Today's Sex Offender Registries
-vs-
The United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The State of Sex Offender Registry Laws showing
Affect & Effect on Registrants and Their Families Today
Sex offender registries and community notification, as implemented today, violate many
Articles of the United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Initially (2003) Articles 3,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,17,22,25,28,29,30.
Evolving laws added (2007) Articles 1,16,19,20,23,26
Whereas each registered offender has been tried criminally, and have served -or are now serving- the sentence imposed by the courts as prescribed by penal laws enacted by state legislatures,
Whereas registry laws were not in effect at the time of the crime, and/or, were not made part of the sentence prescribed by the judge for the crime,
Whereas the state legislatures' disclosed object is, to protect the community/public from sex offenders who allegedly have a high recidivism rate, and all are alleged to be dangerous to their communities,
Whereas states, through public officials and speakers, say and/or imply, that "all sex offenders having committed one sex crime will commit another sex crime, and therefore ALL are considered dangerous,"
Whereas the state legislatures' disclosed object of, high recidivism and dangerousness, are selectively persecuting one class of offenders (sex offenders) who actually have low recidivism rates, and the legislatures do not apply this "persecution standard" to other crime types which actually have higher recidivism rates,
Whereas registry laws deny the individual offender, any recognition before the law, by denying the offender any form of hearing to contest the action of the state (whether or not the offender should be included in the registry, OR to contest the claimed recidivism or dangerousness [declared and implied]),
Whereas the registry laws have adversely changed the "Legal Status" of sex offenders in the community without recourse,
Whereas the media and other public speakers follow the direction of the state action as to claims made by the state,
Whereas registry laws have been changed, and continually change, since first enactment, becoming more onerous and intrusive into sex offenders' lives, and lives of family and friends, based upon a few high profile case offenders who are not representative of all offenders, individual offender are denied identity and are mischaracterized as a high profile offender,
Whereas states claim "Publishing Registry Information Is No More Than Publishing What Is Already Public Information," or claim Publishing Registry Information Makes It Easier For The Community To Access, these comments circumvent the main issue, violation of constitutional and fundamental human rights of sex offenders. Further, there is no recognized constitutional right, requiring the government to make access to public information easy for the community.
Publishing Registry Information, changes if not destroys the legal status of the prior sex offender in the community subjecting the offender to all sorts of burdens, costs, fees, housing - employment - public service- restrictions, and criminal acts. The sex offender's right to enjoyment of the community, like other community members, flows from the 14th. Amendment, and it cannot be destroyed by the legislature upon any conception of the public welfare. The constitution declares the principle upon which the public welfare is to be promoted, and opposing ones cannot be substituted without usurping the constitution. Connolly -v- Union Sewer Pipe Co. 184 US 540,558 (1902) ,
Whereas many state registries, through evolving registry laws (made more onerous over time), are publically releasing (via Internet) more offender information than is necessary to accomplish the alleged purpose of protecting the public (i.e., laws [masked as public safety] are a pretext for further punishment), some of this information (i.e. date of birth, drivers license number, social security numbers, etc.) could actually set an offender up for having a crime committed against him (i.e. identity theft, a hit-and-run type of crime, get the money from the identity and move on; [Here is a public official whose job it was to put "public records" online, and he became a victim of identity theft because his social security number was published online as part of the records he put online]),
Whereas states are slowly making registries into "Offender Dossier" wherein information which is protected under other laws (ex: driver's license, social security number, etc.) loses its protections under registry laws, further the public has no need for this information because such information doesn't protect the public,
Whereas the states, through elected officials, have enacted laws to prevent certain offenders from ever participating in public housing,
Whereas the state actions, collectively, are degrading treatment and deny offenders 'social security' in the community, and subject many offenders to acts of vigilantism, assault, and other more subtle denials, some incur unrecoverable costs, effectively denying offenders a social order to rehabilitate in. These actions and state treatment are contrary to a legislatures' purpose, to promote public welfare for all in the community, and violate the purpose of penal statutes, which permit offenders to re-enter society following sentence, and again be a productive member of society,
Whereas state action, through evolving registry laws, have now gone beyond limiting offenders constitutional rights, to abrogating and destroying offenders' recognized constitutional and fundamental human rights, and further punishing them in violation of recognized constitutional rights.
eAdvocate 3-2003
|
Verbatim copy of:
The United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948-1998
with violation/s shown within the respective Article that is violated.
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.".
1. PREAMBLE:
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,
Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
|
(NEW VIOLATION: Lawmakers enact sex offender legislation based on political gain under the pretext of public safety while ignoring legislation affecting other dangerous offenders and crime types.)
|
Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
(VIOLATION: The public notification of registrants' past acts, for 10-25 years, and in some cases a lifetime, makes the registrants targets for vigilantism, removing security of person and family.)
Article 4.
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
(VIOLATION: The public notification of registrants' past acts is an act of degrading treatment inconsistant with a maturing society and is additional punishment.)
Article 6.
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
(VIOLATION: As to ANY REGISTRY which does not provide a registrant notice and opportunity to contest inclusion in that registry, including tiered registries and those that use "default-labeling," these registries deny the individual his/her right to be recognized as a person before the law.)
Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
(VIOLATION: A component of 'equal protection of the law,' is that similarly situated persons be treated equally under law. Sex offenders are singled out for special burdens, while offenders of other crime types are not burdened with the same form of laws. )
Article 8.
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
(VIOLATION: Registrants are routinely denied any effective remedy or forum to contest rights established by this Universal Declaration of Human Rights. )
Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
(VIOLATION: Registrants are being relegated to isolation (exile) by evolving registration laws, encroaching and more onerous over time. )
Article 10.
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
(VIOLATION: The states' BASIC PREMISE that "all registrants" having committed one sex crime will commit another sex crime, and therefore ALL are considered dangerous."
Based upon that premise alone, registrants are legislatively forced into a registry (each individual is impliedly convicted of the broad based premise), and each individual registrant is compelled to suffer the degrading treatment for years on end, and to follow intrusive burdening enacted laws and rules, including incurring additional costs, under penalty of further incarceration, and automatically denied any remedy or forum to contest implied allegations.
Further, if there were a court, or administrative tribunal, to contest the implied allegations, that court or tribunal would deny the individual registrant because the basic premise is made by a legislature who, in theory, can never be wrong.)
Article 11.
(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
(VIOLATION: Because registrants are never actually charged, these rights are automatically forfeited. )
(2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
(VIOLATION: The threshold "concept of registries" [not necessarily the public dissemination of them], and the forced inclusion of a registrant without hearing, results in arbitrary interferences with that registrants' privacy, family, and home life.
Further, "public and subsidized housing" automatically exclude most of these registrants (again without hearing) based upon no more than the basic theory of what a registry is (list of dangerous persons); many apartment complexes and even private rentals follow that basic premise also. Eventually many of those excluded will be forced into homelessness, and even there again excluded from many shelters based upon the same basic theory of registries and registrants.
There are no protections of law because it is the law that is systematically ostracizing them. Under English law these folks would be known as an "outlaw," yet not have the fugitive stigma. )
Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(VIOLATION: Some of these registrants, especially those aged, are legislatively denied the "freedom of residence" this article speaks of. see Article 12 explanation. )
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14.
(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
(2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16.
(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
(2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
|
(NEW VIOLATION: Lawmakers, while fully aware of the affects of their legislation, ignore necessary protections for family members of registrants, and at times destroying the family unit.
|
Article 17.
(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
(VIOLATION: The worldwide public notification of registrants' past acts, for 10-25 years, and in some cases a lifetime, makes the registrants targets for vigilantism, causing registrants to be arbitrarily denied of their property without recourse. Often registrants property is damaged causing them to incur additional expenses to restore property and increased insurance premiums. )
Article 18.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
|
(NEW VIOLATION: The latest onslaught is for information found only in the home (i.e., e-mail addresses). Lawmakers, in violation of constitutional 4th Amendment protections of the home, and under the penalty of years of imprisonment for failure to provide e-mail addresses, enact laws to usurp constitutional protections. Once lawmakers have said e-mail addresses their intent is to provide them to third parties, in further violation of federal law (5 USC 552), so that third parties can deny registrants freedoms of opinion and speech, and association when there is no wrongdoing on the part of the registrant. Further to do so without any opportunity to contest the legality of such actions.)
|
Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
|
(NEW VIOLATION: See "New Violation" under Article 19)
|
(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22.
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
(VIOLATION: Social security in the community, not in the financial sense, is a right that is abridged, if not abrogated, by "registries.")
Article 23.
(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
|
(NEW VIOLATION: While recognizing that certain types of employment are not desirable for registrants, lawmakers and laws are expanding the job types to such an extent that registrants, and often family members too, have become unemployable in any type of job, relagating them to a new unemployable sub-class within society.)
|
(2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
(3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
(4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24.
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(VIOLATION: As to the portion relating to "the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control," as that relates to "public housing for a registrant and/or his family," many of these registrants will be automatically denied public housing when they mature, even if these other conditions are present, based upon the mere concept of "registries." see Article 12 and 10. )
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26.
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
|
(NEW VIOLATION: Parents of families where one member is a registrant, and due to newer residency laws, no longer have the choice of education for their children because to go to schools of their choice requires they live in certain areas where residency laws now prohibit.)
|
Article 27.
(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28.
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
(VIOLATION: Everyone is entitled to a social order to fully realize recognized rights. Registries, especially as they have evolved, now go beyond reasonable limits to recognized rights of registrants, often abrogating registrants rights. see collective prior reasoning. )
Article 29.
(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
(VIOLATION: This is the article that will be "debated" more than any other. The question being "Have registries (through legislatures and courts) reasonably limited OR abrogated (interpret circumstances soas to destroy or circumvent) registrants recognized rights?" Courts have held that, the public safety outweighs any harm done to registrants; such is not limiting registrants rights, instead it is destroying them. Article 30 does not permit such action.)
(3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30.
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.
(VIOLATION: The United States and each of its states interpret the previously mentioned violations as permissible today. )
|
|
