Note from Gin: I know this can be a tough subject. Normally the Humanization Project makes a point not to ask about someone’s “crime.” We tell the stories of good people doing good work in the world. We don’t focus on their worst mistake on the worst day of their life. That should not define anyone. Jeff is a friend of our founders, and he has shared his story here before, about battling cancer while behind bars. It was important to him to write this piece and he asked us to put it up, so we did. We fully believe that everyone is human, no matter what they did in the past and everyone deserves a second chance.
~ Originally written January 26, 2020 ~
“In the criminal justice system sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous…” This is the opening lines for the popular television show “Law & Order SVU (Special Victim’s Unit)”. It’s a show that chooses the worst of the worst of sex offense cases & sensationalizes the stories for dramatic effect. It portrays sex offenders in the most unfavorable light and claim they have no chance of being rehabilitated.
This is untrue.
Then you have cartoon television programs such as “Family Guy” who has a comic character Mr. Herbert who represents sex offenders as a perverted old man who is constantly chasing around young boys. Even the cartoon television show “American Dad” had an episode where a man had to go house to house letting neighbors know that he is a sex offender. The man later ends up luring the teenage son, Steve, & his friends into a van, another typical stereotype of a sex offender. Such programs feed into the hysteria & misunderstanding against sex offenders.
For the purpose of full disclosure, I’ve been on both ends of the situation as a victim & as an offender. In this article, I will only focus on being a convicted sex offender.
My victim’s name was Chris and it’s important that I use his name because it’s a reminder that he’s a human being and a victim. In April of 1997 I began a sexual relationship with Chris that was inappropriate. At no time was force used. However, I was the adult in the situation & take full responsibility for the events that took place.
There are many factors that played a part in my cycle of offending, but none of them can act as an excuse for the poor decisions I made. My goal for the future is to avoid high risk situations & HAVE NO MORE VICTIMS!
There is a widespread misperception that people who commit sex crimes do it again & again. The research, however, directly contradicts this misperception.
The largest, most sophisticated analysis was performed by Key Hanson, solicitor General of Canada. His 2004 analysis examined research evidence & recidivism factors including 31,000 sex offenders with an average followup time of 5 years. Hanson’s findings included that the overall recidivism rate for new sex crimes was 13.7% & the recidivism rate for rape cases was 18.8%. This widespread misperception especially holds true for child molestation. A U.S. Justice study released in 2003 shows that a child molester’s rearrest rate for a new crime is 3.3% . The rearrest rate for a new sex crime against a child by all sex offenders is 2.2%. It is also important to note that a sex offender is less likely than non-sex offenders to be arrested for ANY offense- 43% of sex offenders versus 68% of non-sex offenders.
Sex offenders tend to be given longer sentences even for first offenses. This is especially true in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Judge Richard Patisal of the City of Salem Circuit Court sentenced me to 20 years with 15 of those years suspended. I was to to serve 5 years in the Department of Corrections then serve 10 years on probation. This was despite the fact I had no previous criminal record and my pre-sentence report recommended that I serve 1 day to 3 months in jail.
For my first technical violation of probation–meaning I didn’t get a new charge–I was given 12 months in jail. For my second technical violation of probation, which I’m currently serving, I was sentenced to the remainder of my suspended time, which was 14 years.
Judge Daughtety of the City of Salem Circuit Court went considerably over the guidelines. He stated “the guidelines are just wrong in this case,” but didn’t justify disregarding the guidelines. I appealed my sentence but unfortunately wasn’t successful. Once I complete this sentence, I will have served 17 years of the 20 year original sentence. I’ve earned 3 years of the 20 back through good time.
Such harsh sentencing for sex offenses is not uncommon throughout the United States. Public opinion often supports punishing sex offenses as long as possible & preferably throwing away the key. I’m glad to report that both judge Patisall and Daughtery have retired, but suspect that judges with similar theories in harshly sentencing sex offenders have taken their place.
Until sex offenses are treated as a mental health problem rather than just an issue of criminal justice then the problem of sex offenses can’t be properly addressed & solved.
Once an individual is arrested for a sex crime the media sensationalizes the story and gives it extra attention. This causes the sex offender great public humiliation & embarrassment.
In my case I would say that just about every media outlet in the Roanoke Valley covered my story. I felt that everywhere I went I would be recognized. So it made me feel more isolated than I had already felt before my arrest. I became so depressed that I became suicidal and had to check into a psychiatric center.
The effects of sensationalized media coverage of sex offenses puts sex offenders at a high risk of being physically or sexually assaulted or extorted while incarcerated.
During my time in prison, I have been sexually assaulted by two different cell partners. Both time periods the sexual assaults happened on numerous occasions while I had to share a cell with them. Then I was physically assaulted by two different cell partners as well. I can’t completely blame the offenders for this because the offenders are continuing the hatred, misunderstanding, and hysteria that is seen on the outside.
I am proud to say that I am a survivor. I will no longer be a victim. I’m stronger than I was despite the negative impact that the sexual assaults have had on my life. I want to use those experiences in a positive way to help others, especially other offenders. I want to urge victims to report sexual assaults & most of all to let them know they are not alone. I speak out about sexual assaults now to help others be able to speak out.
Sometimes guards pretend they don’t see or hear what’s happening when a sex offender is under attack. There are cases when guards are even the aggressors in the assault against sex offenders.
The attitude against sex offenders need to change. There needs to be a better understanding based on fact, not sensationalized stories.
The therapy that is offered to sex offenders is substandard at best, if offered at all. The first time I was in prison I was in the Sex Offender Residential Treatment (SORT) program. The staff of the program had a cold attitude towards the offenders in the program and were very unhelpful. It was hard to get an appointment with staff and group was often cancelled. The program is now at Greensville Correctional Center, but I don’t want to return to the program due to the negative experience I had the first time.
Once a sex offender gets close to the end of their prison sentence they have to worry about being civilly committed. This is where a sex offender is placed in a maximum security setting for an indefinite amount of time based on the potential that the offender MAY reoffend.
In Virginia, this facility is called the Virginia Center for Behavior Rehabilitation (VCRB). This is supposed to be a mental health facility since the offender has completed their prison sentence. However, according to individuals that I personally know who are housed at VCRB, it’s just another prison.
VCRB currently houses approximately 490 sex offenders and there are plans to expand it to 726 by 2024. Virginia spends $46 million a year to house these sex offenders and plans to spend an additional $10 million for the expansion. This is wasted money by the state that could be used towards education or solving the homeless problem.
In order to be civilly committed there is a court hearing where an offender has to meet the criteria of being a ”sexually violent predator” (SVP). When civil commitment began in Virginia a offender had to have 1 of 4 offenses to qualify as a SVP. However that has now been increased to 28 offenses, so just about every sex offender is considered.
Virginia uses the static-99 to evaluate the level of risk of reoffending. The static-99 is known to discriminate against gays and young offenders. There is also a logistical problem with the hearing itself because the offenders due process is greatly violated, thus a violation of the offenders civil rights.
A psychologist from the Department of Behavioral Health & Development Service evaluates the offender to determine if the offender has a psychological defect to reoffend in order to meet the criteria of civil commitment. Without statuary authority the prosecution can ignore those findings and hire their own psychologist to conduct an evaluation. The judge can limit the defenses witnesses, evidence presented by the defense, and the cross examination of the prosecutions expert witnesses.
Often the hearing for civil commitment goes beyond the offenders release date, so the offender’s sentence is unjustly extended. I currently have a friend that should have been released over a year ago.
Now that I’m down to my last 12 months in prison I’m thinking about everything that I will have to face upon my release–if I’m not civilly committed.
Like other sex offenders, I will have to face restrictions that other offenders do not have to worry about. For example, a sex offender can not live near a school or daycare and has to stay 200 feet from such places. I will also have to register as a sex offender every 90 days for the rest of my life with the state police which includes a website.
The website will include my name, home address, crimes I was convicted of and my place of employment. Having this information so readily available puts me at risk of being harassed or even assaulted.
While I was working night shift at Dunkin Donuts, which is open 24 hours I lived in fear that someone would come in to harass or even kill me because of the hysteria of society against sex offenders. There was an incident where a person called the store to talk to the assistant manager and even the owner insisting that I should be fired because minors came in the store, often unsupervised. What the person didn’t realize is that the store had cameras in it and I was constantly under surveillance. I ended up reporting the person to my probation officer and state police because the website states that the information on the sex offender registry website can’t be used to harass or harm a sex offender. This is hard to enforce though.
One thing that I want to make clear about the sex offender registry and website, it does not prevent sex offenders from committing an offense. It simply gives a false sense of security to society.
In reality the registry and website is a way to continually humiliate sex offenders and to punish them. This makes it even harder for a sex offender to fit back into society making the chances of recidivism higher.
In addition a lot of employers don’t want it known that a sex offender is employed by their company because they fear that it will appear that they condone the sex crime. Again it feeds into the hysteria of society. It is hard enough getting a job as an ex-offender, but having a sex offense makes it twice as hard.
Once I had a interview with a local real estate company in Roanoke for an office position that would have had limited physical contact with the public. As soon as I was called into the interview, I was informed that the company would not hire me due to having a sex offense conviction .
I’m very fortunate that I don’t have probation when I’m released this time since I’ve completed my sentence and have no more suspended time. A sex offender on probation can have additional stipulations & restrictions placed on them. A sex offender is often required to go to a weekly treatment group which the offender is required to pay for adding an extra expense.
As part of group, a sex offender has to take a maintenance polygraph every 6 months, which the offender pays $100 for. The results of the test can result in termination from group thus putting the sex offender in violation of probation, meaning returning to incarceration, more restrictions on probation, or both.
When I was released from jail after my first technical violation of probation, I was under house arrest for a year where I could only go to the probation office, work, and medical appointments. At one point I was on a GPS ankle bracelet, which the information from the GPS was used for my second technical violation which I am currently serving time for.
Other restrictions such as not using the internet are often placed on sex offenders making it harder to get a job since so many applications are online. These restrictions stifle sex offenders socially as well.
In no way am I trying to lessen the negative effects that a sex offense has on a victim. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of Chris and deeply regret what I did.
While I am labeled a sex offender, I’m not a monster and I’m not just a stereotype. Rather I am a human being who should be treated as such.
I still have feelings that are hurt when individuals say cruel things to me. Even my family & friends are affected by the negative hysteria of sex offenders because comments are made to them. They can see how the negative reaction toward sex offenders effects me.
Until the hysteria stops and sex offenses are treated as a mental health issue, the problem will continue. I’m not asking individuals to accept sex offenses as the norm, but I am asking for some compassion as a human being.