SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- Springfield crime trackers reports there are 991 sex offenders in just Greene county Missouri and 920 of those are free of incarceration.
"It's devastating to not only the child, but to the whole family," says Barbara Brown Johnson, Executive Director at Springfield’s Child Advocacy Center.
It’s her job to help children victimized by sex offenders.
"Last year this Child Advocacy Center served 1349 children," she says.
She says she’s seen first hand the kind of pain a sex offender can cause someone.
"It impacts everything," Johnson says.
But Adam Woody, Springfield defense attorney says there are plenty hurt by just the stigma of the title sex offender.
"This is not a group that is going to garner a lot of sympathy from the general public," he admits.
Adding to that stigma, he says is Missouri's new location-monitoring ankle bracelet is now required for all sex offenders found guilty after August of 2006.
"If you've committed one of 12 sex crimes, this requirement goes into effect. Things that are as mundane as a junior in high school having sexual contact with their freshman in high school girlfriend,” he say.
According to Woody, it's a law that was set in place after a large list of revisions was proposed by 2016's Senate Bill 491. The bill responsible for the newly revised Missouri Criminal Code.
"This specific prevision sort of snuck in. And it took everyone by surprise on January first of 2017 when it became enforceable," Woody says.
But Johnson says monitoring sex offenders is age old precaution...
"I don't feel so bad about a simple ankle bracelet," she says.
Even still, Woody says this new advancement is too far reaching to be constitutional.
"Obviously big brother is going to be watching them for the rest of their lives. No doubt it'll be appealed.” ..Source.. by Collin Lingo
No comments:
Post a Comment
We use the Disqus Commenting system, please wait for it to load. Also, comments are moderated, please stick to the issue of the post, as we are trying to have an intelligent, relevant discussion which develops the post. Comments deviating from topic of post will not be posted. Thanks