Yup just like with Couey and Lundsford - you can just about count on it. Also, the thing I cannot figure out about this case is that with all these other incidents with this guy and he just got out of jail he would have had a ankle bracelet in Florida - no mention of that.

Advocate2,

In most of these cases, the perpetrator has been someone who has been in and out of jail all his life. They are usually career criminals but they have never committed a crime serious enough to be kept in prison for life.

Most all are mentally ill. At some point they just completely lose it and top off their career in crime with the rape, kidnapping and murder of an innocent child.

I have known guys like this. In prison me and several other inmates used to play spades and dirty hearts with a guy who murdered three teenagers, stuffed their bodies in the trunk of a car, then burned the car. Most of the time he was totally normal, considerate, and respectful. But once in a while, his evil nature came out. He would cuss, scream, and think up elaborate plans to harm the other inmates. Five minutes later he was fine again.

Obviously he was mentally ill, as are a good percentage of all inmates you see in a medium security prison.

I suspect that some of these perpetrators were similar to this guy in prison as far as mindset.

rewdiazepam

Man I bet that would freak you guys out!

Ok. Fine. So WHAT are we as a group going to do about it? HOW do we educate the public?

Well I for one am working on a book

Advocate, you should advertise the book to everyone on this forum. Post something on every thread and just to be sure we read it, PM everyone too...LOL

Dsmom12345,

Of course you are asking the $64,000 question. I don’t have all the answers, but I will give you my opinions and observations.

You asked, “How do we educate them?”

Some people you will NEVER educate. Many people’s view of the world is based only what they see and hear on television; most never read a newspaper or any unbiased publication. I call these people WILLFULLY IGNORANT because they are not curious and they don’t wan to learn. They are much like sheeple in that they just go with the flow and believe what they are told.

Then there are Americans who have common sense but just do not care. It does not really bother them that much that all sex offenders are placed in one group because it does not directly affect them or their family. They just don’t care. They may agree that the registry is not working, but they don’t care. They have more pressing problems to worry about than if sex offenders are being treated fairly.

Then there are the registrants and their families, a small percentage who have bee affected by these sex offender laws and realize that they are misguided.

You can forget about the willfully ignorant. They are a lost cause. They are in their own little world and nothing short of a personal tragedy will change them.

Education is the key. We need lobbyists for our cause. Private prisons have lobbyists, the oil companies have lobbyists, GPS companies have lobbyists. They all lobby for their interests, which is keeping people within the chains of the criminal justice system. Well, we don’t have lobbyist because we don’t have money.

This is the main reason that victim’s rights became such a pressing issue and the rights of defendants or the civil rights of those convicted were put on the back burner.

Long ago and even now, groups like MADD and victim’s groups had lobbyists (along with the private prisons) that sought out these lawmakers to address their interests. They had an organized plan---and they had spokesman who could influence the legislators. The criminal defendants never had that kind of organization, so their rights just fell by the wayside.

Education is the key, and since we cannot afford something like a group of lobbyists, the onus is on us, the offenders, registrants, and families of registrants to be the lobbyists and inform the public of the true nature of the registry and sex offenders in general.

We can discuss all we want here, but it is preaching to the choir. Nothing really gets accomplished by talking here, yet it is important for us to keep a dialogue amongst ourselves.

I attempt educate every day. Every day I talk to someone who has little idea about the registry or its intended purpose. Most everyone I talk to has the false idea that almost all the offenders on the registry have offenses against children---child molesters. The general public also thinks that everyone on the registry is very likely to reoffend (or why else would they be on the registry?). So I try to inform them that they have been misled.

One of the BEST methods to making people understand that sex offenders are not monsters is for a registrant to present himself in a dignified and respectful manner.
People see actions much faster than they do words.

If a registrant is always seen with a scowl on his face, being loud or obnoxious, or appears threatening in any way, the public will see him as the media portrays sex offenders---as a bunch of strange acting perverts.

Have I been able to change some people’s minds? Sure. Have some people just dismissed my message? Of course. But if I can educate just one out of the ten people I talk to, that is a start.

But people never ridicule me because most of the people in this area like me. I am respectful, well-mannered, and never appear menacing. People like that. I don’t know how many people, after talking with me a few minutes, say to me, “My God. How did you ever get on the registry?” That usually gives me the opening to tell them more.

Physical appearance is also important. I see registrants appear at the sheriff's office that look like pure, unadulterated trash. Their clothes look like they have never been washed, they need a shave or to keep their facial hair neatly trimmed, and they obviously have not seen the water in the shower for several days.
People see this and judge because of this. None of us are rich, but we can look clean and neat.

Registrants need to let people know who you really are. Educate through appearance and mannerisms. Be nice to others.

Be nice and respectful. It is very difficult for people to keep treating someone badly if he appears to be a nice person.

This registry will never end until enough people are educated and the lawmakers realize that all these regulations, especially for minor non-contact sex crimes, are not popular among their constituents. When this happens, there will be a tipping point and some of this madness will stop---but not until then, not until politicians realize that they can no longer procure votes by only being “tough on sex offenders.”

Plus we need ideas from other people on these boards. Everyone is involved here and this is a great place to share our thoughts.

rewdiazepam

ROFL!!! LOL

So how much does it cost to hire lobbyists?

I don't know how much it would cost to hire a lobbyist, but it is more than we could afford, I am sure.

As I said, lobbyists are the main reason groups that are so pro-victim and groups like MADD became so influencial. They basically argued their point of view to the lawmakers and to the public.

I can almost guarantee you that is we has a strong lobby presence, the laws would be much more favorable to sex offenders and registrants.

We have little or no money, so we need to do our own advocating, with leaders and people who are not afraid to speak up and for speakers who can think outside the box.

I don't have all the answers, but educating the public and the people responsible for making these laws is the key.

rewdiazepam

Just doing a quick search it looks like $5000.00 per month is a common starting price for a professional lobbyist.

http://tinyurl.com/kmr228f

Given the situations for many on here many of the most powerful tools for a "grass roots" approach like Facebook and Twitter are not available to us and even if they were, they are open platforms which means having to deal with the Valigators out there as well trying to get the real message out.

There's also the problem that as a general rule saying I'm an RSO is another way of saying "I have no money".

To me it also seems like there's a lack of communication between groups like a group in California has no idea what a group in Pennsylvania is doing. I think there needs to be something better in this area so groups aren't having to re-invent the wheel every time.

None of this is meant to shoot down ideas, I'm just thinking out loud and trying to define some issues.

Ok, I sould contribute more here anyway. For awhile at least, Nebraskan's Unafraid had their own person doing some lobbying, haven't been keeping up with that situation. https://sites.google.com/site/nebraskansunafraid/. I can ask what RSOL's position is on lobbyist's, probably the same thing, sure, great, if we had a TON of extra money. I do like the trend in thinking though, what can WE do..seems like there are TONS of people in this movement (not saying here.) that like to post woe is me stories. Well, it's true, it IS bad..the question I was asked years ago was, what are you going to do about it?

Educate, litigate, legislate. That, and Show up, stand up, speak up are my state RSOL's mottos. We need a LOT of people and resources in this fight, EVERYBODY brings something to the table if they choose to be committed to ending this. All from PRAYER, to ACTIVE activism, and everything in between. There are a lot of organization in this fight now, RSOL, W.A.R., SOSEN, USA FAIR, goes on and on. We NEED to be, and show a united, cohesive front, with a strong leader. I've said this before gang, we don't know, nobody does, where and when the soft underbelly of the dragon will present itself, but I'm hoping it will someday. There's going to be setbacks in this cause, tragedies, sure. We have to ride those out. We have to let 'THEM' know this is not indicative or representative of us, people who have made some sort of mistake, paid for it, and are trying to move on.

With the rest of everything that's going on with our government, and the US, I'm afraid that our fight and struggle is just a SMALL part of what's ailing America now. We have so much to deal with as a people now..

I'll leave with this quote, from Stephen King, in his Gunslinger novels, a quote from Roland of Gilead.

"Stand and be true."

mtlc.......From what i am hearing, lobbyist run into the hundreds of thousands... at least 75-100k to even start thinking about it. so my radical idea is to get up a scholorship fund to train our own... recruit and educate a lobbiest or two from within our ranks..they can give us a cut rate or their services because of course we will still need to pay them.

Could we find an established lobbyist that has been working on human rights issues to intern under? probably yes...could we get our members to donate to this fund? i don't know - like to think so...Is it a stupid idea that has no chance in hell of reality?.....you all tell me cause i don't even pretend to think i know what I'm talking about.

Jackie, I think your idea sounds good. I don't know much about anything, but I think some of us would pledge some money monthly to get this done. Rew? would you be a lobbyist?