Hawaiʻi Attorney General Opposes Proposed Changes to Sex Crimes in Model Penal Code
Hawaiʻi Attorney General Clare Connors and MIssissippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch are leading a bipartisan coalition of 37 Attorneys General that is urging the American Law Institute to reject proposed changes to the Model Penal Code that would weaken states’s abilities to prosecute sexual assault, abuse, exploitation and trafficking crimes.
The proposed changes to Section 213 of the code also would jeopardize victim safety and restrict the ability of law enforcement to protect the general public from recidivist behavior, according to the Attorneys General.
“As Attorneys General, we urge ALI [American Law Institute] to consider the danger the proposed changes would pose to the public, especially children, and abandon its plans to amend this article of the Model Penal Code …,” the Attorneys General wrote in a letter to the institute. “The revisions contemplated fail to treat sex predators appropriately and would provide them more freedom to commit these heinous crimes, putting the citizens we represent at greater risk of becoming victims.”
Did they just call ALL of us sex predators ? Some who were charged simply looked at porn (I couldn’t do that because when I was arrested there was no internet). Some maybe exposed themselves, intentionally or unintentionally. Some more recently, since the internet came out, went to go visit a cop after being caught in a sting.
So calling all of us sex predators it not appropriate. Add to that, some were charged as a predator, not because they had multiple victims but because they were hit with every charge available. Again, I do not think any of us are sticking up for sex crimes, but not everyone is a monster looking to pounce on their prey.
Many of us have gone in excess of 3 decades without another incident, yet according to them, we get up each morning planning how we can beat the system. In my humble opinion, the law makers urinate on the constitution with each new ex Ex Post Facto law they call non punishment. Just because they are mad we finished our sentences successfully.
Hey cherokee your definitely right about them urinating on the constitution but then they use the bill of rights to wipe their Fanny’s. If the forfathers of this country could see what they have done to the free one they taught and died for they would start a whole new revolution b%tch slapping all the Fools and scare mongerers
I hate spell check !! That was supposed to be the freedoms they fought and died for
Tim
I agree, earlier I typed something on here and before I hit send I re-read and it had changed several words and one entire sentence I wrote. Had to start over. All this time I thought I was hitting the wrong key, but no, it was the autocorrect on this site.
Now I have to proof read myself every time.
I thought offenders can’t be cured, so why treatment? Maybe the treatment is being on a registry; which doesn’t cure anything except creates more harm to communities. 37 AGs making noise because ALI wants to make changes to the government’s money maker.
I believe most treatment is intended for only three things:
Obtain illegal confessions of guilt for further prosecution
Obtain information from offenders that will help with future investigations and prosecutions (obtaining data to create criminal profiles)
Provide another avenue to violate those they wish to send back to the penal system
Because treatment providers work so closely with their law enforcement partners, and often under their specific direction, the well-being and rehabilitation of the client takes a back seat, if it’s even considered. While genuine treatment could help former offenders process childhood trauma and deal with unhealthy coping mechanisms that lead to offenses, these approaches are largely ignored. I believe many jurisdictions use the subterfuge of treatment as a guise to identify recidivist threats and to uncover other crimes for prosecution. This seems to be the main goal of law enforcement. Sad that real public safety could be so much more enhanced if they simply worked to help make individuals whole again instead of perpetuating the adversarial approach this whole justice system employs.
Treatment providers do not work ‘under the direction of law enforcement.’ But if someone re-offends while under court-mandated treatment, yeah, they’re gonna be in trouble. The best treatment providers see their job as minimizing the client’s risk to re-offend.
For sure. These AGs want to protect their jobs and their status. Personally, I think they understand very well that the Registries are worthless and worse. So that means the AGs are not dumb, they are scumbag terrorists.
De-fund these big government loving criminals. They are a danger to moral people.
Will
I tend to disagree. The registries create jobs and pull in MASSIVE amounts of funding. It also makes politicians look good. Anyone who is against registries are labeled as criminal loving perverts themselves.
So no, I do not think they think they are worthless. But I do believe they could care less about our and our families rights to live with freedom, liberty and justice. Remember the line “Liberty and Justice for ALL”? Yeah, we use to stand in class with our hands over our hearts and repeat that to the flag as kids saying the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.
I will never say that allegiance again because, not that I do not love this country, but the allegiance is a lie. There is no justice for all.
Is it just me or does the proposed changes look like a joke ? Some of the changes are for the better like only allowing law enforcement/ govt. To be able to access the info on the registry but then they add numerous things that of course no one would or should go for like making assault on a minor not a register offense if they are over 12. Don’t get me wrong I am not for any registry but mixing things in that john q public is definitely going to scream about along with steps in the right direction is a recipe for dissaster. Baby steps will get us farther then trying to put all eggs in one basket.
Tim
Or, another way to look at it is bargaining. Throw everything at them and settle on a few key points. Of course that could go either way but just saying, there is more than one way to skin a cat (No disrespect to the Poor kitties)
Agreed. Looks too good to be true if it were implemented and I’m in favor of abolishing the registry, but…some things I see will never fly.
Tim
I agree completely. There are some things in there that definitely need changed, others that would make it easier for the real criminals to get away with crimes. Don’t mix them all together so that it looks like all on the registry are criminals looking for a way out.
Let’s use science, make things just for all , eliminating the garbage. In the form it is written now it’s sure to get thrown out.
I don’t know who wrote this thing up but all it’s going to do is make a bunch of politicians look like angels and further there crooked public image.
David
Please do not insult Angels LOL
How are people who relieved themselves predators? I didn’t know trees, bushes, and other vegetation had feelings along with being victims of urine, it’s natures round up. How are teens who engage in sex that’s consensual; yet illegal due to age called predators? Sex is natural between humans and has been around longer than these AGs. How many of them have played doctor as kid, spun the bottle, made out with some one older than them, had sex as teens, and looked at porn? Using their logic they would be predators also. They sure like to be predators to our Constitution.
Well, this stance will never happen in Missouri as our attorney general is running for a seat in Congress….
If these AG’s were so concerned about child safety, they would support the prosecution of Matt Gaetz and Roy More, among their other buddies. But do they? Nope.
Once again, this is political posturing which is about gain, not safety. These people love confusing a former offender’s past with the present. There is zero evidence they are currently seeking out prey, hiding in bushes, ready to pounce. It’s fear-mongering because, according to study after study, very few sex offenders re-offend.
These politicians need exposing, to finally reveal what their actual goals are – promotion of themselves using a vulnerable population as their number one success tool. The AG’s are the predators.
If they were so concerned about children’s safety, they’d ban them from buying, going, or getting caught using fast food restaurants or junk food.
I’ll give you a hint – they are not so concerned about protecting children. If they were then the Registries would’ve been destroyed long ago.
“Recidivist behavior” = oxymoron
“would provide them more freedom to commit these heinous crimes,”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Right? Read the flipping data!
Not likely to reoffend, jerkholes.
People always seem to need someone else to kick and registrants are the target du jour.
Rep Gaetz is accused of Sex Trafficking a minor and not one politician is distancing themselves from him or calling for his resignation. When Joe/Jane Doe are accused they run to the microphones condemning their behavior while finding them guilty before making a court appearance.
While I don’t necessarily agree with everything the ALI is proposing, I did find it interesting that the AG letter included absolutely any references to peer reviewed studies that back their positions. We once again have an AG stating without the public registry, background checks will not be able to be done. Bullshit. In the State of Florida the Clerk of Court in every county has court records available to the public showing the statute the person was sentenced against. There is also comments about law enforcement not being able to do their job. It only did away with the public registry, a private registry would still be allowed to exist.
This is the usual political re-election grandstanding by politicians (AG’s are elected in most if not all States) not based on anything other than showing they are tough on crime in the mailer they will send out.
The problem is that sex offenders who wish to molest children use sex offender laws to put paternal father’s away in prison without contact with their children so that they are free to molest that man’s children. If you are an attorney and wish to help stop this practice, then please comment!
Quiz time for those AGs
Your beloved registry causes
Homelessness
Loss of employment
Loss of relationships
Registrants’ kids be bullied for things they had nothing to do with.
Unstableness
Communities less safe
Freeing up resources/ time for harassing people
Danger is your bias of registrants while letting the Constitution burn. You minions are the problem, not the solution. All of you should be put in the nuthouse. I hope your letter gets up in the shredder where it belongs.
Brandon
is that all you got? LOL
Retro actively applying a registry after someone was already sentenced.
Not being able to attend kids / Grandkids activities at schools
Having people talk about us on Nextdoor that ALL of us are banned automatically from.
Having to go in person (Most of the time) to change almost anything that is different in our lives
Face arrest if we accidently do not register something and possibly get more time that our original crime
Please everyone add to the list I got a million of them by my arms hurt
CherokeeJack
I said it was quiz time and the more I kept thinking about the registry the more my brain hurt, so I had to quit.
Let’s see
Adding new rules at the drop of a hat and making them impossible to comply.
Everything about your life is under a microscope and one slip up your goose is cooked.
Not being able to reach your goals/ ambitions.
Blacklisting minors as young as 7 for doing something that was knowing as normal.
Allowing sex to be the biggest sin one can commit.
Putting citizens in “ treatment” facilities because they are a threat to society.
Using polygraphs and other junk science to determine risk.
Not listening to evidence because it hurts your agenda.
Calling registrants threats when most never were from the start.
Changing meaning of words to make things scary for the public.
Halloween maps showing red dots of “bush lurkers” .
Listening to the biggest hypocrite John Walsh.
I’m not sure why MauiNow would even need to ask AG’s what their stance is. Their opinions are about as biased as it gets, and in far too many instances, they or their prosecutors mislead the court in order to win their cases (suppressing exculpatory evidence, etc.). Why should their opinion be trusted? They have a vested interest in successful prosecutions, not cases solved. I dare any of these highly educated and well heeled 37 individuals to show a shred of integrity by admitting the truth, that they cannot produce any persuasive evidence to support their reasoning.
Anonynous
If my Buddy Steve McGarrett from the 5-O task force was still around, I would have him put in a good word for us.
:)~
Book em Dano
Generally, I like Steve Crowder. But unfortunately conservatives thump their bibles while condemning people to hell and even calling for their MURDER due to sex offenses.
Here, Crowder spits the typical false information about recidivism rates, says the most ridiculous thing: “Don’t hire sex offenders” regarding the CIA (as anyone knows what someone will POTENTIALLY do if they have no criminal record) and calls for the killing of sex offenders.
I am planning on sending a rather lengthy message to him through his Facebook since I cannot seem to find an email,
https://m.facebook.com/stevencrowderofficial/
and I would suggest many of you do as well if you can access FB. Maybe FAC as well. This is getting ridiculous. His followers are going to take HIS WORD about recidivism rates because the average person is too lazy to do their own research and would be perfectly fine just taking the word of someone they admire.
I bet that if you asked him to define “sex offense” he would only say “pedophile”.
He makes this outlandish statement in the video clip below about how he would like to have a bunch of “mentally retarded people kill pedophiles”. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the attraction to PRE-PUBESCENT children is obviously a mental disorder. Therefore, these “mentally retarded” people he wants to send out to kill pedophiles might commit a sexual offense themselves without realizing that what they’re doing is wrong.
Amazing how “get help for them” doesn’t apply to someone with pedophilia. Only for drug addicts.
This is his latest video from earlier today:
https://youtu.be/OZCdj1NZIf0
And this is why I’m an independent with few conservative leaning views. What gets me is these people thump the Bible one minute and then seem to forget it’s teachings of “forgiveness” the next. Sickening!
Even my favorite woman on the planet, Candace Owens has jumped on the “kill all pedophiles” bandwagon. It seems to be the latest theme since the Rittenhouse incident because Joseph Rosenbaum had prior sexual offenses. And these conservative commentators talk about the issue as if Rosenbaum looked at a rather heavy set guy with a gun and said “Oh! A minor!” That’s how they have been presenting their commentary on that incident. It’s sickening!
Please send some INFORMATIVE information to Crowder through his FB page. Maybe he’ll actually look into his misinformation or maybe he won’t. But it doesn’t hurt to try.
Maestro,
I’ve never heard of either Steve Crowder or Candace Ownes, but frankly, if they claim to align themselves with Christianity and yet behave the way that you describe, they are no one to be concerned with as they will be blotted out when the court that really matters convenes.
I encourage everyone who hates the hypocrisy of contemporary religious individuals to look to Jesus and what He had to say about people. It will probably shock your expectations. The only people Jesus outright condemned were prideful religious hypocrites.
Here’s Candace Owens talking about the same topic as Crowder. So apparently this is a legitimate issue regarding the CIA. This is certainly not going to help ANY fight AGAINST the registry but sure as hell adds fuel to the fire to keep it going AND make it harsher. This video upload is also from earlier today….
https://youtu.be/JVN02FXx1iU
I don’t see this as promoting further registry measures, but rather as an announcement of how those in power get to skate by.
Maestro
I do not have facebook as that would be one more thing I would have to register. Even if I made it private, some jack hole would find a way to hack in and harass me.
I do not do social media. Although would like to look into next door. But of course we are automatically banned.
Oh yeah
another thing I forgot to add. Regarding Nextdoor, not only are WE banned from it, but anyone who lives at our address is as well. So that to me is the Holy grail to fight the “Well it isn’t punishment”. So you can ban someone because they are related to you, live with you, rent a room from you?
Staying on that theme, why don’t we ban our families and anyone who lives with us from traveling, make them register all their email addresses, have them go in whenever they make a change. The reason I say this is, the other side keeps saying it is not punishment but our families are going through the restrictions as well. Then they turn around and say it is OUR fault, we caused it and they suffer because of what we did. Ok to point, yes we caused them pain, but the current time line of actions is not us banning our families from enjoying life with us, that is the Goverment.
When my family goes on vacation I cannot go for two reasons. One we are basically blocked from numerous countries and places. Secondly since many of us don’t work, we cannot afford it by being held down from getting a decent job (Being on the registry hurts our chances of success). Also the long process of registering where we will be at all times and then unregistering everything and hoping to God it is input correctly along the way.
AND always keep copies of your registration. They can randomly ask you years later to prove you registered that month and if you did not keep a copy, it is your word against theirs. (Although if I was a judge I would tell the prosecutor “Seriously, you waited 2 years to realize he/she didn’t register?)
I keep my registration papers from Florida and Maryland( Maryland is only two pages, so not bulky like Florida). When I travel I keep my boarding passes, hotel information, even take pictures of me on the day of take off and landing, and receipts of anything I purchased. Besides I already had a problem when I lived in Florida and I don’t want to repeat that. If two states can’t communicate that’s on them, not me. After that experience I rather be cautious than assume I’ll be fine. Make sure to dot the I’s and cross those t’s!
Brandon
I am so obsessed with NOT falling into their traps, I take it to a whole nuther level. Not only do I dot my i’s and cross my t’s, I also Cross my i’s and dot my t’s LOL
The fact is, if they want us bad enough, they will get us. That is why when I see people at registration arguing with the employees, I cringe. I get my papers, wish them a great day and get the Hell out of Dodge until the next time. After all the guys and gals behind the glass didn’t make the laws so yelling at them is not getting you off the registry.
CherokeeJack
Are you planning on coming to Washington in March of 2023? If so you can tell me about what it was like being a cop in the 1880’s and having your ice cream stolen by ghosts.
Brandon
I guess that makes me the oldest person on the registry? Do I get plaque or at least a certificate of participation? Oh wait, I get that certificate every time I register. I am inclined to shred it as soon as I get home, but I know that precious paper is all we/I have to prove we did our due diligence.
Does the “other side” keep saying the Registries are not punishment? I only see that with the criminal regimes.
The criminal regimes will lie incessantly that the Registries are not punishment, but surely they only do that so that they can continue their harassment and crimes against PFRs and their families. Surely. They cannot be that dumb.
But when I hear the general public talk about the Registries they say that they are punishment and are supposed to be. That is what most believe.
What I want to know is who were the 14 or so AG’s who had enough common sense to not sign on? They should be commended and it may tell us some details on where we should focus our efforts at education and advocacy.
It is interesting to see Dana Nessel backpedal a bit from her stance as detailed in her amicus brief in Michigan v Snyder by signing onto this cognitively distorted viewpoint. I would have expected better from her, but perhaps she is up for reelection soon, methinks.
Anonymous. Agreed. She spoke of registry reform, yet balks. If the ALI stands firm, it will, at minimal, provide another brick out what the politicians have built. Yeah, here in Michigan, they just wrote a new sora. I’m just glad there’s greater minds than mine continuing to push forward in the political area. Only place where it can happen.
Finally…! The American Law Institute recognizes the U.S. Constitution and it’s Bill of Rights! Something the U.S. Federal and state courts have long ignored. All SOs have long had to live like Dred Scott. If the new rules become law, we can all shout “Free at LAST! Thank God al’mighty we are free at last!”
Edward
Not to sound negative, but think you are celebrating too early. Just like in Michigan, things did not goes as well as planned. A lot of people who thought they were “Free at last” are being placed back on the “New and improved” registry. Call it what you want, but many are still having to register.
Government will do what it does best ignore the truth and continue doing what they do unless forced to stop by courts. Look at what’s happening now former government officials think they are above the law and ignore court orders, when that occurs they should be thrown in contempt with no bail. Tired of no accountability off both sides of the aisle.
Brandon, as someone said on NARSOL’s website,
“Law Enforcement has Illegally Invented a Culture of Entitled Authoritarianism”
‘Slice and Dice’ each word and it’s Definition and it makes perfect sense and logic!
Thank You!