A 2008 study by California’s Sex Offender Management Board

A 2008 study by California’s Sex Offender Management Board reported on 4,204 sex offenders released in 1997 and 1998. 3.38 percent were convicted of new sex offenses in the next decade.http://www.cfcamerica.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2615%3Afacts-and-fiction-about-sex-offenders&catid=3%3Anews&Itemid=493

Disparity is only part of the sentencing snafu

Timely discussion of federal judicial concerns with guideline sentences Today’s Boston Globe has this notable article on a controversial component of the federal sentencing guidelines.  The piece is headlined “US judges balk at rigid child porn sentences; Say guidelines often demand punishment beyond severity of crime.”  Here are excerpts: In 2010, federal judges deviated below sentencing guidelines in child pornography cases 43 percent of the

In the Name of the (Not) Law

You don’t call the fire department when you put out a candle, and you don’t call the police station when your little brother takes your toy. You don’t make things sound so dramatic because the firefighters and police officers need to be able to respond to actual issues, like real fires and real criminals. While the situations may be different,

In the name of the child

For years, I hear and read how kids supposedly are so immature. I have worked close to children and youth for many years and found that children and young people know much better what they want (or not) as is ascribed to them. The entire discussion concerning [criminal?] accountability is a testimony to this. In Germany, this is at 14

The Evolution of Unconstitutionality in Sex Offender Registration Laws

More is not always better.  Consider sex offender registration laws.  Initially anchored by rational basis, registration schemes have spiraled out of control because legislators, eager to please a fearful public, have been given unfettered freedom by a deferential judiciary. This particular article does not challenge the state’s legislative power to enact sex offender registration laws.  Instead, this piece posits that,even