Category Archive for : ‘ABOUT SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS’

This summer, Suffolk County will embark on a program that will use global positioning system technology to more closely monitor a wide range of chronic abusers who commit serious and violent crimes.  Suffolk plans to place GPS ankle bracelets on convicted sex offenders, repeat DWI offenders, drug users and dealers, and the perpetrators of spousal abuse.  The devices will provide monitoring 24 hours a day, giving probation officers minute by minute reports of an offender’s exact location.

Laura Ahearn of Parents for Megan’s Law praised the use of GPS but

In the triangle defined by Northport to the west, Wading River to the east, and Middle Country to the south, there are at least 22 level 3 sex offenders, the highest risk level for reoffending living in the area.  Just knowing where they live is an important step in protecting yourself and your family from harm.  Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law (PFML), the nationwide children’s sexual abuse advocacy group headquartered in Stony Brook, explained one reason why knowing that convicted sex offenders are living locally is

Suffolk Life/Michelle Pirraglia

Suffolk County is about to launch a pilot program to study the effectiveness of GlobalPositioning System monitoring for those on probation, with legislation passing last week to includeall sex offenders as potential subjects for the study.

According to Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s law, there are currentlybetween 275 and 300 sex offenders on probation in Suffolk County. We’re very encouraged by thisstudy, Ahearn said, emphasizing the importance of including level one offenders in the mix. Theprocess of risk assessment doesn’t always work out. You can have a

Putnam County legislators have approved a bill to limit where convicted sex offenders can go.  The measure, passed Tuesday night, still must be signed by the county executive.  It would bar offenders from living, working or spending time within 2,500 feet of places where children congregate, including schools, bus stops, child-care facilities, nature preserves, parks, playgrounds and recreational facilities.  Also off limits would be multifamily residences and housing developments with 10 or more homes on less than a third of an acre.

Lawmakers debated whether sex offenders should be given longer minimum sentences – or whether that would only force more cases to go to trial, putting more young victims on the witness stand to relive what happened to them.  By the end of the day Monday, the House backed increasing the mandatory minimum for second offenders from 10 years to 25 years in prison.  The House advanced the bill to third reading.  If approved by the House today, the bill would go to the Senate.  The bill is House Bill 140.

City leaders in Alvin tell Eyewitness News they will vote on a new ordinance limiting how close registered sex offenders can live near schools, playgrounds and even video arcades.  If passed, the ordinance would give the city more power than the state now allows to regulate where registered sex offenders will live.

(Alvin, Texas)