URGENT CALL TO ACTION: INTERNATIONAL MEGAN'S LAW
CONTACT YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE BEFORE JANUARY 5, 2016
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed International Megan’s Law with amendments and sent it back to the U.S. House of Representatives for approval. It is absolutely essential that we contact our representatives now and oppose this punitive legislation.
HERE IS THE INFO TO CONTACT THE US REPRESENTATIVES FOR FLORIDA: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/FL
(Better contact details are in the comments below)
HERE ARE THE TALKING POINTS YOU SHOULD INCLUDE IN YOUR LETTER:
The Senate passed HR 515 formerly known as “International Megan’s Law” with another NEW title “International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders” and added a section about passports.
Essentially, all current passports for folks CONVICTED of a sex offense/s MUST be reissued, with the words “SEX OFFENDER” prominently displayed on the passport. And all new passports for folks convicted of sex offenses will be issued with same wording.
The Senate also added a section for appropriating funding ($6,000,000) for each of these years (2017-2019) to implement International Megan’s Law.
Advocates and their families and others need to immediately contact their U.S. House Representatives and object to the entire IML bill (and concept), and any other similar bills that may arise.
The FULL bill may be found HERE and the Senate Amendments HERE (The Corker amendment [Sen Bob Corker R-TN] in the Federal Register).
Here’s why we should oppose the legislation.
1. The bill is yet another fear-based, punitive proposal that is absolutely void of empirical evidence that it will promote public safety or reduce child sex trafficking.
2. The threat to children is proved to be largely (93% according to Department of Justice) from someone they know – a parent, relative or friend – neither a registered sex offender nor a stranger. Placing travel restrictions on convicted sex offenders 1) does nothing to protect society, 2) adds more restrictions on a group of already-marginalized citizens who have paid their debt to society, and 3) adds another punitive requirement in federal law that is valueless. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, “… sex offenders are more likely to be rearrested for nonsexual crimes than sex offenses.”
3. Citizens across this country have been convicted of single offenses involving someone known to them, have otherwise unblemished records, but are categorized for life as violent offenders. This punitive proposal targets all convicted offenders. They currently live and move freely in society without incident, yet somehow they are presumed by this flawed legislation to present a threat in international travel. Last year, only 18 other countries had enacted any sex offender registration laws, yet Congress is proposing to label its citizens with a past conviction without providing any public safety risk assessment.
4. Many countries, such as Mexico, don’t even have sex offender registries. Still, U.S. registrants holding valid U.S.passports are routinely being denied entry to Mexico because the U.S. government shares its citizens’ criminal histories with other countries. This punitive bill restricts registrant travel further, causing more collateral damage for family and friends traveling with registrants.
5. The Angel Watch Center described in the bill is a cute name for more government intrusion into citizens’ lives for absolutely no research-based public safety purpose. A small minority of states comply with the heavily-referenced Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 and for good reason. It is another failed memorial policy based on a single tragic event involving one child, not on evidence of improved public safety.
6. Like its numerous predecessors, this bill is doomed to failure as described by Dr. Richard Wright’s book, Sex Offender Laws: Failed Policies, New Directions. He states,
…American policy responses to prevent or address sexual offending, particularly those enacted within the last twenty years have largely failed. They have not reduced sex offenders recidivism rates, not provided safety, healing, or support for victims, not reflected the scientific research on sexual victimization, offending, and risk, or not provided successful strategies for prevention. … these policies have failed by choice. Policymakers choose to focus on the most heinous sex offenders while ignoring the most common sexual threats that people face.
7. It’s time for Congress to write laws based on empirical evidence and stop dredging up decades-old memorial laws that have proved themselves to be equally flawed.
As RSOL puts it –
IML will violate the travel rights and due process rights of traveling Americans, may have dangerous collateral consequences for affected citizens, and is not supported by any evidence that it will achieve a reduction in international sex trafficking. There exist proven methods of combating international sex trafficking that are worthy of support by the United States Congress. The International Megan’s Law is not among them. We strongly urge this legislation not be enacted into law.
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I would also recommend everyone e-mail president Obama here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
here are 2 recent letters i found that have been written to him:
1). Additionally, you can print your letter and mail it to
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Here is my letter.
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to you with regards to HR 515, “International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders’”. Specifically, I am writing this letter to provide you with some facts surrounding the intent of this bill, as well as to urge you to veto it upon receipt to your office.
Unfortunately, far too often, our elected officials exaggerate facts and, in at least one case, completely make up “facts” to justify their position. For example, a common myth is that there are 300,000 children at risk for sexual exploitation and another 100,000 children in the sex trade. These “facts”, together, earned a coveted “Four Pinocchios” by the Washington Post, and landed themselves on the Post’s “Biggest Pinocchios of 2015” list.
Another common myth used to perpetuate public fear and fan the flames of anger is that sex offenders have a high rate of recidivism. In fact, sex offenders have one of the lowest rates, hovering around 5.3%. Amongst all offenders, this is the lowest rate, second only to murderers.
Far too often, politicians exploit the fears and unease of the general public to easily target a group of persons who, virtually no one is willing to stand up for. Sex offenders have no friends on Capitol Hill, allowing lawmakers in search of votes, to viciously attack their rights for the easy points they can score. In a recent interview with NPR, you accused republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of taking advantage of “…potential anger, frustration, [and] fear”. I urge you, please do not lower yourself to the likes of Mr. Trump. You are better than that. Please, review the facts, see through the smoke created by our lawmakers, and veto this bill.
Thank you for your time Mr. President, and I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas.
Very truly yours,
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/12/14/the-biggest-pinocchios-of-2015/?tid=pm_politics_pop_b
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/2014_Outcome_Evaluation_Report_7-6-2015.pdf
http://wlrn.org/post/opinion-sex-offense-recidivism-rare-shouldnt-determine-policy
2). (This quote from President Obama appeared in an article about British Muslims being denied entry into the United States to visit Disneyland: “We betray our most noble past as well if we were to deny the possibility of movement, the possibility of progress, if we were to let cynicism consume us and fear overwhelm us,”)
Mr. Obama, you can live up to your noble words, you can now halt the process of restricting US citizens from traveling, who have committed certain crimes and have served their debt to society by vetoing “International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders”. We must not deny the possibility of movement and the possibility of progress to those who have been through our justice system and are now integrated back into society, simply on the basis of popular fears and myths and the unfounded cynicism that these former convicts can not be rehabilitated.
Posting a link to the House of Representatives general website makes it very confusing and difficult to contact your representative(s) to oppose this law. FAC is right to oppose this misguided legislation, but should make it easier for its members to contact the right person. I am computer literate and am having a hard time figuring it out. This is so important, perhaps you can post a list of representatives before the deadline?
The main address is:
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The names and office numbers are below, along with the phone numbers. They are sorted by NAME | OFFICE | PHONE
Bilirakis, Gus M. | 2112 RHOB | 202-225-5755
Brown, Corrine | 2111 RHOB | 202-225-0123
Buchanan, Vern | 2104 RHOB | 202-225-5015
Castor, Kathy | 205 CHOB | 202-225-3376
Clawson,Curt | 228 CHOB | 202-225-2536
Crenshaw, Ander | 2161 RHOB | 202-225-2501
Curbelo, Carlos | 1429 LHOB | 202-225-2778
DeSantis, Ron | 308 CHOB | 202-225-2706
Deutch, Ted | 2447 RHOB | 202-225-3001
Diaz-Balart, Mario | 440 CHOB | 202-225-4211
Frankel, Lois | 1037 LHOB | 202-225-9890
Graham, Gwen | 1213 LHOB | 202-225-5235
Grayson, Alan | 303 CHOB | 202-225-9889
Hastings, Alcee L. | 2353 RHOB | 202-225-1313
Jolly, David | 1728 LHOB | 202-225-5961
Mica, John | 2187 RHOB | 202-225-4035
Miller, Jeff | 336 CHOB | 202-225-4136
Murphy, Patrick | 211 CHOB | 202-225-3026
Nugent, Richard | 1727 LHOB | 202-225-1002
Posey, Bill | 120 CHOB | 202-225-3671
Rooney, Tom | 2160 RHOB | 202-225-5792
Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana | 2206 RHOB | 202-225-3931
Ross, Dennis | 229 CHOB | 202-225-1252
Wasserman Schultz, Debbie | 1114 LHOB | 202-225-7931
Webster, Daniel | 1039 LHOB | 202-225-2176
Wilson, Frederica | 208 CHOB | 202-225-4506
Yoho, Ted | 511 CHOB | 202-225-5744
Thank you very much. This is a big help.
If there is a will there is a way! If you really wanted to write like i did than you would find a way! I searched googly for the Rep i my zip code, went to the website and used the contact link; it was not that difficult! I would like to thank FAC for the alert regarding this!
Even though we took 7 cruises last year while living in NJ, my husband has been banned from Walt Disney World and by Royal Caribbean cruise line. He has been told that he can’t take another cruise with them, simply because of Florida Registered Sex offender Laws., not because of anything he has done. If Florida had announced how unwelcome they would make us feel before we had purchased a home here, we never would have subjected ourselves to the ridicule and humiliation we now experience in the sunny state of Florida. ‘Nice place to visit but you don’t want to live here’ or some other type of notice would have been helpful. We don’t want to live in a state where we are not welcome, nor do we want to be judged as a group, but as an individual. I never thought it was legal to prevent a US citizen from doing a legal activity simply because they “might” commit a crime in the future! That’s just nuts and is a complete violation of the 15th Amendment of the Constitution. Someone explain to me why after 25 years, the humiliation and punishment for a one time offender is now harsher than it was the day he was released? Does Florida have so little faith in their criminal justice system that they don’t believe any one can change or be rehabilitated? How many millions of $$ of taxpayer money is being wasted on our prison systems if jail doesn’t really solve the problem or prevent someone from reoffending? In 1995 the state of NJ spent an average of $45,000 (a year! it’s more now) on each incarcerated person in the system, so why people complain about how much is spent on welfare services when it is miniscule compared to what is spent annually by the Department of Corrections. In WWII Japanese/American citizen were imprisoned unlawfully in internment camps simply because they were of Japanese ancestry, not because they were a threat. Our government “dehumanized” those people to make it appear they deserved punishment simply for being “Japs”, and now the USA is doing the same for registered sex offenders. We haven’t come very far since then…. sad day!
Cindy, your comment, “Someone explain to me why after 25 years, the humiliation and punishment for a one time offender is now harsher than it was the day he was released?” is compelling – can you please contact [email protected]?