The following is a partial list of requirements for sex offenders in the court system:

1. Attend all ordered treatment sessions. This includes individual and group counseling, educational sessions, and other treatment as directed. Unexcused missed treatment sessions will result in a sanction.

2. Do not make threats towards other participants or staff or behave in a violent manner. Violent or inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated and will be reported to the Court. This behavior may result in a sanction or termination from the Mental Health Court program.

3. Attend all scheduled Mental Health Court sessions. You must attend all court sessions as scheduled by the Mental Health Court probation officer.

4. As a participant, you will be expected to dress appropriately for court. Clothing bearing violence, sexual, drug, or alcohol related themes is inappropriate. Sleeveless shirts and body piercing other than earrings will not be allowed in court. Sunglasses are not to be worn in court unless medically approved.

5. You are required to attend AA or NA meetings on the weekends, Saturday and Sunday, and must have a card signed at these meetings for attendance by the designated person at the meeting. You must stay for the entire meeting.

Since there is no accountability in a 12 step meeting as participants are required to remain anonymous, the answer to the question is unequivocally…NO. Not only are you not safe in a 12 step meeting but neither is your wife, husband, daughter, son, sister, brother, friend, co-worker nor anyone else. You could very well be sitting next to someone who has been convicted of rape and is mandated to your 12 step meeting as part of their parole. You could very likely be holding hands with someone who has violently raped a child while reciting the Lord’s Prayer….the central prayer of Christianity. The Twelve Steps are based on Christianity, and as an anonymous religion, one would think that the steppers would want to protect their flock. Unfortunately, since anyone can and is mandated to attend 12 step meetings, you are never safe in your meeting. In fact, a 12 step meeting is a dream come true for a sex offender…It’s like a gift from the court for these extremely mentally ill individuals to stalk people in a meeting where no one knows their criminal past. You are sharing deeply personal information in your meeting and sexual predators will play on your weaknesses in order to inspire trust. They will then steal money from you, lie and manipulate you to do their bidding, rape you, your daughter, your son, and take anything they can take from you before moving on to their next victim.

Skeptical? Here are two recent examples:

In 2011, Charles Doucette was on parole from seven life sentences, imposed in 1991 for the killing of Raymond Bufalino of Salem, MA and two home invasions while he was awaiting trial in the murder. He was released in 2007 and was mandated to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. In fact, he met his girlfriend in an AA meeting, Melissa Markus, who accused him of dragging her alongside his truck and threatening to put a bullet in her head during an argument outside Doucette’s home on the afternoon of Feb. 14, 2011. The prosecution argued that, given his criminal history and two past instances when Doucette allegedly struck her during their two-year relationship, Markus had reason to fear for her safety. Upset that the girlfriend he met in Alcoholics Anonymous was drinking again, Doucette took back the key she had to his home and moved out her belongings, Markus testified. While they argued outside his house, she claimed he threatened her and then, while she was standing beside the driver’s side window of his truck, he “dragged” her alongside as he drove away. Happy Valentines Day.