Must Listen: Michigan Legislature Legislation Testimony

Testimony is from 41:30 to the end at 2:10(90 minutes)

Some highlights…

Dr. Jill Levinson 55:50-1:13 (Clin. Psychologist/researcher)

Miriam Aukerman 1:20-1:28 (ACLU attorney)

Jessica Zimbelman 1:28-1:33 (Public Def. Office)

Brian Forett 1:38- (Registrant—family effects)

Kim Anderson 1:44- 1:48 (Parent of registrant, awesome!)

Christan Burgess 1:48-1:51 ( Survivor and wife of registrant)

Cory Bast 1:55- (Registrant…for writing a letter(25 years!)

Vicky Hanlon 1:57- (Mother of 17 year old son on registry)

Johm Gorley 2:01-  (Father of registrant- MI support group, excellent!)

The link to listen is here: LISTEN

 

 

 

13 thoughts on “Must Listen: Michigan Legislature Legislation Testimony

  • May 7, 2020 at 9:29 am
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    Thanks for posting this. I caught the last half hour of this and was bummed I wasn’t able to watch it from the start.

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  • May 7, 2020 at 9:47 am
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    Linked me to live broadcast (of non-session), no recording.

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  • May 7, 2020 at 11:00 am
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    How did it go? Any conclusions yet?

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  • May 7, 2020 at 11:05 am
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    was unable to patch in to it.maybe because i am overseas? If anyone has a downloadable i can listen to I would appreciate it.

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  • May 7, 2020 at 7:39 pm
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    Also don’t miss the very last person to speak, a member of the committee who is also a former prosecutor. He indicated having prosecuted a great number of “frightening” offenses committed by “scary” people. Yet the solutions he proposes will surprise you.

    Be sure not to miss the testimony of Christian Burgess, the most powerful three minutes in the entire session.

    All of them were good, of course. And courageous. Jill Levenson reminded us what a rock star she is. ACLU’s Miriam Aukerman pointed out that the draft bill was an incremental fix that will land them right back in court. Overall, I didn’t see anyone speak in FAVOR of the revised bill, other than the author of that bill. And everyone, even the state police, were ready to do away with “school safety zones” (?) once and for all.

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  • May 7, 2020 at 7:45 pm
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    This was an eye opener. I am usually abreast on the stats, but was not aware of the great info presented. We need to get access to that slide show!

    Interesting Observation: If Ron Book is convicted under his case (19005520MU10A) would that make him more likely to commit a sex offense than us? The presentation seemed to imply that.

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  • May 7, 2020 at 10:03 pm
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    Dr. Jill Levenson’s presentation was informative, factual, and hit all the points you would want an expert to give and just as importantly, her delivery went very well, I thought.

    Are the committee members even listening and if so, do they have the courage and strength to make changes. Unfortunately, the public is so misinformed and emotional that were a committee member decide to make a radical departure from the norm, they would be crucified in the next election.

    It would be nice to see Michigan’s legislature look at the data and either get rid of SORNA or at a minimum, look at the recidivism rates and build a system with a mechanism for removal of single offense registrants after so many years based on initial and ongoing assessments. I just have a hard time seeing it happen.

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    • May 8, 2020 at 12:18 pm
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      There’s a good chance the committee members weren’t listening, or at least, not sincerely. The chairman gave the most pathetic “have a good day” to the woman whose family has been devastated by these failed policies. His lack of compassion and the general tide of cruelty toward registrants by society will indict them ultimately in the highest court one day…perhaps sooner than they think.

      “The emperor has no clothes on” was the most fitting statement for the proceedings IMO.

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  • May 8, 2020 at 4:51 pm
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    May 13 at 9a.m. is the next scheduled meeting on this bill for those who are interested. If you are in Michigan I hope you are already working with the ACLU up there and hopefully can testify or at the very least summit written testimony.

    Reply

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