3 Sex offenders at the same address ???

My point being, they shouldn't be able to use a homeless facilities address.

This also gives a negative connection to a shelter that does alot of good in helping homeless families.

THE FACTS REGARDING SEX OFFENDERS

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide a comprehensive overview of sex offender information and the role the PA Board of Probation and Parole plays in supervising paroled sex offenders.

This publication provides information on the following topics:
1. WHAT DEFINES A SEX OFFENDER
2. SEX OFFENDER LAW
3. COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION
4. SPECIALIZED AGENT TRAINING
5. HOW CAN TREATMENT KEEP A SEX OFFENDER FROM RE-OFFENDING
6. WHERE CAN I GET INFORMATION TO PROTECT MY CHILDREN AND MYSELF?
1. WHAT DEFINES A SEX OFFENDER?

“Sex offender" is a generic term for all persons convicted of crimes involving sex, including statutory sexual assault, rape, molestation, sexual harassement, and certain forms of pornography production or distribution. Sex crimes are forms of human sexual behavior that are crimes. Someone who commits these crimes is said to be a sex offender. Many sex offenses are primarily motivated by power and control issues, rather than sexual desires. Some sex crimes are crimes of violence that involve sex. Others are violations of social prohibitions, such as indecent exposure or exhibitionism.

By Pennsylvania law, a “sex offender” is an individual required to register under “Megan’s Law.”

By Pennsylvania law, a "Sexually Violent Predator" (SVP) is a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense and who is determined to be a SVP due to a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses, 42 Pa. C.S. § 9792. The term includes an individual determined to be a SVP where the determination occurred in the United States or one of its territories or possessions, another state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a foreign nation or by court martial.

Juveniles are not considered “sex offenders” unless they are convicted in adult court or they are required to register as a sex offender in another jurisdiction.
Is this true? I am confused about this as I read in JPB's article that a boy was placed on the registry for something he did when he was eleven. I don't remember right off hand what state he was in though.


The Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole’s procedure requires that all offenders who have been convicted of an offense(s), current or prior history, which involves engaging in an overt sexual act(s), or behavior(s), be designated as a sex offender.
This is the type of person I thought would make up the majority/if not all of the list.
The parole supervision staff and sex offender treatment providers also screen offenders who have not been convicted of sex offenses, but have exhibited behavior that warrants evaluation to determine if the sex offender protocols should apply.
2. SEX OFFENDER LAW

When a person is charged with committing a sex offense, he/she is tried by a court and must be found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” according to the definition of the crime found within the Pennsylvania Crimes Code. For instance "Sexual Abuse of Children" is classified as a felony of the second degree.
So, yes, I thought they had to have been convicted

Upon conviction, the court must order an assessment by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board (SOAB) and the judge must sentence the offender in accordance with the Pennsylvania Sentencing Code. The SOAB is an independent board of psychiatrists, psychologists, and criminal justice experts appointed by the Governor, according to statute, to assess all sex offenders convicted under Megan’s Law, and to conduct assessments for the Parole Board prior to an inmate’s parole consideration. The SOAB is supported by a fulltime staff, which conducts background investigations that make the evaluation and assessment of the convicted sex offender possible.
Again, this doesn't sound like anyone is jumping the gun and prematurely labeling anyone without due cause.

Following a hearing, the court determines if the offender should be designated as a SVP. If the court determines the offender is not a SVP, provisions of Megan’s Law registration still apply, but often just for 10 years, not for the lifetime of the offender.

Megan’s Law creates a registry of sex offenders and SVPs living in Pennsylvania that is maintained by the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). Megan's Law exists to provide an additional safeguard to protect the public, especially our children, from victimization by sex offenders. This is accomplished by requiring convicted sex offenders to register their residences. Local police provide notification to the public of the presence of a SVP-designated offender in their community, along with the offender's place of employment and education. This registration process allows law enforcement and private citizens to develop constructive plans, safety programs, and victimization prevention strategies to prepare for the presence of sex offenders in their neighborhoods. There are relatively few SVP's in the community at this time because most of them are still incarcerated.

For 10-year and lifetime Megan's Law registrants, the PSP tracks the registrants' addresses through an address verification process that is done annually on the anniversary date of their initial registration. The registrant must appear at an approved registration site to complete a verification form and to be photographed.

For SVPs, the PSP tracks the registrants' addresses through an address verification process that is updated quarterly. SVPs are required to report to an approved registration site between January 5 and January 15; April 5 and April 15; July 5 and July 15; and October 5 and October 15 to complete a verification form and to be photographed.

Prior to leaving Pennsylvania, a registered sex offender must complete a change of address form and submit that form to the PSP. The registered sex offender must register with the new law enforcement agency within 10 days after establishing residence in another state. The PSP will then notify the state agency charged with maintaining the sex offender registry in the state that the registered sex offender now resides.
3. COMMUNITY NOTIFICATION

Community notification can take place ONLY in two circumstances:

1. Community notification occurs when a convicted sex offender is determined by a court to be a SVP. The chief law enforcement officer notifies the community using a community notification flyer.
This also seems reasonable.

2. Community notification occurs when an out-of-state offender is required to submit to community notification in their state of origin, regardless of whether or not the offender is classified as a SVP.

The PSP will provide community notification flyers to the police departments having primary jurisdiction over the municipalities where the SVP/out-of-state offender resides. Included with the community notification flyers are instructions for the police departments on how to perform community notification.

The community notification flyers contain the following information:

* The name of the SVP/out-of-state offender
* The address or addresses in which he resides
* The offense for which he was convicted
* A statement that he has been determined by court order to be a SVP or a statement that the out-of-state offender is subject to community notification by his state of origin.
* A photograph of the SVP/out-of-state offender, if available.

NOTE: The community notification flyers WILL NOT include any information that might reveal the victim's name, identity, or residence.

The chief law enforcement officer of the police department of the municipality where a SVP or out-of-state offender resides is responsible for community notification. The officer is required to make community notification to the following persons:

* Neighbors of the SVP/out-of-state offender: Those persons who live or work within 250 feet of the offender's residence or the 25 most immediate residences and places of employment in proximity to the offender's residence, whichever is greater.
* The director of the county children and youth service agency of the county where the SVP/out-of-state offender resides.
* The superintendent of each school district and the equivalent official for private and parochial schools enrolling students through grade 12 in the municipality where the SVP/out-of-state offender resides.
* The superintendent of each school district and the equivalent official for each private and parochial school located within a one-mile radius of where the SVP/out-of-state offender resides
* The licensee of each certified day care center and licensed preschool program and owner/operator of each registered family day-care home in the municipality where the SVP/out-of-state offender resides.
* The president of each college, university, and community college located within 1,000 feet of a Sap’s or out-of-state offender's residence.

Notice concerning SVPs and out-of-state offenders subject to community notification is also available by either submitting a request in writing to Pennsylvania State Police, Megan's Law Section, 1800 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17110 or by calling 1-866-771-3170.

Members of the public may search for registered sex offenders or SVPs living in their community through the web site maintained by the PSP, Megan's Law Section: www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us. Members of the public are only entitled to the information about registered persons provided on the website. No other information can be provided to the public.
It seems to me that this is where the majority of the problem may be occurring.

Additional information on a SVP residing in your community may be obtained by contacting the chief law enforcement officer in your community. In communities where the PSP is the primary law enforcement agency, members of the public may contact the local PSP station for information on SVPs.

Victim Notification

Victims of SVPs (see definition above):

* Where an individual is determined to be a SVP by a court, the police department of the municipality where the SVP resides shall give written notice to the victim of the SVP within 72 hours after the SVP registers or notifies the PSP of a change of address.
* The victim is also entitled to notice of the SVP’s release from incarceration under the Pennsylvania Crime Victims Act, 18 P.S. § 11.101 et seq.
* The notice shall contain the SVP’s name, the address or addresses where he resides, and his place of empoloyment or education.
* The victim may terminate the notification by providing the police department of the municipality where the SVP resides with a written statement releasing that department from the duty to notify. The victim can reinstate the duty to notify if they so desire. The request to reinstate notification shall be made in writing to the PSP, Megan's Law Section.

Victims of Sex Offenders

* The victim of an offense committed by a sexual offender who has not been determined to be a SVP is entitled to that notice afforded under the Pennsylvania Crime Victims Act
* More information on the rights of crime victims is available by contacting Pennsylvania's Office of Victim Advocate at 1-800-563-6399 or visiting their website (http://www.ova.state.pa.us)

Why do you think there's no demonstrable change with these notifications then when this is studied? Just about every parent uses this kind of reaoning, but why is it that it just isn't supported by evidence?

OCCOM BILL wrote:

Robert: I for one think it's a perfectly sound idea to provide parents the knowledge if a child molester resides between yours and your child's friend's home down the block. This may very well influence whether or not you let your child visit on his own. This knowledge is a game changer that may very well convince you to keep your child out of harm’s way, when otherwise worrying about junior’s ability to walk a block would be seriously overprotective. I would certainly want to know if that friendly old man that’s always kind to my children was in fact a convicted child molester, rather than just a friendly, lonely old man who happens to like children. You wouldn’t? Really?

Well all that speculation aside, there is no evidence at all that it actually does help. It has been studied and shown to have no demonstrable effect.

Quote:

The day will never come when I think the peace and comfort of an ex-child molester (if indeed there is such an animal) trumps the safety and sanctity of their next potential victim.

The overwhelming majority of the people on the list just aren't child molesters Bill.

Is this true? I am confused about this as I read in JPB's article that a boy was placed on the registry for something he did when he was eleven. I don't remember right off hand what state he was in though.

Every state requires children convicted in adult court of certain kinds of sex crimes to register as sex offenders. Thirty-two states include in their online registries"sometimes for life"youthful offenders who were convicted of specified offenses, regardless of whether they were adjudicated in adult or juvenile courts.224 The Adam Walsh Act requires all states to include in their online registries offenders who were 14 or older at the time they committed specified offenses, or risk the loss of federal funding for law enforcement resources.225 Child offenders are not exempt from state
and municipal residency restrictions; even while children they can be prohibited from living with their families in restricted areas.

This is the type of person I thought would make up the majority/if not all of the list.

How can you take a measurement of how many people or children have NOT been abused or raped which is the only way you could gauge a positive outcome of this law.

Despite the fact that the federal and many state governments have enacted registration and community notification laws as a means to better protect communities from sexual offending, limited empirical research has been conducted to examine the impact of such legislation on public safety. Therefore, utilizing time-series analyses, this study examined differences in sexual offense arrest rates before and after the enactment of New York State's Sex Offender Registration Act. Results provide no support for the effectiveness of registration and community notification laws in reducing sexual offending by: (a) rapists, (b) child molesters, (c) sexual recidivists, or (d) first-time sex offenders. Analyses also showed that over 95% of all sexual offense arrests were committed by first-time sex offenders, casting doubt on the ability of laws that target repeat offenders to meaningfully reduce sexual offending.

I guess you could extrapolate from the figures around recidivism rates and victim stats that sexual abusers are still abusing, but what you can't put a number on is how many people who would have been abused are not abused, because they are in fact, able to be more aware of what is happening in their neighborhood.

No demonstrable effect statistically, perhaps. But that would be little consolation if my child were victimized 3 doors down. Said statistics, or lack thereof, suggest the recidivism is taking place regardless... but that doesn't mean vigilant parents aren't successfully using the system to keep their children out of harms way.

Don't know about everywhere, but charge history is available here in Wisconsin... so the 19 year old "statutory rapist" isn't raising the identical flag as the 44 year old with a history of drug-raping 13 year olds. This objection makes a better argument for more accurate public records than it does for no records.

OCCOM BILL wrote:

No demonstrable effect statistically, perhaps. But that would be little consolation if my child were victimized 3 doors down. Said statistics, or lack thereof, suggest the recidivism is taking place regardless... but that doesn't mean vigilant parents aren't successfully using the system to keep their children out of harms way.

If they are doing so then it should show up in the statistics. Think about it, if all this protection is going on, it should have an impact on the statistics somewhere. And even if I ignore that you are making an "anecdotal evidence trumps statistics" argument I'd note that I haven't even seen a single piece of anecdotal evidence either.

Letting any idiot vigilante have this data is dangerous. Not just to the many people on the list who have been harassed, murdered and driven out of gainful employment but because their actions harm the rest of society by making rehabilitation more difficult and recidivism more likely.

Why do you say this? If you compare the recidivism rate before the public notification and after the public notification and don't see any improvement in the rate what makes you think there are people who were not abused that would have been?

Because all the recidivism rate tells you is that a person who has been charged and convicted with a crime has relapsed, reoffended and been recharged and convicted again.

I did like this quote from one of the town reps..“Just like you wouldn’t give a diabetic child $20 and send them to the candy store, why would you allow a serious sex offender to live near a school or park?’’ he said.

Quote:

Because all the recidivism rate tells you is that a person who has been charged and convicted with a crime has relapsed, reoffended and been recharged and convicted again.

But...that's all we know about the original offending rate anyway...we have no idea what other offences they got away with....so we are comparing like with like.

In fact, since people with an offending record in such areas are generally subject to more scrutiny (and, if involved in a treatment program, generally this is not simply self-report) there's a prima facie case that they would be more likely to caught than those who have yet to be apprehended.

Which in turn would mean it is an increase in reporting that is making it look like the lists haven't been effective, if you follow your thought through