A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling has overturned a nearly 10-year-old law in North Carolina that banned registered sex offenders from using social media like Facebook. The unanimous ruling allows the roughly 257 registered sex offenders in Iredell County access to social media online, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. Full Article
Read MoreYear: 2017
FL: Woman’s License Mistakenly Marked ‘Sexual Predator’
A Florida woman took her children to Disney World for a fun weekend, but was denied service at the hotel. When she asked why she was not allowed to stay there, she was shocked by the response. Now, the mother is taking legal action. Tammy Lemasters was denied service at Disney World and when she asked why, she was told it was because her driver’s license listed her as a sexual predator, the New York Daily News reports. She was shocked by the revelation, as she has no history of any…
Read MoreBrock Turner judge Aaron Persky responds to calls for his removal
Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky, who came under fire for sentencing former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner to six months in county jail for sexual assault, sought Friday to dismiss demands for his removal, saying the court of law should be separated from the court of public opinion. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments July 2017
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2017. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreNARSOL calls on Zuckerberg, Facebook to change policy
Having already contacted Mark Zuckerberg by letter dated June 27, 2017, NARSOL has now released a nationwide press release hoping to bring additional pressure upon the social media giant to cease its nearly nine-year-old practice of barring registered citizens from creating or maintaining Facebook user accounts. Full Press Release Related How Would You Feel If Facebook Ended the Ban on Sex Offenders?
Read MoreFL: Registered sex offenders listing Walmart as their home address
Attention Walmart shoppers, pervs in aisle seven! Customers at the retail giant’s store in Cocoa, Florida, were shocked to hear that at least 16 registered sex offenders have listed the place as their home address, WFTV reported. State law permits homeless offenders to use the address of the closest physical address for their registration. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Why sex offenders suing southeast Wisconsin cities
Several southeast Wisconsin cities are now the target of federal lawsuits by registered sex offenders. The two civil rights attorneys representing them recently won a major verdict against Pleasant Prairie. Full Article
Read MoreUK: Police relax monitoring of sex offenders to focus on high-risk criminals
Police forces have dropped measures designed to stop convicted sex criminals reoffending, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has said, in a bid to focus more on those who present a greater risk. The new approach will see some low-risk offenders no longer being subject to annual home visits or having the risks they pose reassessed as thoroughly as before. Full Article
Read MoreSCOTUS: Sex Offenders Can Access Facebook, High Court Says
Sex offenders who have already served their sentences enjoy a First Amendment right to use social networking websites like Facebook or Twitter, according to a June 19 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court ( Packingham v. North Carolina , 2017 BL 208397, U.S., No. 15-1194, 6/19/17 ). … But Ira Ellman, a law professor at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Phoenix, said one line in the majority opinion could be an indication that the court is going to grant certiorari in a case that deals with other types of lifestyle…
Read MoreMO: Supreme Court backs confining sex offenders indefinitely
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a state law allowing two sex offenders to be committed indefinitely to mental institutions after prison is constitutional. Full Article
Read MoreNJ: Rape victim pushes for stronger child protection
It took 14 years for Jackie Anselmo to go public with her nightmare. Set off by a discovery on social media in the spring, the 28-year-old Lakewood resident decided she had held her trauma in long enough. At age 14, a 24-year-old relative raped her and sexually abused her over a period of years, Anselmo said. He was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child. The Asbury Park Press usually does not name victims of sexual assaults, but Anselmo allowed her name and photo…
Read MoreNY: Mayoral candidate Akeem Browder addresses past as registered sex offender, convicted felon
Green Party mayoral candidate Akeem Browder is a registered sex offender and twice convicted felon, public records show. Browder pleaded guilty in 2000 to an act of sodomy with a 12-year-old girl that took place in 1997 when he was 15, according to the national sex offender registry, which classifies him as a level-three sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreSCOTUS: High court won’t hear sex offender case
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined a request to review a McLean County case involving the issue of whether registered sex offenders should have access to social media. Full Article Related IL: A setback for First Amendment protection for anonymous speech
Read MoreSCOTUS Symposium: Packingham and Fact-Checking the Supreme Court
Last week’s decision in Packingham v. North Carolina is getting a lot of attention in part because of this fact checker column in the Washington Post. Packingham involved a challenge to a North Carolina law that severely restricted the ability of registered sex offenders to access various websites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. All eight participating Justices agreed that the law violated the First Amendment because it was unable to satisfy intermediate scrutiny. Although the Court acknowledged that protecting children from sex offenders was a legitimate government interest, the law…
Read MoreNC: Facts about the sex offender registry
The N.C. Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry can be easily accessed by visiting the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office website. It’s the third menu button from the right underneath the cover photo. But what does it mean to be on the registry? Is it only for pedophiles or sexual perverts? Is is forever? Today’s Focus piece answers those questions and more. Full Article Related ‘Outcast’ or public threat? Do Tell / Sex offender Do Tell: Learn your lesson
Read MoreWI: Wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet is not punishment, court says
GPS monitoring bracelets are not punishment. Oh, I’m sure they suck. They might chafe. They could cause blisters. They will cramp your style, keep you out of swimming pools, cause a funny-looking bulge in your nylons, spoil your suntan, tether you to a power source for an hour a day. They’ll subject you to derision — or worse. And they’re an enormous invasion of your privacy: Someone will always know where you are, and if you take off the monitor, they’ll come after you. But a monitoring bracelet is not punishment. The…
Read MoreAR: Disabled Little Rock man released from sex-offender list
A Pulaski County circuit judge has released a 38-year-old brain-damaged Little Rock man from an 18-year-old court order requiring him to register as a sex offender, ruling that ____ ____ is not a danger to the community. Full Article
Read MoreTN: The plea deal _____ didn’t take in Vanderbilt rape case, and why
Prosecutors offered ____ a 10-year prison sentence if he pleaded guilty and avoided a fourth trial in the rape of an unconscious Vanderbilt University student four years ago, ____’ lawyer said Saturday. ____ didn’t take it. Going to trial was worth the risk of a longer prison term, defense lawyer Mark Scruggs said, because ____ hoped to avoid a lifetime position on the state’s sex offender registry. And on that part of the deal, the state wouldn’t budge. Full Article
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