Tustin City Council Begins Repeal of Residency Restrictions

The Tustin City Council, in a vote of 4 to 1, voted yesterday in favor of repealing the city’s residency restrictions which prohibit registered citizens from living in most of that city. The only “no” vote was cast by Mayor John Nielsen who did not explain his vote. This is the first of two steps required by the City Council to repeal the restrictions. The second step is expected to be taken at the next City Council meeting which is scheduled for September 6. “This is a significant victory for…

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WI: Pleasant Prairie under legal fire for sex offender ordinance

A federal judge has been asked to order the village of Pleasant Prairie to notify residents that it is temporarily not enforcing an ordinance that effectively banishes registered sex offenders from living in the village. A preliminary injunction was filed Friday on behalf of 10 registered sex offenders who are challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance. Their attorney, Mark Weinberg, said he filed the injunction request after village officials lacked the “political will” to post notice on the village’s website that the ordinance would not be enforced under the lawsuit…

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OK: On His First Day Out Of Prison, A Convicted Sex Offender Faces Uncertain Future

____ ____ was scared to get out of prison. He was serving a six-and-a-half-year sentence in Lawton, Oklahoma, for having sex with an underage teenager. Now, one of about 800,000 registered sex offenders in the United States, ____ faces the challenge of assimilating back into society. He was in his mid-30s and asking some pretty daunting questions: Where would he live? Who would hire him? How would he explain his past to people? Full Article and Audio

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PA: Supreme Court ruling will reduce number of sex offenders required to register for life

A ruling issued by a sharply-divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court could greatly alter the registration requirements imposed on some types of convicted sex offenders. The decision by the court’s majority states that offenders who commit some kinds of sex crimes, such as possessing child pornography, cannot be made to register with state police for life unless they commit at least one more sex crime after their initial convictions. In other words, they have to become recidivists to qualify for the lifetime registration. Full Article Decision Dissenting Opinion 1 Dissenting Opinion 2

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