[foglightstrategies.org] PREFACE Nick Dubin, PsyD, is a consultant who helps with Foglight Strategies’ mitigation efforts. Nick has a Doctorate in Psychology and Masters in Special Education. He also has an Autism Spectrum Disorder, which is characterized in part by a difficulty in intuiting why certain courses of behavior are inappropriate. Nick, like many others before and after his case, had his life shattered when he was federally charged with the possession of child pornography. Nick was evaluated to be a low re-offense risk. Despite this, federal prosecutors went forward with…
Read MoreDay: March 5, 2018
An Open Letter to My Colleagues in Law Enforcement: Ending the Abusive Policy of Putting Children on Sex Offender Registries
[linkedin.com] by Robert Shilling Retired – Former Head of Crimes against Children at INTERPOL Dear Colleagues, Just like you, helping victims has been a passion for me. We do our job to prevent victimization, but we also do our job to “solve problems.” Too often we see solutions that are nothing more than “whack-a-mole” in their design and outcomes, chasing the problem from one area to another. This does not solve the problem. It exacerbates it. But in too many states, we are repeating this kind of negative cycle with the…
Read MoreCA: Judge Issues Final Ruling in Prop. 57 Case
[ACSOL] Emergency regulations, intended to implement Proposition 57 and issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), must be set aside, according to a final ruling released today by a Sacramento Superior Court judge. The ruling specifically stated that “CDCR cannot substitute its judgment for what it wishes the drafters of Proposition 57 had said. Nor may CDCR’s…regulations override a clear directive in the Constitution. “Due to this ruling, CDCR’s emergency regulations issued in March 2017 cannot be enforced and new regulations must be issued. The new regulation…
Read MoreThe Supreme Court May Revive a Legal Theory Last Used to Strike Down New Deal Laws
[UPDATED links 3/9/18] [slate.com] On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Gundy v. United States, a constitutional challenge to federal sex offender regulations. If, like me, you believe that America’s current sex offender regime is draconian, unjust, and counterproductive, that might sound like good news! And perhaps it is. But there’s one aspect of the court’s grant that may be very bad news from progressive viewpoint: It will only consider whether the policy in question violates the nondelegation doctrine—a hazy legal principle last used to strike down New Deal legislation in 1935. Full…
Read MoreThe Sex Offender Registry: Vengeful, unconstitutional and due for full repeal
The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that at least 95 percent of all state prisoners will be released from prison at some point. However, convicted sex-offenders almost exclusively face the vengeful, additional punishment of registration under the Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act (SORNA). Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreDiscredited Sex Assault Research Infects U.S. Legal System
When a toxin enters a biological ecosystem, its effect is magnified as it moves up the food chain. Even if it can be cut off at the source, the ever-widening distribution of its increasingly harmful form can cause problems for decades. Misinformation functions in a similar fashion, gaining traction as it’s repeated by increasingly high-profile individuals who venture ever further from the source material. In this manner, distortion about the facts of sexual assault has affected the training of judges, prosecutors, and other law enforcement officials. It is how misleading…
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