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Sex Offenders Locked Up on a Hunch

The essence of the American criminal justice system is reactive, not predictive: You are punished for the crime you committed. You can’t be punished simply because you might commit one someday. You certainly can’t be held indefinitely to prevent that possibility. And yet that is exactly what is happening to about 5,000 people convicted of sex crimes around the country. This population, which nearly doubled in the last decade, has completed prison sentences but remains held in what is deceptively called civil commitment — the practice of keeping someone locked up in an institution for months, years or even decades for…

Prominent voices chime in on Twitter

Lots of folks are talking about the abusive, homophobic, and blatantly unconstitutional use of pre-crime preventative detention laws in Virginia. Here we have aggregated some prominent voices expressing their outrage on Twitter. ⁦.⁦@MarkHerringVA⁩ has made exceptionally strong statements on ways to improve our criminal justice system. Civil commitment, however, is an area where Va law and enforcement is an injustice and a violation of civil rights. Here’s a prime example: https://t.co/7kVW1wDSIg — Patrick Hope (@HopeforVirginia) August 24, 2019 All the power to you for trying to undo this great injustice https://t.co/SPw4aKEkWr — Arax (@araxkl_arax) September 20, 2019 Another injustice. Help…

Second appearance on Crossroads Radio WPFW 89.3FM

Pre-crime preventative detention was the focus of a second hour-long conversation on the Crossroads Radio show hosted by Roach Brown and Nkechi Taifa on WPFW 89.3FM, known as “Washington’s station for jazz and justice” Click Play to listen to Garnett Robins- Baughman and Bernida Thompson talk about how their families have been directly impacted by these Kafkaesque systems and their work with Just Future Project. Garnett and Bernida were joined by Phil Fornaci, a prominent civil rights attorney based in Washington DC, to describe the abusive and unconstitutional application of these laws — especially highlighting the case of Galen Baughman in…

LGBTQ coalition letter to Virginia attorney general Mark Herring re: Galen Baughman

No one should be imprisoned for imaginary future crimes. Virginia’s repeated attempts to commit one young gay man illustrates the absurdity and dangerousness of the states ability to lock someone away for what they might do in the future.

On July 26, 2018, a coalition of more than 100 LGBTQ rights organizations, civil rights advocates, law professors, and concerned citizens of Virginia endorsed a letter to Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring calling on him to end the homophobic prosecution of Galen Baughman and meet with representatives of the coalition to discuss how Virginia is abusing its pre-crime preventative detention statute.

Understanding Desistance from Sexual Offending: A Thematic Review of Research Findings

http://ww1.ajustfuture.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Understanding_Desistance_from_Sexual_Offending_Final_accepted_and_version_April_2015.pdf Following up from the article on the same topic in the last TLP edition, Farmer, Mark, McAlinden, A.M., & Maruna, S., “Understanding Desistance from Sexual Offending: A Thematic Review of research Findings,” 62(4) Probation Journals 320-35 (2015), provides these confirmatory, insightful excerpts: “There is no longer any debate in the field… that criminality is a pattern of behavior from which most individuals eventually desist. For non-sexual offenders this is illustrated by the ‘age/crime curve’ (e.g., Farrington, 1986; Sampson and Laub, 2003), which broadly demonstrates that crime is mainly committed by people in their teens and twenties, after which…

Hudson man charged with attacking sex offender with ax

11-22-17 Wisconsin: Authorities allege a rural Hudson man on Tuesday attacked a sex offender for the second time since 2016 — this time going after a convict with an ax. The suspect, Brad A. Couet-Kamrath, alleged broke down the door of a sex offender’s apartment, then struck him with the blunt end of an ax, according to a criminal complaint. Prosecutors charged Couet-Kamrath with three felonies in connection with the Nov. 21 incident: first-degree recklessly endangering safety aggravated battery and bail jumping. He’s also charged with misdemeanor criminal property damage. According to the complaint: St. Croix County sheriff’s deputies were…

Man accused of setting fire to sex offender’s house in Jefferson County

8-20-17 Alabama: The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday an arrest in connection with a house fire earlier this summer. Jessie Lessley, 35, of Robinwood, is charged with second-degree arson. Lessley is accused of burning a home in the 400 block of 10th Street on July 31. Authorities said he was reportedly spotted running from the rear of the home just before the fire brokeout. An arrest warrant was issued on Aug. 14 after the state fire marshal investigated. Lessley was booked into jail and later released on a $15,000 bond. ..Source.. Go to Source Author: iVoicism The opinions expressed…

Jared Fogle Beaten and Bloodied in Prison Yard Ambush

3-16-2016 Colorado: Jared Fogle, 39, got a surprise beatdown in federal prison from an inmate who has major issues with child molesters … TMZ has learned. According to docs, Fogle got jumped in the rec yard at Englewood prison in Colorado back on January 29, and it was not much of a fight. An inmate named Steven Nigg pushed Fogle down and then unloaded a barrage of punches to his face. Nigg, who’s in for a weapons charge, left Fogle with a bloody nose, swollen face and scratches on his neck. 60-year-old Nigg was also injured — a small cut…

Man charged for attacking sex offenders greeted as a hero by some

8-3-16 Alaska: ANCHORAGE (KTUU) It’s not often that someone handcuffed, in shackles, and facing a Superior Court judge on felony assault and robbery charges is greeted as a hero. But Jason Vukovich was last week, at least by some from a distance. Little about the case against him is ordinary. The 41-year-old is accused of using the state government sex offender registry to find his alleged victims, three men previously convicted of sex offenses ranging from possession of child pornography to attempted sex abuse of a minor. All three served prison terms but were still required to report their home…