ReformSexOffenderLaws.Org: Digests

Digests
Our monthly collection of updates and information sent out to our members

Each month we put together an email digest for our members. These include updates about RSOL and other groups and events, breaking news on the sex offender registry, and articles from our blog and elsewhere. Start receiving the digest with our members by signing our statement, or by adding yourself as a non-signatory.

RSOL DIGEST, Nov. 2009, #27, Part III

By alex marbury <alexm60@fastmail.fm>
Posted on 12.02.2010
Link to this digest: [0037]

RSOL DIGEST NOV 2009, #27, Part III - Continued (last section of Nov. RSOL Digest)
3.
In God We Trust

or
A Difficult Pill To Swallow

If one U.S. Congressman has his way, 2010 will be the Year of the Bible. Georgia Republican Paul Broun has introduced legislation asking the President:
"to issue a proclamation calling upon citizens of all faiths to rediscover and apply the priceless, timeless message of the Holy Scripture which has profoundly influenced and shaped the United States and its great democratic form of government."
Opposing Views

The Representative presents a resolution that seems to be based in sound reasoning. It is true that the majority of the Founding Fathers were religious. It is also true the majority of devout among the Founding Fathers were Christian of one sect or another.

On this basis, the Representative defends his resolution. Representative Broun is a Medical Doctor. That in itself presumes an extensive and broad education.

Another, Sir William Blackstone was also broadly educated. Among his subjects he read in mathematics. One might wish that Representative Broun had also exercised some reading in mathematics. He then might have understood that while a square is a rectangle, a rectangle is not necessarily a square.

Indeed, the Bible is an influential work. In fact, it would be more influential if more who stood on the Bible would get off of it, open it, and read it.

Whether viewed as the inspired Word of God, as a complete philosophical work, as separate historical mythologies, or, as is most often the case, separate verses* of either inspired codification of the Word of God or Analects of philosophical value, the Bible is certainly influential. It is not a reach to present the Bible, in whatever form as a work of principle upon which people should interact with one another and towards whatever divinity they adhere to in life.

Nevertheless, to proclaim the Bible as the founding principle of a political entity presents a conundrum. To illustrate, consider these excerpts:

The Master said, "The matters of the Gods are the matters of the Gods, if men were to understand the matters of the Gods, they would be the matters of men and not Gods; the proper study of men is man."
Kong Fu Tze (Confucius) (The Analects are Public Domain so I provide it for download.)

Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's. (The King James Bible,or you onw one, readit. It is copyrighted so I cannot reproduce it here.)
Jesus

In the first instance, it supposes that a society can govern itself on the basis of the unknowable. The oft given answer to the bereaved of a lost child is, "God works in mysterious ways and we cannot understand his plan." If we cannot understand the mystery of God or God's Plan, how can we hope to govern ourselves by His Plan?

Surely we can base our governance on the teachings in the Bible. Of course that would mean that we would have to restructure our entire justice system, the registry included, on forgiveness. That would certainly challenge those who want all sex offenders labeled for life and ostracized and restricted. Possibly this is what Representative Broun intends.

In the second instance, there is even greater challenge. Jesus said that the things which belong to Caesar are to be given to the power of Caesar. That is simple when viewed simplistically. The parable is about a coin struck with the likeness of Caesar. But, when did Jesus ever offer simplicity? Was he not saying that there are things that are the matters of God and there are things that are matters of men?

Jesus returned as a King and confused Peter and everyone else. They took the view of the Messiah as the conquering King that would bring Rome to its knees and Israel to it proper political dominance. Of course, Jesus repeatedly told them that his Kingdom was not of Earth, it was of Heaven. Indeed, Rome did not fall, witness the power of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church. Further, consult any Biblical Scholar on Revelations and understand it is about the fall of one Empire, Pagan Rome, to the emergence of another Empire, Christian Rome.

In fact, the American Republic was not founded on the Bible. For those who doubt, read the works of Sir William Blackstone and John Locke. These are the basis of the Constitution. The ordaining document that creates the American Republic is the Constitution of the United States of America. It is written and ratified by a predominantly Christian society. That is what makes it remarkable. Not in what it says as much as what it does not say and then emphasizes what it does not say in what it had to be amended to say so that it could be ratified. The Constitution was not ratified until the first Ten Amendments, The Bill of Rights, was appended.

In preamble, the Constitution says:
We The People...

It does not say:
One Nation Under God... (that language was inserted in the poem entitled the Declaration of Independence by its authors, the Communist Party of America.)

It does not say:
In God We Trust... (that language was added to the coinage by Roosevelt.)

The very first amendment to the Constitution says in very clear language that the government ordained under the Constitution shall not establish a religion. It this language only to protect religious freedom? It is much more than that, it is written to prevent the government from devolving into theocracy.

None of this is to deny that America, in religious terms is predominantly Christian. Though there is much dissention between the various sects of that belief system making it difficult to identify as a single philosophy. It is difficult enough to deal with the various ideologues of our primarily two party system. Imagine if Congress were divided along the lines of Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Fundamentalist, Evangelical, and on ad infinitum. Of course we could then expand the registries to include Pagans (the world's fastest growing religion) Daoist, Buddahists, Hindu...

Still, if Representative Broun speaks to the true nature of Christianity and to the answer Jesus gave to the hysterics about the Sex Offender - Let him without sin cast the first stone... Go, and sin no more... - Then he presents legislation that can be supported.

Now, when Congress ends its debate on the important issue of what to proclaim the year 2010 to be, might it be reasonable to ask that they spend just a little time on the economy, joblessness, homelessness, starving children, military adventurism, health care, and the other minor issues of government.

* In point of fact, the Bible was not versified until the publication f the King James Bible in 1620

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4.
RSOL Goes To Sweden

by Kelly R Piercy with Sandra (South Carolina)

Sandra, the State Organizer for South Carolina, an RSOL Affiliate, was contacted by Magnus Arvidson, a Swedish Documentarian and Media Personality on Swedish National Radio.

Sweden is considering a registry scheme, though the Swedish legislature is resistant to the idea. Magnus decided that registries needed to be investigated, understood, and openly discussed before any decision was made.

Of course, Sweden does not have a registry to investigate so Magnus set out to discover what a registry is, how it works, what it accomplishes, and what effect it has. He contacted the South Carolina State Organizer for the RSOL South Carolina Affiliate from the many options available to him and, through some weeks of discussion, arranged to travel to the United States to meet with Sandra and interview her for his documentary.

Sandra met with Magnus and his wife in her home town and spent time with them. Magnus took the opportunity to interview the local police and ride along with them as they went about their duties with respect to the registry.

After some days, Magnus, his wife, and Sandra traveled to Georgia to meet with the RSOL State Affiliate, Georgians For Reform, State Organizer. This was the first meeting between these two State Organizers and had the dual purpose of providing information for the documentary and a new State Organizer, Sandra, meeting with an established State Organizer, Kelly.

Magnus decided the best plan for his documentary was for the two organizers to discuss their work and share ideas while he functioned as a moderator. The plan was to get about an hour of tape. Alas, the plan fell through as Kelly and Sandra engaged in a conversation that lasted well over three hours.

The opportunity to present factual information in a non confrontational, conversational atmosphere was more than cathartic. There was a freedom experienced by both Sandra and Kelly as they discussed strategies and tactics.

Sandra brought a fresh perspective, loaded with emotion to the table while Kelly, in his somewhat jaded and cynical manner, focused on what is working for Georgia, Texas, Virginia, New Mexico, Ohio, Illinois, and other states.

The initial results of the interview can be heard, half in Swedish, at:

http://www.sr.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3052&artikel=3232248

or, if you do not want to bother with the way cool Swedish radio station, you can go directly to the program at:

http://www.sr.se/laddahem/podradio/sr_p3_verkligheten_091116015910.mp3

At last report, the video will be available in about 5 months.

As we continue to be effective in our own states and nation, word is spreading across the globe that there is a better way to deal with this issue than the way we are dealing with it in the United States. Every opportunity to get the facts presented brings more pressure to counter those who drive the hysteria that creates this misery.

I know our two State Organizers, Georgia and South Carolina will not forget the opportunity Sandra made possible with her courage to speak out. I also know that as Georgia moves forward, we will bring South Carolina along. Soon we will catch up with Florida and begin to drive a wedge into the hysteria that creates the registry from this corner of the nation.

As Magnus left Georgia, his last words to Kelly were, "Keep fighting."

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5. Note, the click here items in this article go to: http://www.rathersandfamilies.org

Parental Alienation

Editor's Note: Of the major instigators of false accusation, divorce and custody rank very high. Many fathers find their struggle to make a divorce between husband and wife not mean divorce between father and children ended by accusations of abuse. Step-parents walk an ever narrower line as ex-spouse's raise accusations of abuse in their unrequited anger over divorce tainted with jealousy.

Fathers & Families can be a strong resource to assist those who find themselves afoul of this circumstance.

NEW CAMPAIGN: Ask DSM to Include Parental Alienation in Upcoming Edition

A group of 50 mental health experts from 10 countries are part of an effort to add Parental Alienation to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), the American Psychiatric Association s "bible" of diagnoses. According to psychiatrist William Bernet, adding PA "would spur insurance coverage, stimulate more systematic research, lend credence to a charge of parental alienation in court, and raise the odds that children would get timely treatment."

Few family law cases are as heartbreaking as those involving Parental Alienation. In PA cases, one parent has turned his or her children against the other parent, destroying the loving bonds the children and the target parent once enjoyed.

Fathers & Families wants to ensure that the DSM-V Task Force is aware of the scope and severity of Parental Alienation. To this end, we are asking our members and supporters to write DSM. If you or someone you love has been the victim of Parental Alienation, we want you to tell your story to the DSM-V Task Force. To do so, simply fill in our form by clicking here.

Once you have filled out our form, Fathers & Families will print out your letter and send it by regular US mail to the three relevant figures in DSM-V: David J. Kupfer, M.D., the chair of the DSM-V Task Force; Darrel A. Regier, M.D., vice-chair of the DSM-V Task Force; and Daniel S. Pine, M.D., chair of the DSM-V Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence Work Group.

DSM V is struggling with many weighty matters and as things currently stand, Parental Alienation might not get much notice or attention. By having our supporters write to leading DSM figures, we hope to draw attention to the issue.

Again, to write the DSM Committee about your story, click here.

Running these campaigns takes time and money the postage and supplies alone on this campaign will be several thousand dollars. To make a tax-deductible contribution to support this effort, click here.

Together with you in the love of our children,

Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers & Families

Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families

Fathers & Families' Letter to the DSM Committee

Dear DSM-V Task Force:

We are writing to you concerning DSM's consideration of Parental Alienation Disorder for DSM V. Few family law cases are as heartbreaking as those involving Parental Alienation. In PA cases, one parent has turned his or her children against the other parent, destroying the loving bonds the children and the target parent once enjoyed. We believe that Parental Alienation Disorder should be added to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V).

Parental Alienation is a common, well-documented phenomenon that is the subject of numerous studies and articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

For example, a longitudinal study published by the American Bar Association in 2003 followed 700 "high conflict" divorce cases over a 12 year period and found that elements of PA were present in the vast majority of the cases studied. Some experts estimate that there are roughly 200,000 children in the U.S. who have PAD, similar to the number of children with autism. Both mothers and fathers can be perpetrators of Parental Alienation, but the true victims are always the children, who lose one of the two people in the world who love them the most.

DSM has accepted several relational disorders, such as Separation Anxiety Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and PAD is a typical relational disorder. Any target parent of Parental Alienation would certainly believe that his or her child's sudden, irrational hatred constitutes some sort of a mental disorder. Dr. Richard A. Warshak explains:

PAS fits a basic pattern of many psychiatric syndromes. Such syndromes denote conditions in which people who are exposed to a designated stimulus develop a certain cluster of symptoms.

Inclusion of Parental Alienation in DSM V will increase PA's recognition and legitimacy in the eyes of family court judges, mediators, custody evaluators, family law attorneys, and the legal and mental health community in general. Children of divorce or separation--who are among society's most vulnerable--will benefit. We urge you to consider inclusion.

Together with you in the love of our children,

Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers & Families

Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families

Send your own letter to the DSM Committee or send along ours by clicking here.

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RSOL

1. History

A Brief History of a Young Movement: Sex Offender Law Reform

1998-2009
Alex Marbury

By the mid 1990s, it was becoming obvious to a small band of civil libertarians, as well as some family members of those affected, that America's justice system had gone haywire in its monitoring, pursuit and punishment of sex offenders, long after sentences had been served.

Within four years (1998-2002) several new web-based groups emerged to support sex offenders and their families, and to work to change what were considered unjust and extreme laws. The predecessor group to RSOL ( reformsexoffenderlaws.org), "Save Our Children and Our Liberties" began in 1998. Other groups followed quickly. Among these were SOHopeful, SOclear, and in England (reacting to a US-generated witch-hunt), Inquisition21. Still other groups with diverse goals and backgrounds were SOSEN, ETAY, B4UAct, CURSOR, CFCAmerica, and Voices of the Gulag. These groups often grew out of and sometimes replaced, earlier efforts. Finally, in June, 2007, just as SOSEN was re-organizing and as SOCLEAR and others were publicizing the dramatic Miami debacle of sex offenders forced to live under the Julia Tuttle Causeway, RSOL itself was begun (June 29, 2007). RSOL focused on repealing life-time civil commitment for sex offenders, and the public registration and shaming of sex offenders, often for life, as well as severe residency, employment, computer use, and other restrictions. RSOL saw its tasks as public education and lobbying at state and federal levels, not as direct social service and support for offenders and their families.

This blossoming of sex offender support and reform groups must be set in the context of twenty years of sex panic in the United States. It was clear to many by the 1980s, especially gay and lesbian leaders, that sexual hysteria, focusing on sex with children was reversing tolerance and sexual freedom in America. This sex panic has been documented by many researchers, including Phillip Jenkins, MORAL PANIC (1998) Camille Paglia, professor at the University of Pennsylvania (SEXUAL PERSONNAE, 1974 & 1991), and gay writers like Pat Califia (1988) and Gayle Rubin. Rubin pointed out then,(1984) "historically we have seen that when moral panics are over, countless individuals and groups have suffered greatly and the original triggering social problems have not been remedied. This could as easily be said of today's sex offender registration craze.

All these writers pointed to the ugly fanaticism and homophobia of the fundamentalist Christian preacher, Anita Bryant, in her barnstorming "Save the Children" campaign of 1977, as the origin of what some saw as a third or fourth sex panic in US history. Earlier panics had focused on venereal disease and prostitution in the 1890s,1920s and late 1930s. In 1997, gay writer Eric Rofes said, at the Lesbian and Gay Task Force meeting in San Francisco, "Waves of terror and scapegoating homosexuals, beginning in New York City, have closed bath-houses and gay clubs, and resulted in a return to pre-Stonewall levels of homophobia and discrimination." Rofes also pointed to new developments in US law that seemed to undermine the U.S. Constitution - among these were sexually violent predator statutes in 16 states (this has now grown to 46 states in 2009), where those deemed dangerous could be confined for life in concentration camp style centers. Rofes, and others after him, pointed out that more than half of those confined were gay men. Rofes believed the US was on the verge of a "Sexual Civil War." All these writers talked of an alarming trend to publicly register sex offenders, many of whom were gay men. They believed that the sex panic of the 1970s to 1990s was the result of the resurgence of a rabid right-wing in the U.S., as well as a growing disparity between poor and rich - all of which led to a sense of stress and despair. This was a perfect environment to foster paranoia and to single out convenient and exaggerated scapegoats - like queers who spread AIDS, or sexual predators who prey on children.

It was amid this growing repression of sexual freedom that the original signatories of RSOL's predecessor, "The Call to Safeguard Our Children and Our Liberties," (The Call) came together in Boston in 1998. Meeting both at the American Friends Service Committee in Cambridge and at Roxbury Community College in Boston, community activists who had worked together in peace and civil rights movements, and most recently in solidarity groups to support democracy in Haiti, began to draft their original statement. Professors Chris Tilly (economics, U. Mass. Lowell) and Marie Kennedy (community planning, U. Mass. Boston) had served as co-chairs of delegations to support the restoration of President Aristide of Haiti. They now agreed to work with Paul Shannon of American Friends Service Committee, who had also been in Haiti with them, to find supporters for the new campaign to stem the tide of sex offender scapegoating. Jamie Suarez-Potts of AFSC and Kazi Toure, a former Black Panther and Roxbury Community College lecturer, took leading roles in persuading other prominent activists to join the effort. They were successful in persuading Dr. Howard Zinn, one of America's most prominent historians (PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES), amd many other progressives to join the Call. Among them were Dr. Ruth Hubbard of Harvard, Jennifer Firestone (of the Firestone Foundation), gay leader Michael Petrelis, and Rachelle Simon, a leader of the incest survivors' network. Dr. Richard Pillard, former President of the American Psychiatric Association, and a Professor of psychiatry at Boston University, headed the list of signatories.

The 1998 Call began, "We are committed to protect society and its children from the dangers of real sexual violence and abuse. We are also committed to preserve the American system of civil liberty and genuine criminal justice, based on carefully limited laws that target acts not classes of people, and that seek to rehabilitate rather than vindictively punish offenders. We assert that only by supporting liberty and justice can we maintain a safe and secure society. For these reasons, we speak out against the ever mounting hysteria against vaguely defined sexual dangers, which ostracize and scapegoat a wide range of people who have been labeled "sex offenders."

The progressives behind the Call pointed out similar lack of due process and violation of habeas corpus rights with regard to those called "terrorists" but noted that there was at least an outcry from civil libertarians on behalf of such people, as opposed to sex offenders, who seemed to have no-one to defend their rights. Those who signed the Call also insisted that this attack on sex offenders diverted attention from "other prevalent dangers to children" such as "crushing, humiliating poverty and family violence." It also insisted that teenagers were being prosecuted for activity that youth had engaged in "for millennia without stigma." Finally, it noted that adults, especially men, were afraid to be alone with children, or to give children affection, and said, "Children, men and society are the losers." It also insisted that there were many false accusations in such a environment of fear, and that "any accusation of sex with a minor was splashed in the media whether true or not," often leading to vigilante justice and suicides of those accused. This is similar to such cases today - such as that just this month in Toronto when a school teacher, arrested for chatting with minors in an internet chat room, was falsely accused of sexual acts with children by the Toronto STAR, and then killed himself.

The "Call" was a Boston effort, and those involved knew each other and met face to face often, both in this effort, and in their mutual work on behalf of other causes. The "Call" was not an internet campaign, but a community organizing venture by activists well known in neighborhoods and professional associations across the Boston area. "Call" signatories met Massachusetts legislators and gave interviews to Boston news media. Their efforts met with little response in the state which was among the first to take a lead in crafting a public sex offender registry, and which had had life-time civil commitment for some sex offenders at its Bridgewater Institution for decades.

In June of 2007, four individuals, including Paul Shannon, felt it was time to try a similar, but independent approach, on a national scale. This time, the effort was entirely in cyberspace, with the organizers sitting behind computers in cities far from each other. They found the going even rougher than it had been in Boston in 1999. Paul kicked off the effort with an article in CounterPunch.org, the online progressive magazine. "Eight years have passed and the crisis we addressed then has gotten far worse. The demonization of those accused of illegal sexual activity -- both the innocent and the guilty -- and the criminalization or stigmatization of more and more forms of sexual expression has reached new heights. All sense of fairness and due process are often tossed to the winds."

Shannon' s article began, "There is today in our country a growing threat to our legal system, to the rights of all of us, to the quality of life of children, and to common sense. This threat has been fanned by prosecutors, nurtured by the media, and ignored by those who usually speak out against such dangers

"In its most narrow sense this threat can be defined as the particular approach to sexual deviance embodied in ever-more-draconian laws against all behaviors labeled "sex offenses" -- including those committed by minors -- and in the sex offender registries of every state and the Federal government. In this approach to sex offenses slander, hysteria and demonization often replace reason, solid research and proportionality.

"But more broadly, the danger consists of an all-out assault on fairness, on the reputations of some of our most caring people, on necessary social relationships and on our critical ability to confront the deepening social paranoia of 21st century America."

The result of the CounterPunch article was the launching of the new web-based movement, http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org, or RSOL in June, 2007. RSOL included its own Statement, and some thirty of the signatories from the previous group in Boston signed on. The new website also included discussion materials from the National Center on Institutional Alternatives, as well as pages for Tales from the Registry (the stories of offenders forced to be on public registries), Blogs, News Items and major Research articles. In September 2007, RSOL launched a monthly Digest of important articles, announcements and research material. Within three months, about 100 others signatories had joined from all over the U.S. A decision was made that sex offenders themselves would not be signed on as public signatories, but would participate fully as non-public members.

A young college student, Alain Levesque, came onboard and began to organize affiliated state groups. The decision was made that these groups should be autonomous, and that RSOL itself should not incorporate or seek tax exempt status, which might involve intrusive U.S. government involvement, and limit the group from lobbying and public education work. In January of 2008, an Administrative Team began a more formal decision-making process, with telephone conference calls every two to three months. The Team today includes Mary Sue Molnar, leader of the Texas RSOL affiliate (Texas Voices); Laurie Peterson of New Hampshire RSOL and a leader in the fledgling group Cursor; Joel Pentlarge of Massachusetts RSOL; Kelly Piercy of Georgia RSOL; Alain Levesque; and Paul Shannon and Alex Marbury (original organizers of RSOL).

In mid 2008, Dr. Marshall Burns, a California researcher, initiated SOL Research http://www.solresearch.org with RSOL funding. Burns has provided substantive research to back up RSOL positions on the registry, on juvenile offenders, on false accusations, residency restrictions and many other topics. Lynn, an RSOL Georgia participant, organized the Prison Project in mid 2008 to send by U.S. post copies of the Statement and the monthly RSOL digests. In an effort to respond to hundreds of emails from people in severe crisis, RSOL helped spin off and fund an independent support hotline, which continues to give daily help to many people: 1 800 773 4319. Also in 2008, a Correspondence Committee, to respond to articles in the media, was set up at http://www.rsolcc.org. In early 2009, this also became the RSOL e-Magazine, edited by Kelly Piercy, which publishes the monthly Digest and other materials.

By October 2009, RSOL had grown to include almost 900 public signatories, and more than 2000 non-public participants in the national and state groups. It has more than 30 active affiliated state RSOL organizations. A national conference was held simultaneously in Boston, Massachusetts and Austin Texas, linked by video, in July 2009, with about 100 participants (videos of the conference are available at the RSOL e-Magazine. Three RSOL affiliated state groups have made major gains lobbying their state legislatures, and a fourth is participating in a Federal Court lawsuit. Three state groups have over 100 active members each.

Just as RSOL was launched, other sex offender groups were also busy. Sohopeful International, formed in 1999, had been the largest such group, though its actual membership has never been verified. SOHopeful ceased operations in early 2008. SOSEN (Sex offender Support and Education Network) began as a Sohopeful interest group in 2002 with 50 members and now has approximately 200 members.

Also the same week as RSOL's founding, the group Soclear Media, led by sex offender and writer Tom Madison of Oregon, burst onto the scene with a dramatic series of videos, including one at the homeless camp for sex offenders under the bridge in Miami, Florida. Working with Madison was a sex offender from Kansas, Terry Brown, who also had a website, hope4tomorrow. Brown traveled to Florida to join the Miami offenders under the bridge, gaining national media attention.

A public rally by sex offenders was organized in March 2008 by Voices of the Gulag ( http://www.sexgulag.org) to draw attention to non-violent sex offenders committed to the California state civil commitment center at Coalinga, and to a whole series of rights violations against detainees. It was cosponsored by the Friends & Families of Coalinga Detainees and RSOL. Among the speakers was Paul Shannon of RSOL, by phone, and Tom Madison in person. Madison was later interviewed on a national TV show, Mike & Juliet, in which he was drawn into a shouting at the moderators when the other guests began asserting the typical myths about sex offenders as fact. Madison withdrew entirely from public activity, and took down his website. At the time, RSOL supported Madison, while some others criticized his TV appearance. The Coalinga group and Sex Gulag still exist, though they seem much less active.

Inquisition 21st Century, in England, is, like many sex offender groups, the product of one person's work on the internet. Nevertheless, Brian Rothery of Inquisition21 has managed a consistent presence on the net, and in a major class action suit in England, against victims of an FBI-inspired British internet sting operation, called Project ORE in 1999, in which 7,250 suspects were named and 4,283 homes were searched. Of the 3,344 arrested, only 1,451 have been convicted in eight years.

Other groups still exist. B4Uact, a Maryland group whose purpose is to keep pedophiles from acting on their desires, and to help get public support for this hated and scapegoated group. B4Uact's position is that pedophilia is, like homosexuality, an orientation not chosen by individuals, but genetics. They believe there must be understanding and compassion, not hate and persecution. ETAY, Ethical Treatment for All Youth, is a group that supports the rights of juvenile sex offenders. CFC America, is a general sex offender reform and support group, which is the work of one person, and which severed its link to RSOL because of RSOL's support for homosexual sex offenders.

Altogether, RSOL, and the other groups may include 5,000 or so active supporters. Of that number over 3,000 are members of RSOL - a tiny drop in a huge flood. When RSOL started, it was estimated that there were 500,000 registered sex offenders. There are now 675,000. Additionally, there are perhaps 200,000 released sex offenders being sought by authorities for failure to register. Finally there are another 150,000 offenders still serving sentences. Between 2 and 3,000,000 people are close family members of all these offenders.

New signatories are added to the RSOL statement every week, and the site now gets about 60,000 hits per month. It is clear that RSOL's best and strongest work is in a few of its affiliated state groups, such as Texas, Virginia, Illinois, New Mexico, Massachusetts, and Oregon, with perhaps ten other groups building support rapidly.

The RSOL Administrative Team is working towards the next National Conference in the late Spring to Early Summer of 2010. As RSOL's strength grows, vicious attacks, without exception based in untruth, misrepresentation, and a general fear and hatred, become more frequent. This clear indication of the impact RSOL is having only strengthens the resolve of the RSOL Administrative Team and the hard working RSOL members.

As Mary Sue Molnar has so often said, "We'll keep raising hell in Texas."

Truth and reason can never be silenced. Through the efforts of RSOL and the other groups opposing the registry we will prevail because at least RSOL will never quit until we do and RSOL will never let the attacks on its character distract it from its goal.

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2. Mission

RSOL: The Statement Explained

Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL) has 2 broad purposes:

1. To call on our society to come to its senses in the way it deals with the very real problem of sexual violation of children. We advocate reason and justice rather than moral panic
2. To abolish the punitive sex offender registry, residency restriction, and civil commitment laws that endanger our society as they stigmatize, shame and unfairly ruin the lives of registered children and adults and their families.

RSOL seeks to detach illegal sexual behavior - including the devastating forms it sometimes takes - from the hysteria now rampant in the country so that it can be dealt with effectively and fairly. Any society that carries out a witch hunt to deal with any major social problem casts justice and rationality to the winds, guarantees large numbers of false accusations and false convictions, substitutes false beliefs for science, and devours itself and its children.

There could be no better example of how an hysteria works than the way our country dealt with the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Here was a major crisis. Instead of solving it we whipped ourselves into a frenzy and engaged in the lunacy advocated by top officials in the media and government by going to war against a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and posed no threat whatever to the United States. Present and future generations have just begun to bear the human and financial costs of this trillion dollar debacle. And yet, we continue to view a number of our major problems through the lens of panic, hysteria and demonization.

In the case of sexual violation of children, it is the atmosphere of fear and panic and the proliferation of laws based on this hysteria that pose serious danger to the well-being of our society and to young people themselves. This assertion is true for young people whose lives and whose family's lives are destroyed by being labeled a sex offender, for children whose parent is demonized and denied employment or housing after serving his sentence, and for all children for whom the irrational fear of all men is held up as a positive virtue.

The policies called for by RSOL are best expressed in its "Statement" signed by 900 people across the country. Signatories are not sex offenders. They are people from all walks of life who see the need to call attention to the dangers posed by sex offender registries and related laws and who call for radical reform of these laws. Paraphrasing from this Statement, RSOL advocates the following:

* Abolish sex offender registries for those who have completed their sentences and abolish registries that publicly shame offenders on probation or parole. (In cases of coercive sex crimes, especially against children, and with a specific finding of likelihood to re-offend despite having completed one's sentence, registration tailored to the specific circumstances may be required. But there would be no postings on the internet). Rather, support carefully limited laws that target harmful acts, not whole classes of people, and which rehabilitate rather than vindictively punish and shame people.
* Abolish life-time civil commitment for sex offenders who have completed their sentences (Again, in cases of violent offenses and specific findings of a likelihood to re-offend, carefully constructed court hearing with medical advice and full due process should determine if the person may be further incarcerated for a short time with regular review. The ultimate goal must be an offender's return to the community when they are not likely to offend, rather than lifetime commitment)
* Stop public vilification and demonization of sex offenders in media and public discourse, particularly by the mis-use of the term "pedophile". In addition, hysteria about defending children from a violent rapist has broadened to a wider hysteria about all sex offenders even though the vast majority of sex offenders pose no danger to children. But demonization is destructive even when applied to truly violent offenders.
* Help sex offenders re-enter society by abolishing universal residency restrictions and measures that make it virtually impossible to find a job. Encourage support groups and provide help with finding housing, employment and effective treatment before their release and afterward
* Implement measures that protect society and its children from the dangers of sexual harm. But children need to be protected as well from other forms of abuse that traumatize millions of kids every day but are usually ignored in the sex abuse crusade: homelessness, malnutrition, poverty, inadequate health care and discrimination.
* De-criminalize all consensual sexual activities among teenagers.
* Stop all required sex offender registration for minors.
* Abolish any laws that provide the death penalty or life in prison without parole for sex offenders.
* Provide accurate information and support valid research about sex offender characteristics and recidivism rates in order to effectively protect children and respect due process.

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3. Scope, Purpose, and Goals

RSOL: Scope, Purpose, and Goals

Kelly R Piercy

RSOL: Scope, Purpose, and Goals

Introduction:

Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL) began as a national effort from beginnings in Massachusetts (See History.) Effectively, RSOL as an identifiable organization began in 2007. Though some members of RSOL had previous associations with previous groups opposed to registries, From its inception, RSOL is a unique organization that has no affiliation or ties with any other organization.

Front this beginnings, RSOL has operated under the guidance of its stated position with respect to the registry (See The Statement Explained.)

To further clarify RSOL, the following Scope, Purpose, and Goals is presented.

Scope:

RSOL is concerned with the preemptive justice represented by the registry and civil commitment.

Preemptive justice is contrary to the nature of a free society. This sort of 'preventative' justice cannot work when it is applied to a category rather than an individual. RSOL recognizes that there are individuals who are and continue to be a danger to the community. However, this is not the norm, nor is it a significant fraction of those convicted under the general category of 'sex offender'.

RSOL recognizes that a society has the right, if not obligation, to define the terms and conditions (laws) under which that society, and members of that society, will conduct itself. However, those terms and conditions, when clearly in violation of individual rights, must be protected from the majority or the society becomes one of government by whim and a tyranny of the majority.

In that understanding, RSOL does not work to change any law regarding conduct, including sexual conduct, except in the below stated areas.

* RSOL does support and works towards the decriminalization of non-coercive sexual conduct between minors.
o The important distinction is that RSOL does not seek to 'legalize' such activity between minors, the effort is to decriminalize such conduct.
* RSOL works to remove minors, in any circumstance, from any criminal registry, allowing such persons to seal or expunge any juvenile record upon reaching their majority.
* The removal of conduct without specific sexual conduct from the category of 'sex offense'.

Thus, the scope of RSOL is to end the practice of public registry and residency restriction as it represents; preemptive justice, establishes a class, proscribes that class, and thereby violates Bill of Attainder proscriptions of the United States Constitution, is ineffective in addressing the issue it is meant to solve, is a violation of civil rights of individuals who have served their sentences and successfully completed any counseling/therapy ordered, and removes any meaningful effect of such counseling/treatment by removing any positive goal from the process.

Outside the Scope of RSOL are such issues as age of consent, age differential, specific sexual conduct, the issue of consensual sex, and concerns of the increasing number of false accusations.

Those issues being outside the Scope of RSOL does not, in any way, prevent RSOL from supporting ad hoc consortiums among RSOL affiliates and others in opposing such statures or legally attempting to change or enact such statues.

RSOL takes as its limit, the opposition of the preemptive justice represented by the registry and endeavors to end the registry and replace it with policies of real justice based on sound research.

RSOL recognizes that justice has three components; punishment, education, and restitution.

* RSOL supports reasonable punishment based on proportionality.
* RSOL recognizes and supports the concept that the most effective justice for the victim, the offender, and the society is to educate and rehabilitate the offender.
* RSOL recognizes that in cases of violent behavior, restitution may be a difficult process for the victim. Nevertheless, vengeance can never be part of a just society and such restitution as is possible must suffice in these cases.

Purpose:

RSOL maintains itself within the above Scope to fulfill the need of society to effectively address the issue of violent sexual offense, where the violence is actual as opposed to imputed.

In this Purpose, RSOL recognizes that the registry does not address the issue in any effective degree and must be ended so that effective resolution can obtain.

Goal:

RSOL is focused on ending the registry, bringing rational sentencing and justice back to the society, and emplacing effective programs of education, awareness, and treatment to effectively impact the incidence of violent sex crime in the society.

Conclusion:

RSOL is dedicated to the protection of society and children. RSOL opposes any conduct, and any law, that is contrary to the safety of society or its children.

RSOL is opposed to any act of society or government that, not being based on sound research and fact, limits the freedom, rights, or civil rights of any member of that society.

RSOL believes that a person who makes a mistake, commits a crime, can change and can become a positive part of society, if that society allows such change. RSOL does not condone any act that harms another person, nor does it condone excessive punishment by a society.

RSOL believes that disproportionate sentencing and post sentencing registration and restriction represent vengeance based punishment, thus becoming punishment for the sake of punishment, thus rising to the level of cruel and unusual punishment and being a clear violation of the Eight Amendment proscription against such punishment.

Therefore: RSOL is concerned with the registry and not the offenses that lead to registration, except in the case of consensual conduct between minors, or where no actual sexual conduct is an element of the offense. RSOL has the single purpose of ending the registry and replacing it with rational justice based on sound research and proportionality, emplacing education, awareness, and treatment in place of excessive sentencing and registration/restriction. RSOL maintains the ultimate goal of emerging from this hysteria into a society that treats its fallen with justice and compassion and works through effective methods of education, awareness, and treatment to positively impact the incidence of sex offense and protect children, allowing society to focus on larger issues facing society and children such as poverty, nutrition, homelessness, and physical, mental, and emotional abuse.

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END OF RSOL DIGEST - NOVEMBER 2009