About 20 federal prisoners from Massachusetts serving time for drug-related crimes are newly free after having their sentences reduced. They’re among the first to benefit from a revision of sentencing guidelines for drug offenses that, on average, shaves two years off qualified inmates’ jail terms. About 6,100 prisoners nationwide are affected, the majority of them African-American and Hispanic men convicted of dealing drugs. Over the next few years, thousands more could gain their freedom. Full Article
Read MoreMonth: November 2015
Sex offenders on probation: setting them up to fail
Sex offenders are the modern witches. There are so many things that rankle when it comes to society’s increased crackdown on sex offenders and their subsequent treatment, but one that never fails to get to me is their ridiculously unfair treatment on probation. Full Article (2008)
Read MoreTide turns against U.S. residency restrictions on sex offenders
Nearly two decades have passed since Josh Gravens, then 12 years old, was playing with his 8-year-old sister and touched her body in an inappropriate way, landing himself on a sex offender registry. His sister forgave him long ago but Gravens still worries that the incident could force him out of his Dallas home. Concerns about sexual predators have led communities in 30 U.S. states to adopt laws limiting where registered sex offenders can live, typically keeping them away from schools, parks or other places where children congregate. Full Article…
Read MoreOR: Anti-Registry Movement
Anti-Registry Movement (ARM) is a civil rights movement in the struggle against state and federally mandated and Orwellian persecution laws set against America’s newest members of a growing list of second-class citizens: America’s Registered Families (formerly convicted sex offenders and their family members). Our mission is to bring public protests, counter-protests, and demonstrations to the attention of government officials, news media outlets, and to local communities everywhere in the effort to drastically reform or repeal Sex Offender Registration (SOR) laws in the United States. SOR laws have robbed Registered…
Read MoreNC: First Amendment woes in North Carolina
As most VC readers know, First Amendment law is dominated by a single question, the 800-pound constitutional gorilla that’s always in the room: What “level of scrutiny” will the court apply to the challenged government action? How much will it demand from the government by way of justification for whatever it was that it did? How high will it set the bar? … I’ve said it many times before — these sex offender cases are of the deepest importance, not because of any special concern we might have for convicted…
Read MoreWhat’s In a Date?
When Frank Lindsay walked into his home to find a young man wielding two hammers—one in each hand—in his dining room, he assumed he had disrupted a robbery. It wasn’t until the man called him a “pervert” that Lindsay realized he was the target of a planned attack. Full Article
Read MorePA: Gun rights for sex offender lands in Idaho Supreme Court
BOISE – A former Idaho man’s problems convincing the state of Pennsylvania he should have the right to bear arms landed in the Idaho Supreme Court Tuesday. ____ ____ was convicted of rape in Idaho in 1992, a felony that carries a permanent loss of gun rights. That conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor in 2004 through a sentencing agreement, but he was still required to register as a sex offender. That kind of arrangement couldn’t happen today; Idaho changed its laws in 2006 to prevent a conviction on a felony…
Read MoreMexico: Human trafficking survivor – I was raped 43,200 times
Mexico City (CNN)Karla Jacinto is sitting in a serene garden. She looks at the ordinary sights of flowers and can hear people beyond the garden walls, walking and talking in Mexico City. She looks straight into my eyes, her voice cracking slightly, as she tells me the number she wants me to remember — 43,200. … Her testimony was used as evidence in support for H.R. 515 or Megan’s Law that mandates U.S. authorities share information pertaining to American child sex offenders when these convicts attempt to travel abroad. Full…
Read MoreREGISTRANTS SUE CA DEPT OF JUSTICE — DEMAND IMPROVEMENTS TO, OR END OF, MEGAN’S LAW WEBSITE [updated with media]
California Reform Sex Offender Laws (CA RSOL) and two registrants today will file a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court requesting immediate changes to, or in the alternative, the ending of, the state’s Megan’s Law website. The request is based upon the failure of the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) to comply with a state law that required the agency to add conviction and release dates to individuals’ profiles on that website by 2010. “The California Department of Justice continues to act illegally and in violation of state law,”…
Read MoreSan Diego city schools ranked by sex offenders living nearby
SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) – Jessica’s Law was supposed to keep sex offenders away from schools but earlier this year the California Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. CBS News 8 crunched the numbers and found out which San Diego schools have the most sex offenders living nearby. Sex offenders live in neighborhoods all over San Diego and parents have every right to be worried. Full Article Full List http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/kfmb/misc/ElementarySchools.pdf
Read MoreCalifornia lawmaker would end statute of limitations for rape cases
State Sen. Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) said Monday that she will introduce legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations for rape and some other sexual crimes to increase the chance that victims will get justice. California law generally limits the prosecution of a felony sexual offense to 10 years after the offense is committed, but more time can be provided if new DNA evidence is found. Leyva said a bill she will introduce when the Legislature reconvenes in January would eliminate the deadline for prosecuting crimes including rape, sodomy,…
Read MoreSex offender info often should be shared by buyer’s agents: NAR, attorneys
A Florida real estate agent recently said that a client had fired him, in part, because he hadn’t disclosed that the property the client was interested in was next to the home of a sex offender. The agent said he regularly advises buyers to visit neighborhoods in person, to check in with police departments and to review websites. He said he told the buyer, however, that he wasn’t legally able to reveal that a sex offender lived near the property. But as of June, that appears to only have been true in New Jersey and…
Read MoreRI: Critics of new residency law say it’s dangerous to remove sex offenders from stable living situations
WOONSOCKET – One the few shelters for homeless men in Northern Rhode Island will continue to admit Level 3 sex offenders until the federal court in Providence decides whether it is unlawful to do so. “We’re not looking to bring them in, but if they show up, we’ll take them in,” said Steve Bacon, associate pastor of Harvest Community Church, 60 North Main St. “If the law changes we’ll abide by the law.” In a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, a U.S. District Court judge on Friday…
Read MoreTX: 46 cities face challenge to sex-offender residency laws
AUSTIN — Forty-six small cities across Texas are facing a new legal challenge to their ordinances that regulate where registered sex offenders can live, including several in the Houston area. Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, a statewide criminal-justice advocacy group, announced Monday it has” initiated action to compel, through litigation if necessary,” the repeal of the ordinances in so-called “general law” cities — the latest challenge to the residency limitations in Texas and across the country. Full Article
Read MoreCO: District Attorneys support legislation for charge lesser than child pornography for sexting
News5 is looking into proposed legislation that could change how teens are punished for sexting. Felony child pornography charges are not off the table for students implicated in the Canon City scandal. We spoke with the President of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council who says a new law is needed to properly prosecute juveniles caught sexting. Full Article Related CO: Canon City High School Sexting Scandal – Will Students Involved Be Registered Sex Offenders?
Read MoreMO: Prosecutor scolds community for supporting molester
KANSAS CITY • A Missouri prosecutor has called out members of a small community for shunning a sexual abuse victim while publicly supporting a community leader who confessed to molesting her for more than a decade. In a scathing news release last week, Platte County prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd listed 16 Dearborn residents who had either written letters or testified in court in support of ____ ____ after he admitted the girl’s claims were true. Full Article
Read MoreSCOTUS to Decide Reach of Sex Offender Registry
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider whether the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act requires sex offenders who move to a foreign country to notify their prior home state of their change of residence. At issue is are the cases of two men who lived on opposite sides of the Missouri River in the Kansas City Metropolitan area, were both convicted of sex crimes in unrelated cases prior to the enactment of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, and later moved — again separately — to…
Read MoreFL: Eighth Grader Disciplined For Giving Hug To Friend At School
____ ____, 14, is now an eighth grader with a record. ____ was given suspension by Jackson Heights principal Sarah Mansur-Blythe (left) for a hug. That’s right. She hugged a friend who was having a bad day and was immediately reported for discipline under a hopelessly undefined prohibition on “inappropriate or obscene acts.” Full Article
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