Last Sunday night Blong Yang, a candidate for Hennepin County Commissioner District 2 who is running against Linda Higgins, responded to this blogger's request for an on-the-record statement about the issue of Level Three Sex Offender concentration in our neighborhoods.
The statement is as follows, word-for-word...
Dear John,
The laws on sex offenders / predatory offenders are quite clear, though lengthy and sometimes hard to read. Unfortunately, sometimes enforcement has not been as good as we would all like. I would push for stronger enforcement of the laws so that (1) there isn't a heavy concentration of Level 3 sex offenders in our neighborhoods; and/or (2) even if there is a heavy concentration, law enforcement is doing its job to protect the public from Level 3 sex offenders. Stronger enforcement means more funding for law enforcement, which should happen.
I have two kids. I am very concerned about this issue. However, I also understand the economic realities faced by Level 3 sex offenders. If they've done their time, they deserve a place to live in the community. North Minneapolis is an affordable place to live for a lot of people. We, as a society, have to balance the safety of our children with the right to live of a sex offender. I choose to have faith that our laws and law enforcement will do the job to protect us.
Sincerely,
Blong
12 comments:
This morning I have a response from Linda Higgins and I will be getting that on the blog as soon as I can.
Yang is trying to be fair, and unfortunately being fair to L3SOs is unfair to everyone else. The recidivism rate among L3SOs is ridiculously high, whether or not they've served a sentence is almost a moot point. One way to reduce re-offenses is through chemical castration, but our lingering cultural taboos of the male genitalia will not stand for it. There are cases of L3SOs asking for chemical castration as part of their post-penalty treatment but such requests are struck down by judges as 'cruel and unusual punishment'. I'd argue forcing a person to live with the endless desire to sexually assault the vulnerable is a far crueler punishment. Americans accept hysterectomies as a common medical procedure, we accept some women experience PMS to varying degrees, but we won't accept the role male hormones play in influencing L3SO behavior.
"The recidivism rate among L3SOs is ridiculously high..."
The person who wrote this comment is 100% absolutely wrong. There are published statistics and studies that show that this is a false statement, nationally as well as in Minnesota. In Minnesota the recidivism rate among L3SO is very low, and the offenses they commit are almost always non-sex related, due to the intense supervision they receive.
It's comments like 2:27Pm wrote that create false fears. Statistic show that a ex-con drug dealer is more likely to commit a new, violent offense then a L3SO.
When was the last time you saw a drive-by shooting involve a sex offender? When was the last time a house was burglarized by a sex offender?
Right, it's the drug dealers and junkies, and gangsters doing all the crime.
We should be more concerned about our kids being shot, then being touched by a L3SO, since the changes are greater our kids will get shot then touched.
There are far more violent gangsters to worry about than perverts.
Just look at the jail roster and count for yourself.
When people drive or walk thru north Minneapolis they don't worry about sex offenders, they worry about being shot or robbed.
Level Three Sex Offenders are classified as such based upon the severity of their crimes and (stomp stomp) the likelihood they will reoffend. Which of the four parts of the phrase "Level Three Sex Offender" do you not grasp?
When Dru Sjodin was kidnapped and murdered at the University of North Dakota, what did the local police do? They asked all the high level sex offenders where they were during that period of time. One of them said he was at a movie?
What movie? the investigators asked.
Once Upon A Time In Mexico, he answered. But guess what? That movie wasn't in the theater at the time he said. Turns out he was the one who did it. In fact, so often when a horrible crime is committed you just need to figure out which sex offender was the closest at the time and start digging in their damn yard.
Here's a nice academic study.
https://www.ipce.info/library_2/han/hanson_98_text.PDF
Yup, recidivism among sex offenders in general is low. But then there is a particular "subgroup" of sex offenders with high recidivism. Risk factors can be predicted. Did they prey on strangers? Did they prey on males? Do they have low social status? Chronic employability problems?
As for worrying about our kids being shot...
You're engaging in a really stupid rhetorical device I will call the "wrong issue" device. If I were to write about kids being shot, (which I wrote about, cripes, I think it was just a couple days ago and I was personally at the scene) somebody might come along and say, "Worry about all the sex offenders, not thugs killing each other."
When I write about the sex offenders, what happens? Somebody wants to bring up the thugs killing each other and the stray bullets.
We have a lot of problems. But when somebody is writing about one of those problems or working on it somehow, it's just STUPID to say, "Wrong problem, go work on this other thing."
YOU go work on that other thing if you feel strongly about it.
As for chemical castration, if they volunteer for it it should be available to them. Hell, men can get an operation to transform their body into what appears to be a female body but they can't get chemical castration if that's what they want? How does that make any sense? That argument about the cruelty of being forced "to live with the endless desire to sexually assault" is one of the smartest and most profound arguments I have heard in a long time about this topic.
WTF man, you don't even live in northside anymore. Go solve problems in Alexandria where you really want to be.
This is a recidivism study from Ohio looking at 826 inmates
http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web/Reports/Sexrecid.pdf
Recidivism rate within 5 years, including all crimes and technical violations is 28.3%.
Overall sex crime recidivism is 5.3%, however--
--that number raises to 13.1% for rapists, rapists defined as living in urban environments with many 'stranger' victims. Total recidivism, for any crime, for rapists rises to 48.7%.
48.7% sounds like a ridiculous percentage to me.
And this 2012 article showcases one of the few times I curse liberal sympathies:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/05/health/chemical-castration-science/index.html
What's worse, a sure to not re-offend L3SO with high blood pressure or a growing concentration of the 13-48% in NoMI?
Anonymous 8:51 is a definite sympathiser with the pedophile petes of the world and there is an excellent chance that 8:51 is the same pervert rickmyer or whatever name the courts let him use freely.
Being touched? You make it sound so innocent,Pete. 8:51, do you mean that there are more regular violent gangbangers to worry about instead of the child molesting type? Which one are you since you like to dress in "gangster" hats? I believe when female people walk through any part of Minneapolis they worry about being raped,or the children for that matter.
Whoever 8:51 is, i will guaratee that they are a child molester and probably was raised having sex with their mother. Blong can go to hell and has just lost my respect and vote.
I am trying to understand what you don't like about Blong's statement? It seems a measured and thoughtful response which also considers these L3SOs are human beings.
As tough as this blogger is on the issue, we do have to acknowledge these are human beings.
To Anonymous troll at 11:50 saying I don't live in North Minneapolis, I live in Alexandria.
You trolls really do manage to get by on desperate little crumbs of hopefulness, don't you? I go to Alexandria to visit relatives (hello, I GREW UP THERE) and you're all, like, oh now you live in ALEXANDRIA.
In fact, the funny part is that when I'm somewhere out of town I make a point of blogging from there and mentioning where I'm at, one reason being it's FUNNY to watch your little mental wheels spin like, oh, JOHN HAS MOVED OUT OF TOWN. WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS HE NOW?!!!
Enjoy, little trolls. Enjoy the game. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JOHNNY NORTHSIDE? WHERE HAS HE MOVED TO? WHEN WILL HE LEAVE NORTH MINNEAPOLIS?
Wait. I thought one troll (on another blog) was claiming John lived at Meaghan's house. Which is it? Where does John live?
Oh! John! How we hang on every move you make and desperately salivate for more John, John, John!!!!
(sarcasm font)
Pathetic Trolls.
A whole lot of people want you to jump out of your skin so they can jump in. Jealous wannabe's who wish they had your confidence.No bullshit, keep up the good work and your patience will pay off.
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