Athmar Park

3,000 Sex Offenders in Metro Area. Can our Community be Safer?

Mar 02, 2005

by Tess Henry
The Sex Offender Prevention Project (SOPP) is a grass roots campaign dedicated to creating a facility to control adult repeat sex offenders who engage in hands-on assaults. These men have already been convicted of multiple sexual assaults and unfortunately, we release them back into our communities to offend again and again.

THE PROBLEM

1 out of 3 girls and 1 out of 6 boys will be sexually abused by the age of 18. The research definition of sex abuse, that produced this data, is limited to any criminal sexual behavior that was unwanted and hands-on: ranging from touching breasts, genitals, groping, grabbing, to oral sex and rape.

?? 61% of rape victims are younger than 18 years old.

?? There are 1,871 rapes of women (18 and older) each day.

THERE IS NO KNOWN CURE

Our criminal justice system isn?’t working and it can?’t work (with this population) because the current system is not suited to work with a ?“no cure?” population and there are no resources for such a ?“no cure?” population. Our criminal justice system is based on a model of second chance. Unfortunately, this isn?’t a realistic expectation with repeat sex offenders. They don?’t get out of prison rehabilitated?—there is no cure.

WHERE DO SEX OFFENDERS LIVE?

They literally live everywhere. What SOPP is proposing is that these adult repeat sex offenders live in a 24/7 controlled facility?—the Sex Offender Containment & Research Facility (SOCR).

WHY SOCR?

This facility is for the repeat sex offender who is returning to the general community, since we do not have SOCR. Sixty-five percent of sex offenders never go to prison. They go on probation, which means they live at large in the community?—over 3,000 in the Denver metro area. Of the remaining 35%, 95% of them come out of prison and go back into the community, so the general community is currently serving as the ?“housing facility?” for the repeat sex offender.

A benefit of the SOCR plan is that the sex offenders will be paying their own way. They are already working in the community, paying rent and taxes. Sex offenders living at the SOCR facility will continue to work in the community and pay taxes, but their salaries will go toward paying the cost of their placement in the facility.

They will be monitored 24/7. They will be driven to their place of employment. Any free time they have will be spent at the facility or supervised by facility staff. Graduation is not to be expected, because there is no known cure. This facility is designed to hold the sex offenders for the rest of their lives.

One of the benefits of this model is that the offender is not only contained, but also receives therapy and treatment, while helping SOCR staff research the origins of sex offending behavior and possibly develop a cure. The initial SOCR facility would house 300 repeat offenders, but would expect to grow. SOCR could be the model for the rest of the country.

HOW SOCR FITS INTO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM MODEL:

Sex offenders are, and will continue to be, a criminal justice system problem with the state paying for the containment and control of these individuals. However, citizens can demand that the sex offender use his earnings to pay the cost of his containment and control. The SOPP campaign believes that it is about time citizens get the safety we and our children deserve.

CONTROL:

The control has to be in the hands of an independently elected citizens?’ board. Unlike criminal justice professionals, they must have only one agenda ?– public safety ?– preventing the adult repeat sex offender from re-offending. Sex offenders are a for-life management problem which does not mesh with appointed officials. This board will receive proposals from operating companies who will compete for the position similar to community corrections currently. Then the chosen operating company will follow the directives of the citizen board that oversees it.

This facility is central to stopping the violence. For more information, go to the SOPP website at www.about-the.org, call 303-504-6188 (x2) or email to SOPP@about-the.org.