Episode 22
2018/04/29

This is an opinion piece From The Hill written by Jesse Kelley. The Sex Offender Registry: Vengeful, unconstitutional and due for full repeal
http://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/376668-the-sex-offender-registry-vengeful-unconstitutional-and-due-for-full
If 95% of people in prison will be released, why is it that we saddle them with such hardship. This isn’t just an SO issue, although the punishment is more harsh for them. What is the long term gain for society to put one group of people in the dirt for eternity?

• Does SORNA violate the constitution?
• Is it OK to violate the constitution in favor of public safety?
• Does this pass the rational basis test?
• Does it violate due process having to register for life. I’m taking their side and assuming that you do have a higher risk of reoffending
• Do you have a right to privacy? The right to be more or less anonymous?

From the Washington Post Opinion: ‘The Watch’ blog: Behind the scenes, prosecutor lobbies wield immense power. The state’s defense attorneys and their assistants have a long history of Brady violations, including in death-sentence cases, and it it has one of the highest wrongful conviction rates in America.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2018/04/23/behind-the-scenes-prosecutor-lobbies-wield-immense-power/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.556d5baf538d

• Isn’t it conflict of interest to have the group in charge of prosecuting crimes, also then responsible for what becomes a crime? Not different from the prison guard lobby, or the sheriff’s association lobbying to make xyz a crime. It is in their interest to have more things crime to further entrench their position, their need.
• Is there a problem for these groups to have people paid w/ taxpayer funds? Isn’t in their interest to have a safer society?
• Brady Violations are where the prosecution withholds evidence that could sway the decision in court

From The New York Times: Voting Laws for Felons Can Be Hard to Follow. Here’s an Overview.
It is up to states – not the federal government – to say whether convicted felons can vote, and which ones, and when. So the rules for convicted criminals can change, sometimes drastically, from one state to the next. (The issue can be knotty within states, too: This past week, New York’s governor announced plans to sidestep a resistant State Legislature to give the vote to felons on parole.) It’s a lot to keep track of, but here’s an overview of where states stand – at least for now – on felons’ voting rights.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/felony-voting-rights-law.html

• How many people have a felony record in the US? Maybe ~8%
• Some states ban people for life for any felony. Others, you can continue to vote while you are in prison.
• Is there evidence to support that this is to further disenfranchise minority voters? Jim Crow?

From The Washington Post: Justice reforms take hold, the inmate population plummets and Philadelphia closes a notorious jail. The American criminal justice system’s gradual realization that too many people are in jail needlessly just got a large, visible boost from the city of Philadelphia. The city announced last week that it would close its notorious 91-year-old House of Correction jail because reforms begun two years ago have dropped the city’s jail population by 33 percent, without causing any increase in crime or chaos.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2018/04/23/justice-reforms-take-hold-the-inmate-population-plummets-and-philadelphia-closes-a-notorious-jail/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.97581791b837

• Without an increase in crime or chaos? HOW CAN THIS BE? Aren’t felons likely to wreck society when they are released?
• More petitions for parole are being granted, as well as diversion to treatment vs time
• This is striking: In July 2015 there were 8k people in Philly jails. Last week, after reforms began in late 2016, as of last week there are 5300. That’s a 33% drop. And why is this?

From The Miami Herald: Lockup guard slugged a skinny kid. Prosecutors say it’s justified. Here’s the video. Broward County prosecutors have ruled that a former detention center officer was justified when he slugged a 14-year-old boy in the face – breaking the teen’s nose in two places – because the juvenile was aggressive with staff and causing a disturbance in the county’s long-troubled lockup.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article209579679.html

• The kid didn’t comply. Didn’t he deserve to be forced into compliance?
• The report says the other detainees offer store goods to be aggressive to others. This is like fight club
• And here again, prosecutors hold the keys to whether an individual is charged or not. He’s not be prosecuted

From North Jersey.com: New Jersey Supreme Court allows juvenile sex offenders to get off Megan’s Law registry
https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/04/24/new-jersey-supreme-court-allows-juvenile-sex-offenders-get-off-megans-law-registry/547858002/

• Who are they allowing to get off? Are they automatically removed?
• James Maynard, who specializes in sex crimes, said the most onerous requirements of Megan’s Law were born of misperceptions about the likelihood of sex offenders to commit new sex crimes. He said people convicted as youths have very little chance of re-offending, especially after undergoing therapy.

From the Washington Post: Privately run prisoner transport company kept detainee shackled for 18 days in human waste, lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit filed in U.S. district court in western Virginia against three companies – Brevard Extraditions, which conducts business as U.S. Prisoner Transport; Prisoner Transportation Services of America; and its parent company, Prisoner Transportation Services – illustrates the risks posed by the increasing privatization of prisoner extradition
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/24/privately-run-prisoner-transport-company-kept-detainee-shackled-for-18-days-in-human-waste-lawsuit-alleges/

• This makes me wonder about the people who work for companies delivering this kind of treatment
• Why isn’t there a criminal case against the companies’ for some form of murder?
• To me it feels like a conflict of interest for private companies to handle people with reduced capacity to support themselves. A private prison or transport company might be able to do it more cheaply, but where do those lower costs come from? From reducing the resources given to the ‘cargo’ they’re handling. Which are people.

Comment from Don:
Ironically, as I am embroiled in legislative wrangling over this very issue, the young son of a good friend of mine has just been caught up in one of these situations.  He was playing with a younger boy at an after-school program and a teacher found them when the younger boy’s pants were part-way down. He said, “Jack (name changed) did it.”  Jack says that he just pulled the boy across the carpet by his hands and his elastic-waisted pants didn’t stand up to the drag. Because our mandatory reporting laws make failure to report incidents a felony, everything that has any possibility of sexual content gets reported and now the case is being referred to authorities for a criminal investigation.  We pray that common sense will prevail, but if the wrong person gets ahold of it, “Jack” could be facing charges of sexual assault with the possibility of being tagged “sex offender” for the rest of his life. It was on his 12th birthday. Happy birthday, Jack.

We received this comment from Travis. He writes:
Guys, Thank you for all your hard work and diligence.  I look forward each week for the next podcast. I hope your numbers are increasing weekly. I’ve spread the word to all the registrants and my therapist.

With this being a midterm election year. How do you see our fight/cause progressing?  If you would please discuss the influence that the media has on the registry. The media loves to blow every sex offender story out of proportion and puts “fake fear” into the public.

I do have a couple of criticisms though:  People want to listen to your podcast for the issues. Not long civics lessons. Explaining the Louisiana bills and committees literally took up half the podcast. Watch or listen too “gayusa”. A great model to go by.  Finally. If I was to have a drink of beer for every time Larry said “So”. I would be passed out after 10 minutes. Gather your thoughts and slow down. It’s really annoying. Ok. That’s it. Guys seriously, I truly appreciate your efforts and voice.

Rule 404. Character Evidence; Crimes or Other Acts
Character Evidence. (1) Prohibited Uses. Evidence of a person’s character or character trait is not admissible to prove that on a particular occasion the person acted in accordance with the character or trait.

• Isn’t this circumstantial evidence? It is anecdotal
• Studies show that memory is highly malleable. It isn’t like a VCR (or DVR) recording. Every time you pull a memory out, you alter a little something and then put it back in the changed version

Episode 21
2018/04/26

From KALB: Bill to remove non-violent, non-sex offenses from habitual offender law voted down.
What does it take to get a bill into your legislature. Who sponsors a bill? How do committees work? How are they split between the parties?
http://www.kalb.com/content/news/Bill-to-remove-non-violent-and-non-sex-offenses-from-habitual-offender-law-voted-down-480075373.html

A big SCOTUS decision in Sessions v. Dimaya ruling that helps our cause. How is it that void-for-vagueness doctrine helps us with our fight in the registry? Do people in the media skew the information to support their agenda; distorting facts
http://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/383512-supreme-court-invalidates-law-requiring-the-deportation-of?userid=108581
http://www.scotusblog.com/2018/04/opinion-analysis-crime-based-removal-provision-is-unconstitutionally-vague/

Related to the Dimaya story.
And here is talk radio host Mark Levin, who reaches 7M listeners describing the plaintiff incorrectly.

From Vox.com:
The ability to prosecute and jail people for lying to investigators is, obviously, an incredibly powerful tool of the FBI, US attorneys’ offices, and other aspects of federal law enforcement. it’s also prone to abuse in some fairly obvious ways — especially because it’s perfectly legal for the investigators to lie to you. That’s why standard legal advice is to simply refuse to talk to investigators under any circumstances. “People seem to think that: If I haven’t done anything wrong, then it’s okay for me to talk to the government,” writes defense lawyer David Benowitz, “and that’s just dead wrong.”
https://www.vox.com/2018/4/18/17242766/book-james-comey-hillary-emails-trump-firing-fbi-director

Episode 20
2018/04/14

A brief discussion about a woman on the registry for NOT reporting that her son was having sex, while NOT in her custody??? WTH!

There Are Too Many Kids on the Sex Offender Registry https://reason.com/archives/2018/04/09/there-are-too-many-kids-on-the

Dissenting Against the Supreme Court’s Rightward Shift
When Stephen Reinhardt, the famously liberal judge who died last month after 37 years on the federal appellate bench, visited Yale Law School a few years ago, a student asked him what the point was of issuing decision after decision that the Supreme Court would predictably overturn. The question was a challenge, but Judge Reinhardt took it with a smile. ‘They can’t catch ’em all,’ he said. I didn’t know then that this was Judge Reinhardt’s stock answer to a frequent question, and it startled me; the judge’s tone may have been mild, but his stance was one of open resistance, defiance even, toward a Supreme Court that was moving ever further to his right.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/opinion/supreme-court-right-shift.html

From The Times-Picayune
Louisiana efforts to free wrongfully convicted may lose money under House bill
Louisiana public defenders said a bill moving through the state Legislature threatens to shut down efforts to exonerate people who were sent to prison for a wrongful conviction. It would also take money away from other efforts to appeal convictions of people who can’t afford their own attorneys and whose cases are too expensive for local public defenders to handle.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/04/louisiana_public_defender_fund.html

Writing Sex Offender Laws Based on Fake Recidivism Numbers Is Rational, Court Says
http://reason.com/blog/2018/04/11/court-says-relying-on-fake-recidivism-nu

Listener question
why not file John Doe lawsuits everywhere since anyone filing suit has nothing to lose mentality I would think and/or those with something to lose have no interest in being the sacrificial lamb who gets harassed for being a plaintiff?

Allie commented at registrymatters.co
I don’t see them ever abolishing the registry. They found a goldmine and they’re not giving it up. I just keep hoping and praying that they’ll one day realize just how cruel it is to punish these citizens so severely.

Mental disease or defect defense

• Q: Most of us have heard the terms insanity and incompetent, but I’m guessing that very few understand the difference. Can you explain the difference in simple terms?
• A: Insanity is lack of criminal responsibility for an action and incompetence is the lack of ability to understand and participate in the court proceedings.
• Q: Well, based on that answer, let’s focus first on competence and then we can discuss insanity.
• Q: How is the issue of incompetence raised?
• Q: Is there a specific test that is administered to determine if a person is competent?
• Q: What happens if a person is deemed incompetent to stand trial?
• Q: What is the insanity defense? What does it mean to assert the insanity defense?
• Q: Who bears the burden of proving the defense?
• Q: How often is the defense used?
• Q: Does it ever work?
• Q: Use of the defense had declined over the years. Why is that?
• Q: What happens to a person who is successful using the defense?
• Q: Are they actually provided treatment in the hospital wards that provide treatment for the found to be criminally insane?

Episode 19
2018/04/07

Colbert county Alabama sheriff messed up. There was a 2 week laps in sending out notifications to the locals of convicted sex offenders moving into the area.
http://www.waaytv.com/content/news/Colbert-officials-develop-a-new-plan-better-notify-citizens-about-sex-offenders-477979273.html

Colom campaigned on locking up fewer people
He released a person for a parole violation, in which his predecessor locked him up for 5 years for a drug related violation
Why are the areas with the highest poverty levels the same ones with the highest rates of incarceration?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/what-if-prosecutors-wanted-to-keep-people-out-of-prison.html

Two brave registrants who were going to be kicked out of their Ft. Lauderdale homes stood up and said NO!
Only supplies to those sentenced before 2007
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/ft-lauderdale-florida-sex-offender-residency-restriction-declared-unconstitutional/

Short discussion about the Illinois Supreme Court decision regarding parks
May vs Ryan
http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/Opinions/SupremeCourt/2018/122034.pdf

Jacob commented:
I’ve been listening to you guys babble for three months now. Everybody knows that sex offender registration is punishment, yet you two seem to dance around the issue. Is this just some scam to see how much money you can collect while pretending to be concerned about our plight? If you were serious, you people would just try to end the federal registry rather than wasting so much time challenging state by state? I believe it’s all about the money.

Just End The Federal Registry Already!
Wouldn’t a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court be the way to go if you really want to end the registry?
Why does it take so long to get a case to the Supreme Court? Why don’t you just file the damn thing there to start with?
Why are there state registries? Federal encouragement of state level registries
Do Federal courts have control over the state courts?
If Congress repealed the Adam Walsh Act (AWA, do state level registries disappear?)
Could there be a federal encouragement to dismantle state level registries?
Is this related to the 10th amendment of states rights?
What would prompt federal laws? Why aren’t there federal laws already? Traveling across states is in violation of federal laws
Is a state level registry then comparable to state drug laws?

Episode 18
2018/03/31

1) How is it that in some states the registry is considered “punishment” (Michigan?) and in other states it is simply a “public service”?  I’m thinking of the ex post facto registry requirements for SO’s who have completed their sentences.

2)  The 80+ towns throughout Minnesota that have enacted their own extra-judicial city requirements, beyond that of the residency limitations in place already through the state.  Could you talk about that?

Let’s talk about members of congress, both state and federal level
There are many governorships up in 2018. Why does it even matter who gets elected to be Governor when it’s the legislative branch that makes the laws?

How often is a member of the US house up for reelection? Senate?
Is it fair to say that at least the house, they’re always preparing for fundraising and reelection?
Do you think a candidate believes in the position of their constituents, or are they just there because of what the people believe?
How do you find out what a candidate believes, or how they have voted: Candidates website, FB ?
Is it hard to meet with  US Congress critter?
Is it hard to meet with a state level member?
How would you begin establishing a relationship with one?
Can you expect to have lunch with them? Go golf with them? How close to this person can you realistically get?
How do you learn about the committees that they are on?
How do you know if a committee is responsible for a bill you’re interested in? You’ve mentioned about email campaigns where your senator wasn’t in the committee.
In regards to being in a member of congress’ district. Do they care about you? More or less if you’re in their district?
Are “change.org petitions” effective? Emails? Phone calls? Visits to the office?

Quote:
There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.
Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

Episode 17
2018/03/24

From The Intercept: Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner Promised a Criminal Justice Revolution. He’s Exceeding Expectations.
From time to time, transformation leaders take office. They show everyone else exactly what can be done and how to do it. That’s Larry Krasner right now – and he’s showing the nation how to dismantle mass incarceration from the inside out.
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/20/larry-krasner-philadelphia-da/

From The West Virginia Record: Supreme Court says restricting internet access while on parole violates First Amendment
Ross did 27 years in prison starting in 1987. Ross’s release on parole was subject to numerous conditions and, because he was registered as a sex offender, he was prohibited from possessing or having contact with any computer, electronic device, communication device or any device which is enabled with internet access. Bur Ross’ girlfriend has a computer, and a cell phone which both have the evil Internet. There’s no evidence he ever accessed, and they are reportedly password protected. There was no forensics done.
My understanding is that the circuit court released him. Then the state appealed it. They lost the appeal at the WV Supreme Court.
Had they left it alone, they could have continued their existing ways.
https://wvrecord.com/stories/511365463-supreme-court-says-restricting-internet-access-while-on-parole-violates-first-amendment

From The Washington Post: An unexplained groping loophole in Minnesota law is about to be closed
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/03/09/an-unexplained-groping-loophole-in-minnesota-law-is-about-to-be-closed/
There was a carve out for touching butts because a coach might pat a player as a ‘good game’ kind of thing?

From The Washington Post: Appeals court considers ‘how long is too long’ in challenge to Guantanamo detention
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/appeals-court-considers-how-long-is-too-long-in-challenge-to-guantanamo-detention/2018/03/20/c93d7114-2bb3-11e8-b0b0-f706877db618_story.html?utm_term=.6bb6b810cc24

From The Marshall Project: Caring for My Sick Husband From Prison
A federal inmate feels helpless as her partner’s health deteriorates.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/03/08/caring-for-my-sick-husband-from-prison

From CNN: Craigslist shuts down its personals section
On Friday they shut down their section of the site that allows people seeking encounters with strangers. The move comes two days after the Senate approved of bipartisan legislation called the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act. Craigslist is making this change so that they are not held liable for content their users upload.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/23/technology/craigslist-personals-shutdown/index.html

From The Daily Journal Online: Money is the enemy of truth
This is an opinion piece. Elderly men, who are no longer dangerous, remain banished from society and families to spend their remaining few years in the Department of Mental Health. Dr. Joseph Plaud, Ph.D., noted expert in sexual recidivism, testified, “Age is the single, potent, dynamic, risk factor, short of death, that we have right now in the prediction to reoffend. So few men in the sixties, even those with histories of multiple sex offenses, reoffend as to make the recidivism rate of this group of men approach zero statistically.”
http://dailyjournalonline.com/opinion/letters/money-is-the-enemy-of-truth/article_378aa53d-d6ce-5d5a-a84c-ae92f9c1dc3f.html

Saddles commented on our episode with Brenda Jones, episode 16:
Andy, Larry, and Brenda was listening to the podcast last night. While it was very nice to hear Brenda and Larry describe some of the issues, and even how Brenda got involved in all this. Also the ordeals of looking up laws and trying to come up with logic and reasoning to all this sex offender hoopla.  I just want to say we need a lot more involved in this issue as it is becoming a movement, not just a sex offender issue, but a civil rights matter.

Episode 16
2018/03/17

From the LA Times: Eight reasons for America’s shameful number of wrongful convictions
Most cops and prosecutors are hard-working and honest professionals. But some have ulterior motives. Some have a tainted view of innocence and guilt. False confessions coming from endless hours of interrogations. 25% of individuals exonerated later by DNA had given false confessions after the pressure of interrogations. Flawed eyewitness testimony
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-grisham-wrongful-convictions-20180311-story.html

Oklahoma says it will begin using nitrogen for all executions in an unprecedented move
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2018/03/14/oklahoma-says-it-will-begin-using-nitrogen-for-all-executions-in-an-unprecedented-move/?utm_term=.972aa1644b5c

From The Marshall Project: Let’s Put an End to Prosecutorial Immunity
According to Taylor v. Kavanagh, based upon Supreme Court law, “The falsification of evidence and the coercion of witnesses…have been held to be prosecutorial activities for which absolute immunity applies. Similarly, because a prosecutor is acting as an advocate in a judicial proceeding, the solicitation and subornation of perjured testimony, the withholding of evidence, or the introduction of illegally-seized evidence at trial does not create liability in damages.”
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/03/13/let-s-put-an-end-to-prosecutorial-immunity?ref=hp-1-111

From the Washington Post: Alabama sheriff buys vacation homes with money designated for inmate meals
How can a sheriff making a 5 figure income afford multiple houses, one of which costs ¾ of a million dollars? But ethics disclosure forms Entrekin filed with the state reveal that over the past three years he has received more than $750,000 worth of additional “compensation” from a source he identified as “Food Provisions.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2018/03/14/alabama-sheriff-buys-vacation-homes-with-money-designated-for-inmate-meals/?utm_term=.5a867bc14f78

From Criminal Legal News: Unjust Sexual Offense Laws: Insanity and Hope
The public perception of those who have committed sexual offenses is pretty horrible. There seems to only be evidence suggesting a low rate of recidivism. Advocates: are they trained professionals? Highly paid?
https://narsol.org/2018/03/sexual-offense-laws-what-does-the-future-hold/

From WPXI:
http://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/big-changes-coming-to-pennsylvanias-sex-offender-registry/696521369

Email from Patty:

Hi.
I appreciate your podcast I have a question about the registry. I’m in Ohio. Next to some of the names it says “Pre AWA” which I know is The Adam Walsh Act. But why is “Pre AWA” put on there?  Thanks. Keep up the good work.