MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — Behind razor wire and locked metal doors, hundreds of men waited on a recent morning to be counted, part of the daily routine inside a remote facility here that was built based on a design for a prison. But this is not a prison, and most of these men — rapists, child abusers and other sex offenders — have completed their sentences. They are being held here indefinitely under a policy known as civil commitment, having been deemed “sexually dangerous” or “sexual psychopathic personalities” by courts.…
Read MoreMonth: October 2015
“Attempted Sexting” Lands 24 Year-Old on Sex Offender Registry
Should a person be ordered to register as a sex offender for sending explicit video to a minor (sexting), but never physically touching the victim? The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals says yes. Full Article
Read MoreRI: ACLU sues to stop new sex offender residency law
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The new law forbidding Level 3 sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school in Rhode Island is not constitutional, the Rhode Island ACLU said in a lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Providence. Full Article
Read More‘Person of interest’ named in 1989 Jacob Wetterling disappearance
The boy was 11 when he was abducted while riding home on his bike. An Annandale man charged with possessing child pornography is a person of interest in the case, authorities said. Full Article Related Wetterling Family Statement
Read MoreA 50-state look at officer decertification for sex incidents
An Associated Press investigation into sexual misconduct by law enforcement officers in the U.S. identified some 1,000 in six years who lost their licenses for sexual assault or other sex offenses or misconduct, including possession of child pornography, voyeurism and sex on duty. The findings are based on an analysis of state records for an administrative process called decertification, but the AP found that policies regarding decertification vary widely from state to state. Forty-one states provided information, three did not, and six states and the District of Columbia said they…
Read MoreWichita sex offender speaks out about Halloween treatment
A local registered sex offender is speaking out about what many parents call ‘Halloween’s biggest danger’: kids trick-or-treating at a registered sex offenders home. From the media coverage to police sweeps, the registered sex offender who does not want to be identified says fearing sex offenders on Halloween is being afraid of a problem that doesn’t exist. “The facts don’t match the hype,” he said. Full Article
Read MoreEnd Halloween hoax that wastes millions
Cambridge, Mass.—RSOL, Inc., a civil rights organization that advocates for evidence-based laws and the civil rights of law-abiding, registered citizens, calls for law enforcement entities to end the huge expenditure of tax dollars which are needlessly squandered each Halloween on a problem that experts in the field insist simply does not exist. (1) This year, a letter will be printed and sent to all parents in Barstow County, Georgia regarding registrants’ obligations at Halloween. This is in addition to various restrictions and requirements that apply only to those on parole…
Read MoreCDCR Withdraws Halloween Sign Requirement Statewide
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) today announced in federal district court its decision to withdraw a statewide requirement that sex offender parolees post a sign on the front door of their residences on Halloween. Immediately following that announcement, CA RSOL withdrew its request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). “This is a significant victory for more than 10,000 registered citizens and their families,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “They are no longer faced with the risk of significant injury.” CA RSOL and plaintiff John Doe were…
Read MoreJapan: UN envoy calls on Japan to ban extreme child manga porn
A UN special envoy Monday, October 26, called on Japan to ban cartoon images featuring “extreme” sexualized images of children, after Tokyo last year fell into line with other G7 nations by criminalizing possession of child pornography. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Zach Anderson removed from Indiana sex offender registry after months-long court battle
Zach Anderson of Elkhart is off the Indiana sex offender registry after a months-long court battle over a criminal sexual conduct case. Anderson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct earlier this year after having sex in December with a 14-year-old Niles, Mich., girl who told him she was 17. Anderson’s sentence included 25 years on the sex offender registry — a punishment his family thought was too harsh considering both Anderson, who was 19 at the time, and the girl said he did not know she was underage. Full…
Read MoreThe FCC Just Voted to Reduce the Exorbitant Cost of Prison Phone Calls
A long campaign to reduce the exorbitant sums that inmates are charged to speak to friends and family on the phone just notched a major victory, with the Federal Communications Commission voting 3–2 to aggressively regulate an industry that until recently was, in the words of the Prison Policy Initiative’s Peter Wagner, “a dark little backwater of telecommunication that the FCC was not paying attention to.” Full Article
Read MoreHALLOWEEN SEX OFFENDER LAW HEARING TO BE HELD OCT 26 [UPDATED 10/26 5pm]
CDCR Withdraws Halloween Sign Requirement Statewide – more details to follow. First Media Reports: Decision made over requirement that paroled sex offenders post signs on Halloween (10News) Sex Offenders on Parole Will Not Have to Post Signs on Door: Dept. of Corrections NBC Sex offenders not required to post signs on Halloween CBS No door signs required for parolees on Halloween Union Tribune For Release October 26 -The Southern District of California will conduct a hearing today regarding whether to grant a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that would halt a…
Read MoreMS: ‘Lie’ begets lifetime of regret for Clay County father, son
Brodie Leap was 5 years old when he told what he now calls The Lie. He says he knew it was a lie the second he said it. He is 31 now, living in Oakview in Clay County, and he has known his entire life that it wasn’t true. Full Article
Read MoreBoogie man is still out there!
____ ____ is not the poster boy for one-trial learning. He has several sexual assault convictions behind him and was civilly committed for eight years. But he was released from civil commitment last year. That means that he was found no longer to be at a dangerous risk of re-offending. He could live in the community, monitored, as a registered offender. Full Article (National RSOL) Related RI: ACLU to sue over Level III sex offender housing ban RI: Outcasts – Level III sex offenders in R.I. can’t live within 1,000…
Read MoreBritish court blocks extradition of sex-abuse suspect, saying California law violates human rights
A British high court has refused to extradite a former Orange County choir director who fled the U.S. before he was to stand trial on sexual abuse charges, ruling that a California involuntary commitment law would violate his human rights. Full Article Related England Refuses to Extradite an Alleged Sex Offender (slate.com) with High Court decision More time over US ‘fugitive’ Roger Giese extradition case (BBC)
Read MoreSex Offender Registry Laws Don’t Make As Much Sense As You’d Thought
The need for criminal justice reform has gotten a lot of attention recently, but there’s one aspect that rarely enters the conversation — sex offender registries. Online records of people convicted of sexual crimes are intended to keep everyone, especially children, safe from sexual predators — the words “sex offender,” after all, illicit the image of a violent rapist or child molester. However, just like American jails and prisons, these state registries are overcrowded and may be doing more harm than good, which is why Americans should be talking about…
Read MoreIN: 20-year-old on sex-offender registry gets leniency
An Indiana man, who was looking at spending more than two decades on the sexual offender registry for a dating app hookup, got some good news. A judge has resentenced Zach Anderson to two years’ probation — a decision that will keep him off Michigan’s list and possibly off Indiana’s as well. Anderson was 19 when he had sex with a 14-year-old Michigan girl who had told him she was 17. Even if the sex was consensual and even if the girl did lie about her age, it is not…
Read MoreAL: For Offenders Who Can’t Pay, It’s a Pint of Blood or Jail Time
Judge Marvin Wiggins’s courtroom was packed on a September morning. The docket listed hundreds of offenders who owed fines or fees for a wide variety of crimes — hunting after dark, assault, drug possession and passing bad checks among them. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” began Judge Wiggins, a circuit judge here in rural Alabama since 1999. “For your consideration, there’s a blood drive outside,” he continued, according to a recording of the hearing. “If you don’t have any money, go out there and give blood and bring in a…
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