Defense Against Sex Crime Allegations

Sex crimes cover a broad spectrum of sex-related offenses. In essence, they involve non-consensual sexual contact. They can include any unwanted touching of the sexual organs, molestation, sexual assault (rape) or sexual battery.

Sex crimes also include prostitution and solicitation of prostitution even if it was entirely consensual. Law enforcement agencies set up entire "stings" to catch prostitutes, pimps and Johns in the act. They also place ads on public forums such as Craigslist to track down and convict people who engage in prostitution. If you were accused of committing a sex crime, you have to act fast to protect yourself. If you are convicted you could face jail or prison sentencing, probation or parole, and steep monetary fines. What's worse, the effects that a sex crime conviction might have on your reputation, your personal relationships and your career could be devastating.

For more serious sex crimes such as sexual abuse, sexual battery and sexual assault or rape you will most likely be facing mandatory sex offender registration. This means that you would have to register as a sex offender no matter where you live. What's more, your headshot, conviction and home address would be made public information for all to see.

Escaping the stigma of a registered sex offender is fairly unrealistic. It is more likely that the offense will haunt you wherever you go. Unfortunately, many people who are accused of a sex crime are actually innocent. The challenging part is proving that your description of the events or lack of events is honest and true as opposed to the accusations coming from the alleged victim. Being innocent isn't always enough when the accuser delivers a convincing theatrical display to the prosecution and the judge.

It is not uncommon for pubescent teens or young girls and boys to falsely accuse their parent of sexual abuse or molestation. Unfortunately, minors can make false accusations in order to please the other parent or out of pure anger or contempt for their parents. Although sexual offenses against a minor are extremely serious, whether they are founded on fact or not, law enforcement must take the necessary precautions and investigate any allegations. However, this can put the wrongfully accused in a very uncomfortable situation in the meantime, and law enforcement might not be so quick to offer you sympathy during such investigations.

Another common scenario where false allegations are made involves bitter divorces or child custody battles. Sometimes an angry or vindictive mother will falsely accuse her husband of child molestation or rape in order to gain custody of the couple's children during a volatile divorce.

Since there are many situations in which no witnesses are around at the time of the allegation, it is essential that you retain an experienced criminal defense attorney if you have been convicted of a sex crime. Being convicted could destroy your reputation, and it might turn a lot of people against you. Sex crime allegations are also extremely embarrassing because they attack your very core. If you have been accused of a sex crime, a criminal defense attorney can handle your case in a discreet and private manner. When your reputation and freedom are on the line, you can't afford to hire a weak defense attorney who might make costly mistakes on your case. Please take a moment to contact a criminal defense attorney to discuss your case. You deserve to have a professional on your side during this difficult time.

The Colorado Springs legal team at the Law Office of Michael Moran is prepared to fight on your behalf. Their firm has extensive experience in handling a variety of criminal charges including: sex crimes, drug crimes, traffic offenses, probation violations and more. They understand how good people can make mistakes or make an error in judgment, while other times innocent people are wrongfully accused. Either way, they are not here to judge you regardless of your charges. Attorneys at the firm will offer sound advice that can give you a clear idea of what to expect in the legal system, along with the best ways to prepare your defense. They will tailor a unique strategy to suit your needs so you have the best chances of fighting the charges against you. You are urged to contact a Colorado Springs criminal defense attorney at (877) 500-7309 for a free consultation.

Defense for Internet Crimes Against Children

There are harsh penalties for internet crimes against children. Any crime involving a minor will be more harshly punished than the same crime committed against an adult. Because these crimes are treated so severely, most people hire representation to defend them against these charges. It is statistically proven that a defense attorney can increase the chances of a lesser sentence. This can reduce the jail time and fines associated with these crimes against children.

Most charges associated with crimes against children are sexual. Child pornography or the soliciting of sex are the most common reasons for these accusations. A defense attorney will most likely conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the arrest and the evidence of the crime. Since these crimes occur over the internet, there can be hard evidence proving guilt. On the flip side, a computer may not contain any information at all and the evidence may all be given by word of mouth. If there are holes in testimony or a lack of solid evidence, charges may be overturned. Other tactics a defense lawyer may use to defend a person include:

Unlawful arrest - Officers of the law are responsible for following correct procedure during an arrest. If they do not, the accused individual may have his or her case thrown out.
Mental illness - Many people commit crimes due to a mental health condition that they cannot control.
First charge - Those who have a clean record may be able to use this information to secure a lesser charge.
Innocence - In many cases, individuals are wrongly accused, and an experienced attorney can show this.

To learn more about internet crime defense, visit the website of the San Jose criminal attorneys at the Jensen Law Office today.

James Witherspoon

Crime Against Travelers: The Caribbean's Biggest Battle

Since the 1980s, the Caribbean region has been struggling against its own inner demon: crime. Citizens of the Caribbean have quickly learned that rising crime rates on one island can negatively affect other islands in the vicinity. While the islands still offer some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, travelers can sometimes feel insecure about their surroundings, making relaxation more of a challenge.

Several recent news stories about crimes in the Caribbean, including the highly covered disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, have reignited the debate over how to keep the islands safe for travelers. Concern for safety has even inspired a conference in late October, the second Caribbean Conference on Crime and Criminal Justice, and a statement by the Caribbean Commissioners of Police about ways travelers can stay safe. These efforts are visible steps officials are taking to help travelers feel more secure about their vacations, especially as the Caribbean's tourist season approaches.

Studying Crimes

One of the biggest problems in studying crime among the islands has been that, until recently, few efforts had been made to distinguish crime against island residents from crime against visitors. Obtaining clear and specific crime data has become an important step toward fighting crime in the islands, and newer studies have revealed that violent crimes against vacationers in the Caribbean islands are indeed rare occurrences. While Jamaica, for example, may be known for its high murder rates, the vast majority of murders are crimes by Jamaican nationals against Jamaican nationals.

Vacationers planning a trip to the islands are more likely to encounter petty theft and other nonviolent crimes than anything else. However, as recent events have shown, this is not a certainty. Some believe that areas inundated with tourists have higher crime rates against tourists because there are as many visitors as residents, while others believe that the relaxed attitude of most travelers is the main contributing factor in these crimes. Although there are several different theories about this, one thing is certain - travelers who take precautions generally do not experience such problems during their stay.

Staying Safe

The best way to be safe during Caribbean travel is to avoid making the mistakes most vacationers make - just because you're on vacation doesn't mean you shouldn't be cautious. Leaving valuables in plain view in a hotel room or rental car, leaving doors unlocked, displaying too much wealth, and wearing flashy jewelry are all ways to attract thieves. Remember that you are far from home, and replacing valuables, such as a stolen wallet, will be even more difficult. Take the same precautions you would take at home or in any big city to avoid losing important items.

Another way travelers can stumble upon trouble is by walking into "bad" areas of town. It's common sense to avoid walking down a dark alley in most cities, but vacationers may not always recognize a part of town that locals know to avoid. If an area makes you feel uneasy, or would make you feel uneasy at home, it's probably best to avoid that area, especially at night. Women particularly should take extra precautions at night and avoid walking alone.

While some believe that tourist-heavy areas inspire more crimes against tourists, these areas have established more rigid security measures to help travelers stay safe. It is difficult to determine whether these areas are more or less safe than any other location. However, one certainty is that most travelers to the Caribbean have never experienced any sort of crime.

Travelers who return year after year to experience all the Caribbean offers rarely tell stories of vacations turning into horrible experiences. So with just a bit of caution in mind, it's still safe to relax on a Caribbean vacation while the island governments work to put a stop to the troubles that can keep travelers from their shores.

Jennifer Smith writes for TurksandCaicos-Guide.info, StLucia-Guide.info, and other Segisys travel Web sites.

© 2005, Interactive Internet Websites, Inc. Article may only be reprinted if it is not modified in any way, and if all links remain live.

War Against Crime Starts With TLC

When I talk about "TLC", I'm referring to Teaching, Learning and Communicating collectively as a lethal weapon in the war against crime. If we want to put a different spin on crime statistics we must take the time to educate ourselves and others by acknowledging the TLC mindset.

Teaching, Learning and Communicating evolved from programs that involved partnerships between local police and communities in their efforts to reduce crime. It's a well known fact that working together is the only way to be successful at beating the crooks at their own game.

Teaching crime prevention is one of the police department's main focuses. Your local police department offers programs on Personal Safety that help to improve your safety at home and in public by offering advice on how to respond to physical attack.

Fraud Prevention is taught to combat deceptive tactics used to defraud consumers whether through identity theft, telemarketing or internet scams. Teaching awareness of these and other types of fraud are essential if we're going to survive in the 21st century.

Home Security Check programs are available to escalate the awareness of good home security. These programs focus on the importance of creating barriers between you and the bad guys through proper physical security.

Block Watch or Neighbourhood Watch are programs taught to proactive residents working together to help reduce residential break-and-enters and other property crimes within the community. Teaching communities about increased awareness and crime-prevention tips are this program's main focus.

Learning about each and every one of these programs is imperative if we want to keep ourselves safe from unscrupulous predators. Most crime is committed against people that are totally oblivious to their surroundings. In many cases these people don't know, and quite often don't care, about crime prevention until it's too late. Don't group yourself into that unsuspecting aggregation who have somehow convinced themselves that crime only happens in the movies.

Start the learning process by picking up the phone and enrolling yourself in the latest crime prevention programs offered through your community policing station. Take advantage of community resources so you can gather information that will be invaluable to you and your family's quality of life.

Communicating is an essential part of mobilizing our community's fight against crime. Think of a crime as an unfinished puzzle with several key pieces still sitting on the table. In order to fit another piece of the puzzle, you need a new piece of information from the community. Eventually with enough information, the puzzle is finished and the crime is solved. Sharing knowledge of crime prevention tips is essential in the building of a strong crime-fighting community. Keep those doors of communication open and you will be assured of closing a burglar's door of opportunity permanently.

So, remember that teaching leads to learning, learning leads to communicating and communicating leads to Crime Prevention.

Frank Fourchalk is widely recognized for his sustained commitment to education in Home and Business security throughout North America as a result of his syndicated newspaper columns. Mr.Fourchalk has written for The Toronto Star, The Vancouver Province and several other daily newspapsers including the New York Post.

For more information on your home security check out http://www.yourhomesecurity.ca

Proposed Federal Law Would Be a Hate Crime Against America

"We're not going to win this case, but that's okay. Once we get 'hate crime' laws on the books, we're going to go after the Scouts and all the other bigots."

This was a remark made in the gallery by the Clinton White House liaison for "gay" issues during U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the Boy Scouts case in 2000. She had whispered it to the Rev. Rob Schenck, whom she mistakenly thought was one of those liberal clerics who think God is still making up His mind about sexual morality.  

The point is that the proposed federal "hate crime" law before the Senate is less about righting wrongs than it is about elevating sexual preferences - all of them - to civil rights status so they can be used as a battering ram against people with traditional values.  

"Hate crime" laws ensure unequal justice. They empower some groups of victims at the expense of others. A grandma using an ATM machine should have as much protection under the law as a man walking out of a "gay" bar. But under the proposed federal "hate crimes" law, an assailant of a man perceived as homosexual would face greater penalties than grandma's mugger.  

Today (Thursday, June 25), the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909), which passed the House on April 29 in a largely partisan vote of 249 to 175, with 10 abstentions.  

Named after the Wyoming college student beaten to death in 1998 and whose killers received the maximum in a state without a hate crimes law, S. 909 is not only unnecessary but poses an acute threat to constitutional civil rights. It's a massive federal power grab over state criminal law, giving the attorney general's office the power to intervene into a "hate crime" case whenever they feel it is necessary.  

It would add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to a list of specially protected classes such as race, ethnicity, sex and religion.  If this bill passes, the Congress of the United States will be officially creating a new civil rights category based on sexual confusion. Like "sexual orientation," "gender identity" is infinitely flexible, and includes transvestitism (cross-dressing) and transsexualism (believing that one is in the wrong sex's body and sometimes surgically changing one's sex organs).  

In the House version, an effort to amend the bill to exclude "pedophilia" was defeated in committee along party lines. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) even read a partial list of paraphilias from the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, including pedophilia, and declared that "all of these philias and fetishes and isms that were put forward - need not live in fear because of who they are."  

This is why some of the bill's opponents call it the "Pedophile Protection Act."  

Here's how the law would work in practice: It would add penalties on top of those levied for criminal convictions, based on the perpetrators' perceived beliefs or the victims' group identification. In order to prove that the defendant holds particular beliefs, his or her speech, writing, reading materials and organizational memberships would become key evidence.  "Have you now, or have you ever been involved with a homophobic organization (like, say, Catholic Charities)?"  

Two paragraphs were inserted to mollify such concerns:  

(3) CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech, expressive conduct or activities (regardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), including the exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment and peaceful picketing or demonstration. The Constitution does not protect speech, conduct or activities consisting of planning for, conspiring to commit, or committing an act of violence.  

(4) "FREE EXPRESSION- Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual's expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs or solely upon an individual's membership in a group advocating or espousing such beliefs."  

But American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) attorney John Armor notes, "This is a head fake for citizens who don't understand freedom of speech protections."  

Ken Klukowski, an ACRU senior legal analyst, explains, "Paragraph (3) is only a statement of the obvious, so it has no legal effect. No statute can abridge constitutionally-protected speech. If any speech is burdened, and the speaker files suit, then the process and the result is the same regardless of whether there is any paragraph such as (3). The court then looks to the speech in question, the nature of the burden on that speech, and what protection the First Amendment extends to that particular speech. The court does not look to language such as (3) in deciding the case. If the burden in the specific case is unconstitutional, then it's impermissible whether the statute acknowledges the fact or not. So (3) is just there to help pass the bill by giving people a talking point to say 'this law does nothing to violate anyone's free speech rights.' It makes no difference in court whatsoever."  

The bill also would create a federal slush fund for hate crime prevention programs at the state and local levels, including school programs that equate traditional morality with "bigotry." The Justice Department's "hate crime" section relies on material from groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, which lumps legitimate conservative and Christian organizations with "hate groups."  

Besides its threats to basic freedoms, the law is unnecessary. America is not awash in an epidemic of hate crimes, which constitute a microscopic portion of the more than 11 million crimes reported in the United States annually. In the latest crime report released in October 2008 by the U.S. Justice Department for 2007, nearly 80 percent of the 7,624 incidents of "hate crimes" listed in "crimes against persons" involved "intimidation" (47.4 percent) or "simple assault" (31.1 percent), which could involve nothing more than words.  

The proposed federal hate crime law, like all hate crime laws, politicizes crime, leading to pressure on police and prosecutors to devote more of their limited resources to certain victims at the expense of others. For example, homosexual activist groups descended on Wyoming and created a media circus around the Matthew Shepard case, costing the state heavily for public relations. Meanwhile, the story of Kristin Lamb, an eight-year-old girl who a month before Shepard's death was killed in Wyoming and her body thrown into a landfill, received virtually no news coverage or concerns about a possible "hate crime."   Hate crime laws lay the groundwork for assaults on freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In Canada, Great Britain and Sweden, clergy have been investigated and arrested for advocating traditional morality.  

"Hate crime" laws are already being used to silence people in the United States. A pastor in New York's Staten Island saw two billboards with a Bible verse on them taken down in 2000 under pressure from city officials, who cited "hate crime" rhetoric.  

In Philadelphia, 11 Christians were arrested and jailed overnight for singing and preaching in a public park at a homosexual street festival in 2004. Five of them were bound over and charged with five felonies and three misdemeanors, totaling a possible 47 years in jail. These charges, based on Pennsylvania's "hate crimes" law, hung over them for months until a judge finally dismissed them.  

Freedom-loving Americans deplore any violence against innocent victims (including homosexuals), but strongly oppose "hate crime" laws as unjust and dangerous.   All people deserve impartial justice under the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law. The proposed federal hate crime law imperils that cherished right on many levels.

Robert Knight is Senior Writer and Washington D.C. Correspondent for Coral Ridge Ministries. A widely quoted journalist, commentator, and editor, Mr. Knight's latest book, Fighting for America's Soul, is available from Coral Ridge Ministries.