GPS-Monitored Sex Offender Kills Teen, Gets Caught
In Vancouver, Washington, a homeless convicted sex offender has been charged with murder in the tragic slaying of 13-year-old Alycia Nipp. Darrin Sanford, convicted in 1998 of propositioning three youths between the ages of eight and 11, was released from prison last November and outfitted with a GPS monitoring device. After Sanford confessed to Nipp's murder, Clark County authorities used the monitoring software to corroborate Sanford's statements and to place him in the vicinity of the crime.After his initial arrest in 1998, and subsequent parole violations between 2006 and 2008, authorities classified Sanford as a Class 3 sex offender, meaning Sanford was categorized as one most likely to reoffend. Despite his classification, authorities outfitted Sanford with a passive GPS monitoring device, meaning officials could only track his whereabouts after the fact, rather than in real time.
With that information, one has to wonder whether or not Nipp's murder could have been prevented had Sanford been fitted with an active GPS monitoring device.
Not necessarily, according to one expert.
In a recent interview with CNN, Jill Levenson, an associate professor of human sciences at Lynn University, warned people not to assume that, just because someone may wear one of these devices, they won't commit another crime. She said that a GPS unit is not "some magic bullet or panacea that prevents crimes." Continuing, she explained, "[The unit] is not going to necessarily deter people from having sexually deviant intentions. Many crimes are more impulsive and opportunistic, and that level of thinking may not go into it." [From: CNN.com]
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In a recent interview with CNN, Jill Levenson, an associate professor of human sciences at Lynn University, warned people not to assume that, just because someone may wear one of these devices, they won't commit another crime. She said that a GPS unit is not "some magic bullet or panacea that prevents crimes." Continuing, she explained, "[The unit] is not going to necessarily deter people from having sexually deviant intentions. Many crimes are more impulsive and opportunistic, and that level of thinking may not go into it." [From: CNN.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Theo said 12:08AM on 3-13-2009
Seriously.
WTF. People like this, should be not outfitted with a passive GPS, but with a pair of handcufs, chained to the bottom of the Jail shower.
jm2c.
Released?? good job.
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sgentilejr said 2:00AM on 3-13-2009
The only safe thing to do is to either castrate them all or banish them all to a remote island where they cannot get off or have contact with normal people. They are all mentally damaged and you cannot allow mentally damaged people to roam free.
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cabo79 said 7:39AM on 3-13-2009
Almost all sex offenders are class 3. Our society has fallen down on protecting our children from these predators. We need a two strikes and your out rule for them. The second offence puts them away for life.
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Angiebaby said 12:19PM on 3-13-2009
A registered, Level 3 sex offender, homeless and unaccounted for, should NEVER be allowed to happen anywhere. Sanford was in direct violation of every law enacted to protect citizens, both adults and children, against registered sex offenders. I mean, he lived in a vacant house next to a field popular with local kids. This would be a very different story if the authorities had been doing their jobs in notifying residents about sex offenders in their neighborhood, and making Sanford followed the laws we have to have especially for creatures like him. While it's true the young girl had been repeatedly warned not to cut through the field, if parents and neighbors felt the field was unsafe, why didn't they form some type of neighborhood watch system over it, or ask police to patrol the area around the field more often?
If a Level 3, registered sex offender does not have a specific place with an address to live, he/she should not be released from prison until they get one. If they can't get one, they should be forced reside in a state sponsored, monitored, halfway house until they can get one.
As for the issue of GPS monitors, they do not indicate what a person is doing, only where is (active monitoring), or was (passive monitoring) at any given time. Leaving a satellite in space to be responsible for the whereabouts and activities of sex offenders is not a good idea, at least not in and of itself. Nothing can replace real time observations and checkups on dangerous criminals allowed to roam our communities. A more successful system of checks and balances in successfully monitoring registered sex offenders, especially those most likely to reoffend, would be to combine GPS monitoring with a continuing level of old-school probation responsibilities physically involving both state authorities, and the offenders.
Currently, there are 8 homeless, Level 3 sex offenders registered in Clark County. Eight monsters on the loose. I pray the residents of Vancouver, Washington, including those in all of Clark county, will do something about this prelude to future tragedy before it strikes again.
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