One of the worst ideas to come out of the War on Drugs is sentencing enhancement zones. These laws mandate a higher penalty for crimes committed within a certain distance of schools. The intent is noble, but at huge distances like 1,500 feet, the laws are actually harmful. Full Article
Read MoreMonth: June 2015
Grover Beach Ordinance challenged in Federal Court
A lawsuit was filed today in federal district court challenging an ordinance recently adopted by the City of Grover Beach. The ordinance prohibits California sex offenders (“registrants”) from living within 2,000 feet of any school, park, or day care center. This is the first lawsuit to be filed challenging a city’s residency restrictions after the California Supreme Court’s decision which declared such restrictions unconstitutional. Civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci filed the lawsuit on behalf of Frank Lindsay, who has resided in Grover Beach for 18 years. According to Bellucci, the…
Read MoreMN: Sex offender program is ruled unconstitutional
A federal judge ruled Wednesday morning that Minnesota’s controversial system of confining convicted sex offenders violates the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank ruled that the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) is unconstitutional because it fails to provide adequate protections for civilly committed offenders, including regular assessments of their risk level and access to less-restrictive treatment alternatives in the community. Full Article Ruling
Read MoreFL: Polk sheriff, lawmakers push for employee polygraphs in businesses dealing with kids
POLK COUNTY, Fla. – Polk County Sheriff’s Office held a news conference on Monday to discuss a bill that would allow private employers whose businesses interact with children to polygraph test potential employees during the hiring process. The Protecting Our Children Act would amend the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988, which prohibits the use of polygraph tests during hiring, with the exception of law enforcement fields. According to a release from PCSO, the polygraph testing would help identify child sex predators during the hiring process and allow companies dealing with…
Read MoreThe Public Sex Offender Registry–A Perpetual Shame
Amanda Hess has written a brilliant piece about the re-emergence of public shaming using the tragic example of a father’s punishment of his daughter. For disobeying a house rule, he filmed his cutting off her hair, chastising her all the while, and posted it online. She was only 13, unable to deal with the humiliation, and she killed herself. Full Blog Post
Read More‘Frightening and High’: The Frightening Sloppiness of the High Court’s Sex Crime Statistics
This brief essay reveals that the sources relied upon by the Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe, a heavily cited constitutional decision on sex offender registries, in fact provide no support at all for the facts about sex offender re-offense rates that the Court treats as central to its constitutional conclusions. This misreading of the social science was abetted in part by the Solicitor General’s misrepresentations in the amicus brief it filed in this case. The false “facts” stated in the opinion have since been relied upon repeatedly by other…
Read MoreLiving with 290: Conversion…
I was sixteen and i got convicted of a sex crime. I’m now 35, I never had a record ever until that day when two police officers came to my home and told me i was being accused of sleeping with a minor girl I was 17 then they took me in a small office and proceeded to tell me if i don’t confess they were going to put me away for life i was so scared the police officers grabbed my neck and slammed me down on the chair…
Read MoreMN: Federal judge to rule on future of Sex Offender Program
Minnesotans could see more convicted sex offenders moving into their communities in coming months if a federal judge this week rules, as expected, that the state’s controversial system of confining offenders indefinitely violates the U.S. Constitution. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Carson Court of Opinion to Convene on July 21
The City of Carson has taken a stance. It has “declared war” against registered citizens. That war includes both presence restrictions which prohibit all registered citizens from visiting both public and private places as well as residency restrictions which prohibit all registered citizens from living in a significant part of that city. The Carson City Council knows that its laws do not comply with recent state appellate court decisions which are based upon interpretations of the state and federal constitutions. Members of that Council have stated publicly, however, that they…
Read MoreNV: Veto of juvenile sex offender law changes shocks advocates
Juvenile justice advocates sounded an alarm Thursday after Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed a bill that would have revised the state’s controversial sex offender registration law regarding juveniles. The changes would have granted courts wider discretion in deciding whether registration and community notification were necessary in cases of young sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreCivil Regulation? The Registry & its Components are in fact Punishment.
The first thing that must be pointed out is that the sex offender registry came about because of the myth that people convicted of sexual related crimes were always going to reoffend. Some of the numbers that were tossed around at the time that the registry was conceived were 60 to 80% would reoffend. The registry was not originally designed to protect anyone, it was simply there to aid law-enforcement so that they would have suspects to look at because of this belief of high reoffense rates. Full Article by…
Read MoreHow Josh Duggar and Dennis Hastert could change the laws on sex crimes
Two days after former House speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) indictment became public, a small group of sexual abuse survivors gathered at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago. The group, made up of members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), was there say thank you to prosecutors for exposing Hastert’s alleged crimes. Full Article
Read MoreCourt Rules Against City of Carson
The L.A. Superior Court ruled today that plaintiff Frank Lindsay may amend his initial complaint and declared moot a request by the City of Carson for a demurrer in the case. In the initial complaint, Lindsay asked the Court to require the City of Carson to honor the terms of the settlement agreement reached between the parties in July 2014. The terms included a significant revision of the city’s presence restrictions in order to be consistent with current state law as well. In the amended complaint, Lindsay will ask the…
Read MoreKS: Ruling prohibits blanket ban on Internet use for parolees
WICHITA, Kan.- A blanket ban on Internet use unlawfully deprives parolees convicted of sex crimes of more liberty than necessary because the Internet has become a necessary part of modern life, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said the wording in a standard condition of supervised release used by the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Office for the District of Kansas conflicts with a 2001 ruling from the court because it suggests probation officers can completely ban a means of communication. The court noted…
Read MoreLet’s Stamp Out Perversion
The civil commitment of sexually violent predators (SVPs) is designed to protect society’s vulnerable from a group of perverts and monsters. What could be wrong with this? Only everything. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Judge reinstates harsher child pornography charges against teen accused of Catholic school threats
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A judge has decided that charges of producing child pornography thrown out by a lower court judge should be reinstated against a 17-year-old Catholic high school honor student. In a hearing Friday, May 29, Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock ruled in favor of the prosecution that teen Matthew Herrington potentially violated the law when he allegedly downloaded more than 133 images of child pornography. In a Grand Rapids District Court hearing from March, defense attorney Anthony Greene convinced Judge Jeanine LaVille that because his…
Read MoreConsenting Juveniles™ Research Study Announced
At the 47th annual conference of the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) on Saturday, Dr. Marshall Burns, president of SOL Research, presented preliminary results of a new project underway. “Soon after we first posted results of our research on sex laws back in 2007,” said Burns, “we began to be contacted by individuals complaining of being treated as abuse victims when they disagree.” He describes a call from a young woman he calls Amber. “She asked if was okay for her to contact her boyfriend in…
Read MoreIN: Campaign for Elkhart 19-year-old underscores broader concerns about sex offender registries
ELKHART — The requirement that 19-year-old ____ ____ register as a sex offender as part of his conviction for involvement with an underage girl isn’t just a concern for him and his parents, Les and Amanda Anderson. It’s part of a larger movement against what some critics see as indiscriminate and unfair placement of certain offenders on such registries. Full Article Related MI: ‘Old-fashioned scarlet letter’: Elkhart 19-year-old fights sex offender status after encounter with Michigan teen
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