As our article on California Assembly Bill 2839 described (you can refresh your knowledge by clicking this link), this bill would disenfranchise hundreds of men who are otherwise eligible to vote and have been designated sexually violent predators at Coalinga State Hospital. Please fax a letter to Assembly Elections Committee Chair Marc Berman at 916-319-2194 as soon as you can and before May 9. Please use this as a model, but do not copy it word for word. Also, be sure to include your name and address: Senator Marc Berman,…
Read MoreMonth: April 2018
Instagram now bans registered sex offenders
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/30/18] On April 19, 2018, Facebook owned Instagram, revised it’s Terms of Use. The new version replaces the prior version, which had been in place since 2013, can be found here: http://help.instagram.com/581066165581870?helpref=page_content Sadly, included in this months change is a ban on anyone registered as a sex offender. The restriction did not appear in the prior version. Read more
Read MoreIN: Indiana Supreme Court suggests declaratory judgment a better avenue to challenge collateral consequences
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/30/18] Although the Indiana Supreme Court ruled against a registered sex offender father trying to attend his son’s school events, they did give him some guidance on how to go about his challenge. Douglas Kirby plead guilty to child solicitation eight years ago and was sentenced to eighteen months probation. While he was on probation (and until 2015) he was permitted to come on campus to see his son’s school activities. That was until Indiana passed a law in 2015 making it a felony for him to ” knowingly…
Read MoreCanada: Support group helps sex offenders in Saskatoon
[globalnews.ca 4/28/18] Much like there are support groups for alcoholics or drug abusers, one in Saskatoon is helping sex offenders. Meaghan Craig looks at its importance. As first reported by Global News, convicted sex offender ______ now has a new alias. In the last two months, the soon-to-be 30-year-old has taken the steps to legally change his name to ______ and mask his true identity to members of the public. This on the heels of long-term offender ______ arrest in late April, who was going by the name ______ ,…
Read MoreFL: Miami-Dade Will Close Sex Offender Camp by May 6, Threatens Jail Time for Stragglers
Since 2014, a colony of homeless sex offenders has been rapidly growing by the railroad tracks near Hialeah. Nobody wants them there, including the dozens who call the ramshackle camp home. Everyone, from the Homeless Trust to the ACLU to the county commission, agrees the encampment is a public health and safety hazard. But for years, the sex offenders have said that restrictive county laws mean they have nowhere else to legally live and that county officials have failed to solve the problem. Full Article
Read MoreHey, NJ — ‘Dead Kids Make Bad Laws’
The above quote isn’t mine, and I would give attribution except that I don’t know who originally said it, but it is so true. Dead kids usually make for emotional, broad brush laws that do more harm than good. I know that in NJ we feel proud of ourselves that we are the state that pioneered the sex-offender registry called Megan’s Law, the law that arose from tragedy in 1994, when 7-year-old Megan Kanka of Hamilton Township was raped and killed by Jesse Timmendeques, a neighbor. But anytime tragedy befalls…
Read MoreIndia Sex Offenders’ Registry Not the Answer
[hrw.org 4/27/18] Reeling from protests across the country demanding justice for victims in the recent spate of sexual assaults, Indian authorities are under pressure to respond. One step the government has decided to adopt is a sex offenders’ database, which will store the profile and personal details of convicted offenders and those accused of such offenses. Children accused of such crimes may also be included in the database. For several years, some senior government ministers have been calling for mandatory registration of sex offenders. It reflects public concern that children…
Read MoreFL: Video Shows City Workers Destroying Property of Homeless Miamians
[miaminewtimes.com 4/25/18] The morning of April 17, Wilbur Cauley left all of his belongings in their usual place: stacked by a fence under the I-395 overpass at NW First Court and 13th Street. It was in the middle of a four-block area where about 30 homeless Miamians live. That morning, Cauley, an Army veteran in his late 50s who served three years in Germany, went to a nearby store for a soda. When he returned, he says, a man in a dark-green shirt was kicking bags that contained Cauley’s birth…
Read MorePassport revoked
[narsol.org 4/27/18] By Scott . . . I’m on the board of Illinois Voices for Reform and have been actively involved with the organization since 2012. I am on the registry for life as currently required by Illinois law due to an incident involving a minor back in 2008. I served two years of probation and successfully completed sex offender counseling in 2012. My wife and I love to travel, and we were fortunate to be able to travel to Europe for a week at the end of March. I…
Read MoreFederal SORN Policies
[sexlawandpolicy.org] There are few people as uniformly despised as people with sex offense convictions. It’s not hard to understand when you’re inundated with overblown reports concluding that all people on the registry are sexually recidivistic, incurable, and predatory. Overcome by outrage and fear we support any measures to protect against victimization, even if the proposed legislation is a sweeping and draconian measure. The last twenty-five years is a lasting testament to our panicked response to media hysterics and hyperbole, especially at the federal level. During this time, a number of…
Read MoreIA: Convicted Sex Offender Allowed to Volunteer at Iowa Schools
[usnews.com 4/27/18] WELLMAN, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa teacher purged from the state’s sex offender list has been allowed to volunteer at an eastern Iowa school district. The Des Moines Register reports that _____ has been helping out in the Mid-Prairie schools district, which is based in Wellman. The district granted him special permission to volunteer, after receiving letters of support. Superintendent Mark Schneider says he has informed school principals that Yo_____ der must be with another adult at all times. Read more
Read MoreTX: How a charity for disabled vets almost gave a sex offender a free home
____ ____, 37, a war veteran and double amputee, was receiving the home mortgage-free, courtesy of the Military Warriors Support Foundation’s “Homes 4 Wounded Heroes” program. The charity worked in conjunction with the home’s most recent owner, Wells Fargo bank. Getting a house is no small deal. Getting one for free, in a settled and safe neighborhood in small-town America, is even bigger. ____, 14 years after he was maimed by a landmine in Iraq, was ready to begin the next chapter of his life among the families of Stuarts…
Read MoreNJ: After state Supreme Court ruling, few sex offenders likely get reprieve from Megan’s Law
A New Jersey Supreme Court ruling exempting certain sex offenders from Megan’s Law registration requirements isn’t likely to apply to more than a few dozen people, state officials said Wednesday, as the public defender’s office began contacting people who now may be eligible to be taken off the list. Full Article
Read MoreIL: State Senate targets masturbating jail inmates, making ‘sex offender’ tag easier
It’s a daily sight being called “a pretty extreme brand of workplace sexual harassment.” Citing a rise of lewd behavior in the Cook County Jail, the Illinois Senate on Wednesday passed a measure that would place inmates on the sex offender registry upon release if they expose themselves or masturbate in front of female staffers more than two times. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Judge: Wisconsin sex offender can visit sick son at hospital
[washingtonpost.com 4/25/18] MILWAUKEE — A registered sex offender will be allowed to visit his severely ill 9-year-old son despite objections from Wisconsin Children’s Hospital, a Milwaukee County judge ruled Wednesday. The order from Judge William Pocan carries restrictions, however. Stuart Yates, 49, must give two-hour advance notice for his visits and he can only stay for six hours each time. Yates must also be with his son at all times. Yates was barred from the hospital on March 6 after hospital officials learned of his past. He was convicted of…
Read MoreState Department Files Motion to Dismiss IML Lawsuit (Updated)
UPDATE 06/07: The date of the IML hearing has been changed from June 25 to July 9 at the government’s request. The State Department today filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit which challenges the International Megan’s Law (IML) on procedural grounds. A hearing on the Motion to Dismiss is scheduled for June 25 in Los Angeles. In its motion, the State Department asserts that its final rule issued in September 2016 is consistent with the IML and that its press release issued in October 2017 that included the language of…
Read MoreNJ Supreme Court Strikes Down Mandatory Lifetime Registration for Juvenile Sex Offenders
On Tuesday, April, 24, 2018 the New Jersey Supreme Court struck down a provision of Megan’s Law that required certain juvenile sex offenders to register for life. The case, State in the Interest of C.K., involved a juvenile adjudicated delinquent for a sex offense committed when he was a teenager. The High Court noted that twenty years had passed since C.K. committed his offense and that multiple psychological evaluations had found he posed “an extremely low risk to reoffend.” The Court held that requiring individuals, like C.K., to register for…
Read MoreSex Offense Registry Fact Sheet – April 2018
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/24/18] Emily Horowitz, author and Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, has put together the Registry Fact Sheet linked to below. This is a very well researched, comprehensive document that is full of useful information (including authorities) that you can cite to when contacting your legislators, the media or anyone you communicate on sex offender issues with. Read more
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