CLANTON, Ala. (AP) — Believing it was his calling to reach out to people Jesus called “the least of these,” Pastor Ricky Martin built a little church and opened a camp out back for some of society’s most unwanted people: Sex offenders. With the help of some former inmates convicted of rape, sodomy, child sexual abuse and other crimes, Martin raised a gray-block chapel in a rural patch of central Alabama in 2010, and parked old campers and recreational vehicles behind it to house the men. More than 50 convicted…
Read MoreDay: July 1, 2014
MA: SJC ruling leads to release of sex offenders
SALEM — Dozens of sex offenders have been released from custody in the two weeks since the state’s highest court ruled that the state’s lifetime community parole law violates the state constitution, the county’s chief prosecutor said this week. And District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said he’s concerned that they’re hitting the street with almost no advance notice. “It’s a dire safety issue for us to have these people on the street with no notice,” said Blodgett, who believes as many as 40 offenders are being released in Essex County as…
Read MoreMD: Ruling could scrub quarter of sex offender registry
One-fourth of the names on Maryland’s sex offender registry could be removed after the state’s top court expanded Monday on an earlier ruling that adding offenders from before the list was created violated the state constitution. The Court of Appeals declared last year that the state could not require the registration of people who committed their crimes before October 1995, when the database was established. State officials removed the one name in question in that case but maintained that federal law required them to keep older cases in the database.…
Read MoreOH: Public housing residents illegally allowed registered sex offenders to live with them
CLEVELAND, Ohio – More than two dozen men and women who illegally allowed registered sex offenders to live with them in federally subsidized housing have been charged with theft and tampering with records, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office said Monday. Each of the 27 defendants were charged with theft and the grand jury indictments also include 89 counts of tampering with records. Full Article
Read MoreBarbados: Proceed with caution
Barbadians are being asked to consider the establishment of a sex offenders’ registry, as a solution to protecting children from abusers and predators. Lauren Book, head of a Florida-based non-profit focused on child abuse prevention is adamant that such a move is “extremely necessary” for Barbados. She has teamed up with Crime Stoppers Barbados to help launch its child sexual abuse intervention programme. Full Opinion Piece
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