Sex Crimes

Iowa Town's Total Sex Offender Ban May Be in Jeopardy

A helpful reader informs us that a small town in Iowa (Dyersville to be precise) has decided against repealing an ordinance that bans all sex offenders from residing within the city limits. The ordinance however, is in tension with the state's own residency restrictions which prohibit sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, libraries, and daycare centers. Thus, it appears that the town's ordinance is in a state of limbo. From The Telegraph Herald:

The Dyersville City Council decided not to act Monday on a repeal of an ordinance passed in 2005 that bans all sex offenders from residing within city limits.

Council member Molly Evers, a longtime opponent of the ordinance, cited a recent change in Iowa Code that takes away power from municipalities to adopt ordinances on residency of sex offenders.

[Under Iowa law], "any motion, resolution or ordinance adopted by a political subdivision of the state is void and unenforceable."

Four days after the council meeting, Evers expressed her displeasure with the decision not to move forward. "Dyersville should do the right thing now and bring its ordinance in accord with state law," Evers wrote in an e-mail to the TH. "Unfortunately, though, some people cannot admit it when they are wrong.

City Attorney Marc Casey contacted the Iowa Attorney General's office for "informal" advice before forming his opinion, according to Iowa Attorney General spokesman Bob Brammer.

"In our view, a local ordinance in this realm likely would be preempted by the specific language in the statute," Brammer said. "We encourage any city to consider and research if there are potential liabilities if the city enforces an ordinance that has been preempted or voided by state law."

Heavens said he's not concerned about litigation against the city. "Somebody would have to show they were harmed that they can't live in the city limits of Dyersville," Heavens said. "We have never had (sex offenders) come here and ask us to live here."

Meanwhile, a 19 year old Dyersville man has been charged with the sexual abuse of two 13 year old girls.  If he is convicted, it will be interesting whether the town will enforce the residency restriction on a current resident. 

CT Bill Would Criminalize Interstate Travel Without Notice

A helpful reader sends word that Connecticut legislators are considering a bill which would make it a crime for any out-of-state sex offender to enter the state without registering within 48 hours. You may read the proposed law here. From the relevant subsection:

Any person who is a registered sexual offender under the laws of any other state who enters this state and fails to notify the Commissioner of Public Safety in writing not less than forty-eight hours prior to entering the state of the information required under this section or falsely reports such information shall be guilty of a class D felony.

It's likely that this law would raise right to travel issues that have not gained much traction in residency restriction cases.

AZ Lawyer: Adam Walsh Act Unconstitutional

According to an attorney representing a retired police officer facing child pornography charges, the federal Adam Walsh Act is unconstitutional both on its face and as applied to his client. Specifically, the lawyer is challenging a provision of the new law that requires his client to wear an electronic monitoring basis. From the Arizona Daily Star:

Michael Piccarreta contends the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is unconstitutional as a whole and as it applies to his client, Jefferson Sutton Stahl, because it prevents individual judges from determining whether electronic monitoring is needed.

Stahl, 62, was indicted in January on three counts of possession of child pornography and one count of receipt of child pornography.

His is alleged to have purchased four DVDs containing child pornography in June, one year after retiring from the Tucson Police Department following a 32-year career.

Court records indicate Stahl began communicating online in June 2008 with an undercover U.S. Postal Inspector operating an Internet forum described as "a special group for daddys who love young little munchkins!"

Piccarreta told U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Ferraro deciding whether a defendant requires electronic monitoring should be up to the judge, not up to legislation.

"I feel it's inappropriate for Congress to limit judicial power," he said.

Electronic monitoring is an essential part of the pretrial release process for people accused of sex crimes, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carin Duryee said.

U.S. Senate Rejects Sex Offender Amendment To Health Care Bill

Sex offender regulation and health care reform don't often mix, but that did not stop Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) from trying to bar insurance coverage of erectile dysfunction drugs for sex offenders. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was quoted as saying, "how serious could they be offering an amendment on Viagra for rapists?" From the New York Times blog:

It was, by all accounts, the most politically volatile amendment proposed to the health care legislation so far: a proposal by Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, to bar federal health programs and the future federally regulated insurance exchanges from covering the cost of erectile dysfunction medication for convicted sex offenders.

Mr. Coburn, arguing for his amendment, said it was a step intended to save taxpayers’ money. The proposal, he said, “creates a prohibition so that erectile dysfunction drugs are not paid for by the American taxpayers” for “convicted rapists” and “pedophiles in this country.”

Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana and chairman of the Finance Committee, said, “The amendment offered by the senator from Oklahoma makes a mockery of this Senate.” He added, “It’s a crass political stunt aimed at making 30-second commercials, not public policy.”

The Senate voted to kill the amendment, by 57 to 42. All 57 votes in favor of dismissing the amendment were by Democrats, while two Democrats joined 40 Republicans in supporting Mr. Coburn’s proposal. They were Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Should Tennessee Teens Be Included In Sex Offender Registry?

Tennessee state legislators are debating whether to include juvenile information (such as names and photographs) into the state sex offender registry. From the Jackson Sun:

State Rep. Debra Young Maggart, R-Hendersonville, introduced a bill last month that would require youths 14 or older to be placed onto a public registry for violent sexual offenses such as rape or attempted rape.

The bill, House Bill 2789, also states that when the offenders turned 18, they would continue to have a record as an adult and would be placed on the adult registry.

Some restrictions that apply to adult registered sexual offenders would not apply to the juveniles until they turned 18, according to the bill. For example, adult offenders whose victims were minors can't live, work or attend treatment programs within 1,000 feet of a school, child-care facility, or public park or recreation area.

Supporters of creating a juvenile sex offender registry tout it as a way to make the public aware of violent criminals. Critics of the proposal say many juvenile offenders can be reformed and the bill could harm their ability to live a normal life. An example they cite is potential problems with finding a job.

H/T: Sentencing Law & Policy.

CA Bill Would Ban Sex Offenders From Social Networking Sites

A California legislator has recently introduced a bill that would ban sex offenders within the state from utilizing social networking sites (such as MySpace and Facebook). But some have already questioned the constitutionality of such a proposal. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Sex offenders in California would be barred from using social networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace under a proposed law aimed at making the Internet safer for children as more and more of them flock to the Web.

Citing horrific cases in which children were sexually assaulted by men they met online, Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Pomona (Los Angeles County) introduced the bill last month, which would make it a crime for Californian's 63,000 registered sex offenders to use any social networking site. The proposed law defines those as a Web site "designed with the intent of allowing users to build networks or connect with other people and that provides means for users to connect over the Internet."

Assembly Bill 2208 is similar to legislation passed last year in Illinois, but doesn't go quite as far as a New York state law that additionally requires sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses and online aliases with state authorities, who can then turn over the names to the companies that run the social networking sites. After the New York law passed, 3,500 sex offenders were purged from MySpace and Facebook by the Internet companies.

The number of users on social networking sites has doubled since 2007, Torres said, and many of those users are children. She noted that just last month, a 33-year-old man lured a 12-year-old girl to a hotel in Anaheim, where she was sexually assaulted.

"Tuttle Bridge is vacated, but problem remains unsolved"

Longtime readers know all about the problems with the Julia Tuttle Causeway, where homeless sex offenders have lived under a concrete overpass partly as a result of severe residency restrictions. The Miami Herald is reporting that most sex offenders who have lived there have been moved out, and those that remain will be relocated elsewhere. The article also points out that this effort will not solve the problem of sex offender homelessness, but will merely place them further out of sight. From the article:

Under a clear and brisk sky, with traffic booming overhead, work crews took sledge hammers to the wooden shacks, shingled huts and flimsy tents along the bank of Miami's gleaming Intracoastal waterway.

Most of the homeless sex offenders who lived here have been moved out, and the few who remain are on a short waiting list for housing that falls within Miami-Dade County's revised sex-offender law.

"It's the end of the Julia Tuttle, but it's not the end of this kind of place,'' said Patrick, a registered sex offender who has lived under the rat-infested bridge for three years and did not give his last name. "There will be another Julia Tuttle, another place where people will put us so that we are out of sight and out of mind.''

In the past decade, more than two dozen states and hundreds of cities have responded to the public outcry over sex crimes against children by passing residency restrictions. In many cases, the laws have effectively banned sex offenders and predators from living within huge swaths of cities and towns -- separating them from their families and support systems -- and settling them far from transportation and job opportunities.

By rendering them homeless, experts say, the laws make it more difficult for them to re-enter society, harder for law enforcement to keep track of them and easier for them to fall into lawlessness.

In South Florida, the zones that were carved out over the past few years forced sex offenders to live at least 2,500 feet from almost anywhere where children congregate: schools, libraries, bus stops, playgrounds and parks.

Not all sex offenders are hard-core predators or child rapists. Some of them are referred to as having committed "Romeo and Juliet'' crimes, which involve intimate relations -- not always sex -- among young couples, one of whom is under the age of 16. However, by law, all the offenders are lumped into the same category, and end up being labeled sex offenders for the rest of their lives, whether they raped a child or urinated in a public place where children play.

Roethlisberger Accused of Sexual Assault

The Associated Press is reporting that a Georgia college student has accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexual assault. The student alleges that she was assaulted at a nightclub in Milledgeville, Georgia. From the New York Times:

A 20-year-old college student accused Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of sexually assaulting her at a nightclub early Friday during a night on the town near where he owns a lake home. The police said the alleged assault occurred in Milledgeville, about 85 miles southeast of Atlanta. Roethlisberger owns a home about 30 miles to the north on Oconee Lake.

Deputy Police Chief Richard Malone said the 28-year-old Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl champion, had been with three other people who were mingling with another group that included the reported victim. Malone said the woman and her party contacted a nearby police officer after the alleged assault.

“He’s been identified as being at the scene and there are allegations naming him as the perpetrator,” Malone said.

Roethlisberger and the woman have been interviewed, and the woman was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released, Malone said. The police said that Roethlisberger and his lawyer were cooperating with investigators. He was not in custody and has not been charged with a crime.

As a Steelers fan, this is particularly ugly news.

Student Post - You Can Run, but You Can't Hide

The New York Times recently published an article rehashing the story of Roman Polanski, who was detained in Switzerland for deportation. Polanski now faces punishment for a 32-year-old conviction on one count of having unlawful sex with a minor—that was once viewed as a “lapse in judgment” by an otherwise clean individual. In 1977, at the age of 13, Samantha Geimer was drugged and raped by Polanski. Mr. Polanski fled the United States when the possibility of jail time and deportation was indicated by Judge Laurence J. Rittenband.

The most interesting part of this seemingly “normal” case of unlawful sex with a minor is the astoundingly relaxed manner in which sex crimes were viewed in the 1977 era. A report prepared by Polanski’s probation officers characterized the rape as an exercise of bad judgment and suggested that Polanski receive probation rather than actual punishment. This “slap on the wrist” recommendation was perpetuated by the laissez-faire view of sex crimes in this era, in addition to the victimization of Polanski. From the New York Times article:

[His probation officer’s report] described his birth to a Polish national father, Riszard Polanski, and a Russian national mother, Bula Katz, and told how his Jewish family was confined behind barbed wire in a Krakow ghetto during the German occupation.

In 1941, the report noted, Mr. Polanski’s mother was taken to Auschwitz, not to return. Later it said, “the defendant’s father cut the wires permitting the defendant to escape” the ghetto, to spend the war with Polish families.

Recapping the defendant’s background, the report said Mr. Polanski was blocked from attending advanced art school after the war “because of his Jewish origins,” lost his religious faith, and twice suffered a fractured skull, once as the result of an assault in Poland, once after a car accident. It noted a first marriage in Poland, and a second to the actress Sharon Tate, who, it said, “was killed by members of the Manson gang in Los Angeles in the well-documented case in 1968.”

I am sure these devastating life events endured by Polanski were riveting to his probation officer and certain Hollywood VIP’s who put effort into securing Polanski’s good character, but they are not by any stretch of the imagination justification for rape. In fact, as there is no justification for rape, Polanski’s broken past is completely irrelevant in defending his actions toward Geimer. It is alarming when rapists are victimized in this manner. Through the eyes of Polanski’s former probation officer, the emphasis is placed on the trials and tribulations of the rapist, rather than what the victim has endured for the past 32 years. Furthermore, cultural differences, the alleged provocation by the 13-year-old victim, and the speculative unlikelihood that Polanski would commit a subsequent offense are absolutely no reason that this monster should have been gifted with the lesser punishment of probation—not in that era, and certainly not in this era. Luckily, current trends are working towards stricter punishments for sex offenders, although modern day law enforcement and judiciaries constantly struggle with policing the parole of sex offenders.

NY Bill Would Prevent Sex Offenders From Managing Buildings

Sex offenders face many restrictions in their daily life, but now some New York legislators are hoping to add another one: prohibiting sex offenders from holding positions such as building manager or superintendent where they would have keys to many different apartments. The Epoch Times has more:

In light of the recent reports about William Barnarson, Assemblyman Kellner has introduced legislation to prevent this in New York, and Sen. Schumer plans to stop sex offenders, who often cross state lines to avoid detection, from holding keys to multifamily apartments across the country.

“Unfortunately it’s completely legal for a convicted sex offender to become the superintendant or a building manager in any multifamily apartment building in New York, and the jobs almost always provide the offender with keys to the renters’ apartments in the buildings. Given the large number of sexual offenders in New York—there are 6,000—this is an issue that has to be dealt with immediately.”

Barnason had served over 10 years in jail for sexually assaulting and raping girls as young as 5 years old, and while working as a superintendent of three multifamily apartment buildings, had propositioned female tenants for sexual favors in return for help with their rent.

Assemblyman Kellner added that sex offenders have been banned from other professions and building managers should be added to the list.