Saint Lucia is in talks with other countries of the Caribbean on the implementation of a regional registry of sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreYear: 2016
NM: Attorney General Would Rather See Sexting Teens Treated As Sex Offenders Than See His Funding ‘Jeopardized’
Teens sexting can’t be addressed by existing laws. Law enforcement — which far too often chooses to involve itself in matters best left to parents — bends child pornography laws to “fit” the crime. They often state they’re only doing this to save kids from the harm that might result by further distribution of explicit photos. How exactly turning a teen into a child pornographer who must add his or herself to the sex offender registries is less harmful than the imagined outcomes cited by law enforcement is never explained.…
Read MoreOH: Sex offender registered to vote at Brook Park elementary school
Registered sex offenders in Ohio are not allowed to reside within 1,000 feet of a school, but they are allowed to enter schools to vote, causing concerns for some elementary school parents in Brook Park. Full Article
Read MoreJuveniles Don’t Belong On The Sex Offender Registry (Opinion)
At the age of 17, Mark O. of Grand Rapids, Mich., got his then 15-year old girlfriend pregnant. Taking responsibility for his actions and agreeing to provide support, he signed the birth certificate and later married the mother of his child. His “reward” was to face charges for sexual assault and a long-term requirement that his name and photo appear on a public sex-offender registry. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreFL: Mentally ill man arrested after hunting down sex offender with hammer, deputies say
A convicted sex offender fended off an attack from a man wielding a hammer and “acting really nervous and sweating” who rang his doorbell Monday night, reports show. ____ ____, 54, opened the door of his Jardim De Largo Street home at around 9:30 p.m. to a man who allegedly lunged at him at him with the hammer, deputies said. Full Article
Read MoreTime has come to declare voting a universal, fundamental right
I voted today. I know. What’s the big deal, right? Most Americans exercise the privilege sorta like they wash their cars. Sometimes it’s important. Other times, whatever. And that’s all it is, you know. A privilege. Yes, it’s 2016. Yes, we talk a good game about self-government and democracy. But voting in American, unlike speech and breeding, still doesn’t rank as “fundamental” in the pantheon of rights, at least not “legally” speaking. Full Article
Read MoreThe Biggest Sex-Trafficking Bust in FBI History Was Totally Bogus
In the press, it was a “wide-reaching sex-trafficking operation” run by Somali Muslim gangs who forced “girls as young as 12” to sell sex in Minnesota and Tennessee. In reality, the operation—which led to charges against 30 individuals, sex-trafficking convictions for three, and an eight year legal battle—was a fiction crafted by two troubled teenagers, a member of the FBI’s human-trafficking task force, and an array of overzealous officials. An opinion released this week by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals shows that federal prosecuters had no evidence whatsoever to…
Read MoreThe List
When juveniles are found guilty of sexual misconduct, the sex-offender registry can be a life sentence. Full Article
Read MoreHe ‘couldn’t fight back’: Mom of beaten baby wants abuser registry
On a November morning in 2013, Erica Hammel learned over the phone that her 1-year-old son Wyatt was near death — hospitalized with a skull fracture and brain damage after being violently shaken by a woman trusted to care for him. Hammel would later learn the woman had twice been convicted of child abuse — a revelation that led the Michigan mother to fight for a state-wide child abuser registry, which, if passed, would be the first of its kind in the nation. Full Article
Read MoreAL: Lawmaker introduces sex offender castration bill
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — An Alabama lawmaker has a plan to permanently and physically punish someone convicted of certain sex offenses against children. The bill, known as HB 365, would make those sex offenders have to get surgically castrated before they leave prison. HB 365 was introduced by State Representative Steve Hurst, R-Calhoun County. He said the bill will be for sex offenders over the age of 21 that committed sex offenses against children 12 years old and younger. “They have marked this child for life and the punishment should fit the…
Read MoreNo, Senator Grassley, the Adam Walsh Act does NOT need to be re-authorized (Open Letter)
Mr. Grassley, like you, we grieve with families of children who are victimized and abused, and we especially grieve that virtually all of this type of crime is committed by the family members and others close to their young victims. Like you, we would like to see a strong commitment to keeping our nation’s children safe. Unlike you, however, we have seen no evidence of this commitment for the past twenty-five years. Such a commitment must be based on solid research, on facts and evidence, and on the reality of…
Read MoreWI: Supervisors balk at sex offender proposal
The Milwaukee County Board’s judiciary committee on Thursday delayed action on a proposed sex offender relocation information policy to give sponsors time to rewrite the proposal to comply with a county attorney’s opinion that found it unenforceable. County Corporation Counsel Paul Bargren says in an opinion that the policy drafted by Supervisors Jason Haas and John Weishan Jr. is in conflict with state law and the state constitution. Full Article
Read MoreNH: Nipple bill may make protesters into sex offenders
Under a proposed bill, women who bare their breasts in public as a form of political protest twice in a five-year period would be listed as low-level sex offenders for at least 10 years, said Gilles Bissonnette, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire. In objecting to House Bill 1525, Bissonnette said this may be an unintended consequence of the proposal, but its direct purpose is also problematic because it may step on free speech rights and equal protections for men and women. Full Article
Read MoreGrassley Introduces Bill to Aid States, Public in Tracking Sex Offenders
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today introduced legislation to assist states in preventing future abuses by registered sex offenders. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act Reauthorization helps to improve tracking of sex offenders through federal support of state registries and dedicated resources to target offenders who fail to comply with registration requirements. Full Press Release Bill Text
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Hope on the Horizon?
Is there hope on the horizon? The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in Nichols v. United States, a case that pitted the federal government against a registrant who left the state of Kansas in order to move permanently to the Philippines. The government argued before the Court that the registrant violated the law by failing to notify Kansas of his departure before he actually departed. That argument is not hope. Instead, hope came in the form of pointed questions and statements made by several Supreme Court justices during…
Read MoreSCOTUS: Justices on both sides invoke Scalia in sentencing case
WASHINGTON — The late Justice Antonin Scalia’s writing turned up in dueling Supreme Court opinions Tuesday, a fitting tribute to the justice who co-authored an entire book on interpreting the law. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan both invoked the book Scalia wrote with Bryan Garner in 2012 in a case over a lengthy prison term for a man convicted of possessing child pornography. Full Article
Read MoreSCOTUS: Justices skeptical about government’s interpretation of sex-offender-registration law (Analysis)
In the early days of Monday Night Football, as soon as it became evident that the game was effectively over, color commentator “Dandy” Don Meredith would begin to croon, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over . . . .” During the government’s argument in Tuesday’s hearing in Nichols v. United States, the lights in the courtroom actually went out. And, if the Justices’ hostile questioning of the government’s lawyer provides any clue, the party may indeed be over. After Daniel Hansmeier, the federal public defender representing petitioner Lester Ray…
Read MoreGeneral Comments March 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of March 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
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