Tier 1 - Sponsored Legislation

AB 261 (Leiber) Elimination of Statute of Limitations SB 153 (Migden) Victim Services Tier 2 - Priority Policy Areas

Victim Services

CALCASA will support legislative initiatives that:

*Expand, and provides adequate resources, for victim / survivor access to state and local services related to support, advocacy, counseling, investigation, prosecution, adjudication of sexual assault crimes.

*Expand programs that provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services for victim / survivors.

Prevention / Community Education

CALCASA will support legislative initiatives that:

*Expand, and provide adequate resources for community based sexual assault prevention programs and the statewide capacity to sustain such efforts

*Increase local access to accurate and community –specific information related to the incidence, prevalence, intervention and prevention of sexual assault.

Sentencing / Offender Accountability

CALCASA will support legislative initiatives that:

*Hold offenders accountable

*Create a range of appropriate, sentencing options that adequately reflect the span of victim’s experiences and expectations

Community Safety / Offender Management

CALCASA will support victim-centered, collaborative, and evidence based legislative initiatives that:

*Promote appropriate and effective offender re-entry strategies that maximize community safety, reduce recidivism and thereby reduce potential victimization.

*Adequately fund local community capacity to provide education / notification, victim services, containment strategies and the statewide capacity to sustain such efforts.

Download a copy of CALCASA's 2007 Agenda

If you haven’t yet written your letter of support for this important piece of legislation, it’s still not too late! Click here to send a letter of support! Just fill in the blanks and fax it to us at 916.446.8166.

If you haven’t yet written your letter of support for this important piece of legislation, it’s still not too late! Click here to send a letter of support!  Just fill in the blanks and fax it to us at 916.446.8166.

http://vote.ss.ca.gov/

* Conduct Sex Offender Risk Assessments while offenders are incarcerated instead of waiting until release

*give communities more time to prepare for release and transition of offenders (at least 45 days)

*use a validated risk assessment tool (the Static-99) to conduct risk assessments.

All of these changes are important victories in terms of community and victim safety -

CALCASA is pleased to be participating on the taskforce and looks forward to shaping more recommendations that will promote effective sex offender management and community safety.

We need your help to push this vital piece of legislation across the finish line! Here’s what you can do:

• A sample letter of support is available, email suzanne@calcasa.org for a copy or entirely create your own
• Fax the letter to Political Solutions (CALCASA’s Lobbying Firm) 916-443-5807 and they will get it to the Governor

I know you are exceptionally busy, but the earlier this letter can get to the Governor the better! Think about faxing today!

Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews (D-Tracy) authored the bill in an effort to "ensure rape crisis centers can continue to do the vital work they do on behalf of victims and survivors.”

The bill now moves to the Governor's desk where he has 30 days to sign or veto the bill. To write a letter asking Governor Schwarzenegger sign the bill, CLICK HERE.

Last night marked the deadline to advance legislation being considered by the California Senate and Assembly to be enrolled for the Governor’s signature. CALCASA is please to report to you that all of CALCASA’s sponsored legislation and a significant number of priority bills on our agenda have passed through the legislature and are on the way to the Governor! Here is the scorecard to date:

CALCASA Priority / Sponsored Bills:

AB 1015 Sex Offender Management Board – Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

AB 2541 Claims against the State (Prompt Payment Act) – Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

SB 1402 Spousal Rape – Signed by the Governor

SB 1745 Employment discrimination: victims of violence – Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

Also on CALCASA’s Agenda:

AB 1996 - Testimony Sexual Offenses (Rape Shield) -Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

AB 2049 - Sex Offender Parole -Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

AB 2084 - DV Shelter programs (CPEDV Sponsored) -Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

AB 2165 - Intercollegiate Athletics -Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

SB 1062 - Victims of Crime: DV / SA -Enrolled and on the way to the Governor

SB 1491 - DV/SA Personal Information -Signed by the Governor

While we should celebrate these wonderful achievements, our work is not yet done! We still have the important task of encouraging the Governor to sign those pieces of legislation that have been referred to him –

If you have not done so already, please take a moment to register for the Online Advocacy Center. You will automatically be registered to receive Action Alerts for CALCASA legislation but you can opt-out at any time. Feel free to pass this on to others in your organization who would like to support CALCASA legislative efforts.

Register here:
http://www.votervoice.net/groups/calcasa/register

Finally, the coalition is still soliciting your feedback related to next year’s public policy agenda! If you have ideas you wish the legislative committee to consider for next year please email either Suzanne@calcasa.org or Robert@calcasa.org. Similarly, if you are interested in serving on the committee please let us know.

Thank you for your ongoing support of CALCASA at the Capitol!

Governor Schwarzenegger today signed AB 2165 by Assmeblymember Jay La Suer (R-San Diego) that will prevent college athletes who have been convicted of a violent felony from playing college team sports.

“Today, I am signing a bill that sends a strong message to criminals on campus: If you commit a violent crime, you lose your privileges on campus until you pay your debt to society,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “I want to thank Assemblyman La Suer for authoring this bill to keep violent felons off our college sports teams and for his commitment to public safety in California.”

AB 2165 (LaSuer) prohibits any student athlete enrolled at the University of California, the California State University, or the California Community Colleges from participating in any intercollegiate athletic event if he or she is prosecuted as an adult and is convicted of any of several specified crimes. A student is eligible to participate after completing their term of incarceration and any supervised parole or probation.

Standing with law enforcement officials and crime victims, the Governor signed AB 2165 at a ceremony on Tuesday in the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. Governor Schwarzenegger was joined by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender, Assemblymember Jay La Suer and Susan Fisher, the Governor’s Crime Victim Advocate.

 For more information or to read CALCASA's position statement regarding Prop. 83, CLICK HERE.

SACRAMENTO — A national movement to restrict where released sex offenders may live has swept into California this election season, with voters set to approve or reject a far-reaching crackdown on society's most loathed ex-convicts.
...
Foes say the measure is based on hysteria, not facts, and ignores a central truth: that nine out of 10 sex offenders are not monsters lurking in the bushes but instead prey on people they know. Opponents, including a coalition representing victims, also note that the law would not forbid loitering near schools and say it could put children in greater danger by giving parents a false sense of security.

Citing the experience of other states, some scholars say the residency rule would banish the former convicts from urban settings that offer the services, jobs and family connections that help them remain law-abiding — and dump them on rural communities ill-equipped to supervise them. In Iowa, prosecutors who once backed such a law said the residency limit had backfired, and they now want it repealed.

According to maps prepared by the state Senate, the initiative would bar sex offenders from living in nearly all of San Francisco and much of urban Los Angeles, while they would be allowed to live in many less densely populated suburbs around the state.

State Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), whose farm-belt district in the Central Valley is one area where sex offenders could legally live, said the measure would legalize "predator dumping." The Bakersfield Californian newspaper agreed, and editorialized against it under the headline "Our children deserve same rights as city kids."

Such worries have prompted one supporter, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, to lose much of his zeal for the measure. Although he supports the tougher sentencing it offers, Cooley says, "the potential unintended consequences — like burdening our rural areas — have not been well thought out."

"It makes you wonder if it's a false promise based upon a false premise," Cooley said.

From LA Times--Full text here

• The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault's Lobby Guide is a comprehensive document that reviews the legislative process in California, CALCASA's legislative advocacy, and how you can lobby on behalf of CALCASA.
• The Evolving Advocate is a presentation on leadership, NFP systems advocacy and how lobbying interacts with policy. Click here to down load the presentation.
• Nonprofit organizations have much to contribute to the public policy process and public officials benefit greatly from their expertise. Nonprofits Can Lobby is an excellent overview of federal and state regulations that apply to non-profit organizations.
• Worry Free Lobbying for Non-Profits focuses on how to understand some of the rules surrounding lobbying and on supporting public policy work done by non-profits.
• The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) developed a useful Election Check List. The checklist will help you stay in compliance with the federal laws governing the activities of 501(c)(3) organizations during an election.
• Tip Sheet for Engaging in Political Campaign Activities. 501(c)(3) organizations are prohibited from explicitly or implicitly supporting or opposing any candidate for public office, coordinating messaging with candidates, or appearing to favor/oppose one candidate over another.

Senate Bill 1128 by Senator Alquist (D-Santa Clara) had received support from CALCASA, enhances penalties and implements new laws for registered sex offenders, including punishing continuous child sexual abuse by an automatic 25-year-to-life prison sentence, making possession of pornography depicting children a felony in some cases, discouraging plea bargains for violent sex offenders, and including youth recreational facilities in addition to schools when restricting access for sex offenders.  Among the bill's many provisions, it also requires every person required to register as a sex offender to be subject to assessment using the State-Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders, a valuable tool widely recognized by experts and used by law enforcement.

SB 1128 has been declared by many experts as an "alternative to Jessica's Law." CALCASA opposes Prop. 83 (Jessica's Law) because of the inclusion of residency restrictions and GPS monitoring for all sex offenders, whereas SB 1128 contains virtually all of the provisions in Prop. 83 except for the GPS and residency restrictions.

Suzanne Brown-McBride, Executive Director of CALCASA spoke at the historic bill signing. She later discussed CALCASA's support for SB 1128: "This bill does all of the good things that Jessica's Law does, but we don't risk the unintended consequences of residency restrictions and GPS monitoring of all sex offenders." 

The Board will bring together the stakeholders in the management of sex offenders to assess the current practices in managing adult sex offenders under supervision, identify best practices and make recommendations on how to implement these changes.

CALCASA had worked diligently with Assemblymembers Chu and Spitzer for two years leading up to the bills passage. Victim advocates and authors alike were pleased to see very strong bipartisan support both years, and great leadership from both sides of the legislature. The bill landed on the desk of California’s top elected just shortly after his very own High Risk Sex Offender (HRSO) taskforce delivered a document making a very strong recommendation to implement the SOMB.

Suzanne Brown-McBride, who served on the Governor’s HRSO taskforce, weighed in heavily on the decision to include the SOMB as a recommendation. She notes, “Never before has such a group of experts gathered in a concerted effort to make sex offender management policies to the Governor. The HRSO taskforce truly generated a great deal of momentum for the SOMB to provide ongoing expertise in the placement, supervision and management of sex offenders who are released into our communities.”

CALCASA would like to thank the strong leadership from Assemblymembers Chu, and Spitzer as well all of those who have worked so hard to make this legislation become law. We also applaud the Governor for signing such an important bill that will truly enhance our ability to manage and monitor sex offenders.

“Proposition 83 Makes Children, Communities Unsafe”

It's likely more sex offenders will move to less populated rural areas, like the Morongo Basin. Here, it will be less easy to keep track of offenders. There are fewer law officers here and an area like the Basin does not have as many support resources such as job services and mental-health clinics to treat or monitor sex offenders.

State Sen. Dean Florez, whose district is in a mostly rural region of Central California, calls Prop 83 “predator dumping.”

He could be right.

Prop 83 contains some excellent provisions. It lengthens prison sentences and parole for violent sex offenders.

It would make possession of child pornography a felony, although Governor Schwarzenegger already has signed a law that does the same thing.

But it could also mean that rural children are endangered by an influx of sex offenders.

It looks likely that Jessica's Law is going to pass. Polls have found it to be popular among voters.

If it does become law, the state cannot be allowed to strand the Hi-Desert with scores of new residents with dark pasts.

The Hi-Desert already has too many sex offenders who are out of compliance with their registration - in other words, whose whereabouts are unknown by law enforcement.

The Megan's Law Web site indicates that of the sex offenders listed under that law, four in Yucca Valley, one in the Landers and Johnson Valley area, one in Morongo Valley and two in Twentynine Palms are missing. Officers don't know where they are. Eight may seem like a small number, but eight missing sex offenders are eight too many. What will happen if law officers must keep tabs on many new sex offenders forced into the area?

As it stands now, the Morongo Basin does not have the resources to cope with Prop 83. If - or when - it passes, the state and especially the bill's sponsors in the legislature must make sure our children are as safe as those in the big city.

CALCASA would like to thank a Women's Place of Merced County who also co-sponsord this legislation. 

Referring to the domestic violence and rape crisis programs directly effected under the legislation, Governor Schwarzenegger stated: “I am proud to sign legislation to assist the worthy programs that provide safe havens for victims of abuse."

Today's signing caps off a season of legislative successes for CALCASA. Virtually every CALCASA sponsored or supported bill that arrived at the Governor's desk, left with his approval as California law.

The Governor also signed AB 2084 by Assemblymember Betty Karnette, which specifies that a portion of marriage license fees go directly to shelters for domestic violence victims. CALCASA had supported the measure on behalf of the bill's sponsor, the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (CPEDV).

 CALCASA Sponsored Legislation

AB 1015 (Chu) Sex Offender Management Board. SIGNED!

AB 2541 (Matthews) Claims against the state. SIGNED!

SB 1402 (Kuehl) Spousal rape. SIGNED

AB 1849 (Leslie) Sex offenders. SIGNED!

AB 1996 (Bogh) Testimony: sexual offenses: witnesses. SIGNED!

AB 2049 (Spitzer) Sex offenders: parole. SIGNED!

AB 2165 (La Suer) Postsecondary education: intercollegiate athletics. SIGNED!

SB 1062 (Bowen) Victims of crime: domestic violence and sexual assault. SIGNED!

SB 1491 (Kuehl) Domestic violence: personal information. SIGNED!

SB 1743 (Bowen) Change of names: sexual assault victims. SIGNED!

Sex-offender ballot measure costly -- and futile

By Erin O'Brien and Keri Procunier McLain

Who doesn't want sex offenders tracked and kept away from children? As the only providers of services for survivors of sexual assault in Santa Clara and San Benito counties, Community Solutions and the YWCA of Silicon Valley are committed to our communities' safety and victims' rights. However, as such, we recognize that Proposition 83, dubbed Jessica's Law, will not protect our community from sexual predators.

Though well-intentioned, Proposition 83's strategies would cause unintended consequences that would place the public further at risk. Our greatest concerns include the proposed residency restriction, which will prohibit sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school or park, and its lifetime global positioning system monitoring.

As service providers, we know that the residency restriction will not protect the vast majority of child victims. Sexual assaults against children are most often committed in the child's home or another familiar location. According to the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, 90 percent of child victims knew their assailant.

Consequently, residency restrictions will force offenders to relocate from urban areas to rural regions where law enforcement has fewer resources and where there are fewer viable housing and employment options. Such factors do not foster the stable environment that research has shown reduces the risk of re-offense.

Furthermore, high-risk offenders may be less likely to comply and instead stop reporting to authorities, as occurred when similar legislation was passed in Iowa. As the law does not adequately discern offenders based on the type of offense committed, non-violent offenders would also be forced to relocate, potentially having to pull their families away from community ties and jobs.

The proposed lifelong GPS monitoring will not be limited to high-risk violent predators. Law enforcement will be overburdened with non-essential monitoring duties and data that would make the real risks harder to recognize and track. According to the Coalition Against Sexual Assault, GPS monitoring would be used for 50 times more offenders than is recommended by experts.

The cost of this countereffective monitoring and relocation could be staggering. Opponents have estimated that it may cost $500 million, with the total expense for local governments still under speculation. If we are going to allocate this much funding to prevent future sexual assaults, it should be designated to programs that will offer real preventive benefits.

To protect our children, law enforcement needs to focus time and effort on offenders who present a real risk, and know where they are. Extensive convict relocation and monitoring of non-violent criminals will only make the dangerous offenders harder to track.

Proposition 83 appears even less fruitful when we consider the six bills that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Sept. 20. The new legislation already offers many of the beneficial aspects of Proposition 83. It includes SB 1178, which requires GPS tracking of high-risk offenders who are on parole or probation, and SB 1128, which enhances penalties for many child-related or violent sexual crimes. SB 1128 also uses the more effective tactic of focusing on restricting offenders' access to locations where children are commonly found rather than focusing on offenders' residences.

As rape crisis service providers for 25 and 33 years respectively, Community Solutions and the YWCA of Silicon Valley want our communities' residents to be safe. We recognize the general population's desire to seize any opportunity to protect our children. However, Proposition 83's implementation strategies are so problematic that it will not provide the security that it suggests.

This initiative proposes 399 statutory changes, and each would require additional legislation to revoke as mistakes are discovered. But the false sense of security that Proposition 83 evokes may be even more costly.

Please join Community Solutions, the YWCA of Silicon Valley, and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault in voting ``no'' on Proposition 83.

is CEO of the YWCA of Silicon Valley. They wrote this article for the Mercury News.

CCSW Testimony: Sexual Assault Crisis Program Funding and Support

Handout: Spending per SA victim in California

Handout: Federal Funding versus State Funding for SA

Handout: Who Pays for SA Services in California?

CCSW Testimony: Improving SART / SANE Response

CCSW Testimony: Prevention and My Strength

CALCASA is thankful for the opportunity to testify and looks forward to future work with staff and board members of the Commission. 

After his organization gave $25,000 to the campaign for Prop. 83, or Jessica's Law, the head of the state prison guards union now says he plans to vote against the initiative. Speaking at a Capitol hearing on the mess that is California's prison system, Mike Jimenez had some pretty harsh words for an initiative that will have a direct effect on his membership. Jimenez said he thought the portion of the initiative that would prohibit sex offenders from living near schools or parks would create a wave of homeless sex offenders that will be harder to account keep track of.

He also suggested that the state was not ready to implement another aspect of the initiative that would require many sex offenders to wear Global Positioning Satellite devices for the rest of their lives. The state's parole system -- parolee agents are members of the prison guards union -- has been using GPS systems, but only in pilot programs.

After the hearing, Jimenez said his group gave money to the campaign while they were gathering signatures but had hoped the initiative would trigger a debate in the Legislature about prison reform that never really happened. He now believes that parole agents are going to be stuck trying to find places for sex offenders to live after the law passes and that the initiative would not make children safer as its promoters contend. "It's a bad idea," he said.

The union has typically helped support any initiative that toughened criminal sentences. They were very active in 2004 in defeating an initiative that would have weakened the state's three strikes law.

Click here for full post and comments

 AB 633 (Benoit) allows parents to access information about serious health and safety violations found in daycare facilities and informs parents of a facilities license has been revoked

AB 2196 (Spitzer) informs parents about the California Megan's Law website 

The Governor also directed that background checks be conducted of all staff who are working in daycares that receive state subsidies. This will impact over 56,000 licensed facilities.

Governor's Announcement related to Child Care

novfieldpoll.pdf

CDCR Report Tells Voters What They Already Knew: Proposition 83 “Will Place the Community at Greater Risk”

Days before the election, California voters are finally getting the information they need to make an informed decision on Proposition 83. The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) took early opposition and has since been followed by more than 20 newspapers and scores of political, faith, clinical and law enforcement groups on all sides.

For its part in educating voters on the shortfalls of this initiative, CALCASA has seen a significant shift in voter perception regarding Proposition 83. Says Robert Coombs, Director of Public Affairs “a tremendous wave of people have gone from total support for what seemed like a good bill to being vocally opposed after seeing the impending catastrophe at hand.” That wave of people includes the crowd of newspapers and politicians along with early promoters of the initiative.

Among converts are the California Correctional Peace Officers Union, who initially contributed more than $25,000 to pass “Jessica’s Law” but have since rescinded their support citing poor research and an impossible implementation.

Voters have thus far been kept in the dark regarding the shift of opinion because no official polling has been done on the initiative since August 2^nd, before any opposition to the initiative had been waged. Coombs notes that unofficial numbers have been promising in spite of the big pollsters (Field and Public Policy Institute of California) disregard for voter opinion on the issue. “We’ve seen numbers coming from some polls showing 51% opposition to the initiative which is huge and shows that voters are finding out more and more about this initiative that they don’t like.” That figure comes from an online poll conducted by the Vacaville Reporter, which has since come off the website.

The changing tide comes at the announcement by probation and parole officials (As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, LA Times, and Sacramento Bee) that the state will actually be unable to implement the provisions effectively and that insiders have knowingly supported the initiative that “will place the community at greater risk.” Aside from the ongoing critique of victim advocates, sex offender treatment professionals and the media, voters had not been made aware of the enormous challenges posed by Proposition 83, some of which seem impossible to accomplish. It should be a significant red flag to the public that the agencies in charge of implementing the initiative are overwhelmed by the initiative. Even if we believe that the law would work, it is clear that the state lacks the resources and personnel to implement in effective ways.

These startling revelations have left those who oppose the initiative to wonder what other impossible tasks the initiative promises but can not deliver. Coombs adds: “We’ve known for a while that GPS manufacturers and real-estate developers are supporting this because they’re going to make a fortune, but it seems like some supporters had information that should have been shared with the public.”

The state coalition of rape crisis centers maintains its strong opposition to the measure and holds out hope for the nearing election. Suzanne Brown-McBride, Executive Director for CALCASA summed it up: “We are confident that the voters will see through the rhetoric and vote no on Proposition 83. Then, we can get back to working closely with proponents and public safety officials alike to come up with meaningful, evidence based legislative solutions to the problems related to sex offender management.”

Phase I: Read the Report to the Governor

Current Activities: upon receipt of the report the taskforce informed the governor that while we were pleased with the direction of the recommendations, there was still much to be done related to the issue of appropriate, safe placements of high-risk sex offenders. We asked the Governor to continue the task force so that we could attend to this issue. The Governor agreed, and continued the mandate of the group. In addition, the Governor asked the taskforce to work with the Department of Mental Health to address issues related to community placement of Sexually Violent Predators.

(b) The task force shall be chaired by a designee of the Attorney General. TheDepartment of Justice shall provide staff and support for the task force tothe extent resources are available.

(c) The members of the task force shall serve at the pleasure of the respectiveappointing authority.

Andrea Bottner assumed the role of Acting Director of the Office on Violence Against Women, United States Department of Justice, in October of 2006.  Prior to that appointment, Andrea served as the Principal Deputy Director in the Office on Violence Against Women. Before coming to the United States Department of Justice, Andrea worked as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Republican National Committee Co-Chairman. Andrea handled the national women's outreach strategy for the Republican National Committee in close coordination with the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.

Andrea received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, from the University of Delaware.  After her college graduation, she worked on Capitol Hill for two different U.S. Representatives. During her time on Capitol Hill, Andrea handled criminal justice issues and other social policy issues.  Andrea earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore Law School.  Andrea spent a semester as a student at the Boston University School of Law and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 2000.  Andrea worked briefly in Boston on behalf of battered women.

Andrea and her husband reside with their infant daughter, Grace, in Northwest Washington, DC.

http://www.usdoj.gov/ovw/ovwactingdirector.htm 

CALCASA announced their Legislators of the Year today in a ceremony near the capitol. Legislators receiving top honors from CALCASA were Assemblywoman Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) and Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange County).

Assemblywoman Chu has been a longstanding partner in sexual violence legislation dating back to her authoring of AB 2583 in 2002 which created a Campus Blueprint to End Sexual Assault. She was also the joint co-author of another valuable CALCASA bill, AB 1015 creating a Sex Offender Management Board.

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer was joint co-author on AB 1015 and has been a tremendous spokesperson on the issue of sex offender management. As co-chair of the Governor’s High Risk Sex Offender (HRSO) Taskforce, Assemblyman Spitzer has served alongside CALCASA’s Executive Director, Suzanne Brown-McBride in an effort to manage the issues surrounding release, placement and management of high risk sex offenders throughout California.

Both Assemblywoman Chu and Assemblyman Spitzer were awarded Legislator of the Year by CALCASA for their commitment to addressing the issues faced by victims and survivors of sexual violence. Brown-McBride notes: “It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with each of these individuals and we will continue our partnerships to help victims and survivors of sexual violence in California.”

Also honored at the luncheon were two staff-persons who have given tremendous support to CALCASA’s legislative work. Tam Ma of Senator Kuehl’s office and Andrew Medina from Assemblywoman Chu’s staff received CALCASA’s Staff-Person of the Year awards. Says Robert Coombs, Director of Public Affairs: “Tam Ma has sexual violence and has consistently been a knowledge bank to the constituents who get to work with her and Andrew been a key organizer on many bills related specifically to Medina’s responsiveness and attention to detail has been vital in the passage of AB 1015.”

Adds Brown-McBride: “Today we’ve had the opportunity to honor just a few of the people who help to make meaningful legislation here in California.”

The committee is responsible for advising and developing training courses for sex crime prosecution units throughout the state. The committee is also responsible for developing criteria for funding grants to rape crisis centers, child sexual exploitation programs, and child sexual abuse counseling centers.

For more information, please visit the Commission's website at www.women.ca.gov.

View Story Here

Cardinal Roger Mahony

Download HRSO Phase II Report 

The outcome of 2006 election sends a clear message to state policymakers that California voters want community safety, services for victims of sexual assault and the management of dangerous sexual offenders to be a top priority.  In particular, the success of a recent voters initiative has left voters with high expectations that the State of California will make a meaningful commitment to communities and victims.

In an effort to prioritize these outcomes, CALCASA looks to the 2007 legislative year as a chance to “Keep Our Promise.” As the 2007 session gets underway, CALCASA will help California “Keep Our Promise” through legislation, outreach and education on each of these issues.
 
Rape Crisis Centers Overwhelmed

California has a responsibility to provide adequate services to victims and survivors of sexual violence, yet those who are charged with providing these services often find themselves overwhelmed and under resourced.
 
Last year, nearly 30,000 children, women and men received direct services from California Rape Crisis Centers. With services including hospital accompaniment, legal advocacy, counseling and ongoing support, these agencies continue to provide vital services to our communities under incredibly difficult circumstances.
 
WEAVE in Sacramento is one of CALCASA’s 66 rape crisis centers that served nearly one thousand of those cases. Says Beth Hassett, Executive Director of WEAVE: “We have so many survivors seeking our services that we run out of supplies. We provide a vital service to the community but given the resources available to us it is hard to keep up sometimes.”
 
According to the California Department of Justice Crime Clock, a forcible rape is committed on average every 56 minutes in California. Suzanne Brown-McBride, Executive Director of CALCASA explains: “The number sexual assault incidents and victims in this state is truly staggering and we are proud of the work our centers are able to do in light of how many survivors are out there. Many centers are overwhelmed with clients and under resourced.  CALCASA will work this year to help California keep our promise to victims. We look to policymakers to be leaders on this issue.”

“The seriousness of these crimes dictates that the statute of limitations be removed.  Victims should not be penalized for a reporting delay rooted in the trauma of the crime itself,” said Lieber.  “The emotional suffering of victims and the danger to society posed by these criminals does not end when the current statute of limitations expires.”

Despite its extremely violent and harmful nature, most forms of rape have a maximum 10 year statute of limitations, unless DNA evidence identifies a potential defendant.

AB 261, sponsored by the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), would eliminate the statute of limitations for serious sexual assault offenses, including rape (Penal Code 261), sodomy (PC 286), child molestation (PC 288), oral copulation (PC 288a), continuous sexual abuse of a child (PC 288.5), forcible acts of sexual penetration (PC 289), and fleeing the state with the intent to avoid prosecution for a sex offense (as specified in PC 289.5).  Under the proposed bill, prosecution for these crimes could commence at any time.

“It is vital that California takes steps to encourage victims to come forward and report these violent crimes,” notes Suzanne Brown-McBride, Executive Director of CALCASA.  “We want to send a message to offenders that California doesn’t lose interest in these crimes or their victims.” She adds: “While prompt reporting is optimal, the trauma that many victims experience as a result of their attack may make timely reporting impossible. Sexual assault claims shouldn’t be dismissed simply because of an arbitrary timeline – victims deserve a chance at receiving justice no matter when a crime occurred.”

The current statutes in California are complicated with so many exceptions and exemptions to the statute of limitations that even experienced district attorneys disagree about when the SOL applies or does not apply in rape and sexual assault cases.  For example, crimes punishable by death, life imprisonment, life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, or the embezzlement of public funds have no SOL.  For felony sex offenses requiring sex offender registration, prosecution may commence within 10 years.  For crimes punishable by imprisonment of eight years or more, the statute of limitations is 6 years, and for crimes punishable by any state prison term, prosecution must commence within 3 years.  California law also allows for an exception to the statute of limitations if DNA evidence is conclusively established (if the DNA is analyzed in a timely manner, PC 803(h)).

This uncertainty exacerbates the inconsistent application of the law and makes it even harder for victims to come forward to report this serious crime.

According to the US Department of Justice, rape is one of the most underreported crimes. In 2002, only 39% of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement officials. Eliminating the statute of limitations could help improve the reporting frequency and better protect victims.

AB 261 is also supported by the California District Attorneys Association.  A copy of the bill is available HERE.

By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau

Sacramento Bee 

Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, February 15, 2007
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A3

The state correctional officers union has forged an alliance with some of its longtime adversaries to propose key sentencing changes that represent a departure from the labor group's pro-incarceration positions of the past.

One proposal being pushed by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association would reserve prison space for "violent and habitual offenders" only. The union also is calling for a sentencing commission to set prison term guidelines that could be changed only if both chambers of the Legislature agree.

Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Oakland-based Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice joined the CCPOA on a union-convened committee that developed the proposals. For years, those groups have contested the CCPOA's historic support for the state's "three-strikes" law and tough revocation policies for parolees, both of which have helped jam-pack the state prison system.

"I think the guards union has come around on the current conditions," said Dan Macallair, executive director of the Oakland group and member of the committee. "There's been a recognition that there have got to be some changes."

Sponsor

AB 1015 (Chu) Sex Offender Management Board. SIGNED!

AB 2541 (Matthews) Claims against the state. SIGNED!

SB 261 (Speier) Sex offenders: statute of limitations. Dead

SB 1402 (Kuehl) Spousal rape. SIGNED

SB 1745 (Kuehl) Employment and housing discrimination. VETO.

Support

AB 1849 (Leslie) Sex offenders. Signed!

AB 1996 (Bogh) Testimony: sexual offenses: witnesses. Signed!

AB 2049 (Spitzer) Sex offenders: parole. Signed!

AB 2165 (La Suer) Postsecondary education: intercollegiate athletics. SIGNED!

AB 2925 (Montanez) Victims: automated notification. DEAD

SB 1062 (Bowen) Victims of crime: domestic violence and sexual assault. Signed!

SB 1491 (Kuehl) Domestic violence: personal information. Signed!

SB 1743 (Bowen) Change of names: sexual assault victims. Signed!

SB 1761 (Poochigian) Victim services. Dead.

Watch

AB 231 (Runner, Sharon) The Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act: Jessica's Law. Initiative

AB 1999 (Torrico) Sales taxes: Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse Fund. Dead

SB 1599 (Ducheny) Domestic violence prevention: funding. Dead

Terms:

Dead: means that proposal did not make it out of the legislature VETO: indicates a Governor's Veto Signed!: indicates the Governor signed proposal into Law.]]> 107 2007-02-15 15:40:23 2007-02-15 20:40:23 open open calcasa-2006-agenda publish 115 0 page _wp_page_template default autometa dead domestic veto bowen proposal kuehl signed violence _edit_lock 1239836571 _edit_last 1 http://www.calcasapublicpolicy.org/?p=108 Fri, 23 Feb 2007 06:02:04 +0000 http://www.calcasapublicpolicy.org/?p=108  
"Protecting the safety and well-being of all Californians is my top priority," said Governor Schwarzenegger.  "The threat of sex offenders in our communities is real, and local sheriffs' departments must be equipped to track parole violators and prevent future assaults.  The grants awarded today will provide local communities with the funding and resources they need to keep Californians safe from harm."
 
The grants for the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team Program will be administered by the Office of Emergency Services.  The funding, authorized in the 2006-2007 budget, will help apprehend and prosecute the nearly 15,000 sex offenders who are in violation of their registration requirements.  
 
The purpose of the SAFE Team Program is two-fold: 1) to increase the registration compliance rate of sex offenders, and to arrest and prosecute sex offenders who violate the terms and conditions of their probation or parole, who fail to comply with registration requirements, or who commit new sexual offenses; and 2) to deliver public education on Megan's Law in order to protect the public from sexual assault.
 
California's Megan's Law provides the public with certain information on the whereabouts of sex offenders so that members of local communities may protect themselves and their children.
 
The six county sheriffs' offices selected through the competitive regional grant process are as follows:
 
Los Angeles County Sheriff:  $1,199,000
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff:  $687,750
Santa Clara County Sheriff:  $953,250
Sacramento County Sheriff:  $799,350
Tulare County Sheriff:  $639,000
Riverside County Sheriff:  $731,950
 
The amount of money allotted to each county is based on the number of sex offenders.  The SAFE Team program will provide local law enforcement agencies in these counties with additional resources to monitor the registered sex offenders living within their jurisdictions. The core membership of these SAFE Teams is comprised of police officers, sheriff's deputies, probation and/or parole officers, prosecutors, and non-profit victim service advocacy organizations.
 
 
 
Background:
 
In 2002, the Legislature authorized and encouraged law enforcement agencies to establish SAFE Teams. The Legislature found that habitual sex offenders posed a significant risk to the welfare and safety of the residents of California, and that predatory sex offenders frequently traveled to areas outside of the jurisdictions where they lived in order to evade surveillance and possible arrest by local law enforcement agencies for probation or parole violations.
 
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 18 percent of all women have been raped at some time in their lives, and that more than half (54 percent) were under 18 when they experienced their first rape. OES provides funding to 84 Rape Crisis Centers throughout the state.  Last year, these centers provided crisis intervention services to more than 26,000 victims of sexual assault.
 
According to the Attorney General's Crime in California Report, there were 9,598 forcible rapes reported to law enforcement agencies in California in 2004. However, the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that only 28 percent of all rapes and sexual assaults are ever reported to law enforcement.
 

]]> 108 2007-02-23 01:02:04 2007-02-23 06:02:04 closed open gov-schwarzenegger-announces-5-million-in-local-grants-to-monitor-sex-offenders publish 0 0 post autometa sheriff http://www.calcasapublicpolicy.org/?p=109 Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:59:39 +0000 http://www.calcasapublicpolicy.org/?p=109 2007 Prevent Child Abuse California Policy Conference ~ Advocacy Day

Thursday, April 19th from 12:00–5:00PM
Sacramento Convention Center
Register now through April 6th
$25 

Participants will receive lunch, child abuse and neglect information packets, and advocacy training provided by the partners of McHugh & Associates

Advocacy talking points will include:

The event will take place immediately following the Kids Day at the Capitol activities. This great afternoon will educate participants on how to advocate for children and the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Special attention will be paid to the prevention of shaken baby syndrome and all participants will be assigned to legislative visits for the afternoon. A flyer is attached and registration may be accessed through http://pca-ca.org/policy-conference.

Over three hundred locally elected officials, law enforcement, corrections personnel, sexual assault advocates, sex offender management professionals, and policymakers met today in Sacramento to discuss the challenge of Housing High Risk Sex Offenders.

This groundbreaking event was the result of the work of Governor Schwarzenegger's High Risk Sex Offender Taskforce.   Chaired by Assemblymember Todd Spitzer and Assemblymember Rudy Burmeudez,  the taskforce  met during 2006 to offer recommendations related to the management, risk assessment and supervision of High Risk Sex Offenders.  

The Taskforce considered testimony and input from corrections personnel, local lawmakers, law enforcement, victim advocates and sex offender management professionals who identified the lack of appropriate housing for sexual offenders as an incredible potential threat to community safety.  

"It is clear that our communities are not safer when offenders are inappropriately housed, or worse yet transient." noted Suzanne Brown-McBride, Executive Director of the California Coalition Against sexual Assault one of the partner sponsors of the event.  "Victim Advocates understand the importance of effectively managing sexual offenders who are already in our communities to prevent future victimization."

The event, known as the California Summit for Community Safety, featured information sessions and interactive regional dialogue between participants who identified challenges and resources to housing high-risk offenders. 

Governor Schwarzenegger hosted the summit and provided the keynote address which stressed his commitment to community safety and finding solutions to improve offender supervision and placement. 

The event was also sponsored by the California League of Cities, The California State Association of Counties, The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the California Apartment Association,  Secretary James Tilton of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Kimberly Belshe of the Department of Mental Health. 

See Governor's Message

• Home Office - Review of the protection of children from sex offenders
• Human Rights Watch - No Easy Answers
• Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy

• Adam Walsh Act Summary
• Adam Walsh Act (AWA)
• Kehoe Memo on the AWA and Juveniles
• Restoration of Native Sovereignty

• Children with Sexual Behavior Problems
• Effective Community Managment of Sex Offenders
• Pedophiles and Child Molesters
• Public Health Approach to Sexual Abuse
• Risk Assessment
• Sexual Abuse
• Ten Things You Should Know about Sex Offenders and Treatment

• Anti-Androgen Therapy and Surgical Castration
• Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Offenders
• Reducing Sexual Abuse Through Treatment and Intervention with Abusers
• Sexual Abuse as a Public Health Problem
• The Effective Legal Managment of Juvenile Sexual Offenders
• The Importance of Balancing the Need for Research and Participant Protection
• The Registration and Community Notification of Adult Sexual Offenders

• Florida Electronic Monitoring
• New Mexico Overview of Sex Offender Managment
• SOPB Report

• CASOM Full Report
• Florida - OPPAGA Analysis of Jessica’s Law
• Prison Law Office Petition

• LA Buffer Map
• CA State Buffer Map
• San Francisco Buffer Map
• CA Audit SO Housing
• CRB Residency Restrictions Report
• IDA Legislative Priorities
• MN Residency Restrictions
• Planning and Residency Restrictions
• Sex Offender Residency Statement

• Advocacy Skills and Tips - PowerPoint Presentation
• Victim Services
• Washington Post Article on Myths and Public Policy
• Contacting Members of Congress
• Influencing Policy
• Tools for Policy Advocacy
• California Victim Compensation Program
• The California Victim Services Training Institute (CVSTI)

• SEX OFFENDER SENTENCING OPTIONS: Views of Child Victims and their Parents
• Victim Response to Sexual Assault
• Public Opinion and the Criminal Justice System
• Understanding Sexual Violence - Using a Public Health Model

• Residency Restriction Videos

• 2009 Bill Tracking
• 2008 Bills Tracking
• 2008/09 Legislative Agenda
• 2007 Legislative Agenda
• 2006 Legislative Agenda

Not for Profits in California CAN lobby!

• The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault's Lobby Guide is a comprehensive document that reviews the legislative process in California, CALCASA's legislative advocacy, and how you can lobby on behalf of CALCASA.
• The Evolving Advocate is a presentation on leadership, NFP systems advocacy and how lobbying interacts with policy. Click here to down load the presentation.
• Nonprofit organizations have much to contribute to the public policy process and public officials benefit greatly from their expertise. Nonprofits Can Lobby is an excellent overview of federal and state regulations that apply to non-profit organizations.
• Worry Free Lobbying for Non-Profits focuses on how to understand some of the rules surrounding lobbying and on supporting public policy work done by non-profits.
• The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) developed a useful Election Check List. The checklist will help you stay in compliance with the federal laws governing the activities of 501(c)(3) organizations during an election.
• Tip Sheet for Engaging in Political Campaign Activities. 501(c)(3) organizations are prohibited from explicitly or implicitly supporting or opposing any candidate for public office, coordinating messaging with candidates, or appearing to favor/oppose one candidate over another.

Governor's High Risk Sex Offender (HRSO) Taskforce 

California Alliance To Combat Trafficking and Slavery

The coalition was pleased that Chairman Solorio allowed focused testimony from proponents, particularly the excellent comments offered by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris.

Committee members (in particular Ma, Leno and Portantino) considered the bill carefully and asked excellent questions and made statements of support for sexual assault victims and their quest for justice. 

Read the Assembly Analysis 

Last Spring, CALCASA member agencies submitted suggested policy areas for our public policy committee to consider.  This feedback was vital in helping to form our four policy priority areas to evaluate and respond to legislation: Victim Rights and Services, Prevention and Education, Sentencing and Offender Accountability, Community Safety and Sex Offender Management.

Member agencies also filled out a funding survey that informed the coalition about what areas our work CALCASA members would prioritize for new funding.  While the coalition will aggressively work to enhance all areas of sexual assault victim services and resources, CALCASA members prioritized funding for: direct sexual assault services, expansion of services for un/underserved communities, SART coordination and a statewide prevention campaign.  

With these priorities in mind, the coalition is pleased to sponsor two important pieces of legislation this 2007 session:

AB 261 (Leiber) Elimination of the Statute of Limitations The elimination of the criminal statute of limitations on most sexual offenses– a longstanding CALCASA priority – is an important advancement of victims rights.  

SB 153 (Migden) Victim Services
This bill reallocates unused penalty assessment funds which are currently being returned to the state general fund to enhance victim services, law enforcement and district attorney training, and authorize counties to create multidisciplinary responses and interventions to child abuse / assault.  

Download a copy of CALCASA's 2007 Agenda

Right now, you can send letters of support on CALCASA's sponsored legislation: AB 261 (Leiber) which eliminates the criminal statute of limitations on most sex crimes and SB 153 (Migden) which will reallocates state penalty assessment dollars to support victim services, law enforcement training and witness protection programs.  

Stand up against sexual violence, stand for sexual assault survivors. 

Diane Webb (Law Enforcement - LAPD)

Sophia McBeth-Childs (Law Enforcement – Sacramento)

Pamela King (Defender)

Catherine Duggan (Victim Services - Ventura)

Nancy O’Malley (CDAA)

Tom Tobin (CCOSO)

Gerry Blasingame (CCOSO)

Suzanne Brown-McBride (Victim Services – Sacramento)

Janet Gaard (Office of the Attorney General)

James Tilton (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)

SB 153 reallocates penalty assessment funds that are currently not being utilized for California's Drivers Ed programs and redirects those dollars to victim services, prosecutor and law enforcement training and the creation of multidisciplinary child advocacy centers.  

It doesn't cost Californians a dime - but can make all the difference for victims -

Want to show your support? Register on CALCASA's Grassroots Action Center - it's easy, free and the way you can stay connected to CALCASA's work for victims of sexual assault.  

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month - Advocate for victims and the services they deserve!

CALCASA is pleased to support a series of bills that will implement many of the recommendations that require legislative action to accomplish:

AB 1509 (Spitzer)codifies CDCR policy that allows for a victim specify that the offender who victimized them can not live within 35 miles of their residence.  Creates parallel rights related to SVP placement and the Department of Mental Health

AB 996 (Spitzer) which allows for a victim's representative to address the parole board 

SB 864 (Cogdil) which specifies that victim information related to the SVP program should be kept confidential 

SB 1172 (Runner) which increases community collaboration and notification times before inmate release

AB 1235 (Fuller) which adds information about GPS monitoring on the Megan's Law website

AB 386 (Benoit) which creates additional planning time for communities who will be receiving offenders who were considered for SVP program placement but were found to be ineligible.

AB 1348 (Spitzer) requires SVP patients to comply with the court-ordered treatment program before they can be considered for conditional release. 

SB 502 (Hollingsworth) requires any individual who has been classified as a SVP to be monitored by GPS

SB 503 (Hollingsworth) allows for the court to consider a lack of compliance with treatment when considering a SVP patients petition for unconditional release

In addition to providing a much needed boost to California's rape crisis centers SB 153 supports services essential for victims of crime such as victim witness programs, child advocacy centers and witness relocation.  

 SB 153 also enhances community safety by supporting law enforcement training, prosecutor and defender training.

 This is fabulous news and we are thankful to members of the Senate Public Safety committee but there is much work ahead!

 Support California's sexual assault programs!  Sign up for the Grassroots Action Center and get involved!

The reauthorization of these measures is vitally important to sexual assault victim services in California!  Over 85% of the funding that rape crisis programs receive from the Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Health Services is passed through from the federal government.   

Contact California's Congressional Delegation!

For sexual assault victims, the Violence Against Women Act supports vital services such as advocacy, prevention services and campus based services. 

Join us via cyberspace and take a moment to tell your members of congress about how important sexual assault victims services are for the State of California. Or register for CALCASA's Grassroots Action Center to send your message to congress.

CALCASA members are making a difference!   Said one staffer of California’s voice in DC: “I have received nearly a dozen letters from your members this morning. When [CALCASA and victim advocates] can generate that type of awareness in a timely and coherent fashion, we listen.”

Your letters to our federal delegation numbered more than 60 and counting after only one day!

CALCASA Public Policy would like to thank those of you who have registered and taken action through our Online Grassroots Advocacy system. With just a few clicks, each of you has made your voice heard on the other side of the country on some of the most important issues facing victims and survivors of sexual assault in California.

This year’s event found more than 100 participants taking part in the rally, with hundreds more inside and outside of the capitol sporting denim in their attempt to speak out against sexual violence. 17 California Legislators and dozens from Department of Health Services, Office of Emergency Services, Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Secretary of State’s Office joined the rally. Speaking at the event were:  

Secretary of State Debra Bowen Senator Carole Migden Senator Patricia Wiggins Senator Sheila Kuehl Senator Jenny Oropeza Senator Mark Ridley Thomas Assemblymember Patty Berg

Assemblymember Todd Spitzer Assemblymember Bill Maze Assemblymember Doug LaMalfa Assemblymember Fiona Ma Assemblymember Betty Karnette Assemblymember Mark Desaulnier Assemblymember Loni Hancock

Kicking off the event was keynote speaker, Laurie Dishman, a Sacramento local who survived a brutal sexual assault while aboard a cruise ship in 2005. Her testimony moved the crowd as she explained: “A woman never, ever asks to be sexually assaulted. We must stand up and speak out against sexual assault for those who cannot speak out and for those who have but were not heard.” Laurie recently returned from providing testimony to the US Congress in regards to her experience. Dishman has since become an outspoken survivor working with both State and Federal organizations to help educate policy makers on the importance of victim centered sexual assault legislation.

The event was sponsored in part by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. Caucus Chair, Patty Berg, added: “Laurie’s story is moving, and that is just one example of why we are all here. We need to continue to work to end sexual assault.”

WHY DENIM?

Denim Day events are held throughout the nation in an effort to raise awareness about sexual violence and highlight the myths that are so prevalent around this crime. In 1998, an Italian Supreme Court overturned the verdict of a convicted rapist because the 17 year-old victim “wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them…and by removing the jeans…it was no longer rape but consensual sex.” Within hours, women from the Italian Parliament showed solidarity in outrage over the decision by breaking the dress code and wearing jeans to work.

Referring to the advancements in efforts to combat sexual violence, CALCASA’s Executive Director, Suzanne Brown-McBride notes: “We have come a very long way in serving victims of sexual violence, but our work is not finished. Together, we have a long way to go.”

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and throughout the state, rape crisis centers are hosting activities to organize their communities to address rape and sexual assault. Adds Brown-McBride: “It’s clear that rape and sexual assault impact California in dramatic and meaningful ways. Together, we must raise our voices, speak out, and help end this serious problem in our society. We urge people to join us as we Speak Out Against Sexual Assault during Sexual Assault Awareness Month.”

Following numerous high-profile reports (including Dishman's), ICV concludes that current onboard cruise line security management appears to lack adequate passenger and crew safety training, especially in response to reports of incidents.

ICV and other victims groups will be continuing to urge cruise lines to develop the resources, staff capacity and company investment in responding to crimes aboard cruise ships. 

“With this bill, we will add 53,000 beds - the most built in a generation. But we will also put management reforms in place so that these beds are built quickly and the rehabilitation programs tied to each and every new bed are strong,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.

Assembly Bill 900, also known as the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007, will provide $7.7 billion to add 53,000 prison and jail beds in two phases and fundamentally shift how the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) approaches rehabilitation for California’s prisoners. The legislation will also help move more than 16,000 prisoners out of “bad beds” located in prison libraries, gymnasiums and day rooms, freeing up these spaces for rehabilitation programs.

“We are finally facing up to the fact that most California inmates are someday eligible for parole and that we must do everything we can to make sure those who are released don’t commit new crimes,” said Governor Schwarzenegger.

Assembly Bill 900 funds 16,000 beds in Secure Re-Entry Facilities, small and secure centers that provide offenders with job training, mental health and substance abuse counseling, housing placement, and other programs in the critical few months just prior to their release.

Details of the Public Safety and Offender Rehabilitation Services Act of 2007 include:

Balancing More Beds With Better Rehabilitation
Total Beds: 53,000. This $7.7 ($7.4 bonds/$350 General Fund) billion agreement will provide 53,000 prison and jail beds in two phases. Phase I funding will permit immediate construction. Phase II funding is contingent on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation meeting rehabilitation, management and construction benchmarks during Phase I.

• Phase I: $3.6 billion lease revenue bond.
• Phase II: $2.5 billion lease revenue bond. Must be enacted by 2014.
• Local matches: 25% (approximately $300 million) of $1.2 billion in lease revenue bonds for local jails.
• Additional funding: $350 million General Fund ($300 million for infrastructure, $50 million for rehabilitation).

From the website:

"Take the Budget Challenge, a nonpartisan Internet tool that lets you roll up your sleeves and create your own state budget. You call the shots on how much to spend on schools, the environment, healthcare, prisons and other state programs – and how to pay for them.

The 2007 updated California Budget Challenge offers:

• 16 policy options, including such topical choices as whether to levy a carbon tax, restructure Prop 13, provide universal healthcare, or cut income taxes.
• A “Take Action” button that provides constituents with a mechanism to tell their legislators and the governor the budget choices they would make.
• A “Prop 98” button that explains the impact of this proposition on spending and revenue choices.
• An instant popularity feedback feature that shows users how others have voted on each policy choice.

The Budget Challenge provides an annual examination of the state’s most pressing budget policy options. It challenges users to set priorities for the state’s future by creating a budget that reflects their values and vision."

Unfortunately, the site does not have options to address rape crisis center funding or victim services funding broadly, but does a good job of allowing users to grapple with some of the questions faced by legislators as they develop the state budget.

Feeling up to the challenge? Give it a shot here.

SB 153 is currently stuck in the Senate Appropriations suspense file and must be voted on before it can be moved forward. Without passage this bill will die, denying the opportunity for additional funding at every rape crisis center in California.

You can help by clicking HERE.

• Last year, CALCASA's members rape crisis centers served more than 26,000 victims and survivors of sexual assault. In addition to conducting prevention, education and community awareness activities for over 350,000 Californians.
• The State of California's commitment to victims has not kept up with the need for services. Other than existing penalty assessment funds, the state allotted only $50,000 from the general fund for these services. Sadly, that means that the State of California makes a contribution equivalent to $1.91 per victim of sexual assault who seeks community-based services.
• Rape Crisis centers have been forced to depend on limited local, private and Federal VAWA/VOCA funding, which have been inconsistently funded, and often subject to rescissions and reductions.
• Sexual Assault Victims, and the programs that serve them, have not seen any increase in California State support in over a decade.

By just adding 2% of the state penalty fund to the victim trauma recovery fund, rape crisis centers that serve every county in California would receive an additional $15,000-40,000 thousand dollars annually. These funds are used to respond to crisis calls, accompany survivors of sexual assault to medical and legal interviews, provide support and comfort to victims and their families and provide educational resources to communities across California.

This legislation will not cost California's taxpayers one penny, but will profoundly impact services for victims of one our most terrible crimes.

Please contact the Appropriations committee to voice your support for SB 153 by clicking HERE.

“We believe that a sexual assault (crime) was committed and are hoping that other people will come forward with information. There were men in that room who know what happened and we are challenging them to come forward to help us find the truth.”

People across the country asking how this case will impact victims coming forward in the future. Peloquin agrees that it is disheartening when any case involving a sexual assault is not filed but that does not abrogate the community responsibility to support the victim and work to prevent future sexual violence. “There is someone who has experienced a horrific victimization whose life will be forever impacted by the behavior of those baseball players that night. This is not over for her.”

The proposed 4,500 beds are focused on the secure, structured re-entry of non-violent female offenders, many of which face a chronic lack of local services and potential homelessness upon release from institutions. As proposed, these facilities will relocate existing populations of female offenders into locally situated facilities that can promote healthy connections to families and access to supportive services in the context of structured re-entry. The services being considered would include substance abuse treatment, group counseling, trauma treatment, vocational training, sober living, community linkages, well being and appropriate family reunification.

So why should sexual assault advocates be particularly interested in supporting women's re-entry facilities? In short, because most of the women who would make use of these facilities and services are victims of sexual violence.

The research, honestly, is chilling. Study after study indicates that incarcerated women experience rates of sexual assault and violence (pre and post incarceration) at rates that are as much as six to ten times higher than that of the general population (Dirks, 2004, GAO 1999). Clearly, sexual assault victim advocates have an important stake in making sure that this victim population has access to the services and support that will enhance lives and well being.

Every victim of sexual assault deserves appropriate and adequate services.

CALCASA is proud to stand with the California Commision on the the Status of Women, CA National Organization for Women, National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter LampStand Foundation -Sacramento, and many others to support this initiative.

To read more about the housing plan - 

CDCR Population, Rehabilitation and Housing Management Plan

To read more research and citations related to sexual victimization and incarcerated populations

Preincarceration Abuse Bibliography

As a result, some victims of sexual assault in California will be denied anopportunity to have their day in court and some offenders will walk awayfrom their crimes without any accountability- simply because the clock has run out.  

Sexual Assault advocates will be back next year to demand justice.

The Crime Victims Fund is an offender-based source of funds for the Victims of Crimes Act (VOCA). Paid by Federal criminal fines, the services that benefit from the Fund include Children’s Justice Act, F.B.I. victim assistance specialists and the federal victim notification system.

A coalition of 24 national victim advocacy and criminal justice organizations are fighting to not only keep the fund’s money but to seek a one-time $375 million increase in the VOCA (Victims of Crimes Act) caps, equaling a total of 1 billion in the FY 2008 budget. This will also come with a two-year extension in the time states have to spend these funds

The increase means more than double the amount of VOCA assistance funds would likely be available to support victim programs in California.

Millions are helped by the services provided by VOCA. Please take action and help save the Crime Victims Fund. To take action contact your local representative and tell them that VOCA and the Crime Victims Fund is very important to California and why the need for ongoing victim services is so important.

For more information about the Fund visit the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administration. 

CALCASA members will remember the Assemblyman from his previous post as Chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee. While there, he co-hosted a Joint Public Safety Committee informal hearing on Proposition 83. His commitment to the issues surrounding sexual assault and sex offender management were noted by Executive Director Suzanne Brown-McBride who was invited to testify: “It’s very important when victims groups have people who are thoughtful on this issue, even in the face of criticism. Mr. Leno is committed to public safety and has been very open to us as a coalition of rape crisis centers, advocates and victims.”

During the 2006 session, Leno also proposed one of the most comprehensive sex offender management bills to date in AB 50. His authorship and subsequent leadership was a significant boost to the voice of advocates, who worked tirelessly to dispel myths and promote evidence based best practices. Says Robert Coombs, Director of Public Affairs for CALCASA: “Mr. Leno was a great supporter of our sex offender management policy work and we look forward to ongoing collaborations in an effort to end sexual violence.”

We congratulate Assemblyman Leno on earning this award and wish him the best on his future work against sexual violence.

Other Programs of Note: 

On Monday, the full House Appropriations Committee will vote on the bill, and then it will make its way to the House floor. This is another step along the way toward final versions of the CJS Appropriations which will likely be signed by the president toward the end of the year.

The National Alliance to End Sexual Violence (NAESV) was able to get hold of the full Committee Report which accompanies each bill found that the Committee has included an increase of $4,917,000 for injury prevention and control. Within the increase provided, the Committee has provided the following increases over the fiscal year 2007 level:

• $1,000,000 for traumatic brain injury
• $1,982,000 for youth violence prevention
• $1,935,000 for rape prevention

All other activities are funded at the level of the fiscal year 2007 operating plan. 

Preventative Health and Human Services Block Grant

This program was level funded by the Senate. The House had given it an increase. However, neither really affects the Sexual Assault Set Aside as that remains constant as long as the program is funded. For CALCASA members, this is VERY GOOD news, as the Senate joined the House in rejecting the President’s recommendation to eliminate the program all together. The full Committee report will soon be online.

Nebraska- When Tory Bowen, had to testify for 13 hours about the incident on October 31, 2004, in which she alleges that she was raped, she could not use words or phrases such as “rape,” “victim,” “attack” and “sexual assault.” Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront ruled that the words are partial and could be prejudicial to the defendant.

When the court changes the witness’s words not only can meaning can be lost but can bring legality into question.

"The word ‘sex’ implies consent," Bowen was quoted by the Lincoln Journal Star. "I never once would describe (what happened) as sex… (The Judge’s) making me commit perjury.”

Clarence Mock, a defense attorney for defendant Pamir Safi, was quoted as saying, “It’s a legal conclusion for a witness to say, ‘I was raped’ or ‘sexually assaulted’…That’s for a jury to decide.” Excluding the word “victim” is nothing new said Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey, but he can’t remember a case excluding the term “rape.”

This change of language goes against the victims and their right to say what happened. There is a big difference between rape and sex, the victim needs to be able to say the difference. "It's virtually impossible to see a woman as a victim when you're calling a rape 'sex.' It's like a victim saying it was consensual," said Wendy Murphy, a former county prosecutor in Massachusetts who teaches at the New England School of Law in Springfield, Mass. told the Omaha World-Herald.

It’s rulings like this that remind us that judges need help from rape crisis centers not only to understand the language, but also to be informed about these crimes so they can make the correct rulings. Safi will be re-tried in July after the first trial ended in a hung jury in November.

Based on a report from the Omaha World Herald.

Some numbers, like the $10 million for Campus Grants, stayed the same but others changed, like the $46 million for Legal Assistance for Victims (House provided $40 million). The full Appropriations Committee will be marked up this Thursday, June 28th. The funding has yet to be passed by the full Appropriations Committee, which won’t happen until Congress returns from their July 4th recess.

New Programs:

• Services for Youth Victims (STARY) - $2.0 million – The House provided no funding for this
• Services for Children Exposed to Violence -  $2.0 million – The House provided no funding for this
• Research on Violence Against Indian Women -  $1.0 million – The House provided no funding for this
• Tracking of Violence Against Indian Women - $1.0 million – The House provided no funding for this

 
 
Existing Programs:
 

• STOP -  $186.5 with $2.0 million taken out for National Institute of Justice and $17million for Transitional Housing. In addition we have learned that there is report language providing for a Native Alaskan Liaison Office of $4.0 million.  This leaves STOP grants with $163.5 million.  The House number is $205 million with $2.0 taken out for National Institute of Justice and $20 million for Transitional Housing. This leaves STOP grants with $183 million. Obviously will be working to reach the House number as opposed to Senate number.
  
• Rural Grants Program - $39.5 million – The House provided $40 million 
• Campus Grants - $10.0 million – The House provided $10.0 million
• Legal Assistance for Victims - $46 million – The House provided $40 million
  
• Grants To Encourage Arrest -  $55 million – The House provided $63 million
  
• Center for Sex Offender Management - $5.5 million – The House provided $6.0 million 
• Stalking Database - $3.9 million – The House provided $3.0 million

Gandy also notes that in addition to the prohibiting the word 'rape' from the hearing "Cheuvont [the judge] also prevented her (and the prosecutors) from saying sexual assault, victim, assailant, and sexual assault kit on the grounds that it might prejudice the jury". 

Like many other anti-rape activists, and those simply interested in the pursuit of justice, Gandy raises many valid concerns about this tactic becoming increasingly popular in courtrooms across the United States.

Kim Gandy's Column 

Pennsylvania is considering a resolution that states, in part,

"WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act requires a driver's license to contain a person's actual home address and makes no exception for individuals in potential danger, such as undercover law enforcement officials or victims of domestic violence, stalking or criminal harassment;"

PA Senate Resolution 126

Ntl Network To End Violence Against Immigrant Women - REAL ID Letter

MURPHY, Texas —  A sting in which police teamed up with "

Instead, it has turned into a fiasco.

One of the 25 men caught in the sting — a prosecutor from a neighboring county — committed suicide when police came to arrest him. The Murphy city manager who approved the operation lost his job in the ensuing furor.

And the district attorney is refusing to prosecute any of the men, saying many of the cases were tainted by the involvement of amateurs.

"Certainly these people should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but the fact that this was all done for television cameras raises some questions," said Mayor Bret Baldwin.

It is the first time in nine "Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator" stings across the country in the past year and a half that prosecutors did not pursue charges.

"Dateline" has made prime-time entertainment out of contacting would-be child molesters over the Internet, luring them to a meeting place, and videotaping their humiliating confrontations with reporter Chris Hansen.

"Dateline" works with an activist group called Perverted Justice, which supplies adults who troll Internet chat rooms, posing as underage boys and girls, and try to collect incriminating sex talk.

City manager Craig Sherwood approved such an operation in this well-to-do community of 11,000 after being approached by "Dateline" and Perverted Justice, but he never informed the mayor or the City Council. He said secrecy was necessary for the sting to be effective.

Over four days in November, 24 men were arrested at a two-story home in one of Murphy's newer neighborhoods after allegedly arranging to meet boys or girls there.

Some other suspects contacted Perverted Justice decoys online but never showed up at the house. Among them was Louis Conradt Jr., an assistant prosecutor from neighboring Kauffman County, who allegedly engaged in a sexually explicit online chat with an adult posing as a 13-year-old boy.

As police knocked at his door and a "Dateline" camera crew waited in the street, Conradt shot himself.

His sister, Patricia Conradt, told the City Council that police acted as "a judge, jury and executioner that was encouraged by an out-of-control reality show."

Then, last month, Collin County District Attorney John Roach dropped all charges. He said that in 16 of the cases, he had no jurisdiction, since neither the suspects nor the decoys were in the county during the online chats.

As for the rest of the cases, he said neither police nor NBC could guarantee the chat logs were authentic and complete.

"The fact that somebody besides police officers were involved is what makes this case bad," said Roach, who was informed of the sting in advance but did not participate. "If professionals had been running the show, they would have done a much better job rather than being at the beck and call of outsiders."

As details of the suicide emerged, Murphy's mayor, City Council and most of its residents learned for the first time that potential molesters were being luring to their city. Many were furious.

"They can chase predators all they want, but they shouldn't do it in a populated area with children, two blocks from an elementary school," said Lisa Watson, 33, who lives down the road from the sting house and has three children and another on the way.

Bryan Whorton, who lives with his wife and baby across the street from the house, said his neighborhood was put in danger. Cars sped up and down the street and police sprinted from hiding spots, guns drawn, to arrest suspects, he said. One suspect dropped a bag of crack, Whorton said.

"This is a family community. It didn't look kosher at all," he said.

Two weeks ago, the City Council voted to buy out the city manager's contract for $255,000.

NBC's Hansen said Murphy is the only place the show has encountered such resistance.

"I don't want to get involved in the DA's business or the police business," he said. "I can tell you in the other locations, these issues did not come up."

Eric Nichols, a Texas deputy attorney general, said that when law enforcement authorities pull an Internet sex sting, officers posing as decoys follow strict rules. Detailed chat logs are kept to ensure that "sex talk" is initiated by the potential predator. That way, a defendant cannot claim entrapment.

Eric Chase, a defense attorney specializing in sex crimes, said stings are the job of police, not TV crews. "Police should not be abdicating a very important function to either private organizations or entertainment organizations," he said.

by Heather Cassell

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, and Community United Against Violence last week launched "Men Surviving Rape," a social marketing campaign to bring awareness to the increasing incidents of man-on-man sexual assault.

Last week, more than 40 Executive Directors from rape crisis centers all over California descended onto the capitol to meet with their legislators. Their mission: to drive support for SB 153, a bill that will bring more than $15 million to victims of crime in Californa. That $15 million belongs to crime victims but we need to tell legislators to "keep penalty money where it belongs--with victims of crime."

This bill will give each rape crisis center as much as $40,000 more per year as well as increasing the funding for Victim Witness programs, Child Advocacy Centers, and a trauma recovery center.

You haven’t missed your chance to make your voice heard. PLEASE take a moment to click here and send a letter to your legislator. It only takes a moment and you will be included in the long list of supporters for this vital legislation.

The SOMB was created through CALCASA sponsored Assembly Bill 1015 (Chu), and is run under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Chairing the Board seemed a natural fit for Brown-McBride, one of the states leading experts in the field of sex offender management and integrating victim advocates in the management process.

CALCASAPublicPolicy readers will remember the two year journey in passing SOMB legislation. After unanimous, bipartisan support in its first introduction, the bill was vetoed at the Governor’s desk. The second attempt at passage saw widespread support again, but was bolstered by the Governor’s High Risk Sex Offender (HRSO) Taskforce who recommended the creation of such a board as part of their package of policy suggestions to the Governor who went on to sign AB 1015.

In just its second meeting, the board has brought together expert stakeholders in sex offender management with representation from the Attorney General’s Office, the California Department of Corrections, the Board of Prison Terms, the Department of Mental Health, the Judicial Branch, the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, probation officers, law enforcement, district attorneys, criminal defense attorneys, and treatment providers, among others.

This bill would give each rape crisis center as much as $40,000 more per year as well as increasing the funding for Victim Witness programs, Child Advocacy Centers, and a trauma recovery center.

You haven’t missed your chance to make your voice heard. PLEASE take a moment to click here and send a letter to your legislator. It only takes a moment and you will be included in the long list of supporters for this vital legislation.

The task force was created as a result of two significant pieces of legislation related to human trafficking, AB 22 (Leiber) and SB 180 (Kuehl), both passed in the California Legislature in 2005.

CALCASA has held an appointment on this taskforce, since its inception. For more information, please visit the Attorney General’s web site.

Passing multiple amendments by such large margins is a significant success for victim advocates across the country. The amendments included:

1. The Inslee-Burton Amendment, offered by Congressmen Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Dan Burton (R-IN), passed 412-18.
   * $6 million for services for children exposed to sexual assault and domestic violence;
   *$6 million for direct services for youth and teen victims of sexual and domestic violence;·     
   *$1 million for a Tribal sex offender and protection order registry to help stop serial perpetrators and $1 million for a study of violence committed against Native women. 
2. The Reichert-Murphy Amendment, offered by Congressmen Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), passed 405-25.  
   *$5 million to train judges and create court practices that improve victim safety. 
   
3. The Poe-Costa-Moore Amendment, offered by Congressmen Ted Poe (R-TX), Jim Costa (D-CA), and Dennis Moore (D-KS), passed 395-34.
   *$10 million increase for VOCA and prevents potentially devastating cuts to VOCA.
4. The Capito Amendment, offered by Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), passed 243-186.
   *$10 million increase for Rural Grants.  

What Happens Next?
 
While passing the CJS bill out of the full of House is a significant step, there is still much work to be done before funding will make its way to the field.
 
The different House and Senate bills must be conferenced into one final bill that is passed by Congress and signed by the President (who has threatened to veto bills that increase spending beyond his requested budget). 

For more information visit www.naesv.org.

Congress Moves to Protect Native Women from Assaults

Based on a recent report, "Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Violence in the USA," by Amnesty International and Native American activists, “the U.S. Congress is moving to provide additional funding to protect Native American women who suffer disproportionate levels of rape and other sexual abuse,” reported Jim Lobe from Inter Press Service News Agency.

On Wednesday (7/25/07) the House of Representatives approved a one million dollar measure to create a tribal sex offender and protection order registry, which would potentially identify non-Indian sexual assault perpetrators. The Senate has already approved the appropriations.

Larry Cox, the executive director of Amnesty’s U.S. section said, "This vote is an important step toward justice for Native American and Alaska Native women. But more needs to be done."

In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that “tribal governments cannot prosecute criminal defendants who are non-Indian even if the crime of which they are accused takes place on tribal lands.” 

Cox said Congress should increase funding streams for Native American women under Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), “particularly those provisions to ensure that tribal courts and police have the wherewithal to investigate and prosecute cases of abuse, especially in rural areas.” Cox also said additional Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners must be hired; those who are “capable of conducting timely forensic medical examinations after assaults take place.”

Rape Cases Go Uninvestigated on Rural Indian Reservations

Laura Sullivan from National Public Radio found rural Indian reservations do not have “enough police to investigate sexual assaults and few of the cases are prosecuted. NPR spoke with at least a dozen people on Standing Rock — rape counselors, doctors, tribal leaders and victims — people who were either assaulted or know women who were in cases where no charges were filed.” Police do not have enough resources to hire additional officers, make arrests or respond to all calls.

Victims often wait for days or months to “get an officer to respond to a call for help. The reservation's only women's shelter is still waiting for police to come after someone cut all of their phone lines two months ago.”  Only four Bureau of Indian Affairs police officers patrol Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which covers 2.3 million acres in North and South Dakota. 

Washington, D.C. is the only funding source for the tribe. Pat Ragsdale, director of The Bureau of Indian Affairs said that many cases are not being investigated. However, Ragsdale expects the situation will be mitigated with new funding streams proposed by the Bush administration. The administration has proposed adding an additional 50 BIA officers and an addition $16 million in funding. 

Ron His Horse Is Thunder, is chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Thunder says “as long as the tribe must depend on the federal government to police and prosecute people on their own land, anyone who comes to Standing Rock may well be able to rape or assault women and get away with it.”

U.S. Army Recruiters and Sexual Assault 

MedIndia.net reported that more money is being spent to convince young women to join the U.S. military. “But reports show that they actually are becoming victims of sexual assault at the hands of recruiters even before they take their military oath of allegiance.”

A former U.S. army solider, Aimee Allison, says “there is a deep problem of widespread abuse and a system that protects the criminals.” A 2005 Associated Press investigation found that “one in 200 frontline recruiters were punished for harassment and abuse. The Army alone had 722 recruiters accused of rape and sexual misconduct in the last decade and called for a recruitment stand down day in 2005.”

As a result of increased reports of sexual violence the U.S. army orders thousands of recruiters to attend ethics training after widespread reports of harassment, rape, jail threats, among other issues. Criminal convictions are rarely handed out to recruiters in military or civilian courts. The most common type of punishment given to recruiters is forfeiture of pay or reduction of rank. 

Sex Offenders and Emerging Corporate Policies

KNTV's Mike Luery of the Associated Press reported last week that as many as “2,100 newly paroled sex offenders are living illegally near schools and parks under the tough residency requirements” outlined in Jessica’s law. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) will give “the parolees 45 days to find new homes, a move that could spark renewed conflicts in communities throughout the state as sex offenders seek to comply with the law.”

James Tilton, director of the CDCR, said that the “moves could leave some parolees homeless or force them to live in substandard housing.” Tilton also indicated that “corrections officials will begin going through the list case by case to confirm the residency violations.”

Suzanne Brown-McBride of CALCASA said she is concerned about where sex offenders may go if they are forced to leave their homes.

MySpace Takes Action Against Sex Offenders

Matthew Moore from Telegraph News reported last week that, “MySpace the social networking website…has deleted the profiles of 29,000 sex offenders.” MySpace tightened online security following criticism from US authorities about the sex offender profiles.

MySpace, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, hopes other social networking sites will do the same, "We're pleased that we've successfully identified and removed registered sex offenders from our site,” said Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace's chief security officer.

MySpace is considering implementing policies to protect youth from sexual predators. Some options include, running “advertising for the police so that younger users can support suspicious encounters, requiring more stringent checks on age and identity and developing software to allow parents to monitor their children's use of the site.”

Ms. Dyer currently serves as Chief Felony Prosecutor of the Family Violence Division at the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. Prior to this, she served as Assistant District Attorney at the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. Earlier in her career, she served as a Misdemeanor and Felony Prosecutor at the Dallas County District Attorney's Office. Ms. Dyer received her bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and her JD from Baylor Law School.

House of Representatives Votes Overwhelmingly to Increase VAWA and VOCA Funding!

Congressional staff told key sources that they had received so many calls from victim advocates that they simply had to support amendments related to victim service funding. 

On Wednesday (7/25/07) night, the full U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for 4 amendments to increase funding for VAWA by $29 million and for VOCA by $10 million in the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill. Overall, the House bill represents a $100.4 million increase in funding over last year’s budget for sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. 

U.S. House urges Japan to apologize for WWII sex abuses
The Associate Press reported last week that the House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution “urging Japan to formally apologize for forcing thousands of women to work as sex slaves for its military during World War II.”

Rep. Mike Honda (CA-15), sponsored the bill. He made the following statement about the bill’s passage:

"Today is a truly historic occasion. I am thrilled that the Members of the House of Representatives passed H.Res. 121. In doing so, this deliberative body sent a clear message to our good friend, the government of Japan, that historical reconciliation is not just a concept to be championed, but has very real consequences in the lives of the many women institutionally victimized during World War II. The Japanese Imperial Armed Forces coerced some 200,000 'comfort women' into sexual slavery. The women endured gang rape, forced abortions, humiliation, and sexual violence resulting in mutilation, death, or eventual suicide. To this date, they have still not received a proper apology from the government of Japan. The passage of H.Res. 121 marks an important step forward in the healing process for these women, and brings us closer to demanding accountability and justice for present-day crimes against women and young girls. One need only look to Darfur, Bosnia, and East Timor for contemporary examples of such abuses. Historical reconciliation is crucial to prevent future atrocities.”

The resolution is nonbinding but it has caused concern in Japan. Japanese officials, in Tokyo, say that leaders have previously apologized for “the Imperial Japanese Army's coercion of women into military brothels in the 1930s and 1940s.” Some Japanese politicians say the claim that women were “sex slaves” has been exaggerated and the term should not be used to describe the women because they were paid.

Historians have discovered documents showing the involvement of the Japanese government in this matter. In 1993, the government “issued a carefully worded official apology,” but Parliament did not officially approve of the apology. Japanese officials have denied victims restitution, claiming postwar treaties provided the women with adequate compensation.

Prison Sexual Assaults

Shelli DeRobertis, from the San Bernardino County Sun reported, “at least 200 inmates at the California Institution for Men participated last week in a survey about sexual assault behind bars.” In 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act was signed into law. A portion of the law “requires annual surveys to be conducted in 10 percent of the nation’s prison’s each year. The purpose of the survey is to study the incident rates of sexual violence amongst inmates - including between inmates and staff - to help reduce sexual assault in detention facilities.“

The most recent survey will be completed by the end of August. The results of the survey and the “three highest ranking prisons with the most sexual assault incidents” will be identified for Congress. In October, Congress will review the findings. Prison administrators are expected to offer insight into the issues surrounding silence prison sexual assaults.

The survey is being conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and they expect over 120 prisons, 300 jails, with over 80,000 inmates participating in the survey.  Survey respondents reported in 2005, “6,241 allegations of sexual violence, up from 5,386 in 2004.  Of those numbers, 38 percent of allegations involved staff sexual misconduct, 35 percent nonconsensual inmate-on-inmate sexual acts, 17 percent staff harassment and 10 percent abusive inmate-on-inmate sexual contact.”

Facebook hears accusations about sexual predators

The online social network, “Facebook, the online social network, has stolen some of MySpace's momentum with users and the media. Now, it is being subjected to the same accusations that it does not do enough to keep sexual predators off its site,” reported Brad Stone.

The Connecticut attorney general, Richard Blumenthal said, "There is no question that Facebook is encountering some of the same problems that MySpace has posed. They should be held accountable, and we intend to do so." The attorney general said they are looking into additional cases of “of convicted sex offenders who had registered on Facebook…and state officials have contacted Facebook and asked it to remove the profiles.”

Facebook has proposed an alternative way to identify convicted sex offenders. The company is considering “building a database of names and e-mail addresses for convicted sex offenders that could be compared to the membership rolls of Internet sites.”

CALCASA Executive Director Interviewed on “The Conversation”

On Tuesday July 31^st, CALCASA’s Executive Director, Suzanne Brown-McBride was interviewed on National Public Radio’s, The Conversation.

Ross Reynold’s, Senior Host of The Conversation, said lawmakers in Washington State “are calling for a special session of the state legislature to pass tougher laws on sex offenders.” Some lawmakers are considering tracking sex offender via GPS devises, zoning laws and tougher sentencing standards.

Brown-McBride said GPS and other policy changes can be an effective tool when used in conjunction with supervision of sex offenders. The public needs to be aware that GPS technology, tougher sentencing requirements and other policy changes have limitations. It is important for lawmakers to speak to victims, victim advocates and those who work with offenders. Resources must be committed to sex offender supervision, housing, and community education. Communities need to think about what will happen when sex offenders come out of institutions.

SMITH: Yes, well, that’s — he’s been in a lot of trouble lately, when you think about all the other incidents, and this is just the worst one of all. Keep in mind, too, that while Kobe Bryant is a situation we can sort of compare this to, this really is much worse. Not only can you argue that the crimes are much worse in terms of, you know, killing dogs and that kind of thing, but as an NFL starting quarterback, you are the most visible face in that city. I’ve said all along, in fact, you know, if you go through and, you know, very quickly name 10 mayors of major cities in the country…

GRACE: Larry Smith, did I just hear you say…

SMITH: … you could have a harder time doing that…

GRACE: … mistreatment of…

SMITH: … than naming 10 NFL starting quarterbacks.

GRACE: Did I just hear Larry Smith, CNN sports correspondent and anchor, state that crimes on a dog are much worse than crimes on a woman? Did I hear that?

Users from Sex Crimes, Thinkprogress and Feministing blogs have weighed in on the subject and have even suggested letting CNN know how you feel.

When Santa Monica police confronted him last week at a Jack in the Box — after he had been spotted in the children's section of the city's main library by a nervous mother who called police — he agreed to let officers photograph him.

On talk shows, he appears unshaven and a bit dazed, but unapologetic about his attraction to little girls, admitting he might have sex with them if it were legal and leaving his interviewers blanched with shock and revulsion.

Hernandez was drinking at a party and said she was raped by three male airmen. Hernandez went to the hospital and filed a police report. As a result of stress and “harsh interrogation tactics by the Air Force,” she refused to testify against the airmen.

Beebe, 42, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in November to one count of aggravated sexual battery for his attack on Liz Seccuro. In March, a judge ordered a 10-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended.

Mrs. Seccuro was shocked Tuesday when informed of Beebe's impending release from his parole officer. She said she was never given the opportunity to speak to the parole board.

"Everywhere in America I've seen, the victim has a say," Mrs. Seccuro said. "And that's the problem: Rape victims are voiceless."

Prosecutor Dave Chapman said he knew Beebe would eligible for parole but did not expect such an early release date. A release date after serving only six months in prison is surprising.

Users from the Feministing blog have weighed in on the subject.  

Soldier gets 110 years in Iraq rape case

The International Herald Tribune, reported last week that “a soldier convicted of rape and murder in an attack on an Iraqi teenager and her family was sentenced to 110 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 10 years.”

Military prosecutors did not say Spielman took part in the rape or murders but alleged that he went to the house knowing what the others intended to do and served as a lookout. The military prosecutor, Maj. William Fischbach, said Spielman played a "bit part" but stressed he shared responsibility.

Spielman asked jurors for leniency before he was sentenced."I don't really blame my chain of command. I don't really blame anybody," he said quietly. "I could have stopped it. I take responsibility for my actions."

Spielman, 23, received the longest sentence of four soldiers who have been convicted. Three other soldiers pleaded guilty under agreements with prosecutors for their roles in the assault and were given sentences ranging from five to 100 years.

Air Force Charges Victim in Her Own Rape

Cassandra Hernandez, a female Air Force airman was raped, reported her attack and then subsequently became a court-martial defendant, herself.

The woman is charged with one count of committing indecent acts and one count of consuming alcohol as a minor, said base spokesman Ed Drohan. The men received nonjudicial punishments and were granted immunity for their testimony in the woman's trial, according to documents provided by the woman's military defense attorneys."The whole thing is a system failure," said Capt. Christopher A. Eason, one of the woman's lawyers. "This is unprecedented."

The military declined to identify the men or confirm whether they were ever charged because the case is pending, Drohan said. He said military rules prohibit further discussion of the case but said "the Air Force is not attempting to cover up any wrongdoing. Hernandez was drinking at a party and said she was raped by three male airmen.

A variety of new stories, published last week, reported that Jack McClellan, published his attraction to young girls on television news, talk shows and has cooperated with the police.

When Santa Monica police confronted him last week at a Jack in the Box — after he had been spotted in the children's section of the city's main library by a nervous mother who called police — he agreed to let officers photograph him.

On talk shows, he appears unshaven and a bit dazed, but unapologetic about his attraction to little girls, admitting he might have sex with them if it were legal and leaving his interviewers blanched with shock and revulsion.

The Washington Times reported that William Beebe, a convicted rapist, will be released from the Virginia Department of Corrections on September 17th.

Beebe, 42, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty in November to one count of aggravated sexual battery for his attack on Liz Seccuro. In March, a judge ordered a 10-year prison sentence with all but 18 months suspended.

Mrs. Seccuro was shocked Tuesday when informed of Beebe's impending release from his parole officer. She said she was never given the opportunity to speak to the parole board.

"Everywhere in America I've seen, the victim has a say," Mrs. Seccuro said. "And that's the problem: Rape victims are voiceless."

Bay Area Women Against Rape has become the first rape crisis center in Northern California to certify a large group of Spanish-speaking sexual assault counselors.

Last weekend, the Oakland-based agency certified 32 volunteers who will staff the rape crisis hotline, counsel individuals and groups, help hospital staff and police with rape investigations, and assist with immigration paperwork for undocumented sexual assault victims.

"Our main target is to go out there and promote our services in the community. We also want to let (rape victims) know they aren't going to be alone and that they are going to receive culturally sensitive counseling in their language," said KristinaMolina, the agency's Latina outreach coordinator. The crisis hotline now will be covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Spanish-speaking volunteers as well as English-speaking volunteers, Molina said. Bay Area Women Against Rape now has 92 volunteers, including nearly three dozen who can speak Spanish, Molina said. That's up from just four Spanish speaking volunteers before the recent training, she said.

There are 37 rape crisis centers in Northern California and their organization is the first to certify a sizable group of Spanish-speaking volunteers, Molina said.

This is important because Latinos make up nearly 22 percent — roughly 87,000 people — of Oakland's population, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The group also serves other Alameda County cities that U.S. Census data show have a high number of Latinos, including Hayward, Livermore and San Leandro. Even before the new crew of Spanish-speaking volunteers was trained, about 20 percent of first-time clients were from the Latina community, according to data from 2006-07 fiscal year. During that time, the agency served 774 first-time clients, including 152 from the Latina community, according to internal data.

Marcia Blackstock, the executive director, said the agency started a Latina outreach program nearly a decade ago.

"That is when we realized that we had a lot more people in the community who only spoke Spanish or limited English who were being assaulted here or came to us with old assaults," Blackstock said. Getting the program up and running has taken time, she said. "It's been slow to develop the relationship between BAWAR and the community because of cultural issues and language issues. Now the time was right. We had to make our presence known enough to get people to trust us and know that we want to get involved."

New volunteers underwent 55 hours of training over the last nine weeks and have agreed to put in at least 36 hours a month for nine months. Organizations such as La Clinica de la Raza and Mujeres Unidas y Activas helped recruit volunteers who were trained in "dismantling all the myths about rape," Molina said.

In the Latina community, there are some distinctive issues around sexual assault, she said.

"Usually the perpetrator is telling (the victim) that if you report this (immigration) is going to take you back to Mexico or your home country.

"Also, many are Catholic and they feel a lot of guilt, especially younger girls. They are brought up to believe they have to be a virgin until they get married, so when they get assaulted they feel it's their responsibility to protect their virginity. We let them know that virginity is not something that is taken away, it's something that is given away with their full consent."

Founded in 1971 after a young girl at Berkeley High School received poor treatment from police and hospital staff following a rape, the agency responds to 4,000 calls for service from rape survivors and their family members.

The agency also educates roughly 11,000 people annually and runs the Victims/Offenders Reconciliation Program at California State Prison Solano, bringing together prisoners and crime victims to be partners in healing. The group also has a program called Brother's Keeper, which trains prisoners to spot potential suicide tendencies among San Quentin inmates and step in before they kill themselves.

In addition to helping establish rape crisis centers in Northern California, the agency staff has trained rape crisis professionals from Japan, India, Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary.

He was arrested near the university's Infant Development Program, which provides onsite care for children 3 months to 3 year sold and serves faculty, students and staff, according to the university's Web site. McClellan violated a restraining order requiring him not to loiter or congregate within 30 feet of minors, police alleged. He was released and scheduled to appear in court September 13.

Phone and e-mail messages seeking comment from McClellan were not immediately returned.

McClellan created waves in Southern California upon arriving earlier this summer from Washington state, where he had lived with his parents.

For years, McClellan maintained a Web site in Washington where he posted photos of children he had taken in public places. He also discussed how he liked to stake out parks, public libraries, fast-food restaurants and other areas where little girls, or "LGs," congregate.

McClellan's server took his Web site down over a month ago. He said in an interview a few weeks ago that he wasn't sure whether he would try to put it back up.

Dr. Stephanie Covington, co-director of the Institute for Relational Research and the Center for Gender and Justice, submitted the following Op-Ed to the North County Times on Tuesday August 14, 2007.

For some, the abuse started as children; for others, it started later when they were abused by a partner. While drug use may have preceded some of the abuse, there was a clear connection between the two ---- those who had reported previous or current abuse were significantly more likely to have used drugs. They also were more likely to test positive for drugs ---- especially methamphetamine.The relationship between abuse ---- or trauma ---- and the development of alcohol and drug problems has been studied in other locations, with similar findings. When one considers the reasons that the two issues could be related, including women using substances to cope with traumatic situations, the connection is more easily understood.

Until recently, many treatment programs have not systematically explored whether clients had a history of trauma, or attempted to address this trauma as part of the standard treatment program.This is beginning to change and the San Diego region once again is leading the way in the area of substance abuse treatment. Specialists are now incorporating gender-responsive aspects into residential treatment programs for pregnant and parenting women.

The treatment curriculum explains trauma, how it affects individuals and how to utilize effective coping skills to develop emotional wellness and reduce the risk of relapse.In 2004, with a grant from The California Endowment and research assistance from SANDAG, the McAlister Institute for Treatment and Education incorporated a curriculum called "Beyond Trauma" into their residential KIVA Women and Children's Learning Center located in East County. The program at KIVA is built on the understanding that trauma can be a major hurdle in the quest for recovery.

These women ---- 34 percent of whom were referred to KIVA by the criminal justice system ---- share common histories of childhood neglect, sexual and physical abuse, domestic violence, and rape.Unfortunately, the children of these women share many of these same experiences and are more at risk for drug use. It is a disheartening cycle that can be stopped with a woman-centered and family-focused approach.

Acknowledging the link between addiction and trauma is the first step. Only then can we offer real treatment options and break a destructive cycle that afflicts women, their children, and our future. By establishing and supporting integrated treatment programs, we can stop the domino effect before it impacts another generation. The work under way at KIVA is a step in the right direction.

The network has been named in various lawsuits, one in which program is blamed for an Assistant District Attorney’s suicide and another has a former “Dateline producer accusing the network of firing her because she questioned the show's ethics.”
The program “lured would-be child-sex predators to a public shaming, delivered by a handsome host. Ratings, awards and even praise from members of Congress followed.”

But has the show made it easier to catch sexual offender or harder?

Esquire magazine released an account of the program on August 14th and that describes a chain of events that eventually led to Dateline airing video recorded from outside a man’s house while he shot himself in the head. The article suggests that Dateline is guilty of overstepping the boundaries of reporting and questions whether or not the program achieves the stated intention of getting predators off of the Internet.

This spring, Esquire magazine sent a reporter to Murphy for a three-month investigation into Mr. Conradt's death. The resulting article accuses Dateline of manipulating the Murphy police.

The magazine also accuses Murphy police of rushing search and arrests warrants to accommodate Dateline and includes criticism of the Terrell police for entering the prosecutor's home.

Prosecutors have since said they could not prove they had jurisdiction over many of the cases – that either the Perverted Justice decoy or the suspect was in Collin County when the crime was committed.

And according to Esquire, prosecutors believed the arrests may even have been illegal. In each case, police had done little or no investigation prior to the men showing up at the house. Instead, Esquire said, they simply arrested the men who emerged after receiving a signal from the Dateline crew inside.

According to Esquire, Mr. Roach said: "The Murphy Police Department was merely a player in the show and had no real law enforcement position. Other people are doing the work, and the police are just there like potted plants, to make the scenery."

NBC officials declined to comment on the lawsuits, other than to say they have no merit and the network intends to vigorously defend itself. NBC is very proud of the show, Mr. Corvo said. "So if we have to tolerate some inaccurate accusations now and then, we'll do it."

“Area health care providers, social services agencies and community colleges are coping so far with the state budget stalemate — but if it continues much longer, things may start falling apart,” reported Tim Morgan from the Modesto Bee.

The state budget impasse is taking a toll on a variety of social services programs. Sexual assault and domestic violence shelters that depend on state funding are preparing to tap into reserves and take out credit lines.

"We've got payroll to meet; we've got bills to pay," said Belinda Rolicheck, executive director of Haven Women's Center. "I sometimes wonder if they're cognizant of how difficult it is, not just for us, but for anyone who gets a state paycheck."

Rolicheck said two grants, one from the state's Department of Health Services and another from the Office of Emergency Services, account for $600,000 of the shelter's $1.5 million annual budget.

Haven is reimbursed for those programs as it helps its clients. Rolicheck said the budget impasse has her waiting for payments from work since July 1.

Unlike Haven, A Woman's Place in Merced does not have reserves to tap. Diana Almanza, its executive director, said state grants account for 75 percent of her $1.7 million budget. She said the shelter has not received checks for work in July, and it's not expecting payment soon for its August services. Almanza said she'd like to see the Legislature pass Republican state Sen. Jeff Denham's proposal to fund nonprofit and health organizations while the budget talks continue. Denham, R-Merced, has refused to vote for the budget with a group of 13 other Republicans.

"It's a very, very difficult position we've been put in," Almanza said. "The bottom line is, it's victim services that are being impacted."

Rape crisis center goes bilingual

By Kristin Bender, STAFF WRITER from InsideBayArea.com
Bay Area Women Against Rape has become the first rape crisis center in Northern California to certify a large group of Spanish-speaking sexual assault counselors.

Last weekend, the Oakland-based agency certified 32 volunteers who will staff the rape crisis hotline, counsel individuals and groups, help hospital staff and police with rape investigations, and assist with immigration paperwork for undocumented sexual assault victims.

"Our main target is to go out there and promote our services in the community. We also want to let (rape victims) know they aren't going to be alone and that they are going to receive culturally sensitive counseling in their language," said KristinaMolina, the agency's Latina outreach coordinator.

The crisis hotline now will be covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Spanish-speaking volunteers as well as English-speaking volunteers, Molina said.

Bay Area Women Against Rape now has 92 volunteers, including nearly three dozen who can speak Spanish, Molina said. That's up from just four Spanish speaking volunteers before the recent training, she said.

There are 37 rape crisis centers in Northern California and their organization is the first to certify a sizable group of Spanish-speaking volunteers, Molina said.

This is important because Latinos make up nearly 22 percent — roughly 87,000 people — of Oakland's population, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The roup also serves other Alameda County cities that U.S. Census data show have a high number of Latinos, including Hayward, Livermore and San Leandro.

Even before the new crew of Spanish-speaking volunteers was trained, about 20 percent of first-time clients were from the Latina community, according to data from 2006-07 fiscal year. During that time, the agency served 774 first-time clients, including 152 from the Latina community, according to internal data.

Marcia Blackstock, the executive director, said the agency started a Latina outreach program nearly a decade ago.

"That is when we realized that we had a lot more people in the community who only spoke Spanish or limited English who were being assaulted here or came to us with old assaults," Blackstock said.

Getting the program up and running has taken time, she said. "It's been slow to develop the relationship between BAWAR and the community because of cultural issues and language issues. Now the time was right. We had to make our presence known enough to get people to trust us and know that we want to get involved."

New volunteers underwent 55 hours of training over the last nine weeks and have agreed to put in at least 36 hours a month for nine months. Organizations such as La Clinica de la Raza and Mujeres Unidas y Activas helped recruit volunteers who were trained in "dismantling all the myths about rape," Molina said.

In the Latina community, there are some distinctive issues around sexual assault, she said.
"Usually the perpetrator is telling (the victim) that if you report this (immigration) is going to take you back to Mexico or your home country.

"Also, many are Catholic and they feel a lot of guilt, especially younger girls. They are brought up to believe they have to be a virgin until they get married, so when they get assaulted they feel it's their responsibility to protect their virginity. We let them know that virginity is not something that is taken away, it's something that is given away with their full consent."

Founded in 1971 after a young girl at Berkeley High School received poor treatment from police and hospital staff following a rape, the agency responds to 4,000 calls for service from rape survivors and their family members.

The agency also educates roughly 11,000 people annually and runs the Victims/Offenders Reconciliation Program at California State Prison Solano, bringing together prisoners and crime victims to be partners in healing. The group also has a program called Brother's Keeper, which trains prisoners to spot potential suicide tendencies among San Quentin inmates and step in before they kill themselves.

In addition to helping establish rape crisis centers in Northern California, the agency staff has trained rape crisis professionals from Japan, India, Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary.

2,100 California Sex Offenders Ordered To Move

The Associated Press reported last week that beginning on Friday August 17, 2007, parole agents “will begin notifying as many as 2,100 recently paroled sex offenders that they have to move because they live too close to schools and parks in violation of an initiative approved by California voters last November.”

"We're moving very aggressively. We've got boots on the ground starting tomorrow," Tilton said in a telephone interview. "It's a very complex law and we had to make sure all the instructions were in place."

"The 45-day time clock for the offenders to find new housing begins ticking as soon as they are served, meaning the first offenders notified will have until early October to find a new home. Scott Johnson, president of the Parole Agents Association, said state officials have been moving too slowly to implement the restrictions."

"The law doesn't give them 45 days—they're making it up," he said. "It ends up being about seven weeks, we think, before we get the first body moved. Jessica's Law is the law. They should have started on this Nov. 8, not, what, Aug. 16."

State Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, said it was essential for CDCR to have policies and procedures in place to notify offenders and to ensure agents are enforcing the law. Runner said, "We're frustrated that we are now almost, what, nine months after the vote finally getting to the point where there's an implementation process."

Officials said emergency regulation policies, outlining residency restrictions for parolee’s, was not in place until late June. Those who violate their parole will face the possibility of being sent back to prison.

Critics of Jessica's Law warned that offenders may be pushed into rural areas and thrown out of their own towns and “could go underground rather than register their whereabouts because of the initiative's residency restrictions.” In addition, sending parole violators back to prison would add to an already over crowded prison system. Therefore, federal judges are “considering capping the inmate population or releasing some prisoners before they have served their full sentences.”

Blogger arrested near child care center

Jack McClellan, the Pedophile Blogger, was arrested early Monday afternoon, near the UCLA child care center.

"McClellan was arrested Monday after he allegedly was spotted with a camera near the Infant Development Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.

He was arrested and booked on suspicion of violating a statewide restraining order prohibiting him from coming within 30 feet of any child in California.

He was released six hours later and warned not to return to the UCLA campus but was arrested a second time that night after someone spotted him giving an interview to a television station in a campus parking lot, authorities said.

McClellan maintained a web site in Washington where he posted “photos of children he had taken in public places. He also discussed how he liked to stake out parks, public libraries, fast-food restaurants and other areas where little girls, or "LGs," congregate.”

McClellan maintains he has not done anything illegal and launched the site as a form of therapy.

Violent sex offender posed as priest

In a rural Irish town a sex offender has been posing as a priest, reported the Telegraph. John Cronin received a life sentence for sexual abusing a Conservative Party worker.

"Cronin, 36, was made welcome by local people, who were unaware of his past as a convicted sex criminal, before he fled the area, allegedly with a stolen checkbook. Suspicions were aroused when a checkbook went missing at the guesthouse where he was staying, and when the fake priest began telling blue jokes."

"One man said: 'For every dirty joke we would tell, this so-called priest would tell an even dirtier one. This made me suspicious."  In fact, Cronin is a highly dangerous conman who has a history of posing as a priest and was jailed for life in 1992 after an attack on a Tory party worker known only as Judy X. Dressed as a priest, he made his way into her home before attacking her with a poker and sexually assaulting her.'"

He was released on appeal after six years and has been returned to jail since, most recently in August 2004 for using false checks. After his visit to Tuam last month, one businesswoman said: "It is hard to comprehend that this man who seemed so plausible could be so evil."

Recently Cronin has been seen at a religious retreat on the west coast of Ireland.

NBC sex predator cases

Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” series is receiving serious criticism. The network has been named in various lawsuits, one in which program is blamed for an Assistant District Attorney’s suicide and another has a former “Dateline producer accusing the network of firing her because she questioned the show's ethics.”The program “lured would-be child-sex predators to a public shaming, delivered by a handsome host. Ratings, awards and even praise from members of Congress followed.”

But has the show made it easier to catch sexual offender or harder? Esquire magazine released an account of the program on August 14th and that describes a chain of events that eventually led to Dateline airing video recorded from outside a man’s house while he shot himself in the head. The article suggests that Dateline is guilty of overstepping the boundaries of reporting and questions whether or not the program achieves the stated intention of getting predators off of the Internet.

This spring, Esquire magazine sent a reporter to Murphy for a three-month investigation into Mr. Conradt's death. The resulting article accuses Dateline of manipulating the Murphy police. The magazine also accuses Murphy police of rushing search and arrests warrants to accommodate Dateline and includes criticism of the Terrell police for entering the prosecutor's home. Prosecutors have since said they could not prove they had jurisdiction over many of the cases – that either the Perverted Justice decoy or the suspect was in Collin County when the crime was committed.

And according to Esquire, prosecutors believed the arrests may even have been illegal. In each case, police had done little or no investigation prior to the men showing up at the house. Instead, Esquire said, they simply arrested the men who emerged after receiving a signal from the Dateline crew inside.

According to Esquire, Mr. Roach said: "The Murphy Police Department was merely a player in the show and had no real law enforcement position. Other people are doing the work, and the police are just there like potted plants, to make the scenery."

NBC officials declined to comment on the lawsuits, other than to say they have no merit and the network intends to vigorously defend itself. NBC is very proud of the show, Mr. Corvo said. "So if we have to tolerate some inaccurate accusations now and then, we'll do it."

Over 6,000 cases of sexual violence were reported by U.S. prisoners in 2006. Sexual violence jumped 21 percent from 2004 to 2006 and in over half of the reported cases victims said prison guards were perpetrators of sexual violence. Official data collection on sexual violence, in U.S. prisons, began in 2004.

Liliana Segura from Alternet said, “It's hard to get people riled up about prison rape. Rampant though it may be, it's widely treated as little more than a cultural punchline; the subtext being that most prisoners probably deserve it.”

But with the US prison population the largest in the world, a spike in sexual violence behind prison walls means the cesspit that passes for our criminal justice system is getting even worse. And while feeble efforts have been made in recent years to legislate solutions, the root problem lies with outdated policies that have led to the prison boom--and the politics that keep them in place.

SPF directors reported:  

Studies show that as many as 20 percent of male prisoners have been pressured or coerced into sex, and 10 percent have been raped. While any detainee can become the victim of prisoner rape, people serving drug sentences, many of whom are young, unschooled in the ways of prison life, and non-violent, are among those at greatest risk. With little or no institutional protection, prisoner rape survivors are left with physical injuries, are impregnated against their will, contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, and suffer severe psychological harm."

Man allegedly broke order prohibiting him from being within 30 feet of kids

Los Angeles prosecutors have dropped charges against a self-described pedophile who was arrested last week at UCLA after he allegedly violated an order that prohibited him from being within 30 feet of children.

Prosecutors opted not to pursue charges against Jack McClellan after they determined the judge who issued the order failed to set a hearing to argue its merits and hadn't given the 45-year-old transient proper notice.

McClellan was released from jail today following a court hearing.

McClellan was arrested August 13th on suspicion of violating the order when he was found near a child care facility at UCLA. He was arrested again — several hours later — this time for trespassing after he did an interview with the TV station on school grounds.

McClellan created waves in Southern California upon arriving earlier this summer from Washington state, where he had lived with his parents.

For years, McClellan maintained a Web site in Washington where he posted photos of children he had taken in public places. He also discussed how he liked to stake out parks, public libraries, fast-food restaurants and other areas where little girls, or “LGs,” congregate.

McClellan’s server took his Web site down over a month ago. He said in an interview a few weeks ago that he wasn’t sure whether he would try to put it back up.

McClellan, who said he lives on supplemental security income and suffers from depression, has maintained that he launched the site as a form of therapy and wouldn’t do anything illegal.

Any bill with a price tag of $150,000 or more is placed on suspense, to be heard at a later date. This keeps the docket clear for low-cost legislation to move through while giving more time to analyze the benefits of legislation with high costs.

CALCASA Public Policy readers will remember that SB 153 simply redistributes the California State Penalty Fund, salvaging $15 million from a leak created by the closure of the Driver’s Training Fund. The bill would give each rape crisis center as much as $40,000 more per year as well as increasing the funding for Victim Witness programs, Child Advocacy Centers, and a trauma recovery center.

Instead, that money has been quietly piped into the general fund for years rather than residing with victim services programs where it was statutorily designed to go.

You haven’t missed your chance to make your voice heard. PLEASE take a moment to click here  and send a letter to members of Appropriations. Urge the members of Appropriations to move SB 153 off suspense. It only takes a moment and you will be included in the long list of supporters for this vital legislation.

Monterey County Women's Crisis Center in Salinas Closes it’s Doors

The Monterey Weekly and California Online reported last week that the Monterey County Women's Crisis Center in Salinas, closed after thirty-one years of offering services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Appropriations Committee Keeps Victim Service Funding in Suspense
Wednesday, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee moved SB 153 (Migden), to the “suspense file.”

Any bill with a price tag of $150,000 or more is placed on suspense, to be heard at a later date. This keeps the docket clear for low-cost legislation to move through while giving more time to analyze the benefits of legislation with high costs.

CALCASA Public Policy readers will remember that SB 153 simply redistributes the California State Penalty Fund, salvaging $15 million from a leak created by the closure of the Driver’s Training Fund. The bill would give each rape crisis center as much as $40,000 more per year as well as increasing the funding for Victim Witness programs, Child Advocacy Centers, and a trauma recovery center.

Instead, that money has been quietly piped into the general fund for years rather than residing with victim services programs where it was statutorily designed to go.

You haven’t missed your chance to make your voice heard. PLEASE take a moment to click here and send a letter to members of Appropriations. Urge the members of Appropriations to move SB 153 off suspense. It only takes a moment and you will be included in the long list of supporters for this vital legislation.

"Model citizens" charged with sexual assaults

A CEO, dentist and special education instructor were arrested last week on charges ranging from rape to “lewd acts with a dependent adult” reaffirming what rape activists have known for a long time - that the vast majority of sex offense are not committed by strangers but by people that the victim knows, loves or trusts.

A press release from the LA Police Department, said that, “a Los Angeles special education teacher has been arrested for charges of Lewd Acts with a Dependent Adult after he was found acting inappropriately toward several of his special education students at John Marshall High School.”

In Redding, California, a CEO at a local bank was charged with sexually assaulting a “sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl at his home over the weekend.”

In Southern California, “A preliminary hearing for a Riverside dentist accused of raping his inebriated daughter was delayed Monday at the request of prosecutors, who are awaiting the completion of reports connected with the case.”

Educators need to continue to have conversations with community members with regarding to preventing sexual violence in all of it’s forms.

CHP stop nets gallons of date rape drug

The San Jose Mercury news reported earlier this week that a, “Los Angeles man headed for the Bay Area had 20,000 doses of the date rape drug GHB in his vehicle when he was pulled over for speeding in Sonoma County, the California Highway Patrol said today.

Couey Sentenced to Death

John Evander Couey who was convicted of kidnapping, raping, and murdering nine-year old Jessica Lunsford, was sentenced to death on Friday August 24, 2007.

“Couey, who lived near Lunsford, broke into the mobile home where she lived to burglarize it. He took her from her bedroom and after raping her, he put her inside two plastic bags, one inside the other, and buried her alive. A medical examiner said Lunsford suffocated after being alive at least five minutes and as long as eight minutes inside the bags.”

Sports columnist calls on public to stop cheering for violent athletes’

Rick Morrisey, a sports columnist, compared the public’s outrage over the Michael Vick case and the apathetic public response to the amount of rape and other violent crimes committed by various athletes’ last week.

The greater outrage

By Rick Morrissey, Chicago Tribune Article
August 22, 2007

We are more aghast at Michael Vick's crimes against animals than athletes' crimes against women. And that is criminal.

I like my dog, a basset hound, a lot. He's probably 10 pounds overweight, sleeps most of the time, barks at the mail carrier, waters fire hydrants and, given the chance, buries things for safekeeping. He's a big lump of a cliché.

So when I read and heard about some of the dogfighting atrocities Michael Vick is associated with, it turned my stomach.

But the convulsive reaction to the Vick case has made it obvious we've lost our sense of proportion.

Dogs are defenseless, and we humans are quick to protect the defenseless. It is one of our better qualities.

But a woman in the hands of a 230-pound elite athlete is more or less defenseless, too, and I can't remember any case of domestic abuse, sexual assault or murder involving an NFL player that sparked this kind of public outrage.

The O.J. Simpson saga? Perhaps.

But what's interesting is the different public response to the two crimes. At the time of the Simpson trial, most people were more concerned with his innocence or guilt than they were with the butchered bodies of the two people who were stabbed to death.

This case is different.

It's hard to get rid of the image of dogs being drowned or electrocuted or beaten to death. Whether Vick was personally involved in those activities or not doesn't really matter. He is going to plead guilty to charges involving a dogfighting operation apparently run out of one of his properties. Whether his hands were actually around a dog's neck is beside the point. His fingerprints are all over this case.

But if an NFL player beats the hell out of his wife or girlfriend these days, it's greeted with a practiced shrug. It happens so often, we're almost numb to it.

Media coverage has played a huge role in the Vick case. Take one of the NFL's most prominent players and show visceral file footage of pit bulls chewing each other to pieces. What do you have? Something that stabs people right in their hearts.

The networks didn't run file tape of a gun being fired into a woman after Carolina wide receiver Rae Carruth conspired to murder his pregnant girlfriend. Nonetheless, a jury found him guilty in 2001, and he's serving a 19- to 23-year prison term. If there was public indignation to rival the Vick dog charges, I missed it.

In February, Tennessee cornerback Pacman Jones was involved in an incident at a Las Vegas strip club that led to the shooting of three people, including a guard who is now paralyzed from the waist down. Do our feelings of outrage and sympathy extend to the people who absorbed those bullets? I don't think so. Certainly not the way they do to the slain dogs. We're too busy being aghast at Jones' behavior and, more broadly, at the behavior of the legion of unruly NFL players.

As sure as a football field is 100 yards long, Jones will play again. The league has suspended him for a year because of the Vegas incident and a string of additional problems with the law. Yet we hear rumblings that Vick's career might be over. His crime is so heinous, we're told, that he might have forfeited his right to play in the NFL again.

In the mid-1990s, Nebraska star Lawrence Phillips pleaded no contest to trespassing and assault after allegedly beating his girlfriend, who said he dragged her by her hair down three flights of stairs. It was the beginning of a long stretch of criminal trouble involving Phillips. This did not stop the Rams from making him a first-round draft pick, nor did it stop the Dolphins and the 49ers from giving him chance after chance to carry the football again.

Abuse your dog, and people howl. Smack around your girlfriend or face charges of sexually assaulting a woman and people shake their heads and roll their eyes. And they'll eventually cheer you again. If you don't believe that, pay attention the next time Kobe Bryant rolls through town.

The public reaction to Bryant's troubles—he reached a settlement with a woman he was charged with sexually assaulting—wasn't nearly as loud and angry as the reaction to Vick.

This case has legs, four of them, and we're finding out it makes a huge difference in the court of public opinion.

No doubt Vick needs to spend some time behind bars, and no doubt he shouldn't play football for a while. He's the face of what's wrong with the NFL. What he did was vile.

Let's be clear: It's not that the response to Vick's alleged crimes is overboard; it's that the response to athletes' crimes against women is underwhelming. We might want to ask ourselves why that is.

A little perspective, please—especially the next time a player attacks a woman. Another incident should be happening any day now.