Canada: Registrants have the same low re-offense risk as the general public after about 10 years of being offence-free in the community

Source: utpjournals.press 7/3/2023 The public is justifiably concerned about the risk presented by individuals with a history of sexual crime. Given that recidivism risk varies across individuals and over time, what level is so low as to be indistinguishable from sexual recidivism risk in the general population (a desistance threshold)? T … Other research has found that most individuals released from a sexual offence present a similarly low residual risk (< 2%) after 10 years of being offence-free in the community. Consequently, applying long-term restrictions (e.g., lifetime registration; Criminal Code…

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Canada: Police link suicide of 12-year-old Prince George, B.C., boy to online sexual extortion

Source: cbc.ca 11/27/23 Police in Prince George, B.C., are warning about the dangers of sexual extortion after the suicide of a 12-year-old boy in their community. The preteen took his own life on Oct. 12 and investigators have since determined his actions were in response to online sextortion, according to an RCMP news release. Police are still working to identify a suspect. “We are calling for parents and caregivers to be honest with their youth about the dangers of online activity, especially if they are engaging in chats with people they don’t…

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Canada: Macron’s wife admits her mind was ‘a mess’ when she dated her high school aged ex-pupil

Source: foxnews.com 11/19/23 French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte Macron revealed her relationship anxieties from the early days of dating the future French leader – including concerns he would “fall in love with someone his age” after moving schools.  “My head was in a mess,” Brigitte Macron said during a rare interview, given to the outlet Paris Match, and reported in the Daily Telegraph. “For me, such a young boy was crippling.” “Emmanuel had to leave for Paris,” Macron revealed. “I told myself that he would fall in love with…

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Canada: Liberal bill updating sex-offender registry in response to court decision becomes law

Source: ctvnews.ca 10/27/23 OTTAWA – A Liberal bill that adds victims’ input to the process for publication ban decisions and changes how the national sexual offender registry works has received royal assent. The new law requires judges to ask prosecutors if they have sought a victim’s input when seeking a publication ban, and requires victims’ preferences about receiving information about their case after an offender’s sentencing to be entered into the record. It also adds new entries to the list of offences that can result in someone being added to…

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Canada: Liberals propose changes to Canada’s sex offender registry in response to Supreme Court decision

Source: ctvnews.ca 4/26/23 The federal government has tabled legislation that, if passed, would make changes to Canada’s sex offender registry to specify which categories of sexual offenders have to be added to the national tracking system, while giving judges discretion to exempt those who do not pose a risk of reoffending. The proposed changes to current law comes in response to an October 2022 ruling from the Supreme Court that deemed it unconstitutional to require automatic registration of all people convicted of sexual crimes and an overreach to require mandatory…

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Canada: Sharing intimate images without consent may soon land you on sex offender list

Source: globalnews.ca 4/26/23 The federal government has introduced legislation to add the non-consensual sharing of intimate images and extortion to the list of offences that could land someone on the National Sex Offender Registry. The addition was highlighted in a statement on Wednesday, ahead of a press conference from Justice Minister David Lametti and Women, Gender Equality and Youth Minister Marci Ien. The bill in question was introduced in the Senate earlier in the afternoon. “Sexual offences are amongst the most heinous and degrading forms of violence. They have devastating…

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Canada: High-risk offender in Yarmouth County banished from Canada for 2 years

Source: cbc.ca 1/5/23 A provincial court judge in Shelburne, N.S., has banished a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen from the country for two years, in what he described as an “extremely extraordinary” sentencing. Allen ____, 64, was charged with two counts of criminal harassment last month after he was accused of stalking a 25-year-old woman in Yarmouth on two occasions, in October and December respectively. The RCMP also issued a public notification in December describing ____ as a high-risk offender. More than two decades ago, he was convicted of sexual offences in the United States that…

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Canada: Despite no public sex offender registry, recidivism rate has dropped by nearly 70%

Source: myscience.org 12/20/22 Study led by Professor Patrick Lussier shows significant decline in recidivism of sex crimes in Canada over 80 years Encouraging news: between 1940 and 2019, the recidivism rate of sex offenders in this country has dropped by nearly 70%, according to a study published in the journal Criminology and Public Policy. Improved knowledge of sexual offending and training of criminal justice officials could explain these results, argues Patrick Lussier, a professor at the School of Social Work and Criminology and leader of the meta-analysis. Over a two-year…

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Canada: Luring pedophiles through fake online ads is not entrapment, Supreme Court says

Source: cbc.ca 11/24/22 The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that online police investigations targeting adults looking to have sex with children do not constitute police entrapment. In a rare 9-0 ruling, the top court dismissed the appeals of four men convicted of child sex offences: Ontario residents Corey Daniel Ramelson, Muhammad Abbas Jaffer, Erhard Haniffa and Temitope Dare. An investigation by York Regional Police called Project Raphael ran from 2014 to 2017. It involved undercover police officers posing as teenaged escorts on a website they suspected of being a hub for the…

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Canada: P.E.I. has 199 people on the National Sex Offender Registry, but that number may drop

Source: msn.com 11/16/22 The number of people on P.E.I. who are on the National Sex Offender Registry could drop after a recent Supreme Court decision. Since 2011, any Canadian who has been convicted of two or more sexual offences is automatically listed on the registry for life.  The Supreme Court has determined that is unconstitutional, saying the list should be based on an offender’s risk to reoffend. … Mullin believes the Supreme Court decision could make the registry more effective, without minimizing the effect on victims. “I think this decision…

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Canada: Jamie Sarkonak: What counts as a sex crime is too broad and it’s ruining people’s lives

Source: nationalpost.com 11/7/22 If some sex crimes are of such low significance that it’s considered a civil rights violation to put convicts’ addresses in a database for police eyes only, Parliament should re-examine its approach to sex-related offences as a whole. The recent Supreme Court decision in which it was declared unconstitutional to order all sex offenders onto a national registry upon conviction highlights a problem, not with the registry itself, but with the ever-widening scope of what constitutes a sex crime. It’s a sign that Parliament should return to deciding the…

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Canada: Supreme Court rules mandatory sex offender registry is unconstitutional

Source: nationalpost.com 10/28/22 Mandatory listing on Canada’s sex offender registry is, for some offenders, an unjustified infringement on their liberty that is not rationally connected to the goal of investigating or preventing sexual crimes, the Supreme Court ruled Friday. Automatic lifetime listing in the case of multiple sexual offences is similarly “overbroad,” the court decided in striking down both laws to permit discretion by sentencing judges. … Imposing those automatically, with no regard to an offender’s circumstances or risk of re-offending, is not justified by any rational connection to the…

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Canada will accede to U.S. request to share travel information on convicted child predators

Source: headtopics.com 10/17/22 Canada will accede to U.S. request to share travel information on convicted child predators Ottawa plans to introduce legislation that would allow the federal government to routinely notify Washington when Canadians convicted of sexual offences against children travel to the U.S. Read the full article  

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Canada: Small Yukon First Nation bans sex offender using its COVID emergency law

Source: ctvnews.ca 10/11/22 WHITEHORSE — A First Nation of fewer than 300 people in Yukon’s north has used a law it created during the COVID-19 pandemic to bar a convicted sex offender from being sent to its community. The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in Old Crow issued a declaration under its Community Emergency Act banning Christopher Schafer from the fly-in community nearly 800 kilometres north of Whitehorse for at least the next 90 days. Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm said Yukon’s territorial court decision to allow Schafer to live in Old Crow…

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CANADA: Supreme Court considers if mandatory listing on sex registry is constitutional

Source: cbc.ca 2/8/22 Edmonton lawyer asks top court to strike down sections of Canada’s sex offender laws The fallout from a 2011 Edmonton sexual assault case has come before the Supreme Court of Canada.  The country’s top court has been asked to consider striking down two sections of Canada’s sex offender laws as unconstitutional. In 2011, the Stephen Harper government altered the Criminal Code so the names of sex offenders would automatically be placed on the sex offender registry. The changes meant judges no longer had discretion on whether to submit…

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U.S. wants Canada to share travel information on convicted child sex offenders

Source: theglobeandmail.com 2/2/22 The U.S. government says it’s frustrated that Ottawa refuses to routinely notify Washington when Canadians convicted of sexual offences against children travel to the United States, noting that it alerts Canada when the same class of American offenders are heading here. The Americans say Canada cites federal privacy law as the reason. … Mr. Kenney said the U.S. government would like Ottawa to amend its laws to allow the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency to provide information on the travel plans of all registered child sex…

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Canada: Opinion: Quick-fix laws following horrific crimes are seldom effective

Source: edmontonjournal.com 1/4/22 On Sept. 17, 2021, Mchale Busch, 24, and her son, Noah were tragically confirmed dead. The accused, Robert Keith Major, 53, is facing two charges of first-degree murder and two counts of indignity to human remains. In response, Cody McConnell, Busch’s partner and Noah’s father, and his family are calling for changes to Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act to allow a landlord the ability to ask for consent to collect personal information. This would allow tenants to know if there is a registered sex offender in their…

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Canada: ‘Like I’m being raped all over again,’ child porn survivor tells court

Source: leaderpost.com 8/26/21 Three women shared with the court the long-term impacts child pornography has had on them and their children. “Lily” has never stopped being victimized by child pornography. As a child, she was sexually abused by her stepfather, the acts recorded and shared online. Although Lily is now an adult with children of her own, she continues to suffer from more than just the psychological impacts of her abuse. “Some of these perverts have contacted me,” she said. “I’ve received emails suggesting making porn with these strangers. One…

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