Sexual Offenders (Boise, Post Falls, Priest River: sex offenders, crime, felony)

[AverageAmerican]

In looking at data for cities in Idaho, I found what I thought to be high concentrations of sexual offenders. According to data on City-Data, Boise has 1 offender for every 439 residents, where Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix have 1,000 to 1,600 residents per offender.

In the areas where I first looked (Post Falls, CdA) the lower density and more "remoteness" offered a plausable reason for the high numbers, but why Boise?

I know there is sometimes no explanation for things, but has this been discussed/addressed among Idahoans (is Idahoans correct?)?

I'm not looking to pick a fight or disparage, just trying to wrap my pea-size brain around the issue.

[boi2socal]

I certainly remember hearing about this occurence whether on the news or via friends and it occuring in their family. So not from direct experience but from indirect experience it seems to be an unfortunate issue in the area. As to why there is a higher concentration...not sure 100%

This may sound strange but there may not necessarily be more perverts in Boise but too many trusting parents making it easy for the perverts that are there...hiring 13 year old boys to babysit their 8 year old girl or even 30 year old men friends. Not that all 13 year olds or 30 year olds are perverts...I've noticed people in Boise seem to take the safe city thing too far. It was commonplace for kids to run amuck in my middle class neighborhood. One family's 3 year old son often walked into people's houses. That is an instant setup for something bad.

[Sage of Sagle]

It's a HUGE difference in reporting in Idaho. Compared to California where most things are dropped or pled down to non-registration offenses, they throw the book at you here. An example...a Priest River volunteer firefighter was alone with a female cadet, and pressured her into sexual intercourse on the threat of physical harm. Now, in California, it would have been pled down to sexual battery, etc. Here in Idaho? 8 years hard time, and registration as a violent sexual offender. Take this several times over, and the fact that the population is lower, and you have a really skewed ratio of registered offenders.

[norcalmom101]

I think it is also important to look at the charge and the date of conviction relative to the offenders date of birth. When viewing sex offender data for my area of interest, and looking at the approx. age of the offender at the time of conviction, it seemed that many of the cases may have involved and 18 or 19 year old with a 16 year old, and many of these did not indicate force.

[norcalmom101]

Another example of why it is important to really look at the charges and not just the sex offender status, there is a guy listed as a sex offender where I live, who as a teenager was urinating in a public area that he thought was obscured, when in fact he was visible to minors, who did report what they observed.

I in no way mean to minimize sex offenses or the suffering of victims, but when such a wide range of crimes get lumped together the classification loses meaning, IMHO.

This guy for example is listed on the same registry in the same town as another man who was having sexual intercourse with his daughters who were around 4 and 6 when he got caught. Apples and oranges, in my book.

[norcalmom101]

A point about Idaho being a place where the courts more rigorously prosecute and sentence sexual offenses, my understanding is that this really depends upon the judge.

I have read many complaints and concerns about Judge Brent Moss in Jefferson County, and have also been told that there are differences between Bingham and Bonneville counties, such that the same offense would be dropped in one County but result in maximum penalty in the other (In reference to a neighbor of a property I own who avoided conviction for molesting a 12 year old, per local law enforcement, who were kind enough to give me the heads up).

I say we all get involved and stay vigilant to hold every jurisdiction to the standard Sage references in post #3!!!

[Lacerta]

Also, I learned something interesting last week about this. If you commit a crime while a resident in another state, you would of course be judged according to the laws of that state. However, if you subsequently move to Idaho, you have to register according to how Idaho law would have judged you.

Case in point. If you live in Oregon (I think it was) and you have consentual sex with a 16 year old as an 18 year old, it is only a misdemeanor. Thus, you are unlikely to plead it down, as it isn't even a felony. However, if you then move to Idaho, you have to register as a sex offender.

But yes, as others have mentioned, Idaho counts such offenses as steaking, mooning, urinating in public, etc as sexual offenses and require registration right up there with the violent offenders. Not a great system.

[norcalmom101]

Does anyone know re #7 above if this applies to other types of offenses as well?

[Lacerta]

Sorry, I don't know. I only know the case I mentioned.

[Torrie]

So I took the time to ask an officer why Idaho appears to have so many sexual predators. First of all he said that there's a legal term called "Violent Sexual Predator" which is for offenders who have been determined by a commission of professionals to present a higher risk of re-offending. The remainder are called registered sex offenders. Idaho laws requires adult registered sex offenders to stay on the sex offender registry for life unless a court orders them relieved of the responsibility to register. Other states have a specified number of years an offender must register. Idaho requires all offenders convicted of specified crimes to register and all of those registered will appear on the Idaho State Police Central Sex Offender websites. There are different levels or degrees such as Level 1, 2, & 3, and they may only show Level 3 offenders. It's difficult to make a comparison to other states because there is too many variations in the law to make an accurate comparison.

The officer also felt that if you took the time to make an accurate comparison with other jurisdictions you would find Idaho to be the same as everywhere else in the country. He went on to say that for the monthly report of April in Ada County, it showed a total of 661 registered sex offenders.....out of those, only 8 have been labeled as being Violent Sexual Predators.

The way I read into what he's saying is, Idaho is more strict than other states and therefore it gives the appearance that we harbor more predators when comparing us to other areas. Throw in our smaller population, and like Sage said, then it makes the statistics look really skewed.