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Posted by: kwflatbed

Bills urge parole for life, GPS


Photo by File
Cape and islands district attorney Michael O’Keefe.

Bay State lawmakers on Tuesday will hear more than 40 bills aimed at cracking down on repeat sex offenders in the wake of a spate of high-profile assaults exposing loopholes in the state’s monitoring of predators.
“We still are one of the weakest states when it comes to protecting our children from sex offenders,” said state Rep. Karyn Polito (R-Shrewsbury), who is sponsoring legislation that calls for mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain sex crimes against children. “We seem to be taking a Band-Aid appoach rather than passing a set of laws that will safeguard the public.”
Among the bills under consideration by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary are:
Expanding the use of GPS monitoring to outfit sex offenders placed on probation with the devices;
Requiring lifetime community parole for offenders convicted of certain sex crimes against children;
Strengthening parole supervision of sex offenders to include electronic monitoring, polygraph testing and other measures;
Requiring sex offenders to register online usernames; and
Impaneling a 15-member advisory committee to review all the state’s laws pertaining to sex offenders.
Last week, Level 3 sex offender David Flavell was charged with stalking a woman inside a Braintree Borders bookstore bathroom.
Like accused New Bedford library rapist Corey Saunders, Flavell was found not to be a “sexually dangerous person” and was set free by Superior Court Judge Richard T. Moses over the objections of prosecutors who wanted him civilly committed.
“We feel that the statute doesn’t work the way it should,” said retired Superior Court Judge Suzanne V. Delvecchio, who presided at dozens of civil commitment proceedings for sex offenders during her career. “We are trying to prevent predators from being released. It’s not 100 percent and a small percentage of failure is not acceptable. This is what we are dealing with now.”
Under current law, prosecutors can petition the court to have sex offenders declared sexually dangerous six months before their release. If a court rules there is probable cause, an offender is committed to a treatment center for no more than 60 days where two qualified experts will examine the offender. The offender may then choose to have a trial heard by a jury or a judge. To have an offender declared sexually dangerous, prosecutors must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Offenders who are found to be a threat are civilly committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater, with the right to appeal every 12 months. If they are not declared sexually dangerous, the offender is set free.
“Ultimately, all these issues are a balance between the rights of invdiduals and the rights of society to be protected from those people who would do harm and commit crime,” said Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, who is also president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association.
The balance may have swung too far, some critics charge. Now, lawmakers need to act swiftly to protect the public, Polito said.
“We should not be one of the weakest states,” Polito said. “We should be one of the strongest states when it comes to protecting our children.”

http://bostonherald.com/news/regiona...ome&position=2

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Pervs ‘on brink,’ offender warns

Says sickos should be watched, not alienated




Joel Pentlarge.

One of Massachusetts’ most dangerous sex offenders stunned people at a State House hearing yesterday when he introduced himself and warned that the state is pushing sexual perpetrators to the brink of reoffending.
“My name is Joel Pentlarge, and I am a Level 3 sex offender,” he said, referring to the category the state considers “high risk.”
The room fell silent as the 57-year-old Jamaica Plain man told the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee that the more than 30 sex-crime bills it was considering would only further alienate offenders, who have been so marginalized that they often have nowhere to live or work, much less anyone to help ensure that they find and remain in treatment.
Pentlarge, who was convicted in July 2000 of rape and abuse of a child, referred to Corey Saunders, a convicted sex offender who had been freed by a judge before he was rearrested this month and charged with raping a 6-year-old boy in the New Bedford Public Library.
“The verdict is announced and, like me, he’s out the door: Here’s 50 bucks; see you later,” Pentlarge said in his wire-rimmed glasses, blue Oxford shirt and dark pinstripe slacks. “That’s not the way to prevent someone from reoffending.”
He recommended intensive, statewide parole supervision instead of the dozens of measures pending.
One of them, House Bill 1592, would eliminate the charitable immunity defense and the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children, two provisions of the law which allowed numerous clergy and their superiors to go without prosecution in the scandal that broke in Boston. The bill would also expand a victim compensation fund and increase the penalty for failing to report child abuse.
Another proposal, House bill 1688, would impose a mandatory, minimum sentence of 20 years for the rape of a child. Currently, judges may impose a sentence of zero years to life in prison. The average in Massachusetts is three to five years, not long enough for many victims to come forward, said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Karyn Polito (R-Shrewsbury).
“For 13 years, I’ve been coming up here and asking you people . . . to do the right thing,” Debbie Savoia, vice president of Community Voices, a Chelmsford-based, child-protection group, told the committee. “All I hear about is these people’s rights. When do our children have the right not be raped and molested?”

http://bostonherald.com/news/regiona...icleid=1076213

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Posted by: kwflatbed

Defense attorney: Few factors reveal who will offend again

By Laura Crimaldi / Sunday Focus: Crime and Punishment
There is scant scientific evidence available that can predict whether a sex offender will attack again, said a... Poll




Sex offender rehab center draws scrutiny

By Laura Crimaldi / Sunday Focus: Crime and Punishment
In the highly charged campaign to curb sex crimes, the state’s lone treatment center for offenders is in... Poll

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