all about the facts
STEVEN YODER — In late 2006, a public defender went before a Napa County judge to argue for his client’s freedom. Rex McCurdy, a 49-year-old man, had been detained for seven years at Atascadero State Hospital under a 1995 California law authorizing “civil commitment” of people who have been convicted of sex offenses, a practice that keeps them confined long after…
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Two opportunities are being made available for qualified persons to participate in research studies. #1. Dr. Lisa Zilney; Montclair St. U. “Contextualizing the Experiences of Sexual Offenders.” This is targeting specifically those who received a conviction as the result of a plea bargain. There are two attachments for this study; one is a study overview and the other an…
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NARSOL was honored to have Dr. Christopher Dum as a presenter at our 2019 conference in Houston. Dr. Dum is now engaged in an important research project for Kent State University. The study participants are persons who are thinking about moving, or who have already moved, in order to be closer to an incarcerated loved one. Participation will include a…
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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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