Launch Day is Here!

Welcome to our long awaited WAR blog ‘The Scarlet Letter ECHO.’  Some will recognize the descriptive tag of ‘scarlet letter’ which we have heard more frequently in the media when discussing high profile cases and the stigma attached to those adjudicated for a sexual offense.  Any stigma or public perception is therefore ‘echoed’ throughout the family.

If you are not one of our registrant family members but strongly believe the current laws and restrictions are punitive and do not protect children we encourage your voice here.   Or maybe you are a researcher or academic whose understanding of the empirical evidence supports our right to live a healthy family life.

Things to look forward to:

At times we will be controversial in our posts.

Other times we will  take an unfavorable stand based on facts regarding a current story or the impact of a newly proposed law.

Come and hang out with us at The Scarlet Letter ECHO blog spot.

 

 

Vicki Henry

Retired after 25 years with the telephone company in St. Louis Missouri. Began as a cord-board operator (yes like Edith Ann) and retired as a 2nd line manager at headquarters. after choosing not to transfer to Dallas. Worked in the student loan industry for 5 years and then Lowe's for just short of five years. Began this journey in 2009 when I found the Daily Strength - Families of Sex Offenders group then went on to become a part of the communications group at RSOL and in 2011 when it was determined at their annual conference that there was interest in beginning a women's advocacy group I accepted the position of President of Women Against Registry. We are now a nationwide all-volunteer non-profit with members in all 50 states.

15 thoughts on “Launch Day is Here!

  • April 22, 2016 at 3:09 am
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    This is a pretty good topic to inject this bit of insight to. Alfred’s comment on this was good about these perspectives, and also a lot of other comments are good about the rich taking advantage and my heart goes out to all on the registry.
    Now we all have our view’s on all this Scarlet Letter thing about the sex registry but to put it in the basic terms is we all have a scarlet letter that we want to hide away for ever, (sorry Billy Joel that I used that phrase) now remember that stranger can kick you right between the eyes.

    That might be a light note to ease someone’s tensions for the time being but in my own studies I ran across a book about the criminal justice system. I hope everybody reads it and than comments.. The book is called “Resist not evil” and believe it or not that same wording is in the bible and what was more shocking it was written in 1902 by Clarence Darrow.

    Now that book will tell you about government’s manipulate and how cruel the prison system is. I hope someone gleans some knowledge out of it as that’s a platform right their. I am hoping by the next year we can see changes. This whole registry thing has gotten out of hand and we all need to fight against all this.

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  • February 6, 2016 at 11:08 am
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    Vicky Henry’s article/note on sex offenders failing to register their change of address left out one point, for each time a registrant has to change their address on their license, there is probably a monetary fee involved. Imagine the number of times some registrants and their families have to change their address because they are forced out of neighborhoods by “witch-hunting, media-driven neighbors”. How many more fees does the government expect SO’s to edure? They are already paying registrant fees, GPS fees, polygraph fees, etc.
    If we are the “movers & shakers” of this movement, we really seem to be spinning our wheels at the moment while drug issues are making all the headway, and drug users are making their way out of long sentences.
    Any legal representatives out there with any solutions? I’d love to hear them.

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  • January 23, 2016 at 9:09 am
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    The recent WAR article describing how the FBI took control of a CP website in order to find the small fries hopefully leading to the BIG fries, makes me sick. If they find a CP site they should immediately remove it, not use it as bait to further encourage people to view it, or to ensnare those who sometimes come across CP accidently.
    The FBI isn’t helping the situation, they in fact seem to be encouraging it and that is just wrong in so many ways.

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  • December 27, 2015 at 12:21 am
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    None of us condone our sons or daughters behavior and all accept what they did was wrong. But, we all agree that the sentencing for viewing internet CP is excessive and the registry puts both the registrants and their families in danger. Are there any attorneys out there willing to fight this fight for us? Is there anyone out there that has the experience and knowledge to take this fight to Washington? We all send in letters, but we need someone to represent us in this fight.

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  • December 26, 2015 at 10:18 pm
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    I thought you might want listen to few lines Oscar Wild wrote when he was in prison for a sex offense They expose the peculiar cruelty of these tyrannical registry laws.
    They speak of one who is in prison as of one who is ‘in trouble’ simply. It is the phrase they always use, and the expression has the perfect wisdom of love in it.. With us, prison makes a man a pariah. I, and such as I am, have hardly any right to air and sun. Our presence taints the pleasures of others. We are unwelcome when we reappear. To revisit the glimpses of the moon is not for us. Our very children are taken away. Those lovely links with humanity are broken. We are doomed to be solitary, while our sons still live. We are denied the one thing that might heal us and keep us, that might bring balm to the bruised heart, and peace to the soul in pain. . . .

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    • January 29, 2016 at 4:22 pm
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      My son is in a Texas Prison, will be there for 40 years, his crime was committed when he was but 16. He was scared because of the harassment from the PO and ashamed and he ran. When they brought him back instead of sentencing him to the remainder of his 10 year probation, we had a whole new trial and he got the 40 years. He is now 26, I am 61, and I can still hear that scared little guy when we talk on the phone and I can see it in his eyes when we go for visit. I hope change comes to these laws because I will more than likely not be here to help him if he is ever allowed to leave that dark lonely life.

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      • March 3, 2016 at 12:35 am
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        First they gave him probation and then 40 years. what species of insects could do that to one who made a mistake at 16 years of age? With such sadistic monsters ruling us it’s no wonder that everybody, or at least so many of us are going completely bonkers – and even children are doing sins they don’t even like to think about. Anyway Brenda when our lives are spent I think we have a good chance of rest but for them who steal the moral right to punish when God forgives human frailty – well for them I think they have to thrive on grandiose lies and go on trading in human flesh until at the end their agony will just begin and then like the Hindus say maybe they’ll be born in lower life forms. At least that’s a little hope we shouldn’t begrudge them.

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  • December 13, 2015 at 11:47 pm
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    We aren’t taking the right perspective on these fascistic registries. It should be viewed as one function of a larger agenda. A system of social stratification and extremes of wealth and poverty needs enemies, distractions and scapegoats to justify it self. We should realize the total picture and join with other activists who are struggling against all forms of pseudo science, extreme punishments and the especially the death penalty. This medieval cruelty of the state and the bizarre greed of the rich is affecting every family in this country. In my opinion we have to take a holistic approach and be very knowledgeable about the history of every fascist legal trick. For example the fascists used the same legal devices, in the registration of Jews, Gypsies, sex offenders, homosexuals and many others. The registries and consequently detention in that gruesome era was called preventive custody. It was not called punishment thereby avoiding any question of ex Post facto just as the Megan laws do here.

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  • December 2, 2015 at 10:57 pm
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    There are also innocent people on the registry for life. When I was in High School, me and some friends at school were downloading and exchanging on diskette pictures of naked girls my age that I found on the dial up Internet. I was very careful to delete the files from the c: drive after I copied them to my diskette that I took to school to share with my friends. Just because I did not want my parents to find them. It turned out that the pictures were posted by police and traced to the family computer. The police took the computer and found the pictures in the deleted file space on the c: drive and then the police arrested my dad and he had a bench trial and was found guilty of crimes that he did not even know were being committed. I didn’t know that what I was doing was even a crime. I was just curious about what girls my age looked like without cloths on. I tried to testify at my dads trial but the judge would not allow my testimony into the record. My dad went to prison and then went on lifetime registration. He lost a very highly paid job and plunged into poverty. It ended any chance of myself or my brothers going to college and so now 5 people are forced to live in poverty for life because of the mistake that I made as a freshman in high school. I married and have 3 children, but my wife reacted so badly toward my father when she saw his listing on the internet that it ended our marriage and then she sabotaged any chance of me working even at minimum wage. Now my children are also being ripped apart by the reactions of their friends to the entire situation that they can never have a normal life and will increase to 8 the number of my family that are forced into a life of poverty and unimaginable sadness and all because of a mistake that I made as a young teenager. I have been told by several counselors that what I did is normal for teenage boys and I should not feel that I was such a terrible person but that does not make any of the pain being suffered by my entire family, for life, any less. This public registry is so very wrong and I hope that it is eliminated by the courts before my father dies. Now that he is over 60 the stress is taking so much of a toll on his health that his Dr says he only has 1 to 4 years before it kills him. Why can’t the courts see how unjust this public registry really is and how many millions of people are having their lives destroyed by the public registry. Mostly innocent family members are among the casualties of the public registry. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.

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    • December 30, 2015 at 1:37 pm
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      D H,
      I cry at your story, it is becoming all to familiar to me, the never ending string of tragic consequences created by the Sexual Offender registry, and the condemming of a normal/natural human curiosity imposed on an individual like yourself and your family. Why is it that the judge would not let you testify? Did you have counsel? In my state, Washington State, we have what is known as the Justice Project NW. There is a income screening process to become eligible for free counsel by Attorneys that volunteer their services in my community. They are unable to represent themselves in court for you, but they help with legal adivce, legal documents, etc. Perhaps this is an option for you where you live. Like yourself, I am fearfull beyond belief of what will happen to my son, like what has happended to your father, I am sick and tired of the hate mongering and the total destruction of lives. This site is a great place to seek out resources, and to get current information and links to become part of and involved in the legislative process regarding sentencing reform. I will continue this fight to remove the perpetuating, unjust, unconstitutional, degrading, demeaning, label, tag, or scarlett letter. It is inhumane. Terry

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  • November 16, 2015 at 11:58 am
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    Jarod Fogel /former Subway pitchman may get 5 yrs for his CP offenses and contact with a minor. Does this make anyone but me furious? There are so many non-contact CP offenders doing 5-10 yrs for lesser crimes than Mr. Fogel’s.
    Where is the justice?

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  • November 13, 2015 at 11:30 am
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    When will this end. Is the class action suit going on now? Can we move out of the country? Will my Social Security Follow me if I leave ? If I become Sovereign will I be able to walk away from signing that list? Help

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    • November 14, 2015 at 10:32 am
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      Unfortunately, unless we all join together and make changes in Washington, the witch-hunt will never end.
      After serving time in prison, SO’s shouldn’t be subjected to continued punishment by being forced to register on a registry that has seemingly, never-ending restrictions, many of which the courts don’t even understand, or agree on.
      Because SO’s and their families have had to “lay-low and hide in the shadows” for so long, no one seems to care that the punishment continues long after the crime has been paid for.
      Running away to another country doesn’t solve the problem, everyone needs to be sending letters to Washington, the president, the attorney general, assistant attorney general, your senators. Things have got to change. I send letters constantly, alot of times I get back form letters that don’t even address the issue, but, maybe, just maybe, one day someone up there on the hill will actually READ what I’ve written and say, Yes, it is time to make changes. I can only hope.
      Time to come out from the shadows folks, take a stand, people make mistakes, they pay for them, and then, they should be able to get their lives back, just like all the murderers, drug dealers, embezzelers, etc who get out of prison and don’t have to register for anything.

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  • November 10, 2015 at 9:18 am
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    This website is a haven for those of us with a family member or friend who have been labeled by the government’s “one size fits all” Sex Offender label.
    Writing to Washington results in form letter responses that have nothing to do with the issue at hand. It appears that no one is listening or cares about the injustices that continue long after someone has served their sentence.
    The very fact that we have a registry for sex offenders who may never have had any physical contact with anyone is absurd. A murderer could live next door and there’s no registry for that, but a young man that accidently downloaded CP from a free website is forced to register and be subjected, not only him, but his entire family, to continuous shame and ridicule long after he’s served his 5-10 yr. sentence. This is craziness.
    It’s time for family members of those labeled, to unite and bring about change in Washington. Every year the US Sentencing Committee asks for public comment on priorities for the upcoming year, and every year, the issue of Child Pornography is pushed to the back-burner. I get it, it’s a touchy subject, if the public continues to “drink the kool-aide” and view every sex offender as a monster, then Washington can sit back indefinitely and continue to ignore the fact that there are many “non-contact” offenders who have no previous criminal histroy, serving ridiculously long mandatory minimum sentences in prison. Once out of prison, with so many vague rules, regulations and restrictions that even law enforcement doesn’t understand what’s what, it becomes impossible for SO’s and their families to get back on their feet and reintegrate into society.
    Enough is enough, time to unite and take a stand.

    Reply

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