You are not nuts, it is very confusing. My son is currently serving 15 years in federal prison for possession and distribution of child pornography. Before this, never even a traffic ticket. He was charged in 2 states because one of the people he had email contact with lived in another state. He got 10 years here (NY State) and 15 in Montana. The only saving grace is that the judge allowed the sentences to run concurrent. My sons was a non contact crime. Due to his medical issues, he will probably die in prison. Reading about a**holes like Hoppner makes my blood boil.
I agree with you, there needs to be some changes, there needs to be a distinction.

1st of all '"high risk" is often whatever they say "high risk" is and not connected to actual facts or how much a person has matured and changed since he was charged and convicted so.... Just because the police and law enforcement release a scary picture and info of what someone DID before they were in prison which then causes the (residency) hotel where he was to live to (maybe his parole plan in order to even get out ?) so law enforcement gets the hotel to decide NOT to accept him in the wake of the publicity about his release (which came from the police department along with the scary looking picture) that does not say anything except the police in that town didn't want him there...not matter what sort of 'crime' he was convicted of... and does does more time goes to live under some bridge of instead...? The but for the grace of some "higher power" goes your son too...

Your son is going to have to have a parole package and a place to live someday when he gets out no matter that his child porn offense conviction was...As long as the conviction involved what you refer to as "real physical attacks" against "Children"...(which is what the police "say"...so the police could mess your son over too when your son has to have someplace to live and can't live with you in your neighborhood...because the Registry says your son has to reside n some hotel far away form children it's the inclusion of the word "Child" that does the damage. contact crime or not..

It may not be fair but that is the way it is. But it does no good to slice and dice and say some one is less of and offender so be meaner to someone else than to me and mine...Secvi...Welcome to the Twilight Zone...the hardest thing is realizing that the system we always thought was there to help and rehabilitate and maybe even welcome our family member back once he served his time is not what we thought it was all the time before this happened and we had to realize that the system is equally "unfair" to "perpetrators" family and victims alike...maybe especially upon "re-entry"

Kittyk96 I am sorry to hear about your son. I truly feel your pain.

Janetmakie you make some very valid points. You're right the system is broken. These offenders need treatment and then deserve a second chance. We agree on that.

We most certainly can slice and dice. I live in the town where they are releasing this monster. I don't want him near me or my family. My son would not want to be near this man.

There are offenders that need to be kept in cages. My son was addicted to porn. The thought of harming a child or any human being never crossed his mind. Just because my son is an S.O. does mean that I have to embrace all of them. They are different and there are degrees.

There is a huge difference between contact and non-contact.

Having said all of that, I know that we have to take care of this man somehow. Just throwing him out into the woods is wrong. I happen to live right near where the transients live. This is a dumping ground for them. It's a sad situation.

I apologize for calling this man a monster. Forgive me as I am still new to this experience and I am hurting. I am trying to have compassion.

Seciv, I feel your pain as well. This is not an easy journey by any stretch of the imagination. Just remember, you are not alone.

Seciv: : You say "There is a huge difference between contact and non-contact." Well, Just to play devils advocate here (you know for the sake of argument.)..you say your son was addicted to child porn..but his 'addiction" didn't actually harm anyone...except he was watching and paying for and addicted to watching some fairy sexual terrible things being done to children for his watching pleasure?

There are some people who post on this site who remember being used and photographed for the purpose of producing and distributing Child porn...Their humiliations are still out there to be viewed and purchased and occasionally one of those "unharmed children" gets afraid that someone might recognize their now grown up face and make their grown up life just another post-script humiliation tacked onto the child porn video still available.for addictive-viewing on line.....

I don't really have a magic solution here, no correct pecking order for sex offenses.... No one here on Daily Strength wants ANY child to be harmed in ANY way shape or form. Period. All sentences are way too long, Prison is harmful especially for young guys like your son. No one gets the therapy/ help they hoped/ believed the system would provide...They don't even get real protections in prison or on the Registry...after all we all are subject to be googled ....We just try to be here for each other .There is enough judging, shaming, blaming and name calling "out there" to last an entire lifetime yet t all of us remember a time when we too thought "once a monster always a monster"

Until our loved one was sliced and diced and labeled by the system, then we understood the value of holding hands and reaching out and advocating for restorative justice and ..You too now know of a place to come to on Daily Strength where we all can say whatever we needed to say and still be accepted.whether we are politically correct or not...
So welcome friend. ..

Kittyk96 thank you :)

Janetmakie very well said. I hear you. I'm no expert and I don't have the solution. I know that my son and other viewers of CP are commiting a crime and there are victims. My son knows this as well and the images will haunt him forever. I am not excusing his actions.

Yes, our energy is best spent on loving our family member and fighting for change. Once they have paid thier debt to society they should be allowed to join it.

Thank you for the welome.

Seciv:

Your views are normal and there is a lot behind all of this that not everyone understands.

I am one of those victims of CP. I was also raped as a teenager.

I was in a relationship with a guy who was convicted of CP.

I have a good friend who is falsely convicted of CP, a friend who is falsely convicted of sexual assault against a child and another good friend who is falsely convicted of child molestation. I know many who are rightly convicted as well.

The thing about all of this is, contact or non-contact, there was still contact at some point. I do believe CP sentences are way out of hand and quite ridiculous. Most are, like your son and my recent mate, addicted to porn and it goes further than it should.

I hope you can see, we are all in this together. Contact or non-contact we all have people affected by this and we all support one another. I personally have called very few offenders monsters, but that is just me. You have every right to how you are feeling. We all do. We are all angry at this system because it makes no sense and only creates more victims.

I truly hope you can find the support you need, here or elsewhere. You are not alone.

Welcome to the boards, I'm happy you found us but I'm sorry for the reason.

Seciv: Yes, I agree, "Our energy is best spent on loving our family member and fighting for change.
Did you know The department of Justice has just declared April 24-30 the first ever National Re-entry Week? (see link below) But please read my pitch for unity ...(LOL)

We all want our loved one to come home somday and not have their parole plan blown up for lack of support planning> We all NEED a path to re-entry and need to support advocates of Re-entry on the 'outside" Even though many Advocacy groups are reluctant to Include anyone Labeled "Sex Offender" in their list of prisoners they wish to includein their Re-entry efforts (case in point the situation that started this entire discussion ( http://patch.com/california/petalum... )

How many of us on Daily strength have worried about the safety of our loved ones inside the prison given the "politically correct" pecking Order (shades of Blame?) prejudices in and out side of prisons...and find to our sorrow that there are very few National Advocacy organizations willing to "link" themselves with support for Sex Offender Re-entry....

SO... here is a real opportunity to link ourselves to "them" become part of their movement and maybe, in the process, broaden their (and our) focus and bring hope to those families commenting on Daily Strength that even loved ones with crazy-long sentences might find hope for re-entry if we just push things along out here on the outside?

SO, Tah! Dah! the link to bringing your son and many others home...

justicevoices@googlegroups.com on behalf of Re-entry


The department of Justice has just declared April 24-30 the first ever National Re-entry Week. and Justice Voices sees this as an opportunity for opinion pieces , news stories and social media to draw attention to ‘re-entry’ I just got this from ward@voicesforciviljustice.org. My email is screwed up right now or I would just forward the whole thing to you but maybe this is an opportunity for members who have experienced “re-entry” or organizations providing re-entry help to high light their stories/ efforts ?
Just passing this along in hopes it helps someone also linked is DoJ office of Access to Justice case study on re-entry http://voicesforciviljustice.org/ is the link or you can post to the newsletter / the group justicevoices@google groups.com

And while I'm at it some people who read Daily Strength are struggling with issues of fashioning re-entry plans for a loved one "committed to some state or federal Civil Commitment Facility aka Prison) And while we might (wrongly) want to see ourselves as further up on the politically correct pecking order from "Those people" As Labels morph and any one labeled "Child" Pornographer, CP addict/ Child molester/ Baby raper/ No hope Pedophile / Dangerous Child Predator / forever and always "Dangerous Monster" no one wants to welcome back home...EVER. (When your neighborhood was flier-ed has anyone ever come across the street to welcome back someone we love?) Just saying...

All of us might like some support to hope that someday their own loved one might need a reentry "plan" crafted to free them from the living death Prejudice hand Hate Speech prepared (labels and the Words) we all used to use so unthinkingly until we too heard the police knock on our door. These are Labels that justify sentencing family members to live behind bars in Incarceration Nation...with No Exit but Death

Other media articles have described this offender, this (retracted) monster, as developmentally disabled. That was my first thought upon seeing the mugshot and reading about the behavior pattern.

What this mentally challenged person did is touch / grab the buttocks of several women and one 15 year old girl in broad daylight in public. In a sane society such a person would get the help they obviously need. In this country all kinds of people want him locked up for life for that.

That sentences for CP are so completely out of whack does not make this guy someone who should be locked in a cage for the rest of his life. Two wrongs do not make a right.

And since you are adamant about not wanting this young man near you or near your family you will, no doubt, be most understanding of public sentiment towards your son when he gets out of prison.

What all of us on Daily Strength can probably agree upon is that had this (retarded) youngster had more support and a better re-entry plan he might have made it to the 'free world' ( and supervision on the Registry) freedom..right now he is probably back in prison hoping to be able to get out since he does have a parole but his plan went south. I think this also demonstrates how common "labels" / "Dangerous child Sex Offender" used by law enforcement (and certainly by the prosecutor who sent him to prison, ruined his chances to succeed on parole... And at what cost to us all...Every time someone is "Trashed" like this by society's prejudices, fear escalates and we all suffer no matter what the actual situation/ culpability of any one of us tying to rebuild our families and our lives...

KnowNot - Thank you for sharing your story with me. I appreciate your kind and and wise words.

Janetmakie - Wise words indeed. Thank you for the link. I am joining the movement.

Dixon73 - You're right this man needs help. You are also right that my son will be viewed as a monster to most people. Thanks to you and the others here I am starting to understand a bit more. I posted because I needed help to understand this new world that I have been thrown info. You have helped me. Thank you.

Originally I was quite dejected if even the people on this site cannot see past the government rhetoric and media propaganda. Good to hear your view is changing.

You mention living in the Bay Area. You may want to consider joining California RSOL. They are one of the more active groups in the country and have made an impact. Not enough, but an impact.

They hold monthly meetings up and down the state. Upcoming dates are April 16, Los Angeles and May 14, Berkeley. If nothing else you will meet others and learn from them about this new world. You are far from alone.

http://californiarsol.org/2016/03/ca-rsol-meetings-april-16-los-angeles-and-may-7-berkeley/

While 10 years out seems a long time, that is also a long time to affect change. One of their main focus areas is fighting residency restrictions (which will, again, be introduced later this month in Sacramento after having been declared unconstitutional - eye roll). Never too early to get involved to make sure your son is not forced to live under the same bridge as this guy. Because he is homeless at this point.

All the best.

And just to add to Dixon72's clarifications look what words they use to describe Johnathan Michael Hoppner ( Sexual Predator Hoppner) upon release when Dixon73 points out the what this mentally challenged person (ACTUALLY DID ) was "to touch / grab the buttocks of several women and one 15 year old girl in broad daylight in public. just check this out...Words the words we chose can destroy...even kill as the police warning that no one should actually beat the person up. (because the police already did that!) ... And check out his before and after imprisonment pictures...No laughing matter...Cali RSOL does good work. They are the chapter (along with the National RSOL) challenging the Intenational Megans Law which makes us all place a big red S on all passports ...no matter what (just like the Jews in Nazi germany has big Yellow J's stamped on their passports!) but then I rant...sorry

Sexual Predator Hoppner's Early Release Exposes ...
loosecannononboard.com/jonathan-michael-hoppner/
2 days ago - Bryan Voight doesn't think the laws regulating the release of sexual predators are nearly strong enough. Jonathan Michael Hoppner is one

Thank you again Dixon73 and Janetmakie. I actully have joined RSOL recently. As you can tell, I have a lot to learn. I will do my best to attend the May 14 meeting.

The passport law is sickening and I want to do my part to fight it.

Thanks again for your wisdom.