Conference 2023 — a success story, inside and outside
By Sandy . . . As I write, we are a day and a half into our conference, NARSOL’s 15th annual national conference and the third to be held in Houston, Texas. Day one started with warm welcomes from Robin, our board chair, and Brenda, our executive director. Brenda set the tone of success in recounting some of NARSOL’s legal victories in recent years.
The first plenary speaker, journalist Steve Yoder, focused on how advocates could be successful in dealing with the media and using the media to help get our message out.
I am attending the conference virtually, so I am only able to see one break-out session in each time slot. Bruce Hossfield (Atwo Zee, Registered Traveler) talked about how registrants could successfully travel in our nation, and Steve Yoder delved into the ways to successfully write op-eds and have them published.
The next plenary speaker, Alexa Sardina, brought what is for many a new perspective, that of restorative justice (RJ) practices as complete or partial alternatives to criminal justice results. Having been at one time a victim of sexual crime – in RJ terms, someone who was harmed – Alexa has a personal and refreshing approach to what it takes for healing to occur and be successful, healing for both the one harmed and the one who caused the harm.
In the afternoon break-out session, NARSOL advocate Pastor Jeremy Pierce told conference attendees about the virtual church he helped create where everyone, especially registrants, could successfully have their spiritual needs met.
That was day one.
Day two began with the next plenary speaker, attorney Adele Nicholas, sharing with the audience some of the cases she and her law partner, NARSOL board member Mark Weinberg, have worked on and brought a significant number to successful results. The cases where they have found the most success are those dealing with residency requirements and prohibitions for registrants.
The morning break-out session departed from the theme of success and delved into a dark and desperate reality for some who have been convicted of a sexual offense and even some, as I was shocked to learn, who have no criminal conviction at all. The civil commitment presentation was shocking, even for someone who has done somewhat extensive research into the topic.
The highlight of the session, at least for me, was when Daniel, a detainee at Moose Lake Civil Commitment Center in Wisconsin, joined by telephone. He spoke of the lack of any meaningful treatment, the inadequate food, the virtual lack of medical treatment, and the arbitrary and punitive administrative policies and decisions. In spite of it all, Daniel continues to fight by whatever means possible.
All of these sessions and presentations were taking place inside the hotel in our well air-conditioned, large conference room. Outside, around a partial perimeter of the hotel with temperature well over 90, a drama of a different sort was transpiring.
Unbeknownst to NARSOL at the time, over a month ago the fact of our conference caught the attention of a group called Proud Boys, and they took exception to what they erroneously believe NARSOL to be. They sent out a call for supporters to converge on the hotel and protest against our conference. Chatter on social media alerted us to this the first afternoon of the conference after it was well underway. This protest was set to take place the next day, day two, in the late morning.
Hotel security was advised, and they assured us that, along with help from the Houston Police Dept., precautions would be taken, and when the protest group arrived, somewhere between 25 and 50 in number, they were. The protesters gathered outside on the main road to the hotel chanting “Protect the children,” and attempted egress onto hotel property was met with police officers who made it clear that the protesters would stay on public property or be arrested.
They made the wiser choice. They obeyed the law and did what every American is guaranteed the right to do: make their opinions known in a lawful manner. They dispersed fairly soon.
An afternoon, the awards banquet, and a morning yet to go; and conference 2023 will be part of history. Preparations are already underway for conference 2024. The chances are strong that protesters will follow us into the future, and they can be certain that they will find NARSOL there for as long as we are needed.
What an opportunity to point out that people are protesting protecting children.
This is of course what we all, already understand. Much of the general public and politicians don’t get it. If a protest were to draw the attention of media, then we get to express and show how we are all on the same side. Not necessarily a bad thing.
I have yet to be able to attend in person, but I do sign up for the live stream. I hope those who attended had a good time and thank you NARSOL.
Would you please also argue that rhe Registry affects people of color and other minority groups. Also diversify the board and membership to reflect all the African American Registered Citizens and explain that minority neighborhoods have a disproportionately high number of registered Offenders abd this contributes to the devaluation of real estate in minority neighborhoods. Please start using yhis argument more. It will resonate with the public. You should also start to feature more black and brown cases.
Why is everyone’s back to the camera? Because NARSOL knows if the details of member’s sex offenses are known what little sympathy the public may have for sex offenders would evaporate.
Now that the conference is over, can someone please fix the “From the Wire” section of the website. It’s been stuck on Jan 30th news articles for about two months now. I’m glad everything went well at the conference, and the speakers were well received by those who want these laws to be repealed/reformed. But there is little public effort to make the wider public aware of the issues. Here in Texas, they keep trying to pass laws that limit and restrict PFRs without research or evidence based facts. Luckily for us most of the bad bills died on the floor of either the House or Senate. However, being apart of and knowing what the legislative session is like through the eyes of our Texas-based advocates, it shows that ignorance and malicious intent will always rule the day over logic in these cases. Emotion holds a strong sway over the public because of a small number of heinous crimes.
For example, there was a bill to have it illegal to knowingly live within 2500ft of your victim. How would that have worked in an already overburdened system? Would the victims be responsible for telling the police when and where they moved. Just so their assailants could know where they lived? It made absolutely no sense but it was touted as “Common sense – A no-brainer” These are the masses that we are trying to convince. But they will never be convinced unless the courts come out and say what we all know already: The Registry is Draconian Punishment.