Friends of Justice

From Bill Dobbs of the Dobbs Wire

The Dobbs Wire: A rare event about the sex offense registry – it’s purpose and effectiveness, whether there’s a need, and if it should it dismantled! Presenters: Miriam Aukerman is one of the country’s most talented litigators against sex offense registration laws, co-counsel on a landmark 6^th Circuit case (Does v. Snyder) and now fighting tenaciously to get that decision implemented. Judith Levine is co-author of the newly published, The Feminist and The Sex Offender, and an elegant, clarion voice on matters of sexual civil liberties and justice; her 2002 book, Harmful to Minors, stands as a classic in the field. Vincent Schiraldi is a leading national advocate for cutting back probation and parole, a former NYC probation commissioner, and currently co-anchoring EXiT (Executives Transforming Parole and Probation), a bold new campaign to overhaul community supervision. Josh Hoe, a prominent criminal justice advocate, podcast host, and policy analyst for Safe & Just Michigan will moderate the discussion. Kudos to Safe & Just Michigan and Josh for presenting this great conversation! Free enlightenment – the details and registration link are below. –Bill Dobbs, The Dobbs Wire If you or a friend would like to be added to The Dobbs Wire mailing list, drop us a line at: info@thedobbswire.com Twitter: @thedobbswire

Thursday, May 28 • 12:00 Noon • via Zoom • Free

Join Safe & Just Michigan to learn the evidence-based case for ending sex offender registries

The Evidence-Based Case for Ending Sex Offense Registries

Thursday, May 28 • 12:00 Noon • via Zoom • Free • Sign up: www.bit.ly/EndTheRegistry

Sex offense registries were supposed to keep communities safer. Under them, people convicted of sex offenses are required to register where they work, live, volunteer and go to school. Certain restrictions are placed on where they can live and earn a living. These laws have created an underclass of people who struggle not only to find a good job, but to even find an available place to live. Meanwhile, studies show the promised safety benefits of these laws have failed to materialize.

Join Safe & Just Michigan Policy Analyst Josh Hoe and special guests — ACLU of Michigan Senior Staff Attorney Miriam Aukerman; Columbia University School of Social Work Senior Research Scientist Vincent Schiraldi; and Judith Levine, feminist author, journalist, co-founder of the National Writers Union and author of “The Feminist and the Sex Offender: Confronting Sexual Harm, Ending State Violence” — at noon on Thursday, May 28. We’ll talk about recent court rulings regarding the unconstitutionality of Michigan’s sex offender registration act, the evidence showing registries fail to protect communities, and the movement to end the registries.

Joining the discussion is free. All you need to do to take part is sign up>>>> www.bit.ly/EndTheRegistry

Safe & Just Michigan event page: https://www.safeandjustmi.org/take-action/events/

Safe & Just Michigan works to advance policies that end Michigan’s over-use of incarceration and promote community safety and healing. We envision a Michigan in which all are safe in their communities and everyone is responsible for creating accountability, safety and justice.

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“I sat in the prison medical unit across from Richard,* bound to his wheelchair, supplemental oxygen supply at the ready, almost three years to the day after he was granted compassionate release. We went over the list again. Relatives: public housing. Nursing home: too close to a school. Apartment: too much money; not wheelchair accessible. We would continue to do this for years.”

Read the article by Allison Frankel in The Yale Law Journal.

H/T Dr. Leonore Tiefer.

On August 24, we posted the following article from the Washington Post. The authors have requested that we repost the article with the following preface:

On October 17, 2019, after a two-week civil trial in Arlington County, Virginia, a seven-member jury found Galen Baughman to be a so-called “sexually violent predator” (SVP). Galen was slapped with the SVP label despite having never even been accused of any violent act, nor engaging in predatory behavior—nor even committing any crimes since his teens. If his appeals are unsuccessful, Galen now at age 36, faces the prospect of lifetime civil commitment at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, a high security prison with a different name.

Galen’s trial provides a window into the Kafkaesque legal process for civil commitment, in which the state can violate basic legal rights, including due process; can engage in expert shopping; and routinely draws on what can only be characterized as “junk science” to inflict grossly excessive punishment. Galen was convicted not for anything he has done, but for what the state’s hand-picked experts claimed he might someday do.

The following article was written just prior to Galen’s trial. Our worst fears about the conduct of the trial, and its outcome, were borne out. Only the prosecution’s “experts” were permitted to testify. No exculpatory evidence was admitted. After a one-sided trial, an effective advocate for the rights of people accused of sex offenses was convicted.

—Philip Fornaci and Roger Lancaster.

Here is the article.