Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry
Families Advocating an Intelligent Registry also known as USA FAIR, Inc. is a non-profit criminal justice reform corporation based in Washington D.C. USA FAIR seeks to educate the public on issues related to the [...] offender registry by focusing on the national news media, by being a reliable contact for journalists to reach people who can speak of the issues from the perspective of living with the impacts of the registry, and to hold them accountable for inaccurate coverage. USA FAIR was founded by family members of registrants; its members today include former offenders and allies from legal, social justice, and treatment communities.
On several occasions, USA FAIR has criticized and educated journalists and demanded corrections to inaccurate media reports covering [...] offender-related issues through its press releases and letters to editors.
USA FAIR has publicly expressed its worries of high profile violent [...] crimes initiating impetuous responses in the form of even harsher [...] offender registration laws, while in fact most registrants affected by such laws have little in common with dangerous predatory offenders and criticized measure by public officials aimed at [...] offenders. The Executive director of USA FAIR, Shana Rowan was interviewed by WHTVs CNY Central in 2013 in a story covering her personal history and the cause of USA FAIR.
In February 2013 USA FAIR publicly condemned Suffolk County's proposal, which was later passed, to award a $2.7 million [...] offender management contract to Parents for Megan’s Law, a non-profit private organization with no experience in [...] offender management, to provide monitoring of people required to register with the [...] offender registry. USA FAIR called such a contract "government-sanctioned vigilantism", and demanded County Executive Steven Bellone conduct a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find the most qualified organization to provide such service. USA FAIR took the position that if [...] offender management was to be done by a private organization, ATSA would be more suitable candidate. The New York affiliate of ACLU agreed with the criticism with USA FAIR.
Stated Mission
USA FAIR promotes "smart-on-crime solutions" to create more intelligent registry. USA FAIRs Statement of purpose lists 13 points of intelligent registry that would:
- recognize that [...] offenders have the second lowest recidivism rates of all offender groups
- would stop one-size-fits-all approach and target resources on monitoring the truly dangerous
- exempt so-called Romeo & Juliet offenders
- reduce the number of misdemeanor offenses that trigger mandatory registration
- classify risk levels based on a scientifically tested risk assessment of the individual offender
- reward good behavior by allowing law-abiding former offenders a process to have their risk level reduced
- incentivize good behavior by allowing offenders a process for relief from registration requirements
- limit public notification only to the truly dangerous
- recognize that listing place of employment on the public registry makes former offenders virtually unemployable and that job stability is a key factor in maintaining law-abiding behavior
- would not trigger residency restrictions by recognizing that an offender’s support system of family and friends and connections to the community are critical factors in rebuilding law-abiding lives
- that following a [...] offense by a family member, most families stay intact. As a result, residency restrictions can uproot and displace entire families causing spouses to lose employment and children to move out of their school district.
- recognize that first time offenders who are not listed on the registry commit 95% of all [...] crimes.