Ripple effects of psychologist's porn addiction

Sex offenders to get new trials

A state psychologist's own sexual deviancy will lead to new trials for two Iowa sex offenders whom he opined should be locked up as sexually violent predators, the Des Moines Register reported today.

The evaluator is Joseph Belanger of North Dakota, whom I blogged about last December after he acknowledged an adiction to online child pornography.

Belanger's deviancy is causing ripple effects including a review of more than 100 cases and an upcoming appeal before the North Dakota Supreme Court.

Belanger resigned from North Dakota State Hospital but his license is still active during a continuing investigation, the Register reported.

Although many state evaluators testify that it is difficult for sexual deviants to benefit from treatment, Belanger "stressed that he has worked with a Zen teacher and that 'I believe recovery is possible,' " according to the Register report.

The Des Moines Register story is here. My Dec. 9, 2007 post is here.

Canada: Restorative justice touted for hate crimes

Citizens of peaceful and tolerant New Brunswick, Canada, have been shocked by a recent outbreak of racist and anti-Semitic vandalism of churches and synagogues.

The answer?

Restorative justice, says criminology professor Elizabeth Elliott of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Elliottt is a leading Canadian expert on restorative justice and author of the book, New Directions In Restorative Justice: Issues, Practice, Evaluation.

If religious leaders and other victims are willing to meet with the offenders and if the offenders agree to participate, "there is an excellent learning opportunity here," said Elliott.

New Brunswick already has restorative justice programs in place both for juvenile and adult offenders, as do other Canadian metropolises such as Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

Of course, the offenders have to get caught first, no small problem in a vandalism case.

New Brunswick's Telegraph Journal has the story.

Hat tip: Understanding Crime

Who Killed Chandra Levy?

A new DNA technique has exonerated the father, but the passage of time makes the mystery of who killed JonBenet Ramsey in 1996 unlikely to be solved. Likewise for the 2001 murder of Chandra Levy, Washington's most famous unsolved crime. In both cases, premature certainty about one suspect (in the latter case a congressman) led police to ignore critical leads and commit a chain of errors that spiraled out of control.

The Levy case became overshadowed by September 11. But now, six years later, Washington Post reporters Sari Horwitz and Scott Higham have conducted an in-depth exploration of the case. The 12-part reconstruction illustrates how far off track a police investigation can go when it is overwhelmed by "white-hot media coverage," in this case fueled by the possible involvement of California congressman Gary Condit. (As part of their extensive interviews, the reporters got Condit to talk for the first time about the case.)

The Post series provides a rare look at an unsolved homicide case from the inside, following the twists and turns of an investigation that was filled with false hopes, false leads and false suspects. It would tarnish a police department and wreck a reputation. It would move with tremendous energy and purpose in one direction and end up in another. It would be marked by an enormous effort by police - and a chain of mistakes that got longer and longer.

The 12-part series starts here.

"Misfeasance not malfeasance"

Detective won't face charges in Tim Masters case

A special prosecutor has decided not to file criminal charges for perjury or illegal eavesdropping against the Colorado detective who spearheaded the investigation of 15-year-old Timothy Masters for the murder of Peggy Hettrick, a case about which I have blogged extensively (click here for my past posts).

You will recall that Lt. James Broderick was convinced of the boy's guilt despite the absence of any physical evidence linking young Masters to the crime. He continued to pursue him for years, finally hiring prominent forensic psychologist Reid Meloy to render an opinion based on Masters' personal sketches. That opinion helped garner a conviction; after a decade in prison, Masters was recently freed based on DNA evidence.

Prosecutor Ken Buck said that although he uncovered "several flaws" during his "limited investigation," he did not believe that Broderick engaged in deliberate criminal conduct, nor was there a "reasonable likelihood" that a jury would convict the detective at trial.

A separate investigation into whether prosecutors in the case violated professional standards is due to conclude soon. That investigation is by the Colorado Supreme Court's Office of Attorney Regulation. The former prosecutors, Terry Gilmore and Jolene Blair, are both now judges.

The Colorodoan quotes one former police investigator in the case, Linda Wheeler-Holloway, as saying that the prosecutor's decision is no surprise.

"People didn't play fair. By not telling the whole story, leaving things incomplete, that kind of skewed things in their favor…. There was a lot of faults committed in a lot of arenas that led to the wrongful conviction of Tim Masters."

Writer Pat Hartman, who has an extensive blog on the case entitled "Free Tim Masters Because," has a scathing denunciation of the prosecutor’s decision.

"This wrapup of Broderick's involvement is inadequate and unsatisfactory. It's like watching an elephant be pregnant for months and then give birth to a mouse. Now there's supposed to be an internal [police] investigation…. With this tepid whitewash as precedent, it’s not difficult to foresee the results of that investigation.”

The prosecutor's 11-page report is here. The Coloradoan and the Denver Post have news coverage.

New Scientist reports low sex offender recidivism

Peter Aldhous over at New Scientist is reporting on the declining rates of sex offending in California, which I blogged about on June 23 (click here), as well as similar reported declines in Minnesota. The article, "Sex offenders unlikely to commit second crime," begins like this:

Sex crime statistics tend to make depressing reading, but now there is some good news from the most populous state in the US. Just 3.2 per cent of more than 4,000 sex offenders released on parole in 2002 were re-imprisoned for another sex offence in the subsequent 5 years, according to new figures from California.

While experts know that sex offenders are less likely to reoffend than most other criminals (New Scientist, 24 February 2007, p 3), the very low rate of re-imprisonment in the new study will challenge public perceptions about the risks these criminals pose.

The figures are broadly consistent with a 2007 Minnesotan study, which found that 3.2 per cent of sex offenders released from 1990 to 2002 had been re-imprisoned for a further sex crime within 3 years of their release.

What's more, sex offenders in Minnesota are even less likely to reoffend....

Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to read the remainder of the article, as well as prior coverage of this topic by Mr. Aldhous. However, my June 23 blog post on the new California data is here, and the Minnesota recidivism study is online here. A comprehensive, 225-page report by researchers on behalf of the California Sex Offender Management Board is online here. The data on 5- and 10-year recidivism are a bit hidden at the CSOMB website, but you can get them HERE and HERE, respectively.

In the mood for some light reading?

Seduced by Madness chronicles Susan Polk case

I just finished a true crime account by journalist Carol Pogash of the Susan Polk murder trial in Contra Costa County, California. Working in that county, I followed the case closely and knew many of those involved. So I was interested to see Pogash's take. I found Seduced by Madness to be a fair and accurate account of a bizarre and mesmerizing case.

Especially riveting is Pogash's rendition of the four-month trial. As many of you may recall, Susan Polk fired attorney after attorney and ended up representing herself. On center stage, the intelligent but delusional defendant demonstrated a stunning ability to "take any set of facts and mold a story where she was both victim and hero." It is painful to read about her brutal cross-examination of two of her three sons.

It is intriguing to think about how last month's U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Illinois v. Edwards (see my posts here) might have changed the outcome of her trial. Would she have been allowed to represent herself? I doubt it. Perhaps that will be grounds for appeal of her second-degree murder conviction?

From the point of view of forensic psychology, the depictions of the expert testimony are especially interesting. First, there was the cagey forensic pathologist who disappeared in the middle of the trial when the judge insisted he produce his files. Then, there was the seasoned forensic psychologist that the defendant was a battered woman who suffered from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. She based her testimony mainly on statements made by the prevarication-prone defendant, and did not conduct any formal psychological testing.

My lengthier Amazon review of Seduced by Madness is here.