2008PrezCandidatesAndRSOs

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2008 Presidential Candidates: Their Stance On Sex Offender Laws
Derek "The Fallen One" Logue
May 4, 2008 REVISED Sept. 12, 2008

THE REPUBLI-CONS ... er, "REPUBLICANS

JOHN McCAIN, Republican Nominee

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/95b18512-d5b6-456e-90a2-12028d71df58.htm

Protecting Children from Online Predators

America's most precious asset is its children. The innocence of childhood provides hope for the future
and refreshes and restores the ideals of this great country. However, there are those who prey upon this
innocence and the Internet offers these predators unprecedented, often anonymous, access to children.
John McCain has taken a hard line against pedophiles that would use the Internet to prey upon children
by proposing the first-of-its-kind national online registry for persons who have been convicted of sex
crimes against children. Senator McCain's legislation requires that sex offenders register all online
accounts in a national database that can be used by law enforcement to investigate crimes against
children. If these predators fail to register they would be sent to prison for ten years. The legislation also
makes use of the Internet an "aggravating factor" in sex crimes against children, adding an additional ten
years to any conviction. It is the responsibility of government to do all that can be done to protect children
from predators who lurk on the Internet.

Other John McCain Issues: http://www.ontheissues.org/John_McCain.htm

Also note: McCain supports tougher penalties, MORE PRISONS, and ANTI-REHABILITATION

NEW! SARAH PALIN, Republican VP Pick

http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm

There isn't a lot of news on Sarah Palin and sex offenders. According to the above link, Palin supports
"Register[ing] sex offenders; & investigate internet sex crimes." However, a plus is her tendency to grant
civil rights to individuals such as gays even if she disagrees with their lifestyle. However, she supports the
death penalty and stated she will SUPPORT any death penalty statute legislators passed, and supports
stronger police presence.

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=1201

Palin passed SB 265, which included the following: "Funds a special investigator, prosecutor and
computer technician to detect and prosecute internet sex crimes."

This is purely speculation on my part, but with Sarah's 17 year old daughter pregnant, she may be more
receptive to the "Romeo and Juliet" offenses flooding the registries.

___________________________

THE DUMB-O-CRAPS ... er, "DEMOCRATS"

BARACK OBAMA, Democratic Nominee

http://obama.senate.gov/issues/crime/

Sex Offenders

Senator Obama cosponsored Dru's Law which creates a nationwide sex offender database and requires
greater monitoring of sex offenders upon their release from prison. The bill passed the Senate in July of
2005. This legislation was incorporated into a larger bill, the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act, which
Senator Obama supported and which has been signed into law.

He also cosponsored the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. This bill increases the penalties
for sex crimes against children under the age of 12 and creates a national Internet site known as the
National Sex Offender Public Registry. The bill would also provide grants to local law enforcement to
assist in preventing and investigating sex crimes against minors.

Senator Obama is a cosponsor of the KIDS Act, which requires convicted sex offenders to provide their
Internet identifiers, such as e-mail addresses and instant message addresses, for inclusion into the
national sex offender registry.

Other Obama issues: http://www.ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm

The pluses: he is PRO-REHABILITATION, implementing support efforts, and wants to restrict police power.
The minuses: He supports the death penalty and tougher penalties

JOE BIDEN, Democratic VP Pick

http://www.ontheissues.org/Joe_Biden.htm

Pluses: Rehabilitation, rejects limiting death penalty appeals
Minuses: Supports more death penalty use, registries, stricter penalties

http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Joe+Biden+Sex+Offender&fr=slv8-site&u=www.joebiden.co
m/home.php/issues/display/crime/&w=joe+biden+sex+offender+offenders&d=M9KEBfReRYsj&icp=1&.intl=
us

Joe Biden's site will now link you to Obama's official site, but you can find the cached version of his official
site. From his official site:

Focusing On Rehabilitation: Offenders reentering our communities lack sufficient monitoring, job skills,
and housing. Two-thirds of people released from state prisons are re-arrested for a felony or serious
misdemeanor within three years commit crimes within three years of release from prison. Joe Biden
authored the Second Chance Act to provide ex-offenders with housing, drug and alcohol treatment, job
training, and other life skills, providing them with the skills they need to rejoin their families and
communities.

Protecting Children from Sex Offenders: Joe Biden has been standing up for our kids for years by
writing legislation to create a national registry of sex offenders, increasing funding for Child Advocacy
Centers, and by authoring the Adam Walsh Act to ensure convicted sex offenders do not slip through
the cracks and go after our children.

Making Criminals Serve Their Full Terms: Joe Biden has written legislation that provides funds to states
for building prisons if they agree to keep their violent offenders behind bars for at least 85 percent of
their sentence, currently state prisoners serve only 40 percent of their sentences behind bars on
average.
_______________________

ANALYSIS:

Looks to me like whichever one gets elected makes little difference to us, except McCain seems more
intent on limiting our access to the internet. All seem okay with death penalties and stricter sentences for
Former Offenders. The Democrats are more receptive to rehabilitation efforts, however.

Screw this, I'm voting THIRD-PARTY THIS YEAR!

_______________________

Another Interesting Article on The Candidates' Positions: (at www.law.com)

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202421436198

_______________________

HILLARY CLINTON (I left this here because she was on my original article)

http://www.clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=242610&&

Last Thursday, the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Database Act of 2005 or Dru's Law was
passed by the U.S. Senate and now awaits approval by the House of Representatives. At the press
conference today, Senator Clinton and Congresswoman Lowey, backed by Rockland County Officials,
called on the House of Representatives to pass the bill and on the President to sign it when it reaches his
desk.

Senator Clinton is also a co-sponsor of S. 1086, a more comprehensive bill aimed at cracking down on
sexual predators. S. 1086 contains Dru's law as one of its provisions. It also provides for Global
Positioning System tracking devices on all violent sexual predators, establishes a new, federally
maintained sex offender DNA database to be used by law enforcement and prosecutors, and makes
failing to register as a sex offender a deportable offense. (This later became the Walsh Act)

Once Fallen
"Through Knowledge and Wisdom Shall We Rise From The Ashes"