Inconsistencies and loopholes are weakening the ability of our law enforcement agencies to keep track of dangerous sex offenders, know of their constant whereabouts, where they live and whether they have registered their names into a sex offender registry. Here are just a few of many examples of this frightening reality:

Plea bargains are allowing sex offenders to enjoy lighter sentences and release conditions. This needs to stop. News-Journal reports that a 41 year old former sheriff deputy in Texas successfully plea bargained to a lesser offense. Because of that this sex offender escaped the requirement to be entered into a sex offender registry. The offender is charged with having a sexual relationship with a minor (14 year old girl).

Lawyers defending sex offenders are asking judges and juries to grant lighter sentences for their convicted sex offender clients. These lawyers need to look at the bigger picture and how lighter sentences might impact the safety and protection needs of the communities at large. A report by the Herald Net reveals that David Hill’s lawyer is attempting to acquire a special sentence that would net this sex offender only 6 months in a county jail in return for undergoing treatment. The normal sentence could put Hill in prison for up to 10 years. In May of 2005, David Hill was convicted of six counts of sexual crimes, which involved videotaping three teenagers - including his girlfriend’s 13-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter - and engaging in sex acts with minors.

There can not be any exceptions to the conditions and parameters of the sentences given by the courts to convicted sex offenders. Gainesville.com reports that in 2004, a sex offender by the name of Michael Greathouse pleaded no contest to charges of lewd and lascivious molestations on a 14 year old child. He was sentenced to 2 years of house arrest followed by 6 years of sex offender probation. Yet he was allowed by the courts to continue living in his house, which is located less than 1000 feet from an elementary school. According to Florida laws, sex offenders cannot live within 1000 feet of school grounds.

Our laws need to be enforced promptly and fully. A law exists in Massachusetts that gives permission to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to suspend the driver licenses of unregistered sex offenders if they fail to register themselves into the sex offender registry. A news report by Boston.com reveals that there are some 4,616 unregistered sex offenders in Massachusetts in the past 2 years who have not registered. This weakens the ability of law enforcement agencies to put released sex offenders back in jail for failing to register.

Loopholes in our laws need to be covered immediately. A loophole in Nevada’s legislature allows transient sex offenders to escape the requirement of giving a fixed address once they are released into the community. The Reno Gazette Journal reports that a man with 69 convictions for sexually abusing children in California has Nevada officials concerned because his homelessness makes it impossible for them to track his whereabouts. Recently, a family in Reno had complained that this man had been watching their children from his van while they had an outdoor party. These loopholes need to be closed and standard and uniform laws implemented to ensure that sex offenders are being held accountable for their whereabouts.

There needs to be consistency, uniformity and easy access to tools needed to keep better track of sex offenders. The Enterprise reports that a sex offender David Quimby (convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in 1984) had never registered with the Massachusetts sex offender registry. He had crossed paths with police at least 4 times since 2001. Yet, the police were never alerted to the fact that he was a sex offender. The report adds that the police need to check four separate databases to check for sex offence crimes. More importantly, the laptops used by the police in their cars are not linked to these databases. To cope, police officers therefore need to radio dispatchers who are on standby to access these databases. When the police are in a hurry, they may choose not to search the sex offender database registry. This is why there is a pressing need for police officers to have easy and instant access to sex offender registries, in order to identify and arrest re-offending sex offenders. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited children, there are an estimated 100,000 sex offenders nationwide that fail to comply with registration requirements. This is mainly because laws between states for registration and notification procedures are not uniform and vary. As a result, sex offenders are allowed to live with anonymity within communities in states that have the least stringent laws. More importantly, law enforcement agencies have lost track of the whereabouts of these sex offenders.

Let us petition for the following:
A national FBI sex offender registry, giving easy and instant access to all our law enforcement agencies to allow them to completely and closely monitoring of sex offenders, anywhere in the US, anytime of the day.

A law that calls for a national lifetime exclusion zone for all schools, day care centers, parks, playgrounds or places where children frequent. This includes children's websites. No exceptions.

A national requirement that all newly convicted sex offenders who are not incarcerated wear GPS ankle bracelets for a lifetime. This is necessary to help our law enforcement agencies keep constant and instant tracking of the whereabouts of these sex offenders. Support the Jessica Lunsford Act which provides for satellite tracking of sex offenders in Florida for the first time.

To nationally standardize and strengthen laws that deal with sexual crimes. To even increase the sentences given to sex offenders, particularly those who have committed violent and heinous sex crimes. No exceptions must be granted to the conditions and parameters of these sentences, in-spite of plea bargaining efforts.

Full funding and support be given to every school in the US so that they can offer programs that deal with child abduction and sexual abuse prevention. Give funding to establish a national fingerprint ID card system for every child in the US to help us rescue missing and abducted children.

Full funding is given to help every prison in the US establish and implement specialized sex offender treatment programs. In a research paper published by the California Research Bureau, studies show that recidivism rate is higher for those sex offenders who have not undergone formal treatment.

Most recently, a case involving Level 3 sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III saw the bludgeoning to death of 3 family members of the Groene family, the sexual abuse and abduction of 8 year old Shasta Groene and her 9 year old brother Dylan and the eventual murder of Dylan. The accused is Duncan. In a previous court case, Duncan was granted bail by a Minnesota court after being charged for molesting a 6 year old boy in Minnesota. The bail was set at a ridiculously low price of only $15,000. Duncan jumped bail and the next crime he committed is the crime mentioned above. Only if there were a standard sentence for Level 3 re-offending sex offenders, perhaps bail would have never been granted and Duncan would have gone back into prison and the murders would have never been committed.

There are thousands of “Duncans” out there because of the inconsistencies and loopholes in the way we prosecute, sentence, monitor and track sex offenders. It is time to take action and sign this petition and demand for reform and change so that we can give back protection to our children from these heinous sex crimes.

This petition is to be sent to Honorable President George W. Bush, U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Senate.


References

Community Treatment and Supervision of Sex Offenders; How it’s Done Across the Country and in California: California State Library (http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/04/12/04-012.pdf)

Ex-Deputy Not Forced to Register as Sex Offender: News-Journal.com (http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/07/13/20050713LNJDeputy.html)

Florida’s Tough Stand against Child Molesters: The Christian Science Monitor (http://csmonitor.com/2005/0504/p02s02-usju.html)

Jessica Lunsford Act (http://www.theorator.com/bills109/hr1505.html)

Law Targeting Sex Offenders Not Enforced: Boston.com News (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/18/law_targeting_sex_offenders_not_enforced/?page=1)

Loophole in State’s Sex-Offender Notification Law has Officials Concerned: Reno Gazette Journal (http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2005/07/13/103940.php?sps=rgj.com&sch=LocalNews&sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=local_news)

National Center for Missing and Exploited: Sex-Offender Laws (http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=1545)

Plea Deal that Let Sex Offender Keep Address near School: Gainesville.com (http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050528/LOCAL/205280314/1078/news)

Sex Offender Seeks Way Out of Prison Sentence: HeraldNet.com (http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/07/16/100loc_sentence001.cfm)

System Lost Track of Sex Offender: The Enterprise South of Boston.com (http://enterprise.southofboston.com/articles/2005/06/11/news/news/news05.txt)

Victim’s Group Rips Judge: The Washington Times (http://washingtontimes.com/culture/20050711-095638-8876r.htm)