***UPDATE 2: The hearing for this bill (see below) has been postponed indefinitely. We will post any new date as soon as we become aware of it. *3/1/2017)*** ***UPDATE: letters regarding this bill addressed to Senate Education Committee Chairman Ben Allen can be sent by E-mail, which saves postage and time. The E-mail address is for staffer Irma Kam is Irma.Kam@sen.ca.gov. *** The Senate Education Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill 26 (SB 26) on March 8. This is the first of two committees slated to consider the bill which would…
Read MoreDay: February 27, 2017
SCOTUS: Argument analysis – Justices skeptical about social media restrictions for sex offenders
At today’s oral argument in Packingham v. North Carolina, a challenge to a state law that imposes criminal penalties on registered sex offenders who visit social networking sites, Justice Elena Kagan suggested that social media sites like Facebook and Twitter were “incredibly important parts” of the country’s political and religious culture. People do not merely rely those sites to obtain virtually all of their information, she emphasized, but even “structure their civil community life” around them. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg echoed those sentiments, telling the North Carolina official defending the…
Read MoreSCOTUS: Court may strike law barring sex offenders from social media
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared likely Monday to strike down a North Carolina law that prohibits sex offenders from using Facebook and other social networking sites. At least five justices suggested during argument that they would rule for North Carolina resident Lester Packingham Jr. He was convicted of violating a 2008 law aimed at keeping sex offenders off internet sites children might use. Packingham used Facebook to boast about beating a traffic ticket. The state’s lawyer said the law deals with the virtual world in the same way that…
Read MoreMN: Fate of MSOP Now Rests With the Supreme Court
In June, 2015, the US District Court for Minnesota determined that the 700+ clients at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program were being unconstitutionally confined. In January, 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said they’re not. What explains the conflicting opinions? A three-judge Appeals Panel said District Court Judge Donovan Frank did not apply the proper standard: to be unconstitutional, civil rights violations for SVPs must “shock the conscience.” What’s wrong with the “shocks the conscience” standard? If, until the Supreme Court intervened in 2008, executing sex…
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