Lives on the Registry: Success after 19 years in prison and SO Registry - Jason's Story

Going from a normal life to prison and then back to a new re-created life is a long trip to take. Jason did just that. He started out in the military as a communications specialist and as a college student that got mixed up in something he shouldn't have. But today, after 19 years incarcerated and being listed on the sex offender registry, Jason is rebuilding his life piece by piece and experiencing a great deal of success professionally and personally.
Lives on the Registry is a NARSOL project with one mission: to tell the stories of the one million-plus people listed on sexual offense registries across the US. We focus on their stories, their families, and their struggles to reintegrate back into a society that is often indifferent or hostile. We shed light on the oppressive laws that put people on this unconstitutional blacklist and keep many of them there for the rest of their lives without any hope of being removed, no matter how much they’ve changed or improved their own lives and the well-being of the community.
NARSOL is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization exclusively dedicated to defending the constitutional liberties of registered citizens and their families. NARSOL opposes dehumanizing registries and works to eliminate discrimination, banishment, and vigilantism against persons accused or convicted of sexual offenses through the use of impact litigation, public education, legislative advocacy, and media outreach in order to reintegrate and reconcile affected individuals and restore their constitutional rights.
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[@tammielawson6423]

To Jason and your family, Jason I admire you for sharing your story. We can be successful and still run the obstacles of the registry

[@seattlejayde]

I’m a volunteer that works with a lot of SOs and see what they go through. I have come to the conclusion that that the registry is a paper tiger 🐅…. It really affords no protection while simultaneously it serves as additional punishment and makes peoples lives worse. Good video. Wish it had been longer though and delved into what the offense was and more on the aftermath but still a good video.

[@NARSOL]

It does not protect individuals or society. We believe that individuals should serve their sentences, but we agree with you that the registry is additional punishment that does not distinguish between the severity or nature of the crime.

[@MrCathouse]

You pay your taxes to have these park's built. Nobody should deny you your right's to go to these park's. It's unconstitutional for the government to put residential restrictions on you or tell you that you can't go to these places. The Sex Offender Registry is unconstitutional

[@NARSOL]

The government has some right to control where people go. We don't want anyone who wants to to go into a nuclear sub, for example. However, we believe that many restrictions do little to keep children safe.

[@MrCathouse]

@@NARSOL Are you saying you don't agree with my ideas? Hey I want to see the sex offender registry abolished completely

[@NARSOL]

We do agree with your ideas, especially distance restrictions and limiting locations as much as some states do.

[@RobLopicola]

I’m a registered S.O. And would be interested to be on your show. I’m a sex addiction recovery coach today and sober 12 years from sex, meth, and alcohol addiction.

[@Skipbo000]

I can see why we aren't making much progress. According to this, the registry isn't all that bad. Just look for God's rainbow. Of course he has yet to realize that generally, most graduate schools don't accept sex offenders and generally having a successful business for most sex offenders is not possible for most.

[@NARSOL]

Many people manage to overcome the hurdles of the registry. But as you point out, even successful people like Jason face additional hurdles. But we are happy for his successful transition.

[@rosielozano2208]

I hope they pass laws to publicly castrate child rapist.

[@rosielozano2208]

@brownincel6018 it works, u can’t use it after it’s gone

[@fightcinema3917]

sex offenders don't deserve it though, wtf

[@nickdelaney6953]

Wrongful convictions happen all the time

[@whitelivesmatter2396]

I would like to know what his crime is am sorry but if your a child molester then you need to be watched and people need to know who you are especially if they have children that they have to protect and most times if your convicted of murder you are getting life imprisonment that’s why they don’t have a register of there crimes and the people that they harm live the rest of there life with the problems that these people leave them with

[@matthewg6562]

Not true at all! I just saw a few stories from Utah where someone shot and killed their mom and got a plea deal for 15 years to life, another was a landlord that shot and killed his tenant same 15 years to life plea deal. More than likely they'll be out within 20 years for murder! I understand sexual assault causes great harm to the victims, but with treatment they can move forward and have a full life, not so if your dead!

[@NARSOL]

Although we don't usually compare sentence as you have, it is a common misconception that murderers are sent away for life. We also don't wish to minimize anyone's harm, it is true that those individuals continue to live.

[@NARSOL]

We do not reveal the crimes that individuals commit for several reasons, including that IF there was a victim who was molested, their identity is protected. However, your response contains two common misconceptions. First, you assume that a person who has committed this type of crime cannot change their behavior. This is simply not true. One needs to look no further than the low recidivism rates (estimates range from 2 to 5%) to see that most people do not commit their crimes again. Secondly, you assume that everyone who is on the registry has committed a hands on crime. That is simply not true.

[@fightcinema3917]

uhhhmmm what is wrong with you, sexual assault is way worse than murder and for you to jsut think that they'll be fine is so dangerous to have, you have no idea how it impacts someone, you have no idea what it does. a lot victims even with treatment are still haunted and absolutely trauma they are not fine. Its not a simple as harm,rapists and and molesters are soul stealers, when you do that to either child or anyone else you taken their autonomy especially a child, they always are still so fucked up from what has happened and them themselves can't process to ever do that and claim what u, whilst the perpetrators get live fine and free, like they are somehow the victims, and also waht u said is wrong because if you actaully did proper research recividism is much higher then what is already thought compared violence as it stems from criems known to police, which violence and such is more acted upon, a lot assualts and such are never revealed compared to how violence is more of an exposed crime compared to assults which are held and kept inthe dark, also pretty disgusting you think this way @@matthewg6562

[@CuriousPerson2206]

So if a person serves his prison sentence you still have to watch him what do you think your a correctional officer?

[@howardjones4852]

I would like to tell my story briefly, I am one of the first group of children to be placed on Megan’s law in 1994 For lifting up a girl skirt at school I just turned 14 years old . I am now 43 years old which means I been on there for 30 years . I was forced to drop out of school in the 8th grade because of this and I choose to work instead. I choose to learn about Glass which is called a Glazier and I am one of the best Glaziers in the country. Why have I been on there so long is the million dollar question ? At the age of 18 I had consensual sex with a 14 year old who told me she was 17 , she got pregnant and that’s how my name came up. I was arrested and was told her real age. I did 2 years in prison and was released in 2003 I then found out I would have to be on Megan’s law for 15 years with a parole officer and was given dozens of Unhuman rules , requirements and restrictions I was completely shocked. I Did about 7 years and they found out I was one of the top 10 charcoal artists in the country and just opened my own Glass company LLC . I was starting to make the papers from my art so they took me off the registry but kept me on supervised psl. I ended up doing 15 years on parole or Psl as they call it and the most I got was a small motor vehicle ticket in all that time. I was easily removed from the psl after 15 years which was 2018 , my lawyer was fighting for me to be removed from Megan’s law all together but the court said hey remember when u were 14 and lifted a girl skirt up ? Well we are not removing u off . That made me stronger to be even more successful, so I started more businesses and always stayed as a Glazier to the point where I became so good no matter what glass company I worked for I was the highest paid employee. I was never fired from a job because of this , I never was turned down from a job , I was never denied a apartment or house. I have horror stories from life on psl and I mean horror stories. I would like to tell those stories along with how I beat them and didn’t fail in life and right now I am extremely successful. I earn a 6 figure salary, I had No problems since I been removed from Psl until Now . I had a opportunity in Arizona where I can double my success and the NJ detective found out and violated me for leaving NJ and not telling Arizona police that I was there to work within 10 days smh . I am pissed that Law does Not want anyone on Megan’s law to be successful. I have a story where a police officer tried to set me up in NJ for crimes he knew I didn’t commit and if I didn’t have the money or resources I would have went back to jail and everything I done would have been wasted. But I out smarted him and hired a private investigator and he got the truth and all charges was dropped with a apology from the judge I have that report right now in my icould that I want to make public a long with all the illegal stuff I seen in these past 30 years . I have stories and proof that will raise so many eyebrows my email is [e-mail]

[@mikecynic5167]

19 years. Let's hear the REAL story as to how he got 19 years. I honestly don't care about his success.

[@itzUXiE]

These people live next to you in your community. 99% of sex offenders will get out back to the community eventually. To not care about someone's success and getting better and not accepting redemption is simply not allowing them to change and be better if they can then and return will re offend and hurt someone else. Focusing on the past and the reasoning of it is non void. That's the problem with society now is that we focus too much on the past of people and now look in the present. Allow these people redemption and a chance to change because we all deserve that chance because we've all done wrong in some way. Because we don't want people to cause harm and mess up, if you do than who's the real monster? Them or us.

[@WilliamBarrs]

I need to tell my story of this injustice . It is unconstitutional

[@NARSOL]

We will consider featuring stories. Consider submitting your story at Tales From the Registry (tftr.narsol.org/)

[@WilliamBarrs]

@NARSOL o sent in a post how will I know if you will post it

[@masonweiss]

If he was in for 19 years- it was likely a very serious offense. If it were “only” for child pornography he must have been a major producer/distributor. Bottom line, you don’t do 19 years for a sex offense that is merely indecent exposure or a drunken sexual encounter gone wrong.

[@jamesbeemer7855]

Hey dude , Like me , seesing any activity seems the best course of action . But it is going to cost us dearly .

[@sweetkittiez]

I don't think you can ever be attracted to children and then not ...

[@NARSOL]

Research shows otherwise. In addition, a person can be tempted to commit other crimes to gain something they treasure (like a book lover might be tempted to take books from a library) and yet overcome the temptation.

[@sweetkittiez]

@@NARSOL well then you pay the money to rehabilitate them and then let them play with your children

[@zrexx9428]

Germany actually specializes in treating pedophilia as an illness. Treatments usually involve a mix of cognitive behavior therapy (pedophillia often causes cognitive distortions, in other words, like warped thinking, which leads to bad acts, something unknown by many people, and so they treat this aspect with CBT) and they also use drugs to affect things like a person's sex drive (e.g. think chemical castration). As far as I'm aware, experts don't believe that you can literally "change" someone from being a pedophile (the attraction is sorta hard-wired in the brain like other types of attraction). But that doesn't mean that the person can't learn to control their condition, to see past their condition, or to have it treated. And FYI, there's a sort of a public misconception when it comes to equating "child molester" with "pedophile". Many child molesters actually don't suffer from pedophilia at all but have other conditions like ASPD (or in common terms sociopathy). And then there are a lot of pedophiles who don't actually offend. Pedophilia is moreso just... an illness. And it can be treated like other illnesses. Usually when people think pedophilia they think of someone who's cold-blooded or whatever but really thats more stereotype because people mix in sex offenders who suffer from ASPD and blend that into the stereotype of pedophiles. Pedophilia is actually an extremely complex illness that few people understand. It's more like, severe schizophrenia combined with a sexual element. The person's brain is abnormally wired where the part of the brain responsible for nurturing/protective feelings is mixed in with the part of the brain that generates sexual feelings, and then coupled with this is extreme delusional thinking that actually warps the person's view toward children. The person isn't necessarily evil or doesn't care, they're literally detached from reality. There's lot of common cognitive distortions these people have, like uh, for instance they may not even realize the harmful nature of what they're doing and they tend to view their victims as consenting and enjoying it even when evidence shows otherwise. It's obviously a horrible condition but I feel like people don't even understand what it is. Most people's breakdown of pedophiles is like... they see it as simply someone attracted to kids, and then the person is either malicious enough to act on that attraction or they choose not to. It's not really that simple. When a sex crime is committed toward a child because of malice or just "not caring", that's usually the result more of ASPD. Pedophilia we're talking more about trying to treat delusions. And treating both ASPD and pedophilia is possible actually. I think it's actually easier than pedophilia than ASPD (there are more successful cases of the former). In the US though, because the public misunderstands pedophilia so heavily and demonizes it, that actually makes it worse, (a) because we shame people for simply having the condition (so they hide it instead of getting care), and (b) we treat these people as perfectly in-control, rational decision-makers. Other countries have an easier time treating it because they recognize it as just being a form of severe mental illness instead of how we view it here.

[@nickdelaney6953]

Wrongful convictions happen all the time

[@mikecynic5167]

@@NARSOL I'm a book lover and haven't been tempted to steal books.

[@markbriggs6349]

May be worthwhile identifying which political groups are responsible for bring in the Sex offenders Registry

[@NARSOL]

As a non-profit organization, we try to avoid discussions of political groups. We try to work on the legislative level, testifying in committees, and hoping bad legislation doesn't get a vote. Few politicians want their opponents to say they are for "those people," which is why we focus on that approach.

[@N5692233]

There is never success with this. There will ALWAYS be an urge

[@NARSOL]

Although there a few individuals that reoffend, that number is under 5%, which suggests that 95% of offenders successfully reintegrate into society and do not reoffend. That is a high success rate. The "high and scary" rates of reoffense mentioned in the media and law courts are based on faulty information, and the media continues these "myths."

[@N5692233]

@brownincel6018 no they can’t

[@NARSOL]

Would you like specific stats which show the rate of reoffense? If 95% do not reoffend, that means most can be successful.

[@1zcott]

wrong. just plain wrong

[@matthewg6562]

@@N5692233 It's amazing you know ALL sex offenders so intimately, that you 1000% guarantee they are unhealable and not capable of change! That somehow ALL other felons can see the light, turn to God, and/or repent and deserve forgiveness, yet Sex offenders are absolutely incapable of change and unworthy for a second chance! Let me guess you call yourself a Christian, right? The judgement and hate are not becoming of any human, and drips with contemptuous irony when the person says they're religious or believes in God!

[@RobertMitchell-b9b]

If only your victim was "blessed."

[@NARSOL]

You continue to oversimply a complex situation. If you would like to have a productive conversation, that is welcome. But this is not productive as you keep focusing on "victim" without considering anything that has been said about whether labelling a victim for lifetime is helpful, or whether this individual actually had a victim, or whether the punishment is fair considering others commit crimes that end in people's lives and receive less time.

[@RobertMitchell-b9b]

@@NARSOL I can't apologize for focusing on the victim.

[@NARSOL]

We are not suggesting you stop focusing on the victim. But also focus on how the victim recovers and heals. Is it good in any situation (not only a crime of a sexual nature) where someone is victimized to focus only on the victimization?

[@lolak.9275]

@@NARSOLwhat is so complex about knowing that sexually violating people is wrong? You want it to feel complex to feel Better about yourself . It’s not fucking rocket science

[@MsJarns]

​@NARSOL How does The Victim or Victim's ever "Recover and heal"?!! This is a Life Sentence for them, their Loved one's and Entire Communities. And the Trauma from these Crimes turns into Transgenerational Trauma. Through no fault of the Victims. You are defending these Chomos, it makes me question if you are a Chomo yourself!!

[@1zcott]

I would move to Germany

[@NARSOL]

This is one option. Be sure to consult the laws of a country before deciding to move.

[@danielmcrae6470]

The victims didnt have sny rights did they.

[@RobertMitchell-b9b]

For "2 weeks I was broken..." Victims are broken for a lifetime.

[@NARSOL]

This gentleman spent 19 years in prison as well as several years on probation or parole. We do not comment on his particular crime, which we often don't know; however, he is also "broken" for a lifetime. This is not a place to get into a debate about sentencing, but there are instances where people who have killed a person spend the same amount of time. Their victims have no lifetime remaining. And those who committed the murder do not spend 10, 30, or a lifetime on a public registry. You are labelling individuals as "victims" for their life. This label doesn't help them recover. Finally, if you are not satisfied with the time spent in prison, then perhaps you need to direct your energy toward the justice system.

[@GatlinSwain-wn1tg]

he paid his debt and unlike murderers and drug dealers who kill people and they don't have to do any of that bs . The registery is only their to further punish them for life basically. But a murder can kill your kids and go to prison do his time and come out clean.

[@jayy74]

Don’t let this video or comments fool you . This is a terrible guy who hates his life and hurts children. Nobody likes a person who hurts children

[@RobertMitchell-b9b]

I'm neither. but at least an abuser like you can tell a victim how to live. Gross.@IndianCurrycel

[@RobertMitchell-b9b]

How about you stop being an incel victim. It's not society's fault that you repel women of age.@IndianCurrycel

[@tamalchakraborty5906]

boohooo chomo

[@NARSOL]

We typically don't reply to hateful language such as this, but a few things need to be pointed out. 1) You have no idea what behavior put him on the registry. Not everyone who is on the registry has done anything to a child. So you are making an assumption that a lot of people make. 2) Are you implying that an individual should not try to redeem themselves and turn their lives around? Would your response be the same regardless of the crime? What if the individual had gotten behind the wheels of a car while under the influence of alcohol and hit someone? Does that person get a second chance even though their behavior killed someone? Should you choose to respond, please focus on the questions. All content creators on KZbin have the ability to delete hateful speech.

[@MsJarns]

Notice how all these Chomos "have god". What a joke!!

[@mikecynic5167]

@@NARSOL Sexually abusing someone doesn't happen by accident.

[@RobertMitchell-b9b]

Speaking as a soldier, I cannot believe the host referred to you as brave.

[@GatlinSwain-wn1tg]

as a veteran myself it is brave to go public when you've done something like he has. Brave or stupid one of the two

[@NARSOL]

Whatever he did was not smart or brave. But being willing to admit you did something wrong, accept the consequences, and try to rebuild your life, and being willing to talk about it might not be being on a battlefield brave, but not many people are willing to be open to admit their wrongs when they have committed a crime that landed them on the sex offender registry.

[@kenmaples6856]

Iam a veteran as well. I wish I would have taken advantage of my VA benefits before I sexually offended. PTSD, major depression, alcoholism and prescription drug abuse. After I was convicted I got help with antidepressants and therapy but it was a little too late. 40 years ago if you asked for help you were considered weak. For anyone struggling get help before it's too late.

[@RobertMitchell-b9b]

I am seeking help for PTSD from my time as a combat infantryman. Using PTSD as an excuse/reason for sexual assault of a minor is gross. What experiences were so horrific that made you prey on a minor. PTSD is too often used by people who never even saw combat , using the ":deployment" as an excuse for benefits and behavior. What MOS were you that subjected you to such trauma?@@kenmaples6856

[@lisybeato8125]

@@NARSOL He wasn´t open about what he did o did I miss that part? And I know: ¨legal papers do not always tell the whole story¨ or ¨we won´t talk about the offense to protect the victim¨ but...he can say what HE REALLY DID without legal jargon or identify the victim. The real issue here is that by admitting that you rape your stepdaughter for 5 years and stopped only because you were caught wouldn´t sound good with the background music, right?