While well intentioned, a proposal backed by Norwich state Rep. Emmett Riley that would make it nearly impossible to house former sex offenders in urban areas is “misguided and irrational” as one witness succinctly stated at a public hearing last week. The concerns of the Norwich lawmaker are understandable. Norwich and other urban areas have been stung by the placement of former sex offenders in their communities. The burden seems unfair. The fear among families in these neighborhoods is real, even if misplaced. Full Editorial
Read MoreYear: 2015
Sex offender placement plan cause for concern (Opinion)
With the current controversy surrounding a convicted sex offender being released in our community, and the further insult of having the $3,200 rent check for a fairly nice house being covered by California taxpayers, it is time we look closer at the policies and views on how we handle sex offenders, Megan’s law policy and its corresponding database. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreOREGON’S CHURCH FOR SEX OFFENDERS
For over a decade, Sonrise Church’s Light My Way program has been ministering to society’s most downtrodden people. Ex-cons, prostitutes, meth addicts, the impoverished, and the homeless are all welcome at the church’s modern nine-acre campus. The scope of the campus facilities is impressive, and includes a food bank, a community garden, a 90-day shelter for the homeless during winter months, and a food truck designed to bring hot meals to those in need. What really makes Light My Way’s ministry unusual, though, is its controversial decision to embrace registered…
Read MoreIs a lifetime of involuntary GPS monitoring constitutional?
When the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that affixing GPS devices to vehicles to track their every move without court warrants was an unconstitutional trespass, the outcome was seen as one of the biggest high court decisions in the digital age. That precedent, which paved the way for the disabling of thousands of GPS devices clandestinely tacked onto vehicles by the authorities, is now being invoked to question the involuntary placement of GPS devices onto human beings. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Lawsuit targets Krum city law
The city of Krum was presented with a lawsuit Friday morning that alleges its sex offender residency restrictions are unconstitutional. Attorney Richard Gladden is representing 22-year-old Denton resident ____ ____ in the lawsuit. Gladden said ____ was convicted last year of sexual assault of a child in Tarrant County. Gladden said ____ grew up in Krum, but because of the city’s Sex Offender Registry Restriction Ordinance, he was ordered to leave his parents’ house in November. Full Article
Read MoreState Legislation Would Require SVP’s to Reside Near Police Departments
A state Assembly bill would, if enacted into law, require anyone deemed a sexually violent predator (SVP) to live within 10 miles of a “permanent physical police or sheriff’s station”. That bill is AB 262 which was introduced by Tom Lackey, who is a Republican member of the state legislature representing Palmdale and a former CHP officer. “The public needs to be protected from individuals who currently pose a current threat to public safety,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “However, this legislation is written too broadly because it would…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Registered Citizens Continue to Face Banishment
Registered citizens continue to face banishment throughout the land. They are often torn from their families and relegated to the dark corners of society where they sleep in their cars if they are lucky and on the streets if they are not. Banishment comes in many forms. This commentary is limited to the two most insidious forms – residency restrictions and proximity restrictions. Both limit where a registered citizen may go. Both tear families apart. Neither accomplishes its stated purpose, that is, to increase public safety. There are a growing…
Read MoreLiving with 290: Tied Down and Forced Intimcay: Therapy
My Letter to Sharper Future’s San Diego Office in regards to civil rights violations. Yesterday I walked to the back parking area, just as David and Youngster were converging from the parking lot near the smoking area. They greeted me, and we approached the smoking area where several other people were already sitting. Those bushes do not have enough room for the entire group, especially when other patrons of the complex are out there taking breaks. We were standing in spitting distance, and I sat down on the wall to…
Read MoreLiving with 290: Afraid to fight for his rights…Does he have them?
Greetings, I am a family member and supporter of my sibling who is a 290 registrant. He has completed his 1 year anniversary this past January 2015 with flying colors. He has been attending web community college to attain his AA degree and has been working several steady but manageable jobs. Recently, this past Sunday (March 15, 2015) while working at a ‘Park and Ride’ near the airport in San Diego, an employee from a competitive company who was apparently having a bad day began bad-mouthing my brother. My brother…
Read MoreOrange County: Is it time for District Attorney Tony Rackauckas to resign?
Sitting down with District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, I ask the same question I’ve been asking others for several days, but it’s personal when it comes to the man who has led prosecutions in Orange County for 18 years. … Several years ago, Rackauckas crusaded to close parks to sex offenders. It proved a costly battle – for local cities. … After costly litigation, every city has repealed its ordinance. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreMI: Animal abuse registry would be unfair, ineffective
We still have our doubts about Logan’s Law. It’s not a law yet, just a bill in the Michigan Legislature — again. First proposed in 2012, the law seeks to create an animal abuser registry to mirror the sex-offender registry that Michigan and many other states use to track those convicted of sexual assaults. The animal-abuse registry wouldn’t be a public list, although anyone with $10 could see it. Full Article
Read MoreHousing the unwanted
Under state law, ____, as a paroled sex offender, cannot live within 1,000 feet of schools—making large swaths of Brooklyn off-limits. Parole conditions also prohibit him from fraternizing with other ex-convicts and limit contact to family and friends screened by parole officials. So when he was finally released from an upstate prison in January, ____ was confused to find himself living with dozens of sex offenders and other parolees in an illegal rooming house in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Full Article
Read MoreNY: ‘Brittany’s Law,’ bill to establish statewide violent offender registry
Legislation that would create a statewide violent felony offender registry has been included in the New York State Senate’s one-house budget, state Sen. Michael Nozzolio said Wednesday. “New York state currently requires all convicted sex offenders to register with the state and it keeps track of those individuals,” he said. “It makes no sense that we do not do the same for those who commit violent felony crimes against our citizens. We cannot continue to put innocent New Yorkers at risk.” Full Article
Read MoreIL: Sex offender workplace registry bill sparks debate
State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) has introduced a bill that would require convicted sex offenders to register with police in the locales where they work to plug a hole in the state’s registry system. The measure is viewed as a common-sense approach by Highland Park Police Chief Paul Shafer and others in law enforcement, and seen as overly punitive and burdensome by some advocates looking out for offenders’ rights. Full Article
Read MoreCT: Bill to Keep Sex Offenders Away From Schools Could Cause ‘Chaos,’ Critics Say
A bill intended to keep convicted sex offenders away from kids would throw the Connecticut’s sex offender registry into “chaos,” according to the state’s Department of Correction. Included in Senate Bill 1087 is a provision that would prohibit registered sex offenders from residing within 1,000 feet of a school or a child day care center, but according to Eric Ellison, deputy director for parole and community services at the Correction Department, that’s not a feasible, or even desirable, goal. Full Article
Read MoreCA RSOL Meeting – May 9 in Los Angeles
The monthly meeting for May will take place on May 9 in Los Angeles at the usual location in Los Angeles, at the ACLU Building at 1313 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Start time is 10 am. The main focus of discussion will center on the recent California Supreme Court decisions about residence restrictions. We welcome registrants, friends and family and other supporters to attend. The meeting is off-limits to media and government officials in order to ensure everyone’s privacy. There is no charge to attend. Show up,…
Read MoreVA: woman convicted for harassing sex offender
All she wanted to do, Delores Ann Harris told a jury Friday, was to protect herself and her granddaughter from a man who had been convicted 21 years ago of aggravated sexual battery, a man who has been on the state’s sex offender registry since 1997. But the convicted sex offender in the courtroom was the victim in the jury trial. And Harris, 61, was the defendant, charged with misusing information from the sex offender registry. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Sex offender fights restraint law Challenges Hartford City child safety zones
Challenges Hartford City child safety zones – Convicted sex offender ____ ____ would like to take his daughter bowling. And to church. And although it’s been more than 20 years since he was convicted of the crime in Los Angeles County, California, the 47-year-old Blackford County man is prohibited from doing those and other activities with his daughter because of a Hartford City ordinance. Full Article
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