8/7/2019 Cops Get Federal Funding on the Backs of Maine Sex Offenders

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Prison Reform, Sex Offender Registry, Maine Department of Corrections, Byrne JAG funds, sexting, onlinepornography, jttps://www.moodyreport.wordpress.com

Cops Get Federal Funding on the Backs of Maines Sex Offenders

February 5, 2011

Author: Stan Moody

On Friday, February 4, I received a phone call that still has me fuming. Itwas a wife, mother and school bus driver in a little town in Maine. She was sodistraught that she could barely speak.

Her husband, some 25 years ago at age 20, had been convicted of a sexoffense, had done jail time, community service and probation. At the time of theirmarriage, they discussed the issue thoroughly but decided they could work togetherto build their own version of the American Dream despite the obstacles.

Their dream has turned into a nightmare as the result of quasi sex registry

names for sale to the Federal government. Byrne Justice Assistance Grants (JAG)to states and municipalities will be cut by 10% for failure to comply with Federalsex offender registry laws.

In December, 2009, the Maine Judicial Supreme Court handed down anopinion (State v. Latalien) that Maine law, which required a retroactive registry forall convicted sex offenders going back to 1982, was unconstitutional on severalfronts.

The court struck down the automatic lifetime registry for sex offenders, the90-day in-person update requirement and retroactivity in all but the mostdangerous cases.

The damage is already done. The sex offender registry in Maine is the mostpopular Internet site for Maine State Government. My caller wears her husbands

Scarlet Letter every day in their small community. They used up their savingshiring attorneys. While he has been exempted, his name has not yet been removedfrom the list.

He will not be able to attend their daughters high school graduation.The Byrne JAG funds in Maine amount to around $3.5 million annually. The

Town of Madison is purchasing police radios with the funds. The Town ofWinslow recently purchased a new patrol car and security cameras at its offices

with JAG funds.There are 716,750 registered sex offenders in the US, and that number isincreasing daily. What began under federal law as 39 original offenses has now

blossomed to 189, including urinating in public, streaking, possession of childpornography, sexting, exposure and molestation. False accusations by an angry ex-wife or girlfriend, rape, solicitation and on-line sexual chat have joined the registry

requirements.

8/7/2019 Cops Get Federal Funding on the Backs of Maine Sex Offenders

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Prison Reform, Sex Offender Registry, Maine Department of Corrections, Byrne JAG funds, sexting, onlinepornography, jttps://www.moodyreport.wordpress.com

States are now required to implement Title 1 of the Adam Walsh Act(SORNA Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act) or lose 10% of itsByrne JAG funds. For Maine, that would mean losing around $350,000 a year.

The State of Maryland will lose some $600,000 in JAG funds for failing toregister sex offenders as young as 14 for the rest of their lives. With states facingthe biggest budget crisis in their histories, every penny is precious.

Contrary to popular opinion, sex offender recidivism ranks the lowest of all

offenses less than 10% for those with counseling and rehabilitation, as opposedto 2/3 of those re-entering for probation and parole violations and re-offenses.There are documented studies showing that the registry does not protect one childor adult from offense. In fact, the preponderance of sex offenses are by peopleknown by the family, suggesting that family training could be a key factor inreducing sexual violence. That might be a better way to spend the 10% JAG funds.

As with my caller, the collateral damage to families wives, husbands and

children is beyond repair. The tendency to want to move away from a communityonly makes the matter worse, as it opens the family to new scrutiny and publichysteria. In Maine, a procedure is now in place to apply for removal of namesapplied retroactively, but that opens the door to another round of public scrutiny,subjecting families to more shame. Removal of names ostensibly threatens theJAG funds by loosening the legal restraints.

The cop culture that we have created in America by transferring the dangerof extreme cases to the average suburban family is not to be blamed for grabbingall the funds it can get. What profession wouldnt grab all the funds available? Atsome point, however, the nation with 5% of the worlds population and 25% of its

prisoners has to get a grip on reality.We cannot legislate danger out of existence by locking up anyone and

everyone who poses a threat. Parents need to accept responsibility for the safety oftheir children by being vigilant and aware that every social situation has the

potential to harm a child, including a happy marriage.Children are harmed not by someone on the sex registry but by someone

whom a parent has trusted but not tested and tried.