California is often labeled the most litigious state, and a rash of lawsuits around the state not only upholds this contention, but threatens the safety of California’s children. Local ordinances defining places where convicted sex offenders may not visit are apparently going the way of the dodo, under an onslaught of legal challenges aimed at expanding the rights of offenders. Two such lawsuits, targeting ordinances in Irvine and Orange County banning convicted sex offenders from visiting city parks and recreational sites, have resulted in those ordinances’ invalidation by a state…
Read MoreMonth: February 2015
NY: High Court right to overturn local sex offender laws (Editorial)
Local and county politicians around the state hopped on a populist bandwagon nearly a decade ago, hurriedly passing laws that outdid the state’s effort to keep convicted sex offenders from living or even walking near schools, parks and daycare centers — in the absence of any real evidence that stricter laws were needed. Full Editorial
Read MoreVA: Sex offender registry – Bad idea (OpEd)
Virginia lawmakers introduce many bad ideas, but they also wisely dispense with a good proportion of them. One of those that has escaped the ax comes from state Sen. Ryan McDougle, and would establish a supplemental sex-offender registry. The supplemental registry, which would be published on the State Police website, would include the names of persons who committed various offenses between 1980 and 1994. Full OpEd Piece
Read MoreHemet Man Displays ‘Child Molester Danger’ Sign To Warn Residents Of Neighbor
HEMET (CBSLA.com) — A homeowner has displayed two bright green posters in a Hemet neighborhood in an effort to warn neighbors of a man who is registered as a sex offender on the Megan’s Law database. Doug Ennen made the posters, one of which says “Child Molester Danger,” and taped them to his two cars. He then parked one of those vehicles in front of a registered sex offender’s home. Full Article Related: Man posts signs to warn neighbors about child molester
Read MoreAR: Sex Offender Database Violates Federal Law
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas is violating federal law with the way it tracks certain sex offenders. It has cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars and some say is putting the public in danger. The Adam Walsh Act was passed in 2006. Nearly 10 years later, Arkansas is non-compliant in three major areas. They are: failing to report certain juvenile offenders, establishing a process for getting off the registry and not listing all offenders online. Full Article
Read MoreMA: Worcester’s sex-offender ordinance awaits court ruling on Lynn measure
WORCESTER — Local efforts to restrict where Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders can live in the city have been put on hold, pending the outcome of a legal challenge to a similar ordinance adopted by another community that is now before the state Supreme Judicial Court. Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman, chairman of the City Council Public Safety Committee, said it is his understanding that arguments regarding that residency ordinance are expected to be made before the SJC in April, with a decision likely to come out in June.…
Read MoreExperts: Reducing Prison Populations Best Way To Keep Sex Offenders Safe Behind Bars
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California’s extraordinary rate of prison homicides is rekindling a debate over whether the state needs to further reduce its prison population to ensure inmates’ safety. Experts say trimming the inmate population is also the best hope for protecting sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreTier it up
California is one of only four states that require adults convicted of certain sex crimes to register with local law enforcement each year for life. Crime-free for 50 years? Bedridden? It doesn’t matter. This lifetime requirement has turned California’s registry into the largest in the country. There are roughly 800,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., and around 100,000 of them live in California. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’ Journal: Behind the Orange Curtain
Orange County continues to be the epicenter for laws that both violate the civil rights of registered citizens as well as decrease public safety. The latest attempt comes in the form of a bill introduced in Sacramento by Assemblyman William Brough of Dana Point (AB 201). If it becomes law, the bill would allow cities and counties to pass any law they wished to restrict where a registered citizen could visit. That could return us all to the former Land of Oz where a registered citizen could legally walk on…
Read MoreID: Bill would add violent criminals to sex offender registry
BOISE — An Idaho legislative panel is considering a bill to add people convicted of violent crimes – such as murder, kidnapping and felony domestic violence – to the state’s sex offender registry. The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to consider expanding the registry to include violent offenders. Full Article
Read More‘It’s about the safety of kids’: Dana Point lawmaker’s bill would ban sex offenders from parks
Orange County’s ban on sex offenders in parks, declared illegal by appellate judges last year, has a new backer: a proposed bill in the state Assembly that would allow cities to enforce restrictions on such criminals. The bill from state Assemblyman Bill Brough, R-Dana Point, aims to prohibit sex offenders from going to parks and beaches without written permission from the sheriff or local police chief. The bill’s co-authors include Assemblyman Matthew Harper, R-Huntington Beach. “At the end of the day, it’s about the safety of kids,” said Brough, a…
Read MorePeaceful Protest to be held in the City of Carson on March 7
California RSOL will lead a peaceful protest in the City of Carson on Saturday, March 7, in order to highlight the harm done by the city’s sex offender ordinance. That ordinance bans registered citizens from being present in or within 300 feet of public places including the library, parks and swimming pools as well as private places including fast food restaurants that have a children’s playground. The peaceful protest will begin at Carson City Hall at 10 a.m. near the water fountain. Registered citizens, family members, and all who support…
Read MoreChild porn restitution bill passes Senate, sets minimum damages for victims
A bill named for two women whose childhood images were turned into heinous pornography was handily passed in the Senate on Wednesday. The Amy and Vicky Child Pornography Victim Restitution Improvement Act was approved by a 98-0 vote. The measure gives hope to victims that they will finally be able to win major compensation from any single person who illegally viewed, made or distributed their images. Victims of child pornography and other sexual exploitation “ought to have access to full restitution from any single perpetrator for their losses,” said Senate…
Read MoreNY: Court of Appeals voids sex offender laws
ALBANY — The state’s highest court ruled Tuesday that state law restricting the residency of registered sex offenders supersedes local and county laws, rendering them obsolete. The 5-0 decision by the Court of Appeals marked defeat for Nassau County and any other municipality in New York state hoping to restrict the offenders to within certain distances of schools, parks, playgrounds, daycare centers and other places where children are likely to be. Full Article
Read MoreMany sex offenders killed in California prison
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Shortly after 2 a.m. on April 6, 2010, a guard at Salinas Valley State Prison noticed ____ ____’s cellmate trying to stuff something under a mattress. It was ____, blood trickling from his mouth and a cloth noose tied around his neck. The convicted child molester died 10 days later without regaining consciousness, his death earning his cellmate a second life sentence. California state prisoners are killed at a rate that is double the national average — and sex offenders like ____ account for a disproportionate…
Read MoreHouse bill would require DOD to publish names of military sex offenders
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bipartisan bill introduced in the house Thursday would require the Department of Defense to create its own sex offender registry along with a Website to make the information available to the public. Full Article
Read MoreIA: Blue Grass woman finds her own address on sex offender registry, used without her knowledge
BLUE GRASS, Iowa (KWQC) — We hear about the sex offender registry when there is a change in the law or a big compliance check. But does it really hold offenders accountable? A Blue Grass woman says, not as much as you might expect. And her story hits close to home. She lives in an established neighborhood with nice houses fronted by big yards. You wouldn’t think a sex offender lived there. And as far as we know, one doesn’t. But for a little while this winter, Stefanie Mucha’s Valley…
Read MoreMI: Mom on mission for a public child abuse registry
… The proposed registry would be searchable by name, similar to the state’s sex offender registry. Specific details of the proposed child abuse registry have yet to be determined. But such a registry would give people another way to check whether someone has been convicted of child abuse, be it a new neighbor, a babysitter, someone who is dating an ex-spouse or someone who is marrying into the family. Full Article
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