RM114: Michigan Explained w Josh B Hoe

Read the transcript of RM114: Michigan Explained w Josh B Hoe

We are joined this week by Josh B. Hoe. Josh is a good friend of the podcast. He is a Policy Analyst at Safe and Just Michigan, he hosts Decarceration Nation, follow him on Twitter here and here. Super smart guy and we’re privileged to have him on the show.

Today’s episode takes place just a few days after the non-decision from Michigan. On February 5th, 2019, a hearing was held to see what path will be taken going forward in making changes to Michigan Sex Offender Registry. In the coming days or weeks, Judge Cleland will put his ruling in writing. Josh, Larry and Andy spend a huge chunk of time discussing all of the ins and outs of what is going on in Michigan.

[5:12] But before we get to the Michigan goodies, we have to go over the news of the week. Starting that Larry has some general rules about criminality. Don’t drive 95 miles an hour down the Interstate; don’t have the drugs marked with labels reading “drugs here”, etc. Not terribly complicated rules.

[8:17] Propublica has published a document of credibly accused clergy. Where is the due process for the “credibly accused” to defend themselves? Where is the right of innocent until proven guilty?

[12:11] A sting of sorts was conducted in Florida where handymen were hired to do odd-jobs. Then the jobs were escalated to where a licensed individual would be required. That’s when law enforcement saved the community by arresting the 118 individuals for not having licenses.

[26:29] A women who is jailed for a pretty small amount of money has been transferred out of the county jail to the state facility. Trouble is, she has been receiving cancer treatment. I can just about guarantee that she won’t receive the treatment in prison. I know, she should have thought of that before committing the crime. It was for $109.63.

[36:26] We have a couple articles about Megan’s Law. I guess in a sense, it is working if you change the definition of working as intended. Working, meaning, it is notifying other nations about the travel of those convicted of sexual offenses, then yes: it is working.

[52:48] In our mini-feature, we talk about having teens on the sex offender registry. This is correcting a non-existent problem. Just because you have a teen committing a heinous crime, does that mean you scrap the entire juvenile code?

[57:00] We dive into a deep, 30 minute long discussion about the whole situation in Michigan. Many months ago, Judge Cleland ruled in Federal court that “these things” were unconstitutional in the Michigan sex offender registry. He said that they’d return in 90 days for a followup. Those dates and times have passed. Which leads us to the hearing that was held on Wednesday, February 5th. We should have a ruling by the court in the coming days or weeks. How much, if any, of the law is severable. Maybe it is all of it and the whole thing comes down. But even if it does, will law makers will draw up a brand new bill that is roughly equivalent to the current one. Maybe even knowing it will be challenged again, and again. We will see.

Sources:
https://apnews.com/cd96d6bb10ac96567dcb287be31f10a2
https://projects.propublica.org/credibly-accused/
https://reason.com/2020/02/05/undercover-cops-hired-118-handymen-then-arrested-them-all-for-not-having-licenses/
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/04/us/ap-us-jailed-woman-cancer-surgery-2nd-ld-writethru.html
https://wobm.com/ocean-county-lawmakers-have-megans-law-expansion-bill-move-ahead/
https://patch.com/new-jersey/middletown-nj/rep-chris-smith-says-intl-megans-law-working
https://fox17.com/news/local/tennessee-teen-rapists-to-be-charged-as-adults-added-to-sex-offender-registry-under-bills
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oliver-law-group-p-c-193000734.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/SexOffenderSupport/comments/ey69s6/michigan_attorney_general_argues_that_registries/