Tier drop: State should revisit sex offender rosters

4-13-2009 Oklahoma:

When the Legislature passed a law two years ago creating a three-tiered system for rating sex offenders, a veteran Tulsa police officer warned it would be bad news. He was right.

In advance of the law taking effect in November 2007, Sgt. Gary Stansill, a sex crimes officer, said the language was too broad because it would wind up placing too many offenders in the tier reserved for the worst offenders. Sure enough, two years later the state has 6,084 registered sex offenders and 5,026 of them are on the list for life.

The Oklahoman’s Jay Marks reported recently that since the new law went on the books, the number of offenders in the worst tier — the lifetime registration list — has doubled. That means these people must forever register as sex offenders when they move into a new city. Of course they must disclose their criminal histories on job applications. “Sex offender” ensures a lifetime of menial work, if they’re lucky.

That sort of burden should of course be borne by pedophiles and the worst sex offenders. It should not be borne by people who commit much less serious offenses that are deemed sex crimes.

In 2007, an official with the Oklahoma Sex Offender Management Team said he felt the public would likely favor lawmakers changing the laws “to make more sense and to protect children, because the laws as they are written are not protecting children.” No doubt that’s still the case. The Legislature should give this issue another look. ..Source..

Sex offender magazine goes on sale in Comanche Co.

1-23-2011 Oklahoma:

TEXOMA - If you live in southern Oklahoma and have been arrested for a sex crime, you can bet your mug shot is now going to be famous. That is because of "We Got Caught", a magazine that displays the mug shots of the men and women who have been arrested on sex crimes.

The magazine has been in circulation for about 3 years, but this is the first week it has been sold in Comanche County. All of the men and women featured in the magazine live in this part of the state.

We have seen magazines similar to this one, most recently in Stephens County called "OK Jailbirds". The difference here is this magazine only highlights criminals arrested for crimes. The magazine is also unique in that the owner founded it because of his personal experience.

He lives in Wichita Falls and says he created it because his own daughter and niece were sexually assaulted and then stabbed to death by a sex offender who lived just next door.

On the cover of "We Got Caught" are the faces of dozens of suspected or convicted sex offenders. All have been arrested and inside are the pictures of two little girls who died at the hands of a registered sex offender.

"I thought it was an older person that was just evil and a sexual deviant."

But the owner of the magazine, who just wants to be called "Joseph", found out differently. He found out the sex offender was his own neighbor.

"Reality set in that sexual predators come in all ages, sizes, and colors."

Joseph says he hopes this magazine will stop sex offenses altogether.

"No one wants to be plagued out and pointed out for the world to know what you've done and who you've done it too."

Lawton Police Detective Nancy Lombardo says the public does have a right to know who sex offenders are. But she says she does have concerns with the publication.

"It evokes strong emotion for people just to hear the term sex offender, most of the time they automatically assume that the offense was against the child, that is sometimes the case but not always the circumstance."

Joseph says he does not want the publication to bring harm to anyone. He just wants to prevent what happened to his family happening to anyone else.

"We know we can't stop sexual crimes, but we can slow it down just a bit."

The man who was convicted of murdering Joseph's niece and daughter went to prison. Three days later he was murdered by inmates after they found out what he had done.

The magazine has been around in north Texas for several years. It is just this week it has appeared in southwest Oklahoma. ..Source.. by 7News.com