Senator Plowman Introduces Legislation to Protect Maine’s Communities from Convicted Sex Offenders
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

APRIL 5, 2007

AUGUSTA – Senator Debra Plowman (R-Hampden) is continuing her efforts to keep Maine’s communities and citizens safe from violent sexual offenders. Concerned with the potential for convicted sex offenders to resume their dangerous behavior after being released from prison, she has introduced legislation to better ensure a community’s safety after their incarceration.

LD 1807, “An Act To Provide for Civil Commitment for Sexually Violent Predators and To Prohibit Sex Offenders from Residing Together,” serves as a two pronged defense against convicted sex offenders once they are released from prison. Cosponsors of Sen. Plowman’s legislation include Senators Paula Benoit (R-Phippsburg) and Jon Courtney (R-Springvale) and Representatives John Robinson (R-Raymond), Douglas Thomas (R-Ripley), Joseph Tibbetts (R-Columbia) and Michael Vaughn (R-Durham).

The first portion of LD 1807 provides for a procedure to move violent sexual predators directly from jail to a secure facility specifically designed to house and treat these types of offenders. If the courts, and a state psychiatrist, determine that a person is a sexually violent predator and is likely to re-offend, that felon would not be released back into Maine’s communities, but rather would be detained in a facility that provides treatment and oversight. The motivation behind this portion of the bill is Sen. Plowman’s continuous commitment to protect the public.

This post-incarceration procedure for violent sexual offenders, currently used in a number of states across the country, has been found constitutional by the United States Supreme Court and would be a major step in protecting Mainers and their children from future potential attacks by released sexual felons. The Maine Department of Corrections reports that there are currently 30 incarcerated felons who would meet the criteria for placement in a secure treatment facility after they are released.

“This measure is long overdue in Maine,” Sen. Plowman said. “Violent sexual crimes have reached epidemic proportions, and the resulting damage to victims is unacceptable. As more Mainers are victimized by these crimes, the long term emotional, physical and financial effects are significant, while the state expends resources in greater amounts each year to help undo what these predators have done.”

The second portion of Sen. Plowman’s bill would set standards for group homes or dormitories that house sex offenders in Maine. There are non-profit organizations and religious groups that offer dormitory environments for convicted sex offenders without offering treatment, facilitators and trained oversight. State psychologists who have initiated a group home pilot program for these sexual predators indicate that, with the appropriate level of support and supervision, offenders may successfully resist repeating their crimes. However, dorm settings without the appropriate services actually lead to a higher likelihood of re-offending.

Sen. Plowman’s home town of Hampden has dealt with this issues for nearly a decade, as more and more convicted sex offenders are moving into the Bangor Rescue Mission, a dormitory environment for released sexual offenders located in that town. If approved, LD 1807 would require group homes for convicted sex offenders, like the Bangor Rescue Mission, enact the positive standards necessary for these residencies to be effective in preventing further sexual offenses in Maine’s communities.

“The safety of our neighbors is paramount,” Sen. Plowman said. “With this bill, I hope to give comfort to parents and tell them that their children will be a little safer as they play outside or walk to school. This is an important safety issue, and I look forward to the support this proposal will gain from concerned citizens all across the State.”

LD 1807 will be taken up by the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. The bill will receive its public hear before that committee later in April.

Sen. Plowman represents District 33, which includes Carmel, Charleston, Corinna, Corinth, Dexter, Dixmont, Etna, Exeter, Garland, Glenburn, Hampden, Kenduskeag, Levant, Newburgh, Newport, Plymouth and Stetson. She can be reached in Augusta at 287-1505, in Hampden at 862-4506, or by e-mail at debraplowman@cs.com.

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