In a unanimous vote, the Tustin City Council decided on September 20 to repeal the city’s residency restrictions which prohibited registered citizens from residing in most of that city. The vote followed a lawsuit filed in August 2016 which challenged the city’s restrictions. “This is a significant victory for registered citizens who wish to live in Tustin,” declared ACSOL president Janice Bellucci. “Families in that city will no longer be torn apart.” The City Council’s vote on September 20 is the second and final step taken by the council. The…
Read MoreMonth: September 2016
Janice’s Journal: The Failure of Fontana
Shame on the Fontana Unified School District! Members of their Board of Education unanimously agreed last week to bar registered citizens from every school in their district. The decision applies to all registered citizens, including parents of students in that district, regardless of the offense for which they were convicted and regardless of whether they pose a current danger. What makes this terrible decision worse is that the school board’s decision was in reaction to a few angry parents who ignorantly proclaimed during a school board meeting that the presence…
Read MoreMN: What is deserved for a sex offender?
Two painful, recent stories illuminate complex controversies that surround Minnesota’s practice of locking up certain sex offenders in a “treatment program” after they’ve served prison sentences for their crimes. Full Article
Read MoreUK: He Is A Paedophile, But That Does Not Make Him A Child Molester
Let me start by being really clear, that all child sexual abuse needs to be stopped. That includes everything: from inappropriate sexual conversations with children, sexual behaviour in the presence of a child through to looking at child abuse images and contact offences with children. Part of my life’s work is to work to reduce sexual abuse in all its forms, and I am very aware of the horrific consequences of child sexual abuse. However, many people never think about the world of the non-offending paedophile, and that is what…
Read MoreAre sex offender lists making us safer?
While covering a rally where sex offenders were protesting the International Megan’s Law, I got a chance to talk to some registered citizens, as they prefer to be addressed. They shared some details about what life looks like when your name comes up on Megan’s list. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: NOT WANTED – The sex offender next door (Part 1)
Does a convicted and paroled sex offender live in your neighbourhood? While police occasionally issue public warnings about offenders moving into communities, their addresses are not disclosed. In some cases, such individuals may live in a residential area for months or years without the knowledge of their neighbours. Full Article Note: This is Part 1 of several…
Read MoreAZ: If You Change a Baby’s Diaper in Arizona, You Can Now Be Convicted of Child Molestation
The Arizona Supreme Court issued a stunning and horrifying decision on Tuesday, interpreting a state law to criminalize any contact between an adult and a child’s genitals. According to the court, the law’s sweep encompasses wholly innocent conduct, such as changing a diaper or bathing a baby. As the stinging dissent notes, “parents and other caregivers” in the state are now considered to be “child molesters or sex abusers under Arizona law.” Those convicted under the statute may be imprisoned for five years. Full Article Related PROSECUTORS WOULD NEVER DO…
Read MorePA: Supreme Court Further Restricts Sex Offender Registry
The registration of sex offenders in Pennsylvania, known as Megan’s Law, has had a tumultuous existence, including a number of revisions to comply with several successful challenges before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Last month, the state’s high court further refined the state’s sex offender registry. The Supreme Court made a ruling that will have an impact on determining which sex offenders will be considered lifetime registrants. The court narrowed the ability of the authorities to designate an offender as a lifetime registrant as the result of being convicted of multiple…
Read MoreNV: Sex offenders may face tougher scrutiny at UNR, TMCC
The University of Nevada, Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College now have the right to deny the admission of registered sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreFontana School Board votes to prohibit all access to registered sex offenders on campuses
The Fontana Unified School District Board of Education approved two motions on Wednesday, Sept. 14 to prohibit access to registered sex offenders on campuses as both volunteers and visitors. Full Article Related http://www.pe.com/articles/sex-813398-board-school.html http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/09/15/parents-outraged-to-find-out-bill-passed-in-2014-allows-sex-offenders-on-school-campuses-with-principals-permission/
Read MoreMI: Michigan asks federal court to revise opinion on sex offender registry rules
The state of Michigan wants a federal appeals court to take a second look at an opinion on the state’s sex offender registry. The U.S. Court of Appeals issued an opinion Aug. 25 saying Michigan’s sex offender registry rules cannot be applied retroactively to thousands of sex offenders. The state Attorney General and Solicitor General offices filed a Sept. 8 request with the federal appeals court for a second opinion. Full Article
Read MoreRegister by October 24, 2016 to vote in the election on November 8, 2016
You can register and vote in California . . . Even if you have to register pursuant to Penal Code section 290 Even if you are currently on felony or misdemeanor probatio Even if you are post-release community supervision (Realignment) or federal probation Even if have been to prison for felonies in the past, whether or not you have received a Certificate of Rehabilitation or Pardon Even if you are currently in jail. In many cases, you can register and vote by mail Questions? Find more information on voting with…
Read MoreBrock Turner, Bill Cosby driving California sex-crime lawmaking
After decades of tough-on-crime policies that swelled California prisons to the point that they had to be depopulated under a Supreme Court order, support has mounted for rethinking criminal punishment. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Romeo and Juliet and Sexting – 17Year-Old Faces Child Porn, Assault Charges for Consensual Sex with Girlfriend
After being arrested, I was suicidal and hopeless,” ____ ____, a 17-year-old from Superior, Wisconsin, recalls. “As of right now, I am just hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.” The “worst” would be pretty bad. After discovering indecent photos of ____’s 15-year-old girlfriend on his cell phone—as well as a video of the couple having sex—authorities charged him with sexual assault of a child, sexual exploitation, and possession of child pornography. The sexual assault charge is considered a Class C felony, and carries a maximum (though unlikely)…
Read MorePetition Challenges State Department Regulation
A petition was filed today challenging a State Department regulation that attempts to implement the International Megan’s Law (IML). The petition states that the regulation, published on September 2, is defective for both substantive and procedural reasons. In addition, the petition requests that the regulation be significantly modified in order to comply with the IML which has also been challenged. According to the petition, the regulation is substantively defective for two reasons. First, the regulation denies passport cards to covered registrants. Second, the regulation improperly defines covered registrants as anyone convicted of an…
Read MoreWI: “If this is winning, I don’t want it”
On the morning of July 5th, a white van left Fox Lake Correctional Institution. In the back, ____ ____, a Milwaukee man with a history of sex crimes. As a young man in the late ’80s, he had sex with two teenage girls; in the mid-’90s, forceful sexual assaults on adult women. After 22 years in prison, he’s getting out, his time served. No one wants a sex offender like ____ ____ living next door to them, and it’s certainly understandable. Municipalities across the state have codified this with ordinances that restrict where…
Read MoreNew Zealand: Child sex offender register legislation passed
Legislation passed to establish first child sex offender register – Social Development Minister Anne Tolley says New Zealand’s first child sex offender register will soon get under way, following the passing of enabling legislation. Full Article Child Protection Bill
Read MoreFL: Sex Offender Fights Removal From Hospice
A Florida city’s sex-offender law faces scrutiny in litigation over whether a wheelchair-bound former doctor, convicted of patient abuse in the 1980s, should be forced out of a hospice due to its proximity to a school. A Palm Beach County court petition filed Aug. 31 claims ____ ____, a hospice patient with end-stage Alzheimer’s disease, has been threatened with arrest if he does not move out of Heartland of Boynton Beach, a nursing home near a local preschool. The City of Boynton Beach purportedly issued a notice to ____ and the…
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