Sex Crimes

Georgia Sex Offender Challenges Online Registration Requirement

Sex offender banishment seems to be catching up with the information age. A Georgia sex offender has brought a constitutional challenge in federal court against a new state law that forces sex offenders to register their passwords, screen names, and e-mail addresses with law enforcement officials. Last year, a federal judge in Utah struck down a similar requirement. Recently, that same judge vacated her decision after the Utah legislature amended the statute to address the judge's concerns. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A federal judge on Tuesday began weighing arguments for and against a new Georgia law that requires sex offenders to hand over Internet passwords, screen names and e-mail addresses to law enforcement officials in the name of public safety.

Attorneys for convicted sex offender Terrence White urged U.S. District Judge Bill Duffey to block the law because it infringes on White's constitutional rights.

State attorneys countered that the 2009 law gives authorities a much-needed tool to make sure registered sex offenders don't strike again.

Duffey did not rule immediately, but he said the case centers on a "fundamental issue in our culture."

"Children do have to be protected, but that also has to be balanced with constitutional protections," he said. "And I never take those lightly."

The case hinges on a state statute that took effect in January, bringing Georgia in line with a 2006 federal law requiring authorities to track Internet addresses of sex offenders.

It also made Georgia one of the first states to take the extra step of forcing its 16,000 offenders to turn in their passwords as well.

Sex Offender Registry? There [Was] An App For That

As Apple's iPhone gains ubiquity, strange applications are sure to appear.  The Washington Post has an article about one of the most popular paid applications entitled Offender Locator (available here), which purports to show where sex offenders live in relation to you. Some are asking whether this app is a good thing. UPDATE: The app has been pulled. From the Washington Post:

While all 50 states require that sexual offenders register themselves, and allow anyone to access the information online, most people never look at it. That's why it's surprising that this app is a top seller ? especially considering that it's not free (it's $0.99). Certainly, it's good to be aware of these people living around you ? especially if they have committed acts against children, and you have children ? but it's interesting that it's the iPhone that is making such information "popular."

The app allows you to see a list of offenders based on your current location (using the iPhone's location services), any contact's address, or it allows you to manually enter an address. The app then scours the database and lists the sexual offenders based on their proximity to the location you gave. You can click on any of these names to get a picture of the person, their information like date of birth, height, weight, and a picture. And you can also see the specific sexual crime they were charged with.

But, as you might imagine, such an app is not without controversy. First of all, there's a disclaimer when you first load it up warning that all of the information may not be accurate. The reason it gives are that the sexual offender lists are continuously updating, so some parts may be out of date or incomplete.

An even bigger problem is that the app may not be legal in all states. As someone who reviewed the app notes, "This app is not legal, at least under CA law. Selling the personal information of people (even ex-criminals) for profit is forbidden." It is rather odd that this app costs money when the information is available freely on the web. As a top 10 app, the developer is likely making thousands of dollars a day off of this app.

Update: From Sex Offender Research, it looks like the app is back with a minor limitation.

Ill. Sex Offender Busted for Not Registering His MySpace Page

The State of Illinois requires sex offenders to register with law enforcement various online identifying information, including "all blogs and other Internet sites maintained by the sex offender or to which the sex offender has uploaded any content or posted any messages or information."  Unsurprisingly, this registration requirement has recently resulted in the arrest of one sex offender for having a MySpace page. From KMOV:

Police busted a convicted sex offender for operating a Myspace web page.

Gregory Kruckeberg, 27, was arrested thanks to a news law in Illinois.

Captain Brad Wells of the Madison County sheriff's office said it doesn't appear Kruckeberg used the site for anything illegal.

"It's not illegal to have them but they have to let law enforcement know of those emails addresses or internet sites they maintain which would include Myspace or Facebook or any social networking sites," he said.

Kruckeberg's mother, told News 4 her son, who lives with her outside of Bethalto, was convicted 4 years ago over an incident with an underage girlfriend.

Unaware of the new law, she said her son's Myspace page was used to post a picture of the daughter from that relationship.

"He didn't do anything illegal on Myspace. He doesn't get in there to talk to or find bad stuff. To me putting a picture of his daughter he was proud, I was proud you know."

But that pride is being quickly erased by the reality that this tough new Illinois law could put her son in prison for three years.

H/T: Sex Offender Issues.

Economic Slowdown Affecting Sex Offender Monitoring

Now that states are under increasing budgetary pressures, some are wondering whether constantly monitoring sex offenders is worth the cost. From the Badger Herald:

Although Wisconsin has been electronically monitoring the worst sex offenders after their release from prison since January 2008, a proposal by Gov. Jim Doyle could change the current system.

Presently, there are two ways to monitor sex offenders.

Under “active” monitoring, sex offenders carry a portable tracking device that allows law enforcement to watch them 24 hours a day. Those under “passive” monitoring are watched more loosely, with their movements reported only when offenders recharge their tracking device.

Current law does not allow offenders being tracked actively to switch to passive tracking. Under Doyle’s proposal, however, the Department of Corrections would be given the option to switch an offender once they are on active tracking for at least 12 months. The switch would also depend on level of risk the offender poses to his community, according to Rachel Krueger, spokesperson for the DOC.

Krueger added that although the proposal will likely save the state money, since the switch from active to passive tracking would be made on a case by case basis, there is no way to determine exactly how much the DOC would save.

The proposal has sparked outrage among Republican lawmakers.

“The proposal is completely gutting the tracking program,” Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said. “[The] governor promoted the toughest position on sex offenders in the last campaign, but [he has done] now a complete 180.”

Although Suder acknowledged the move might save the state money, it will hurt victims in the long run.

Republican Legislators Introduce Internet Record-Keeping Bill

Republican legislators in the House and Senate have introduced identical bills entitled the Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today's Youth Act of 2009 or the SAFETY Act.  The bills impose record-keeping requirements upon both Internet Service Providers and persons who operate wireless access points. Specifically, the bills state that "[a] provider of an electronic communication service or remote computing service shall retain for a period of at least two years all records or other information pertaining to the identity of a user of a temporarily assigned network address the service assigns to that user." You can read the Senate bill here and the House bill here. From CNN:

Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, supporter of a bill that would require Internet user records to be saved for police.

The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates....

Translated, the Internet Safety Act applies not just to AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, and so on--but also to the tens of millions of homes with Wi-Fi access points or wired routers that use the standard method of dynamically assigning temporary addresses. (That method is called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, or DHCP.)

"Everyone has to keep such information," says Albert Gidari, a partner at the Perkins Coie law firm in Seattle who specializes in this area of electronic privacy law.

The legal definition of electronic communication service is "any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications." The U.S. Justice Department's position is that any service "that provides others with means of communicating electronically" qualifies.

That sweeps in not just public Wi-Fi access points, but password-protected ones too, and applies to individuals, small businesses, large corporations, libraries, schools, universities, and even government agencies. Voice over IP services may be covered too.

Under the Internet Safety Act, all of those would have to keep logs for at least two years. It "covers every employer that uses DHCP for its network," Gidari said. "It covers Aircell on airplanes-- hose little pico cells will have to store a lot of data for those in-the-air Internet users...."

This tends to be a bipartisan sentiment: Attorney General Eric Holder, a Democrat, said in 1999 that "certain data must be retained by ISPs for reasonable periods of time so that it can be accessible to law enforcement." Rep. John Conyers, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that FBI proposals for data retention legislation "would be most welcome."

If these bills become law, I can't even imagine all the ways Internet privacy will be dimished.

Facebook Removes 5,500 Sex Offenders From Its Site

After MySpace removed 90,000 sex offenders from its website, Facebook has followed by removing more than 5,500 sex offenders' profiles. From the Associated Press:

Facebook has removed more than 5,500 convicted sex offenders from its social networking Web site since May, Connecticut's attorney general said Thursday.

Richard Blumenthal said the world's largest social networking site, which claims to have more than 175 million active members, reported to his office that 5,585 convicted sex offenders were found on the Web site and removed between May 1, 2008, and Jan. 31, 2009.

"The message in this number is Facebook has an equal stake in solving this problem of protecting children," said Blumenthal, who along with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has led an effort remove sex offenders from the social networking Web sites.

"They have an equal stake in the predator problem and its solution."

Earlier this month, rival networking site MySpace announced it had removed 90,000 sex offenders in a two-year period.

Last year, the attorneys general got both sites to implement dozens of safeguards, including finding better ways to verify users' ages and putting limits on older users' ability to search the profiles of members under 18.

Chris Kelly, Facebook's chief privacy officer, said the convicted sexual offenders on the site were found through user reports, working with local law enforcement agencies and using the national sex offender registry.

He said Facebook's focus on members using their real names and identities helps discourage sex offenders, and even more is being planned to prevent them from registering. Earlier this month, Facebook officials said policy dictated that no convicted sex offender be allowed to keep a Facebook page.

Kelly said the company has pitched a proposal to attorneys general around the country to develop a real-time system cross-checking available outlets and "block any registration from the get-go."

"Our policy has been to remove convicted sex offenders when they are reported or identified through any means," Kelly said.

Nevada Legislative Committee Kills Bill Over Due Process Concerns

A Nevada bill affecting the lifetime supervision requirements imposed on sex offenders has been scrapped over due process concerns. From MSNBC:

A legislative committee has killed a bill that would have changed lifetime supervision requirements imposed on convicted sex offenders. The bill had faced criticism that the changes would violate constitutional due process protections.

Lawmakers also are considering a bill that would ensure that civil rights aren't automatically restored to convicted sex offenders who are sentenced to a lifetime of parole.

That bill has been criticized by legislators and the American Civil Liberties Union, who say it goes too far. Lawmakers say the Division of Parole and Probation, which introduced the bills, should focus on a host of other problems they face, which were recently outlined in a legislative audit.

Auditors say that the Division has not adequately supervised high-risk offenders, which can lead to repeat offenses.

Illinois Legislature Considers More Sex Offender Restrictions

From one of my colleagues, I learned that the Illinois Legislature is considering a number of new sex offender bills. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Every year, Illinois' list of registered sex offenders grows. And every year, the Legislature introduces a new crop of bills to restrict where they can live, where they can walk or stand, what they can drive, even what they can wear.

New bills would crack down on sex offenders who try to sign up for Internet dating sites, would prohibit them from driving ice cream trucks or donning Santa costumes and would prevent them from visiting nursing homes. One bill mandates that their movements be monitored for life by satellite.

Those bills, if ultimately passed into law, would join a long list of boundaries already encircling the state's roughly 23,400 (and counting) registered sex offenders. On the books in Illinois now are laws prohibiting more than one sex offender from living in the same household while on parole; requiring that they have their names and images posted online, generally for life; and barring them from living within 500 feet of schools, from loitering near playgrounds, or from working in youth programs.

Similar restrictions have been proposed in Missouri. For example, in 2006 the Legislature increased mandatory sentences for sex offenders and increased the number of offenders who would be electronically monitored. But a measure pushed last year by then-Gov. Matt Blunt calling for the death penalty for child rapists did not get to a vote.

Lawmakers in Illinois say the special nature of sex crimes makes tighter restrictions on them necessary.

"If you look at the recidivism rate of sex offenders, it's over 50 percent," said state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, sponsor of the new satellite monitoring legislation. "These people can't be cured."

Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have argued that restrictions that extend past a convict's prison sentence and parole time — extending in many cases to a lifetime — are unconstitutional.

Courts have ruled otherwise, and even the Chicago ACLU today acknowledges that that debate is over. But they and others say there are still legitimate concerns that the proliferation of sex-offender restrictions could become unmanageable for the state, and so onerous for the offenders that some will attempt to evade the registration system altogether.

"At a very pragmatic level, if you create so many harsh rules that there is literally no place for this person to live ... they'll try to live 'off the books'," said Chicago ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka. "Then whatever value that system had goes out the window."

Seriously, over 50 percent recidivism? For post-incarceration release (which is the only population that is affected by these restrictions, the numbers are far, far lower. Notably, some of the restrictions (nursing homes and dating sites) represent new areas for sex offender liberty to be curtailed.

Virginia Bill Seeks to Require Sex Offenders to Provide Online Information

The Virginia House of Representatives, looking to join at least the twenty other states with similar provisions, unanimously passed a bill requiring sex offenders to register their online identifiers with the authorities. From the Chatham Star Tribune:

A bill sponsored by Del. Charles Poindexter, R-9, that would require more information to be posted on the internet sex offender registry passed through the House and will move on to the Senate.

The internet sex offender registry lists the names, ages, addresses, pictures and offense descriptions and dates of convicted sex offenders. Poindexter's bill would allow the State Police to add information about sex offenders who are wanted, either for not registering with the registry or for any other crime. The bill allows for the State Police to add any information they judge "necessary to preserve public safety."

The State Police control the registry and update the information. The bill specifies that the registry would be updated daily.

Sen. Robert Hurt, R-19, is listed as a co-patron of this bill. He has not yet heard the bill in committee and will reserve his final judgment until then. He supports the idea of the bill because the purpose of the sex offender registry is to provide information to the community, he said.

"The changes include information parents want to know," he said. "This is information that could protect our most vulnerable citizens, who are our children."

The sex offender registry should include as much information as possible to make Virginia a safer place, he said.

The bill passed the House last week in a 99-0 vote. It will be heard by a Senate committee in the coming weeks.

Illinois Busts Sex Offender for Having Internet Access and a MySpace Account

Now that MySpace has handed over the names of 90,000 registered sex offenders on its site to every state attorney general, an Illinois sex offender faces charges after he failed to tell the authorities that he had the Internet at home and had a MySpace account. From the News-Democrat:

A Bethalto sex offender faces a felony after police said he failed to tell police he had the Internet in his home and maintained a home page on a social networking site.

Madison County sheriff's deputies arrested Gregory J. Kruckeberg Jr., 27, of 5605 Illinois 140 in Bethalto, at 9 p.m. on Feb. 5 after finding an Internet account at his home address and a MySpace networking account, said Capt. Brad Wells.

A new law was enacted on Jan. 1, 2008, that required sex offenders to make known to law enforcement any Internet connections or any Web sites they use or maintain.

From May 2007 to August 2008, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office identified 3,221 profiles of registered sex offenders who created MySpace accounts, including 95 sex offenders in Madison and St. Clair Counties.

"This is the first time I have gotten a call with regards to an offender failing to report their MySpace," Madigan's Deputy Chief of Staff Cara Smith said. "But with this cyberworld kid's live in, sometimes parents aren't aware of what's going on in there. This sounds like a case of some good proactive police work."

Kruckeberg was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The victim was 16 years old. As part of his conviction, Kruckeberg is required to register every year.

He last registered in April 2008, but Wells said he failed to report the Internet connection and MySpace when he registered.

Illinois' requirement that sex offenders register their online information (including blogs) is part of a growing trend amongst states. The statute in question is 730 ILCS 150/3(a). Specifically, it reads:

A sex offender ... or sexual predator shall ... register in person and provide accurate information as required by the Department of State Police. Such information shall include a current photograph, current address, current place of employment, the employer's telephone number, school attended, all e‑mail addresses, instant messaging identities, chat room identities, and other Internet communications identities that the sex offender uses or plans to use, all Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) registered or used by the sex offender, all blogs and other Internet sites maintained by the sex offender or to which the sex offender has uploaded any content or posted any messages or information ...