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Please don't get me wrong, I'm moving to Boise, but my son just pointed out a the high ratio of sex offenders to residents in Boise. According to City-Data, San Diego has only 1 in 1132 while Boise is 1 out of 439.
I checked Nampa & Caldwell and they are even worse. I looked at the college town of Boulder, Co as a comparison in size and possible demographics and it is only 1 sex offender in 1427.
Someone, please help me understand what's with these ratios.
This same issue arose on the Utah board, and much of it has to do with what each state requires for registration. Idaho may have more stringent registration requirements in comparison to California or Colorado. In other words, crimes that would not required lifetime registartion in California may require registration in Idaho. Next, much has to do with what each state makes public. I know that California is still struggling with what it should make public. It was only ten years ago that California began making sex offiender information available under Megan's Law. Lastly, offenders are like anyone else, in that they go where they can afford to live. Boise probably qualifies in that respect; whereas, San Diego is pretty pricy.
This has come up in the past and we found that due to how harsh sentencing guidelines are in Idaho, it's a very skewed statistic.
Here's an example:
In CA, it was VERY easy to plead down sexual assault to a misdemeanor and not have to be a registered offender. Here in Idaho, even if you plead down, you're stuck on the offender list just about forever. There was a case where a guy pressured a girl by threats into sexual intercourse. It was pled down to a misdemeanor sexual battery. And for THAT he still got 8 years. Seriously.
As a retired LEO from SoCal, I can tell you that scenario would have played out awfully different in LA Superior Court. That same guy could plead it down to 243.4(a) PC and get 12 months county jail time, out in 8 months or less, no registration. In California, the actual conviction would have to be from 290(a)(1)PC as follows;
(A) Any person who, since July 1, 1944, has been or is hereafter
convicted in any court in this state or in any federal or military
court of a violation of Section 207 or 209 committed with intent to
violate Section 261, 286, 288, 288a, or 289, Section 220, except
assault to commit mayhem, Section 243.4, paragraph (1), (2), (3),
(4), or (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 261, or paragraph (1) of
subdivision (a) of Section 262 involving the use of force or violence
for which the person is sentenced to the state prison, Section
264.1, 266, or 266c, subdivision (b) of Section 266h, subdivision (b)
of Section 266i, Section 266j, 267, 269, 285, 286, 288, 288a, 288.5,
or 289, Section 311.1, subdivision (b), (c), or (d) of Section
311.2, Section 311.3, 311.4, 311.10, 311.11, or 647.6, former Section
647a, subdivision (c) of Section 653f, subdivision 1 or 2 of Section
314, any offense involving lewd or lascivious conduct under Section
272, or any felony violation of Section 288.2; or any statutory
predecessor that includes all elements of one of the above-mentioned
offenses; or any person who since that date has been or is hereafter
convicted of the attempt to commit any of the above-mentioned
offenses.
______________
So basically, in Idaho, it's a lot easier to get stuck on the registered offender list than in California where you have to be convicted of one of the more serious sex crime felonies to wind up on the list.
Sage is correct. Idaho does not play games with sex offenders. You do the crime, you do the time.....forever.
Isn't that the way it should be?
pimit2 (bob)
eh... yes and no, with violent sex crimes there should definately no slack taken in punishing criminals, but too many times someone who is nineteen, gets caught with a seventeen year old that they have dating for a while, and they spend the rest of their life as a sex offender. There were some laws pending in the last legislative session trying to remedy that by creating a three year buffer, but i don't know what happened to it.
Although it is too early for me to draw a conclusion, I can tell you this. I moved up here from the Bay Area 5 weeks ago. I signed up for the Idaho Statesman right away and read it daily. Back in the North Bay, I also subscribed to that local paper and read it every day for over 15 years.
In the last 5 weeks, I have read about more incidents involving children and pervs here than I did in any given year back there.
There was even a case within the last year that two 14 year old boys raped a 14 year old girl after ditching school to drink with a few other friends. They apparently filmed their exploits as well. In todays paper, there was a married 35 year old mother that just got busted for sending provocative text messages to her 15 year old son's football buddy including a picture and video! Two weeks ago some freak walked off with a seven year old girl, but it sounds like he was caught before he could do serious harm.
Sarge and Sage may be right, maybe the laws are tougher here. I don't know, but there sure is a lot of it going on. It had me wondering about the ratio as well. I also ran a search on the subject and was quite surprised at the number of offenders.
Although it is too early for me to draw a conclusion, I can tell you this. I moved up here from the [North] Bay Area 5 weeks ago. I subscribed to that local paper and read it every day for over 15 years.
If you're talking about the Press Communist, uh, I mean Press Democrat, they were too busy extolling the virtues of Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, and Lynn Woolsey. After that, there wasn’t much room left—and I do mean left—for anything else. What appears in the paper and what is actually occurring is usually vastly different.
I worked crimes against children for five years between 88 and 93 in the Sonoma and Marin County area. My impression of the child molest rate in those days was it seemed to be out of control. I always had a pile of cases on my desk, and all the other investigators with whom I networked seemed just as busy. Just prior to my retirement this year, my agency created two new child abuse investigator positions to keep up with the workload, so I know the problem was not diminishing
I think it was Nightline, or some such news program, just did a predator sting in conjunction with the Petaluma Police Department. They scooped dozens of predators making a date with a decoy posing as a teenage girl in a chat room. One of the suspects was a prominent neurosurgeon from the East Bay.
Finally, don’t forget Polly Klass and her killer, Richard Allen Davis, along with other slobs like Ramon Salcedo.
Last edited by SergeantL; 09-25-2007 at 07:07 PM..
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pimit2
Sage is correct. Idaho does not play games with sex offenders. You do the crime, you do the time.....forever.
Isn't that the way it should be?
pimit2 (bob)
I agree but......................in some states, not sure if Idaho is one, a charge of public urination forces you to register as a sex-offender. Not the most tasteful behavior but I doubt there are many who at one time or another haven't been forced by circumstance to relieve themselves outside an 'official' facility, does that really warrant a lifetime label?
I really don't think a news papers political tenancies have anything to do with how they report on crime. Especially when pertaining to crimes against children. Today the Statesman tells of another possible abduction of a child in Kuna that occurred yesterday.The bottom line is there are freaks everywhere and it seems like Idaho has its fair share.
What happened to Polly was tragic and that scum-bag should have never been released from prison to begin with. What blew me away on that one, is police interacted with Davis at one point, If I recall, they actually helped him with a broken down vehicle and then sent him on his way. This happened either before or after he commited the crime? All while other law inforcement agencies in the area were looking for a subject that matched his description. He was later tied to the crime, caught and arrested. Ramone was a good example of what drug abuse and illegal aliens can bring to society.
As far as the Dateline Predator sting, that was shocking. Some of those creeps drove several hours to get there. Now some rival T.V. network is helping to get the cases thrown out after some politacal figure/prosecuter in Texas? took himself out after being caught in the act. I'll bet they could take that show to any sizeable community and get a response.
Bottom line, protect your children and talk to them at an early age about this. Most law enforcement agencies have programs in place to help.
Last edited by California Carl; 09-26-2007 at 09:01 AM..
Reason: punctuation
Today the Statesman tells of another possible abduction of a child in Kuna that occurred yesterday.
Well, I sneek back to the Press Democrat web page every so often to see what's happening in the old area. Look what I found; as you can see, it's everywhere.
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