Update May 4: California RSOL has confirmed that AB 201 was withdrawn by its author from consideration by the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee. As a result, AB 201 will not be voted on this year on the floor of the Assembly. It is possible, however, that AB 201 could be amended and considered in 2016. — It was a long drive home yesterday after the Assembly Local Government Committee passed AB 201 by a vote of 5 to 0. A six hour drive is a six hour drive, but yesterday…
Read MoreMonth: April 2015
UK: Number of convicted sex offenders in jail reaches record high
The number of convicted sex offenders in prison has reached record levels, with nearly a fifth of prisoners in England and Wales now serving time for a sexual offence. New data from the Ministry of Justice revealed there were just under 11,600 sentenced sex offenders at the end of March, with 779 additional sex criminals compared with a year earlier, a 7 per cent increase. It means 17 per cent of the sentenced prison population is now a sex offender, compared with just 10 per cent at the turn of…
Read MoreTX: North Dallas Mom Invites Sex Offenders To Tea
DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) – Sex offenders may be the last people you’d invite into your home. However, a North Dallas woman hosted a sex offender tea for three men on the sex offender registry. “We have to talk about this in polite society, and what’s more polite than tea?” asks Judy Safern. She also invited friends and neighbors over for the gathering and had plenty of them RSVP with an adamant NO! Full Article
Read MoreAssembly Local Government Committee passes AB 201
*** Please read Janice’s Journal: Courage and Effort do Pay Off… *** Despite testimony from ACLU and California RSOL, a second legislative committee today approved a bill (AB 201) that would allow cities and counties to pass laws prohibiting registered citizens from being present in or near public and private places. Ten individuals, including registered citizens, also testified in opposition to that bill. The Assembly Local Government Committee approved the bill in a vote of 5 to 0. One member of the committee, Richard Gordon (Democrat, Los Altos), abstained from…
Read MoreIA: Mother sentenced to prison for leaving kids with sex offender
SIOUX CITY | A Pierson, Iowa, woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for living with a known sex offender and leaving her 6-year-old twin sons with him. ____ ____, 36, pleaded guilty in Woodbury County District Court to two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Welcome to Pariahville
When you are a registered sex offender in America, you lose the right to choose where you want to live. By law. Your backstory doesnt matter. Nor does the nature of your crime or your excuse. You are exiled from society, and only a few places will welcome you. Like this place in South Florida. The City of Refuge. Jay Kirk reports on life in an American community—yes, that’s definitely the right word—like no other. Full Article
Read MoreSB 267 – New Hearing Date: Tuesday, May 12
The Senate Public Safety Committee has delayed its consideration of SB 267 by two weeks. The new hearing date for that bill is May 12. No reason has been given for the delay. The Assembly Local Government Committee is still scheduled to hear AB 201 on April 29 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 447 of the State Capitol. Both bills, if passed, would allow cities and counties to pass “presence restrictions” that could prohibit registered citizens from being present in or near both public and private places.
Read MoreOH: Pedophiles should not be allowed to mix with minors on college campus (Column)
Every parent’s nightmare is a reality in the classrooms of Cuyahoga Community College. Literally, as I type this article, blossoming teenage girls and budding teenage boys are schoolmates with adult registered sex offenders who have failed to report Tri-C as their school. Many have stipulations that prohibit unsupervised contact with minors. Full Column Response: Should former sex offenders be allowed on college campuses?
Read MoreTX: Texas Voices standing against sex offender residency restrictions
Texas Voices, a group made up of families of people on Texas’ sex offender registry and others who support reform of Texas sex offender statutes, has been quite active this session, and it’s a good thing. As Grits told their indefatigable leader Mary Sue Molnar when the organization began, every other criminal justice reform group and activist in the state, including me, will inevitably sell them out at the Legislature. When someone says of a proposal, “well, we can do that but we have to exclude sex offenders,” reform advocates…
Read MoreNV: Volunteer work helps sex offender deal with past, build a future
Clients arrive early at the Las Vegas Senior Food Pantry down on Ninth Street, where Teri De La Torre and her small team of volunteers distribute bread, produce, meat and dry goods to the neighborhood’s low-income elderly. The food bank’s headquarters at the corner of Ninth and Bonneville is as neat and manicured as any of the law offices in the area, but there aren’t many billable hours to be found here. The tiny nonprofit has been known for many years more commonly as Jude 22 after the Bible verse…
Read MoreNew California Supreme Court surprises analysts early on
When Gov. Jerry Brown’s two latest nominees joined the California Supreme Court in January, legal analysts foresaw the creation of a more liberal majority. … During a closed session last week, Kruger joined the more conservative justices in refusing to revisit a decision that said adults who have consensual oral sex with minors must register as sex offenders — even though registration is not mandatory for adults who have sexual intercourse with people in the same age group. Full Article
Read MoreHow We Will Take Down Public Registries (RSOL)
Although many of our constituents would love to see some sort of silver bullet to end public sex offender registries once and for all, realistically, this is a long-term war. It will take many more battles across many different fronts to win. Those fronts include our legal system, our legislatures, and the general public. It also includes… ourselves! EVERY battlefront is important, and EVERY soldier is needed The Legal Front We have many legal “soldiers” out there challenging various aspects of public registration, sometimes for individuals, sometimes for entire groups.…
Read MoreAfter sex offenders accused of killing 4 women, state bill would crack down on those who tamper with GPS monitors [UPDATED]
Following a high-profile murder case involving two Orange County parolees, state lawmakers are again considering more time behind bars for sex offenders who tamper with GPS monitoring devices. Offenders currently face a mandatory six months in jail for removing or disabling GPS bracelets. But under a bill introduced this year by state Sen. Pat Bates of Laguna Niguel, they could face up to three years in prison. … Bates called the state’s current penalties for tampering with GPS monitoring devices a “slap on the wrist” and argued that elevating the…
Read MoreTX: Closing Sex Offender Loophole
SAN ANTONIO – A state lawmaker says he’s making good on his promise to close a loophole in Texas law that could put children of sex offenders in danger. You would think that a convicted sex offenders’ parental rights would be revoked, but that’s not always the case. And it took a brave woman coming forward to the Trouble Shooters to get lawmakers at the State Capitol to take action. Full Article
Read MoreSenate passes amendment closing military sex offender loophole
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to close a legal loophole that enables military sex offenders to evade registering with civilian law enforcement. On a 98-0 vote, Senators adopted the Military Sex Offender Reporting Act as an amendment to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which the Senate passed later Wednesday afternoon. Full Article
Read MoreState high court passes up chance to go easier on sex offenders
A divided state Supreme Court voted Wednesday to leave intact a ruling requiring lifetime registration for certain non-forcible sex offenders, an issue that split Gov. Jerry Brown’s two most recent appointees. The court had voted 5-2 on Jan. 29 to reinstate a 1947 California law requiring anyone convicted of non-forcible oral copulation with a minor to register with police as a sex offender. Registration, which is also mandatory for violent sex offenders, enters their names and addresses on a publicly available database and prohibits them from living near a school…
Read MoreNM: Sex offender registration can be confusing issue
Deputy Pat Montes with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office has the job of keeping track of Lincoln County’s sex offenders. “We are mandated to track and register sex offenders,” said Lincoln county Sheriff Robert Shepperd. “The rules and regulations change all the time.” Full Article
Read MoreLegislative Committees to Consider Presence Restriction Bills
Two state legislative committees will soon consider bills that would allow, but not require, cities and counties to adopt “presence restrictions”. On April 28, the Senate Public Safety Committee will consider SB 267 at 9:30 a.m. in Room 3191. ***** Please note the change of date for SB 267 ******* “The Senate Governance and Finance Committee approved SB 267 on April 15 and if the bill is also approve by the Senate Public Safety Committee, it will move to the Senate floor for a vote,” stated California RSOL president Janice…
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