Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Monday, June 11, 2007

Are Juvenile Sex Offenders On the Rise?

• 40 percent increase seen in offenses by juveniles in past 20 years
• Psychologists blame society rife with sexuality and violence
• Skeptics attribute statistical increase to more awareness, better reporting
• Large number of young offenders were themselves victims of abuse

STOCKTON, California (AP) -- Courts have seen the number of sex offense cases involving juvenile offenders rise dramatically in recent years, an Associated Press review of national statistics found, and treatment professionals say the offenders are getting younger and the crimes more violent.

Some psychologists blame the increase in numbers -- 40 percent over two decades -- on a society saturated with sex and violence and the fact that many of the accused were themselves victims of adult sexual predators.

Others say there aren't more children committing such crimes, simply more awareness, better reporting and a general hysteria about sex offenders.

CNN

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Times have changed - Kids swatting kids on butts = sex offender - Innocent Child curiosity = sex offenders, adolescents engaging in consensual sex before age 16 = sex offenders, 17 year olds and 15 year old= sex offender. Ask yourself, WHY ARE JUVENILE SEX OFFENDERS ON THE RISE? Why are registries growing at alarming rates? WAKE UP!
Sign petition at, REFORM SEX OFFENDER LAWS: http://www.reformsexoffenderlaws.org/
Save a child from true danger - getting labeled an ADULT SEX OFFENDER TILL DEATH
Ethical Treatment for all Youth - http://www.ethicaltreatment.org/criminalization.htm

Anonymous said...

http://www.ethicaltreatment.org/criminalization.htm
CRIMINALIZATION OF CHILDHOOD SEXUALITY

As previously shown, the language used to label children who behave in a sexual manner typically confuses indecent or socially inappropriate behavior with coercion and violence.4 It is one thing to prohibit such behavior and discipline children for it. It is quite another to describe almost any sexual activity among children, even when it is mutually desired, as “molestation,” “abuse,” “assault,” and “rape.” Such language is a slap in the face to those children who have been truly victimized by real abuse. It also misleads the public into thinking that all children who act sexually are dangerous and merit criminal charges.

Anonymous said...

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/LegalCenter/story?id=2785054&page=1
PRISON TIME FOR VIEWING PORN? A Teenage Boy Faces Decades in Prison For Visiting Sexually Explicit Web Sites -- But Was It Really Someone Else?
Police officers stormed into the house with guns pointed. "The first thing I thought was, someone's trying to break in our house," Matthew said. "And then there [were] police officers with guns pointed at me, telling me to get downstairs."

Greg Bandy was handed the search warrant and informed that the central suspect was Matthew. According to the warrant, nine images of young girls in suggestive poses were found on the Bandy family computer. Yahoo monitors chat rooms for suspicious content and reported that child porn was uploaded from the computer at the Bandys' home address.

"When they asked me have you ever looked up or uploaded or downloaded erotic images of minors, I was just taken aback and…I said, 'No,'" says Matthew.

Nevertheless, Matthew did have an embarrassing confession. He had been sneaking peaks at adult erotic photos on the family computer. "I got the Web site from a bunch of friends at school. [It was] just adult pornography…Playboy-like images."

Difficult to admit, but not illegal -- or so it seemed. Still, it didn't look good for Matt, as police confiscated the computer and left the house that December day. A family was shattered.

"We faced 10 years per count, there were nine counts," said Novak. "If Matt was convicted, those sentences would have to be served consecutively. In other words, he would have been sentenced to 90 years in prison. He would have served time until he died."

Anonymous said...

Another distrought Mom!!!!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 09/27/2007 - 7:34pm.

Well,add me to the list,
My 17yr old son Christian is sitting in a Maximum Security Jail, in Bossier City,La. Arrested 8/31/07. We moved here from Ga. in June 07, and spent what little savings we had. And we own no property here, so we can't even make bond. He was charged with 4 counts of pornagraphy involving a juvenile, that were found on our home computer. And his bond is set at $60,000 dollars, As a Mother I feel as though they have taken my son hostage and I can't pay the ransom. I am outraged! that The Media has not Alerted us as Parents about these file-sharing programs and thier names, and to the vast amounts of free pornagraphy and illegal child pornagraphy on these networks, and how they can allow anyone under the age of 18 to subscribe without Parental consent? The media alerts us of lead painted toys, and faulty cribs, so we can take appropriate measures, they have even warned us of the predators in the chat rooms so I could warn him to be careful of who he talked too. The only thing I have heard on the news about file-sharing programs has been about copyright infringement, and I never heard the specific names of these programs. So I could be looking right at it,and not know what is was. Untill this happened, as a Mom I would never have even concieved of googling child porn and file=sharing programs. Not all of us want to be computer geeks. But we don't want to discourage our kids from them. I had an anti-virus program and anti-spyware, but have since learned that they are no match for these programs, furthermore I've learned that the government has known of this for some time, in one of the articles I read they even stated "PARENTS DON'T KNOW, KIDS DON'T HAVE A CLUE". The FBI is so far behind itself, in catching the Real Bad Guys, Who aren't stupid, they disguise themselves, behind trickery and deception. Thats the point, our teenagers are being targeted not only by these sick individuals, who abduct and force children into unspeakable horrors, but now they've got our teens taking consequences, that were intended for them.
And the FBI are being pressured to make convictions, and they too, have found an easy target.
They are teens, and think like teens, they are not all technicaly advanced, their not college educated yet. Their teens, that for the most part want to listen to music and talk to their friends.
And to some of you jerks who have responded to these articles,If you thing for one minute that I don't ask myself, every minute, of each day that passes, what else could I have done to prevent this from happening? If we are not told of these Dangers, How are we suppose to know to take appropriate actions against them.
I have done more research on the p2p programs, and viruses, and hackers, since my son's arrest, and I have learned so much more that I would ever have wanted to know, and I can assure you that this is only the beginning of a huge storm...I printed out a copy of an FBI press release from June 13,07 That stated there is over 1 million potential victims of Botnet Cyber Crime.
As for my son,He is at the mercy of the court, and a Public Defender, and I am left Utterlly Powerless to do anything to help him. This is just Soooo Wrong!!!!!!!!!
Letitia Carter

Anonymous said...

Boys Face Trial Over Slapping Charges- a sex offender?

By SCOTT MICHELS,ABC News
Posted: 2007-07-25 00:47:22
Filed Under: Crime News

NEW YORK (July 25) — Two middle-school students in Oregon are facing possible time in a juvenile jail and could have to register as sex offenders for smacking girls on the rear end at school.

Cory Mashburn and Ryan Cornelison, both 13, were arrested in February after they were caught in the halls of Patton Middle School, in McMinnville, Ore., slapping girls on the rear end. Mashburn told ABC News in a phone interview that this was a common way of saying hello practiced by lots of kids at the school, akin to a secret handshake.

The boys spent five days in a juvenile detention facility and were charged with several counts of felony sex abuse for what they and their parents said was merely inappropriate but not criminal behavior.

The local district attorney has since backed off — the felony charges have been dropped and the district attorney said probation would be an appropriate punishment. The Mashburns’ lawyer said prosecutors offered Cory a plea bargain that would not require him to register as a sex offender, which the family plans to reject.

But the boys, if convicted at an Aug. 20 trial, still face the possibility of some jail time or registering for life as sex offenders.

The boys’ families and lawyers said even sentencing them to probation would turn admittedly inappropriate but not uncommon juvenile rowdiness into a crime. If they are convicted of any of the misdemeanor charges against them, they would have to register as sex offenders.

“It’s devastating,” said Mark Lawrence, Cory Mashburn’s lawyer. “To be a registered sex offender is to be designated as the most loathed in our society. These are young boys with bright futures, and the brightness of those futures would be over.”

‘Lots of Kids Do It’ Cory Mashburn said he and Ryan Cornelison slapped each others’ and other kids’ bottoms every Friday. “Lots of kids at school do that,” he said.

Cory and Ryan were brought to the principal’s office Feb. 22, where they were questioned by school officials and a police officer. They were arrested that day and taken in handcuffs to a juvenile detention facility.

Court papers said the boys touched the buttocks of several girls, some of whom said this made them uncomfortable. The papers also said Cory touched a girl’s breasts. But police reports filed with the court said other students, both boys and girls, slapped each other on the bottom.

“It’s like a handshake we do,” one girl said, according to the police report.

The boys were initially charged with five counts of felony sexual abuse. At a court hearing, two of the girls recanted, saying they never felt threatened or inappropriately touched by the boys. The judge released the boys but barred them from returning to school and required that they be under constant adult supervision.

District Attorney Bradley Berry has since dismissed the felony counts. The boys face 10 misdemeanor charges of harassment and sexual abuse. They face a maximum of up to one year in a juvenile jail on each count, though Berry said there was no way the boys would ever serve that much time.

“An appropriate sentence would be probation,” he said. “These are minor misdemeanor charges that reflect repeated contact against multiple victims. We never intended for them to get a long time in detention.”

“We’re not seeking major penalties,” he said. “We’re seeking change in conduct.”

‘We Just Want This to Be Over’ Tracie Mashburn, Cory’s mother, said they will not accept plea and plan to fight the charges.

The arrests, critics said, reflect a trend toward criminalizing adolescent sexual behavior. Between 1998 and 2002, juvenile arrests for sex offenses other than rape or prostitution rose 9 percent — the only kind of juvenile arrests that rose during that time, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

“More and more, they are criminalizing normal adolescent or preadolescent behavior,” said Chuck Aron, co-chairman of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers juvenile justice committee.

Even probation, the Mashburns and their attorney said, would be too severe a punishment.

Julie McFarlane, a supervising attorney at the Juvenile Rights Project in Portland, Ore., said, “Probation for a sex offense is very difficult thing, and there’s a pretty high failure rate.” Failing to meet the terms of probation could mean the boys would be sent to jail.

Depending on the terms of probation, it’s likely that the boys would not be allowed to have sexual contact with anyone or any contact with younger children, McFarlane said. For Cory Mashburn, that would mean he couldn’t be left alone with his younger siblings.

“It’s been awful,” said Cory’s mother. “We just want this to all be over. But it will never go away. We’ll always remember it.”

Berry, the district attorney, said the victims — the girls who were touched — were being overlooked. “What’s been lost in this whole thing are the victims, who have been pressured enormously by these boys’ friends,” he said.

Cory, who said he now realizes what he did was inappropriate, spends his days playing video games and basketball. He said he’s scared. “I could go to jail. I could be registered as a sex offender,” he said. “I think it’s all crazy.”




NO ONE IS WARNING THE PARENTS
This is an OUTRAGE, Who is going to stop this madness these laws are out of control.

Anonymous said...

酒店經紀
酒店打工
酒店兼差
酒店兼職
酒店工作
酒店上班
寒假打工
暑假打工
酒店
禮服酒店
合法酒店經紀
兼差
台北酒店經紀
喝酒
酒店消費
制服酒店
酒店喝酒