ARE YOU A CONCERNED PARENT & CITIZEN

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ARE YOU A CONCERNED PARENT & CITIZEN?

If so, then the information provided here is of the utmost importance to you, your family, and your neighbors. How do you really protect your children from a sex offender? This is a difficult question to answer and the answers will be widely varied. Current laws and practices fall short in providing adequate protection for Oklahoma’s children. Here are some things to think about and share with others.

Does Sex Offender Registration work?

Here are some basic statistics and generalities:

Most child sexual abusers (90 - 95%) abuse family members or friends of the family.
After the first offense (conviction), the family is already aware of the offender’s behaviors.
When the offender re-offends, see #1 & #2.

So, did registration work? NO! Did it help the child who was his next victim? NO!

WHY?

Registration is good at getting the word out about an offender in the neighborhood and raising their awareness about him and is probably an effective deterrent to the offender who abuses strangers. It is not enough to stop the majority of child sex offenders (see #1 above). (Note: Child molesters who abuse strangers comprise a very small percentage (5-10%) of all Sex Offenders who target children; however, these types of offenders do re-offend at a much higher rate). Therefore, registration and neighborhood awareness is very necessary.

For those offenders who abuse family members and friends’ children registration has very little deterrent value for them.

Why is this?

This type of offender is very good at lying, manipulating and deceiving others to achieve his goals. He preys on the fact that eventually (several months to years) that he will be able to convince his family and his friends that he would never abuse a child again. Regretfully, because of their own denial of the threat the offender represents, most do lower their guards. The fault lies solely with the offender. The offenders’ family and friends have been lied and deceived by a very professional con man. For these offenders registration will not be sufficient to stop them, it would however, narrow their targeting pool to existing family and friends.

So, how do we stop the offenders who make up the majority of all sex offenders who prey on children?

First, this particular group of sex offenders requires numerous things to be in place in order to keep perpetuating their offending. Some of the most necessary criteria are:

To be able to get close enough to a child to gain their trust
Absolute secrecy, which leads to the distorted belief that they will not be caught.
Lack of accountability for their daily lives.

Eliminate these and you greatly reduce the likelihood that this type of sex offender will re-offend.

How is this accomplished?

It will take every concerned parent in Oklahoma to do it. The Laws have to be changed. The greatest majority of Sex Offenders will be released from prison someday with no or very little treatment at all, and with no probationary time. This means that they will not have to be accountable to anyone, other than registering, which enables 1-3 above to take place. Every Sex offender should have a set number of years to spend on probation/parole. Only through probation/parole can items 1-3 be deterred and or eliminated. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children states in their report, A COMPREHENSIVE CRIMINAL-JUSTICE SYSTEM RESPONSE: THE STRATEGY:

"…we must make post-release supervision and follow-up a priority. It is not enough to merely ensure that an offender completes his or her particular program or sentence. Since most sex offenders will eventually return to the community, the community is interested in policies and practices which will ensure the greatest level of safety over the long term. This makes it imperative that there be continuing contact, supervision, and resources directed toward the largest segment of the sex-offender population - those who are [or will be] in the community"

This Strategy also goes on to say "States should eliminate flat time release with no supervision for sex offenders"

How do we accomplish this?

Under the terms of probation/parole an offender must comply with strict guidelines, some of which are:

Attend and participate in a sex offender treatment program.
Submit to polygraph examination (to ensure he has not/is not setting up a child to victimize, is not lying about his behaviors, lifestyle, and numerous other things that particularly relate to sex offenders).
Register as a Sex Offender.
No contact with anyone under 18 years of age, unless approved by probation officer.
Submit to substance abuse testing.
Home searches by probation officer, and numerous other conditions.

These things do what registration alone never can:

It takes away the offenders ability to get close to a child to gain their trust,
It takes away an offenders ability to live in secrecy (through polygraph exams) and his belief that he will not get caught,
It forces him to be accountable for his daily life to a non-offending adult who is all too aware of ALL of his behaviors.

This leads to a few problems:

Past and current sentencing practices by Prosecutors and Judges do not take into account the full threat that sex offenders represent. The past and current philosophy and practice of simply locking them up is not good enough-this is slowly changing. While it does eliminate the immediate threat it does not consider the long-term threat. That is like treating cancer with just one massive dose of chemotherapy, which is insufficient. Every Sex offender sentenced should have some sort of split sentence, like 10 years in prison and 10 out on probation. The longer the "out" time the better, all sex offenders are a threat even the offenders who have completed a Sex offender treatment program, just much less of a one.

There are currently 2300 Sex offenders in prison and only a small percentage (under 10%) have any probationary time upon their release, and very few of them will have any form of sex offender treatment at all before they are released.

Current Parole practices is another major problem. At the end of 2001, there were 16 sex offenders on parole out of 3,213. That is a staggeringly low percentage.

Why is this?

There are several reasons why, but the major ones are:

It’s "Politically Incorrect" for the Parole Board and Governor to recommend and sign paroles for sex offenders. It is a shame that being politically correct contributes indirectly to more children being abused. The fact is, as demonstrated above, the real way to protect society for the longest amount of time is to do the things previously described. Only through probation/parole can an offender be truly deterred (in one unofficial study of an independent sex offender treatment group - out of 200 sex offenders on probation or parole ZERO have committed a new sex offense. That’s staggering and speaks volumes as to how effective probation/parole combined with treatment can be to eliminate and deter items 1-3 above). By no means is this fool proof. If an offender commits another crime by no means should the Parole Board or Governor be held to blame. That is ALWAYS the offender’s fault. The Parole Board and Governor can only do so much and by doing the things described above; they would be truly working towards the larger goal of preventing child sexual abuse in the long term. Sure their will be offenders who commit new sex offenses, but as shown above, it will be much lower than if nothing is done to change current laws, procedures and parole practices.

The majority of Sex offenders waive their parole. Why? There are several reasons. First, it would mean accountability, treatment, rules, regulations, expenses, and numerous other reasons. They would not have the things they most desire: secrecy, anonymity, and the ability to go anywhere, do anything, see and be around anyone they want, especially children. Another reason they waive their parole is in their minds it is a waste of time since the parole board will not recommend them. By the time an offender comes up for parole he has only a couple of years left to go until he discharges. He would rather spend that little time in prison than to have to put up with all the requirements of parole, which is precisely why he should be paroled.

What is the solution?

Parole should not be seen as reward for good behavior as it is for other offenders. Sex offenders are very different from other offenders and should be treated completely different. Parole for sex offenders is continued punishment, because it represents all the things they hate most – someone having control over their lives. It is actually more control than there is in prison. The majority of sex offenders will be released from prison someday.

Although current law does not provide for mandatory Parole, for Sex Offenders it should be mandatory upon completion of the required time, usually one-third, or upon completion of a Sex Offender treatment program. The reasons for this are simple: If an inmate has a 30-year sentence, he becomes eligible for parole in 10 years. If this inmate has maintained clear conduct throughout his incarceration (which lots do), he will have a little over 2 years left until he is released. However, put this inmate out on parole and he will have 20 years of parole time, which has the restrictions listed previously. This is why the majority of sex offenders waive their parole. Its simple math, 2 years is a drop in the bucket compared to 20.

So, whom do you want released from prison? The inmate that is released a completely free man in a little over 2 years (with no restrictions), or the inmate who is released on parole when he has done one-third of his sentence, and has to spend the other two-thirds (20 years) on parole where he has all those restrictions listed previously. (Those inmates sentenced under the 85% law would spend their last 15% on parole).

The problem will be to get the inmates to not waive their parole. Another solution is to have Judges / DAs offer these offenders amended sentences, which clearly specify Split sentences (10 years in prison and 10 years out or some combination.) This can only happen if the offender can find a way to put jurisdiction back in the Judges hands. For those offenders who are yet to be sentenced, ensure they are given some type of split sentence.

What about the cost? It currently costs you the taxpayer over $16,000 a year to house an offender in a Minimum or Medium security prison facility, not to mention the cost for his treatment. It costs ONLY $750 a year to have that offender on probation or parole. On probation/parole an offender pays virtually all costs associated with probation/parole, as well as all cost associated with Treatment.

There are numerous ways to deter a sex offender, which are not currently being done. I have tried to give the problems and some potential solutions, after all there are no absolutes or guarantees. If this raises more questions than it answers, it is supposed too!

It is important that the above information is shared with everyone you know in Oklahoma, especially District Attorneys, Judges, Parole Board Members, Legislators and anyone who has influential power. Only through your action can these things be accomplished. Please help make Oklahoma a safer place – your efforts really will make a difference. The more those with influential power hear from you the more they have to take notice and action! Virtually everyday a sex offender is released from prison without any stipulations, other than Registration, and that is just not enough to protect the children of Oklahoma. Sex Offenders are also sentenced everyday without any probation time after their release. These practices/oversights need to be eliminated. Please help get the word out. Your help could save a child’s life from being destroyed. Please help stop child sexual abuse and be a child’s hero.

This article was written by a Treated Sex Offender(5809265956) and reviewed by a Sex Offender Therapist and Staff.

If you would like more information on the Report written by The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) go to or click here:

http://http://soinformation.1colony.com/questions.html

http://soinformation.1colony.com/preventingabuse.html

http://soinformation.1colony.com/SOawareness.html

http://www.missingkids.com/html/sexoffender.html

SO information Home Page

Check this link often for more articles relating to sex offenders.

Sex offenders. who are they? Where do they come from? Why do they do what they do? What do you do if you are living next door to one.

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