2008 – One can almost bet that a politician is, right this moment, concocting some new stupid piece of legislation. And he will crow if he manages to pass the new absurdity into law — and the more absurd it is, the more likely it is that it will pass. Consider that we are now about to enter Halloween. It is not a holiday I have ever particularly enjoyed, not even as a child. And my general response has been to ignore it. I don’t wear a costume and I…
Read MoreDay: October 13, 2015
OK: One State Just Announced Plans To Castrate Sex Offenders
According to recent reports, Oklahoma State Senator mark Allen has just proposed a bill that seeks to chemically castrate violent sex offenders. The proposal follows the lead of Florida and California. Under the new measure, first time sex offenders could undergo the procedure for early release. Second time offenders would have no choice in the matter. Full Article
Read MoreOH: Convicted sex offender seeks chance to take Ohio bar exam
The Ohio Supreme Court is debating whether a convicted sex offender who wants to be a lawyer should be allowed to take the state bar exam. The court scheduled a Tuesday hearing for the request by ____ ____, a former Army officer convicted in military court of sex-related offenses after his arrest in 1998 in an FBI sting operation in which he thought he was meeting a 15-year-old girl for sex. Full Article
Read MoreWithdrawn Plea, Vacated Convictions Included in Ever Expanding Reach of Sex Offender Registration
SORNA, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, became law in 2006. We recently posted a piece about how the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeals have expanded the definition of what constitutes a sex offense under the law. These two circuits were following the trend in SORNA cases. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Kebodeaux said “SORNA’s general changes designed to make more uniform what had been ‘a patchwork of federal and 50 individual state registration systems” which had “’loopholes and deficiencies’ that had…
Read MoreJustice Can Be Served Without Putting Kids Behind Bars
Last month, the Seattle City Council resolved to end the practice of putting young lawbreakers behind bars. Resolution 31614, which passed unanimously, is a commitment to “eliminate the need to detain or incarcerate youth” by cutting off the “school-to-prison pipeline” and finding alternatives to incarceration. Full Article
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