(WASHINGTON, DC, January 28, 2014) — Today the leaders of WAR and its members staged a protest rally today on the steps of the DC Superior Court in support of Dennis Sobin, a registered sex offender in DC who posted online pictures of the government employees who do the same to him.
In a total victory for WAR, Dennis Sobin, and free speech, Judge Todd E. Edelman ruled that distributing and posting online pictures of court employees by registered sex offenders forced to interact with them is a form of political speech protected under the Constitution.
“The judge’s opinion will be used as ammunition around the country,” said Sobin. “I’m very happy the judge understood and abided by the U.S. Constitution that gives citizens the right to protest a policy that is abusive and un-American,” he said.
“There is no evidence that these public registries do anything to protect children,” said Vicki Henry, president of WAR. “Yet millions of innocent family members of registrants must suffer the real consequences of punitive and humiliating registration requirements.”
The suit was brought by Stephanie Gray, an employee of CSOSA (Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency), the independent federal agency that maintains the sex offender registry in the District, who is one of the people featured on Mr. Sobin’s website (www.idiotsregistry.info).
“I feel as sorry for Stephanie Gray as I do for anyone who suffers unfair and degrading information plastered about them all over the Internet,” said Henry. “This case exposes the lie that public registration is somehow not punishment, but is only a small illustration of how devastating these consequences can be for returning citizens.”
“At least Ms. Gray can still get a job,” Henry said.
Women Against Registry is the voice of the millions of innocent women and children being wrongly and unfairly punished because they have a family member who has been convicted of a sexual offense.
Here is Dennis in his own words just after his victory in court.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0WG-SBBYcU
Interesting comment under that YouTube video:
“If the judge went against Dennis Sobin and made him take down his website that would have given ammunition for other sex offenders to use to bring down the sex offender registry. So Sobin won in court, but the sex offender registry won its right to exist also. So in truth we lost.”
Discuss.
This is freedom of speech. Ill do the same.
It would seem the line between “Cyberbullying” vs. Registry or mugshot websites is getting thinner everyday. At what point will they be one and the same?
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Cyberbullying is defined in legal glossaries as
* actions that use information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm another or others.
* use of communication technologies for the intention of harming another person
* use of internet service and mobile technologies such as web pages and discussion groups as well as instant messaging or SMS text messaging with the intention of harming another person.
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The government has access to the facts that Sex Offender registries have not reduced child sexual abuse and recidivism is low. If it’s not doing what it was intended to do than why continue and expand it? The only reason I can come up with is harassment.
We need to change course… Let us not drive this movement in the light of “fear”. This MOVEMENT has only made INCREMENTAL changes to the RSO’s injustices. We need to get in the lawmakers faces and rattle some cages. WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOSE ????. 90% of RSO’S lost everything already. DENIIS SOBIN hit the nail on the head regarding the ONLY REAL EFFECTIVE way to overturn what they are doing to us !!! Please see the light 🙂 THX