all about the facts
By Ken Nolley . . . The Register-Guard editorial on Oct. 20 noted that current policy limits online information about persons on the sex offender registry to high risk offenders. The editorial saw this as a “shortcoming in state law,” which might suggest to some that this was merely an egregious oversight. But whether one agrees with that policy or…
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Dear Sir or Madam, My name is Melissa Grady, and I am a faculty member at the Catholic University of America’s National Catholic School of Social Service. I along with my colleague Jill Levenson, professor at Barry University in Florida, are conducting a study aimed at understanding the role of trauma and later sexual offending. There are two surveys associated…
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By Maynard Law Office; reprinted with permission . . . Recently, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report entitled, “Recidivism of Sex Offenders Released from State Prison: A 9-Year Follow Up (2005-2014).” “Notwithstanding the sensationalist headline (“three times as likely”), the statistics reported are actually quite favorable. First, it’s important to note that this BOJ report is not based on samples…
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By Giulia Lowe and Gwenda Willis The present study examined the effect of offense-based labels on community members’ willingness to volunteer with people convicted for varying offenses and any priming effect of labeling language. Participants (N = 310) were randomly assigned to a label condition or a neutral condition and completed an anonymous online survey about their willingness to volunteer…
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By Steve Yoder . . . It was the kind of headline guaranteed to generate clicks even over the winter holidays and amid a federal government shutdown: “Number of Sex Offenders Living in Florida Is Growing,” warned the Associated Press. In December, the Florida legislative auditor’s office released a report noting that the number of people on the state’s sex offender registry had…
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By Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg . . . Seth (not his real name) describes himself as an outcast as a child. “I was the fat kid with glasses that got picked on ever since first grade,” said Seth, now 40, who grew up in New Jersey, where he still lives. “I was always a socially awkward kid.” In 1993, when he was 14,…
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By Emily Gillespie… A small island in the state of Washington houses a group of unlikely residents: they are all men the state considers its most dangerous sex offenders. McNeil Island, nestled in Puget Sound, is unpopulated except for the 214 people who live at the special commitment center, a facility for former prison inmates. All men have served their…
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By ATSA The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers is an international organization that stresses sound research and data-driven information in the prevention of sexual abuse. Fact 1: There is no specific type of person who commits sexual abuse. People who sexually abuse cross all socioeconomic, educational, gender, age, and cultural lines. There is no typical profile of someone…
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By Brenda . . . We were excited to see our own evaluation and expectations of our Fearless support group project confirmed in a genuine academic study! Authors Lisa L. Sample, Brooke N. Cooley, and Tusty ten Bensel recently published “Beyond Circles of Support: ‘Fearless’ — An Open Peer-to-Peer Mutual Support Group for Sex Offense Registrants and Their Family Members” in…
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By AVNet News . . . This is a very thorough and well documented discussion of why the general opinion of sex offender re-offense is that it is high and then an equally thorough and well documented elaboration showing it is not. Multiple, easy to understand charts are used and multiple studies referenced. For recidivism research, this is invaluable. Sex…
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