Seeking to protect civil rights for a “socially outcast minority,” the California chapter of Reform Sex Offender Laws this year has sued 22 municipalities for ordinances that the group contends are inconsistent statewide and unconstitutional, the organization’s president said Monday. San Bernardino County on Oct. 14 was the latest target of California Reform Sex Offender Laws, which is led by Santa Maria attorney Janice Bellucci. Full Article Earlier Article
Read MoreYear: 2014
MO: Amendment 2 asks whether child sex defendants’ past acts can be used against them at trial
The Missouri Constitution currently bars testimony that past acts show propensity — that the accused is likely guilty of the same crime again. Amendment 2 would alter that rule in cases involving child sexual abuse, including allowing testimony about crimes that were never charged. Full Article
Read MoreFear the Bogeyman: Sex Offender Panic on Halloween
It can be said that sex offenders are the new bogeymen, mythical monsters invented to scare children into social order. People convicted of sex offenses, and subsequently placed on the public registry, are transformed into a concept of evil, which is then personified as a group of faceless, terrifying, and predatory devils. It would appear that this strategy is used to keep sex offenders at a distance, in turn keeping our children and families safe from harm. But in reality, such fantasy does just the opposite: ignoring the realities of…
Read MoreUK: Paedophiles who download images ‘won’t all be charged’
Some paedophiles with images of child abuse will escape prosecution, the head of the National Crime Agency has said. Keith Bristow said expecting all the estimated 50,000 people in the UK who have accessed abuse images to be brought to justice was “not realistic”. He said police would have to focus on those who posed most risk. Labour called it “disgraceful”, adding that the NCA was not fit for dealing with the problem. The Home Office said all crimes should be investigated. Full Article
Read MoreJacques: Could your teen face child porn charges?
Michigan teens beware. An indiscreet photo on your phone or computer could land you in court as a felony sex offender. Sex has always preoccupied teens. With the broad proliferation of cellphones and social media, however, young people have a wealth of new ways to make bad decisions. Full Article Related Teens Still Sending Naked Selfies
Read MoreUK: Anime fan convicted over illegal pictures of imaginary children
A jobless animation fan has made legal history as he was convicted of having illegal pictures of cartoon children. ____ ____, 39, is believed to be the first in the UK hauled before court over his collection of Japanese Manga or Anime-style images alone. He admitted 10 counts of possessing prohibited images of children at Teesside Crown Court. His barrister Richard Bennett said: “These are not what would be termed as paedophilic images. These are cartoons.” Full Article
Read MoreAustralia: Should sex offenders be allowed to fly?
LAST week the shocking case of a woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted while trapped in a plane’s bathroom emerged. … The horrifying case has prompted calls from an Australian aviation law expert for sex offenders to be added to the “do not fly” list. Shine Lawyers Aviation Law Solicitor Joseph Wheeler wants the airlines to have access to public sex offender lists, and have the power to ban them from flying. Full Article
Read MoreHarvard law Professors Condemn Campus Sex-Assault Policy
A group of Harvard Law School professors condemned the university’s new sexual misconduct policy, saying it violates the rights of the accused and “departs dramatically” from current law. Full Article
Read MoreSex-offender laws are ineffective and unfair, critics say
____ ____, 62, is a father, small-business owner and avid surfer. He’s also one of 105,000 people in California — and 760,000 nationally — listed as a sex offender. In accordance with federal law, his name, photograph and home address appear in a public, online offender registry. In 1979, ____, then 27, was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under the age of 14. “I thought I could do whatever I wanted,” ____ says. “Add on some alcohol, and I was a real asshole.” Today, ____ considers himself a…
Read MoreDon’t Water Down This Law [Editorial]
Along with big-time drug dealers and terrorists, registered sex offenders may constitute the most odious group of individuals with which society must contend. But despite the disdain most people feel for them, a movement is afoot to strike down local ordinances that go beyond the limits of California law, which restricts only those sex offenders who are on parole and whose victims were under age 14 from visiting public parks without their parole officer’s OK. Full Editorial
Read MoreIn defense of John Grisham
The Internet is enjoying a good piling on right now at the expense of author John Grisham. In an interview with the Telegraph, Grisham talked about over-incarceration in America. As part of that discussion, Grisham also mentioned that he thinks the laws and sentences for viewing or possessing child pornography are excessive. Cue the Internet outrage machine. Full Article
Read MoreWas John Grisham Right? How Child Porn Laws Fuel Mass Incarceration
Popular author John Grisham made headlines this week for speaking out against harsh sentences for child pornography, citing the recent prosecution of a friend for downloading child porn. His friend was sentenced to three years in prison for downloading pornography that claimed to depict 16-year-old females. Predictably there was an immediate backlash, with people accusing him of sympathizing with dangerous pedophiles and even going so far as to find his views an implicit admission of his own child porn fetish. Disappointingly, Grisham then backtracked within hours and entirely took back…
Read MoreJohn Grisham: men who watch child porn are not all paedophiles [updated]
America is wrongly jailing far too many people for viewing child pornography, the best-selling legal novelist John Grisham has told The Telegraph in a wide-ranging attack on the US judicial system and the country’s sky-high prison rates. Mr Grisham, 59, argued America’s judges had “gone crazy” over the past 30 years, locking up far too many people, from white collar criminals like the businesswoman Martha Stewart, to black teenagers on minor drugs charges and – he added – those who had viewed child porn online. Full Article Update: A STATEMENT FROM…
Read MoreSan Bernardino County sued over controversial sex offender ordinance
SAN BERNARDINO >> A civil rights attorney fighting for the repeal or revision of laws restricting the movement of sex offenders in cities and counties across California has sued San Bernardino County, challenging its ordinance. Full Article
Read MoreBaldwin Park to consider suspending sex offender restrictions
BALDWIN PARK >> The city could stop restricting where sex offenders can live and move if the council takes the city attorney’s recommendation at its Wednesday meeting. The Baldwin Park Municipal Code prevents sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any children’s facility and from loitering within 300 feet of any children’s facility. The law was enacted in December, 2006, based on a section of the state penal code that allows cities to adopt tighter restrictions on where offenders can live and move. Full Article
Read MoreAustralia: Northern Territory to launch online public sex offender register
Convicted sex offenders in the Northern Territory will soon have their image, physical description and whereabouts posted on a government website. Legislation announced today has been named Daniel’s Law after Queensland teenager Daniel Morcombe, who was murdered in 2003 by a convicted sex offender on parole. Although several details have not been finalised, it was believed all of the information published on the website about a sex offender would be publicly accessible. Full Article
Read MorePA: Megan’s Law mandate unfairly punishes offenders, court rules
[Updated with Decision] Some of Pennsylvania’s latest sex offender registration requirements run afoul of a constitutional ban on laws that create new penalties for people who have already paid for their crimes, the Commonwealth Court has ruled. The panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges also found, however, that requiring sex offenders to reveal their email addresses and other online aliases is not a violation of the First Amendment right to anonymous speech. Full Article Decision: http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/214MD13_10-14-14.pdf
Read MoreSex-crimes convict says registration has ruined his career, endangered his life
____ ____ lives a relatively quiet life in the San Luis Obispo County city of Grover Beach. For 35 years he’s kept out of trouble, but his one conviction in 1979 for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 continues to haunt him: He is required to register as a sex offender in California for the rest of his life, which has permanently branded him. He is limited in where he can live and where he can go due to restrictive state and local laws,…
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