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From The Criminal Justice Journalists’ News Center:

Four North Carolina sex offenders hooked to satellite tracking systems had ankle bracelets and signal boxes removed after a judge ruled they shouldn’t be subject to lifetime monitoring, reports the Raleigh News & Observer. It was the latest rejection of the state’s attempts to track sex offenders who have finished their sentences. Across the state, 122 people are subject to tracking, and many are contesting it. Court decisions in North Carolina and other states may result in a more definitive ruling by a higher court. The four offenders who had the $1,400 units removed joined 21 sex offenders who have fought North Carolina and had judges side with them.

The state legislature required lifetime satellite monitoring for sex criminals classified as repeat offenders, aggravated offenders or violent predators, or who had victimized children. The correction department spends nearly $3,000 a year tracking a single offender. Defense attorneys argue that the sex offenders have served their punishments and shouldn’t be subject to the close monitoring. “The Constitution would prohibit punishments created after the fact,” said law Prof. John Rubin of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “That is the question that is going to be raised and addressed by the court.”

You can read the full story at the Raleigh News & Observer.

New York Times – by Mark Landler
Austria Stunned by Case of Imprisoned Woman

Plano Courier – by Danny Gallagher
Cities, county unveil new online sex offender database

Washington Post – by Monica Rhor
Lawyer says angry father may have stabbed wrong boy

Fort Worth Star-Telegram – by Elizabeth Campbell
Former deputy jailed on sexual-assault charges

Abilene Reporter News – by Celinda Emison
Early man charged with assault, child pornography

Click2Houston.com
Man Accused of Sexual Assault of Pregnant Teen

Change Happens reports that the University of Tampa’s campus paper, The Minaret, dedicated an entire section of the paper to sexual assault after a high profile rape accusation surfaced on their campus. It’s definitely worth reading, and it’s truly inspiring to see a campus paper taking such a thorough, in-depth look at sexual assault on their campus.

The Office for Victims of Crime has just published a Resource Guide for Serving U.S. Citizens Victimized Abroad to help victim service providers in the United States enhance their services to these individuals. The online publication aims to help service providers develop strategic plans and ensure that key personnel, resources and protocols are in place for effective assistance.

Jessica Voorhees Norris, a Ph.D. candidate in forensic chemistry at U.Va., has developed a method for reducing the time DNA analysis from rape kits takes from 24 hours to as little as 30 to 45 minutes. Her new method also drastically improves the sperm cell recovery rate.

Currently, many jurisdictions face huge backlogs when it comes to DNA testing due to the time-consuming process and DNA samples can often end up degrading after long periods of time, becoming useless when it comes time to analyze them. If Jessica’s method was adopted by forensic labs it would mean vast improvement on the handling of DNA evidence from rape cases and, hopefully, increase the number of perpetrators who are caught and convicted.

Check out the Chicago Tribune editorial, Prostitution looks chic, but truth is ugly, by Anne K. Ream, founder of The Voices and Faces Project, an advocacy organization that seeks to engage survivors of sexual violence in political and civic life, and R. Clifton Spargo.

The editorial discusses prostitution, specifically relating to former Governor Eliot Spitzer’s fall from grace and the way the media portrayed the sex worker involved in the case as living a privileged life. The authors criticize this media portrayal and common public opinion and discuss the truth behind prostitution.

This was not a love (or even a lust) story: The now-former New York governor wasn’t stepping out on his wife with a consenting “other woman.” His was an illegal and dehumanizing business transaction, one in which a man of great privilege purchased the sexual services of a woman of far more limited means.

But instead of treating Ashley Alexandra Dupre—who has said she was abused and once homeless—as a victim, the media have turned her into a vixen. Why address the oppression that is prostitution when we can serve it up as a form of sexual self-expression (or as a savvy career move) instead?

An interesting side note: click on the hyperlink on Ashley’s name and take a look at how the Chicago Tribune summarizes her story. I found it ironic that the paper linked to that description in the middle of an editorial that specifically decries that sort of characterization.

SafePlace, a sexual assault and domestic violence survival center in Austin, is seeking grant applications from agencies that wish to increase their community’s effectiveness in serving crime victims with disabilities. Applicants must have an existing victim service program to be eligible.

The purpose of this two year Multi-Disciplinary Responses to Crime Victims with Disabilities project is to address underreporting of crimes against people with disabilities and to create access to relevant services. To achieve this goal, SafePlace will select four sites to replicate the agency’s own model Disability Services program, which provides targeted outreach to people with disabilities and offers an array of education and training programs to people with disabilities as well as professionals.

This grant is a cooperative agreement between SafePlace and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office for Victims of Crime. Four awards in the amount of $85,000 each will be granted for a project period of 24 months. For more details and application materials, see SafePlace’s website.

Letters of intent to apply are due by May 9, 2008 by 4 p.m. CST. Applications are due by May 23, 2008 4 p.m. CST.

El Paso Times
Testimony shows Renteria violated probation

ABC 7 Tyler
Close to 100 Sex Offenders Rounded-Up In Van Zandt County

Austin American Statesman – by Chuck Lindell, Corrie MacLaggan
Did Texas go too far in polygamy case?

New York Times – by Agence France-Presse
Marine to Face Court-Martial in Japanese Rape Case

Washington Post – by the Associated Press
Congressman calls for review of slain Marine’s rape claims

A member of the House Armed Services Committee said Thursday that he wants the Department of Defense to review what he called a botched investigation of a pregnant Marine’s rape allegations against a corporal now charged in her death.

My Fox Houston
South Houston Sexual Assault Suspect Arrested

Plano Courier – by Danny Gallagher
Cities, county unveil new online sex offender database

Lufkin Daily News – by Nick Wade
LISD’s sex offender warning system goes into place Monday

The Courier of Montgomery County
Laws must give us protection from sexual offenders

Waco Tribune – by Tommy Witherspoon
West man denies during trial that he sexually assaulted boy

CBS 11 Dallas/Fort Worth
New Details In Dentist Office Sexual Assault Case

NBC 6 Waco
Protecting yourself from sexual assault

Feministing reports that the University of Portland refused to follow up on an alleged sexual assault. Natalie Shank, UP’s Judicial Coordinator, responded to the victim’s inquiry about why nothing had been done with the following:

“Based upon my findings in my investigation, I am unable to determine if a sexual assault occurred. . . I have reason to believe that intercourse occurred, but both parties admit to drinking and therefore, consent—or lack of consent—is difficult to determine. Given these facts, there are possible violations for which you could be charged.” (Emphasis mine)

Apparently, this refusal to act on sexual assault allegations is the rule at UP, not the exception, as they didn’t report a single instance of sexual assault to federal authorities in 2006. You can email Natalie Shanks at shankn[at]up.edu and let her know your opinion on threatening to charge people who come forward with sexual assault allegations with crimes such as underage drinking, as well as insist they change their policy on tracking sexual assault on campus.

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