Victoria Police wants to open a new front in the fight against family violence as frightening new data reveals a 43 per cent jump in child sex abuse cases in the past five years. Detective Superintendent Rod Jouning, head of the Victoria Police sexual and family violence division, said the true rate of child sex abuse by family members and others known to the victim was horrifying. He said Victoria Police’s campaign to tackle family violence had encouraged unprecedented reporting of partner on partner violence, but too many child sex…
Read MoreMonth: September 2014
WA: Porn conviction tossed over military’s surveillance role
____ ____, who lives near Seattle, was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2012 for possessing and distributing child pornography that police said they found on his computer. On Friday, a federal appeals court overturned his convictions because of the unlikely — and illegal — source of the investigation. The U.S. Navy. To be specific, an agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Georgia who had a high-powered software program and used it in 2010 to search computers throughout the state of Washington for evidence of child…
Read MoreSex Offender Sues Westminster For Enacting “Unconstitutional” City Park Ban
An activist working to reform municipal and county sex-offender restriction laws in California is now targeting the City of Westminster, according to a federal lawsuit. Full Article
Read MoreKS: Supreme Court hears arguments on constitutionality of state’s offender registry
TOPEKA, Kansas — The attorney for a convicted child molester on Thursday challenged the constitutionality of the Kansas offender registry before the state’s highest court, arguing social media has made the Internet the new town square for public shaming. Attorney Christopher Joseph urged the Kansas Supreme Court to uphold a decision by Shawnee County Judge Larry Hendricks that removed the name of a Lenexa man from the registry. The judge ruled the retroactive application of the Kansas Offender Registration Act when the Legislature amended the law in 2011 violates the…
Read MoreThe Promise (and Perils) of Predicting Sex Crimes
Attorney-General Eric Holder’s August 1 speech criticizing the use of risk assessment in sentencing decisions may not lever the issue to the top of the policy agenda. But a new paper could revive the debate about the effectiveness of risk tools in evaluating the chances of recidivism among those convicted of sex crimes. A forthcoming article in the Arizona State Law Journal argues that state criminal justice systems which use risk assessment tools may overestimate sex offenders’ likelihood of committing another crime. That message may complicate the efforts of those…
Read MoreCanada: B.C. rights group says mandatory minimums cost billions but don’t reduce crime
VANCOUVER – Ottawa’s push to implement mandatory minimum sentences is potentially adding billions of dollars in costs to the criminal justice system without reducing crime or making the public safer, says a report released Monday by a British Columbia-based rights group. Instead, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association’s report says longer prison sentences can actually make inmates more likely to re-offend while disproportionately affecting marginalized groups. The report adds to criticism that has followed the shift to mandatory minimums. The Conservative government has doubled the number of offences that carry compulsory…
Read MoreSex Offender Contributions to King Soar Past Limit
There’s been a lot of ink spilled about the fact that a registered sex offender contributed money to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gary King’s campaign. But little has been said about the fact that the contributions from the sex-offender were three times the legal limit of what a donor can give during an election year. This week, the Santa Fe New Mexican published a top-of-the fold, front-page story about the fact that, “King has received more than $35,000 in campaign contributions from an address in the U.S. Virgin Islands that also is listed…
Read MoreCivil rights activist group sues South Pasadena over ‘arbitrary and discriminatory’ sex offender ordinance
SOUTH PASADENA >> A civil rights activist group filed a lawsuit against South Pasadena this week, alleging the city’s sex offender ordinance strips “a socially outcast minority” of their First, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Attorney Janice Bellucci, president of the California Reform Sex Offender Laws organization, called South Pasadena’s Title 20E-1 through 20E-10 municipal code arbitrary and discriminatory. The regulation was passed in 2009. Full Article Also see: South Pasadena Ordinance Challenged in Federal Court South Pasadena agrees not to enforce city’s presence restrictions
Read MoreLets charge Mckayla Maroney with Child Pornography! (Op-Ed)
I am going to suggest something that is counter-intuitive to our efforts to reform America’s sex offender laws, but I have a good reason for my proposal. I want to see Olympic Gymnast McKayla Maroney charged with production of child pornography. I know, it is a ludicrous proposal on its face. Maroney didn’t mean for these pictures to go out; her personal pictures were part of the celebrity leaked photo fiasco from Labor Day weekend. At first, Maroney denied the photos, buy later claimed they were taken of her at…
Read MoreSouth Pasadena Ordinance Challenged in Federal Court
A sex offender ordinance adopted by the City of South Pasadena has been challenged in a lawsuit filed today in federal district court on behalf of a registered citizen. “The lawsuit was filed today because the City of South Pasadena Police Department recently arrested a registered citizen who did not live in that city, but who chose to visit a park in that city,” stated California RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “The City did so despite the fact that the City Council instructed city staff on February 19 not to enforce…
Read MoreReport faults military sex-offender tracking
The Defense Department doesn’t know how many registered sex offenders have access to military bases and lacks a departmentwide sex offender registry, a new report says. The military also has no way to verify if applicants for military housing are sex offenders required to register with local police, the audit conducted by the Inspector General for the Pentagon found. According to the audit, the department is working to fix the problems but still has work to do. Full Article
Read MoreCould Gold Medal Gymnast McKayla Maroney Face Child Pornography Charges?
A new “We the People” petition is asking that the Obama administration charge gold-medal gymnast McKayla Maroney with production or possession of child pornography because the recently leaked nude images of her were taken when she was underage. And it’s not as outlandish a request as you may think. Full Article
Read MoreMN: Few options for female sex offender
Twenty states and the District of Columbia have laws that allow for sexually dangerous people to be committed civilly. An Associated Press survey of those programs found that ____ is one of only nine committed female sex offenders, and the only one living in an all-male unit, which experts called shocking. Full Article
Read MoreAR: Advocates Question Effectiveness, Fairness of Sex Offender Registry
Carla Swanson doesn’t object to Arkansas’ sex offender registry, but she thinks it should contain a lot fewer than the 14,000 names currently listed. “So many on the registry are not a threat to society,” Swanson said. “I’m against it being flooded with so many sex offenders” the predators can’t be adequately tracked. Experts and some studies agree with Swanson, director of Arkansas Time After Time, an organization formed in 2010 to advocate for reforming the sex offender laws. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Inside the tiny town built for sex offenders
Some wear GPS devices that are constantly monitored by police. Others have fled their homes; repudiated by the local community for being a registered sex offender. And all of them – from those charged with possessing child pornography to ones caught having sex with a minor and molestation – are there to ‘repent their sins’. Welcome to Miracle Village, a tiny church town spanning about 20 acres on the edge of Everglades in south Florida, which was established in 2009 as a spiritual safe haven for sex offenders and their families. With…
Read MoreNC: Brothers cleared of murder, rape charges after 30 years in prison
LUMBERTON, NC (WMBF) – Two half-brothers who were convicted for raping and killing an 11-year-old girl in North Carolina 30 years ago have been cleared of all charges and will be released from jail Tuesday night. Henry McCollum and Leon Brown, now middle-aged, were locked up when they were in their teens. The details of the death of Sabrina Buie that led to their conviction are graphic. Full Article
Read MoreWA: Sex offender scandal prompts fair to require background checks
PUYALLUP, Wash. — In the wake of news that several sex offenders had been employed at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup, fair officials decided to make some changes this year. They’re going to conduct background checks for all employees of the company that handles the carnival rides and games. That’s great news to local parents at the fair. “That’s outstanding,” said fairgoer Lisa Pryne. “That’s something you worry about. I have a GPS/Amber Alert tracking app on my phone and it alerts me and on the car ride here…
Read MoreNonprofit Floats Unusual Alternative To Private Prison
A group of activists in Washington, D.C., have proposed a novel solution to a problem that has affected the United States for decades: the practice of locking people up in private prisons that critics say are more concerned with making money for their shareholders than with helping lawbreakers turn their lives around. Full Article
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