Arkansas Time After Time (ATAT) is a
Conway, Arkansas
Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...
-based non-profit, all-volunteer civil rights and justice reform organization. It is funded by its members. It is a grassroots legislative advocacy group dedicated to making communities safer and upholding constitutional rights of those labelled
sex offender
A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crime ...
s by advocating for fact-based, common-sense laws. ATAT is part of the growing
movement to reform sex offender laws in the United States
The movement to reform sex offender laws in the United States describes the efforts of individuals and organizations to change state laws requiring Sex offender registries in the United States. Efforts fall into two main categories, advocacy for ...
. The mission of this organization is to develop a cooperative sense of community rather than take an adversarial approach between people on the
sex offender registry
A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions, registration i ...
, victim's advocacy groups and the authorities in the state. Arkansas Time After Time is state affiliate of
National RSOL, and one of the more than 50 organizations seeking to reform
sex offender registration
A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions, registration i ...
-related laws in US. Their name is reference to time those labelled as sex offenders have to serve under public registries and constantly changing requirements after serving their court imposed sentences.
Purpose
Arkansas Time After Time aims to educate law-makers and public that sex offenders are diverse group of individuals; that contrary to popular belief, general recidivism rate of 5% over 5 years is the second lowest of all offender groups; and that residency restrictions and public notification have no demonstrable effect on recidivism and might actually undermine public safety,
thus making onerous restrictions and stigmatizing effect of public sex offender lists unfair and unfounded when applied broadly to all offenders without considering the individual risk and underlying facts of individual cases.
Arkansas Time After Time's goal is to help make communities safer and to protect children. In order to do this, it aims to educate the public and legislators to differentiate between those truly dangerous repeat violent
sexual predator
A sexual predator is a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" or abusive manner. Analogous to how a predator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" ...
s and those who at some time in their past committed a
sex-related offense, served their sentence, completed or are currently undergoing treatment, and are working to re-integrate into society. ATAT holds that public registries have gone far beyond their original intent of protecting children and tracking violent sexual predators. It lobbies for fact based
sex offender registry
A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions, registration i ...
and policies to take account these differences instead of emotion based policies that may do more harm than good,
and seeks to educate law-makers and the public of the stigma and other adverse effects some registrants and their families are unnecessarily experiencing due to current blanket policies.
[ ATAT holds that current public registries are not effective and put registrants and their families in danger of vigilante attacks.
]
Advocacy
Arkansas Time After Time hosts a weekly radio show called "It Could Be You" on KABF 88.3fm. In 2013, the group testified against Senate Bill 12 aimed to restrict where some sex offenders are allowed to go, saying it would punish the children and other family members of the registrants. In February 2015, ATAT demanded local authorities to stop disclosing full addresses of registrants, when Arkansas law allows disclosing only block numbers. As a result of this campaign 17 of 24 local sheriff offices removed the full addresses from their web sites.
See also
*Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws
Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is a nonprofit civil rights, legal reform, and support organization, with offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento. ACSOL advocates for civil rights for those required to register as sex offend ...
* Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc.
*Florida Action Committee
Florida Action Committee (FAC) is a non-profit advocacy and support organization for those on sex offender registries and their families based in Florida. Florida Action Committee is state affiliate of National RSOL, and part of the movement to ...
*Advocates For Change
*California Reform Sex Offender Laws
* USA FAIR, Inc.
*Illinois Voices for Reform
Illinois Voices for Reform is a non-profit advocacy and support organization for Illinois sex offenders and their families. It is dedicated to providing education on issues affecting sex offenders to the public and to legislators. Illinois Voices ...
*Michigan Citizens for Justice
Michigan Citizens for Justice is an advocacy and support group for Michigan sex offenders and their families. Michigan Citizens for Justice is an affiliate organization of Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc., and one of the more than 50 organizations ...
* Women Against Registry - W.A.R
References
{{Reflist
External links
arkansastimeaftertime.org
Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc.
Registrants and Families Support Line
Sex offender registration
Non-profit organizations based in Arkansas
Civil liberties advocacy groups in the United States