OK: Sex registry law needs overhaul

In 2007, the Oklahoma State Legislature approved a new law that required all sex offenders be classified under a three-tier system that placed offenders in a specific category depending on the nature of the sex crime. However, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC) went a step further and made the new registration law retroactive to 1998. However, in June 2013, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the retroactive application of the rule was unconstitutional.  Full Article

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TN: Man spent 11 years in prison for rape he didn’t commit

NASHVILLE — ____ ____ didn’t rape that 12-year-old girl in March 1999. It’s a truth he bore for 11 years and three months in a Tennessee prison cell. Few believed him until DNA evidence in 2008 proved he didn’t sexually assault a preteen neighbor. Three more years passed before he was released from prison — and even then he still faced being tried on the charges all over again. But April 4, in light of the DNA evidence and a wavering victim, prosecutors in Marshall County finally dropped all charges. Full Article

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MA: Most sex convicts do not win release

Despite the release of a convicted sex offender who is now accused of raping and beating a woman at knifepoint Sunday, state courts are much more likely than not to keep convicted sex offenders locked up indefinitely after they finish their prison sentences. Between 2010 and 2012, juries and judges sent 57 of the 83 convicts who sought release back to detention, even though their sentences were up, according to statistics kept by the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association. Full Article

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Living with 290: A Wife’s Story

Two years ago, my world was rocked to its foundations. My husband had just retired from a very long interesting military career. He went into a terrible depression and refused to acknowledge that he needed help. He got himself into a situation which happened to be a sting. He was charged with the intent to meet a minor for lewd and lascivious acts. All because the so-called minor asked him two questions that pertained to a sexual nature. He only answered them. The questions were general like: Do you consider…

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