Sexually Violent Predators

A sexually violent predator is defined as those who have been convicted of or charged with a crime of sexual violence and suffer from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts of sexual violence.
In May 1987, Earl K. Shriner, a mentally handicapped man with a long criminal record, completed a ten-year sentence in Washington for kidnapping and assaulting two teenage girls. He had a 24-year history of killing, sexual assault, and kidnapping. Prior to his discharge, prison officials learned that he intended to torture children after he was released, and tried vigorously to detain him through the civil commitment laws covering mental illness. Unable to demonstrate the required recent overt act to prove dangerousness, the state had no option but to release Shriner. Two years after his release, he raped and strangled a seven-year-old boy in Tacoma, Washington, severed his penis, and left him in the woods to die.
After cases like these were going on in the state of Washington the governor decided to enact a control committee to help protect the community from predators such as Shriner. The Task Force held public hearings throughout the state and considered numerous ways to strengthen the states laws concerning sex offenses. The group’s recommendations became an omnibus bill to the 1990 Legislature, outlining sweeping changes in the penalties for sex offenses, enacting a sex offender registry and community notification provisions, and establishing programs to assist victims. The Task Force’s most controversial recommendation called for a new civil commitment statute authorizing the state to confine and treat a small group of sex offenders over whom the state had no existing authority. These civil commitment proposals, and the majority of the other Task Force recommendations, were passed unanimously by both houses of the legislature in February 1990.
The law authorizes prosecutors (or the Attorney General) to initiate civil proceedings for a person whose sentence for a sexually violent offense has expired or is about to expire, and that person: has been convicted of a sexually violent crime and is nearing the end of a criminal sentence; has committed a sexually violent offense as a juvenile and is about to be released; has been charged with a violent sex offense but has been determined to be incompetent to stand trial; or has been found not guilty of a sex offense by reason of insanity.
After Washington passed this bill states such as Arizona, California, Kansas and Wisconsin signed a similar bill in regards to sexually violent predators. The only difference is that Washington houses their predators who are being confined after their sentence in a prison mental health facility where the other states house their predators in more of a hospital setting. California is the only state that also has a time period they are held for which is two years where the other states do not have a strict time period.
Sexually violent predators are a very scary and concerning part of our justice system. There needs to be some type of help or confinement for individuals who are not going to change their ways. We as the justice system can not release them back into our society to harm others. I believe the confinement we are doing now is a great step, we just need to figure out a way to help change them or help them help society in some way.


http://www.dshs.wa.gov/hrsa/scc/SVP.htm
http://dcj.state.co.us/ors/pdf/docs/Final%20SVP.pdf

Jessica's Law

When it comes to sex offenders, our law makers are trying to do many different things to help keep our children safe. Like my first blog on sex offending I talked about Megan’s Law there is also another known as Jessica’s Law. This law which was passed and put into action in the state of Florida was proposed to Congress in 2005 but never enacted. Since Florida enacted the law, 42 other states have passed the law.
The name Jessica’s Law comes from a girl in Florida named Jessica Lunsford who was raped and murdered by John Couey a repeat sex offender. Public outrage over this case spurred Florida officials to introduce this legislation. Among the key provisions of the law are a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison and lifetime electronic monitoring of adults convicted of lewd or lascivious acts against a victim less than 12 years old. In Florida, sexual battery or rape of a child less than twelve years old is punishable only by life imprisonment with no chance of parole.
There has been some criticism to this new law by families of sex offenders and others who believe the registries are a bad idea. They believe that the sex offender’s registry is filled with individuals who did not commit a violent offense but committed loose offenses such as victimless crimes and underage consensual sex which they call, “Romeo and Juliet” cases. They believe that our countries registries are filling up to fast and need to be narrowed. The counter argument to this is that the Jessica’s Law is a list of offenders who harm children under 12 so they are the more serious offenders. The families of sex offenders say that the punishment is too harsh due to the fact the sentence can be for 25 years but they will always be labeled as a sex offender in their communities and may even be harmed by the address being given out.
Some key supporters of this bill are John Walsh of “Americas Most Wanted” of Bill O’Reilly of “The O’Reilly Factor.” They both say that the laws against sex offenders needs to be tightened so they crime is not worth the punishment. The new laws coming out against sex offenders are all great ideas in my eyes. With all the offenders out there that sneak under the radar all they are doing is hurting our children and our children may grow up to be the same way or may go on to murder because of the pain they felt while growing up. Sex offending is on the decline but does that mean we should lighten our offenses? Maybe it’s declining because our punishments are getting harsher. So why on earth should we lighten the punishment?



http://www.billoreilly.com/outragefunnels
http://jessicas-law.blogspot.com/
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/Sex_Offender_Facts/Jessicas_Law.html

Sex Trade

The sex trade, also known as sex-trafficking is not only a threat and an epidemic in nearby countries, but it has also been a constant hushed crime by the United States. Sex-trafficking has been disguised with the occasional rapes and prostitution convictions, however the University of Pennsylvania took this matter seriously enough to request a $400, 000 grant to research 17 different cities in America to attempt to get to the bottom of how one incident of sexual assault, abuse, rape, and possibly prostitution can lead to a large uncontrollable sex-trade.
Every city that was researched was high populated and consumed with high end job opportunities and vast amounts of money. Estes, who was in the lead of the research at the University of Penn concluded that there were two types of populations being exploited for sex. Sixty to seventy percent were white middle class working women, while the other almost forty percent were predominantly black runaways or “throw-aways” that ranged from the ages of 14-17 years old. Women have a wide range of reasons for why they sell their body for sex, including prior abuse, low self esteem, no income, homeless, and many others.

These were the top 3 reasons:
•The largest group, about 122,000, is made up of children who have run away from home and turned to prostitution or pornography to get money for food or drugs.
•The second-largest group, about 73,000, is made up of children who live at home and are used by family or friends in exchange for money, food, drugs or other benefits.
•The third-largest group, about 52,000, is made up of "throwaway" children who have been abandoned by parents or guardians and turned to the sex trade to survive.
Even though peace officers are aware of the common reasons for why girls/women sell their bodies for money or food they continue to arrest them. The people that should be arrested and convicted for their crimes are “the pimps, the johns” the ones that are responsible for exploiting these young women.

The University of Pennsylvania recommends:
•That a federal agency or task force be responsible for protecting children from exploitation.
•That law enforcement agencies focus more on arresting the exploiters — pimps, traffickers and customers — than the children.
•That penalties for sexual crimes against children be increased significantly.

The most important message that needs to be sent home that any act of abuse, assault, rape or prostitution can lead to this epidemic of sex trafficking, if it goes unnoticed. Society does not want there to be “pimps/employers” and his “employees” on every corner making money not only for themselves, but for their employers as well. Holding both parties responsible is the best solution, and allowing for a type of reform can help these women to make a change for their mistakes.



New York Times

Usatoday.com- Sex trade may lure 325,000 U.S. kids