[newsok.com 4/10/18] The Oklahoman Editorial Board by The Oklahoman Editorial Board Published: April 10, 2018 LAST year, a federal court judge ruled that Colorado’s sex offender registry was unconstitutional because, basically, citizens might use it. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter wants that decision overturned, and is using arguments grounded in legal and practical reality. Hunter, joined by officials from several states, has filed an amicus brief with the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals urging reversal of the decision handed down by District Court Judge Richard Matsch, who said the Colorado…
Read MoreMonth: April 2018
MO: Sex offenders register for a lifetime, but a bill would let some petition for removal
Almost all sex offenders in Missouri are on a state registry for a lifetime, whether they made a one-time mistake, or made repeated or extreme offenses. Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, wants to make it possible for certain people to petition to remove their name from the list and for the registry to be more transparent for the public. Full Article
Read MoreSenate Committee to Hear SB 1143 on April 24
The Senate Public Safety Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill (SB) 1143 on April 24. If passed, SB 1143 would require registrants convicted of an offense involving a minor to disclose their requirement to register to both potential landlords as well as those who have a house to sell. If a registrant failed to make this disclosure, the landlord or seller could lawfully cancel an existing lease or contract. “This bill must be stopped,” state ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “If the bill becomes law, there will be a…
Read MoreCA: Neighbors concerned after registered sex offender moves feet away from elementary school
[10news.com] Neighbors concerned after registered sex offender moves feet away from elementary school SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Neighbors are concerned after they say a registered sex offender moved into their Rancho Bernardo community, just feet away from an elementary school playground. ____________, 32, was convicted of possession of child pornography and lewd and lascivious acts with a child in Tennessee in 2013. Neighbors say they became concerned after ____ moved into a townhouse in their neighborhood weeks ago. According to records on the Megan’s Law website, ____ lives on the…
Read MoreOR: Retired social worker writes about pioneering work with sex offenders
[statesmanjournal.com] Conversations at the dinner table were different growing up in the Callahan home. When your mother is best known for her work with sex offenders, that’s to be expected. “Some of my earliest memories were of dropping her off at a prison and picking her up,” said Barbara Baer, the oldest of Marilyn Callahan’s three grown children. “I didn’t know anything different. That was her profession, just like other families had parents who were attorneys and doctors.” Callahan is a retired licensed clinical social worker, renowned locally as a…
Read MoreThere Are Too Many Kids on the Sex Offender Registry
Both the boys admit they did it. Horsing around, two New Jersey 14-year-olds pulled down their pants and sat on the faces of two 12-year-old boys. As one of them later explained, “I thought it was funny and I was trying to get my friends to laugh.” For that act, he and his buddy are on the sex offender registry for life. This was, after all, “sexual contact done for sexual gratification or to degrade or humiliate the victim.” The boys lost an appeal in 2011, with a three-judge panel…
Read MoreID: Sex Offender Registry SNAFU
____ ____ wears a small camera pinned to his shirt. He wants his activities recorded because he is unsure what hairpin turn he may come up against next. There have been a lot of switchbacks and bumps over the past 13 years, and the latest one, what he calls a false accusation coupled with threats from Idaho State Police, is taking a toll on his health. ____, 54, accuses Idaho State Police of coercing him into registering as a sex offender although he has never had to register anywhere else,…
Read MoreAttorneys general fighting against 2017 ruling regarding Colorado’s sex offender registry
A group of attorneys general are fighting a 2017 court ruling that declared Colorado’s sex offender registry “cruel and unusual.” Full Article Related Attorney General Hunter Leads 10th Circuit States in Opposing Ruling that Colorado Sex Offender Registration is Unconstitutional (AG Press Release) To read the brief, click here.
Read MoreVT: Supreme Court says sex offenders can have porn
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state cannot uniformly declare pornography off-limits to sex offenders. The decision does allow a sex offender’s probation to include such restrictions, but only if they are deemed specifically appropriate to the individual offender. Full Article
Read MoreCA: We pay millions for sex offender therapy at Coalinga hospital. Most patients aren’t in it
Thirteen years after Coalinga State Hospital was built to treat the state’s sexually violent predators, some of the men there say they’re more like prisoners than patients, and that the multimillion-dollar facility once criticized for its amenities is a sort of purgatory failing to rehabilitate offenders — and therefore failing the public. Full Article
Read MoreCT: Suit targets WL ban on sex offenders in public places
An anonymous resident and an advocacy group that represents accused and convicted sex offenders have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to strike down the town’s 10-year-old policy barring people on Connecticut’s sex offender registry from a number of public places. Full Article
Read MoreFL: As Deadline Approaches for Homeless Ex-Offenders, County Threatens to Jail Them
A few miles from Miami International Airport, outside of Hialeah, sits a tent camp of about 280 homeless people. There’s no electricity or running water and no bathrooms. News reports describe the stench of human waste and garbage, tents that flood when it rains, and flies, mosquitoes, and rats infesting the area. “Animals live better than this,” one resident told a reporter. He and the others there are on the state sex offender registry. Miami-Dade County laws make it almost impossible for them to find places to live and bar…
Read MoreIL: Public Parks Ban is Constitutional (Supreme Court Reversal)
The Illinois Supreme Court reversed an appeals court ruling and found that the state’s ban on sex offenders entering public parks is constitutional. Other Media Quick Take on Illinois Supreme Court Opinion Issued Thursday, April 5 Supreme Court of Illinois rejects claim that state prohibition on sex offenders in parks is violative of substantive due process
Read MoreDOJ SMART: Case Law Updates
Through the course of the year, the SMART Office follows state and federal case law about sex offender registration and notification, tracking the latest opinions, trends and arguments. We aim to publish a summary for informational purposes annually. Archived issues are available below. Case Law Updates
Read MoreThe Boy On The Bus: When Sex Offender Registries Aren’t Enough
My husband carries a photo of me in his wallet tucked behind credit cards, his driver’s license and carefully folded bills. I ask him to give it to me as we stand in the reception area of the jail in Tama County, Iowa, in December 2015. He looks ready to ask: Why? Then, he silently pulls it from his wallet. Full Essay
Read MoreWI: ‘I paid my debt:’ Sex offender allowed to visit sick son at CHW; but fight for visitation isn’t over
[fox6now.com] MILWAUKEE — A registered sex offender will be allowed to see his son at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, but the fight for visitation isn’t over yet. Suffering in pain and severely ill, Kahlil Yates, 9, wants nothing more than to be comforted. “He can’t understand why I can’t be there all the time,” said Stuart Yates. Stuart Yates, 49, was forced to leave his sick son’s bedside on March 6 after he was kicked out of Children’s Hospital — told he had to leave because he was…
Read MoreCA: Divided State Supreme Court Upholds DNA Swabs for Felony Arrests
California can continue collecting DNA samples from suspects arrested on, but not necessarily convicted of, felony charges, a divided state Supreme Court held Monday. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Florida registry gets a new look
[floridaactioncommittee.org] The FDLE sex offender database has gotten a new look. The homepage of its sex offender search has a nautical feel, with a lighthouse logo and a ship-wheel icon. Aside from the design change, the ability to search by status (absconded, deceased, deported, etc.) appears to be gone from the new search query, though the results still appear. Another notable change is that vehicle and vessel information is no longer on a separate page, but appears below the registrant listing. The vehicle information, which is supplied by the DMV…
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