Since 2012, NACDL’s Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status After Conviction has embarked on a study of relief mechanisms available to those with a conviction on their record on the local, state and federal level. At an event on May 29 at the Open Society Foundations in Washington, DC, NACDL released a major new report – Collateral Damage: America’s Failure to Forgive or Forget in the War on Crime – A Roadmap to Restore Rights and Status After Arrest or Conviction. The report is a comprehensive exploration of the…
Read MoreMonth: July 2014
LA: Sex offender’s 3-year prison sentence for failing to register not excessive
A state appeals court has upheld the three-year prison sentence a Jefferson Parish judge gave a Plaquemines Parish man for failing to complete his sex offender registration. ____ ____, 39, says the punishment is excessive, because he tried to register as a sex offender when he moved to Jefferson Parish but could not afford the $630 notification fee the Sheriff’s Office charged him. Full Article
Read MoreIndependence Day
It’s July and in two days millions of Americans will be celebrating their freedom; but not us, because they have taken away our freedom. These people will be rejoicing over their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; but not us, and this includes our families and millions of little children that have had their innocence stolen and their lives turned into a living hell because a family member is forced to wear the scarlet label. In two days millions of Americans will be celebrating with friends and…
Read MoreStudy: Middle Schoolers Engaged in Sexting Six Times More Likely to Be Sexually Active
Middle school students who have engaged in “sexting” — sending or receiving sexually suggestive text messages or photos — are dramatically more likely to be sexually active, according to a USC study released today. Full Article
Read MoreRiverside County repealing sex offender rules
RIVERSIDE – Riverside County is considering repealing a law that for four years has restricted the activities of convicted sex offenders such as going within 300 feet of day care facilities, schools, school bus stops, parks, public libraries and other places where children gather. Full Article Riverside County Staff Report
Read MoreGeneral Comments July 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreAL: Alabama shuts down church’s sex offender housing
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 MoreMA: 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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