Opinion Talk

By George Shabo

March 23, 2006 07:57 AM | Link to this

It appears politicians will overwhelmingly pass new sex offender laws not because the law is just but because it is politically wise to do so. Why is the law unjust in my opinion? Sex offenders were convicted of a crime like any other criminal. However, after a sentence is handed out and justice served, the laws retroactively change and continue to offer new punishment. Imagine someone convicted of theft agrees to a one year sentence followed by probation as part of a plea agreement. after the year is served the state decides to change his sentence and add extra punishments because of public demands. Suddenly this person cannot live anywhere in Atlanta because bus stops are on every corner. 90% of his job opportunities violate a new stipulation added to his registration. Forced to move out of the state because of the law (as politicians hoped) this offender is 'welcomed' by a new state that equally desires to be rid of the offender. This person would continuously be forced to move, leave jobs, and be unwelcomed throughout ones life. It doesn't sound like justice to me. Yet when someone is convicted as a sex offender, society wants only vengence and little room is left for compassion. Not every sex offender is unrepentant. Not every sex offender repeats the crime. Not every sex offender should be treated as if they are incapable of reforming. I'm sure many would like to lump all sex offenders together and place them like lepers in colonies or special "camps". That is not justice. What it is a policy dictated by the fear of it's citizenry, and when fear dictates policies, human beings always seem to be trampled upon.

By Brian Curtis

March 23, 2006 08:11 AM | Link to this

Here we go…. anytime “sex offenders” are brought up as a topic, all rational discussion becomes instantly impossible.

The exchange immediately turns into a contest of who can demonstrate their violent outrage in the most colorful terms. “Gouge out their eyes and brand ‘em” usually leads the list, followed by explicit scenarios of genital mutilation, torture, wanting to personally be involved in the horsewhipping and fingernail-ripping, etc. etc.

Then everyone pats themselves on the back and feels good about how self-righteously angry they are at sex offenders… and the original question goes unanswered.

So let the raving begin!

By Becca

March 23, 2006 09:08 AM | Link to this

Since many sex offenders cannot be rehibilitated (IMHO), laws constantly change in hopes of protecting our children. Of course, scoring political points doesn’t hurt either.

By disillusion1998

March 23, 2006 10:21 AM | Link to this

If all discussions regarding sexual offenses were rational and factually based, Georgia wouldn’t even be implementing these new banishments. It will have nothing but negative impacts on the state. Rational people are not even debating this issue. It is very clear that it is bad social policy and will even lead to more sexual offenses being committed than if it did not exist.

I am a registered sex offender. I completed my sentence years ago. Do Americans really believe it is the American way to approach my family every year or two and tell them they have to move from their home because some politician made up a new “threat”?

As for Representative Jerry Keen, he is a vile, immoral person. His goal is to move all sex offenders from Georgia. His idea of solving this problem that he has made up is to move that “problem” onto other Americans. His actions are positive proof that he is not really concerned about sexual offenses against children. His concern lies with his political stature, feeling good about himself, feeding his power ego, and working out his own vengeance issues. This applies to many or most of his cronies as well.

Having lived as a registered person for over 7 years and looked at the issue from many angles and at great depth, I know for certain that NONE of these laws (including even just the registration) do anything positive to reduce sexual offending. Most of them contribute to the opposite. I know this without doubt. The best these laws can hope to do, and this is absolutely the case with the new laws, is harass registrants. If that is society’s goal, fine. But if their goal is protecting children and/or reducing sexual offenses, it’s hard to imagine a worse path than the one we are on.

By Andrea Davis

March 23, 2006 10:49 AM | Link to this

Jerry Keen admits that his bill would banish sexual offenders from the state. When does justice become vengence? Banishment does no one any good. It removes the offender from his family and support group which should be reguarded as cruel punishment. But they deserve this punishment for the crime they have committed says the supporters of the bill. Do the citizens of other states deserve this? No! Please, someone step in and bring these people to their senses.

By J.P.

March 23, 2006 11:02 AM | Link to this

I am not a sex offender, nor do I know any sex offenders. I do recognize demogogs and Jerry Keen shows all the signs of being a demogog. Demogogs are dangerous, especially in law making positions.I wonder what Jerry’s real agenda is. What is he hiding?

By Van

March 23, 2006 11:29 AM | Link to this

Question.

What crimes get you placed on the Sexual Offenders list?

Is it only violent sexual attacks or can you get there by peeping in a window?

Just wondering if the punishment fits the crime.

By disillusion1998

March 23, 2006 12:06 PM | Link to this

Van, even though the Sex Offender Registry (SOR) IS punishment, it is not supposed to be and the government will forever claim that it is not. Whether or not the SOR is punishment or not is actually a very big deal because if anything is found by a court to be punishment, it can’t be retroactively applied to people who are already on the SOR. So, for example, if it was deemed to be punishment for the government to approach people after they have completed their legal sentences (which is about half the people on Georgia’s Registry, BTW) and force them to sell their homes and move, the courts would strike the law down. So Keen and people like him must always lie that it is not punishment but is instead for public safety.

People on the Registry who have committed “violent sexual attacks” as you stated have almost certainly been very severely punished. There is no reason to let people out of prison and just try to continue to add more and more punishment to them to hinder them living a law abiding life. Why let them out? Nearly all (with very, very few exceptions) of the people who are on the Registry have paid an appropriate price for what they did. In many cases it was worse than appropriate. It makes no sense at all to have Registrants trying to reintegrate into society and live a normal law abiding life but all the while keep poking them with bigger and bigger sticks to try to get them to reoffend. And all the while we are doing this, we are doing nearly nothing at all to actually combat sexual offenses.

It’s fun to the have the Registrants as boogey men and people to beat on and hate, but the facts are very clear that the danger is just not there. When we do what we should to protect children from sexual abuse, we don’t even need Registries. They become moot. The facts are clear.

But to answer your question, offenses that will get you on the Registry are spelled out in O.C.G.A. 42-1-12 (http://www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/glcodesdetail.pl?code=42-1-12) and yes, peeping in a window under wrong circumstances will get you Registered.

By J&J Ranch

March 23, 2006 12:09 PM | Link to this

AJC recently ran an article on Gary Krist titled:
“The Strange Odyssey of Gary Krist From kidnapper to prisoner to doctor to alleged drug smuggler.”

In 1969, he was convicted and given a life sentence for kidnapping. “His life has followed a circuitous route: petty criminal, criminal mastermind, reformed prisoner, paroled prisoner, pardoned prisoner, doctor and now behind bars again.”

When this man was released from prison, did he have to go through what “sex offenders” are being put through? No. But the proof that he is still a criminal has been brought to light.

This is just one example of a man that performed a horrific act, sentenced to jail for life, in 1979 paroled, had his rights restored in 1983, 2001 a Doctor in Indiana, 2002 stripped of his license to practice medicine, 2003 back in GA with his own construction business, March 06, 2006 arrested with 37 pounds of cocaine.

This man, went to jail, did his time, was released. He could have been your next door neighbor. Would most people have even known it?
You cannot tell me that you are more scared of a “sex offender” than you would be of this man. Should we not treat all criminals the same? How many murderers, when released go through what the sex offender is put through?

When someone is released from prison, it is important for them to become part of society again. If this does not happen, the return to crime is imminent.

Why should a kidnapper, murderer, thief, con man be treated better than the sex offender?

By disillusion1998

March 23, 2006 12:17 PM | Link to this

Van, just one other quick thing …… if the Registries were used as they were intended (as a tool for public safety), they probably wouldn’t be damaging to society. We would also have a compliance rate of nearly 100%. We would have less sexual offenses – not because more people were Registered, but rather because the current Registry punishment/harrassment environment would not exist and it is contributing to more sexual offenses. We could divert all of our current wasted, counter-productive attention to actually trying to reduce sexual offenses.

Just remember, ANYONE who is on a Sex Offender Registry who wants to reoffend, can. Registries function mostly as just a hindrance and harassment tool for people who are just trying to live a normal life.

By Jean

March 23, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this

Why isn’t the law considering requiring that convicted child molesters be surgically castrated? Medical castration requires they take their medication….which they won’t…but surgical castration permanently eliminates sexual desire. Is that any more drastic than what those scumbags do to our children?

By Thomas

March 23, 2006 01:07 PM | Link to this

I don’t have an ounce of sympathy for child molesters, but I’m offended at the political grand standing of Jerry Keen.

Let’s be completely honest here – not all sex crimes are created equal. There is marked difference, both in terms of motivation and psyche between child molesters, rapists, peeping toms and the creepy 23 year old with a 16 year old girlfriend. The latter two, while may be considered morally reprehensible, do not by necessity denote a psychological problem or proclivity to violence.

How do we propose to ban sex offenders “urban areas?” Is this constitutional?

And who exactly do we ban? Only rapists and child molesters? Prostitutes, peeping toms, flashers?

Keen needs to find himself a more intelligent way to garner political attention.

By Keen's a Moron

March 23, 2006 01:41 PM | Link to this

Jean, it’s comments like that show the basic ignorant mentality of our public. And this is exactly what Keen is preying on…your ignorance. Would you be ok castrating a 16 year old that has consentual sex with his 14 year old girlfriend? He’s on the sex offender registry. Would you be ok castrating a person for public indecent exposure? He or she is on the registry. Would you be ok castrating a person for peeping? He or she is on the registry. My point here is that the regsitry does not differentiate between offenders. They are all lumped together. A child rapist’s picture is right next to a 16 year old that has sex with his underage girlfriend. And if you think for a minute that this doesn’t happen every day, then you are more ignorant than your comment.

There is a lot wrong with sex offender laws. Most of which do absolutely nothing to protect anybody. Most of the laws regarding registration and banishment areas are in place for polictical gain and to harrass the offender and his or her family. The fact that our politicians tell you that these laws are protecting your children is nothing more than a political front and lies. Yea, I would probably like to know if a sex offender is living next door to me BUT I would also like to know if a murderer, kidnapper, drug dealer, or armed robber is living there too.

Does anyone really think that banishment zones of 1000ft from this and 1000ft from that are stopping child predators? First of all nearly 90% of child molesters are a family member. The other 10% are not preying on children in their neighborhoods for fear of being recognized. If a sex offender wants to reoffend then he or she will drive or walk more than 1000ft to do it.

In Keen’s “equal time” diatribe on the Opinion page today he states “Critics of legislation that will soon be law in Georgia seem to lack an understanding of current law and display a blatant disregard for the welfare of Georgia’s youth”. The critics of the new law are our Sheriffs, Police, and the Association of Georgia Criminal Defense Attorneys. Do these people really have a lack of understanding of current law? Are our Sheriffs and Police displaying a blantant disregard for Georgia’s youth? This is pure manipulation of John Q. Public by Keen. He and other lawmakers are not listening to the people that actually know the harm that some of the new proposed laws will cause. Sheriffs, Police, Attorneys, Therapists and yes even Sex Offenders have spoken in front of your lawmakers begging them to rethink the banishment laws and certain registry laws. These are the same laws that passed in Iowa last year and have literally caused the absolute opposite effect than what the lawmakers told their constituentcy. The Iowa laws are pending repeal because they are not protecting anybody’s child. They are, in fact, doing just the opposite.

It’s an election year folks and HB 1059 and much of the content that Keen put in there is nothing more than a way for him to garner more of your votes in November. If you think he actually cares about the children of Georgia or this country, then I have some swamp land I’d like to sell you.

By Keen's Mess

March 23, 2006 02:45 PM | Link to this

Jean, its comments like that show the basic ignorant mentality of our public. And this is exactly what Keen is preying on…your ignorance. Would you be ok castrating a 16 year old that has consensual sex with his 14 year old girlfriend? He’s on the sex offender registry. Would you be ok castrating a person for public indecent exposure? He or she is on the registry. Would you be ok castrating a person for peeping? He or she is on the registry. My point here is that the registry does not differentiate between offenders. They are all lumped together. A child rapist picture is right next to a 16 year old that has sex with his underage girlfriend. And if you think for a minute that this doesn’t happen every day, then you are more ignorant than your comment.

There is a lot wrong with sex offender laws. Most of which do absolutely nothing to protect anybody. Most of the laws regarding registration and banishment areas are in place for political gain and to harass the offender and his or her family. The fact that our politicians tell you that these laws are protecting your children is nothing more than a political front and lies.

Does anyone really think that banishment zones of 1000ft from this and 1000ft from that are stopping child predators? First of all nearly 90% of child molesters are a family member. The other 10% are not preying on children in their neighborhoods. If a sex offender wants to reoffend, then he or she will certainly drive or walk more than 1000ft to do it.

In Keen’s “equal time” diatribe on the Opinion page today he states “Critics of legislation that will soon be law in Georgia seem to lack an understanding of current law and display a blatant disregard for the welfare of Georgia’s youth”. The critics of the new law are our Sheriff’s, Police, other Senators, and the Association of Georgia Criminal Defense Attorneys. Do these people really have a lack of understanding of current law? Are our Sheriffs, Police and Senators displaying a blatant disregard for Georgia’s youth? This is pure manipulation of John Q. Public by Keen and how dare he make these accusations. He and other lawmakers are not listening to the people that actually know the harm that some of the new proposed laws will cause. Sheriffs, Police, Attorneys, Therapists and yes even Sex Offenders have spoken in front of your lawmakers asking them to rethink the banishment laws and certain registry laws. These are the same laws that passed in Iowa last year and have literally caused the absolute opposite effect than what the lawmakers told their constituency. The Iowa laws are pending repeal by the same people that supported and passed these laws last year. Why? Because they simply do not work and are causing more harm and than good.

It’s an election year folks and HB 1059 and much of the content that Keen put in there is nothing more than a way for him to garner more of your votes in November. If you think he actually cares about the children of Georgia or this country, then I have some swamp land I’d like to sell you.

By Amy

March 23, 2006 05:55 PM | Link to this

Jean, have you ever been seen naked or partially dressed by any child, yours or your friends’? This could be while changing clothes, bathing, using the restroom, and other everyday activities. If the answer is yes, I suggest you go to the nearest Police Station and turn yourself in. You, my dear, are guilty of child molestation by the laws of the State of Georgia.

Furthermore, this law does not only effect the life of the convict-who has served his/her sentence. It greatly affects his/her family as well. I know that it is hard to consider this, but these people have families, some even children who will deal with everything as well. We are robbing these people of the chance to seek the best for their own families. We are robbing them of a chance to move on with their lives. Over 90% of the convicted are isolated events and will not reoffend.

By Van

March 24, 2006 09:09 AM | Link to this

After looking over O.C.G.A. 42-1-12, it appears, in my non-lawyer opinion, to be the victim of too much good intention.

To me, my opinion only, any violent act of a “sexual” nature would qualify, and act against a person below the age of consent would qualify, any non-consentual act would qualify.

What makes me crazy, it seems to be written by the same folks that writes our tax codes. Extremely confusing, overly worded to provide lots of wiggle room and you need a law degree to understand all the fine print.

I do wish the legislature would try using simple language and clear thinking.

While I do belive that repeat offenders should suffer the full force of the law, I am not sure I totally agree with this current system. It may be my ignorance, lack of trust concerning lawyers or plain old cynicism.

By John

March 28, 2006 05:21 AM | Link to this

On yet another endless night of searching the Internet and praying that someday I might get back some semblance of what most people would consider a life, I came across a couple of posts online from people who had recently committed sex offenses with minors. I read on a couple of them that the best hope is that the person might be able to negotiate a deal that wouldn’t require them to be “tagged as a sex offender.” That is exactly what I did almost 3 years ago when I found myself having slept with an underage girl. I won’t go into details here but the whole story can be found at my website on the special “letters” page.

I just wanted to draw attention to legislation that was passed last year in Georgia that required all “First Offenders” to register. I had done great since accepting the plea agreement. I graduated college, had a great job, and even closed on my first house. Then bam. Georgia changed the law and made me register. I lost my job about a month later, leaving me struggling to pay for the house, which apparently isn’t going to matter much anyway since they are about to pass a new law here that prohibits any sex offender from living within 1000 feet of a bus stop, regardless of whether or not the person owns the property. Penalties for violations of any registration laws will also increase from “Punishable up to a year in prison” to “Minimum 10 years to serve” so I’d better get outta here quick!

COBB COUNTY SHERIFF NEIL WARREN… The more restrictions that we can put on sex offenders the better off we are. But understand someone’s got to foot the bill… . To be honest with you, I hope it drives them out.

GWINNETT COUNTY SHERIFF BUTCH CONWAY “If our sex offenders want to leave Gwinnett County for greener pastures, I’ll help them go.”

and of course this nugget:

“We want to make it so tough, that they (sex offenders) are not going to live in Georgia once they are released,” Keen (GA Senate majority leader and sponsor of the new bill) said. When asked where sex offenders then would go, he responded: “I’m a state legislator from Georgia. What Alabama, Tennessee and other states do is up to them.”

Believe me, what happened with her and I was as “consentual” as it could have been. She was in an adult environment, drinking and smoking cigarettes when it happened, but none of that mattered because I should have known better and been more responsible. I got 10 years probation and was ordered to attend counseling and the most important part of the deal was that I would not have to register. I did everything that I was supposed to do, and even proved that I could really be a good and contributing member of society, but they just up and changed the law and now it seems with every round of new legislation I get pushed off another cliff.

John www.JohnTheGuitarist.com www.JohnTheGuitarist.com/letters.htm

By RWH

March 31, 2006 03:23 PM | Link to this

Sex-Offenders in communities should be made to live elsewhere. Once one, remains one and the sad part is…the community is the last to know. We are not informed and the law are not obligated to do so! So, it be aware where you live and who you live beside and down the streets! They come in all walk of life and you will never who they are until you are attacked or someone goes missing!

By RWH

March 31, 2006 03:23 PM | Link to this

Sex-Offenders in communities should be made to live elsewhere. Once one, remains one and the sad part is…the community is the last to know. We are not informed and the law are not obligated to do so! So, it be aware where you live and who you live beside and down the streets! They come in all walk of life and you will never who they are until you are attacked or someone goes missing!

By joe

April 1, 2006 06:42 AM | Link to this

Poor Richard aka Ben Franklin - “Experience keeps a dear school but a fool will learn in no other”. Our legislature in all of their wisdom passed the new sex offender bill. They ignored the disaster that Iowa has experienced with their laws. Do you now feel that your children are safer (the operative word being feel)? The truth is that now your children will be less safe!!! Now more ofeenders will begin dropping off the radar trying to survive. New offenders will take their chances in court rather than accepting pleas and many of the them will win, putting them back in your neighborhoods without the therapy they need. And by the way, contrary to common belief, therapy IS VERY EFFECTIVE. Everyone concentrates on the convicted sex offenders which draws their attention from the greatest risk of all to their children. 80 to 90% of all child molestation is done by friends or family. You are so busy looking around the neighborhood, you fail to pay attention to what is going on at home. Here is another shocker, the majority of convicted sex offenders don’t want your kids anywhere near them and if they get too close the offender will turn and leave. If you don’t believe it I suggest you review the 2 strikes and you are out legislation that we already have. now that I have said my piece tell me just how SAFE YOU REALLY FEEL. I suggest that you show the legislature just how pleased you are come next election. Then maybe the next crop will listen to the experts and pass laws that make sense rather than passing laws they think will make political hay.

By Kali Anjuli

April 4, 2006 07:52 PM | Link to this

First I would like to comment not only as a friend but a fiancé of a sex offender. My husband to be made an error of judgment as a 19 year old kid, he had a 14 yr girlfriend whom he never had sex with (naively thinking as long as he didn’t have sex it wasn’t so bad). Little did he know he was charged (by her parents) with molestation (not statutory rape). He served over three years in prison.

Is it fair & just punishment that a “dumb” 19 yr old kid’s life has been ruined? He dropped out of Devy because he saw no point in getting a degree in computers when no one would hire him after a background check. He now has been forced to work temporary manual labor jobs. It took us over 8 months to find a place “appropriate” to live, an now there is the possibility that the brand new house we moved into we will have to continue to pay on and find somewhere else to live b/c a bus stop is within 1000 yards of us. Furthering his punishment, he can’t even see, write, call, or take his 4 nieces anywhere (not even supervised).

This is the punishment WE have to live everyday, for the next 4-5 years although this happened in 1997! I believe in punishing sex offenders but there seems there should be some break down off severity. I mean a 19/14 year old pairing is nothing like a 19/8 year old pairing or 29/14 year old paring. With the severity of the laws what do we expect to happen? We are forcing people not to find a viable means of employment, or have a home, or have any chance at reintegrating in society. WE lump the most vial disgusting predator with 18 year old kids who dated an underclassmen. Desperate people do desperate things.

• For the record I am not a love stricken fool, I have a Master’s Degree in Counseling and work with convicted criminals “real” sex offenders everyday that commit much more evil sex crimes and get probation off the jump. Where is the justice there?

By Ronda Byrd

April 8, 2006 11:48 PM | Link to this

I have something to say about this subject. I agree with Kali Anjuli. She is right on with her thoughts but I would like to add a few things. It was not that long ago in America, that older men married girls as young as 12 to 13 years old. America saw nothing wrong with this. Now, I know that there are some very sick individuls that are predators who deserve to monitered for life. There is a small population of sex offenders that made an error in judgement. Should they be punished the same as the violent predators in our society? There should be degrees of punishment. I am in the same situation as Kali. I have an education as well. I am not just some love stricken fool.These guys have served thier time and still pay the price everyday for the predators that do these violent acts. There as got to be some sort of system in place for society to be able to tell the difference in ones that will never offend again and the ones that will offend every time they get the chance.But unlike Kali, my person will have to register for the rest of his life because in the state we live in it is life no matter what because it is of sexual nature. All of his hope to be a productive person in society is gone. If you take someone’s hope away, you leave them with nothing to do. If we as a socitey do not get a hold on this, society will end up paying the price. Offenders will re-offend if you do not show them that they can be a part of society. “Idle hands are the work of the devil”, that is an old saying where I come from. We, as a society, need to be a little more aware that a small population of these sex offenders are not what they have been labled.My person will never offend again,there is no doubt. He served his time and still is paying the price. One other thing, over the years I have watched to age of his “victim “go down on the state registery, while his age has gone up. These so called registeries are not as accurate as we would like to believe. The government can do anything that they want with these guys and the offender can not do anything about it.Our so called justice system is a joke.There is no justice in America?

By JohnTheGuitaristDotCom

April 13, 2006 08:23 AM | Link to this

Please Forward This Letter to the Editor

Dear Ms. Smith,

I am writing to you to express my concern over your article, “PERV PARADISE AS JUDGE NIXES LAW.” There is one comment in the article that illustrates what is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of your article. It says, ” He (O’Brien) added that there is “a great deal of public panic and misinformation on this issue.” Now, as a journalist, you are undoubtedly in a position of extreme influence. Your labeling of everyone that was affected by this judge’s ruling as a “Perv” is exactly the kind of reckless slander that has cost hundreds of thousands of totally innocent people their freedom, liberty, and any hope of a happiness in their lives.

I am talking about the innocent family members of these so-called “pervs.” Do you realize that some of these people have children too? How does it make you feel to know that some little 10-year old girl is getting blasted at school by all the other little kids because someone started a rumor that her daddy’s a “perv” because he may have had dated an underage girl when he was a teenager. There are a lot of those type of people on these registries, and in this case I am almost sure those are the type of offenders we are talking about here. I can just see your response now: “A lot better than worrying that some little 10-year old girl is out there being molested by one of them.” When language like yours is thrown around so haphazardly, it confuses the issue of the people who are truly not a danger with the small percentage of the people who actually are a danger. Believe it or not, that percentage actually is very small, but the registries don’t make that distinction. They just lump eveyone on there together so as to make a bigger “target” for people like…well…you…to throw your metaphorical rotten tomatoes at. This exacerbates the problem until what you have in our society today: complete hysteria, shunning, scapegoating, and utter hatred of anyone who is on “The List.”

You see, this isn’t just about throwing rotten fruit at the guy in the stocks at the village square anymore. Reckless, hyperbolic journalism such as yours has created a situation so out of proportion that some states have effectively banished everyone on “The List” from entire metro areas. I know that Georgia just enacted legislation that bans anyone on “The List” from living with 1000 feet of a bus stop, public or school. In other words, every driveway in Georgia just became a potential registration violation. Nice that they also bumped the punishment up from “up to a year” to “minimum 10 years to serve” if you violate any of the requirements that go along with registration. Surely you have read the stories from when Iowa enacted similar legislation about 7 months ago. The Iowa Prosecutor’s Association and Sheriff’s Association have both written a formal letters of appeal to the legislature pleading with them to repeal the law because it is quite frankly, insane. But, it passed when it did because of articles like yours. Same thing in Georgia. The new law doesn’t go into effect until July 1st, 2006, but already the Sheriff’s Association here is bracing themselves for a complete meltdown of the registration system as some 12,000 people and their FAMILIES prepare to be uprooted from their homes. There is a good chance that all these “Pervs” and their “Perv” wives and little “Perv” children will find themselves living under bridges, at rest stops, or under some tree in a campground. But hey, at least they’re not in your community anymore right?

While it may be true that there are some people out there, wretched individuals by design, who really are the dangerous molesters that are worthy of the “Perv” label that you seem to be so fond of dishing out, surely a Federal Judge has enough intuition to be able to distinguish the ones who deserve it from the ones who don’t. Correct me if I am wrong, but he probably has a lot more qualification than some two-bit, hate-mongering columnist in New York. Thanks for the completely irrelevant history lesson on Megan’s Law, too.

John www.JohnTheGuitarist.com/letters.htm

PERV PARADISE AS JUDGE NIXES LAW

April 13, 2006 — A federal judge yesterday struck down a law intended to strengthen the state’s ability to keep tabs on sex offenders - paving the way for 3,000 convicted perverts to fall off a public registry and melt anonymously into communities this year.

Judge Denny Chin ruled in Manhattan yesterday that the Legislature violated a 2004 court order when it extended the time that freed sex offenders must report their whereabouts under Megan’s Law.

As a result of the decision, by the end of 2006, some 3,000 of the state’s 22,000 convicted perverts will no longer be required to give public notice of where they live.

The legislation had dramatically increased reporting times for offenders categorized at low or moderate risk for committing new sex crimes.

The requirements had been upped from 10 years to 20 years for low-risk offenders, and from 10 years to life for moderate-risk offenders.

The changes were put into effect in January, less than a week before the 10-year reporting requirement for approximately 3,000 sex fiends was set to expire.

When Gov. Pataki signed the tougher measure, he touted it as a way to “make sure those 22,000 convicted sex offenders will not simply go back into the community.”

But Chin found the new measures violated a 2004 settlement the state made in connection with a class-action suit that convicted sex offenders filed against Pataki and other officials in 1996.

“In simplest terms, a contract is a contract,” Chin said in his decision.

Chin said the state cannot ignore the 2004 settlement “merely because [it] was with individuals convicted of serious crimes.”

The judge said state officials knew the nature of those crimes when they made the agreement.

Thomas O’Brien, a Legal Aid Society attorney who argued on behalf of the sex offenders, called the ruling “very just.”

He said it affects 3,000 people who had completed 10 years of registration and would also cover another 1,400 who were registered after 1996.

“It’s very gratifying that the judge enforced the law and the contract that was in front of him, regardless of public criticism that might result,” O’Brien said.

He added that there is “a great deal of public panic and misinformation on this issue.”

The judge put a seven-day hold on his decision to give the state time to respond. It was not clear if there would be an appeal.

A spokesman for Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said his office was “analyzing the decision and discussing legal options with the governor’s office.”

High-risk sexual predators are still required to report their whereabouts for life.

The people covered by the settlement had not committed new offenses. If they had, they would have been placed in the life-registration category, O’Brien said.

The legislation, like similar laws in other states that established public registries, was dubbed Megan’s Law, after a New Jersey girl, Megan Kanka, 7, who was raped and killed in 1994 by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street from her.

katie.smith@nypost.com

By John

April 17, 2006 11:19 PM | Link to this

We are petitioning the Governor of Georgia to refrain from signing a bill that will include any “bus stop” as an excluded zone for living or working. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that if the bill is signed into law, very bad things could happen…worse than what happened in Iowa. Even the Sheriff’s association in Georgia has agreed and is worried that, along with being basically impossible to enforce, it will completely uproot 12,000 people, their wives, and innocent children.

Here’s the link:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_p…ed.cgi?GANO1059

Thanks,

John www.JohnTheGuitarist.com/letters.htm www.JohnTheGuitarist.com Edit/Delete Message