Federal judges have begun speaking out about the burdens imposed by severe collateral consequences and the limited ability of courts to mitigate the resulting harm. This is particularly true in the Eastern District of New York, where some judges have openly lamented the lack of statutory federal expungement authority and have used their opinions and orders to call upon the legislature to ensure that those with criminal records are given a fair shot at success. Among the more vocal critics of collateral consequences is recently retired Judge John Gleeson, who…
Read MoreMonth: November 2016
Kentucky, Indiana among states not meeting federal sex offender registry mandates
Neither Kentucky, Indiana nor Illinois are among the 18 states in the nation meeting federal guidelines for sex offender registering and notification. In its most basic form, registering as a sex offender means providing certain information, including physical description, fingerprints, a DNA sample, social security number and Internet communication identities to the authorities in the area where the person is going to live, work or go to school. While many states, including Kentucky, began requiring convicted sex offenders to register in the 1990s, it didn’t become federal law — known as the…
Read MoreOH: Proposal would lessen penalties for some sex offenders
Having sex with his now wife and the mother of his three children when she was a 14-year-old high school freshman earned ____ ____ a label he’s found impossible to shake: Tier II sex offender. Now ____ , and countless others throughout Ohio, may get a break. Proposed changes to Ohio’s sex offender registry would give judges more discretion on what conditions are placed on those convicted of sex crimes and allow offenders like ____ to petition to get off the registry. Full Article
Read MoreWA: Former Mesa mayor posts 21,000 sex offender names after long legal battle
This fall, Donna Zink posted a spreadsheet with the names of 21,000 registered sex offenders in Washington, two-thirds of whom had not been previously identified on public registries. Zink spent three years battling in court to release the information under Washington’s Public Records Act, during which she was frequently vilified as a would-be vigilante. To date, the Mesa-based public records advocate has received just one phone call, and law enforcement sources say they don’t know of any incidents stemming from convicted offenders whose information was previously treated as confidential. Full…
Read MoreUT: Sex offender doesn’t have to reveal sexual history, Utah Supreme Court rules
SALT LAKE CITY — A convicted sex offender does not have to reveal his complete sexual history as a condition of his parole, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled. Full Article
Read MoreNY: SORA – The human cost of junk science
Of the nearly 40,000 persons on New York’s sex offender registry, 9,679 are displayed on its public website as Level 3, a warning that he or she presents the maximum risk of committing a sex crime of maximum seriousness. 14,087 persons are displayed as Level 2, meaning they’re moderately likely to commit a moderately serious sex crime. With so many Frankensteins at large, it’s a wonder anyone dares leave the house. How does the State know these people are so dangerous? Because they’ve each had a SORA hearing where a…
Read MoreSex offender registries discourage rehabilitation (Opinion)
Ten years ago, ____ ____ shared a bottle of vodka and played video games with a fourteen-year-old girl in his basement. The two engaged in sexual activity. When her father’s concern for her whereabouts led him to the home, she told him and the police she had no memory of the incident. ____ was sixteen. He was sentenced to five years, most suspended, and put on probation and the sex offender registry for ten years. Full Article
Read MoreAL: Fire breaks out at home of sex offender who is feuding with neighbors
An investigation is underway after a Thanksgiving morning fire damaged the home of a convicted sex offender who has been in a running feud with his neighbors. Full Article Related AL: Sex offender billboard raised in ‘Hatfield and McCoy’ neighborhood feud
Read MoreOH: Greene Co. family welcomes proposed changes to sex offender registry
A proposed change to the sex offender registry in Ohio has one family in Greene County hoping lawmakers will listen to their story when considering the change. News Center 7’s Natalie Jovonovich talked with ____ and ____ ____, a couple who first met as teenagers in a Clark County high school. ____ was a 14-year-old freshman, and ____ was a 19-year-old senior who met through friends. Full Article
Read MoreDC: Fake News Onslaught Targets Pizzeria as Nest of Child-Trafficking
WASHINGTON — Days before the presidential election, James Alefantis, owner of a local pizza restaurant called Comet Ping Pong, noticed an unusual spike in the number of his Instagram followers. Within hours, menacing messages like “we’re on to you” began appearing in his Instagram feed. In the ensuing days, hundreds of death threats — one read “I will kill you personally” — started arriving via texts, Facebook and Twitter. All of them alleged something that made Mr. Alefantis’s jaw drop: that Comet Ping Pong was the home base of a…
Read MoreFL: Dying, Wheelchair-Bound Sex Offender Must Leave Hospice Care Because There’s a Preschool Nearby
In Florida, a wheelchair-bound man with end-stage Alzheimer’s must move out of the hospice where he’s dying, because he is a registered sex offender and the hospice is too close to a preschool. Phew! That will certainly make the kids a lot safer. Full Article
Read MoreRegistered Sex Offender Barred from Child’s Campus Sues School District
A parent and registered sex offender is suing the Grossmont Union School District because he says he is not allowed on campus to take part in his child’s education. The father told the district he is a registered sex offender, but the district would not give him the written permission he needs to go on campus, denying him what he and his lawyer, Janice Bellucci, say is his right to take part in his child’s education. Full Article Related http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2016/nov/21/ticker-parent-sues-grossmont-school-district/#
Read MoreCA DOJ Makes Significant Changes to Megan’s Law Website
The California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) recently made significant changes to the state’s Megan’s Law website, including the addition of conviction and release dates on the profiles of about 50,000 registrants. The state agency agreed to add the dates as the result of a lawsuit filed in November 2015 and settled in August 2016. “The recent addition of conviction and release dates is expected to help registrants find better jobs and housing,” stated ACSOL president Janice Bellucci. “Additional conviction and release dates will be added to the website as…
Read MoreFL: The challenge of elderly sex offenders
By the time deputies arrested ___ ___ ___ for failing to register as a sexual predator, he had built up a 10-year record of consistent registration in Marion County. That’s 42 check-ins, as his attorneys and his friends pointed out at a sentencing hearing in June. When it came to No. 43, ____, 72, who has since been diagnosed with early stages of dementia, says that he simply forgot. “My only crime, your honor, is that I have become old and forgetful,” he told Circuit Judge Robert Hodges that day. Full…
Read MoreEU proposes U.S.-style security checks to vet visa-free travelers
BRUSSELS — The European Commission wants additional security checks on visitors to Europe, it said Wednesday, proposing a US-style online system to vet visa-free travelers as part of efforts to clamp down on terrorism and illegal immigration. Full Article
Read MoreAnd Now We’re Talking About Internment Camps?
A Donald Trump supporter cited the United States’ use of Japanese internment camps during World War II as precedent for implementing a registry of Muslim immigrants in an interview on Fox News Wednesday. President-elect Trump first suggested creating a registry for Muslims in November 2015, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach told Reuters on Tuesday that Trump’s immigration advisers were drafting a proposal on how this could be implemented. Full Article Related Internment Camp Survivor George Takei Warns That Trump’s Muslim Registry Is “A Prelude To Internment”
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: ACSOL Board Faced With “Sophie’s Choice” [updated with Guide to Tiers on Tiered Registry Bill]
During the five years in which this organization has existed, we have often heard a wish expressed – that registrants in California be treated differently, not the same. That wish was expressed in many variations including that registrants should be treated differently according to their current risk or that registrants should be treated differently according to the offense for which they were convicted. Those wishes are now nearing reality in the form of a tiered registry bill expected to be introduced in the state legislature early next year. As drafted,…
Read MoreLos Angeles DA to Co-Sponsor Tiered Registry Bill
Los Angeles District Attorney (DA) Jackie Lacey has agreed to co-sponsor a tiered registry bill along with the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB). A copy of the draft bill was distributed during today’s CASOMB meeting. As expected, the draft bill proposes dividing registrants into three tiers based upon the offense for which the registrant was convicted as well as his/her risk level. For registrants in the first two tiers, their duty to register would end in either 10 or 20 years after release from incarceration provided that they have…
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