[hackerspaces] Sex Offenders at a 'Space

Wed Feb 11 02:02:18 CET 2015

I'd say it depends.

Depends a lot on what were the specifics of the case in 2007.

Depends on what the person has done with the rest of their life.

Depends what kind of person they are today.

Depends what kind of people are in the hackerspace today, whether they are
tough enough to deal with occasional trouble people.

Depends what else the parole officer has to say about the person and their
situation - if they are deserving a chance, or are just a lot of trouble.

Depends what kind of person is the parole officer.

Depends on the ethics, will, kindness, and toughness of everyone involved.

I think I would be willing to call the parole office a few time, see what I
can learn about this stuff, and depending on what I learn there, decide
whether to have a conversation with the person, and then with a few
members, then with the whole board.

But that's a lot.  Not too many people will do that.

Yes, it is a little crazy.

But I like to say it is a hackerspace - it is made for crazy people.

2015-02-10 19:16 GMT-02:00 Red Davies <noiddicle at gmail.com>:

>
> Let me run a scenario past you.
>
> You let him in.  Someone's kid makes an accusation.  Charges are filed,
> lawsuits ensue.
>
> "Mr X, is it true that you were notified that person Y had a conviction
> for ..."
> Yes.
> "Is it also true that you permitted them to become a member, knowing full
> well that you had children on the premises."
>
> Yes, but... <interrupoted> "that's all".
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> It sucks, but it's the way it is.
>
> Remember - nothing actually needs to happen - the accusation is enough to
> bring hellfire raining down upon you and your organization.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 4:04 PM, Wilco Baan Hofman <wilco at baanhofman.nl>
> wrote:
>
>>  Hi,
>>
>> 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..
>>
>> If this happened at 27, then my answer would be no, not welcome.
>>
>> It would be difficult to trust somebody like that with 24/7 access to the
>> space either way.
>>
>> -- Wilco
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 10/02/15 21:23, Steve Bowman wrote:
>>
>> Hi there,
>>
>>  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)
>>
>>  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.
>>
>>
>>  Our organizational structure allows us to refuse admission to a new
>> member for any reason. This option has never been exercised before.
>>
>>  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.
>>
>>  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
>>
>>  So my question is - *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? *
>>
>>  *If we do let this person in, should we notify all members? *That might
>> start a witch hunt or get this person treated in a unfair manner. Unfair is
>> obviously open to individual interpretations.
>>
>>  I welcome and appreciate feedback from past experiences and/or personal
>> opinions.
>>
>>  Thanks,
>>  Steve
>>
>>  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...
>>
>>
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