The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is now encouraging parents to steer away from using the phrase “stranger danger,” a slogan that has been taught for decades to emphasize to children the potential threat posed by strangers. Although the group moved away from “stranger danger” years ago, the phrase is so pervasive that many parents still teach it. The group renewed their call to end its use on “Good Morning America” today. “It’s so easy, it rhymes,” Callahan Walsh, a child advocate at the National Center for Missing…
Read MoreMonth: March 2017
MI: Man barred from visiting home county by court
The unusual restriction was upheld this week by a federal appeals court. When ____ ____ is released from prison this year, he can’t set foot in his home county, Baraga, while under the supervision of a probation officer. ____ was convicted of a sex crime in 2009. He has twice been returned to prison for violating conditions of supervised release. ____ admits that Baraga, a remote and sparsely populated area in the Upper Peninsula, isn’t a good place for him to deal with drug and alcohol problems. He said he doesn’t want to…
Read MoreUT: Wasatch prosecutor warns Utah senators he’s coming after them for sex-offender vote
The Utah Legislature approved a bill this past session giving judges more sentencing discretion in cases in which a defendant had consensual sex with a minor under age 14 if that defendant is under 21. The measure passed the House 42-31 and the Senate 15-11. Gov. Gary Herbert signed it into law. It changes slightly the mandatory-minimum requirement of 25 years to life and a lifetime listing on the sex-offender registry for having sex with a minor. But it now has a deputy in the Wasatch County attorney’s office gunning…
Read MoreND: Despite research, lawmakers OK bill keeping high-risk sex offenders from living near schools
North Dakota’s on track to have its first statewide restriction on where high-risk sex offenders can live, with lawmakers voting almost unanimously for a bill that would prohibit such offenders from residing within 500 feet of a school. House Bill 1334, which has received little media attention, quietly passed the House in February and the Senate this week. The bill has not yet been sent to Gov. Doug Burgum, who generally does not comment on legislation before it reaches his desk, his spokesman Mike Nowatzki said Thursday, March 30. Over…
Read MoreIL: Federal judge – City of Chicago did not violate rights of homeless sex offenders
A Chicago federal judge recently ended a lawsuit filed by two homeless sex offenders who claimed Chicago city officials violated their civil rights by not allowing them to comply with sex offender registry laws. Full Article
Read MoreSenate Committee Approves SB 26
The Senate Education Committee today unanimously approved Senate Bill 26. The bill will next be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee on April 18. The Committee made its decision despite testimony from ACLU lobbyist Natasha Minsker, civil rights attorney Nicole Pittman and ACSOL board member Roger Hunnicutt. During their testimony, the individuals expressed significant concern regarding how the bill will harm juveniles as well as registrants who are parents of school children. “The Education Committee today made a grave mistake that will harm children,” stated ACSOL executive director Janice…
Read MoreTX: Bill would ban sex offenders from college dorms
Sometimes as a state representative, I come across laws that have outlived their usefulness, and at other times, glaring oversights that should have been addressed years ago. On Wednesday, in the House Committee on Higher Education, where I serve as Vice-Chair, I presented HB 355 which corrects one such glaring oversight, the prevention of registered sex offenders living in on-campus college housing. Full Article
Read MoreNV: Bill would allow judge to decide on sex offender registry for Nevada youth
Nevada judges may end up deciding if juvenile sex offenders will have to register and appear in the public sex offender database. Under Assembly Bill 395 a judge would decide if a juvenile has to register while they are a minor and if they need to register as an adult after reaching age 21. Full Article
Read MoreIL: Lawmakers eliminating time-frame protection for child sex offenders
Those who suffered sexual abuse and assault as children decades ago may soon be able to obtain justice by having their victimizers prosecuted. State Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, introduced Senate Bill 189 in January, which would eliminate the statute of limitations for all felony child abuse and sexual assault crimes. It already passed the Senate Criminal Law Committee, of which Bennett is a member, with a 10-0 vote March 7 and is now awaiting a full Senate vote, according to Illinois legislative records. Full Article
Read MoreBriefing the Supreme Court: Promoting Science or Myth?
The United States Supreme Court is considering Packingham v. North Carolina, a case testing the constitutionality of a ban on the use of social networking sites by registered sex offenders. An issue that has arisen in the case is the state’s justification for the ban. North Carolina and thirteen other states represented in a friend of the court brief make three claims concerning the risk of registered sex offenders: (1) sex offenders have a notoriously high rate of sexual recidivism; (2) sex offenders are typically crossover offenders in having both…
Read MoreSCOTUS asks US Solicitor General to weigh in on Ex Post Facto case
News from the U.S. Supreme Court – the court has NOT decided whether it will review Doe v. Snyder, last summer’s ground-breaking decision by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to review an important ruling (Doe v. Snyder) which was handed down last summer by a federal appeals court, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The request was discussed in a private conference last Friday and today we learned the result – the Supreme Court has made NO decision on the request…
Read MoreHype over substance in bill on sexual predators
Keeping dangerous sexual predators off school grounds is important. Fortunately, there are already laws in place which do that. But that didn’t stop Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, from trying to score easy political points by prohibiting sex offenders from schools. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Perhaps It’s a Coincidence, Perhaps It’s Not
Perhaps it’s a coincidence, perhaps it’s not. The hearing dates for several bills, including Senate Bill 26 and Assembly Bill 558, have changed and keep changing. A single change is to be expected. Multiple changes for multiple bills is not. Could it be then that legislators are changing the hearing dates for these bills because it is more difficult to hit a moving target? Maybe, maybe not. In this time of uncertainty, one thing that is certain is that when a hearing date changes, new letters must be sent and…
Read MoreSex offender registration statutes are not faring well when subjected to rational basis scrutiny
A gracious reader directed me to a recent article authored by Dr. Melissa Hamilton in the Boston College Law Review entitled Constitutional Law and the Role of Scientific Evidence: The Transformative Potential of Doe v. Snyder, 8 B.C.L. Rev. E. Supp. 34 (2017). In her article, Dr. Hamilton discusses the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s August 2016 decision in Does #1-5 v. Snyder, 834 F.3d 696 (6th Cir. 2016) (Justia). That decision is pertinent to military justice practitioners for a couple of reasons. Full Article
Read MoreCT: Lawmakers consider requiring juveniles to register as sex offenders
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would require juveniles convicted of sexual offenses to register as sex offenders. Judiciary Committee co-chairman Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, said members of the committee believe sexual assault is just as serious when the offense is committed by someone under the age of 18. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Sex offender board aims ‘never to make a mistake’
The city’s sex offender residency ordinance is 10 years old this spring. Passed in 2007, it forbids convicted sex offenders from moving to within 1,500 feet of any place where children are likely to gather. The restriction essentially closes off most affordable residential areas of the city to convicted sex offenders who didn’t already live there before the ordinance was passed. But Green Bay’s ordinance, unlike most of the other 175 ordinances placing housing restrictions on sex offenders in communities throughout the state, provides one major exception: Any sex offender…
Read MoreMI: SCOTUS to consider Snyder v. Doe for review
Today, in a private session, the U.S. Supreme Court will be discussing an important case concerning the sex offense registry. News may come as soon as Monday, March 27th. The State of Michigan has asked the court to review a ground-breaking ruling by a lower federal court, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court is set to discuss the request for review today; review is granted in very few cases. If they turn down the request – the 6th Circuit ruling remains intact and directly impacts the…
Read MoreLA: New scam targets registered sex offenders with arrest threat
NEW ORLEANS — A new scam is targeting registered sex offenders, claiming they missed court dates that never actually existed. The US Marshal’s Service is warning the public that scam artists claiming they are Deputy US Marshals or Federal Marshals are working to extort money from sex offenders over the phone. Full Article
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