[Vision2020] Child Protective Services

Janesta janesta at gmail.com
Wed Mar 9 18:01:32 PST 2011 

Saundra,

You wrote almost to the letter what I have been thinking about today.

Another thought- What will those ittle girls, teens, and young ladies do
if/when they are sexually molested again, by yet another pervert? Will they
feel the courage to come forth, confident the perprator will be punished?
Or, will they hide inside themselves, not wanting to be exposed to the shame
of it all. KNOWING the first person who abused them never was punished.
Fearing, it will happen again.  Boundries have been broken, which can not be
changed.

It *is* cold blooded murder of an innocent childs spirit and soul.

Janesta
On Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 1:33 PM, Saundra Lund <v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm> wrote:

>  Hi Sunil,
>
>
>
> Unfortunately, I can’t answer the majority of your questions.  I wish I
> could, though – this is something I tried to get information about when the
> practice first came to my attention with Steven Sitler.
>
>
>
> I asked if the practice here in Latah County of letting *convicted* sexual
> offenders out of jail unsupervised to get “therapy” was an aberration,
> perhaps because of our more rural nature, and the only information I was
> given was that it’s *not* just Latah County – this happens around the
> state.  And, that’s the extent of the information I was able to get.
>
>
>
> Understandably, this abhorrent practice isn’t something those with
> knowledge of the details care to talk about, likely because they know that
> communities around the state would be up in arms & *demand* that it STOP.
> Certainly, my personal opinion & the opinions of those I’ve chatted with is
> that any potential theoretical benefit to convicted offenders isn’t worth
> the very real safety risks to our citizens, particularly to our children,
> who are one of the most vulnerable groups in our communities.
>
>
>
> Nauseatingly fascinating to me is that while the State of Idaho finds it
> appropriate to give convicted & incarcerated sex offenders, including proven
> predators, a temporary “get out of jail unsupervised” card to get “therapy,”
> the success of which is inarguably questionable, while denying other
> offenders who would clearly benefit from services like illiteracy
> intervention, job skills training, and the like to help prevent reoffending
> the same opportunities.
>
>
>
> Sometimes, people ask questions when they already know the answers, so if
> that’s the case with the questions you asked, please feel free to share the
> answers  J
>
>
>
> You ask why the quotation marks around “therapy,” and that’s the one
> question I *can* answer.  As I stated above, the efficacy of “therapy” for
> sex offenders in preventing reoffending is a huge unknown and of
> questionable value.  Indeed, some studies have found that sex offenders who
> received “therapy” were *more* likely to reoffend.  Some modalities may
> work better with some offenders than others – and *no* modality may work
> with some, and some therapists offering sex offender “treatment” are frankly
> better than others in general and with some individuals.  There was a boom
> of those offering sex offender “evaluation” and “treatment” in the last 20
> years or so, and the qualifications of some are sketchy at best.  It’s not
> uncommon for those who got on the bandwagon early to have no formal training
> but rather to rely on “on the job experience” under those who also had no
> formal training and now claim expertise under a kind of “grandfathering.”
>
>
>
> When I looked up Sitler’s “therapist,” I remember being distinctly
> unimpressed with his credentials.  Indeed, his boasting of membership in
> ATSA, a voluntary non-credentialing organization where membership relies on
> self-reporting, wasn’t impressive to me at all.  He’s certainly never
> published, nor is he recognized to bone fide experts in the field.  Of
> course, he could be the best thing since sliced bread – I don’t know, but
> what I do know is that *no* magic bullet treatment for sex offenders has
> been found.
>
>
>
> For those interested in reading – in layperson’s language – a decent
> discussion of sex offender treatment, check out:
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/06/us/06civil.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
>
> OR
>
> http://tinyurl.com/2007nytdispute
>
> This 2007 article focuses on civil commitment, but I gives a decent
> overview of some of the controversies in sex offender treatment.
>
>
>
> One of the most insightful statements I’ve ever heard a sex offender make
> regarding the impact on his (sole) victim was, “I killed who she could have
> been; basically, I murdered a person.”
>
>
>
> Of course, he’d been in “therapy” for *years* at that point, so it could
> have just been learned “therapy speak,” which offenders are great at picking
> up.
>
>
>
> And, sex offenders, especially those with more than one victim and those
> who abuse children & teens, are *never* cured, and *no one* should ever
> delude themselves otherwise.  The goal of “treatment” is to decrease the
> odds that the offender will reoffend, not to cure.  Perhaps the best analogy
> is to addicts – they have to spend the rest of their lives focused on their
> personal recovery to be successful.
>
>
>
> However, I suspect we all know how common relapse is for addicts.  Are sex
> offenders more or less likely to reoffend than are addicts to relapse?  I
> don’t know.
>
>
>
> But, the difference is that, generally speaking, when addicts relapse, the
> greatest harm they cause is to themselves; when sex offenders reoffend, they
> *always* harm others more than they harm themselves . . . they create
> additional victims.  They *always* kill who an innocent could have been
> but for the sex abuse.
>
>
>
> All of that said, being the bleeding heart liberal that I am, I’m all for
> requiring treatment for incarcerated & released sex offenders – I just wish
> we had “therapy” that seemed to be genuinely effective for many or most.  If
> “therapy” prevents even 1% of convicted sex criminals from reoffending when
> released, the financial cost is well worth it in my book – we are talking
> about saving innocent men, women, and children from being victimized.  My
> willingness to pay more to better protect us from sex offenders is a
> minority view, unfortunately, because the fact of the matter is that most
> sex offenders *will* be released, and that includes a great many who
> should never walk free, IMHO.
>
>
>
> Steven Sitler is an excellent local example of that, IMO.  Sometimes,
> crimes committed that don’t result in physical death warrant the punishment
> of never again walking as a free person in decent societies because the
> damage caused to innocent victims is simply too profound to deserve anything
> less than life in prison, and I strongly think that’s the case with Steven
> Sitler, child molester extraordinaire.  He victimized multiple children from
> the same family, and he victimized *scores* of children from different
> families over a significant period of time.  He killed who those countless
> victims could have become undamaged.
>
>
>
> He sentenced many, many children to life sentences, and he himself deserves
> no less.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Saundra Lund
>
> Moscow, ID
>
>
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
> nothing.
>
> ~ Edmund Burke
>
>
>
> ****** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2011 through life
> plus 70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce
> outside the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
> author.******
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:
> vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] *On Behalf Of *Sunil Ramalingam
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 08, 2011 7:45 AM
>
> *Cc:* vision 2020
> *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] Child Protective Services
>
>
>
> Saundra,
>
> With regard to this statement, "It also leads to the *insane* situation
> around the state of opening up the jail doors to *convicted* sexual
> offenders to get themselves to “therapy” and back to jail again without
> supervision,"
>
> -How often does this happen around the state?
> -What are the particulars in each instance? What is the underlying
> sentence, has the defendant gone on a rider?
> -Is there any basis for the decision provided by a treatment provider?
> -What do you mean by 'therapy?' What do your quotation marks signify?
>
> Sunil
>  ------------------------------
>
> From: v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm
> To: reggieholmquist at u.boisestate.edu; deco at moscow.com
> Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2011 18:58:52 -0800
> CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Child Protective Services
>
> Well, the Idaho Department of Corrections budget *has* been cut:
>
> *http://www.idoc.idaho.gov/facts/fact_sheets/YearEndBrief.July09.pdf*
>
> “Idaho has cut $27 million dollars from its 2009 and 2010 corrections
> budget, a 14 percent reduction. As a result, the department laid off 44
> positions, and ordered 4 days of furloughs for prison security staff and 10
> days of furloughs for all other
>
> employees.”
>
>
>
> See also:
>
> http://www.idoc.idaho.gov/press_releases/Feb2010version2.pdf
>
> “The Department has sustained millions of dollars in budget cuts since the
> recession began. Through November 2009, the Department lost 10.4% in general
> fund dollars for personnel and 8.7% in operating funds.
>
>
>
> The impacts are significant. The graphic to the right illustrates the 93
> positions either eliminated or unfilled. All staff are taking furlough hours
> for a total of 80,000 hours, equivalent to another 39 positions in lost
> productivity.
>
>
>
> The Department can’t close a prison for a day, or stop checking on
> parolees; ours is a 24/7 public safety commitment.
>
>
>
> Staffing ratios in prisons were bare bones before the furloughs and budget
> cuts. Furloughs increase the problem. At the minimum security facility south
> of Boise there are an average of 17 officers responsible for 656 inmates on
> any given shift.”
>
>
>
> This attitude of “cut prison costs” is upsetting to me because it leads to
> repugnant decisions like contracting out staffing to for-profit private
> companies like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).  As we’ve seen time
> & time & time again, costs *always* increase when private for-profit
> companies are brought in to save money (as has happened with the UI & its
> AlliedBarton contract), accountability suffers, and we wind up with
> situations like those at the Idaho Correctional Center (ICC) that have
> forced the ACLU to file suit to protect those in custody.
>
>
>
> It also leads to the *insane* situation around the state of opening up the
> jail doors to *convicted* sexual offenders to get themselves to “therapy”
> and back to jail again without supervision.
>
>
>
> I don’t disagree that sentencing for some non-violent offenders is too
> harsh, but we also repeatedly see cases where the sentencing isn’t harsh
> enough, a trend that’s increased as the Idaho Department of Corrections has
> struggled to cope with budget cuts on top of public pressure to always cut
> costs on top of never being adequately funded to begin with (because people
> don’t give a rip about convicts).
>
>
>
> And, I’m not saying that IDOC needs the money more than CPS or education!
> I worked for the Department of Health & Welfare and am well aware of the
> impossible conditions our CPS & children’s mental health workers face every
> single day.  I value education – and appropriate funding for education – as
> much as anyone else & obviously more than many in this state.
>
>
>
> However, it’s simplistic and misguided to target IDOC, IMHO.  No one is
> interested in my suggestions because I’m a bleeding heart liberal, but there
> *are* ways to deal with what’s going on with the budget in Idaho.  The
> problem is that the Republican controlled executive & legislative branches
> aren’t interested in solutions that will gore their financial backers, pure
> & simple, IMO.
>
>
>
>
>
> JMHO,
>
> Saundra Lund
>
> Moscow, ID
>
>
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
> nothing.
>
> ~ Edmund Burke
>
>
>
> ****** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2011 through life
> plus 70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce
> outside the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
> author.******
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:
> vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] *On Behalf Of *Reggie Holmquist
> *Sent:* Monday, March 07, 2011 11:46 AM
> *To:* Art Deco
> *Cc:* Vision 2020
> *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] Child Protective Services
>
>
>
> I'm going to agree with Roger(!) here.  Cuts should come from prisons.
> Sentences can be shortened because most of them are currently too harsh.
> Harsher sentences came about as a result of lobbying (mostly by "concerned
> parents" groups) in the 80s.  Nowadays, the US holds a quarter of the
> world's prison population, but only 5% of the world's total population.  The
> fact that 35-40% of Idaho prison costs are unadjustable (because they are
> contracted out) is also unacceptable.  A private industry complex should not
> have been created to carry out what should be a state function (for myriad
> reasons).
>
> Idaho prisons should be receiving cuts, not increases (and CCA contracts
> should be eliminated ASAP).  CPS should not be receiving cuts.  Education
> should not be receiving cuts.  The school-to-prison pipeline needs to be
> destroyed.
>
> -Reggie
>
> On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 11:34 AM, Art Deco <deco at moscow.com> wrote:
>
> Roger,
>
>
>
> What magic formula do you propose to determine the probability of
> reoffending of any given convicted pedophile?  Do you have any idea what the
> estimated recidivism rates are?  Or that the younger the victims and the
> more victims are fairly clear indices of potential reoffending?
>
>
>
> w.
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>
> *From:* lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
>
> *To:* ttrail at moscow.com
>
> *Cc:* vision2020 at moscow.com
>
> *Sent:* Monday, March 07, 2011 10:42 AM
>
> *Subject:* [Vision2020] Child Protective Services
>
>
>
> Tom
> I went to a 4-H training session in Lewiston Saturday.  One of the subjects
> was child protection. The amount of abuse that occurs in relation to
> children is shocking. I do not know where things stand on the budget, but I
> would encourage everyone to make sure that there are no cuts in Child
> Protective Services. This is a area that needs attention. There are  other
> areas that can be legitimately cut. One would be the prision budget. It
> costs a lot of money to keep people in prision. Except for those that are a
> danger to society and should never be released, it is questionable to keep
> people locked up for a long period of time. It may be fine for a short
> sentence as punishment, but there should be better ways to deal with those
> that are not a physical treat to society.
> Again Child Protective Services needs to stay fully funded.
>
> Roger
>
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>
> --
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