f/k/a . . .

 

morningmoon

    plays hide-and-seek

        my sleepfilled eyes

 

 

 

 

 

 

subway blues

strummin’ light

through the tunnel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

train toward Baltimore

the setting sun

jumps the tracks

 

 

 

 

 

 

dimming the headlights

in the midnight meadow:

falling stars

 

 

 

  by Pamela Miller Ness from  pink light, sleeping

(Small Poetry Press, 1998) for info see.

 

 

• 
  
  by dagosan                                               

storm clouds gather – 

the clock tower

just stands there

 

 

 

 

new kids moving in –

do I dare

smile?

 

 

 

 

the neighbor’s new dress

      that moment you forget

you’re twice her age

 

 

 

[April 29, 2005]

 

potluck

 Mike Cernovich has added another thought-provoking post at Crime & Federalsim, 

on the topic of residency restrictions for sexual offenders.  He asks whether we’re creating

a new kind of leper colony.  (There’s a thoughtful comment by Nebraska attorney Maren Chaloupka. ) 

I wonder where such “colonies” will be allowed to exist — or, is this an economic development

opportunity for enterprising communities? (Around my neck of the woods, it will definitely not be

the prosperous Albany suburb of Colonie seeking such status, despite its having a few remaining trailer

park communities).  

 

In Albany, some activists and politicians don’t want sexual offenders living near parks.  This week,

Albany County Legislator Dan McCoy says: You can live wherever you want in this great country,

but they choose to live next to schools and parks. For what reasons?”

 

How about cheap motels?  A newscast on February 4, 2005 from CapitalNews9 in Albany, started

with the words “Just down the road from the Malta Community Center and HighPointe development, four

Level 3 sex offenders are living at the Shamrock Motel, leaving residents uneasy and concerned.“  Six

days later, News9 reported “A spokesman for the motel said . . . the motel’s policy would be changed

to prevent any Level 3 offenders from staying there again.”  If ex-con sex offenders can’t stay at crummy

motels, just where are they supposed to live?

 

 

Dr. Richard Hamill, a clincial and forensic psycholgist (with whom I worked as a Law Guardian in child

sex abuse cases), is President of the NYS Alliance of Sex Offender Services.  He’s quoted in last Sunday’s

Schenectady [NY] Gazette  (April 24 2005, “Consequences stem from sex offender registry,” $$) saying:

“If a child is sexually assaulted, the person is more likely to be someone not on the

registry than on the registry. . . .

 

“A sex offender who is at lower risk of offending is one who has a full-time job, is

stable in the community and has a circle of friends with support.”

In the same article, Prof. Jill Levenson, a board member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual 

of Abusers, is quoted:

“Sometimes good politics makes bad policy.  Good social policy needs to be well

thought-out and based on research information so that it can be cost effectie.” . . .

 

“Eighty to 90 percent [of children] are molested by someone their family knows and

trusts.”

There aren’t any easy answers and we shouldn’t let politicians or noisy activists (or vigilantes) 

say there are.  If I wanted to protect the kids in my neighborhood from a real, everyday threat

to their safety, I’d be trying to get folks with vehicular moving violations as far away as possible.

[Prof. Douglas Berman has put together a list of  his prior posts on sexual offender sentencing,

and promises to write soon on the Doe case and “what seems to be an ever-growing ’sex offender

panic’.”]  update (April 30, 2005):  Cernovich has posted on the legal issues raised by Doe v. Miller.

The do i dare smile? by David Giacalone, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.