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Sex
Offender Controversy
To: The Mayor and Members of the Greenville City Council, January 31
2011
From: Charles E. Reier, MD and Rebecca A. Reier
We believe the letter from John Graham to his supporters will serve as
a template for their communication to you. The arguments and threats
contrived are fatally flawed and without merit. Graham states “this law
is bad for three reasons”.
Graham: They have no research data showing this will make the community
safer.
Response: Studies in sociology and criminology seldom produce the
conclusive proof that Graham requests. He has sent the Council on
a fool’s errand. One of Graham’s early sex offender enrollees with a
drug addiction was sentenced to 30 years for rape within six months of
leaving the program. The question then becomes: Does
Graham’s program work and make the community safer? Sociologists do
agree that dumping sex offender felons with psychosis and drug
addictions will overwhelm the community resources to deal with their
endless problems.
Graham: Council has no plan how or even who will enforce this ordinance.
Response: The ordinance will be enforced the same way the current State
1000 foot requirement is being enforced, which should not be a very
great problem since it is only a 500 foot extension. Greenville will
perhaps employ some of the enforcement methods used by cities have
extended their zoning to 2000 to 2500 feet.
Graham: Most important the city simply can’t afford to defend this
issue in court. It is a blatant waste of taxpayer money.
Response: What the city cannot afford is to become a DRC dumping
ground for sex offender felons with drug addictions and psychiatric
problems that far exceed our mental healthcare, addiction monitoring
and management and law enforcement capabilities. Sociologists do
agree that what the DRC is doing is a prescription for the destruction
of our community that will cost tens of millions of dollars not
including the human toll of the victims. According to the 2010 study by
sociologist Dr. G. Suresh et al “This suggests that social
processes which have the effect of relegating Registered Sex Offenders
to disadvantaged and undesirable communities will only serve to drive
those neighborhoods deeper into social problems.3
Regarding the threat of “court”, we should be considering:
(1) an injunction against dumping
(2) a charge of “gross criminal negligence”, especially if a rape
or murder or major drug bust occurs as a result of the DRC’s misplaced
felons
(3) enactment of laws protecting the community from sex offenders
similar to those in Chicago and California. We had better do this
because we know they are coming based on Kasich’s plan of closing three
more prisons.
Finally, do the threats of a “radical ministry” (as Graham has labeled
himself2) have any place in an American government?
Margaret L. Andersen, Howard F. Taylor - 2007 - Social Science
A warning often used by sociological researchers is, Correlation is not
proof of causation.
Citizen Circle: A mentoring model for rehabilitating ex-felons in Darke
County Ohio by John Graham March 9,2009
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION AND REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS: AN EXPLORATORY
SPATIAL ANALYSIS
Geetha Suresh University of Louisville Elizabeth Ehrhardt Mustaine
University of Central Florida Richard Tewksbury University of
Louisville George E. Higgins University of
Louisville 2010
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