Though this blog is was originally intended as a resource for offenders in Massachusetts, much of what I write about is applicable to sex offenders in every other state and many countries around the world, especially in Western Europe. Even other non-sex offenders trying to navigate prison, probation and parole, or employment and education opportunities can glean relevant information from this blog and apply it to help overcome their own struggles.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

USA FAIR, Inc. Families Advocating Intelligent Registry


This is a great resource and community advocating for the families and loved ones of people required to register as a RSO.
Please check out this website, become a member, and spread the word.  


http://www.usafair.org


About USA FAIR, Inc.

USA-FAIR-reform-sex-offender-laws.jpgUSA FAIR, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to educating the public on issues related to the sex offender registry.
Family members of people required to register founded USA FAIR and our membership includes registrants who are leading law-abiding lives, as well as our allies in the legal, social justice and treatment communities.
Our mission is to educate the public about the myth of high sex offender recidivism and to advocate for registry reform that is based on facts and evidence.
Sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates of all offender groups in the criminal justice system.  Yet, the whole premise of the sex offender registry is based on the mistaken belief that former sex offenders have a high rate of recidivism and therefore need additional life-long monitoring and sanctions not imposed on any other offender group.
Studies conducted by law enforcement agencies and treatment professionals have all confirmed low recidivism.  Further, additional studies have shown that many of the sanctions imposed on registrants do nothing to protect the community and can in fact be counter-productive and a waste of taxpayer dollars.  You can access these studies through links in the Studies section of our website.
Many organizations have formed in states across the country to reform the registry.  We are not looking to duplicate their good efforts.  At USA FAIR our focus will be on the national news media by being a reliable contact for journalists to reach people who can speak to this issue from the perspective of living with the impacts of the registry every day - and to hold them accountable for inaccurate coverage.
The facts are on our side.  What has been missing from this debate has been our place at the table... and our stories.
We are here to communicate the thousands of success stories of former offenders who are busy rebuilding their lives by being good citizens and providers for their families.
And we are here to tell the darker stories of how the sex offender registry, in its current form, is destroying families.  The loved-ones of registrants have become the unintended victims of the registry, whether it is the loss of employment of a breadwinner, harassment of children at school, homelessness brough about by residency restrictions, or the targeting of registrants by vigilantes - which in a growing number of cases has tragically resulted in the murder of sons, husbands and fathers.
We are not against the sex offender registry.  We just want a “smart-on-crime” registry that is evidence-based and targets the truly dangerous.  You can read what that means to us by visiting the Mission page of this site.

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