CO: Court upholds ruling to require teen who traded naked selfies with girls his age to register as a sex offender

[sentinelsource.com – 6/28/19] Colorado’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling last week that required a juvenile boy to register as a sex offender after sexting and trading erotic pictures with two girls roughly his age, a split decision that highlights states’ recent struggles with applying laws passed in a less tech-heavy age. It began, according to the court’s decision, at a 2012 Future Farmers of America conference, where the 15-year-old met two girls, one 17 and the other 15. In the months that followed, both girls came to believe they were…

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TN: New Law Forces Dozens on Sex Offender Registry from their Homes [UPDATED 6/30/19]

UPDATE 6/30/19: Tennessee Judge Grants Temporary Restraining Order [floridaactioncommittee.org – 6/30/19]   Original article: Last Sunday, Jason broke the news to his 7-year-old daughter: He’d be moving out. When a new Tennessee law goes into effect Monday, he will be barred from living with her. The law, Senate Bill 425, also forbids him from being alone with his daughter, meaning he can’t handle doctor’s appointments or pick her up from school, and he and his wife will need to hire childcare since she works full-time. His daughter cried when she…

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IL: Column: Now it’s Wayside Cross residents’ turn to be blindsided

[chicagotribune.com – 6/28/19] Yes, this is a story about the law. In particular, it’s about a law that prohibits child sex offenders from being within 500 feet of a public park or building where children gather. Which is why the city of Aurora on Wednesday sent eviction notices to almost two dozen residents of Wayside Cross Ministries. It is, however, also a story about the spirit of the law, which is always far more complicated. For more than 90 years, the people who society tend to deem undesirable, even repugnant,…

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A New Argument In The Debate Over Airbnb: Stranger Danger

[huffpost.com – 6/26/19] “With a revolving door of strangers coming and going from short-term rental properties, tools like sex offender lists are becoming obsolete,” wrote Stacie Rumenap, president of the nonprofit Stop Child Predators, in a guest column last March in the Knox News in Knoxville, Tennessee. “There is no safeguard in place to stop a child predator from renting an Airbnb property next door.” At the time, Tennessee lawmakers were considering whether to forbid cities across the state from regulating short-term rentals. Rumenap wrote that if the legislation passed,…

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