The Dobbs Wire: Remembering Thomas Pauli

The Dobbs Wire:  Remembering Thomas Pauli.  Winter weather brought Thomas Pauli’s death but the real cause was draconian laws that drive people into poverty, homelessness and hopelessness.  Thomas had a serious scrape with the law many years back and paid a price, serving 11 years in prison.  All that might have moved to the rear view mirror but this was a sex offense.  Special laws apply so he was put on the sex offense registry and faced severe restrictions on where he could live or even get temporary refuge from winter’s wrath.  Thomas’s death did bring some slight changes to…

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The Dobbs Wire: Remembering Thomas Pauli

The Dobbs Wire:  Remembering Thomas Pauli.  Winter weather brought Thomas Pauli’s death but the real cause was draconian laws that drive people into poverty, homelessness and hopelessness.  Thomas had a serious scrape with the law many years back and paid a price, serving 11 years in prison.  All that might have moved to the rear view mirror but this was a sex offense.  Special laws apply so he was put on the sex offense registry and faced severe restrictions on where he could live or even get temporary refuge from winter’s wrath.  Thomas’s death did bring some slight changes to…

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The Dobbs Wire: Plain talking!

The Dobbs Wire:  Plain talking.  Below are a few items with blunt truths, have a look!  If you know of similar material, please send it our way.  And if you or a friend want to join The Dobbs Wire mailing list, send us a note.  –Bill Dobbs, The Dobbs Wire  Email:info@thedobbswire.com  Twitter:  @thedobbswire.com       Here’s something that will tell you quite a bit about the sex offense registry, an official government blacklist:   “Sex offender registration can lead to social disgrace and humiliation, loss of relationships, jobs, and housing, and both verbal and physical assaults. There may be…

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The Dobbs Wire: Five minutes!

The Dobbs Wire:  Do we need the sex offense registry?  Counting registrants, family members and significant others, the number of people directly impacted by sex offense registration laws in the U.S. is estimated at several million.  Every state has had a registry for at least 25 years and politicians continually push for  harsher registration requirements.  These are all good reasons to question the registry.  David Pakman, a political analyst and commentator with a large audience, did some digging.   Have a look at this five minute video and let me know what you think of Pakman’s take!  –Bill Dobbs, The Dobbs…

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The Dobbs Wire: Compare and contrast!

The Dobbs Wire:  Compare and contrast!  Personal history can be inspiring and then there are situations where the past casts a shadow on or even wrecks the future.  Criminal records that might have sat in a courthouse for years gathering dust can now do a lot of damage, it just takes a few keystrokes in the digital age.  There’s increasing public concern about how the past can harm future prospects.  A number of states have enacted laws making sealing and expungement of criminal records easier.  Compare and contrast how media outlets are reckoning with this issue.   Some are changing their…

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The Dobbs Wire: Flashback to 1996

The Dobbs Wire:  Flashback to 1996.  A Massachusetts father writes about his young son — an important matter requiring a trip to the police station.  It’s a powerful, poignant story that the Chicago Tribune published on Dec. 1, 1996.  The father inquires, “What will be done with this information?”  He asked that question shortly after the Massachusetts sex offense registry got rolling, on Oct. 1, 1996.  Massachusetts was the last of the states to create an official blacklist.  This year marks 25 years that every state has had such a registry, a full generation.  After 25 years the ugly name we give…

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The Dobbs Wire: Death Sentence—>Coronavirus in jails and prisons

The Dobbs Wire:  Death Sentence.  Reuters investigated COVID-19 in jails and prisons and has a devastating report, finding coronavirus spread rapidly, authorities had little testing available to track what was happening, and the official number of cases is way off – undercounted.  Kudos to Reuters for a detailed report and shining a spotlight on life inside during a raging pandemic, have a look at their story!  Learn about Charles Peterson, jailed in Colorado and charged with a parole violation involving keeping his sex offense registry listing up to date. Parole, probation and registries come with long lists of rules and, as…

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The Dobbs Wire: Death Sentence—>Coronavirus in jails and prisons

The Dobbs Wire:  Death Sentence.  Reuters investigated COVID-19 in jails and prisons and has a devastating report, finding coronavirus spread rapidly, authorities had little testing available to track what was happening, and the official number of cases is way off – undercounted.  Kudos to Reuters for a detailed report and shining a spotlight on life inside during a raging pandemic, have a look at their story!  Learn about Charles Peterson, jailed in Colorado and charged with a parole violation involving keeping his sex offense registry listing up to date. Parole, probation and registries come with long lists of rules and, as…

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Fwd: The Dobbs Wire: Out of control Prosecution!

The Dobbs Wire:  A case unfolding in Virginia has much to tell us about justice in the U.S.  For crime the legal system provides punishment, usually incarceration.  In cases of sex wrongdoing, after prison time is done and the price is paid, 20 states and the federal government have something extra – laws that allow keeping an individual locked up, often indefinitely, on a hunch, a mere guess that they might break the law in the future.  On the eve of trial for a Virginia gay man, Philip Fornaci and Roger Lancaster spotlight how these ‘civil commitment’ laws can be…

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The Dobbs Wire: Banishment! Patty Wetterling, Jill Levenson and more

The Dobbs Wire:  Banishment!  In the 21st century many localities in the United States use an ancient means to get rid of people who have been stigmatized and are despised, banishment.  More formally and politely known as “residency restrictions,” the desired result of such laws is to drive individuals who are blacklisted — required to sign the sex offense registry — out of their houses and even out of town altogether.  The most infamous example of these awful laws is the encampment of homeless registered persons that sprung up under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in Florida.   In the last several…

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