Endnotes

Sex Offender Laws: Collateral Consequences - Murders, Killings, Suicides, Related Deaths and Vigilantism

Jump to Definitions: Jump to Status Based Testing Explanation:

Sex Offender Laws: Collateral Consequences - Killings and Murders
List of Report Sections and Tables:

Introduction: Report-I Murders and Killings of RSOs and SOs Figure-1: Complete Database of Deaths Figure-1a: States w/Deaths and No. of Deaths SECTION: Status Based Murders: Status Based Deaths: Table-1 Status Based Deaths Table-1a Apparent Motivation / Method for Status Based Deaths Table-2 Status Based Murderers: RSO/SO Deaths in the Community Table-3 Status Based Murderers: RSO/SO Deaths in Jails and Prisons SECTION: Case Classifications: Deaths Caused -by / during- Incidents w/Public Servants: Table-4 RSO/SO Deaths by Public Servants Table-4a Interaction w/Police Appears to have Begun With Table-4b Was the RSO/SO Armed w/Weapon? Table-4c Cases with "incidents" worth mentioning Deaths Caused in Cases tagged "by Vigilantes": Table-5 Deaths Caused by :Tag "by Vigilantes" Deaths Caused by Victims: Table-6 Deaths Caused by: Tag "Victims": Deaths Caused by Acquaintances: Table-7 Incidents Appear to Have Started With: Deaths Caused by Robbery & Neighbors: Table-8 Deaths Caused by: Tags Robbery & Neighbors Deaths Involving Laws: Table-9 Registrant Deaths where a law was -Indirectly or Directly- involved Deaths Caused by Good Samaritans & Passerbys: Table-10 Deaths Caused by: Tags Good Samaritans & Passerbys: Deaths Caused by Misc Reasons: Deaths in Jails or Prisons: Table-11 Deaths in Jails and Prisons: SECTION: The overall impact based upon the numbers: Deaths of RSOs with "Failure to Register" History or Charges: Table-AA Failure to Register Charges/Convictions: Deaths of Innocent Others: Table-BB Innocent Other Deaths: Deaths of Innocent RSOs/SOs: Table-CC Innocent RSO/SO Deaths: Deaths of Homeless RSOs: Table-DD Homeless Deaths: Deaths of RSO/SOs (Victims) -v- Case Classification: Table-EE Case Classification / Victim (RSO/SO) Relationships: Deaths of RSO/SOs by Age: Table-FF Deaths of RSO/SOs by Age: Table-GG: 2010 FBI Murders by Age -v- RSO/SOs Murders by Age: Table-GG: 2004-2011 FBI Murders by Age -v- RSO/SOs Murders by Age: Deaths of RSO/SOs in Jails & Prisons by Age: Table-HH: 2000-2010 DOJ Homicides by Age -v- RSO/SOs Murders by Age: SECTION: Conclusion: Frequency of Status Based Murders: Table-JJ Deaths (##) Month-by-Month for Years 2000-2012: Number of RSOs and SOs Killed and Murdered: Graph: No of RSOs and SOs Killed or Murdered 1991-2012 END: Sex Offender Research, All Rights Reserved! © 2012

Definitions:

Abbr., Word	Critical Definition:
News Article:	Means a article written by newspaper journalist about a death of a RSO, SO or other person related to a sex offense. All of these deaths are backed by credible news articles or other source. At times we may have pieced circumstances from multiple news articles or other sources to explain the circumstances of a case; frequently multiple articles are included to cross check facts.
Deaths:	Deaths do not include deaths by "Natural Causes" or "Executions" (Death Penalty cases).
Murdered:	Means the person was targeted because of their status as a registered sex offender, or a person who has -or thought to have- committed a sex offense.
Killed:	Killed differs from murdered when the word killed is more appropriate based on the circumstances of the case. ex: A person breaks into a home and the homeowner kills them, that does not fit the murdered definition, so we will use killed.
Registry:	Registry refers to ONLINE registries throughout this work. For the history of "Systems of Registration" see www.SOLresearch.org/~SOLR/rprt/bkgrd/origin.asp by Marshall Burns, Ph.D..
RSOs:	Registered sex offenders. Online registries are fairly new, implemented by the states in the mid to late 90s, during the period we cover. A person is considered a RSO (registered sex offender) if they had a prior sex offense, or if the news referred to them that way. They may not have been "registered," as we know that today, given their state may not have enacted / implemented a registry back then. Further, if the article referred to a RSO as accused of a new sex offense, we tagged them RSO Accused.
SOs:	People accused of a sex offense/s. See Accused.
Accused:	Meaning either/or: A person charged with a sex offense -or- A person thought to have committed a sex offense]. Given that everything to do with sex offenses and offenders permeates society today, and that, frequently people base their actions on "I thought they did ___" or "I thought they would molest ___" we keep track of variations of accused and other issues.
Victim:	Victim in this report generally means the RSO/SO, however, that can change, at times the RSO/SO can be the perpetrator. See Section "Death Caused by Victims" and Table-6 for explanation.
Vigilante:	Traditional Def: 1. One who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands; 2. A member of a vigilance committee. The Free Dictionary. Our Definition: A vigilante is an unknown perpetrator that has unlawfully and secretly taken a life, we use "vigilante." Further, also means, any case where the perpetrator of a death is unknown. I.e., unsolved case. Simply tagging the case "Unsolved," loses the clandestine and unlawful vigilante behavior underlying these deaths. Hence, our tag "by Vigilante" until death is resolved, and the actual relationship between the murderer and the RSO/SO is known. Then changing the tag appropriately, if necessary.
Vigilantism:	Means our definition as found in our Community Room Glossary. There Vigilantism is explained in three sections (scroll down when you get there) Vigilantism Vigilantism by Media Vigilantism by law
Tags	"Tags" represent facts or reasonable assumptions from article content. (Tags are at the top of each article [story]).
Case Classification Tags	Each article is reviewed to determine "who" or "what" caused the person's death. What were they doing at the time of their death, and who were they doing it with? And was it legal or not. Based on that review we assign a Case Classifications tag. They are shown below and in our blog (right side): Deaths in the Community Caused by by Accident/Vehicle by Acquaintance by Gangs/Drug Related by Good Samaritan by Neighbor by Other than a Person by Passerby by PubSer by Robber by Victim-Homeowner by Victim-Offender a Stranger by Victim or Family-Friend by Vigilante/s by Vigilante/s Captured Deaths in Jails & Prisons Caused by by Prison-Cellmate by Prison-Code of Silence by Prison-Dur Hostage/Escape by Prison-Gross Negligence by Prison-Guard/s by Prison-Guard/s Relsd Crime by Prison-Inmate/s Known by Prison-Vigilante Circumstance
Sex Offender Laws:	Sometimes a law can play a part in a death, when that happens we assign a sub-classification tag to the case: Cases Involved w/SO Laws: by Law-SO Nursing Home by Law-SO Registry Law by Law-SO Resid Law - Froze to Death by Law-SO Resid Law - Medical by Law-Status Revealed by Other than a Person

Sex Offender Research, All Rights Reserved! © 2012

How we determine if a case is a Status Based murder case: Our Definition: Murders where a person is killed because of their status as a RSO/RSO Accused -or- a SO accused in the community or in jails or prisons. The perpetrator is a person, who, knows or doesn't know a RSO/SO, but for no other apparent reason, seeks and murders a RSO/SO (or multiple RSOs/SOs) because of a personal hatred of RSOs/SOs; likened to a pre-meditated murder case or likened to a hate crime. Motivation is the key factor in our decision. In rare cases, if the perpetrator is caught they might admit they killed the RSO/SO because of being a RSO/SO, but in most cases we need to look for other clues to make this determination. Following assignment of "Case Classification Tags" we then check news article/s for circumstances which: A) Facts which should preclude case from status based testing: Exceptions: Generally any circumstance where the RSO/SO acted to place themselves in harms' way: 1) If death caused by the "Victim (of the RSO/SO Original crime)" or the "Victim's Family Member / Friend" or "Victim Offender a Stranger (New crime)" or "Victim Homeowner (new crime); 2) If death caused by "PubSer (Law Enforcement)" generally the RSO/SO somehow caused this interaction w/police; 3) If death was caused by Good Samaritans or Passerbys (situations where the RSO/SO was doing something illegal and was killed); 4) Cases where a death was caused by certain circumstances like: Froze to death, Lack of medical care, Malnutrition and other similar situations; 5) If death caused by Vehicle / Accident or by Gangs / Drug Related. B) Facts and considerations which would automatically make the case a status based: Automatic Status Based Assignment: 1) Evidence -by perpetrator's admission, or police finding- that the registry was used to find the RSO/SO; 2) In a jail/prison case, evidence that "Guards" released facts of a RSOs/SOs' crime to the inmate population; 3) In a jail/prison case, evidence that the murderer previously had and acted on a known hatred for RSO/SOs, possibly having killed one before. C) Other considerations for non automatic assignment of status based: Non Automatic Status Based Assignment: 1) A careful review of the article/s and searching for indications that the perpetrator has some animus towards "sex offenders" maybe some comment by the perpetrator, police or other person indicating same; 2) The perpetrator seeks and kills a RSO/SO after learning of that status. Two recent cases have occurred where in one, the landlord learned of the RSO status through a police home check then killed the RSO, and in the other, a tenant learned of another tenants RSO status then sought him out killing him, and admitting he was going to kill others if he had the chance. Actions triggered by knowledge tied closely -in time frame- followed by the act of killing the RSO/SO. 3) Either of the above can occur in a jail or prison setting, and those articles clearly have mentioned "hatreds" by inmates of sex offenders or child molesters. As to Actions triggered, this can and has occurred, when guards make known to the general population the sex crimes of sex offenders incarcerated. (Note: This list is not to be considered complete and may require change based on unforeseen circumstances when they occur.) At this point we either have a Status Based case or we don't and tag them as follows: Our Status Based codes are: StatusB-RSO-C means a Registrant killed in the community; StatusB-RSO-J means a Registrant killed in jails, prisons or civil commitment; StatusB-SO-C means a accused sex offender killed in the community; StatusB-SO-J means a accused sex offender killed in jails, prisons or civil commitment. For cases which fail Status Based test (StatusO), our codes are: StatusO-RSO-C means a Registrant killed in the community; StatusO-RSO-J means a Registrant killed in jails, prisons or civil commitment; StatusO-SO-C means a accused sex offender killed in the community; StatusO-SO-J means a accused sex offender killed in jails, prisons or civil commitment. PLEASE use your Browser's back button to return to where you were in the report.Sex Offender Research, All Rights Reserved! © 2012