tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72452947600844729012024-03-07T22:01:25.924-06:00Through the Eyes of the Offender"This is my new cause... I have never in my life stood up for anything, let alone been willing to lobby for it. I want this. No I need this to function in life. I am a number and I am a label, and that is what people see, and I am more then just that."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-75945114754552497392012-10-08T13:49:00.003-05:002012-10-08T13:49:53.672-05:00What's happening in California and New York<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-halloween-offenders-20121002,0,7836776.story" target="_blank">Simi Valley's Halloween law is a bad trick, sex offenders say </a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-new-york-animal-abuser-registry-20120913,0,7493843.story" target="_blank">Animal abusers in N.Y. may have to register like sex offenders </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-89645792798080667932012-10-02T09:16:00.000-05:002012-10-02T09:16:02.955-05:00GPS Monitoring of Sex Offenders Should Be Used as Tool, Not Control Mechanism, Researchers Find<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110808152417.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110808152417.htm</a><br />
<br />
<span class="date">ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2011)</span> — The use of GPS
technology to monitor sex offenders should be viewed as a tool rather
than a control mechanism, a team of researchers at Sam Houston State
University found in a recent study.<br />
<br />
<br />
In "Examining GPS Monitoring Alerts Triggered by Sex Offenders: The
Divergence of Legislative Goals and Practical Applications in Community
Corrections," Dr. Gaylene Armstrong and Beth Freeman examined the
affects of a state law in Arizona that required the lifelong GPS
monitoring of adult sex offenders convicted of dangerous crimes against
children and placed on community supervision. The study monitored sex
offenders in Maricopa County, AZ over a two-year period.<br />
<br />
"A divergence between legislative goals and practical application of
mandated GPS monitoring programs exists," said Dr. Armstrong, Research
Director of the Correctional Management Institute of Texas at the
College of Criminal Justice. "GPS technology is far more limited than
anticipated and should be viewed as a tool rather than depended upon as a
control mechanism."<br />
<br />
The study found that a significant number of equipment-related alerts
were triggered by a loss of a satellite signal, rather than offender
violations. Those alerts resulted in a significant increase in the
workload of probation officers.<br />
<br />
"While it is expected that GPS technology provides the capability for
near real-time tracking of an offender's location and movement in the
community and that alerts would primarily indicate non-compliance with
geographical and temporal restrictions, findings demonstrated that the
responses to non-violation alerts consumed an inordinate amount of an
agency's resources -- resources that could be better directed to other
case management activities," the study found.<br />
<br />
A secondary impact is the possibility of complacency by probation
officers because of an overload of non-violation alerts, which may
result in a failure to act and liability for offender actions, the
report concluded.<br />
<br />
The cost effectiveness of GPS monitoring should be considered when
setting budget for technology and vendors, especially considering the
workload required to implement and maintain the system. If lifelong
monitoring is mandated, the number of cases will continue to grow, the
study said.<br />
<br />
Community corrections supervisors estimate that 70 percent of alerts
are false alarms and are usually related to technology issues. Steps
should be taken to reduce the likelihood of unintentional alarms.
Probation officers also should be trained on the use of the GPS system,
and written rules and policies should be implemented, the report said.<br />
<br />
"Results demonstrated a clear difference between legislative
perceptions of the level of technological advancement of GPS equipment
and its actual readiness for broad based roll out in community
corrections settings at this time," said the study. "Moreover, it
appears from these results that GPS technology is currently too
underdeveloped to recommend continued swift enactment of legislation
mandating implementation and utilization of GPS in a cost-effective
manner."<br />
<br />
The study was published in the <em>Journal of Criminal Justice</em>.<br />
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-67493274883557647552012-09-27T07:45:00.001-05:002012-09-27T07:45:15.014-05:00Ruling could lead to change in sex offender monitoring<script src="http://WISTV.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=692483;hostDomain=www.wistv.com;playerWidth=473;playerHeight=266;isShowIcon=true;clipId=7762317;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=overlay" type="text/javascript"></script><a href="http://www.wistv.com/" title="wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |">wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |</a><br />
<br />
<span id="WNStoryDateline" orgfontsize="11.8833px">COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) -
</span><br />
<div orgfontsize="11.8833px">
The state Supreme Court is working on a ruling that could allow some sex offenders to avoid mandatory lifetime GPS monitoring. </div>
<div orgfontsize="11.8833px">
State law requires people convicted of
first-degree criminal sexual conduct or lewd act on a child to fall
under lifetime monitoring if they violate parole or probation. </div>
<div orgfontsize="11.8833px">
A Greenville County woman is challenging that
law after a probation violation forced her into wearing an ankle
monitor for the rest of her life.</div>
<div orgfontsize="11.8833px">
<br /></div>
<div orgfontsize="11.8833px">
See the rest <a href="http://www.wistv.com/story/19626341/ruling-could-lead-to-change-in-sex-offender-monitoring" target="_blank">HERE</a> </div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-79058511561346374112012-09-27T07:41:00.002-05:002012-09-27T07:41:22.848-05:00South Carolina Supreme Court declares lifetime sex offender GPS tracking unconstitutional on various grounds<br />
<h4>
May 9, 2012</h4>
<h3>
South Carolina Supreme Court declares lifetime sex offender GPS tracking unconstitutional on various grounds</h3>
The South Carolina Supreme Court has a very interesting (and
seemingly ground-breaking) constitutional ruling concerning GPS tracking
of a sex offender. The ruling in <em>SC v. Dykes</em>, No. 27124 (S.C. May 9, 2012) (<a href="http://www.judicial.state.sc.us/opinions/HTMLFiles/SC/27124.htm" target="_self">available here</a>),
is a bit hard to figure out: the first opinion seems to announce the
opinion for the court, but then a footnote at the state of Justice
Hearn's opinion states that "[b]ecause a majority of the Court has
joined the separate concurring opinion of Justice Kittredge, his
concurrence is now the controlling opinion in this case." I will quote
the first paragraph from both opinions in the case, because they both
are noteworthy, starting here with the opinion of Justice Hearn:<br />
<blockquote>
Jennifer Rayanne Dykes appeals the circuit court's order that she be
subject to satellite monitoring for the rest of her natural life
pursuant to Section 23-3-540(C) of the South Carolina Code (Supp. 2010).
She lodges five constitutional challenges to this statute: it violates
her substantive due process rights, her right to procedural due process,
the Ex Post Facto clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and her right to
be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. We hold the mandatory
imposition of lifetime satellite monitoring violates Dykes' substantive
due process rights and reverse and remand for further proceedings.<br />
</blockquote>
The very lengthy opinion by Justice Hearn, which apparently garnered
only two (of the five) votes on the court, is thereafter followed by a
shorter opinion by Justice Kittredge which starts this way:<br />
<blockquote>
I concur in result. I commend my learned colleague for her scholarly
research, and I agree with the majority's general proposition that
persons have a fundamental right "to be let alone." But I respectfully
disagree that Appellant, as a convicted child sex offender, possesses a
right that is fundamental in the constitutional sense. I do not view
Appellant's purported right as fundamental. I would find Appellant
possesses a liberty interest entitled to constitutional protection, for
all persons most assuredly have a liberty interest to be free from
unreasonable governmental interference. I would find that the
challenged mandatory lifetime, non-reviewable satellite monitoring
provision in section 23-3-540(C) is arbitrary and fails the minimal
rational relationship test.<br />
</blockquote>
Long story short, it appears that all members of the South Carolina
Supreme Court have concluded that the mandatory lifetime satellite
monitoring now required by stature in South Carolina for sex offender
Jennifer Rayanne Dykes is unconstitutional. (I mention the full name of
the defendant in this case because I cannot help but wonder, <a href="http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2012/05/a-gendered-outcome-lifetime-probation-for-female-teachers-aide-engaged-in-sex-acts-with-middle-schoo.html" target="_self">yet again</a>,
if the defendant's gender may have played at least an unconscious role
in this notable outcome. I do not think it is implausible to at least
suspect this case might well have come out another way if the the
defendant was named Johnny Rex Dykes.)<br />
I have not kept count of how many states are like South Carolina in
requiring lifetime GPS monitoring of many sex offenders, but I am pretty
sure this ruling could (and should?) have ripple effects in at least a
few other jurisdictions. I am also sure that both constitutional
scholars and those interested in the intersection of modern technology
and criminal justice doctrines ought to check out the <em>Dykes</em> opinions.<br />
<a href="" id="more"></a>
<div class="posted">
May 9, 2012 at 06:20 PM | <a href="http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2012/05/south-carolina-supreme-court-declares-lifetime-sex-offender-gps-tracking-unconstitutional-on-various.html">Permalink</a></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-53966085519479074882012-09-21T13:22:00.000-05:002012-09-21T13:22:16.673-05:00SC justices reconsider sex offender monitoring<br />
<h5 class="byline">
<span class="name">JEFFREY COLLINS, Associated Press</span></h5>
<h5 class="timestamp updated" title="2012-09-18T10:27:33Z">
Published 10:27 a.m., Tuesday, September 18, 2012
</h5>
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Even after hearing the case a second time, the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22South+Carolina+Supreme+Court%22">South Carolina Supreme Court</a>
isn't sure it is fair to make some sex offenders in the state face
lifetime satellite monitoring of their every move without any chance
of appeal.</div>
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The justices Tuesday reheard a case from May where they decided the monitoring may be too harsh in some cases. The <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Department+of+Probation%22">Department of Probation</a>, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Parole+and+Pardon+Services%22">Parole and Pardon Services</a> asked the court to reconsider its ruling, saying their decision rewrote the law.</div>
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A lawyer for <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Jennifer+Dykes%22">Jennifer Dykes</a>
again argued her constitutional rights were violated because she had no
chance to appeal or revisit the decision to put a bracelet on her ankle
that reports her every move to state authorities.</div>
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Dykes,
32, was ruled to be a sex offender after being convicted of a lewd act
on a child charge stemming from her relationship with a 14-year-old girl
in Greenville County several years ago. She was found to be at low risk
to abuse a child again.</div>
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After
violating her probation by drinking alcohol, continuing a relationship
with a convicted felon she met while behind bars and rescheduling too
many appointments for sex offender counseling, Dykes' probation was
revoked, according to court documents.</div>
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The
probation violation meant under state law authorities could seek
lifetime monitoring for Dykes without a chance of appeal. That kind of
monitoring can be done for just two crimes — lewd act and first-degree
criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Most other crimes that land
someone on the sex offender registry give an offender a chance to appeal
after 10 years.</div>
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Dykes' lawyer, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Chris+Scalzo%22">Chris Scalzo</a>, held up his wedding ring and said while he loves his wife and wears it nearly all the time, he can take it off.</div>
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"She's not allowed to take that thing off her body unless there is a court order," Scalzo said.</div>
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An attorney for the probation agency, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22John+Aplin%22">John Aplin</a>, said lawmakers passed the lifetime monitoring law to protect the public.</div>
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"The
reason you are tracking that person every minute of every day for the
rest of their life is to protect children from further future harm. It's
also to help law enforcement solve crimes," Aplin said.</div>
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<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Chief+Justice+Jean+Toal%22">Chief Justice Jean Toal</a>
said she understands the need for public safety from the most dangerous
offenders. But she said it is a fair question to ask if a
one-size-fits-all law that doesn't allow a timely chance to appeal the
ruling or ask a judge to revisit whether an offender is still dangerous
is constitutional.</div>
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"This court has no grief for sex offenders. But there are certainly different levels," Toal said.</div>
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Associate <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Justice+Kay+Hearn%22">Justice Kay Hearn</a>,
who wrote her own opinion in May suggesting that revealing every detail
of Dykes' private life to state officials violates her constitutional
rights, pointed out that Dykes was not considered to be a dangerous sex
offender who preys on children and would likely never change
her behavior.</div>
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"This
was, what, an 18-month relationship she had with an underage person,"
Hearn said. "Clearly wrong, clearly illegal. But there was no
predatory nature."</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="border: medium none; overflow: hidden;">
<br />Read more: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SC-justices-reconsider-sex-offender-monitoring-3874557.php#ixzz2787ASyrT" style="color: #003399;">http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SC-justices-reconsider-sex-offender-monitoring-3874557.php#ixzz2787ASyrT</a></div>
</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-2240353337540298222011-11-21T09:09:00.001-06:002011-11-21T09:16:47.092-06:00So when is child development NOT a crime?<h1 style="background-color: black; color: #cc0000;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">K-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love... then comes the POLICE: 12-year-olds investigated for 'sex crime' after they kiss at school </span></h1>
<div style="background-color: black; border: medium none; color: #cc0000; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063533/12-year-olds-investigated-sex-crime-kiss-school-Florida.html#ixzz1eLwSCpGF">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063533/12-year-olds-investigated-sex-crime-kiss-school-Florida.html#ixzz1eLwSCpGF</a></span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; border: medium none; color: #cc0000; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: black; border: medium none; color: #cc0000; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Two 12-year-olds faced a police investigation for a sex crime after being caught kissing at
school.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Police were
called to a Florida elementary school after an assistant principal was told the
pair had exchanged a playground kiss.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">But after
officers responded to the emergency call they declined the take any action
saying no offence had been committed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="clear">
</div>
<div class="thinCenter">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<img alt="Overreaction: Police are called in to Orange River Elementary School after two 12-year-olds are caught kissing" class="blkBorder" height="286" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/19/article-2063533-0EDBFA8B00000578-57_468x286.jpg" width="468" />
</span><div class="imageCaption">
<span style="font-size: small;">Overreaction: Police are called in to Orange River Elementary School after two 12-year-olds are caught kissing
</span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Now parents
have accused the school of over-reacting and taking political correctness
to a new level.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">The
incident took place at Orange River Elementary School in Fort Myers, Florida.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">According
to local reports two girls who had a crush on a boy were talking about which of
them liked him the most.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">One of the
girls approached the boy and briefly kissed him.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">A teacher
on duty noticed the kiss and reported it to the assistant principal Margaret
Ann Haring.</span></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">She said it
was a 'possible sex crime' and called social workers at the Florida
Department of Children and Families.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">They told
her to report the matter to the Lee County Sheriff's office who responded by
sending deputies to the school.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">After
talking with teachers no action was taken as no crime had been committed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Haring told
deputies there is an ongoing involvement with DCF.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">'They
went ahead and took a report and documented this because we don't know at this
point whether or not there is bigger picture that somebody needs to be looking
at,' said police spokesman Sgt Stephanie Eller.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="clear">
</div>
<div class="thinCenter">
<span style="font-size: small;">
<img alt="Police investigation: Sgt Stephanie Eller" class="blkBorder" height="323" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/19/article-2063533-0EDBFAB700000578-928_468x323.jpg" width="468" />
</span><div class="imageCaption">
<span style="font-size: small;">Police investigation: Sgt Stephanie Eller of Lee
County Sheriff's office said deputies were sent to the school but the
kiss was not a sex crime </span></div>
<div class="imageCaption">
<br /></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">'We
had been called because one of the teachers observed what they thought was
inappropriate behaviour."</span>
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Sgt Eller
added that the kiss was not a sex crime.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">'This
incident is more of a simple assault, though by definition there would have to
be a victim,' she said.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">It is not
reported that the boy objected to being kissed.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">The two
children involved in the kissing were spoken to by the school principal Holly
Bell.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">She
said: 'Two girls were guessing who was each other's boyfriend.'</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Parents at
the school believe the principal overreacted by calling police.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">'How I
behaved when I was 12 and most of the kids that I knew, yes its
exploratory,' said parent John McDaniel.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">'A
kiss between 12-year-olds, I would say is relatively harmless.'</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">Others
writing in the local newspaper were outrage by the police getting involved.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">One
wrote: 'Whatever happened to common senses' while another
commented: 'Principal Margaret Ann Haring needs to be fired immediately.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-US">'It is pretty obvious she is out of touch and clueless. Two little kids kissing
is a Sex Act? What an idiot.'</span></span></div>
<div style="border: medium none; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-9445770880861594002011-08-30T16:45:00.000-05:002011-08-30T16:45:06.401-05:00Now they are punishing anyone that lives in the home of a Sex Offender?This is what they just started requiring of GPS wearing sex offenders AND ANYONE THEY LIVE WITH.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://legis.wisconsin.gov/cr_final/08-105.pdf">http://legis.wisconsin.gov/cr_final/08-105.pdf</a><br />
<br />
"The department has established a tracking fee which is based on the gross household monthly income and the person’s ability to pay."<br />
<br />
From Wikipedia: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Household income</b> is a measure commonly used by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a> government and private institutions, that counts the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household" title="Household">household</a>, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_support" title="Child support">child support</a> payments, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#cite_note-0"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a></sup> The residents of the household do not have to be related to the head of the household for their earnings to be considered part of the household's income.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Definition_of_household_income_1-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Definition_of_household_income-1"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a></sup> As households tend to share a similar economic context, the use of household income remains among the most widely accepted measures of income. That the size of a household is not commonly taken into account in such measures may distort any analysis of fluctuations within or among the household income categories, and may render direct comparisons between quintiles difficult or even impossible.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-The_American_Class_Structure_2-0"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#cite_note-The_American_Class_Structure-2"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-15137780683187422012011-07-29T13:21:00.001-05:002011-07-29T13:22:31.405-05:00From AZ... Through the eyes of another offender...<div style="color: #fff2cc; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"><b>From: </b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: small;">Jim Coghill <<a href="mailto:jcoghill2@cox.net" target="_blank">jcoghill2@cox.net</a>></span></div><div style="color: #fff2cc; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"><b>Date: </b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: small;">July 28, 2011 5:42:55 PM MST</span></div><div style="color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #fff2cc; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small;"><b>Subject: </b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica'; font-size: small;"><b>This was sent to <a href="http://www.pattisblog.com/">Norm Pattis</a></b><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #fff2cc;"><br />
</div><div lang="EN-US" style="color: #fff2cc;"><div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> At the first trial the jury found me guilty on all 15 counts and he was sentenced to serve 15 years flat time in the penitentiary. Prior to his trial, I had served one month in jail awaiting trial and prior to the second trial I had served 2 1/2 years in the penitentiary. Of the approximately 650 CD discs that were found in Coghill’s motorhome, six discs contained child pornography. After objection by my attorney, testified that some disks contained pornography as well as other things, but I denied that I knew any of the discs contained child pornography. On appeal the Arizona Court of Appeals Division Two reversed the case for new trial holding that it was error for the trial court to admit evidence of adult pornography <i>State v. Coghill</i>, 216 Ariz. 578, 169, P.3d 942 (App. 2007).</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> At the second trial the jury found me not guilty on 14 counts charging first degree sexual exploitation of a minor under the age of 15, but guilty of count 15 which charged <u>attempted</u> sexual exploitation of a minor. I was sentenced to 10 years probation. As in the first trial my attorney objected to testimony that I stated that some of the approximately 650 discs contained pornography, but none contained child pornography. But the trial court overruled the objection and admitted my statement that some of the approximately 650 discs contained pornography, but no child pornography. I appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals Division Two alleging the trial court's ruling to be reversible error, but the Court of Appeals, this time around, held in an unpublished opinion, it was not error to admit that I knew some of the approximately 650 discs contained pornography while denying that he knew any contained child pornography.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> During my second trial I discovered the ninth circuit court of appeals ruling in <i>US v. Antelope</i><u>,</u> 395 F.3d 1128 (9th CIR. 2005) where the Ninth Circuit ruled that "As long as a defendant retains his right to appeal use in court of information obtained in psycho-sexual counseling constitutes a 5th Amendment right violation as it causes a person to incriminate oneself." Unfortunately in Antelope's case he had already exhausted all his state remedies, therefore lost his right to appeal and could be forced to admit guilt or be sent back to prison for not being in compliance with sex offender treatment program. When I learned of this case I realized that the ruling was in direct contradiction to Arizona Revised Statute 13-4066 where in unity is granted in one sentence and then taken away in the second one. I brought this case to the attention of my attorneys near the end of my trial because I realized that very shortly this could be one of my issues. I had already seen far too many people who had refused to admit guilt in sex offender treatment program and had been sent back to prison because of it. I asked my attorneys if this matter could be clarified before sentencing in the event that I received a sentence of probation which I was told was probably going to be the case. Both of my attorneys appeared quite happy over the information I had just presented them and immediately wrote a motion for court ordered use immunity during sex offender treatment program. Judge Godoy agreed with the motion and my attorneys wrote the order for the court which the judge signed.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> One of the stipulations for probation was that I either return to work or go back to school. Previously my form of employment was as an aircraft mechanic for the airlines. The pinnacle of my 18 year career occurred when I became a Senior Aircraft Maintenance Planner for Midway Airlines, which at the time was the 12th largest airline in the United States. My responsibilities were to schedule all routine overnight maintenance amongst our nine out stations located throughout the United States and to plan and schedule all heavy maintenance for 19 aircraft, both DC-9's and Boeing 737's. Realizing that because of 49 CFR Part 1544 </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">I </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">could never work in aviation again as a result of my conviction and that my 18 year career in aviation was over, I decided I would return to school and study to become a paralegal by obtaining a bachelor of science degree in legal studies. Not wanting to have to deal with the public notification that is required of sex offenders who physically attend school I found a way I could pursue this goal online. When I presented my proposal to adult probation they agreed to it as long as I had content filtering software installed on my lap top. As a condition for being allowed to use a computer I agreed to take a specific use polygraph in regard to its use. I realized at the time that the court order for use immunity made no specific mention of polygraphs and that this might at some later date pose a problem. However I expected that because the issue I raised on appeal the first time was the same issue that was being raised the second time, that I would prevail on my appeal and we would never have to cross that bridge. Unfortunately this did not happen.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> After two years on probation my probation officer resigned. This placed another person in charge of my case by the name of Cynthia Stevens. On my first visit with her she said, "I understand you are using a computer." My reply was that I was and that it was with adult probation's permission. She said, "that was then this is now. I am going to order you to stop using your computer." I informed her that I was going to school, which I had been court ordered to do and that I had taken out a $4000 loan to accomplish this. And that in addition to this I only had 10 weeks to go before I graduated. Her reply was, "the use of a computer is a privilege and you haven't done anything to demonstrate to me that you deserve it." I wondered how such a thing was even possible considering the fact that I had only known her for 30 seconds. She then told me that she would permit me to keep the computer if I passed a specific use polygraph. Considering the fact that because there are only three results in a polygraph, pass, fail or inconclusive and that inconclusive counts as a failure, statistically speaking any person taking a polygraph has a two thirds or 66% of failing one. When I returned home I contacted my attorney, a public defender from Pima County by the name of David Euchner. You will never find a more capable attorney and I brought him up to date with what had happened. He decided that he would file a motion before the court to clarify the terms of probation and to have polygraphs included in the use immunity order from the court.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> When I appeared in court judge Godoy went ballistic stating that had she known that I had not attended sex offender treatment program during the two years that I was on probation because no program would take me as a result of the use immunity order, but she never would have sentenced me to probation of all. While she didn't come right out and say it she practically accused my attorney of being deceptive to her. At the conclusion of the hearing I was ordered to schedule a polygraph within 72 hours and to be enrolled in sex offender treatment program within the same period of time. I was also permitted to complete my schooling from which I will graduate with honors carrying a 4.0 grade point average for my last term and being on the Dean's list during the majority of my education at Kaplan University.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;"> On 07/28/2011 I received an e-mail to contact my attorney and when I did he informed me that adult probation and the state is requiring me to admit guilt to count 15 during sex offender treatment program and that if I do not I will be sent back to prison. My reply was, "let them." I was told that if this was the route that I was taking to expect to be arrested upon my next hearing. Not even considering the violation of my civil rights, this would mean that I would no longer be able to complete my schooling and would lose $4000 as a direct result of the Maricopa County adult probation department and the state of Arizona. Mr. Euchner was appalled that adult probation and the state would require someone to incriminate themselves through coercion and threats as a condition of probation. He was so shocked at this brazen violation of constitutional rights that he consulted with the other attorneys in the public defender office to determine if this had happened to anyone before. Only one the other attorney in the public defender office claims that he was aware of a single instance that was similar to mine. There's a good reason for that. By the time a prisoner is released, decades of time have usually passed. They have long since exhausted all of their state remedies and no longer have an attorney working on their case. Consequently none of these cases rise into the awareness of the public defender or anyone else for that matter. The probationer has essentially been placed into a dark void where they have no recourse to the law and have essentially become punching bags for any probation officer to do with as they please. That is, until I came along.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Mr. Pattis you have my permission to use my name in the reproduction of any of the above. The other names that I have mentioned are public servants and as a result have no expectation of privacy. Nobody is going to be served well by keeping any of this quiet. Please bang your drum loudly!</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">Your friend,</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 14pt;">James P. Coghill</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Jim</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Arizona Reform Sex Offender Laws</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://azrsol.org/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://azrsol.org/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Steve Karban Defense Fund</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://stevekarbandefensefund.com/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://stevekarbandefensefund.<wbr></wbr>com/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Justice For Dr. Kennedy</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://justicefordrkennedy.info/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://justicefordrkennedy.<wbr></wbr>info/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The Undefendable Trial 1</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://undefendabletrial1.info/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://undefendabletrial1.<wbr></wbr>info/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The Undefendable Trial 2</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://undefendabletrial2.info/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://undefendabletrial2.<wbr></wbr>info/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The SO Combat Manual</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://socombatmanual.info/" style="text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">http://socombatmanual.info/</a></span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">"Man is the cruelest animal." Nietzche</span></div><div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"></div></div></div><div style="color: #fff2cc;"></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-63129745299697971382011-07-13T21:25:00.000-05:002011-07-13T21:25:58.841-05:00Karma really does suck doesn't it?!?<h1 class="title-news"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/07/chris-hansen-sexts-cheating_n_892597.html">Chris Hansen, 'To Catch A Predator' Host, Caught Sexting: Report </a></h1><b>The Huffington Post</b> <span class="vborder-dashed margin_0_5"> </span>Alana Horowitz<span class="vborder-dashed margin_0_5"> </span> <span> First Posted: 7/7/11 04:52 PM ET<span class="vborder-dashed margin_0_5"> </span>Updated: 7/8/11 01:38 PM ET </span><br />
<br />
This week in famous people sending dirty pictures to women who aren't their wives, Chris Hansen <a href="http://gawker.com/5819009/red+handed-to-catch-a-predator-host-may-have-sexted-too" target="_hplink">reportedly</a> texted and emailed explicit photos to his alleged mistress.<br />
Last week, the 'To Catch A Predator' host was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/chris-hansen-caught-cheating-on-wife-camera_n_887289.html" target="_hplink">allegedly caught</a> cheating on his wife by a National Enquirer investigation. The tabloid <a href="http://www.nationalenquirer.com/world-exclusive-predator-catcher-nbc-dateline-chris-hansen-caught-cheating" target="_hplink">leaked video footage</a> that apparently documents his affair with Kristyn Caddell, a Florida NBC affiliate news reporter. Hansen and his wife have two children and live in Connecticut.<br />
From the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011881/Terrified-To-Catch-Predator-host-caught-cheating-wife-sent-explicit-photos-mistress.html#ixzz1RRPzb69U" target="_hplink">Daily Mail</a>:<br />
<blockquote>"The candid photos were said to have been emailed to his alleged mistress Kristyn Caddell, a 30-year-old Florida journalist, only days after his first sexual encounter with her.' According to the Enquirer, the broadcaster sent her at least two explicit images from his cell phone."</blockquote>Hansen is "terrified" that the pictures will end up online. <br />
"One of the images shows Chris standing in a hotel room in front of a large mirror. He's wearing only a white bathrobe that's completely open - showing off his entire chest and midsection - with one hand concealing his genitals," a source told the Enquirer. <br />
Didn't he learn anything from <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/06/anthony-weiner-twitter-new-photos_n_871817.html" target="_hplink">this guy</a>?<br />
<span> </span> <br />
<h1 class="title-news"> </h1>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-22366365981360325362011-06-27T12:03:00.000-05:002011-06-27T12:03:32.023-05:00Compelling Three Part Article<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT';">Myths Of The Criminal Justice System: Part 1, <i>June 20, 2011</i>:</span></b></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #9999ff; font-family: 'Calisto MT'; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/20/myths-of-the-criminal-justice-system_n_879768.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #9999ff;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/<wbr></wbr>2011/06/20/myths-of-the-<wbr></wbr>criminal-justice-system_n_<wbr></wbr>879768.html</span></a></span></b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT';">Myths Of The Criminal Justice System: Part 2,<i> June 22, 2011</i>:</span></b></div><b><span style="color: #9999ff; font-family: 'Calisto MT'; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/myths-of-the-criminal-justice-system-part-two_n_881975.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #9999ff;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/<wbr></wbr>2011/06/22/myths-of-the-<wbr></wbr>criminal-justice-system-part-<wbr></wbr>two_n_881975.html</span></a></span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #9999ff; font-family: 'Calisto MT'; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #9999ff;"> </span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="color: #9999ff; font-family: 'Calisto MT'; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #9999ff;"><br />
</span></span></b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT';">Myths Of The Criminal Justice System: Part 3,<i> June 24, 2011</i>:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><b><span style="color: #9999ff; font-family: 'Calisto MT'; font-size: 11pt;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/24/myths-of-criminal-justice-part-three_n_883935.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #9999ff;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/<wbr></wbr>2011/06/24/myths-of-criminal-<wbr></wbr>justice-part-three_n_883935.<wbr></wbr>html</span></a></span></b></div><blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><strong>Myth 8: Sex offenders are more likely to reoffend than other criminals.</strong> </div>There's no set of crimes more plagued by misconceptions and hysteria than sex crimes. In some cities, laws restricting where convicted sex offenders can live once they're released have become so restrictive, they're forced to live <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2007-04-05/justice/bridge.sex.offenders_1_sexual-offenders-parks-and-other-places-fewer-places?_s=PM:LAW" target="_hplink">under bridges</a> or in <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2009/09/29/homeless-georgia-sex-offenders-ordered-woods-camps/" target="_hplink">patches of woods</a>.</blockquote><br />
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</div></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-7231712761733595152011-06-15T12:12:00.000-05:002011-06-15T12:12:40.794-05:00So this is why people don't visit anymore, come in Illegally or don't come at all...<span style="color: #993333; font-family: Times New Roman,Georgia,Times; font-size: large;"><b>America's Corrupt Legal System Danger to Visitors, Travellers as Well as USA Residents</b></span> <br />
<span style="color: firebrick; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular; font-size: medium;"> <b>The tragic reality of the world's biggest corrupt legal system</b> </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular;">June 15, 2007</span><br />
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<span style="color: firebrick; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular; font-size: small;">By Dr. Les Sachs <a href="http://www.ahrc.se/new/index.php/src/news/sub/news/action/Profile/authorid/1647">(View author info)</a> </span><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular; font-size: small;"><b>Brussels, Belgium</b> - </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular; font-size: small;">America's rigged courts, bribed judges, fake and phony trials, extortion by lawyers, and over 2 million prisoners in the USA gulag.<br />
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Why USA "justice" is not like in Hollywood movies, and why YOU could be the next victim on USA territory - innocent and sent to prison, or strapped to a table and put to death; or robbed of your life savings by American lawyers.<br />
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Why YOU can be tortured, have your freedom and rights taken away, and why people in America are afraid to help you, or even tell what happened to you.<br />
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The recent pattern of American violations of international law are ultimately based in the corruption of the USA domestic legal system. Phony USA courts are very dangerous even for travellers and visitors to America, who can easily wind up among the USA's more than 2 million prisoners, or lose all their family's possessions to corrupt American lawyers.<br />
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All world citizens should know how the corrupt USA legal system, is a danger to every traveller, visitor, and guest worker from overseas, and to every individual who takes the risky step of entering upon American territory. Just ask the overseas families of prisoners who were put to death inside the USA, with their embassies never even being informed that they were arrested - or the many foreign people serving hugely long prison terms in America, after they were jailed on flimsy tainted "evidence" from criminal snitches.<br />
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The reality is that the United States of America, which proclaims itself the "land of freedom", has the most dishonest, dangerous and crooked legal system of any developed nation. Legal corruption is covering America like a blanket.<br />
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The corruption of the USA legal system is well-known, but also well-hidden, by the news services of America's corporate-owned media. The US media companies are afraid both of reprisal, and of the social revolution that would come from exposing the truth. Here is what the US media companies know, but are afraid to tell you about American "justice".<br />
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<b>Concentration camps with concrete walls </b><br />
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America has the largest prison gulag in the entire world - yes, right there in the USA, the self-proclaimed "land of freedom". The starting point for understanding anything about the USA, is to digest the fact that just this one country, the United States of America, has twenty-five percent of ALL of the prisoners in the entire world.<br />
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More than 2 million prisoners - more than 1 out of every 150 people in America - are behind bars in the American gulag. This is now the world's biggest system of what are effectively concentration camps, though most of these prisoners are behind masonry walls and inside prison buildings.<br />
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For minorities, the statistics are even more brutal. For example, the USA is now imprisoning about 1 out of every 36 people in its black population. American "justice" is especially focused on jailing young black males.<br />
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Quite amazingly, Americans and the American government, continually criticize the legal systems and so-called "political" legal proceedings in other countries such as China, Russia, and even Belgium among many other places. Yet, for example, the proportion of prisoners is 30 times higher in the USA than in China, even though China is a country regularly criticized and denounced by the USA government.<br />
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No one imprisons people as readily, or casually, as does America. As you learn more about America's horrifying legal system, you find out how easily and carelessly America arrests people, and tosses innocent people into prison. It is estimated that America has at least 100,000 completely innocent people in jail, but the statistics of innocence may well run far higher. The number of people known to be innocent, and yet who were actually sentenced to death in recent years in America, is already running into the hundreds.<br />
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The USA jailing of more than 2 million people is also, quite literally, a revival of slavery and slave labor, on a scale not seen since the days of the Nazis. USA business corporations are using these prisoners as a giant slave labor pool. Prisoners are forced to produce goods and products while earning mere pennies per hour, which they sometimes have to pay back to the prison for their own upkeep. The expanding system of USA prison slave labor is not only a major source of business profit, but also a wedge to drive down the wages of workers outside the prison walls.<br />
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This USA policy, of using mass casual imprisonment as a way to revive slavery, is targeted particularly at minorities, but ends up affecting all working people. Supervised by malicious judges and corrupt lawyers, this culture of mass prisons and slave labor is sold to the citizens by creating a psychology of fear among USA residents. This climate of fear is nourished in the USA by both the media and the government, who work together with the judges and lawyers to maintain the whole crooked game.<br />
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Of America's more than 2 million prisoners, about 50,000 are known to be foreign citizens. This proportion might seem small, but remember that 50,000 prisoners is more than the entire prison population of many other countries. It only appears as a small percentage, because of America's obsession with jailing its own people, who have had more time to get caught in America's web of legal horror.<br />
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The USA is extremely casual about the jailing of foreigners, and not honouring their rights under international law or treaties and agreements. Often, foreign citizens have been sentenced to death, while the USA didn't even bother to notify the foreign government that their citizens were arrested. <br />
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Several other governments are working hard just to try and obtain even the most primitive judicial rights for their own nationals, who have been seized and held in abusive conditions by the USA empire. And yet, the United States of America somehow still brags about its own legal system, while criticizing other countries.<br />
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Understanding that America has such a huge percentage of even its own people in prison, is to start to understand the subconscious fear behind much of American life. <br />
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Before you set foot in America, you should have a clear picture of the terror of America's legal system - the judges and lawyers and money and bribery, that have made this system of fear so pervasive. There is not yet enough public media information about America's domestic legal horrors, horrors which have been rapidly increasing. And the American public, even the victims of its legal system, have a hard time realizing why it is so hard to fight legal corruption there.<br />
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The situation is so bad, that a social explosion is beginning inside America. You can read some news stories - about people murdering judges, or attacking the families of judges, or people setting fire to courthouses in the USA - and see the pattern that is emerging, even though the news media are afraid to connect the dots and suggest what might be behind all these events. America is trying to maintain its myths about its legal system, even while the desperate reality of life inside the USA is starting to blow back into escalating social upheaval.<br />
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<b>USA torture and illegal jailing overseas, starts with USA domestic torture and illegal jailing at home</b><br />
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The world press has documented clear violations of human and legal rights by America in its overseas jails, such as the infamous situations in Guantanamo and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, and the even more secret network of prisons in places like Diego Garcia or on board American ships.<br />
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But the problem is much bigger, than America's legal abuses under its military invasions and "war on terrorism". These USA violations of international law, are consistent with the corruption in America's home legal system within its own borders, and have partly evolved from America's legal abuses against its own citizens and residents.<br />
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American prisons are often horrible, with lots of torment of prisoners, like you would expect in some petty dictatorship. Conditions are brutal in USA jails; rape and beatings are common, and there is little help for abused inmates. In addition to the many official USA executions, numerous people are also illegally killed in jail cells, "mysteriously" said to have hanged themselves or "found stabbed to death".<br />
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Scandals of overseas prison abuse, as in the USA-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, have arisen from sources much deeper than America's foreign policy. These scandals are in part replications of inmate abuse inside of America's domestic prison gulag. Without diminishing the brutality of the crimes committed by Americans in Iraqi prisons, it is also true that such crimes are consistent with the brutality of prisons inside America.<br />
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In the regular functioning of the USA courts, America's domestic lawyers and judges, threaten people with illegal jailing, and rape, torture and murder in jail, just like the threats used by Americans against Iraqi subjects of the American occupation. America will play the song about "just a few bad apples in the barrel" whenever an abuse scandal gets exposed, either domestically or abroad, but the cover-up of such abuse is more the routine response.<br />
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Theoretically, torture and abuse is totally outlawed by America's Constitution, but some of the nice words in America's Constitution hold little power anymore, despite how often people quote them. The Americans who still believe the Constitution protects them, are mostly those people who haven't yet dealt with the judges and lawyers of America's corrupt legal system.<br />
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America's Constitution and Bill of Rights are nearly dead, not just because the judges will no longer enforce them, but even more because America's lawyers will not even fight for them. The two American "political parties" are not fighting for them, either, and America's news media are also very passive. If you look at America in depth, you can see there has been a widespread moral collapse in America's legal and political structures. This means that America's legal system has become largely a tool of government terror, and of bribery for the rich and the powerful. The average person is just fodder for the meat-grinder of America's courts.<br />
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America's lies and sleazy arguments to make excuses for torture, or to deny people the rights of the Geneva convention, or holding people for many years without charges, are also just an extension of the deviousness in America's domestic legal system. Inside America, neither its laws nor its Constitution nor the facts nor evidence nor anything else, no longer have real authority inside the American courts.<br />
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All that's left is what American lawyers and judges call "the game". As part of playing this game, USA lawyers and judges just twist words around, in order to produce any excuse, however flimsy, to achieve their objective, whether that be to jail an innocent person, or give the verdict that was sought by the big company that paid the big bribe through its law firm.<br />
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It is an endlessly devious manipulation of words and phrases to get the desired result, just devious falsehood and lies backed by the naked power of the judges. The only "real" part is the power that the judges and lawyers hold in America, to jail you and take away your property. The words of the law don't protect you in the USA, because American judges and lawyers have no scruples about bending them to mean the opposite of what they say.<br />
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America's lawyers are controlled by the judges, and don't really work for you - that's why they sell you out to the government, or to the big companies that pay bribes<br />
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There's some very special aspects about the way American lawyers are controlled by American judges, which is central to why America's legal corruption is so much worse than any other advanced nation. Even if you are paying an American lawyer huge amounts of money, he or she doesn't really work for you, and in fact may sell you down the river to the jailhouse.<br />
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American lawyers are directly under the thumb of the judges and the government, and must submit to the culture of bribery and perversion of justice, or else face terrifying revenge. Lawyers, just like you, can be instantly jailed by an American judge on flimsy pretexts, and American lawyers can be quickly stripped of their right to practice law, and personally and financially destroyed, if they dare to criticize legal corruption. Lawyers who try to fight the system can find themselves not only dis-barred, but also criminally charged and jailed, and no other lawyer will help them. It is a horribly crooked system in America.<br />
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This is different from other advanced countries, where lawyers are usually a professional guild, whose status and right to practice law, is under the control of only their fellow lawyers. This means that, in other countries, the judges and the government cannot easily ruin or attack the lawyers for purely political reasons. This is also part of why, in other developed countries, outside of America, you really do see brave lawyers fighting for un-popular clients, or challenging the government, and asking for justice.<br />
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But in America, it's different. Over the past century, the American lawyers lost the right to regulate themselves, and instead fell under the power of the judges. So American lawyers are afraid to do things in court, that the judges don't want them to do. America's army of nearly 1 million lawyers, is almost totally under the control of a few thousand judges, with their entrenched culture of bribery and fraud and miscarriage of justice.<br />
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Some USA lawyers don't like this, but they are helpless and can't fight it. Most lawyers in America have, to one degree or another, signed up with the devil, to do things the way the devil wants them done.<br />
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That means that any time you hire an American lawyer, he already is in a conflict of interest. He has to make the judge happy first. And if the judge wants to make the government happy, or make somebody else happy who is paying a big bribe, then guess what? You are destroyed. It doesn't matter what you paid the lawyer. He works for the judge, first and foremost.<br />
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So a totally unique factor in USA legal corruption is the amazingly dishonest profession of American lawyers, these lawyers who "play the game" with America's judges and politicians and police. It is a savage culture of legal fraud, where lawyers work with judges to rob and terrify people, especially minorities, but also foreigners, and above all those who dare to question the system.<br />
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People accused of serious crimes have the "right" to a lawyer, but this may mean only a crooked lawyer who is stage-managing the victim to help the government and prosecutors. If the lawyer does not help the government, he can be put out of work and not "assigned" to any more cases, or treated badly the next time he is in a courtroom. This legal fraud is the core of the danger to those who visit America. A lawyer who is "representing" you in the USA, whether the government is paying him, or even if you are paying him yourself, may just be a stooge who is helping the prosecutors to put you in jail, even though you are innocent.<br />
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The judges of America gave every accused criminal the "right" to a lawyer, not because they cared about the rights of the accused, but because it helps stage-manage the victim, with a lawyer who has to do things the judge's way. In America, such government-appointed lawyers are the means by which hundreds of thousands of poor people are railroaded into prison. Some of these people were just foreign tourists, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and wound up rotting in an American prison.<br />
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Some lawyers are fairly subtle about it, and their victims never realize the lawyer has sold them out to the judge and the government. Most American court cases never go to trial, never see a jury; it is the job of the victim's lawyer to "sell the deal" that the judge has decided will happen, or else. This is how people accept a "plea bargain" so they accept going to jail for 3 years even though they are innocent, instead of going to trial before a jury.<br />
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Because of the corruption of lawyers under the thumb of the judges, there's a very fake and phony aspect of court proceedings in America. They are really fake "show trials" in many cases, sometimes very obviously so, where both purported "sides" of lawyers are actually working together for the government, or for the big corporation or rich person that is bribing the judge.<br />
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You will also find, in the American legal system, that you essentially have no recourse whatsoever against wrongdoing by your own lawyer. A lawyer can sell you out, betray you, steal your money, engage in malpractice, help out the other side, hide the evidence that proved you were right, or commit felony crime against you, and there is nothing you can do about it, so long as the lawyer made the judge happy, and the judge got his cut of any money the lawyer stole from you.<br />
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<b>Innocent and being arrested - they don't like to admit a mistake in America</b><br />
<br />
Yes, lots of people live their whole lives in America and never get arrested. And yet, some poor foreign visitor comes to America for a short holiday, gets arrested by mistake, and gets sentenced to death by lethal injection even though he is totally innocent. Well, that's the lottery of life for those who visit or live in America.<br />
<br />
The police and prosecutors in America have no concern at all whether they have arrested someone who is innocent. They just don't care. When a crime is committed, they try to arrest somebody, anybody, just to say they got the bad guy. And they never like to admit they made a mistake. Once they arrest you, they will try to make up and plant false evidence, to help try and convict you. A common trick is to take other criminals they know, who are facing jail on other charges, and get those criminals to be false witnesses against you. The cops justify this kind of thing by saying to themselves, "Well, if you didn't commit this crime, you probably committed some other crime we don't know about."<br />
<br />
If they do arrest you in America, they like to pile on all sorts of criminal charges. The idea is to charge you with 10 crimes, because it makes you sound bad, and maybe convict you on 3 of them or you will accept a plea bargain on 1 or 2 of them. Any kind of guilty plea, and they call it a success, even though you were totally innocent.<br />
<br />
For the police and prosecutors, it's all a kind of sporting game, so they can bring about their "high conviction rate". Perhaps part of the reason America has so much crime, even with more than 2 million people in prison, is because the people who actually committed the crimes were never arrested. Also, some poor people may feel that the odds are high they will be arrested someday anyway, so they may as well be criminals and enjoy life in the meantime.<br />
<br />
The system is extremely racist, of course, and white people are arrested less than many minorities. But no one is safe. Any innocent person can get railroaded to death in America.<br />
<br />
<b>Multi-millionaires and big corporations, vs. everybody else</b><br />
<br />
The only people who really can get expect some fairness in American courts are multi-millionaires and big corporations. Nobody else really matters to American judges and lawyers.<br />
<br />
There is a huge amount of bribery in America, perhaps even more than in the courts of any other country in the world. Even some American ex-judges have admitted the near-universality of bribery there. Nearly all bribes are given to the judges by lawyers; this is considered the safe way to bribe a judge. Bribery is rarely spoken about, just understood. Rich people pay huge amounts of money to law firms with connections, the lawyers walk around with a certain amount of cash in their jacket, and they pass it to the judges in their quiet moments together. It is mostly all cash of course. Sometimes the bribery is blatantly obvious, because of the other crimes that lawyers and judges commit in broad daylight together. In the courtrooms you can see the judges being extremely friendly to their rich lawyer friends who pay big bribes.<br />
<br />
As an average person, there's no real way to out-bribe a big corporation, regardless of what your lawyer promised you. That's why the big companies win so often.<br />
<br />
American judges are very devious, and use all sorts of techniques to prevent a victim from getting justice. Lots of judges issue gag orders, and bans on freedom of speech, to help prevent other people from finding out what is going on. Judges set up a trial in all sorts of ways, giving orders that all sorts of evidence be hidden from a jury, for example. The judge may declare, for example, that the evidence that proves you are innocent or right, will not be allowed at the trial.<br />
<br />
Jury trials are actually very rare in America, unlike what you see in the movies. Most cases are settled through some deal or extortion or intimidation, before there is an actual trial. If there is a jury trial, they tend to stack the jury with un-educated idiots who will tend to believe whatever lies they are told by the judge and the government. If you are trying to fight a rich person in court, the judge might let the fancy lawyers for the rich person say anything they want, while he tells you to shut up as soon as you start talking. The judges have a thousand ways to rig a legal proceeding, to benefit rich people or the government.<br />
<br />
It's no wonder so many innocent people go to prison. With the fundamental brutality and harshness of life in America, American citizens are confused and fearful, and gullible to propaganda. So, a jury in a courtroom, these people who tend to be poorly educated, will tend to go along with any lies presented by government prosecutors. In this environment of fear, the feeling of safety for the jury, comes from following the "strong" government in sending various "suspected criminals" to jail.<br />
<br />
Yes, there are appeals courts, but these are just more judges, who are often friends with the lower court judge who originally sold you out. The appeals judges tend to go along with the lower court judge, unless you have suddenly acquired some politically powerful backing on your side.<br />
<br />
Americans love to talk about "taking it all the way to the Supreme Court!", but this is a nearly empty hope. The U.S. Supreme Court simply refuses to consider most cases that are presented to it.<br />
<br />
If you are a little helpless nobody, the appeals judges often barely reply to you, and sometimes don't reply at all. Sometimes people have been strapped to a table and given the lethal poison and put to death in America, with the victim's appeal never even answered by the judges.<br />
<br />
<b>What about when people win millions of dollars in a lawsuit against the big company?</b><br />
<br />
Every now and then, there is worldwide news of how some average person in America has won a lawsuit for $25 million or some other huge sum of money, from some company or other. What's going on here - if the American legal system is so crooked, how can people be winning such big money?<br />
<br />
Such cases are indeed real, but they are actually somewhat rare, numerically - rather like winning the lottery - and it's important to see why they take place, and how they fit into the big pattern. Such cases are typically after someone has been seriously injured or died due to some defective product or prescription drug or hospital treatment or accident.<br />
<br />
These cases have a certain "place" in the American legal framework, accepted by the judges. They are also very important for maintaining the bribery culture. A lot of the money won in such cases goes into the lawyer's pockets, and is a major source of bribery money for the judges. As regards big companies and the judges, such cases are viewed as a kind of "tax" on the big corporations, part of the cost of doing business in America, part of the price of being able to otherwise make huge profits.<br />
<br />
Such cases, as well, have the same function as in a gambling casino, when the casino proudly announces that one customer has just won a huge jackpot. The hype about the one jackpot winner, hides the fact that most everyone else is losing money. The person whose husband died from the defective prescription drug, and won millions of dollars (one-third of that to the lawyer, of course), is the person who is shoved forward to prove that "the legal system works - it's the greatest legal system in the world!"<br />
<br />
The small handful of such personal-injury cases, are intended to distract the public from all the innocent people sentenced to prison, from all the families destroyed by bribed judges in divorce cases, and from all the people whose lives are destroyed by big companies, companies who cheerfully pay bribes to win their routine cases in court.<br />
<br />
Big companies know that some big "injury" cases will be lost, in order to supply money for the lawyers and judges who otherwise take good care of the big company's interests. When you are making hundreds of millions of dollars, the loss of a few million here and there is just another expense of business. In the end, the companies just raise their prices to cover the costs of lawyers and lawsuits. The whole world pays for the millions earned by American lawyers, they are the ultimate parasites.<br />
<br />
There are other casualties here, too. America's health care system has been destroyed from the inside by the legal culture of constant lawsuits against doctors and hospitals, with huge amounts of money being given to the lawyers in these cases, driving up the cost of medical care and putting it out of reach of many people. America is the only economically advanced nation without a national health plan, with tens of millions of Americans having no health coverage. USA lawyers joke openly about how, when the courts make big money awards to pay a lawyer, the lawyer often gives the judge a bribe by way of gratitude. Some lawyers grow rich, and doctors are afraid to continue practicing medicine in the US, and many Americans die from lack of health care.<br />
<br />
But while America's lawyers will very casually file legal charges against doctors, hospitals, or ordinary people, for any flimsy reason, to try and squeeze some money from the situation, they are extremely afraid to take any legal action against another lawyer or judge engaged in misconduct. That's where fear takes over, and lawyers are suddenly too timid to file any lawsuits.<br />
<br />
<b>The Hollywood image, versus the grim reality</b><br />
<br />
Once you have digested the fact that America has the world's largest prison gulag, another major thing to digest is the USA government, and much of America, is primarily a sales organization, whose chief tool is hype and propaganda and outright lies. America is a culture built on sales and advertising; it focuses on portraying an image, not the reality beneath it.<br />
<br />
This is why America was so casual about inventing and selling the lies about "weapons of mass destruction" to help start the Iraq invasion. It was just a question of whatever lies needed to be told, in order to sell the product; there was no concern about afterwards, when the lies were exposed. America just figures it can later send out more salespeople with more lies, in an endless cycle. Tomorrow is just another day, when America will try to sell another product, the "war on terror", the "spread of freedom", or whatever.<br />
<br />
The selling never stops, in Washington or Hollywood. America sells political lies like Hollywood sells movies. When the USA President talks about "advancing the cause of freedom", he basically means freedom for big corporations to do business. He's not really talking about actual personal freedom for real people. But he grins when he talks about "freedom" because it's a good word of salesmanship, people hear him and some of them can be duped into believing that America cares about personal or political freedom.<br />
<br />
Hollywood movies and American television are a major element of political myth-making. Around the world, people derive an image of America, and its legal system, from these fictional creations on film. America's propaganda about having "the greatest legal system in the world" is one of those phony stories that Hollywood is helping to sell.<br />
<br />
It is also a myth sustained by the few trials about which there is a lot of publicity, like with the celebrity trials of Martha Stewart or Michael Jackson. Judges behave very differently when the cameras are rolling, or the media is reporting everything that goes on, and millions of dollars are being spent on lawyers. But in the 98 percent of court activity that does not have big media coverage, the judges of America provide a bizarre sideshow of horror.<br />
<br />
In the Hollywood version, the judges in American courts are like kind uncles, smiling and being wise and calmly dispensing justice. But in reality, American judges sometimes scream at people like disturbed perverts, and show off their bribed corruption right there in the courtroom. Sometimes judges engage in flagrant extortion, where you have to agree to pay money to the judge's lawyer friends as the price to stay out of jail. It is really that bad. You can find no end of documented horror about American judges behaving like criminal lunatics, and it is getting worse all the time.<br />
<br />
In the Hollywood version, there are brave lawyers who will fight for your rights, to win justice for you in the American courts. In reality, you can't find an American lawyer brave enough to fight judicial corruption, even if you are innocent and the judge's friends have threatened to murder you, or to send you to jail for the rest of your life. The lawyers who used to be brave, were destroyed or intimidated, and nearly all American lawyers now submit themselves to the culture of corruption and bribery, and betraying and abandoning the people who need legal help.<br />
<br />
In the sad reality, American lawyers line up by the dozen to help the government or the big corporations, and regularly betray the average person, even if they are supposedly representing you. Even the lawyers who don't want to be wicked themselves, are too timid to really fight the system. At a certain point, nearly all American lawyers will hold back and abandon their clients, because they are trying to survive themselves and avoid revenge by the judges.<br />
<br />
In the Hollywood version, the average person is also helped by the "brave investigative reporter" at some newspaper or television station, who shows great courage in exposing the truth, and bringing powerful wrongdoing to face justice. However, the brave "investigative reporter" in America is now as fictional and non-existent as the "brave lawyer" who will fight for your rights. This is especially true on any topic pertaining to corruption by judges and lawyers.<br />
<br />
In America today, reporters are little timid people who are afraid of getting fired, and who almost never write a story on government corruption, unless some other part of the government is officially investigating or prosecuting. That goes triple when judges or lawyers are involved. The owners of the newspapers and television stations are afraid of revenge by the judges if they have to go to court, and the nervous little reporters who work for them understand the rules of the game.<br />
<br />
If you look closely at a modern newspaper or news magazine in the USA, you will see how almost all stories originate with the government itself. When the media "investigates", they are usually just adding more details on a situation already being targeted by the government. Every news media and television station in America is swamped with people begging them to report on stories, that they totally refuse to cover. The reporters are too scared, and they know the stories wouldn't get printed or broadcast even if they were written.<br />
<br />
America is the land of fear, as regards the legal system and the culture of corruption. Everyone involved with the USA legal system is afraid, very afraid, of stepping on the wrong toes. Even American judges themselves get driven out of office, if they don't participate in the bribery culture.<br />
<br />
<b>No recourse against crime and fraud by judges and lawyers in America</b><br />
<br />
In reality, there is almost nothing you can do against misconduct, and even open felony crime, committed against you by American judges and lawyers. All of the official complaint procedures you find on the internet, or at the courthouse or in the law books, turn out to be a joke, a farce and a fraud.<br />
<br />
Complaints about lawyers in America, usually go to the "Bar", which is itself run by the judges who are involved in bribery with the lawyers. And complaints about judges go to other judges, their friends.<br />
<br />
Nearly all the complaints about lawyers and judges - tens of thousands of them - are kept secret. Nearly all are dismissed or ignored. They are generally only used if the judges or politicians want to specially destroy someone - some radical minority lawyer, someone who is not playing the bribery game, somebody who has dared to expose wrongdoing. Otherwise, even criminal acts by lawyers and judges get a smiling cover-up.<br />
<br />
You will almost certainly not find any lawyers to help you sue another lawyer for wrongdoing. They are too scared of revenge by the judges. Even the lawyers who are broke and unemployed and desperate for work, are too scared to sue another lawyer. (Special caution: Lawyers may make false promises to you about suing another lawyer, cash your checks and steal your money, and then refuse to help you. And then you will have another lawyer who wronged you.)<br />
<br />
The police and FBI almost certainly will not help you, either. They all know the bribery game, and they rely on the same crooked judges to help send innocent people to prison after they have been arrested. The more crooked the judge, the more eager the judge will be, to help the police or FBI do a dirty deal and convict an innocent person.<br />
<br />
And, of course, the newspapers and television and media won't help you. They hear stories like yours all the time. If they publish or broadcast your story, then they will have problems the next time they get sued in court. Or they might find themselves arrested on false charges, and end up in an even worse situation than you.<br />
<br />
The newspapers are so tied into the establishment of judges and lawyers, that the newspapers sometimes help the judges and lawyers to commit their crimes, and to unfairly smear and attack their victims. The big media newspapers have even helped to plant false "evidence" in court cases, and help the legal establishment to destroy innocent people. But even if not harming you, the USA media is afraid to help you, afraid of revenge if they expose judicial corruption.<br />
<br />
These fears are just as big, if not bigger, with America's radical and alternative media, and bloggers and internet sites. Such people will criticize American foreign policy and so on, but everybody is scared of talking about specific cases of corruption by lawyers and judges. The independent media has even more reason to be afraid, because they are even more vulnerable if the lawyers start to file false charges against them in the courts.<br />
<br />
Of course, America's politicians will not help you, either. Many politicians are themselves lawyers, very used to the whole game of bribery with judges and other lawyers. The politicians accept the crooked courts as the way that America is run, and as helping the two big parties to monopolize the political scene and prevent alternative political movements.<br />
<br />
America's two big political parties, the Democrats and Republicans, can be seen as another phony game like America's courts. The two parties actually get their hundreds of millions of dollars in money from the same people at the same big corporations who own the rest of America. These two American parties pretend to argue with each other over emotional issues like gun control and abortion rights, but in the end both of these parties serve the big corporations. Half of Americans are still fooled into thinking that these parties represent them, the other half sense it is phony but feel helpless and don't know what to do. This is why people don't vote very much in America; they feel it is hopeless and useless.<br />
<br />
You can also forget about America's human rights and civil liberties groups, even though it looks, at first, like there are many such groups on the internet. Many such groups are just money-raising groups which don't help victims, or are tied to the two main political parties or some narrow agenda. They are all scared of the legal system, too, and there is no one with any significant funding or money, who is out there helping the victims of legal corruption. They can't find lawyers to help them, either. There are some overwhelmed and struggling projects here and there, doing worthy work for a few of the innocent people in prison, but they function in an environment of timidity and fear, and without the resources or clout or media access to expose or change what is happening.<br />
<br />
It's getting worse and worse in America all the time. As the judges and lawyers can get away with committing crimes, they are getting more open and blatant, committing felony crimes in broad daylight, because they know no one will stop them or bring them to account.<br />
<br />
It is also important to know, that once you have started complaining about, or exposing, judicial and legal corruption in America, you become a kind of outlaw there. You are in a very dangerous situation, and you are considered fair game to be either arrested and jailed on false charges, or to be totally robbed and betrayed by America's lawyers. Once you have spoken out about legal corruption, you may find that no other lawyer will then help you for any reason, even if it is un-related to your complaint about judicial wrongdoing. You may be trapped in a nightmare from which there is no escape unless you can leave America altogether.<br />
<br />
<b>Dealing with American lawyers, if you have no other choice</b><br />
<br />
Perhaps the statistical chance of getting arrested in America as an innocent person, and then being sent to prison or put to death, is relatively small. But think of how you will feel if you end up as one of those 2 million American prisoners, including 50,000 foreign citizens. Or perhaps even one of those several thousand people on Death Row, waiting for the lethal poison to be injected into your arm.<br />
<br />
Visiting America now, is probably similar to visiting or doing business in 1936 with Hitler's Reich, or Mussolini's fascist empire. If you did such a thing in 1936, you might have visited and had a wonderful time, maybe even have done some business with companies in those countries. You might have seen some beautiful sights, and met some very friendly individual people, perhaps drunk a beer or two, or a nice glass of wine, maybe attended the 1936 Olympics. Very likely, you wouldn't have seen any concentration camps, in the places where you travelled. You might have had a very pleasant trip.<br />
<br />
But nonetheless, you were in a dangerous place, where horrible things were going on. That's true of the United States of America today, the land of 2 million prisoners in a giant gulag.<br />
<br />
With America's corrupt legal system, it's certainly not the wisest place to keep money or assets, which can be easily grabbed by American lawyers in legal proceedings. Many smart Americans have opened overseas bank accounts, and it is wise to not keep too much money where American lawyers can seize it. There is no bigger group of thieves in the world, than American lawyers.<br />
<br />
If you are in a lawsuit situation in America, get all your money out of the country, fast, before the USA lawyers can put any kind of hold or freeze on it. But you shouldn't keep substantial assets in the USA in the first place. Sell any USA real estate and rent instead, get that money out where it is safe. <br />
<br />
Certainly, don't ever expect any justice from American courts. Expect the judges and both sides of lawyers to tilt toward the government, or toward the big company that can pay bribes on a regular basis. All that most people get out of American courts, is grief, and lawyers stealing their money. Best not to approach American courts unless absolutely necessary.<br />
<br />
Despite the commonplace fraud and dishonesty of American lawyers, it's still important to have one if you must be in an American court. The reason is that American judges absolutely hate people who come to court without lawyers, especially if they have any money at all. The judge takes it as a personal insult if you are not giving some money to one of his lawyer friends, and will tend to take revenge on you unless you hire a lawyer, even a very stupid one, to stand by your side.<br />
<br />
What American lawyers love to do, is to steal all your money, tell you a bunch of false promises and lies, and then do nothing for you, while they sell you out to the other side. That is a perfect scenario for an American lawyer. A lawyer's goal is to squeeze as much money from you, while at the same time doing as little as possible to rock the judge's political boat. Some lawyers even make money by the "research and review" scam, where they don't even agree to represent you, but just steal your money to "research" your case.<br />
<br />
Accept in advance that an American lawyer will rob you and betray you, and everything will go more smoothly if you quietly understand this. Never actually trust an American lawyer, but don't let on that you know he's a crook.<br />
<br />
Don't tell the lawyer how much money you really have, he will try to get all of it. Try to pay a lawyer very slowly, in small chunks, that will keep him more interested, and prevent some of the bigger robberies and betrayals, and will leave you some money to try another lawyer if things get too awful.<br />
<br />
Remember, once you give a USA lawyer any money, it's almost impossible to get it back. Lawyers will almost never sue another lawyer, and if you go to court, the judge will almost certainly protect the lawyer who defrauded you (and get a share of the money, of course).<br />
<br />
Lawyers and judges in America like people to appear to be submissive and stupid and easily manipulated. They like to feel superior to you. By letting them think that you are weak and falling for their lies, you may give yourself some breathing room. This tactic has even enabled some people to stay alive and not get murdered, and to escape from America back to safety.<br />
<br />
<b>The growing American nightmare</b><br />
<br />
It is just getting worse and worse in America's legal system. For some years now, the USA judges and lawyers have gotten used to denying people justice, to the great flow of bribery money, and even to committing felony crimes in broad daylight and getting away with it. It just keeps on escalating. Though a social explosion is lurking beneath the surface - with judges starting to get murdered, and people lighting courthouses ablaze - the people who run America are letting the current system chug along as it is, justice be damned, and to hell with the people who seem to have no way to fight back.<br />
<br />
It can't go on like this forever, but it may get a lot worse first, despite the fair internet visibility on documented American legal corruption. One should note a brave and promising grass-roots attempt at judicial reform in the USA called (Jail 4 Judges - www.jail4judges.org), which attempts to place onto American ballots, a referendum for a new procedure to give citizens a real right of redress against corrupt judges. It is a wonderful and beautiful idea that deserves success, and will help transform America if it moves forward.<br />
<br />
Regrettably, though, for all the usual reasons of fear, there is no one with any big money or media clout, yet making a foray against the real-life nightmare of America's courts and prisons. It remains a taboo subject for the American media, and the media silence feeds and encourages the whole machine of bribery and repression.<br />
<br />
Perhaps, though, it will not be until after America has had a major economic or social cataclysm, that the big American machine of legal corruption finally comes to be reformed.<br />
<br />
Sociologically speaking, it's astonishing how disgraceful American lawyers have become - they are now both the mafia and the gestapo of American life. America's lawyers, as a whole, have had little to say about America's recent international crimes of prisoner abuse, and violation of international human rights agreements. American lawyers, as always nowadays, are "playing the game" with America's government and its judges.<br />
<br />
America, indeed, does not have the rule of law at all. Instead, it is just the rule of lawyers, lawyers who crave money and power. And, in America, it can be jail or worse for anyone who tries to fight these lawyers.<br />
<br />
The reality of the United States of America is that Americans, despite their overall wealth as a nation, are now a people living in a society of great fear. Their fears are complicated, and many Americans cannot even put their fears into words. They are afraid of lawyers and the prison system, afraid of losing their jobs in a brutal society with no social safety net, afraid of needing health care in a disastrous system with no health plan. And Americans are afraid of what will happen if they try to question the system and the way things work. They often feel helpless and powerless against the great forces dominating their country.<br />
<br />
American citizens are confused and fearful, and gullible to propaganda. Because Americans have difficulty in sorting out their many fears, they have become ripe candidates for racial and religious hatreds, and for following their government into war. The issues of "terrorism" and war distract the emotions of Americans from the terrible problems in their own society at home. The foreign "enemy" gives Americans a face on which to project their fear and their anger. The result is the horrifying misconduct of some Americans in these wars; while back inside the USA, there is increasing corruption and repression in the legal system.<br />
<br />
Americans desperately would like to believe that they still live in a "free" country, as it is so horrifying to them to face the ugly truth, that their freedom is already largely lost. Americans can imagine they are "free" because they can still choose among different products to buy, or quit their job, or buy a gun at the store. And the Americans most likely to imagine they are still "free" are the ones who have not yet been trapped in the halls of America's legal system. They have not yet seen the lawyers and judges who smirk and laugh as they deny victims the most basic human rights.<br />
<br />
The truth is that, inside America, a nightmare has begun. The lawyers and judges and courts, "playing the game", regularly trample upon the freedoms that Americans thought they had. It is people like myself, escaped from the USA, living in kinder and gentler places, who are now the lucky ones.<br />
<br />
No one should ever again be fooled by USA propaganda about being the "land of freedom". Those who are thinking of travelling to, visiting, or working in America, should think again. It might not be worth the risk of being in a country that has one of the most crooked legal systems in the world.<br />
<br />
For a deeper and more thorough analysis of the USA legal system, see the online <a href="http://faqusajudicialcorruption.blogspot.com/2005/08/table-of-contents-and-list-of.html">FAQ on American Judicial and Legal Corruption</a>.<br />
<br />
<i>NOTE FROM AUTHOR: This article may be freely reproduced and republished in full by anyone, anywhere. <a href="http://www.ahrc.com/new/index.php/src/tools/sub/yp/action/display/id/2358">Dr Les Sachs</a> - Harvard-educated book author, and expert critic of US corruption - was forced to take refuge in Western Europe, after Dr Sachs dared to criticize a Jew-hating friend of the President Bush family. Dr Sachs was threatened with jail and murder, and his freedom of speech was illegally banned via a fake US "court order" by a Bush judge whom US lawyers are afraid to oppose. Here the link for Dr Sachs' <a href="http://bannedinamerica.blogspot.com/">"Banned in America". blog</a></i></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-1277104273138266672011-05-16T09:51:00.000-05:002011-05-16T09:51:55.667-05:00Top 10 Lists - Has it Gone to Far?<a href="http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/05/hot_female_sex_offenders.php">The 10 Hottest Women on the Texas Sex Offenders List</a><br />
<br />
And the Apology by the Author...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/05/hot_sex_offenders_list.php">The "Hot Sex Offenders" List: An Explanation and Apology</a><br />
<br />
Check out BOTH of these articles... Comment there and tell us what you think on here too... We always look forward to communications from our readers.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-82286873332638121662011-05-02T18:47:00.002-05:002011-05-02T19:08:08.069-05:00Update on Our Offender's EyesHi, I am updating everyone to Matt's "vacation" from the internet. Matt did have his agents"blessing" to have internet access, but did not have her "blessing" to have a blog... Thus why he is not updating his blog, and why it now has a new internet and blog free. I will be maintaining his blog until his agent gives him the blessing to come back....<br />
<br />
Free access to the internet is a right, not a privilege. Internet access is a right that is protected by the United States Constitution, regardless of crime. This very right has been challenged in the Federal courts, offenders have won. Thus nobody, regardless of past history should not be forced by any state or state agency to loose that RIGHT. This is something that Matt is and will continue to fight.... The law is on his side, and I hope that he continues the fight and paves the way for others to follow his foot steps. Things like this is what starts people down the road to change, it re-kindles the fire and motivates persons even more to move forward looking for change!!! The law on this issue is on our side and we will fight!<br />
<br />
These restrictions have been challenged, and the offenders have won, In <a href="http://openjurist.org/287/f3d/122/united-states-v-sofsky">287 F3d 122 United States v. Sofsky</a> it was as clear as can be... Read the case, it is an interesting case. Here is an excerpt:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote><i>5<br />
In the pending appeal, the challenged condition of supervised release was not recommended in the PSR, and Sofsky had no prior knowledge that it would be imposed. Both because the alleged error relates only to sentencing and because Sofsky lacked prior notice, we will entertain his challenge without insisting on strict compliance with the rigorous standards of Rule 52(b).<br />
6<br />
The merits. A sentencing court may order a special condition of supervised release that is "reasonably related" to several of the statutory factors governing the selection of sentences, "involves no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary" for several statutory purposes of sentencing, and is consistent with Sentencing Commission policy statements. 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d). Although the discretion thus conferred is broad, we have cautioned that we will "carefully scrutinize unusual and severe conditions." United States v. Doe, 79 F.3d 1309, 1319 (2d Cir.1996) (internal quotation marks omitted). <br />
7<br />
We previously considered a sentencing component that prohibited access to a computer or the Internet in United States v. Peterson, 248 F.3d 79, 82-84 (2d Cir.2001). The restriction was imposed as a condition of probation for a defendant convicted of larceny because of the defendant's prior state conviction for incest and his accessing of adult pornography on his home computer. Noting that "[c]omputers and Internet access have become virtually indispensable in the modern world of communications and information gathering," id. at 83, we ruled the condition unreasonable. Appellate courts considering a similar restriction imposed upon defendants convicted of child pornography offenses have reached different conclusions. Compare United States v. White, 244 F.3d 1199, 1205-07 (10th Cir.2001) (invalidating and requiring modification of restriction imposed on defendant who used Internet to receive child pornography), with United States v. Paul, 274 F.3d 155, 169 (5th Cir.2001) (upholding restriction imposed on defendant who produced child pornography and used Internet to distribute it), and United States v. Crandon, 173 F.3d 122, 127-28 (3d Cir.1999) (upholding restriction imposed on defendant who used Internet to contact 14-year-old girl with whom he had sexual relations and photographed such conduct).<br />
8<br />
We appreciate the Government's point that permitting Sofsky access to a computer and the Internet after serving his ten-year sentence can facilitate continuation of his electronic receipt of child pornography, but we are more persuaded by the observation in Peterson that "[a]lthough a defendant might use the telephone to commit fraud, this would not justify248 F.3d at 83. The same could be said of a prohibition on the use of the mails imposed on a defendant convicted of mail fraud. A total ban on Internet access prevents use of email, an increasingly widely used form of communication and, as the Tenth Circuit noted, prevents other common-place computer uses such as "do[ing] any research, get[ting] a weather forecast, or read[ing] a newspaper online." White, 244 F.3d at 1206. Although the condition prohibiting Sofsky from accessing a computer or the Internet without his probation officer's approval is reasonably related to the purposes of his sentencing, in light of the nature of his offense, we hold that the condition inflicts a greater deprivation on Sofsky's liberty than is reasonably necessary.<br />
9<br />
The Government contended at oral argument that the restriction must be broad because a restriction limited to accessing pornography would be extremely difficult for the probation officer to enforce without constant monitoring of Sofsky's use of his computer. There are several responses. First, to the extent that even a broad restriction would be enforced by the probation officer, monitoring (presumably unannounced) of Sofsky would be required to check if he was using a computer at all. Second, a more focused restriction, limited to pornography sites and images, can be enforced by unannounced inspections of Sofsky's premises and examination of material stored on his hard drive or removable disks.4 Cf. United States v. Knights, 534 U.S. 112, 122 S.Ct. 587, 591-93, 151 L.Ed.2d 497 (2001) (rejecting Fourth Amendment challenge to search, on reasonable suspicion, of probationer's premises). Finally, the Government can check on Sofsky's Internet usage with a sting operation — surreptitiously inviting him to respond to Government placed Internet ads for pornography. See White, 244 F.3d at 1201. </i></blockquote><br />
<blockquote><i>Conclusion<br />
10<br />
For all the above reasons, the condition of supervised release prohibiting all computer and Internet access is vacated, and the case is remanded for entry of a more restricted condition.</i> </blockquote><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><i>You may also want to check out <a href="http://openjurist.org/425/f3d/505/united-states-v-t-mark">United States of America vs. David T. Mark.United States Court of Appeals, FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT, No. 04-3737</a> </i><br />
<br />
<i></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">I do not know how clear the law has to be defined to have my friend have internet access? There is nothing posted on his blog that is against the law, or violation of his extended supervision. Matt and I both believe that it is their way of censoring him. He has a first amendment right to to free speech. This right is so important that it is number one in the U.S. Bill of Rights as well as amendment 1 article 3 of Wisconsin's very own<br />
<br />
Constitution. I believe that our forefathers are rolling over in there graves thinking about how the document that they spent so much time and fought so hard to create and defend has been shredded in this manner. A sad, sad day for democracy! Freedom of speech unless they don't like what you are saying... Reminds me of this time in Europe when a very charismatic man came through and 'removed' from society those that he did not care for or disagreed with him. <br />
<br />
Matt is going to allow the Wisconsin Department of Corrections the time to educate themselves on this cause, and allow them to correct the wrong that have done. If they are unwilling to let him exercise his rights by allowing him to get internet, his is 100% willing to take this back to the sentencing courts and challenging this condition. This is a RIGHT, and unless we stand up and protect the few rights that he has left, he will have nothing, and if they do this to him, what will they take next?<br />
<br />
Feel free to leave as many comments as you want on this issue. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections does have the new site address, as he did provide it to them as part of the administrative appeal process. We need your support more now then ever.... Lets help him get his rights back!!!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-87312174725449508982011-05-02T08:07:00.000-05:002011-05-02T08:07:28.437-05:00The War on Boys<h2 class="asset-name entry-title"><a href="http://www.fathermag.com/war_on_boys/intimacy_and_sex/2011/03/house-bill-1208-teen-sex-offenders.shtml" rel="bookmark">House Bill 1208: Teen Sex Offenders</a> - <a href="http://www.fathermag.com/war_on_boys/intimacy_and_sex/">Intimacy and Sex</a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></h2><h2 class="asset-name entry-title"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by Dawn Hawkins</span></span></h2><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Teen sex offenders may be in for a more difficult path than they are already facing. If some lawmakers have their way, information on the sex offender will be public knowledge. Teen offenders are generally exempt from having their names released. The new proposal by Representative Kirk Pearson will place notification in the hands of parents, staff and adult students of teen sex offenders attending the school. It appears to be yet another case of misguided effort on behalf of "protecting" our children. There are several things wrong with this type of law though. If passed, this law burdens already overburdened students with more pressure.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Teenagers face enough pressure in today's world without politicians making it worse. Politicians want to make a name for themselves. There is little concern for the actual affect that a law like this will have on the teen offender and the school body as a whole. The sex offender is not the only one paying the price. It becomes a burden for the entire school body. It is a near certainty if parents know about the sex offense; they will discuss it with their teenagers. Those teenagers will then pass the word around the school. Classes become disruptive, students become defensive and worried and mass hysteria takes new root.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Key problems with passage of such law:</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><ul><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the United States, it is common practice to withhold the names of juvenile offenders for any crime. This practice is in place to protect the juvenile offender's future. Kids often make rash decisions without thinking about the future. The current laws protect kids (and society) from having to pay for the rest of their lives for a youthful mistake. </span></span> </div></li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><ul><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In the United States, teens placed on sex offender lists for ridiculous reasons suffer enough already. For example, many students find themselves convicted of sex offenses after taking and sharing photographs with other students (such as a case against six teenagers in Pennsylvania). Each "offender" acted of his or her own free will, yet earned a place on a sex offenders list. The same thing happens when a 15-year-old boy has consensual sex with a 14-year-old girl. These are just a couple of examples of bad judgment on the part of prosecutors. One can debate whether students should engage in sexual activity, but prosecutors have no place in these examples. A law such as the one Rep. Pearson wishes to enact will only hurt these types of "sex offenders." These are not criminals. These are teenagers behaving like teenagers. </span></span> </div></li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><ul><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This law only strengthens the ability for law enforcement and communities to further harm the teen offenders such as listed above. It encourages abuse of an already dysfunctional system. Prosecutors are already having a field day at the expense of the American teenager. This law could make it impossible for a teen with a sex offense to get an education, even when the "crime" he/she committed should not be a crime at all.</span></span></div></li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><ul><li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If laws like House Bill 1208 get enacted, teens with sex offenses stand little chance of rehabilitation. Instead of encouraging the young person to get on the right track, he/she has little hope of rising above the challenge for a bright future. The entire country suffers because of it. These students will likely see little reason to change current behaviors because no incentive for them exists.</span></span></div></li>
</ul><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Teens are less likely to repeat their offenses than adult offenders are. A law such as HB1208 discourages rehabilitation for those who committed the offenses to begin with. That harms society as a whole because the teen sex offender will then become more likely to repeat the offense. It is important to note that juvenile offenders in the United States receive a second chance to have a clean record. At age eighteen, convictions are sealed. This gives the juvenile offender a second chance to live a normal life. Under HB1208, this would be impossible for the juvenile to accomplish. </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The principal and those who supervise the student currently receive notification of the sex offense. Serious sex offenders are dangerous to society. There is no dispute about that. However, this particular law targets teens when placed on the sex offender list for outrageous reasons. Lawmakers are not considering the consequences of such a law. America can become a land of open information about sex offenders by adding more and more laws until no one can distinguish what is right and what is wrong. American teens are being legislated into the ground, literally.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Justin Fawcett was a normal American teenager. While one could argue that he practiced bad judgment when he had sexual relations with a fourteen-year-old girl, his involvement was not that unusual. The sex was consensual on both parts. The girl, in fact, seduced Justin. She then wrote about the conquest in her diary. Justin, along with several other young boys in the Detroit area, who made the same mistake, found themselves placed on a sex offenders list. Justin attempted to move on with his life after believing his name would not be placed on the list. One year after a plea agreement, he received notification of placement on the list. His peers and others ostracized him. Justin committed suicide on March 19, 2004. He was twenty years old at the time. The so-called crime happened in 2002. He felt his life was hopeless. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Di</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: small;">d Justin deserve to die? No, and his actions did not merit a listing on the sex offenders list either.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If Justin felt that distraught because of placement on the sex offender list, it is safe to say that other teens in his position might feel the same way. This law simply makes it legal for people to harass them. The law does not discern what the teen's actual offense was. It is simply a notification that he/she has committed a sex offense. It is of utmost importance that fathers find out what constitutes a sex offense in their state. Shock is certain to set in when fathers realize just how easy it is for prosecutors to charge their sons with sex crimes. There is an urgent need for fathers to stand up to the legislators that represent them. </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The real crime on these issues is to knock the teenager down and then to strip him of any dignity that may be left. Pearson believes that anti-bullying laws will regulate whether convicted students will be harassed or not. However, Pearson is not the one living the nightmare that these kids are living. The length that legislation goes to has stripped parents' rights away. It happens little by little until there is nothing left of the parenting role. Laws such as the proposed HB1208 punishes acts that should not be considered criminal and it does not allow parents the control necessary to properly raise their children. </span></span> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fathers, it is your duty as a parent to ensure that lawmakers are not further harming the children of our nation. What is covered in a gooey haze of fluff (protecting the children), is really just another way to take the parenting role away from the parent. These laws harm children rather than help them. This debate is currently happening in Olympia, Washington. These types of laws could be at your backdoor at any given moment. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is time for fathers to claim their parenting role and push legislators back over the line. Let the lawmakers know that they are being watched on this issue. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="border-width: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0cm; padding: 0px;">copyright (c) 2011 FatherMag.com</div><div style="border-width: 0px; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0cm; padding: 0px;"><br />
</div><h2 class="asset-name entry-title"> </h2>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-69750608972834977382011-04-27T08:30:00.000-05:002011-04-27T08:30:02.398-05:00Falsely accused.... Yet still in prison??? This is our Justice System at its Finest...<a href="http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-04-14/news/life-without-parole/"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><strong>Life Without Parole</strong></span></a><br />
By <a class="author" href="http://www.blogger.com/authors/mandy-oaklander" jquery1303908738868="8">Mandy Oaklander</a> <span class="pubdate">Wednesday, Apr 13 2011</span> <br />
<h3>John Kinsel remains in prison even after alleged rape victim recanted.</h3><br />
Read the full article here: <a href="http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-04-14/news/life-without-parole/">http://www.houstonpress.com/2011-04-14/news/life-without-parole/</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-33325567606116959422011-04-23T18:36:00.002-05:002011-04-23T18:36:53.962-05:00Ronald Schell: Abuse of sex offender rules wastes taxpayer money<div class="entry-content" id="blox-story-text"><a href="http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_bb7f0150-33f3-55b2-b682-16b6921e880c.html">http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_bb7f0150-33f3-55b2-b682-16b6921e880c.html</a><br />
<br />
Dear Editor: The Department of Corrections (DOC) routinely applies the harshest sex offender parole rules to individuals who are not a threat to the community. These rules make living a normal life nearly impossible and feed a prison population in Wisconsin that is already more than twice the size of Minnesota, which has about the same population.<br />
Jonathan (not his real name) is a UW-Madison graduate who was convicted of burglarizing a friend’s apartment and forging a check. He served two years in prison. Because he was convicted of sexual activities with other boys when he was in foster care at the age of 12, the DOC imposed dozens of oppressive rules including prohibitions on using the Internet, visiting a health club, going to a park, going to bars, or coming near any place frequented by even one person under the age of 18. It didn’t matter that Jonathan’s offenses occurred 18 years ago, or that he was never again convicted of any sexual offense, or that a psychologist determined that he is not a threat to commit sexual crimes.<br />
Informed that he had used the Internet at his job, Jonathan’s parole officer put him in jail and recommended that he be sent back to prison. As his lawyer observed, “When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” Thanks to the DOC’s hammer, we are all paying to house someone who could be a productive member of society.<br />
<strong>Ronald Schell</strong><br />
<em>Madison</em></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-20124122868326053862011-04-19T20:34:00.000-05:002011-04-19T20:34:06.418-05:00intresting read....<a href="http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/31/opinion/maine%E2%80%99s-sex-offender-conundrum/">http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/31/opinion/maine%E2%80%99s-sex-offender-conundrum/</a><br />
<br />
<h5>STAN MOODY</h5><h1 class="storyHed headline">Maine’s sex offender conundrum</h1><div class="alignleft"><div class="byline"></div><div class="datetime">Posted <span class="date">March 31, 2011,</span> at <span class="time">8:49 p.m.</span> </div></div><div class="alignright" style="padding-top: 20px;"><a href="http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/31/opinion/maine%e2%80%99s-sex-offender-conundrum/print/" title="Print this"><img alt="Print this" src="http://bdn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/themes/bdn/images/print.gif" /><span style="color: #3b5a7a;"> Print</span></a> | <a href="http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/03/31/opinion/maine%e2%80%99s-sex-offender-conundrum/email/" title="E-mail this"><img alt="E-mail this" src="http://bdn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/themes/bdn/images/mail.gif" /><span style="color: #3b5a7a;"> E-mail</span></a> | <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://bdn.to/77vs&t=Maine’s sex offender conundrum" target="_blank" title="Facebook this"><img alt="Facebook this" src="http://bdn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/themes/bdn/images/facebook.gif" /><span style="color: #3b5a7a;"> Facebook</span></a> | <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Maine’s+sex+offender+conundrum+http://bdn.to/77vs++via+@bangordailynews" target="_blank" title="Tweet this"><img alt="Tweet this" src="http://bdn.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/themes/bdn/images/twitter.gif" /><span style="color: #3b5a7a;"> Tweet</span></a> </div><div class="clear"></div><div class="entry"><div id="thePost"><div class="clear"></div>On Jan. 2, when the 125th legislative session was still a gleam in every new legislator’s eye, the <a href="http://new.bangordailynews.com/organization/bangor-daily-news/"><span style="color: #3b5a7a;">Bangor Daily News</span></a> published an article titled “State to craft new sex crime laws.” Mal Leary led off with the description of legislators “bracing” for onslaught.<br />
Oh, those sex offenders! We seem to know what to do with every other type of offender. But sex offenders, who notoriously enjoy a recidivism and probation violation rate of around 16 percent of that experienced with your average, run-of-the-mill former prisoner, evoke the shudder complex from the most compassionate among us.<br />
One way of reducing the bracing factor in dealing with sex offenders is to educate the public concerning the level of threat posed by various categories of offense. That would, however, demand that we psychologically profile each offender, a task above the budgetary tolerance line.<br />
So we are required to render all sex offenders 14 and older as more or less equal if we are to comply with the federal <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fd.org%2Fodstb_adamwalsh.htm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFFuOINwmA7iPuTnhmoA6m9DEWOlw"><span style="color: #3b5a7a;">Adam Walsh Act</span></a>. We create something of a lifelong leper colony for people who have been caught acting out fantasies prompted by our sex-crazed culture.<br />
What ought to concern us more are the ones who have not yet been caught and who may be living next door.<br />
Four of the 50 states are now in compliance with the Adam Walsh Act — South Dakota, Ohio, Delaware and Florida. Thus violation of any one of 189 sex offenses, including urinating on the sidewalk, streaking or online sex chat, will result in a lifetime registry.<br />
Maine legislators, meanwhile, are bracing.<br />
At stake is a cut of $166,000 to $350,000 in Byrne Justice Assistance funds to law enforcement agencies.<br />
Thankfully, cooler heads are and have been prevailing. “We have had some serious questions about the Adam Walsh Act so far,” says veteran Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick. His former co-chair of the Criminal Justice Committee, Rep. Ann Haskell, D-<a href="http://new.bangordailynews.com/region/portland/"><span style="color: #3b5a7a;">Portland</span></a>, adds that compliance has been a concern in many states and that change tends to be incremental.<br />
That brings us to the ultimate in inanity — <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mainelegislature.org%2FLawMakerWeb%2Fsummary.asp%3FID%3D280038878&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNECY9iSvNfqPx9vNfiq8THbrCrUSQ"><span style="color: #3b5a7a;">LD 8</span></a>. As amended, LD 8 would permit towns with no police department to move the current 750-foot buffer between sex offender housing and schools or day care centers to 2,500 feet, or half a mile.<br />
That affirms the public stereotype of a sex offender as a sleazy-looking, unlicensed male lurking behind bushes in the schoolyard. One veteran probation officer told me that in his 30-year career, he could think of only a handful of sex offenses that originated on school property, and all were committed by staff.<br />
Rep. David Burns, R-Whiting, a committee member and retired state trooper, is all over LD 8. “I am concerned about keeping children safe,” he avers. That sets Rep. Burns apart from the rest of us, one would suppose.<br />
The committee verdict on the bill was a hung jury — 6-6 — and it has not yet been reported to the full Legislature. We look forward to fierce debate on the floor of the House being led by ought-to-pass advocates of this feel-good opportunity. At stake is an indeterminate fiscal report.<br />
The fact that state legislators are “bracing” themselves ought to be cause enough for concern. The preponderance of sex offenses occur within families, carried out by family members or friends to whom it likely never occurs to lurk in the schoolyard bushes or near a day care.<br />
They get plenty of opportunities right at home. In fact, the most <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.csom.org%2Ftrain%2Fetiology%2F3%2F3_1.htm&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEGQ51zLShMbu2rgDGUq9rrSIagGQ"><span style="color: #3b5a7a;">common profile</span></a> of a sexual predator is one who looks and acts just like the rest of us.<br />
We could do away with the registry entirely by requiring GPS ankle monitors to be worn by all sex offenders for however long the court would deem appropriate. The savings in law enforcement man-hours would likely far exceed the loss of funds from the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program.<br />
Adam Walsh’s dad, John, argues that we <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.congress.org%2Fcongressorg%2Fbio%2Fuserletter%2F%3Fletter_id%3D6227743356&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNEx9LvlUsU6tLAX-EEXDCTFrIFCwg"><span style="color: #3b5a7a;">ought to scrap the registry</span></a> altogether and start over.<br />
The core problem is a public that naively believes that family members, pastors, teachers and neighbors are inherently good just because of who they are.<br />
Perhaps we all ought to wear GPS ankle bracelets to protect each other from enablers who have failed to learn that trust is not something you earn because of who you are or where you live or how you make your living but by proving yourself to be trustworthy.<br />
Big brother is watching!<br />
<em>Stan Moody of Manchester served in the <a href="http://new.bangordailynews.com/organization/maine-legislature/"><span style="color: #3b5a7a;">Maine Legislature</span></a> and was a prison chaplain.</em><!--Terms to links completed in 0.000075 seconds (cached).--></div><div class="clear"></div><div class="clear"></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-39838130763497191782011-04-19T19:30:00.000-05:002011-04-19T19:30:56.495-05:00Intesting Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/wtM0k4Ie3iw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PUIra4u9wcc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-35137313653558606522011-04-17T22:33:00.000-05:002011-04-17T22:33:30.858-05:00Intesting VideoThis is a must watch, take the time to take a look at this and listen to this lady. It is a big eye opener...<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ehPfV_dzif8">http://www.youtube.com/embed/ehPfV_dzif8</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-1847632246993203432011-04-17T19:32:00.000-05:002011-04-17T19:32:11.104-05:00Intesting Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/KEAQ561pDt0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>This is an intresting video that talks about older women (teachers) having sexual relations with teen menUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-35322664995971275722011-04-17T10:52:00.002-05:002011-04-17T10:52:59.499-05:00Intesting Video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ebjD1r4e9-4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-43663188394278450012011-04-16T21:45:00.000-05:002011-04-16T21:48:07.510-05:00Intesting Video<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zqGKv8HUIJ0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Please take a few moments and watch this video, it is very educational and has some really great topics covered</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-63674505156313236752011-04-15T22:57:00.003-05:002011-04-15T22:57:44.257-05:00This is scary, and i would gladly go to prison before i would allow them to implant a GPS in me, the braclet is bad enough, but this would never happen<h2><a class="title" href="http://www.correctionsreporter.com/2009/01/21/wa-looks-at-implants-for-sex-offenders/" rel="bookmark"><span style="color: #4c4c4c;">WA Looks At Implants For Sex Offenders</span></a></h2><div class="info"><span class="date">January 21st, 2009</span> <div class="act"><span class="comments"><span>Comments Off</span></span> <div class="fixed"></div></div><div class="fixed"></div></div><div class="content"><img alt="implant" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-1689" height="150" src="http://www.correctionsreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/implant-150x150.jpg" style="margin: 5px;" title="implant" width="150" />Washington State lawmakers are considering a controversial bill that would outfit sex offenders with a surgically-implanted device that tracks their movement.<br />
<blockquote>The devices would replace the ankle bracelets that are currently used to track offenders. The bracelets have been criticized as a lacking device as offenders have successfully removed them in the past before disappearing off of the radar. “(The devices would) be a little more difficult to take off,” said Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Edmonds. Chase is among a handful of lawmakers are looking into radio chips that can be planted under the skin. Some of the designs are no larger than a grain of rice. The radio chips would allow police to track an offender from a sex offender using the same technology used at the Tacoma Narrows bridge toll … If passed, the bill would allow the state to hire the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs to determine whether chip implants would be more effective.</blockquote></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-51665009401211859462011-04-15T22:52:00.002-05:002011-04-15T22:52:33.107-05:00intresting read....<h2><a class="title" href="http://www.correctionsreporter.com/2010/06/18/ca-gps-tracking-overwhelmed/" rel="bookmark"><span style="color: #4c4c4c;">CA GPS Tracking Overwhelmed</span></a></h2><div class="info"><span class="date">June 18th, 2010</span> <div class="act"><span class="comments"><span>Comments Off</span></span> <div class="fixed"></div></div><div class="fixed"></div></div><div class="content">Several years ago, California decided to require high-risk parolees, such as gang members and sex offenders, to wear GPS monitoring devices. The idea was to relay location information to law enforcement to ensure that the convicts stay where they’re supposed to. Unfortunately, the state often misses those alerts, making the devices both a lesson in the pitfalls of technology management and a massive exercise in largely useless spending. News from <a href="http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10008826/a-high-tech-parable-california-uses-gps-on-parolees-then-ignores-it/"><span style="color: #2970a6;">CBS Business Network</span></a>.<br />
<blockquote><img alt="GPS Tracking Device" class="alignright size-full wp-image-6822" height="165" src="http://www.correctionsreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/1gps-image.JPG" style="border-bottom: black 1px solid; border-left: black 1px solid; border-right: black 1px solid; border-top: black 1px solid; margin: 2px 4px;" title="GPS Tracking Device" width="177" />In 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger first supported a pilot program to track 500 sex offenders and alert authorities if one of them wandered too far from home. California voters passed a ballot initiative, nicknamed Jessica’s Law, in 2006 that prohibited sex offenders from being within 2,000 feet of a school or park and required all offenders to wear monitoring devices for the rest of their lives. By this year, the state wanted to expand monitoring to a thousand paroled gang members at a cost of $9,500 a year for each one.<br />
<blockquote>The move expands what is already the nation’s biggest Global Positioning System monitoring program of convicts, coming three years after voters required satellite tracking of more than 7,000 paroled sex offenders.</blockquote>Unfortunately, the technology, as California implemented it, didn’t work. The case of convicted sex offender Leonard Scroggins shows the system’s problem. Scroggins cut the tracking device off his ankle and allegedly tried to rob or kidnap several women and girls over a two-day period. The device sounded an alarm and parole officers pushed through the paperwork for an arrest warrant, but the process took nearly 24 hours. Even then, police would only learn of the warrant if they picked up Scroggins for some other reason and then checked the appropriate database.<br />
Computers can automatically route signals to the proper people in law enforcement. Nevertheless, parole officials have left tens of thousands of electronic alerts unresolved:<br />
<blockquote>Officials say the backlog grew because they lacked software to run an ongoing report of all unresolved cases. That is, supervisors in Southern California were working only with reports of new alarms, rather than a report showing previous alarms that had not been cleared.</blockquote>Officials clearly didn’t have a desktop database or spreadsheet to filter and analyze the alerts, and so they were buried in unexamined data.<br />
According to Petra Fuhriman, owner of GPS Monitoring Solutions, a monitoring consulting and services company never involved in the state’s system, California chose a passive alert system. Notifications from the monitoring devices automatically go to parole officers. However, there is no differentiation among different types of alerts. A device could as easily signal that it had been removed or that the battery was running down. Someone might be on a highway, technically in a restricted area but actually passing by at high speed — or stuck in traffic, where it might look like they were loitering.<br />
Fuhriman says that that parole officers’ phones and email in-boxes “are flooded with these messages, so they become desensitized and stop paying attention.” The state could write software to prioritize the messages, based on the type of alert and the frequency of notification to help the officers choose the most important alerts, but it apparently hasn’t.<br />
Alerts also do little good when parole personnel are off-duty on a weekend and no one receives a message until the following Monday. Some companies provide real-time monitoring, with outsourced first level screening of alerts and officer notification for serious issues, but that is more expensive.<br />
And so California, like so many institutions and organizations, looked to technology as a silver bullet siren, but failed to undertake the operational changes necessary to make it work. Officials cost-cut the original good idea to the point where it was all but useless.</blockquote></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245294760084472901.post-26799914637320244212011-04-15T22:08:00.002-05:002011-04-15T22:08:31.408-05:00intresting read....<h2><a class="title" href="http://www.correctionsreporter.com/2011/01/05/wi-prison-population-on-the-decline-after-150-years/" rel="bookmark">WI Prison Population on the Decline After 150 Years</a></h2><div class="info"><span class="date">January 5th, 2011</span> <div class="act"><span class="comments"><span>Comments Off</span></span> <div class="fixed"></div></div><div class="fixed"></div></div><div class="content"><img alt="Rick Raemisch, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections" class="alignright size-full wp-image-8078" height="230" src="http://www.correctionsreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/secretary-rick-raemisch.jpg" style="margin: 2px 4px;" title="Rick Raemisch, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections" width="200" />After more than 150 years of persistent increases, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections is reporting a sustained decline in the state’s prison population. Between fiscal years 2007 and 2010, the population fell about 7 percent, the largest decline in state history. Experts say court diversion programs, declining crime rates and the state’s focus on preventing recidivism are responsible for the reductions. Story from the <a href="http://www.milwaukeenewsbuzz.com/?p=395030">Milwaukee Magazine</a>.<br />
<blockquote>On June 30, at the end of fiscal year 2010, the department reported earlier this week, there were 22,171 inmates in the state’s prisons, up from 22,008 at the end of fiscal year 2009. But this slight increase followed three years of consecutive declines in fiscal years 2007, 2008 and 2009, a first since the state’s first correctional facility opened in Waupun in 1851. All told, the population has dropped from 23,797 in 2007 to 22,171 in 2010.<br />
The state’s prison population grew by leaps and bounds in the 1990s. Then, in the first five years of the 21st Century, the growth slowed. In the five years that followed, between fiscal years 2005 and 2010, the population appears to have crested.<br />
“It’s not like it’s dropping off a cliff,” says Kenneth Streit, an associate professor of law at UW-Madison and an expert on corrections in the state. “But I’m certainly heartened by the fact it’s coming down.”<br />
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Wisconsin’s incarceration rate for prisons (including federal prisons) was 74 percent of the national average in 2004. But Streit says that if one includes both prison and county jail inmates, the state ranks relatively high.<br />
“We’re reducing (the state prison population) from a fairly high number,” Streit says.<br />
Crime has declined in Wisconsin, as in the rest of the country, in the past several years, according to Streit, meaning courts are sending fewer offenders to the state for incarceration. Efforts in Wisconsin and around the country are also mounting to find alternatives for non-violent offenders.<br />
The previous philosophy, Streit says, was to give prisoners “a long sentence and if that doesn’t work, give them a longer one. We’re sort of winding our way out of those sentences.”<br />
Rick Raemisch, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, agrees. “There are people that should be in prison, and there’s no question about it. But for the people who are nonviolent, the stakeholders are really starting to look at different alternatives.”<br />
He adds, “We take a hard line with sex offenders for obvious reasons. But with others, we look at what we can do that will turn this individual around.”<br />
Streit says that in recent years, the DOC has moved away from a “zero tolerance” approach to probation violations. Instead of automatically sending the person back to a correctional facility, he says, they may spend a short time in county jail, a strategy aided by a new state law that raised the limit on how long a DOC offender on probation can be jailed in a county facility for such a violation.<br />
Streit and William Pelfrey, an associate professor of criminal justice at UW-Milwaukee, say court diversion programs are becoming increasingly popular in Wisconsin and are also helping to hold down the state’s prison populations. The programs, which include drug courts, where drug offenders undergo treatment and are given a chance to reform before they are imprisoned, have been relatively slow to take hold in Milwaukee County, according to Pelfrey.<br />
The Milwaukee County Drug Treatment Court began accepting defendants in 2008. Pelfrey says judges in the county and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm have pushed for diversion programs and more “community corrections” options that allow offenders to serve their sentences on work release or home detention (with electronic monitoring).<br />
Raemisch says he’s seen support for such approached statewide. “There are a large number of innovative sheriffs in Wisconsin, and you find a lot of innovative release programs,” he says.<br />
He also credits the state’s focus on reentry programs for reducing recidivism. The focus needs to be on drug and alcohol treatment, education and job skills, he says. “There’s really no secret to turning these individuals around.”<br />
The state also began an early-release program in January for nonviolent offenders nearing the ends of their sentences. Some Milwaukee leaders, including Mayor Tom Barrett and Police Chief Ed Flynn, objected to it, saying that many of these offenders would wind up back on the city’s streets to commit more crimes.<br />
Pelfrey says the era of long sentences for nonviolent offenders appears to be coming to a close, and prison populations are declining as a result. “The perception is that people who go to prison are dangerous, violent offenders, but that’s the exception, not the rule,” he says. Most committed property offenses (such as theft or burglary) to make money for illegal drugs.<br />
States are also beginning to realize how expensive such policies can be. “The financial toll on states is phenomenal,” according to Pelfrey.<br />
Raemisch says the department commissioned a study that, in 2008, recommended the department find ways to curb the flow of inmates into its prisons. The continuation of the status quo, the study found, would cost the state $1.2 billion by 2018.<br />
“That was a roadmap of where we don’t want to be,” he says. Raemisch says that status quo is already changing, and the state is avoiding the increases in prisoners the study warned would be so costly.<br />
Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, says the reductions in the state prison population may be due to changing demographics: There are now fewer males between the ages of 16 and 25, and consequently fewer crimes being committed.<br />
NewsBuzz has also covered a similar decline in juvenile incarcerations in the state. Read the story here. In crafting a new state budget next year, Gov. Scott Walker could choose to close one of the state’s boys’ schools, possibly the one in Wales in Waukesha County. Raemisch says he recommended to the new administration that it close one of the facilities but says he didn’t specify which one.</blockquote></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0