This Page is provided to serve as a Voice for the Registered Sex Offender Community. Members' comments welcome below.
The MENU for the full website is to the left where links to all other pages are provided.
JESSICA'S LAW:
As of October 10, 2007 the 2,000-foot requirement of Jessica's Law has been temporarily placed on hold on behalf of four individuals who sought legal relief. Under these conditions, attorneys involved in that case have advised this editor that if you do not presently have compliant housing, your best bet would be to keep looking for the same and file a CDCR 602 in response to any move-out order, carrying it to the third level so that you have exhausted your administrative remedies and cannot be kept from a court later because you had not yet done so.
THERE MAY NOW BE A FULL HEARING. APPROPRIATE COMMENTS TO THE COURT WILL BE ADDED BELOW. Simply use this link to submit them: jake@californiaregistrants.net
We have a daughter...all we want is a normal life.
My husband was accused of rape nearly 20 years ago when he was just a teenager. He was tried as an adult and spent 10 years in prison for lies. Now he has (been placed under Jessica's Law because) he failed to register and went to jail earlier this year. We have a daughter and all we want is a normal life. I don't understand why they are placing him under Jessica's Law for a failure to register. The county where we live in California, there are virtually no places we can live, but we are stuck there for his probation because they won't let him serve his probation in another county. I thought the law was "not retroactive." We are just so frustrated. We don't know what to do. We don't have the money to live in our county really, so this makes it even worse.
Frustrated in California
"Lined up for the trains to the camps."
When I was 19 years old...I told my little brother who was 4 at the time to tell my parents that I had improperly touched him, so that I could get them to pay for some counseling for me before I ended up killing myself...I ended up charged with 1st degree child rape due to our age differences...
I went to therapy for 2 years and was released from treatment...I was found to be no threat to the community...Since that time I have been a good member of society...But I have also been harassed by police, neighbors and co-workers...refused all kinds of jobs...besides ones banned by law.
The tracking system for someone like me...is insane.
It really does feel like we're being lined up for the trains to the camps. The new law is seperatist, prejudicial and unconstitutional.
San Jose, CA
IS LIFE WORTH LIVING UNDER PROP. 83?
I have been convicted of a sex crime. Long ago, when I was a kid, I played "doctor" with my two younger sisters and now, here I am, charged with "sexual assualt" and "child molestation". I have paid for "whatever crime" I may have committed, did my time, finished parole with success and accepted the fact that I will forever have to be deemed as a "molester" and "predator". Since my release, I have worked so hard to build my life, to be a "normal" citizen of the US even though I have to register for life and be in a database for the whole world to see, scrutinize and mock. Is this in itself not running afoul of the ex post facto? Regardless of your response, it's okay, becase I have accepted my fate and will accept the fact that I can no longer be a "normal" citizen but instead a second class citizen. So many of us "sex-offenders" are harmless. So many of us have long paid our debts. So many of us have suffered humiliation, lost family, friends, sons and daughters because we have this disgusting label. So many of us have lost our jobs, been evicted, or simply cannot find work and shelter. Is this not good enough!?
But now, with the advent of Prop 83, my heart bears the weight of a thousand pounds. I can no longer even attempt to "paint" a smile on my face and pretend everything is alright. I will be forced to move from my home, to quit my job. I will be forced to be tracked like a wild animal, to be badged with an ankle bracelet as if like the mark of the beast. Am I that dispicable? Am I so worthless of an American citizen, a human being, that even a zoo animal shall have more rights than I? For the life of me, I try to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the mist and the fog hinders my view. For the life of me, I try to tell myself that everything is alright, but the deepest part of me, my soul, is telling me, no! It's not alright.
So then what is left? Absolutely nothing! This life that I tried so hard to build amongst my shortcomings is now meaningless. Life isn't worth living anymore.
D.B., Fresno
"The Big Lie"
Let's talk about the truth! How the system puts out lies to the State about sex offenders. First, everyone who has committed this crime is not a Predatory Pedophile. Some are, some are not. The Media puts out false information to scare the citizens of California. That is the strategy the Governor uses to get citizens to vote with false and negative information towards all offenders. So when a person is arrested as a "child sexual predator" that person will never see freedom again....Where is the justice? The Governor has labelled all of us as 'sexual predators.' The Governor will not tell the public the truth, that there are differences between predators and other offenders. Honestly...
Mr. Anthony Cordero Sr.
How Much Do We Have to Pay?
"...after thousands of dollars, five years of weekly intense therapy (at $100 a month plus $150 every six months for a lie detetor test) and graduating, I have paid for my crime and should not have to pay a second time."
TO OUR STATE'S NEW ATTORNEY GENERAL:
"Not everyone should be condemned for life!"
Why is it that no other law...has affected the offender of a past offense? If someone was convicted of murder before the death penalty was allowed, do they go back and try to seek the death penalty for someone who received a lesser penalty? As long as someone has served his time in jail/prison and paid his dues as the judge saw fit, he should be able to return to society and prove himself to be a productive citizen...he should not keep being condemned.
R.L.
"And justice for all?"
I was wondering whether or not this state has ever come out of the Dark Ages since this proposition is nothing but a modern form of witch hunting in a sense. I'm a father of nine and have worked hard all my life to ensure my family had all their needs met. However, there was one that had an extreme wild side that was out of control. I was the accused (and seriously question the professional integrity of those who prosecuted me) and since I had no funds, was forced to accept a plea. I had no idea that our society has slipped so far that it doesn't mattter who they destroy. I was never guilty of anything, yet all like me will pay a lifetime sentence because we were too poor to afford an attorney and publicist to receive justice. Segregation of this sort has no room in our society, if we are indeed a democracy and free country that believes in equality, justice for all... (instead of) just in a dollar bill? Who is next?
S.V.
'May our children and our family have their freedom?"
We have paid for our mistakes and have served our time. May our children and wives have their freedom? We would like to be a family..and be one in a houshold. R.C., Pasadena
"Making the whole state into a prison!"
California...witch-hunting at its finest. Do we segregate people by the mistakes they made in prior years or are we now segregating for the most elite? Many thousands of people have paid the price for their mistakes and have worked extremely hard to get re-established so they can support their families and be accepted in society once again. Now, with this new proposition, it will destroy all the hard work and force their families to suffer for no reason. If this society keeps going like this...soon we'll just build a wall around California and make the whole state a prison.
We segregate the state by the past crimes everyone has committed and control everything and everyone to where they can live and work, etc. This is what Prop. 83 is all about...Isn't it time to stop the witch hunt and put the money (it takes) to help the needy and feed the poor?
Where does it stop? Wake up California, it's the beginning of Nazi segregation at its finest. Put a stop to wasting money such as this and get back to basics to make this state great as it used to be.
San Pedro, CA.
'..if pushed too far, what will their repercussion be?'
The Constitution states we are to be free from cruel and unusual
punishment. Without subjecting every convicted felon to the same treatment (no matter what crime they committed) - this would be cruel and unusual, and NO law can ever be retroactive. Once a person has served his time, AND parole, he has completed his debt to society - if this is still America.
With that thought in mind, I pray you are a Judge (Attorney General) that will be true to the Constitution of the United States during this time our country is revisiting the Scarlet Letter era...these people who Mr. Lockyer said shouldn't be allowed to live anywhere in the State, are just trying to comply with the law. I wonder, if they are pushed too far, what the repercussions will be. These are human beings who have paid their debt. Enough.
Thank you for your time and consideration to this emotional and painful position so many people are facing today.
Respectfully,
Judith Wickliff
So now, my landlord can banish me from California?
I'm no longer subject to just eviction from my residence if my landloard gets the notion, but he now has the power to practically banish me from the state. I can see a wily unscrupulous landlord hiking my rent enormously, secure in the knowledge that the RSO tenant can't not pay.
This isn't retroactive punishment? This isn't cruelor unusual, to threaten a man who's satisfied the requirements of the courts to atone for his crime and who's become a productive citizen with capricious and abritrary banishment at the whim of any citizenwithout any due process whatsoever?
This is beyond ridiculous. Please restore some sanityinto how the state treats offenders who are obeying the law.
Thank you.
An ankle device is punishment...
To put a device upon someone, as prop 83 now attempts, compared to available technology such as cell phones that are GPS devices, the difference between wearing something on your ankle or having a cell phone that you wear in a holster shows the difference between the dark ages and some respect for the nature of the creature...
I would abandon all opposition to the GPS portion of prop 83 if the device was no more than a cell phone that had solar charging potential, I do not live in cities, I have found that environment to cause the turmoil that caused my brutal solution. In the country I find life to be slower and more settled and the immediacy of dilemma not so effecting and I settle into myself and look no further for my solutions, if required to be always needing to charge up this device means I have to live closer to people than I want to, then how foolish this solution becomes...
this provision forces me to be closer to those who wish to protect themselves from me...Understand please your own emotional reaction to having a lifelong handcuff put around your ankle. This is not a part of the deal I made with the prosecution, and I believe this would set up the potential for the supreme court to allow a withdrawal of pleas can you imagine the amount of litigation that might occur...
The prosecution will be the first to say there should be an end to litigation...therefore there should be an end to enhancing sentences...that's basically the gist of Ex Post Facto...A ankle device is punishment in effect... Star Falcon
COMMENTS RESPECTFULLY ADDRESSED SPECIFICALLY TO THE COURT:
IT IS NOT FAIR TO PUT THE BURDEN ON US--50 YEARS LATER!
Your Honor:
I''m a man in my seventies. Over fifty years ago I pleaded guilty to a rape charge that I did not commit, through a plea bargain. I did not want to do this; pressure from my famiy and an incompetent attorney persuaded me, unfortunately. The situation did not involve a minor; I was 19 and she was older. I have led an honorable life in every respect. Proposition 83 would make my life and others like me miserable.
The sad part of all this is that all the laws do nothing to protect our children, but to make the politicians look good for backing them. They are designed to punish, not to protect the innocents. What good are laws that punish after the fact, and the poor children are either abused, or killed? Predators do not care about these laws, or electronic devices, seems they cannot help themselves.
Parents must take responsibility, and not to rely on laws, and politicians to protect their children. If every child, up to the age of the 8th grade, were chaperoned all the time, they would be safe. This means all activity outside of the home and even then to be accounted for. Going to movies, any eventrs, drop off at school, picking them back up. Safely boarding school buses and unboarding, a parent present at all times. I have seen on tv some of the parents grieving who have had their children abducted. They were not with their children, but were at a night club, or over someone's house for the night with no one really responsible for watching them. They do not seem to mind to put the burden on someone else, or blame someone else.
Society cannot be held responsible for parental responsibilities. Perhaps laws
should be passed to regulate them. It is not fair to put the burden of prop83 on us who have completed our responsibilities and have lived honorable lives and want to be good citizens.
Respectfully, TJ
"a mockery of any attempt at rehabilitation"
Your Honor:
These men and women will be denied any real chance of real rehabilitation if they are to be banished from their homes and families. My layman's understanding of the goal of penal law is that it provides temporary punishment to encourage the offender to obey the law, and to define ways in which the offender can be returned to society as a useful law-abiding member. The prospective application of any significant residency restrictions, not to mention anything as ridiculous as 2000 feet, makes a mockery of any attempt to rehabilitate sex offenders and instead actively works to isolate them from the means they need to recover.
Is this not, then, a form of cruel and unusual punishment that would be excluded by the Eighth Amendment?
I ask you, please, to carefully consider the residency restrictions in Proposition 83 that could so negatively affect me, my family, and thousands of other law-abiding sex offenders and families in the future.
Thank you,
J. Doe.
Just A Society of Hate...What a waste!
Your Honor:
(This) Proposition has caused me more sleepless nights than I can remember. 15 years ago, I was convicted of a rape. (I hate that word) My case was not with a minor or a stranger. It was against my own girlfriend (with) whom I'd been in a 5 year relationship. I do not justify what I did but… I had caught her with another guy and I was angry and on drugs when it happened. After It happened, I turned myself in and plead guilt and agreed to register 290… not having any Idea of what registration entailed at the time and certainly what it would come to entail in the future. Even though I did not hurt her, I still served a 5 1/2 years prison term.
To be very honest, I deserved what I got for what I did. I have always regretted it and wished I could take it back. I have never blamed anyone but myself. I have been married now for 8 years to a wonderful wife and have two children ages 5 and 6. We attend and are faithful to church as a family and love the Lord. He has done many positive things in our lives. Delivered me from failure, self loathing, and drug additions. I have recently become a successful business owner and a productive member of society. We give of our resources to help support charities that we believe in including the Local police Dept to help with their "Youth Outreach Program." I feel it is our responsibility to help where we can…
As a father and having a daughter of my own, I could not imagine having to deal with…what happened to (Jessica Lundgren) that little girl and her family. But you know what? This case is an extreme exception and there are now tens of thousands of people including myself being heaped into the same class as the man who committed that atrocity…How can you convince a society who hates you that this is not fair. They just remember a dead little girl and the evil man who did it and hate and fear because of it. And those who promote these laws capitalize of those angers and fears…
No laws will ever keep crimes from occurring. These laws simply re-punish and humiliate those who have served their time. These proposed measures will not stop anyone who desires to commit this type of crime. Do I deserve to never be allowed happiness again?
My case had nothing to do with children. My kids have made friends with other children in the neighborhood. They have all played together for some time now. The other day, one of the neighbors showed up at my door with a picture of me and what I did... The neighborhood kids don't play with my kids anymore...Is my family going to be forced to be an outcast too?
What will life be like tomorrow?
The majority of child victims in California are those of…incest.
Your Honor:
During the court proceedings, these children were told…that everyone involved cared and had their best interests at heart…(but) after the court case is disposed of the family is left to deal with the fallout: massive trauma of every member of the family, children’s nightmares, insecurity, guilt, shame and legitimate fear of what is to come. For what comes next is so horrifying, so inhumane as to shock the conscience of every citizen, indeed every human being: children unable to even send or receive a birthday card to their family member (who is not legally allowed to live with them even after extensive treatment…or mom can have parental rights terminated, no phone calls, no birthday or Christmas presents. These child victims, remember, wanted their family member to get help, it was never in their mind to inflict eternal punishment and banishment…
Attorney General Lockyer had the audacity to submit that Proposition 83 “does not call for punishment…” This is the most blatant example of DOUBLETHINK…The court…must see Lockyer’s assertion for what it is: intellectually dishonest and immoral, in short, a fraud against the People…and...the Constitution. In attempting to defend and enforce a clearly un-Constitutional law, the Attorney General has sunk to a (low) once frequented by despots of foreign lands …the public was duped, so taken in with the rhetoric of ignorance and hysteria…One hopes that the court, as sworn to uphold the Constitution, will have the foresight to strike down this most un-American of laws.
Lockyer's declaration cheated all the voters
Your Honor:
Bill m hoping the public is tired of being misled by politicians who try to get votes by inaccurate fear tactics and will start listening to the statistics that have been quoted all along: that the majority of sex offThe most Prop. 83 Does Not Respect Law or Constitution
Your Honor: I confessed to my crimes in an attempt to give them up. And I did. For over 23 years now I have been a law abiding citizen and I have no intention of returning to the slavery of sexual sin. But for Mr. Runner, that wasn't good enough... We cite old medieval banishment and "scarlet letter" laws to justify the evil we wish to commit in the name of "justice." Why don't we go back to making Jews wear Yellow Stars? We are a nation of laws, not a nation of emotionally induced lynch mobs.
And shame on Mr. Swarzenegger for being taken in by his embarrassingly wicked violation of the laws that he says he came to America to embrace…Why didn’t the Senator's bill SAY so? If Sen Runner intended Prop 83 to be prospective, why didn't he simply include a date of effectiveness in the law? Instead of "any person ...." just add "any person charged and convicted on or after Nov 15, 2006". How hard is that? Took me 4 seconds.
Just 'knee jerk' legislation...a waste of money.
Your Honor:
With my being a survivor of child sexual abuse at the ages of 6 and 11, both persons were known to the family, and the whole family was in the house. I refuse to be a victim. That being said, I also feel that I am victimized by a society because of my husband who is a Rehabilitated Sex Offender. He paid his debt to society and now society should leave us alone. He is the most caring, loving and kind man you would ever find. My family loves him and they know about it all.
There is no proof and never will be that Prop 83 would save a child. It wouldn't have saved me at 6 and10. Nothing about it or Megan’s Law or Jessica’s Law would have saved me. My parents were in the house. The house was full of company, yet I got cornered in another room both times...
The knee jerk legislation must stop…You are running the police ragged for laws that are not necessary, while other crimes take place of it because the police are hunting down sex offenders that don't have a place to live.
Children can overcome sexual abuse. I have and I know several others that have. This is just total knee jerk nonsense legislation… there is no need for it.
Thank You.
Betty Price
If this isn’t safe for kids, what is?
Your Honor:In 2003 I pled guilty to 2 counts of Lewd Acts on a Minor. I am willing to give you the details of my case, but they are irrelevant at this time. I was given 1 year in county jail and 5 years of probation, along with other requirements. In 2004 I moved to a building in the business section of my town. There are no single-family homes within 1 mile, and no children are allowed to stay overnight on the premises. In the year I lived there I saw exactly 2 children in the building and both never left their parents' side. No children walked by outside that I ever saw. There is a small park, maybe 50' by 50', within 100 yards of the building… in the year I lived there I never saw any kids there. There is also a gated Catholic elementary school close by. Under the current reading of Prop 83, not only would all offenders currently living there be forced to move, all future offenders would be banned from living there. This building was the IDEAL location for offenders. IF a building where kids are not even allowed--never mind likely--to be isn't a good housing site for offenders, what is?
Your Honor, What justice?
"As an American citizen (we must) stand by the contracts made with these fellow citizens..."
I would like to send my support to the cause of the sex offenders and their families affected by Proposition 83. As an American Citizen I cannot stress strongly enough how crucial it is to stand by the contracts made with these fellow citizens when they were sentenced by their peers. It is cruel and unusual punishment to tell someone who has fulfilled all their obligations that suddenly they must lose their home and job and community...that they and their families are being cast out into the street with no recourse, to void their contract after they have fulfilled it.
Thousands and thousands of the registered sex offenders have been off propation or parole for years, they have families with children...these children will certainly be severely hurt, either by being made homeless with their parents or losing having their parent with them. This harm will be physical due to loss of income, as well as mental and emotional. Most sex offenders never re-offend again, according to our own Justice Department. Many of these families have gone through years of hard work putting their families back together again...what will it do to them?
We must still strive to have Justice for those who truely have reformed. We cannot take away all hope and turn our backs on our own citizens. We must still judge each citizen's worth on what their personal achievements are, not on statistics that can be manipulated.
"unfair through and through..."
The pasadena police refuse to register manditory registrations ON TIME. Now many of us are facing PRISON TIME for a 30 year old MISDEMEANOR sex CONVICTION!! This is totally unfair !!!!!!!!!!!!!
On or about the year 2003 they finally caught up with me and i did not know what was going on at all!! suddenly i was ARRESTED in rough hard HANDCUFFS and on my way back to JAIL for failing to REGISTER. From that point on i am FORCED once every year to go to the pasadena police station only to get DELAYED and put off and told to go away even after repeat APPOINTMENTS i am told everytime ...''the lady who does that is not here'' !!! and so what usually happens is my regestration s are always LATE ''the pasadena police''
WHERE IS THE JUSTICE HERE !! none for black men !! and none for me !! i may have to leave california when i become a old man i do not want to have to do this forever!!
And now i will be forced to move ??
Register everyone.his is NOT the middle ages, nor is it Nazi Germany..NO ONE should have to wearor what reason? Politics?
Your Honor:
I write to express feelings of fear, frustration and disappointment at the passage of Prop. 83. Though not surprised by the overwhelming public support, I maintain trust in a judicial system that will balance public fear with sound and competent policy.
I am a California 290 registrant. I was arrested in October of ’97, convicted in January of ’00, served 24 months in state prison where I was a lay-teacher. I successfully completed a 3-year parole in Sonoma County without incident. In concert with my parole, I completed a 3-year therapy and recovery relationship with a licensed counselor specializing in sexual dysfunction.
In March of ’06, I moved to San Francisco where, over the past 4 plus years I have built and become deeply rooted in a broad network of social, spiritual and professional communities. I am in the third year of building a mediation practice focusing on corporate and small business dispute resolution work.
I have a strong desire to remain in San Francisco and continue to rebuild my life as a person and professional. Uprooting would be financially and emotionally painful and disruptive. I would have no place to move to.
The shame, embarrassment and grief I feel for my crime and the hurt I have caused my victim, acquaintances and close loved-ones is unrelenting. It is a daily work, a daily struggle. But I remain dedicated to personal healing and ultimately hope for the healing of all impacted by my foolishness and selfishness over 9 years ago.
With all humility, after completing my well deserved period of punishment and penalty, having made full restitutions, I am once again a citizen of the United States, I vote and pay my taxes. I have rooted my self in the community and work to be a constructive, helpful and contributing citizen to San Francisco, the state of California and the United States of America.
Please consider my appeal, reject Proposition 83 and return this issue of 290 registrants and public safety back to the state legislature where more competent and realistic policies can be developed.
Corporate Conflict Mediator
"Time to fight for our civil rights"
Your Honor:
I am now in the process of leaving California. This is not a reaction to Prop 83, but I am glad to have the opportunity to get out. California needs to be aware that this kind of a response to a problem is not only counter productive, but heads in a very dangerous direction.
Today it's sex offenders. Perhaps tomorrow Gays? Who next. We can not simply let civil and human rights be up to the "majority". If the majority in the south had voted on civil rights in the 50's, 60's, we would not have the society we have today. You cannot put peoples rights up for a vote.
We hear today, so much about "activist" judges. Well, those self same judges have been the only ones standing between freedom, and the tyranny of the majority.
With this piece of botched legislation, and all the states voting against Gay marriage, it is time to stop asking the oppressors for rights we already have. It is time for us to fight for our civil rights in the courts and legislatures across the country.
"unfair...unless you got money."
Your Honor:
I'm the father of a sex offender, My son took a plea bargain years ago, and is now paying over and over for it. He served his time, got his a/c license. gets out and has a great job with 2 promotion's in a matter of months, then they come and tell him he can't work in a/c field cause he is going into house with possibly children in them. So he goes to college is getting straight A's, and they come and roll him up for having a girlfriend and a cell phone without letting parole dept know, all though he ask permission to leave county for girlfriends birthday, and pictures of her where in his room. He served 7 months for that. He now has a full time job, and is engaged, is trying to make a life for himself and is fiance, now with prop 83, he's talking about leaving state and all his family because of all the new restrictions.
Why can't the just concern them self's with restriction's on other things like what our officials are doing with our economy, if a cop or a politician or regilous leader ( or if you are a person with money) is caught they seem to get lesser sentencing. When someone is trying to follow all the rules and regulation's and trying to live a normal life and enjoy family that he missed out on for years, but this state and the justice system just keep trying to knock them down it just doesn't seem fair. What has our country came to, we don't seem to care who we let into our county but try to put down people who are trying to put a life together.
"...will withdraw my plea!"
....If this is determined to be retroactive, then I think I will move towards a legal challenge to allow people who took pleas to return to court on the original charge...I have learned things about law since my crime that if the deal I made in court for a particular outcome in accepting the prosecutions offering is not respected then there was no deal. I will succeed in my case. I was sentenced under sentencing guidelines in 1988 and received the highest sentence allowed under them. This is not a matter of opinion as to someones worth this is a matter of law and of those who are being encouraged to respect the law...
" let us not be like the Nazis of Germany."
I was molested as a child and I have 3 children of my own! So as you can imagine I am not in favor of legalizing any type of child abuse..However, Proposition 83 does nothing to increase the safety of our children and as a matter of fact it probably will make them less safe. NO study has show sex offenders molest children within 2000 feet of their home, nor with 2000 feet of schools...
Further punishing or torturing of those people will do nothing to make our children safer.
Please let us not be like the Nazis of Germany. Stop this bad law from going into effect. Let a good law be written that goes after the 3% of the dangerous and likely to strike again sex offenders. That we can all agree on and are willing to pay taxes for.
Alan
"Unbearable...devastating...humiliating"
I have a registered offender in my home and we have lived here for 17 years, his offense occurred in 1986 and he has been clean and free of crime since. He was paroled in 1990 and came home. We now have grandchildren that love their papa dearly and know nothing of his past. He would have to leave his grandchildren and this would break his heart. His shame has been unbearable for him and everytime some new law comes into effect he becomes very depressed and angry but has not reoffended. He only has the one offense, not making excuses for him but he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. He no longer drinks nor does he use any drug.
Thank you.
"terrified...on the run for the rest of my life?"
I would certainly pray that the judge will consider the families that will be affected by this proposition. I would hope that the judge will look at statistic put out by various government agencies which states the opposite to what is popular beliefs. I would also ask the judge to consider all the people who have made a mistake that have and are honestly striving to never let this happen again and that are defending not having anything like thing like this from happening to any other person.
SBC
"will lose my family"
I was convicted of misdemeanor possession of child pornography in 2000. Since then, I have gotten married to a wonderful woman. We have lived in a town we love for six years and are planning on having a family. I am going to school, and am doing very well. I am looking forward to an enjoyable career, and hopefully a good life.
I regret every second of the circumstances that led up to my conviction. I have gotten professional help, and have been offense-free since then. I have stayed registered as required. If I am forced to move, all of this will be done. I will be forced to quit school, and my wife will very likely be unable to come with me as she works full time and would not wan to live where I would be forced to go.
The ironic part is, I have never laid a hand on anyone, child or adult. I neither produced nor distributed the pornography. I feel that my original sentence six years ago was more than a suficient one: $2,250 in fines, six months of probation and a lifetime of registration as a sex offender.
I want to build a good life for my family and myself. If the residence restriction portion of proposition 83 is allowed to commence, this will be impossible for the rest of my life.
I implore the court to consider the fact that not every offender is a danger to the public. Certainly not every one is a danger to children. I deserve the chance to rebuild my life, and live happily with my family.
the increasing nastiness of society
I am the girlfriend of a registered sex offender, what you might call the "collateral damage" part of these proposed housing restrictions. My boyfriend's offense was to plead guilty 20 years ago to a false sexual assault charge in order to avoid a life sentence. Registries did not exist in those days and since he had committed a criminal offense (breaking and entering, false imprisonment, but not the rape), he plead guilty because the state wanted to throw the book at him. He ended up serving five years and completing ten years of probation. He registers with the local sheriff's department as required.
Now here's the tragedy: we live across the street from a school in a home I have owned for five years. We will have to move if the housing restrictions are kept in force, even though his offense was not against a child (remember, he pled guilty to a false rape accusation) and even though he has been crime free for 15 years since getting out of Oklahoma prison in 1991. He has worked, paid his taxes and down everything he was supposed to do.
My offense, as far as I can make out, is loving a registered sex offender. We've had a loving six year relationship and there would be no reason to leave him at this point. I accept that he had a criminal past, but he has more than made up for it.
However, if this goes forward, I will be forced to sell my house in a suburb of Sacramento County and try to find a home that is 2,000 feet away from any private or public school or park. Of course, the cities and counties are already trying to impose additional restrictions. So where that will put me, a professional career woman who has never done anything wrong other than rack up speeding tickets, is beyond me.
I am a native Californian and I don't want to move from this state I love. But if these restrictions go through, it is going to be difficult to find a home.i also worry about the increasing nastiness of society toward sex offenders and their families. Vigilantism is never far from my thoughts, and I wonder and worry if I will shall be a victim of some bigot who comes gunning for my boyfriend and finds me instead.
"doles out further punishment..."
As the wife of a man who will be a registered sex offender when he is released from prison, I am very concerned about the passage of Prop 83. I am very concerned about the impact on our family.
My husband was arrested in 1995 and sentenced in 1997. At the time of sentencing he was given 3 years of parole. We always knew that it would be a difficult 3 years because of Megan's Law and the fact that parole itself is a setup for failure to begin with. But now it seems that our lives will be effected forever by Prop 83.
Prop 83 essentially doles out further punishment. I will have to sell our house and move before my husband gets out. All of my new neighbors will know that my husband is a sex offender and everyone else will, too, because he'll be wearing a GPS device. How will he ever find a job and how will we ever live any kind of normal life?
a punitive act, motivated by hatred and irrational fear.
Forcing sex offense registrants, most of whom have completed their prison sentences and are now law-abiding citizens, to break their leases, sell their homes, leave their jobs, educational programs, therapy, and families and either become homeless or live in the boondocks, can only be construed as a punitive act, motivated by hatred and irrational fear.
Many of these registrants have never offended against a minor nor shown any deviant interest in minors. Those who have offended against minors almost always did so within the context of a pre-existing relationship with the minor and his/her family, and not as a stranger accosting the minor near a school or park.
Those who would like to require sex offense registrants to live more than 2000 feet from a school or park cannot provide any research to indicate the slightest correlation whatsoever between the occurrence of sex offenses against minors and the proximity of registrants' homes to schools or parks.
While the safety of children must be a high priority, the residence restriction in Proposition 83 does not in any way make children safer. In fact, it probably makes them less safe, because as a result of this restriction many current registrants will either become homeless or stop registering, so that they can no longer be easily located in the community. Since the proponents of the residence restriction cannot establish any credible rationale for it, and this restriction creates an onerous burden on registrants and their families, including deprivation of basic human rights, it is incumbent upon our courts to disallow the residence restriction as described in Proposition 83.
The courts must make it clear to politicians and voters that they cannot continue to pass laws which are designed to implement further retaliation against people who have already paid severe penalties for their crimes, and which do not actually make the community safer.
Michael P. McAssey
There are other ways to prevent it.
1) I already did my time and need to move on
2) hardship with me and my family
other people see it as a punishment which realy bring more hardship on those that really want to success
There are other way to prevent it
All this risk for no extra benefit...
To the court: Having been sexually abused as a young child I now suffer from attraction to very young children myself. I know for certain that I need help to curb the instincts and confusion I seem to have inherited, and to keep from hurting children.
Of course in some countries I could simply be executed or locked away for ever, but despite my paedophilia, I am actually a very productive member of society. My employer pays me well, my friends value me, and my children love and need me. I have not offended for many years. Doing away with me would simply hurt others and devalue our society's moral code.
I work with other paedophiles to help keep us all from offending and I know that what we all need is a solidnetwork of support - employment, friends, church, family, stability - which we earn by hard work, as much as anybody else. If you deprive potential offenders of that lifeline you do not help the innocent, you harm the innocent. You deprive families and society of truly hard-working and loving breadwinners. You create risk by undermining support for those who need it to keep from offending. Moreover, you create all this extra risk for no rational benefit. There is no evidence at all that child abuse is reduced by such measures. Molestors like anyone else can travel more than 2,000 feet... What about abuse in the home? Love and respect
Chris
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