Community Voices


UPDATE:  OCTOBER 2013

A judge has temporarily blocked legislation to put registered offenders online who were not previously online.   The Lowell Sun article provides an update, but  what seems to be getting more attention is the opinions voiced about Laurie Myers and the efficacy of the sex offender registry with respect to making sure that everybody knows everything about their neighbors.

Is Laurie Myers helping things or actually making them worse by creating the illusion that if everyone just knew who to avoid in their neighborhood, we would all be safe.  And while certain offenders have earned this level of notification, the majority of them are simply being stigmatized such that the next generation of would be offenders hide deeper and deeper.  And if most offenders fantasies and behaviors began in adolescence or early adulthood, what message are we sending to those who might just tell someone that they need help before things go too far? 

We think that Myers is well intentioned, but that her campaigns are not based on the statistics which continue to dispute whether telling the whole community is really helping.

COMMUNITY VOICES LAURIE MYERS CONCERING INVOLVEMENT WITH FOX UNDERCOVER*

This section covers the involvement of Community Voices founder Laurie Meyers with Fox 25 Undercover. Meyer worked as a rape crisis counselor in Chelmsford for several years, and teamed up with others to form VOICES in 2004. The group successfully advocated for the posting of Level Three Sex Offenders online in MA, before this became commonplace nationally. They also campaigned for Jessica’s Law, and Meyers was recognized by the Molly Bish Foundation for her advocacy and legislative efforts. Recently, Myers became known to the general public for her efforts to publicly campaign for republican Senate candidate Scott Brown.

Yet at significant risk to her own reputation we feel, Myers has apparently been a commentator on Fox Undercover stories, going back at least as far as 2009 and possibly longer. Observers alleged that Myers made statements which were scientifically baseless. Several blogs retell old stories where she claimed that a sex crime against a child occurred, simply because a man was drunk and several reports indicate that her statements implied that she knew a previous offender would reoffend [because he did so one time], an implied prediction of recidivism which is both scientifically without basis but also irresponsible coming from someone who claims to be an expert on the subject of abuse. In fact, Fox Undercover reports repeatedly used Myers on camera (and later on, one of Myers colleagues from Community Voices), making statements about sex offenders which lacked any sort of scientific depth. Which begs the question, why someone in Myers position would put her own integrity on the line to endorse a reporter who has repeatedly created dangerous situations for communities and would provide interview clips which make her look simplistic and uninformed.

All of that is a distribute to Laurie Myers and the group that she represents.  But a reader in our group found an online conversation between Myers and Beaudet in a public forum which not only proves the odd relationship, but places Myers integrity into question as she appears to trivialize both the television piece about incest and rape. The conversation went as follows (and we have documented it by taking a screen capture from the site):

In the creepy conversation, Beaudet is reminiscing about his old stories as if they were some sort of enjoyable trip down memory lane.  But the story is about rape and incest, almost a decade after it happened.









Laurie Myer seems unbridled in her dialogue with ambush/gotcha/yellowjournalist Mike Beaudet.
 And even if Myers and Beaudet do harbor some secret arousal for such subject matter, how unprofessional of the founder of Community Voices to allow that conversation to be read by anyone in a public forum.   And what did Myers mean by her comment about her "profound comment...lol"? 

There is a roubling disparity between the Laurie Myers who is so well known to us and to others as a down to earth, supportive and passionate advocate and the Laurie Myers who is willing to make empty, inaccurate or irresponsible statements, on camera and off, for Fox 25 Undercover. Myers trivializing of this subject matter is unprofessional and unbecoming of a woman in her position.

Whatever Myers veiled attachment to Fox Undercover is, we can state confidently that her behavior here is not the voice of our community.


* This article is based on an online investigation. Where statements are opinion we have stated that. If you notice any errors please notify us so that we can correct them.

No comments:

Post a Comment