilantes, the battle never resulted in any criminal charges. I was not able to get the response or treatment that any other citizen would get.
In 2009, the legislature amended the fingerprint clearance card statute. Anyone required to register as a “sex offender” was no longer able to obtain a fingerprint clearance card and was barred from obtaining a good cause exception hearing. The legislature also expanded the types of employment that require fingerprint clearance cards. My realtor’s license was revoked. All of my post-secondary education since Megan’s law passed became useless. I now have thousands of dollars in student loan debt (accruing interest) that I have no way of paying back.
John Stossel of ABC’s “20/20” picked up my story in 2009. He interviewed me and some of the vigilantes. The story was titled “Age of Consent.” It is viewable on YouTube.
In 2011, I gave up the fight. I am unable to obtain a job. Because we are a one income family now, we cannot afford health insurance. I suffer from terrible anxiety and depression and rarely leave my house. My last suicide attempt was October 2017. In my suicide note, I told my loved ones not to be sad or cry for me because I was finally free of everything, and I would no longer be a burden to them. I wanted them to know that I had finally found peace.
For 26 years, I have tried to become a better person and to rise above my past, rise above my own childhood trauma, and give my children a better life than I had. For the same 26 years, our government has undermined each of my efforts. We are supposed to be a country of second chances where people aren’t judged by their worst decision. I wish our government would remember that. I also wish they would think of my innocent husband and children who have suffered through these ever-changing and restrictive laws every bit as much as I have.
Every punishment should fit the crime, and every punishment should have an end.
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So sad. This is a battle against corrupt never ending, far reaching govt and public opinion. How did the Germans eventually change their minds about how they treated Jews? Well it took several countries coming in and bombing the hell out of them. Is that what its gonna take to get this country to change their treatment of us, or some other national catastrophe to divert their attention and law making away from us? Sounds drastic, but that’s probably our best bet at this point because all the fact presenting and educational efforts don’t seem to be making any difference except in certain small pockets of our society. But this is a good example of the suffering we have to endure. I feel so bad for this woman.
Okay I feel I had to respond to this. I’ve noticed a lot of post in this form compare our situation to those of Jews who were persecuted in Germany. I’m sorry that is a very poor analogy and does not help us when people read things like that. The Jews were persecuted not for any crime they committed but simply because of their religion to compare our situation to that of people who had done nothing wrong only makes us look like whiners. Yes it sucks that we have to be on a registry and we have to deal with this crap but it certainly doesn’t help us to compare ourselves to a group of people who were persecuted not because they committed a crime but because of their religion it is a very poor comparison and an insult to those who died in the concentration camps. Nobody disagrees that the registry is a bunch of crap and only does harm but I wish people on this form who compare our situation to the plight of the Jews simply is an analogy because they had to wear a star to signify them as being Jewish would stop that analogy. We look like we’re comparing ourselves as were persecuted and have never done anything wrong when in reality right or wrong we have committed a crime. Should we be treated as Outcast of course not we deserve a second chance but I think it only hurts our cause like trying to compare ourselves to what the Jews faced in Germany.
Keith, you are so correct. As RSO’s we must base our right to be free on our post offense contributions to our families, communities, and society. We are under a microscope and unlike most politicians, we must live a flawless life to regain our God-given rights. It’s not going to be easy but we will all be better off by living to a high set of standards. I am a student of the Second World War and I can not imagine what it must have been like to be a Jew…living a normal, productive life yet treated like an animal. We…RSO’s…cannot be considered to be in the same category as the Jews, however, those who were the ‘condemners’ then were not all that different from those who are ‘condemners’ today.
Yes Keith, we have committed a crime, but some of us were wrongly convicted in the first place, and nearly all of us have served our time and deserve to have our civil rights restored. The placing of a marker on our passports IS exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews. But they then didn’t get in touch with a country the Jew was intending as a destination to say the Jew is coming. We here in the states also have to put up with our own “Nuremburg” laws. Certainly no insults are intended toward the Jews to point out the Nazification going on in our own nation. Nor to mention the fact that many of us are veterans who have been in harm’s way to defend the very freedoms and rights we fought so hard to defend, and have seen our friends dead on the battlefield in defense of those rights. For a better understanding of what’s happening in this nation you should read “The Tyranny of Good Intentions” by Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton. Get your Congressperson to read it as well.
Trust me I do not need to read a book to understand what’s going on in this country I am well in tune to what’s going on. But sorry first I don’t want to hear about wrongly convicted. I have no sympathy for you okay I should not have even been arrested let alone convicted. I have fought this case for 12 years in the appellate courts in post-conviction motions I have evidence that the police lied by their own police reports and cab reports it was an online staying and they said I showed up at a church which I never did. I was arrested 10 miles from where they said I was and I have their own police reports and towing receipts to show that that is true. They even admitted in depositions that they never identified me yet they lied about that in court depositions that were withheld for me bum from my own lawyer. I’ve tried to get these depositions and their own police reports into the court records to overturn my conviction since and the court has denied me Time After Time. So again wrongly convicted is falling on deaf ears when I should never have even been arrested. They offered me a five-year plea of Probation and I refused it because I was not playing to something I was not guilty of I took it to trial and I lost because the police officer will always be believed over somebody accused of a crime like this so yes I am a criminal until I can get this case overturned because Society has deemed me a criminal. But you are wrong about the analogy to the Jews. We are not being placed in ovens or ditches and being shot. You talk about Megan’s Law you probably affects maybe 10% of the RSO population because not too many of us are traveling overseas anyway. 3 years ago I transferred my probation to Illinois as I fought my case. I am on what’s called administrative probation I have no conditions and I see a probation officer once every 3 months because I have fought this case and made the most of it I have a job and I live in a state where residency restrictions are only 500 feet so I have worked to get where I’m at not just sat around and wind about the situation. Maybe if you put a little bit more effort into your situation you would find that you can overcome the craziness of Florida. It is a poor analogy to compare us to the situation of the Jews bottom line they had no choice to make any decisions you have a choice to change your situation if you work hard at it and fight the system they had no choice but to give in you do not so please don’t compare your situation to that of the Jews it’s simply does not fly
I’m sorry for all you’ve been going through-so what do you think? Is this nation being incrementally “Nazi-fied” or not? Please take my advice and read the “Tyranny of Good Intentions” You’ll find your own case in there, mirrored-as mine was. I am also in Illinois; I knew from the get-go that I would never return to Florida except under duress, or until sanity returned to the body politic there.
You are missing my point about the Jews, however. Many of them were arrested on trumped up charges, entirely fictional, and then all pretense later dropped when the “crime” itself was simply being Jewish.
As for me, I too am still fighting my case in Florida with the 11th circuit Court of Appeals, so far all in all, it’s been a decade now, and it’s the first time I’ve had a really good lawyer to be my champion in the Lists of judicial arcanities.
While I did comment earlier about how unfair the registry law has been to her, and to all of us, I do want to point out that Jan only had to serve one year of probation for a crime which would cost a man a long prison sentence. I also had to face up to the fact that even though my victim participated willingly, it was NOT consensual according to the law. That is what makes it a crime. And while Jan said that she had served her time, she doesn’t really know what it is like to serve time in prison. I’d just like Jan to realize that a great many people have been punished more severely for the same kind of crime. Giving into suicidal thoughts would be giving the persecutors what they want. We all have to keep fighting.
Keith, sorry but there is one point in your comment I have to disagree with you about .The Jews were not persecuted because of there religion but because of there nationality of origin, it did not matter whether they were a practicing Jew or not or whether they had never been in a synagogue. Even if they were to denounce their ancestors religion didn’t matter.
I’m sorry but I think before you disagree with what I say you should be a little bit better informed. Hitler’s persecution of the Jews was because of his animosity against them. When he was living in Vienna Austria after being denied entry into the art school he was living in the streets and in poverty. In his own words he realized his hatred for the Jews because of their status in society at the time. They were mostly involved in politics and in finance. In Hitler’s own words he realized his hatred for them when he came about a person walking in the street and he asked himself is this a German or is this a Jew. The more he analyzed this person he realized this distinct difference between what he felt where people who he thought were subhuman and those of the German race. Maybe you should read mein kamph. brush up on your history do your homework and be a little bit better prepared and then I will discuss anything you want but until then I will remain silent because I’m not going to waste my time debating with somebody who is as ill informed as you.
Keith, you are correct. I have done a study of the Jews throughout history from the time they left Palestine, migrated to North Africa, then to Spain, then France, then Germany, then the Eastern Provence s. At first they were welcomed and then after a hundred years or so they became envied, and finally driven out to move on. Hitler held the Jews responsible for his not getting into art school…although his lack of talent did play a part…and he found himself living on the streets while the Jews were living well, involved with banking, industry, and some even thought the business of prostitution. Hitler’s attitude was one of using a ‘broad brush’ to paint the character of a whole class of people whether it applied or not…sound familiar? Through the ages gypsies, Christians, Jews,etc have gone through periods of trials. The strong survive.
You are wrong when you say they were persecuted because of their nationality of origin I’m sorry but that doesn’t make sense. Judaism is a religion it is not a nationality. They were persecuted because of their religious beliefs and their position in society. Hitler directly blamed them for the loss of World War 1. He saw their influence in society leading to the downfall of the German state. Hitler’s final solution was the direct termination of the Jews because he saw them as he saw them as parasites and there’s a direct threat to the Aryan race.
Judaism is a religion. Not a nationality.
In 1944 The Supreme Court recognized race, national origin, religion and alienage as suspect classes. In subsequent cases, gender and sexual orientation were also held to be suspect classes.
A suspect class is entitled to “strict scrutiny”, which is the most stringent standard of judicial review used by United States courts. In other words, they are a class of people who are entitled to the most legal protection when it comes to analyzing whether an individual’s constitutional rights or a government’s interest should prevail in an action.
To date, no courts have found that “sex offenders” are a suspect class, protected class, or any other class that’s entitled to heightened protection.
Acceptably the courts have not acknowledged RSO as a class but I think that should be persued further.
If race , national origin, religion, or alienage are suspect classes. I must assume that the LGB community falls under the alienage class. From my research alienage classification is any separate class that has been alienated that is not included in race , national origin or religion, in my opinion that would include LGBs . They have not always been considered a class lesbians were one group gays were one group bigender was another. But eventually they were all grouped together. SO are labeling such for many different reasons. But society as seen fit to group them together as one and in so doing they have alienated them and caused them to be a group that can be considered a alienage. As such special protection is constitutionaly neccessary
good luck with that!
I absolutely agree. Too bad that lawmakers and other politicians don’t see logic and truth as valid reasons to act upon.
Keith that is true but that had nothing to do with there religious beliefs or religion but there differences because of there nationality and how they handled commerce.
Again I will reiterate it had nothing to do with her nationality their nationality was German they were German by birth but the religion was Judaism. Hitler wanted to exterminate them because of their anti Christian beliefs along with their status in society and finance. He believed they were part of the group that stabbed Germany in the back during World War 1. So I will repeat please be a little bit more in porum before you answer because it doesn’t help your argument when you are miss informed
The original point trying to be made was that the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany began with simple registration and residence restriction, accompanied with hate propaganda. No one was trying to imply that society’s treatment of registered sex offenders was anywhere near to the atrocities that happened in Germany. Lies were used to justify their evil persecution back then, and lies are used today to justify the attempts to banish registered sex offenders from “civilized” society today. We are in danger of forgetting how evil a time that truly was if we get upset every time someone makes a passing comment about it. School children aren’t even being taught anymore about what really happened back then.
There was absolutely no sort of residency restrictions in Germany okay their businesses were boycotted and Germans were told not to buy from them eventually they were lumped into ghettos to be separated from society where they would be held
The whole idea of the analogy of what are SOS face as far as registration and as the Jews in Germany the Jews were marked with a yellow star on their sleeves to the show that they were Jewish there was no such thing as a registry or residency restrictions. The only comparison is what has to be put on the passports now because of international Megan’s Law and the Jewish star painted on their clothes that’s where the similarities end and nothing more
Being herded off to a ghetto IS a residency restriction. Every Jewish person’s name in Nazi occupied Europe WAS cataloged in a registry. How else do you think they determined who to brand? Their residences were taken from them by force, and they were removed from their neighborhoods. Don’t you think that qualifies as residency restriction? They were removed from society by the government. In fact, early on they voluntarily showed up to register and receive their stars. No one imagined what was about to happen to them. Apparently, you just want to argue. You would be better off to study the history a bit more. The whole horror started off with a simple requirement to register.
Here is just one of the many sites on the internet that shows how laws against Jews got progressively worse over time.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005681
It specifically points out how they were eventually required to registry their property, which necessarily also placed their names on that same registry. It also points out that your “Jewishness” was determined by what your grandparents were. It was not based on your own practicing religion. I lived in Germany in the mid 60’s for 3 years, and talked to Germans who were adults during the war. They all claimed that they didn’t know what was going on, but I could read the shame on their faces. They Knew.
Gerald thank You that was what I’ve been trying to say but getting heat for it.
I know. I was trying to also explain that when people get upset and defensive over any reference to the mistreatment of the Jewish people, they risk the real possibility of entire generations forgetting what happened back then. Before WWII, Europeans considered themselves to be the most enlightened and civilized society in history, and yet evil took over. And it all started out with relatively minor civil regulations aimed at one small part of the population. The hate leads to more lies to justify the hate, which leads to even more hate. That’s why it becomes so easy for people to just shrug their shoulders when a homeless sex offender freezes to death in Michigan. They say to themselves, “He wasn’t a fellow human being, he was just a subhuman sex pervert, and we are better off without him.” It is the same spirit that took over during World War II. It doesn’t compare to the evil perpetrated against the Jews, but it is still viewing others as inferior and not entitled to the same rights as everyone else.
Really you’re going to categorize being herded into a ghetto where they were going to be isolated until they starved or died from health problems with residency restrictions faced by rso? You’ve got to be kidding me. They were put in these ghettos the same you and I would be put in a prison. Last time I checked I wasn’t in prison I go wherever I want I work wherever I want and I’m not confined to one area which was the ghettos were they couldn’t leave them I can leave and go wherever I want to. I’m not trying to argue I’m just trying to point out that is just ridiculous to make that analogy they were going to be exterminated they registered because everything they had was being confiscated by the government I don’t believe being on a sex offender registry requires me to hand over everything I have. The whole idea of them being on a registry is because they were going to be annihilated so again you comparing their type of registry it being put into a ghetto as registry restrictions is so off base compared to what we face nobody’s going to kill us nobody’s going to take our property again another poor analogy
I’m sorry but I’m not going to allow you to make a comparison between residency restrictions which we face and not be called out on it because it is just ridiculous to make that same type of comparison. You’re using semantics to compare what we face to what the Jews faced. I’m sorry but it’s off base
Keith, if you read EVERYTHING that I posted, you will see that I made it a point to say that what the Jews faced back then was unimaginably horrible. But it also started out as as simple civil legislation. There are people in other states being locked up for life based solely on a psychologist’s opinion that they may be a danger. The only comparison anyone has made here is the registration requirement aimed at one singled out section of the population. I cry every time I think about what happened to those people back then. I have seen the photos and film footage from back then. It was barbaric. But it started out so gradually that they never saw it coming until it was too late. But if you never allow anyone to point to that example as a warning, the risk is that it will happen again.
How is this Jewish
commentary even propagated on this site. It’s disgusting. Has nothing to do with the plight of so.
No comparison
None
Compare
Hutu
Polpot
We (so) are under rereprepresented
Because they are afraid. .
Keith some of “you” deserve to be corralled!!!!
No, Keith has free speech rights too. No need to get mean about it Jules.
What the government has done to you is criminal!
So sad, your story is so true and repeated throughout the country. The initial SOR was instated with good intentions……throughout the years laws have been changed, but certainly not for the better. In fact, the federal courts deemed many of the new laws as unconstitutional. there are literally 1,000’s and 1,000’s of people on this registry that shouldn’t be on it. Witch hunts and persecution of too many people. I have written my congressmen so many times, and the answer is always the same…..we know that revisions must be made, however at this time there isn’t anything being done……..seriously??????????
This story is not unique, unfortunately.
Neither is this one apparently…
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb75m9/the-sex-offender-registry-leaves-female-sex-offenders-open-to-abuse
Let’s make America great again
I echo the sentiment of this story. I think most of us with children do!
This is what these hateful laws do to families. And she wasn’t even convicted of a felony. The sad fact is that the statistics show that a large percentage of underage minors are sexually active, and every sex act with them is a crime, no matter what the age of the other person is. I am sure there are congressmen and women who pass these laws that committed the same offenses when they were young, but just didn’t get caught.