I founded California Reform Sex Offender Laws, the predecessor of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) eight years ago in September 2011. I did so after reading the book, “We’re All in This Together”, by Frank Lindsay who was convicted of a single sex offense in 1979.
My decision to create this organization was based upon the outrage I experienced after learning that not only Frank’s civil rights, but the civil rights of a large group of people in this country were being violated every day, 24 hours a day. That group of people included not only individuals convicted of a sex offense but also their families.
The initial challenge was where to begin. Which civil right could and should be challenged first?
The answer was to start small, to achieve success in the courtroom and/or the State Capitol. And although it was our intent to begin with the issue of proximity restrictions, that is, where a registrant can visit, a more pressing issue arose that we could not ignore. That issue was the requirement to post a sign on the front door of your home on Halloween that “outed” you as a registrant not just on that day but for always.
We succeeded at stopping the Halloween sign requirement by convincing a federal district court judge that the signs posed a real danger to the registrants who lived there as well as their families. We then moved on to our first case challenging proximity restrictions. After “only” 31 lawsuits, we rid the state of California of such restrictions. In doing so, we established our credibility in the courts and demonstrated our determination to restore the civil rights of registrants and their families.
Our next target was to challenge residency restrictions, that is, laws that limit where registrants and their families can live. This campaign began in the city where Frank Lindsay resided, in part, because that city chose to double the area where registrants could not live despite written and verbal warnings from ACSOL. We have now filed 40 lawsuits and every city we have sued thus far has repealed, revised or agreed not to enforce their residency restrictions. We will continue this campaign until we rid the state of residency restrictions.
This is a great track record, right? Then why do so many people continue to question ACSOL’s dedication to restoring the rights of registrants and their families?
Many such questions come in the context of the Tiered Registry Law which was passed in 2017 and will become effective in 2021.
ACSOL lobbied the state legislature for 6 ½ years before the Tiered Registry Law was passed. Did we get everything we asked for? No! But we did win the ability for about 70 percent of the people on the registry to petition for removal from the registry. Given that there are at least 100,000 people on the California registry, that means that there will be more than 70,000 people who will be able to petition for removal from the registry.
And for those who are not included in this large group, ACSOL will continue its efforts so that you, too, will be eligible to petition for removal from the registry. We cannot guarantee when that will happen, but we can guarantee that we will continue to work toward that goal until it is achieved.
Please understand that ACSOL cannot do this alone. We need YOUR help! We need YOU to participate in hearings in the State Capitol as well as to write letters and to make phone calls.
Over the past 8 years, we have seen what a huge difference 15 people can make at a legislative hearing. And we have seen that number grow to 100. Even so, this is only a small percentage of people affected by legislation that affects the lives of more than 100,000 families.
President John F. Kennedy proclaimed in 1961, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” I proclaim in 2019, “ask not what ACSOL can do for your, ask what you can do for ACSOL.”
The answer is SHOW UP – STAND UP – SPEAK UP as well as to make whatever financial contribution you can afford. ACSOL has a $10 challenge which we know you can meet or exceed. Imagine what ACSOL could accomplish if every person on the registry contributed only $10 or those who can contribute more than $10 did so.
If that happened, ACSOL would have a “war chest” of at least $1 million which could be used for challenges such as Facebook pages for any registrant who wants one, the opportunity to serve on a jury, no wearing of GPS and overseas travel without restriction.
It’s time to see the BIG PICTURE. It’s time to contribute to make that big picture a REALITY. And it’s easy to do so using the “Donate” button on this page or to mail a check to our headquarters at 1215 K Street, 17th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814. Do it TODAY!
Thank you ACSOL and Co for all you do! You give us hope for a better live and a better tomorrow for our children. In gratitude.
Thank you Janice, K.G., and Frank,
I would never have survived this experience with my family member without the tremendous hope and support of all the people I have met through ACSOL.
The morning after the arrest in April 2015, the radio aired the news about the residency restrictions ruling by Janice’s law suit.
I was able to Google Search that news and found the origin was ACSOL ( it was a different name then). I spoke to Janice who put me in touch with K.G. a family member in the same boat. K. had a support group for family members in S. California. This gave me the idea to search my local area for a support group which I found.
In 2016, I attended my first ACSOL emotional support meeting in Sacramento. I met other family members there who were supportive.
In 2017 I attended my first lobbying in Sacramento and I was on Janice’s team. It was a remarkable experience to be on her team and meet our legislators in person and have a voice in the Tired Registry lobbying.
I’ve written letters of support for bills. This has given me a voice.
In 2019, I once again lobbied for the tier registry clean up bill. I was on Frank’s team and again it was remarkable to work along Frank, the man who was brave enough to write a book about his own experience. I attended another support meeting in Berkeley.
I honestly don’t know where I would have gotten so much hope and faith for these last 4 years.
It helps to take a chance and attend those in person support meetings.
Thank you, gracias, merci, and obrigada to Janice!!!!
Today my family member was granted a 17b reduction of the felony to a misdemeanor. I hope all who pursue this can receive this as well.
New DA article regarding Todd Spitzer is nice. He claims to want to make change. My case was in LA and both the DA & Judges where always courteous, fair and professional. When I filed my COR years ago, I was rather shocked! The Judge sounded like a DA, the DA was rather dishonest and the investigator was a thug! I truly (only arrested once) had never seen anything like this before!
Janice, and ACSOL volunteers, thanks for all you do!
After having my passport revoked last year, I started searching and looking for ways to fight this and found ACSOL. I was not too sure about trusting ACSOL at first, but then after attending last years conference I was sold, got involved and started going to Sacramento and lobbying.
I looked for more ways to help, and subsequently canceled my cable TV subscription last year and setup $100 a month PayPal donation to ACSOL as following & supporting ACSOL is better than anything I’ve watched on TV.
I’m still looking for more ways to support moving this effort forward faster. Keep up the great work!
(@Facts – your words spawned this reply, but it is not directly for you, though I do use three of your words, whereas the community at all)
What pray tell should those impacted by being on the registry to do that is not complacent, passive, or docile? March down a US highway blocking traffic? Ride buses? Sit at a lunch counter? Drink at a specific water fountain? March on the US Capitol? All for what? What is the end goal? To show the elected officials and people those who have done their time and paid their fine for their issue to be released from it all once it is done? What elected official is going to stand by with this group in public and do this as they would people whose color of their skin or sexual preference was segregated against? Bringing stories to the media by standing outside the courthouse or to the legislative floor is a part of the solution, but not the be all.
Think about how you want to accomplish it because it will take legal and legislative action to get it done and more legal action afterward most likely. I get it (myself included). Those impacted by being on the registry want to be free of it. You want this to be a war, so think about what tactics and strategy you want to employ in this war. I can think of one way to do that: get all the elected officials you can on camera or other recording to admit they believe those who have done their time, paid their fine should be able to move on from the issue. STOP at that point. Don’t bring up those impacted by being on the registry as part of this. Why? You are then introducing specific people, not a class, but people who they will backtrack against and caveat differently. Show them they can’t have their cake and eat it too. They either believe all people should be free or not, regardless of what they have done. Hold that against them. Then start monitoring the registries, e.g. DV, animal abuse, DUI, etc, to find repeat offenders to assess their success. At the same time, monitor all of the first-time offenders to show how ineffective they are. Bring this up to the elected officials. Hold them accountable. Soon enough you will find a hit on them because of something that will cause them to lose an election.
You want to have a bunch of people impacted by the registry who are banned from parks take over a city park in defiance and protest, ala the 1960’s, go for it, but will that help draw positive attention and provide a path to overturning laws which prevent being in a park? Would populating a house with many people who are impacted by the registry within the residential restriction exclusion zone around a park, day care, etc draw the same positive attention and provide a path to overturning laws which prevent this based upon the work ACSOL has done? That is possible given there is precedence within CA which could be use as groundwork in other areas. Show the harm these have done to you on their face and you may have a case to challenge in court these laws.
I will say if ACSOL can get 70K out of 100K people off of the registry the first time through with this new system, a 70% reduction is pretty huge and a batting average anyone can be proud of. If anyone has ever climbed a mountain, a real mountain, then they know the last parts are the hardest. I’ve done that. It is not easy at elevation but can be done with time, patience, and effort. The last 30% will be that way. Until that is successful, get the elected officials to admit what I highlighted above then use it.
In the meantime, if you want to do a rebellion on small scales such as making LE life harder for checks, traffic stops, going to a fair, etc, go for it because you are within your right. I want you to exercise your right to do this, but also think bigger picture as written above. At the same time, think of the harm you have received so you can show on its face how these laws are not what needs to be on the books. You do that, you can maybe have a case to challenge in court the laws.
Back in 2012 I took a deal for 8 years with 85% and a strike and 4 years parole. Well when I got out of prison in January 25 2018 my parole officer told me that I have 20 years of parole to do. I want to know why I Signed for 4 years of parole and now I have 20 years now
Janice, thank you for pursuing the marked passport for registered persons. You are wonderful! Is there an update on the legal challenge?
I am ACSOLS and have just joined NARSOL. I am concerned with the unfair registry laws but I’m wondering why there isn’t more being said and more trying to be done in the beginning, before the men are actually convicted of the crime. The laws and the sentencing for sex crimes are so out of proportion compared to every other crime on the books.
A person is likely to do less time for murder than a sex crime . It doesn’t matter if the sex was consensual between the male and female or any of the surrounding circumstances if the male happened to be 18 years of age, even if he had just turned 18 and was still attending high school. I’m referring to the case my grandson is now involved in and there seems to be absolutely no justice for him. The prosecutor originally talked of 25 yrs to life under the Jessica Law (State of Kansas) but has made an offer of 19 1/2 years with of course lifetime sex offender registry. This is a young man that has never been in any kind of trouble during his short life, has been active in sports, school and church. None of this is taken into account when it comes to his charges. Not having the support of a father and a mother that works long hours in food service, my grandson could only afford the services of a public defender. While I believe that she is a good attorney, she also carries a heavy case load and is up against a prosecutor with the reputation of being very tough on sex cases and “winning” them. She refuses to even mediate.
So again , before fighting to get my grandson off the sex registry wouldn’t it be more prudent to fight the
unfair laws that put an 18 year old boy in prison for 25 years to begin with ? This is all new to me but I’m trying to educate myself in any way possible that could help him. I’m also willing to volunteer my time in any way for your organization in the state of Kansas that is relevant to unfair sentencing which is I believe where it needs to begin. Keep the men out of prison that truly do not need to be there, that are not predator’s, not a threat to others in society, and could easily be punished by a monitoring system, many deserve probation and could actually be of service to the state or city by doing civil service .
I look forward to hearing from you and your feedback and ideas. Again, I am more than willing to volunteer my time to be useful for what is now my organization as well. I am a fighter, I do not shy away from tough situations, I am level headed and through in my thinking. I’m sure I can be useful !
Thank you for your time. Sandra
Thank you Janice, I was happy that the Tiered Registry Law was passed but I just wished that people who did there 10 or 20 years of registry time would automatically get off instead of wasting time and money for courts writing petition for removal especially the people that are disabled or can`t get or find a job do to there backgrounds checks.
I have a question. I live in California and on 12/18/19 a sheriff officer came to my house and told me that if I leave my house over night I have to let the county know. I am not on parole anymore and I have always been told that if it’s longer than 5 days then I have to tell them. They told me that even if I went camping in my county overnight I still have to tell them. Is this true??
Hello Janice, have you heard of the study on recidivism the federal government did in 1994 which shows 9% and have done a study every year since which shows recidivism below 5%. Plus i found a report from the neighborhood of Megan Kanka. The parents said if they had known a offender lived there they could have prevented her rape and murder. Acorrding to the report they knew he lived there and so did about 98% of the neighbors knew plus there was two other registrants living on the block. This report was taken after her death an before the law was enacted.
Opps i forgot to put the link to the government study.
http://Www.bjs.gov>rsorp94