[benarnews.org – 8/27/19] The association representing medical doctors in Indonesia said Tuesday it would refuse to take part in chemically castrating the first convict sentenced to such punishment under the country’s toughened up child-protection laws against pedophiles. In May, a court in East Java province’s Mojokerta regency found Muh Aris bin Syukur guilty of sexually abusing nine children, including girls as young as 7, between 2015 and 2018, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. The judges, in a landmark ruling, ordered that he be chemically castrated to prevent…
Read MoreDay: August 28, 2019
CA: Senate Bill Amendment Excludes Registrants from Juries
Senate Bill 310, which would expand the number of individuals eligible to serve on a jury, was amended this week in a way that prohibits anyone convicted of a felony sex offense from that service. The bill was amended on August 26 as it was being considered by the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee. “Once again, state legislators have thrown people convicted of a sex offense under the bus,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Registrants are citizens and therefore should be allowed to serve on a jury.” Significantly the bill would…
Read MoreOp-Ed: Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide was part of a much bigger crisis in U.S. jails and prisons
[latimes.com – 8/19/19] The New York City medical examiner’s ruling that sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein killed himself in jail has prompted a lot of hand-wringing about conditions in the facility where he was held. But if the nation had been paying attention, no one would have been particularly surprised by what happened. The United States is in the midst of a prison suicide epidemic. In 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides accounted for about 1.6% of overall U.S. deaths. That same year, the latest for…
Read MoreDisneyland and Fingerprints
[austinstartups.com – 8/27/19] It may surprise many people but the Walt Disney Corporation is an enthusiastic and early adopter of biometric technology. All the way back in 1996, Disney added a magnetic stripe to their park pass. Instead of the bar-coded laminate photo IDs traditionally used, the new pass had no photo and minimal printed information. The magnetic stripe stored pass information plus it added one new piece of information: a biometric “finger scan” (fingerprint). Disney didn’t provide clear information on what was happening when a guest made the “peace…
Read MoreFL: A look inside Florida Civil Commitment Center life: Pesci v. Budz
[law.justia.com – 8/21/19] James Pesci is a detainee at the Florida Civil Commitment Center (FCCC), a for-profit facility that houses sex offenders involuntarily committed under Florida’s Involuntary Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act. Pesci is not a prisoner; like the other roughly 600 residents of FCCC, he has already served out his prison sentence. Instead, he is involuntarily committed because the State has determined that he is a “sexually violent predator” likely to engage in future “acts of sexual violence if not confined in a secure facility for long-term…
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