Katie Couric – One man opens up about his fight for freedom after being accused of sexual assault by his own children. Find out how he was finally freed and reunited with his family. Website
Read MoreYear: 2014
IL: Crowded Chicago Police office forces sex offenders to violate parole
The Chicago Police Department forces sex offenders to violate their parole. I know that sounds crazy. I thought it was crazy when I first heard about it, but I’ve spent a lot of time in the last two weeks with sex offenders waiting — for hours and hours — outside police headquarters and watching a Kafkaesque process play out. Every morning sex offenders start lining up at 6, while it’s still dark out, sometimes even earlier than that, and I probably don’t have to remind you how cold it’s been…
Read MoreFL: State senators fast track sex offender legislation
State senators are poised to pass landmark legislation aimed at better protecting Floridians from rapists and child molesters Tuesday, the first day of the annual Legislative session. “I don’t want to let one more day go by without making Florida scorched earth for sexual predators,” said Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. The package of four bills would toughen sex-crime sentences, increase community monitoring, and keep more of the most dangerous offenders confined after their prison terms end. It would provide the most comprehensive overhaul of sex offender legislation in more than…
Read MoreWrongly convicted man free after 8 years
Every day behind bars was torture, but holidays hurt the most. It wasn’t just missing Thanksgiving or Christmas with his family. It was that he’d miss out next year, too, and the year after that, and the year after that. Every year for the rest of his life. Prison isn’t supposed to be easy, of course. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime — but what if you didn’t do the crime? Welcome to Uriah Courtney’s nightmare. He was convicted of sexually assaulting a high school girl…
Read MoreMA: Porn debate over National Geographic photo goes to SJC
The question of whether a photo of a naked boy in National Geographic constitutes child pornography when found in the troubling jailhouse stash of a convicted sex offender goes before the state’s highest court today. “After a summer day’s swim, a boy returns to his new bike,” reads the caption under award-winning photojournalist Lynn Johnson’s picture in “Inside the Dragon,” the magazine’s 2008 special edition on China. The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office convinced a grand jury that in the prison footlocker of convicted sex offender ____ ____, the image merited…
Read MoreGeneral Comments March 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of March 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreVA: Flaws in the state’s sex offender registry
The Virginia Sex Offender Registry exists to keep society safe, especially its children. Sometimes, it does just the opposite. Sometimes, the law that prevents sex offenders from being on school property and around kids isolates and stigmatizes innocent people. It can ruin lives. Full Article
Read MoreOR: Teen sexting – A photo sent, life changed forever
A law creates a three-tiered sex offender registration system BEND — Sexting — sending nude pictures or arousing text messages — has become part of our modern-day life. But for one Central Oregon teen, who wants to remain anonymous, sending one picture changed his life. “I’m on supervised probation for 120 months, which is 10 years — and I sent a picture,” he said. Last year, when he was 18 years old and in high school, he sent a nude picture to his friend, a 15-year-old girl. Although there was never any…
Read MoreTalk Radio: NATIONAL REFORM SEX OFFENDER LAWS – “The Big Picture affecting our nation.
Part 1: March 2, 2014 – 8 pm PST The vision and mission of this organization. www.nationalrsol.org The effect sex offender laws have on the community. Call in to speak with the host (619) 393-2837 A national organization sees the issue and the affect demoralizing a sex offender has on communities, and why it is imperative to change this thinking to heal society, the victim and the offender. We will detail the National RSOL and what it is doing to protect the nation and reform sex offender issues. Link
Read MoreCO: With 2 Different Bills, Colorado Will Get A ‘Jessica’s Law’
DENVER (CBS4) – Colorado lawmakers from both parties are working on different versions of a bill that would lay out mandatory sentences for child sex offenders. Similar bills have failed before. Last year’s bill, brought by Republicans, died in an end-of-session drama that left Democrats struggling to explain why they opposed a bill that went hard on sex offenders. So this year there are dueling bills — one Democratic one Republican. The intent of both bills is the same — to make sure anyone who sexually assaults a child spends a long…
Read MorePA: Third Judge Rules Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Unconstitutional
Under current Pennsylvania law, juvenile sex offenders have to comply with lifetime registration requirements. But this month, a third Pennsylvania judge ruled that law unconstitutional, setting the stage for the issue to be addressed by the state supreme court. Judges from York, Monroe, and Lancaster counties have now all written opinions stating that the law fails to take juveniles’ greater capacity for reform into account. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Proposed sex-offender registry will not deter crime, criminal lawyer warns
The Conservative government’s plan to create a publicly-accessible database of child sex offenders will do little if anything to deter sex crimes and could actually lead to an increase in offences, an Ottawa-based defence lawyer warns. Michael Spratt, who has testified at numerous parliamentary committees on criminal legislation, says the sex registry is being sold as a way to protect children and assist parents, but it is nothing more than “false advertising.” The Conservative government’s legislation, introduced Wednesday, would create a publicly-accessible database of high-risk child sex offenders. It would…
Read MoreOp Ed: Tennessee Rep. Wants to Print “Sex Offender” in Red on Every Sex Offender’s Driver’s License
Matthew Hill, a Tennessee state representative who ran for office with an image of a fetus on his campaign fliers, has entertained the notion that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and previously proposed legislation to force Tennesseans to exclusively speak English while at work, has got another bright idea. Hill is sponsoring a bill that would print the words sex offender—in three places, and in red lettering—on the driver’s licenses of everyone listed on the sex-offender registry in the state. Hill says that he was moved to support the legislation after…
Read MoreEND State Sanctioned Sexual Assault, Rape Culture and Law Enforcement Impunity
The San Diego police department’s scandal involving officers accused of preying on women who they came in contact with while in uniform and on duty. … We deserve to be safe. The recurrences of sexual assault committed by the above named officers as well as the investigation of San Diego police department’s facility concluded that we are not. Putting a woman or anyone in a position where they are LEGALLY sexually violated UNDER ANY THREAT should never happen. These THREATS are also in the form of entrapment by undercover police officers…
Read MoreProbation officials concede failures in GPS tracking of felons
Los Angeles County probation officials Tuesday conceded widespread failures in their electronic monitoring of felons, in which probation deputies were deluged with meaningless alerts while offenders went untracked for days and weeks at a time. “This is a blueprint of how not to implement a GPS program,” Probation Chief Jerry Powers told the county Board of Supervisors. He said deputies were not at fault, but blamed department administrators and the vendor who sold the county the service.The hearing was triggered by a Feb. 15 story in The Times disclosing that…
Read MoreTX: Registered sex offenders banned from San Antonio parks
SAN ANTONIO — More than 80 parks across San Antonio will turn into restricted zones for registered sex offenders. The new ordinance takes effect Saturday, March 1. City council unanimously approved it in December as the best interest of public safety. Texas Voices, a group which advocates for non-violent offenders, says analysis of similar ordinances in other states suggest restrictions do not create safer environments. The group said some registrants are on the list if they were charged for having a consensual relationship with a minor at 18-years-old. “The hardest part…
Read MoreIN: Sex offenders told to move after I-Team 8 investigation
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) Dozens of sex offenders are being told they are in violation of the law and need to move after an I-Team 8 investigation. Tuesday night, I-Team 8’s story showed sex offenders living near schools and day cares. After seeing the I-Team 8 evidence showing where sex offenders live, Sheriff John Layton launched his own investigation and is taking immediate action: 41 sex offenders have been told they are in violation. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Moore asks House for second chance
State Rep. Sam Moore (R-Macedonia) has withdrawn his bill lessening restrictions on sex offenders and is asking for a second chance after the proposal caused a public backlash Friday on the floor of the House of Representatives. Moore, who is entering his third week in office, stood before the House on Monday morning and apologized to his fellow lawmakers, the voters in his District 22 and the entire state of Georgia — though he also criticized those who publicly bashed him. Full Article
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