Sex Offender Laws & Treatment
There’s Hope Even for Sex Offenders
Tue, 2012-04-03 00:00 +0000 — Chris Dornin- --The war on sex offenders makes sense only within a large historical context. My generation grew up practicing air raid drills in classrooms where the teachers made us crawl under our desks in case the real thing took out Cleveland or Buffalo. Neighbors were stocking their bomb shelters with canned goods and ammunition. We lived through the Cuban Missile crisis unsure if hour by hour the human race would survive.
Sex Offender Management Bill Passes Senate: Hearing April 3 in House Criminal Justice Committee
Sat, 2012-03-24 00:00 +0000 — Chris DorninBy Chris Dornin, founder, CCJR, 603-620-7946
The Senate this month approved SB 277 by overwhelming voice vote to create a blue ribbon commission of all the key stakeholders to study sex offender policies in depth, arguably for the first time. The bill received strong support in Senate Judiciary Committee, reaching the Senate floor with a 5-0 vote of endorsement.
Sex Offender Laws are Based on Rage and Fear
Mon, 2012-03-12 00:00 +0000 — Chris DorninBy Chris Dornin This article also appears in corrections.com.
Nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford was kidnapped from her Florida home, raped and buried alive in February 2005. Lawmakers filed the 82-page Jessica Lunsford Act in her memory on April 1. Gov. Jeb Bush signed the new law on May 2. That’s light speed for any legislature. It passed unanimously in both houses. The most draconian sex offender code in America at the time had a mandatory 25-year minimum sentence for any sex crime against a child under age 12. The bid was life without parole for perpetrators older than 17.
Why Caylee’s Law is a Bad Idea
Wed, 2012-02-15 00:00 +0000 — Chris DorninBy Chris Dornin & Philip Horner
It is often said that hard cases make for bad law. But lawmakers feel huge pressure to do something when crimes arouse public indignation. This something is usually to enact ill-conceived laws. If your only tool is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. These feel-good laws are often well-meaning, but some politicians see an egregious crime as an opportunity to make political hay by sponsoring a bill named after the victim. Every year the New Hampshire Legislature is presented with several such bills. This year is no exception.
