<div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br></div>Let me run a scenario past you.<br><br></div>You let him in. Someone's kid makes an accusation. Charges are filed, lawsuits ensue.<br><br></div>"Mr X, is it true that you were notified that person Y had a conviction for ..."<br></div>Yes.<br></div>"Is it also true that you permitted them to become a member, knowing full well that you had children on the premises."<br><br></div>Yes, but... <interrupoted> "that's all".<br><br></div>A jury won't care that you required children to be supervised the whole time. They'll just hear that you intentionally let a sexual predator into the presence of minors.<br><br></div>Sucks for you... Sucks for him, but there are organizations that are specifically designed to help with people in that situation. If you allow children on-site at all that's incompatible with helping him.<br><br></div>It sucks, but it's the way it is.<br><div><div><div><br></div><div>Remember - nothing actually needs to happen - the accusation is enough to bring hellfire raining down upon you and your organization.<br><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 4:04 PM, Wilco Baan Hofman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wilco@baanhofman.nl" target="_blank">wilco@baanhofman.nl</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div>Hi,<br>
<br>
My first question would be if he was 27 at the time, or 27 now.
2007 is 8 years ago and people at 19 are very different from 27,
plus the age difference would smaller and it would be easier to
accept that the person changed by now.. I might want to talk with
this person to find out how he feels about this issue and see if
this person would even be a fit for a hackerspace..<br>
<br>
If this happened at 27, then my answer would be no, not welcome.<br>
<br>
It would be difficult to trust somebody like that with 24/7 access
to the space either way.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
-- Wilco</font></span><div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 10/02/15 21:23, Steve Bowman wrote:<br>
</div></div></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><div><div class="h5">
<div dir="ltr">Hi there,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>The board of our 'space has recently received a
notification from a Parole Officer (PO) that a sex offender is
interested in visiting and possibly joining our organization.
We asked for further clarification on the crime and the
response was as follows (some info redacted for privacy)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex">In
regards to the offense that he is on supervision for, it
involved Mr. XXX (27 years old) inappropriately touching a 13
year old female neighbor. This occurred on several occasions
in 2007 before he was arrested. He is required to register
with the XX Sex Offender Registry Program for his entire
lifetime.</blockquote>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Our organizational structure allows us to refuse admission
to a new member for any reason. This option has never been
exercised before.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Based on the size of our organization, and local statistics
(Sex offender/unit population), it's likely that we have a few
sex offenders in our membership already - statistically at
least. We haven't and do not plan on conducting background
checks The only reason this topic is being discussed is since
we received notification from the PO, which is legally
required from them based on the nature and severity of crime.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>A few details specific to our organization that may be
important to this discussion. We do not allowed members under
18. But many members bring their kids with them. The kids must
always be supervised but, being kids, do get away once in a
while. All members have 24/7 access to our facility</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>So my question is - <b>have other 'spaces dealt with this
situation in the past? If yes, how? Or if does come up, how
would you deal with it in the future? </b></div>
<div><b><br>
</b></div>
<div><b>If we do let this person in, should we notify all
members? </b>That might start a witch hunt or get this
person treated in a unfair manner. Unfair is obviously open to
individual interpretations.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I welcome and appreciate feedback from past experiences
and/or personal opinions. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks,<br>
</div>
<div>Steve</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>P.S. Is there way to search this mailing list archive so I
can consult previous discussions on this and other topics. I
can download the archive and implement a search function but
maybe there is a better way already...<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
<br>
</div></div><span class=""><pre>_______________________________________________
Discuss mailing list
<a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a>
<a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a>
</pre>
</span></blockquote>
<br>
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div><br></div>