A review of the RSOL 2011 National Conference by Wayne Bowers, President Sex Abuse Treatment Alliance, CURE-SORT Director
I attended the 3rd annual Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL) Conference the previous weekend in St. Louis and want to share my observations and report on the programs. I attended the first conference in 2009 in Boston, and did not get to attend the 2010 meeting in Washington, D.C. What I saw in the two years since that first meeting was a considerable increase in leadership, organization and expertise. And the continued growth in state participation and grasp of the issues is encouraging. The estimated total of attendees of 120 for the three days was impressive.
I know there have been some growing pains and mistakes, some disagreements with certain people and some who have moved on to something else. That is not uncommon for any growing organization. The key for me, having experienced activity on this issue with various groups and individuals for 17 years myself, and since CURE-SORT began 21 years ago, is that a large coalition of people are coming together to challenge sex offender and registry laws. And that coalition is growing.
My intent for attending, along with networking and meeting new people and share the work of SATA and CURE-SORT, was to see how the organization is coming together. Of course, I wanted to learn more about the organization and other ways to advocate. My desire is to see all organizations come together on our issue and make this a major, strong coalition. I heard that point mentioned considerably during the weekend. CLICK for the remainder of Mr. Bowers review:
A warm and heartfelt thanks to all the folks who work so hard for their families and their communities. The winds of change are beginning to blow. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed even by people who could not attend the conference. Keep up your fabulous work fighting the propaganda and hysterics with logic and factual data. You ARE making a difference. Not just to former offenders and their families but for the betterment of all of society.
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