[smh.com.au – 8/7/18] A middle-aged man who has lived in Australia for 50 years has lost a court bid to halt his deportation after his visa was cancelled on character grounds. ______, 57, migrated to Australia from the United Kingdom when he was seven, and until recently lived at Batemans Bay on the NSW south coast where he worked as a tradesman. Read more
Read MoreYear: 2018
NY: Couple raises concerns about 5 sex offenders living in nearby home
[news12.com – 8/4/18] SHIRLEY – A Shirley couple says five sex offenders are living together in their community nearly 80 feet from their home. Jennifer and Thomas Gritz, who have lived in their home for the past 14 years, say they no longer allow their 10-year-old son to play outside. “I want my son to go outside and be a kid – play in the backyard, ride his bike up and down the street. He doesn’t even do that unless one of us is with him,” says Jennifer Gritz. Laura…
Read MoreNJ: Court Stops Retroactive Application of Lifetime Registration Law
An appellate court in New Jersey has ruled that the state government cannot retroactively apply a new law that requires life-time registration to registrants who had the possibility of relief from that registration at the time they pled guity. According to the Court, the restroactive application of the new law would be “manifestly unfair” to registrants. “Although the New Jersey court based its decision on the intent of the state legislature and not on the ex post facto clause of the U.S. Constitution, it reached the right decision when it…
Read MoreWA: Judges Denies Lakewood’s Request To Stop Sex Offender Relocation
[patch.com – 8/6/18] LAKEWOOD, WA – A Pierce County judge has denied Lakewood’s request to stop the transfer of three sex offenders from McNeil Island to a private residential adult treatment house in the city. On Friday, Lakewood officials asked Pierce County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Martin to stop the transfer. Although Martin denied that request, the city’s is still engaged in a lawsuit against the state to stop the transfer of sex offenders from facilities like Western State into residential treatment facilities. Read more about this important precedent
Read MoreNC: Court Determines GPS Tracking Devices Unconstitutional
The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the state government’s requirement that registrants wear a GPS tracking device is an unreasonable search which violates the 4th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Court’s decision is based upon the state government’s failure to prove that GPS tracking is “effective to serve the State’s interest in protecting the public against sex offenders.” “This is a courageous and wise decision,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Our hope is that courts throughout the nation will choose to follow it.” In its…
Read MoreChina: College pitcher with sex-offender past spurned in China, too
[nypost.com – 8/7/18] Former star collegiate pitcher Luke Heimlich’s status as a sex offender has once again derailed his professional baseball aspirations. The former Oregon State ace had agreed to sign with the Lamigo Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League on Monday night. But on Tuesday, the league declined to approve the contract, as the CPBL has a no-tolerance policy for players with criminal records. Read more
Read MoreMA: Court Recognizes Harm to Registrants, Rules in Their Favor
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Council, the state’s supreme court, has ruled in favor of registrants who were trying either to terminate their duty to register or to change the tier level on which they were situated. In doing so, the Court recognized that there are significant challenges facing registrants including stigma and legal restrictions that make it more difficult to find stable housing or employment. The Court also recognized that the effects of registration are “continuing, intrusive, and humiliating” and could lead to threats of physical harm. Further, the Court…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Register Today as a Los Angeles County Poll Worker
[ACSOL] The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters has adopted a policy that prohibits anyone convicted of a sex offense from working as a poll worker. This policy defies logic and violates both state law as well as the federal constitution. According to state law, anyone eligible to vote is eligible to serve as a poll worker and will be paid to do so. Most counties abide by that law by allowing individuals convicted of a sex offense from serving as a poll worker during an election. With the importance…
Read MoreACSOL Meeting in San Diego on Sat, August 11
ACSOL’s upcoming meeting in San Diego is as follows Saturday, August 11 10 am 350 Cedar Street Lecture Hall #2 San Diego, CA 92101 Registrants, friends and family and interested service providers are invited to attend these free meetings. There will be no law enforcement or media present in order to protect everyone’s privacy. The meetings start at 10 am and last about 2-3 hours. Topics of conversation include information about ACSOL’s advocacy as well as current topics and pending legal action. Please Show up, Stand up, and Speak up!…
Read MoreKS: Salina art organization directors resign amid concern over sex offender volunteer
[kake.com – 8/3/18] SALINA, Kan. (KAKE) – The SPARK Artist Resource Exchange was supposed to be an organization of artists who worked on projects across Salina. Instead, it’s become a controversy after a Facebook posts about one of its directors who is also a sex offender. The resource center is in the heart of downtown Salina. In the last several days, posts on Facebook revealed that program director ______ is a convicted sex offender. Parents were worried that he had contact with children. ______ was convicted in 2012 of possessing…
Read MoreCase Spotlight: International Travel Notification
In 2011, the Supplemental Guidelines for Sex Offender Registration and Notification officially included in SORNA’s standards the obligation that jurisdictions require their registered sex offenders to provide 21 days’ notice of any international travel. However, before International Megan’s Law passed, it was difficult to federally prosecute sex offenders for failing to notify registration officials of intended international travel or relocation. For example, in Nichols v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 1113 (2016), the Supreme Court held that a sex offender could not be federally prosecuted for failure to register under…
Read MoreCA: Did California Authorities Suppress Research on Sexually Violent Predators?
[thecrimereport.org – 8/3/18] State laws that allow sexually violent predators to be locked up even after they have served their sentences are based on questionable assumptions that they continue to pose a danger to society, according to a study published in the American Criminal Law Review. The study focused on California where, according to the authors, research indicating that sexually violent predators (SVPs) are less likely to re-commit crimes than other offenders was suppressed because it challenged the constitutional legitimacy of the state’s SVP laws. The research in the mid-2000s…
Read MoreGeneral Comments August 2018
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of August 2018. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreFailure-to-Comply Arrests Reveal Flaws in Sex Offender Registries
In one Pennsylvania county, more than three times as many people on the registry were charged in 2016 with failing to follow registry requirements than were charged with a new sexual offense. Full Article
Read MoreMA: Court: Board needs proof in sex offender reclassification
[thesunchronicle.com – 8/1/18] BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board has the burden of proof when determining whether a sex offender should not be moved to a less dangerous classification, the state’s highest court ruled Wednesday. The Supreme Judicial Court also ruled in separate cases that indigent sex offenders have a right to legal counsel in reclassification hearings, and that those hearings must be held within a “reasonable” period of time. The board already is required to provide “clear and convincing evidence” when initially determining which of three…
Read MorePA: Sex predator law challenged by Cosby to get court review
Pennsylvania’s highest court will consider whether the state can lawfully designate certain sex offenders as sexually violent predators, as it’s seeking to do in the case of Bill Cosby. Cosby’s attorneys also are challenging the constitutionality of the law. But the state Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to review the statute was made in response to an appeal by the state in a different case, not Cosby’s challenge. A lower court judge had found the process by which offenders are deemed predators unconstitutional. Full Article
Read MoreMD: State funding to go toward ensuring sex offender compliance
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office will soon receive over $24,000 from the state to help enforce Maryland sex offender registry and compliance laws. The Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that it is giving about $700,000 to help local law enforcement agencies in their sex offender registration, compliance and enforcement efforts. Full Article
Read MoreMO: SB655 changes Missouri’s sex offender list
A lot of people have been talking about how Senate Bill 655 adjusts how old one must be to get married in Missouri, increasing that age to 16. Clay County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Shannon Ryser said that is only one portion of the bill. He added that a portion also is dedicated to the sex offender registration list. “There is a much larger portion of the bill that significantly revises and basically overhauls the requirements of sex offender registration,” Ryser said. “Right now in Missouri, everybody that is convicted of…
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