Category Archive for : ‘ABOUT SEX OFFENDERS’

On the west coast of Florida, in Pinellas County, county tax records and state licensing data are secret weapons for tracking sexual predators.  A massive crime-tracking computer program there dubbed the Enforcer has made it possible for the sheriff’s office to know in an instant whether a sexual offender is living too close to a home day-care center, or whether a sexual predator resides in a hurricane evacuation zone and might end up at a shelter where children roam freely.  The system is so efficient in tracking sexual offenders, some

Governor Pataki went to war with Assemblyman Sheldon Silver yesterday after lawmakers failed to pass a proposal by the governor to keep the state’s most dangerous sex offenders locked up in psychiatric centers after their release from prison.  If a recently freed rapist strikes again, Pataki wants to make one thing clear: It’s going to be Sheldon Silver’s fault.

(Albany, New York)

City Councilman Eric Gioia has begun pushing for tougher punishments for sex offenders who hide their addresses from law enforcement.  Under the state Megan’s Law, a sex offender is charged with a misdemeanor the first time he or she fails to notify officials of a current address.  The charge jumps to a felony only for a second violation.  Gioia argues that it should be one strike and you’re out.

(New York)

February 1998

Casa Alianza, a large non-profit working with street children in Latin America, has announced a new phase of cooperation with the FBI and the US Justice Department to catch American child sexual abusers in Central America.  According to Title 18, Section 2423, a federal statute in the US, it is a crime for any American citizen to travel abroad with the intent to sexually abuse children.  Sentences can be up to 10 years of imprisonment plus fines of US$ 250,000.

Offenders use every advantage to influence prospective victims.  They are bigger and stronger and they know children are taught to obey adults.  They may pretend to be a police officer or some other trustworthy person who children are taught to respect.  Even when children are in a safe and healthy home environment, they are curious, they are easily influenced and manipulated.  In the vast majority of reported cases of sexual abuse involving children, the predator is someone the child knows – often a family member.

There are crimes known as nuisance offenses such as, a peeping Tom, a guy who goes around exposing himself, a burglar with a fetish or shoes or women’s underwear.  These are considered harmless criminals.  But keep in mind that in a sizable percentage of cases, there is a likelihood that the crimes will escalate to something more serious.  This isn’t just a phase he’s going through, you’ve got to apprehend the offender early on.  He maybe working himself up to something much worse.