Washington state proposing to add a “sex offender” to management board
A bill has been introduced in Washington that would extend membership to the Washington State’s Sex Offender Policy Board (SOPB) to people who served time in jail for sex offenses. The group would be extended to include a member of a sex offender advocacy group and “a representative with lived experience with incarceration for a sex offense,” among others.
SOPB “is responsible for creating policies regarding sex offenders and navigating state and federal laws regarding them.”
The board is trying to facilitate as many diverse voices as possible, with people having a past sex offense being able to share invaluable information with the board in its policy-decision process.
This is progress. Many won’t agree but if change is going to come, someone from our side has to have a say.
Reminds me of episodes of Star trek where those who are different and even hated from opposing sides served aboard the USS Enterprise to learn new experiences, expand on language skills and see that we are not so different after all.
Too bad that I don’t live in Washington. I would like to apply for this position.
That is quite interesting.
Of course, any opinion(s)/suggestion(s) offered by the PFS on the board would be mired in supposed bias and irrational opposition. I wouldn’t want his job. Godspeed.
Pretty please stop turning good news into bad news all the time. We have an uphill fight as it is, no reason to self-defeat.
This is a step in the right direction. Having a presence on the board at all is huge. I wish we had such a voice here in FL. We would be so better off.
WOW!!!!
A defense lawyer recently advised me to move out of Florida to Washington state because of the draconian registration laws in Florida. The fact that Washington authorities would even consider taking advice from a PFR regarding changes to sex offender laws and policies really says a lot. I can’t see that happening in Florida.
That is a great idea. I hope they will be able to look past the previous offender and see his heart and the damage they are doing. We all paid a penalty for what we did. As people who were damaged going in to this crime, it seems counter intuitive that the way to address this issue is more damage to already broken lives.