{"id":3802,"date":"2005-04-29T20:23:40","date_gmt":"2005-04-30T00:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/04\/29\/do-i-dare-smile\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:57:45","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:57:45","slug":"do-i-dare-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/04\/29\/do-i-dare-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"do i dare smile?"},"content":{"rendered":"

potluck:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\"wrong\u00a0Mike Cernovich<\/a> has added another thought-provoking post at Crime & Federalsim<\/em>,\u00a0on the topic of residency restrictions for sexual offenders.\u00a0 He asks whether we’re creating a new kind of leper colony<\/a>.\u00a0 (There’s a thoughtful comment by Nebraska attorney Maren Chaloupka<\/a>. )\u00a0 I wonder where such “colonies” will be allowed to exist — or, is this an economic development opportunity for enterprising communities? (Around my neck of the woods, it will definitely not be the prosperous Albany,\u00a0NY,\u00a0suburb of Colonie seeking such status, despite its having a few remaining trailer park communities).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0 In Albany, some activists and politicians don’t want sexual offenders living near parks.\u00a0 This week,\u00a0 Albany County Legislator Dan McCoy says<\/a>:\u00a0“You can live wherever you want in this great country, but they choose to live next to schools and parks. For what reasons?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How about cheap motels?\u00a0 A newscast<\/a> on February 4, 2005 from CapitalNews9<\/em> in Albany, started with the words “Just down the road from the Malta Community Center and HighPointe development, four Level 3 sex offenders are living at the Shamrock Motel, leaving residents uneasy and concerned.”\u00a0 Six days later, News9<\/em> reported<\/a> “A spokesman for the motel said . . . the motel’s policy would be changed to prevent any Level 3 offenders from staying there again.”\u00a0 If ex-con sex offenders can’t stay at crummy motels, just where are they supposed to live?<\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/font>Dr. Richard Hamill, a clincial and forensic psycholgist (with whom I worked as a Law Guardian in child sex abuse cases), is President of the NYS Alliance of Sex Offender Services<\/a>.\u00a0 He’s quoted in last Sunday’s Schenectady [NY] Gazette<\/a><\/em> (April 24 2005, “Consequences stem from sex offender registry,” $ub. req’d) saying:<\/p>\n

— “If a child is sexually assaulted, the person is more likely to be someone not on the registry than on the registry. . . .”<\/p>\n

— “A sex offender who is at lower risk of offending is one who has a full-time job, is stable in the community and has a circle of friends with support.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the same article, Prof. Jill Levenson, a board member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual of Abusers<\/a>, is quoted:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “Sometimes good politics makes bad policy.\u00a0 Good social policy needs to be well
    \nthought-out and based on research information so that it can be cost effective.” . . .<\/li>\n
  2. “Eighty to 90 percent [of children] are molested by someone their family knows and
    \ntrusts.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"noYabutsSN\"\u00a0There aren’t any easy answers and we shouldn’t let politicians or noisy activists (or vigilantes<\/a>)\u00a0say there are.\u00a0 If I wanted to protect the kids in my neighborhood from a real, everyday threat to their safety, I’d be trying to get folks with vehicular moving violations as far away as possible.\u00a0 [Prof. Douglas Berman<\/a> has put together a list of\u00a0 his prior posts<\/a> on sexual offender sentencing, and promises to write soon on the Doe case and “what seems to be an ever-growing ‘sex offender panic’.”]\u00a0 update<\/strong><\/em> (April 30, 2005):\u00a0 Cernovich has posted<\/a> on the legal issues raised by Doe v. Miller<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n
    \n
    train toward Baltimore
    \nthe setting sun
    \njumps the tracks<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
    dimming the headlights\u00a0 \"mosquito2\"
    \nin the midnight meadow:
    \nfalling stars<\/div>\n
    \n
    morningmoon
    \n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 plays hide-and-seek
    \n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 my sleepfilled eyes<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
    subway blues
    \nstrummin’ light
    \nthrough the tunnel<\/div>\n
    \n
    \u00a0…….. by Pamela Miller Ness<\/font><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0 pink light, sleeping<\/em>\u00a0 <\/font><\/font>(Small Poetry Press, 1998) for info\u00a0<\/font>see<\/strong><\/font><\/a><\/font><\/font><\/font>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n
    \n
    \n
    <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n
    storm clouds\u00a0gather —\u00a0\"ooh\"<\/font><\/div>\n
    the clock tower<\/font><\/div>\n
    just stands there <\/font><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    \n
    new kids moving in —<\/font><\/div>\n
    \n
    do I dare<\/font><\/div>\n
    smile?<\/font><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
    the neighbor’s new dress<\/font>\u00a0—<\/font><\/div>\n
    that moment you forget <\/font><\/div>\n
    you’re twice her age<\/font><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    \n
    ……..by\u00a0<\/font><\/em>dagosan<\/em><\/strong><\/font><\/a><\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    <\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    potluck: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Mike Cernovich has added another thought-provoking post at Crime & Federalsim,\u00a0on the topic of residency restrictions for sexual offenders.\u00a0 He asks whether we’re creating a new kind of leper colony.\u00a0 (There’s a thoughtful comment by Nebraska attorney Maren Chaloupka. )\u00a0 I wonder where such “colonies” will be allowed to exist — or, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[555,3513],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu","category-lawyer-news-or-ethics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-Zk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13241,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3802\/revisions\/13241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}