TX: Proposed Kyle sex offender law has supporters and opponents
Finally a balanced article! This one features our friend, Mary Sue, from Texas Voices for Reason and Justice.
Kyle City Council will consider passing a new ordinance which would restrict where some individuals on the Texas sex offender registry can reside, regardless of whether or not the offender is on probation or parole.
Mary Sue Molnar, chair of nonprofit advocacy group Texas Voices, said the registry is ineffective and hurts community safety. She said residency restrictions such as Kyle’s proposed ordinance are increasingly common, but create their own issues.“It’s displacing a lot of people—people that can really reintegrate and reenter society in a good way,” Molnar said. “We’re just shutting doors on them, just shutting every door we can, which seems like the opposite of what we should be doing.”
Among the key findings in the Department of Justice’s report, “Sex Offender Residency Restrictions: How Mapping Can Inform Policy,” residency restrictions were found to make it difficult or impossible for sex offenders to find housing.
The report states this can lead to sex offenders becoming homeless, which then leads to them becoming more difficult to track and monitor.
The National Institute of Justice also states, “while these laws are popular, there has been very little evidence of their effectiveness in reducing crime.”
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FLORIDA SENATE VOTES TO CLOSE SEX OFFENDER LOOPHOLE
March 18, 2021
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A loophole in Florida’s sexual offender registration law would be closed under a Senate bill unanimously passed Thursday in response to a child molester who didn’t have to register because he didn’t pay a court-ordered fine.
A judge ruled last year that Ray La Vel James of Tampa, who spent 12 years in prison after being convicted of molesting two girls at a public pool, didn’t have to register as a sex offender because the law states registration isn’t required until a sentence is completed — and he hadn’t paid of a $10,000 fine that was part of his sentence.
“This man is the very definition of someone who should and must be on the sex offender registry and subject to things like community monitoring and residency restrictions, but because of this loophole, he could be living right next to a community pool,” said Democratic Sen. Lauren Book, the bill’s sponsor.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Florida-Senate-votes-to-close-sex-offender-16037006.php
I can’t help but wonder La Vel James caused any problems during those 12 years? Or is he just further proof that the registry is not really needed?
Rob Weiss, the chief clinical officer at Seeking Integrity Treatment Programs in Los Angeles, disputes the notion that sex addiction — or its cousin, compulsive sexual behavior disorder — is not diagnosable, or that it cannot be treated.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-atlanta-suspect-isn-t-the-first-to-blame-sex-addiction-for-heinous-crimes-but-scientists-are-dubious/ar-BB1eIs3G?ocid=msnews
Yet, the US Congress is passing legislation that makes “revenge porn” a federal offense.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/revenge-porn-new-federal-crime-prison-time-violence-against-women-act