10% of Registered Sex Offenders Could have a MySpace Page

Would you allow your child to be alone in a group of 100 strangers - knowing that 10 of them are sex offenders? Well, that may be exactly what we are letting our kids do. The following article needs to go to every concerned adult who knows kids who are on MySpace.

Tarrant County prosecutor Lori “Varnell and research assistant Linda Eakman embarked on a project to find out how many registered sex offenders in Tarrant County have MySpace pages. The results were eye-opening: Of the 2,800 registered sex offenders in Tarrant County, Varnell and Eakman randomly selected 837 of them. They found that 79, or 9.4 percent, had a MySpace page.

"And that," Varnell said, "is just the ones who say where they are located and give their real name."…

Varnell said if Tarrant County is representative of other counties and states, 10 percent of registered sex offenders could have a MySpace page. (Complete article by Melody McDonald of the Star-Telegram or Yello Dyno PDF of the article)

MySpace Offers a "Buffet" of Children for Child Predators, but Texas Attorney General Abbott is Crashing the Party

Seven convicted sex offenders with profiles on MySpace.com have been arrested in what Texas officials said was the country's first large-scale crackdown of registered offenders who use the social networking Web site. Four men were arrested in Houston, two in Austin, and one in Dallas during a two-week operation by the Texas Attorney General's Cyber Crimes and Fugitive Units.

Attorney General Abbott has earned a national reputation for aggressively arresting and prosecuting child predators and this is another feather in his “Stetson". Texas is headed in the right direction. No longer is a slap on the wrist going to be the response. The message is loud and clear, “You mess with our kids and we’re going to mess with you.”  Thanks to the Cyber Crimes and Fugitive Units and all those involved in making cyber space safer for our kids.

How will all this play out? What do you think?

Following are some key articles and press releases reflecting the stance Texas is taking.

Seven Texas Sex Offenders Arrested for MySpace Profiles (PDF)

Texas Attorney General: First-in-the-Nation Crackdown on Sex Offenders Using MySpace.com Yields Multiple Arrests (PDF)

Child Pornographers Investigated by Cyber Crimes Unit Receive Tough Prison Sentences (PDF)

Local child predator gets 70 years for online solicitation, child port (PDF)

Victoria Child Predator Caught by Cyber Crimes Unit Receives 70-Year State Prison Sentence (PDF)

Are Sex Offenders Getting Younger, More Violent?

Many of you who read my blog must deal with the issue of sex offenders, often on a daily basis. The following disturbing article could make any mom lose her peace of mind. So, what is your experience on this topic? Are the stats correctly interpreted? Which of these opposing views is more accurate?

Headline and quotes from AP article (Stockton, Calif., June 9, 2007) on CBS News website, “Cases Involving Juvenile Sex Offenders Has Risen 40% In 20 Years” (or view a Yello Dyno PDF of the article):

YES, the situation is worse:

"The whole society is not yet up on this problem.... These kids, on the extreme end, if nothing is done to catch them, they're going to become our adult offenders of tomorrow."

"Studies show that one in two sex offenders began their sexually abusive behavior as juveniles."

"The rise in juevenile sex offenders has spawned hundreds of new treatment facilities for children as young as 5."

NO, it is not a bigger problem:

"There aren't more kids, there are more laws.... We now have fairly draconian laws with very harsh sanctions that apply to juveniles."

"...many children are unnecessarily treated as sex offenders. True pedophiles are extremely rare among young people...."

Kansas Teen Strangled by Just a Normal Guy?

“Until this, Edwin Hall was just a friendly, normal guy,” is the closing of a news clip from CNN (D.A.: Kansas teen was strangled by ‘ligature’ – Posted: 5:03 p.m. EDT, June 8, 2007) about the brutal kidnapping and murder of a young woman. “Neighbor Harold Barry…added that Hall seemed especially close to his son…. ‘He loved his son so much…. He had his small kid in that truck every time I saw him.’”  

And, once again, MySpace plays a significant role in this type of case. The CNN article describes a MySpace page, believed to be that of Edwin Hall, that freely shares the workings of a highly disturbed mind. In addition, a more recent AP article, June 9, 2007, by John Milburn (posted online by Examiner.com of Houston Texas, June 12, 2007) reveals that Hall was convicted 11 years ago for threatening his adoptive sister at knifepoint.

In the past twenty years, I have frequently heard suspects described by neighbors and family as an OK or even really nice guy. But behavior that manifests in a brutal murder doesn’t come out of nowhere; there are always pre-indicators. After a murder, evidence easily points to an aberrant personality with recognizable patterns, often from early childhood, but no one put the pieces together until it was too late.   

At my workshops, many of you have learned about pre-indicators of violence. There is no doubt that the danger Edwin Hall posed was visible. As a society, we just need to be willing to take off our rose-colored glasses and see what’s really going on – before it’s too late.

For more information about pre-indicators of violence, please read the Yello Dyno Monthly Memo, “The Red Lake High School Shooting."