The Florida Action Committee today has submitted a complaint to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on behalf of our members and registrants in the State of Florida who are now subject to the new requirements of the International Megan’s Law. If you are interested in filing a complaint on your own behalf, please contact info@floridaactioncommittee.org to request instructions. FAC Statement
Read MoreMonth: February 2016
Injured U.S. vets now hunting child predators
Largo, Florida (CNN)Ret. Sgt. Tom Block is sitting in the classroom, looking restless. He and 23 other highly specialized, highly coveted candidates are all vying for a job where they will be exposed to horrifying images of child sex abuse and the worst humanity has to offer. Full Article
Read MoreBill Sets Discipline for Students Who Engage in Sexting
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A state lawmaker is carrying a bill that would let schools suspend or expel kids for sexting — sharing sexually explicit material via text message. Democratic Assemblyman Ed Chau of Arcadia says Assembly Bill 2536 would also require that health classes include information on the perils of sharing scandalous content. The Sacramento Bee reports Saturday (http://bit.ly/1Qkn7Ai) the bill specifically deals with images or video and focuses on cases where the message has “the effect of humiliating or harassing a pupil.” Full Article Related New Mexico teens…
Read MoreChelsea’s Law is working as hoped (Editorial)
Six years ago, an awful event — the rape and murder of Poway High School senior Chelsea King by John Gardner, a convicted sex offender who was free despite repeated parole violations, and who had previously raped and killed Escondido teen Amber Dubois — spurred lawmakers to action. The California Legislature unanimously passed Chelsea’s Law, introduced by then-Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego. Full Editorial 2014 Report Related http://www.kusi.com/story/31319274/six-years-later-san-diego-remembers-chelsea-king
Read MoreCT: Court Considers Whether Blind Sex Offender Should Lose State Housing Subsidy
A legally blind Hartford man had been receiving benefits through a rental assistance program for years when state officials kicked him out because he’s on the state’s sex offender registry. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Hillsborough proposal to restrict sexual predators could backfire, experts say
TAMPA — Keeping sex offenders far away from children is a popular idea for obvious reasons. And the Hillsborough County Commission is considering a measure that would force sexual predators to live even farther from places where children gather than current law requires. But experts say the proposal — modeled on restrictions enacted in Pasco County and across the country — is likely to make offenders more dangerous, not less. Full Article Related Litigant against Pasco’s sex predator rule vows same in Hillsborough
Read MorePA: Superior Court upholds sex offender’s registration order
The state Superior Court upheld a Lackawanna County judge’s ruling that extends the time a convicted sex offender must report his whereabouts under Megan’s Law from 10 years to life. .. The court acknowledged the reporting requirements are a burden for Mr. ____, but it likened them to requirements of a person who is on probation and must meet with a probation officer. It therefore found the requirement was not punitive. Full Article Court Decision
Read MoreIN: Supreme Court rules sex offenders who move to Indiana must register
INDIANAPOLIS — A sex offender required to register in any other state must also register with Indiana police if he or she relocates to the Hoosier State, regardless of when the initial sex crime was committed. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled 5-0 Thursday that it is not an unconstitutional retroactive punishment for the state to require sex offenders with registration obligations elsewhere to also register in Indiana. Full Article Related http://www.theindianalawyer.com/supreme-court-ex-post-facto-laws-dont-apply-to-2-sex-offenders/PARAMS/article/39607
Read MoreInternational Megan’s Law: Bad Public Policy
On Monday, February 8, 2016, President Obama signed HF 515, and it became Public Law 114-119, known casually as “International Megan’s Law” (IML). The very next day, Janice Bellucci, a civil rights attorney and President of CA-RSOL, filed a legal challenge in Federal Courts in California, citing constitutional violations of the First and Fifth Amendments, and the Ex Post Facto Clause. After careful review of the intent and apparent effect of this new Public Law, and the arguments raised in the legal challenge, it seems IML is not only unwarranted,…
Read MoreProtecting every child / Sex offenders, schools and safety / At a safe distance [UPDATED with Part 3]
Editor’s note: This is the third story in a three-part series regarding sex offenders and the ongoing need to protect children. PRINCETON — Illinois State Rep. Andy Skoog (D-76th) commented on the current laws surrounding registered sex offenders and the residency restriction limits they must follow as a way to cement community safety. Current Illinois legislation states a registered sex offender must remain at least 500 feet from a school, nursery, playground or essentially any place where adolescent activity might take place. Skoog agrees with the notion increasing the restriction…
Read MoreArgument preview: When a sex offender moves out of the country, does he have to tell anyone? [UPDATED]
UPDATED with Oral Argument – When ____ ____ ____, a federally convicted sex offender, left Kansas in 2012 to go live in the Philippines, one might have thought the United States government would be happy to see the back of him. Not so. Federal authorities tracked him down in Manila and escorted him back to Kansas, where he was convicted in federal district court of failing to notify Kansas authorities that he had left the state. On March 1, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear his argument that his move…
Read MoreNY: State Senate Approves Bill to Keep Sex Offenders out of Homeless Shelters Housing Children
The State Senate recently approved a bill that would prohibit dangerous Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders from being placed in shelters or other temporary accommodations used to house homeless families with children. Charging that “innocent little kids who are one step away from living on the streets should never face the additional horror of living side-by-side with potential sexual predators,” State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) last week praised the Senate’s action. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Allen Co. S.O.R.N. Team – ‘It never stops’
ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) – There are more than 450 sex offenders living in Allen County, keeping the local registry office very busy. The office focuses on three main components: offenders’ registrations at the physical office, the address verifications that the team leaves the office to do, and the investigations for violations. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Local Legislator Seeks Change to Sex Offender Registration Law
Thousands of sex offenders will come off the state’s registry this year. But one Broome County legislator and a local advocate have teamed up to bring change to New York’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA). The state law, enacted in 1996, requires level one sex offenders to be registered for 20 years. By 2016’s end, the whereabouts of many of these criminals will be untraceable — even for police. But a concerned local legislator has submitted an advisory resolution that would tighten registry regulations. Full Article
Read MoreGoing Nowhere
On February 8, President Obama signed an unnecessary, cruel, and dangerous law. Passed by a unanimous Congress, International Megan’s Law requires the State Department to mark with a “unique identifier” the passport of anyone ever convicted in the United States of a sex crime against a minor. The offense could be sexting or consensual teen lovemaking. It could have happened decades ago or even have been expunged from the person’s record. Full Article Related HR 515 Article Collection
Read MoreFL: Pushing sex offenders into the next back yard (Editorial)
A question for our local elected officials: Who wants to be seen as pro-sex offender? Anyone?Anyone? Here’s the latest politicized push that could accomplish little and maybe even do some harm: local governments looking to all but ban sex offenders from living in our midst. And no, this doesn’t sound like a bad idea, until you consider the actual and practical facts. Full Editorial
Read MoreConfined at Coalinga: California sex offenders face indefinite detention
____ _____ ____, 54, is a pedophile; no one disputes that, not even his lawyer. Since the 1980s, he has been convicted three times of molesting very young girls — including his 4-year-old daughter. His crimes resulted in three years in prison. He finished serving the last of those years in 2000. But that wasn’t the end of his incarceration. Under California law, there are two sets of punishments for sex offenders: one for the crimes they are known to have committed and one for the people the legal system…
Read MoreLiving with 290: Did I sneak in?
i went to cabo for 5 days in october 2015. i am a life registerant in CA from a misdemeanor charge of 288a(b)(1). i wonder if i went into the country undetected? was it because it was only a misdemeanor? i dont know but i was never stopped in mexico. on the way back into the usa at immigration i was pulled aside. waited 20-30 minutes and was free to go because they just needed to see if “everything was in order.” that was it…
Read More