Kenya – Violence against women bane of Kenyan society

The HIV-AIDS scourge is still ravaging Kenya.The prevalance and new infection rates have reached alarming levels that must be checked. Are we doing enough as a nation to curb the spread of this virus?, writes Twaha Ssenfuka –>

Article
By BEN ONYASIMI
THAT we have failed as society to address matters of gender equity can not be gainsaid. And what is worse, the cultural lenses through which we view matters concerning gender have compounded the distortions, rendering efforts to make changes a seemingly futile exercise.

WY – The Right to Say ‘No’

Article
By JARED MILLER
Star-Tribune staff writer

RIVERTON — Sharon Bryant doesn’t use the word activist to describe herself.

The word, she says, inaccurately describes her efforts during the last decade to promote awareness about sexual violence and violence against women. 

Australia – Mr Baldy missing for three hours

Article
Chris Tinkler
October 01, 2006 12:00am

Exclusive: PEDOPHILE Mr Baldy gave authorities the slip for more than three hours because his electronic tag could not keep track of his movements, prison sources have claimed.

The State Government has admitted electronic tags used to monitor repeat sex offenders on parole don’t allow them to be tracked once they abscond.

Federal – G.O.P. Aides Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail

Article
October 1, 2006
By Carl Hulse and Raymond Hernandez

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 — Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.

The exchanges began with what Republicans now describe as an “overfriendly” e-mail message from Mr. Foley to the unidentified teenager.

Federal – Former Pages Describe Foley as Caring Ally

 Article

October 2, 2006

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — In the hierarchy of Congress, the high school students who serve as Congressional pages fall somewhere near the bottom, seemingly invisible as they scurry through the hallways of the Capitol ferrying messages to powerful lawmakers who often fail to give them a second glance.

In that rarefied world, Representative Mark Foley, the silver-haired Republican from Florida, stood out. 

NY – Tougher registry laws are presenting unintended consequences

Article
Gary Craig
Staff writer

This year, New York lawmakers did what many legislatures across the country have done: expanded the laws for monitoring sex offenders to protect the public.

But those new laws may have an unintended consequence. Because so much work has been added for local police and probation officers, the laws could make it tougher, instead of easier, to monitor registered sex offenders.

NY – Judges use score sheet to gauge risk levels

Article
Gary Craig
Staff writer

Determining how likely a sex offender is to commit a new crime is, in some ways, a matter of addition.

To be considered a sex offender, a criminal must have committed a sex crime — anything from possessing child pornography to committing a rape.

Judges use a score sheet, created in 1996, to determine whether a convicted sex offender is a high risk to offend again (a Level 3 sex offender), moderate risk (Level 2) or a low risk (Level 1).

NY – Experts say myths and fads can fog policy

Article
Gary Craig
Staff writer

Two myths persist about sex offenders, said Carl Christensen.

The first: A stranger poses the greatest risk of sexually assaulting a child.

The second: Sex offenders are the criminals most likely to offend again.

In fact, research shows that most sexual assaults on children are committed by someone they know, and sex offenders are among the least likely to commit new crimes.

But those myths persist because of popular misconceptions about sex offenders, said Christensen, a counselor and partner at Linden Oaks Sexual Abuse Treatment Services in Penfield. “The stereotype is this guy crawls out from under a rock into a schoolyard, grabs a child, hauls them off and sexually abuses them.”

NY – No clear reason why so many (Sex Offenders) in Monroe County

Article

Gary Craig
Staff writer

Why does Monroe County have so many registered sex offenders — more per capita, for instance, than Erie or Kings counties?

There’s no clear-cut answer, but local police and treatment providers say that authorities here investigate sex crimes more vigorously than authorities elsewhere. And when there are more arrests and prosecutions for sex crimes, more sex offenders are sent to prison, entered into the state registry and returned to the community when released.

NY – Little proof that patchwork of laws really is effective

Article

Gary Craig
Staff writer

In 1989, an 11-year-old St. Joseph, Minn., boy was abducted by a masked gunman as he, a brother and a friend were bicycling home after renting a video.

Jacob Wetterling has never been seen since.

Suspicious that Jacob had been grabbed by a sexual predator, Minnesota lawmakers created a sexual offender registry, accessible by law enforcement, to help police track offenders in their community.

Jacob’s disappearance also gave rise to a federal law requiring each state to have a registry of convicted sexual offenders.

Another notorious crime, the 1994 rape and slaying of 7-year-old Megan Nicole Kanka — by a previously convicted sex offender — in Hamilton Township, N.J., prompted another law.

NY – Some sex offenders feel trapped by past

Article
Scrutiny understood, but still a struggle
Gary Craig
Staff writer

The pedophile doesn’t shop at Wal-Mart.

Too many kids there, he says. Too much temptation for someone who doesn’t want to hurt a child again.

He recently got on a city bus, then changed his mind: “There were a few kids on the bus, so I took a different one.”

This sexual offender is one of six in a group session at the Linden Oaks Sexual Abuse Treatment Services offices in Penfield. The group allowed a Democrat and Chronicle reporter to sit in on a session as long as the offenders were not identified.

NY – As the state sex offender registry swells by thousands, many fear the system could veer out of control

Article
Gary Craig
Staff writer

Robert Jobe is hunting for a man who, with three other men, held a woman hostage and forced her to have sex 22 years ago.

Long out of prison, Geneo Brown is on the state registry of sex offenders, but hasn’t told police where he’s living, authorities say.

That’s where Jobe comes in. As a Rochester police officer, he locates registered sex offenders who have not checked in with authorities and he notifies communities when an offender moves in.

NY – Victims find no easy answers; Some want as much data as possible; others say registries don’t protect them

Article
Gary Craig
Staff writer

Serial rapist Jeffrey Baker says he’s changed.

He’s no longer the predator who raped and sodomized eight Monroe County women in 1985 and 1986, he says. He claims he became a predator because he was sexually abused as a child and had low self-esteem.

But the therapy he received while serving 20 years in prison for his crimes cleansed him of his violent nature, Baker says.

Upon his release in April, he made those arguments at a court hearing to determine whether he should be classified as a Level 3 sex offender — those considered the most likely to commit new crimes.

FL – Judge must decide case with no easy answers

Article
Published – October, 1, 2006 

Nicole Lozare@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
Jerry Allred always admitted his client didn’t have much of a defense.

Janelle Bird’s only shot was if the jury focused on the gray and not the black and white.

Here’s the black and white: She was a 24-year-old teacher having sex with a 15-year-old student in her apartment.

FL – Law dictates label as sex offender

Article
Published – October, 1, 2006 

Janelle Bird faces mandatory classification as a “sexual offender” because of the crimes she has committed. It would take a judge’s order to list her as a “sexual predator,” a more-serious classification.

? “Sexual predator” is a label given to a sexual offender who uses violence, is convicted more than once of a sexual offense, or who preys on children.

MO – Charges amended in alleged sexual-abuse case

Article

PINEVILLE, Mo. Prosecutors have reduced the number of child-sex allegations facing two southwest Missouri church leaders because the alleged incidents happened so long ago.