Dear ACSOL members,
In less than two weeks, NARSOL and ACSOL together will be hosting the third annual “Halloween Conference Call and Cop Watch Marathon.”
Both NARSOL’s Larry Neely and ACSOL’s Janice Bellucci will be taking questions, reporting on the latest legal developments, and collecting live reports on troubling law enforcement activities around the nation to prohibit Halloween involvement by the families of people on the registry. Our goal is to have attorneys from all over the country participating in the call and willing to opine on the constitutionality of those policing efforts.
How Can You Help?
- Tell us about any special Halloween programs or policies being conducted by law enforcement in your town or locality that affect registered citizens who are noton supervision and/or their families.
- Let us know if you’re willing to call in to the marathon to report on conditions in your town or county.
- If you can do that, during which hour would you prefer? State in terms of Mountain time of either 5 pm, 6 pm, or 7 pm. You can actually call as early as 2 pm as the marathon starts at 5 pm eastern time, but the later three hours is when activity is more likely to be occurring in California.
- Tell your friends and associates about the Halloween Marathon. Free sign up is found here: https://secure.narsol.org/civicrm/?page=CiviCRM&q=civicrm%2Fevent%2Finfo&reset=1&id=354
- Give us the names of any attorneys you know who might be willing to participate in the call or to be on-call to offer their views on situations that relate to their areas of expertise or which occur within their jurisdictions.
- Send your responses to communications@narsol.org.
We are looking forward to a fun, informative All Hallows Eve and truly appreciate your critical help in making this year’s Halloween Marathon a very successful event. See you there! These are the options for joining in:
The phone number is 605 313-5169, followed by 957605#. You may call in directly with a telephone or, if you have a speaker and microphone or a headset with a mic, you may access the call through your computer by going to https://www.freeconferencecallhd.com/dialer and following the on-screen directions for inputting the number and the code. We will also live stream the call on You Tube. There won’t be any video, just an audio stream, so you can try this if you’d rather not call in. You can use your Roku or ChromeCast and have the call played over your TV.
“Tell us about any special Halloween programs or policies being conducted by law enforcement in your town or locality that affect registered citizens who are noton supervision and/or their families.”
Those on some sort of supervision still have rights, albeit lessened. Why is no one willing to fight the unlimited discretion of supervision?
Thank you ACSOL for monitoring those who are abusing the system. Harassment does nothing for public safety and does nothing to help the person who made and error in their life move forward.
Please see NARSOL’s digest question in “The Legal Corner”
https://view.publitas.com/p222-5250/vol-12-no-5/page/4-5
United States vs Kappes 782F.3d 828 (7th circuit 2015)
The court vacated and remanded the case of three defendants based on defects in the conditions of supervised release, and the court stressed the importance of supervised release conditions that are properly-noticed, supported by adequate findings, and well-tailored to serve the purposes of deterrence, rehabilitation, and protection of the public.
United States vs Reeves 591 F3d 77 (2nd circuit 2010)
The court vacated a condition requiring the defendant to notify his probation officer when he established a “significant romantic relationship” as not reasonably related to the objectives of sentencing.
The first general sentencing judge should consider when imposing conditions of supervised release is that it is important to give advance notice of the conditions being considered.
The second general principle regarding the imposition of conditions of supervised release is that a sentencing court must justify the conditions and the length of the term at sentencing by an adequate statement of reasons, reasonably related to the applicable 3553(a) factors. Bryant 754 F3d 443 (7th circuit 2014)
The third sentencing principle is that sentencing judges should impose conditions of supervised release which are (a) appropriately tailored to the defendants offense, personal history, and characteristics; (b) involve no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary to achieve the goals of deterrence, protection of the public, and rehabilitation; and (c) sufficiently specific to place the defendant on notice of what is expected.
Yes, these cases involve sentencing judges determining what conditions to put on people subject to supervised release, just like I was. A judge in NJ spelled out my conditions of supervised release, and when I moved to Ga, I had additional conditions imposed by Ga. After those conditions, I’m still confused as to how DCS can impose additional restrictions?
Regardless of what restrictions you may or may not face, I would advise anyone on probation or parole, especially registrants, to be extra conscientious this Halloween as the State of California will likely be conducting another “Operation Boo” like last year:
https://ktla.com/2018/11/01/110-california-sex-offenders-arrested-in-statewide-sweep-on-halloween/
Even though the vast majority of those arrested were charged with technical violations, these kinds of “operations” and the media they generate only serve to perpetuate the falsehood that registrants re-offend during Halloween. These “operations” artificially increase the statistical incidence of registrant Halloween offenses.
thanks for teaming up with NARSOL on this – i know this isn’t the first team up but just wanted to put it out there that more RSOL organizations need to work together. as i’m able i’ll donate and/or use the amazon smile method to contribute!
Intriguing! I personally have never heard of a registered offender attacking anyone on Halloween? Have there been any cases? Why not do this during Christmas? 4th of July? Summer? Along the river bed? New Years? Shopping malls? My son attends a local HS. The school just started using Raptor (very hateful). You can be a hardcore gang banger, drug dealer, prostitute, drug user or on parole and Raptor will let you in. I reviewed (Raptor only searches the National Sex Offender database. Nothing more. So, if your a non disclosed offender, it will allow you on campus. It’s really kind of a joke. In summary, it targets people who have already paid their debt to society.
Question… I’m currently on probation and have guidelines to basically act like I am not home on the night of Halloween… I will likely be working that night. I live with my mom, so if my home gets a visit that night can my mother refuse to allow them to enter the house even with my 4th waiver?
Can she refuse entry at any time to law enforcement of they come over when I am not home?
This may be a question for an attorney…
@TP I’m not sure what the laws are in your state but in Michigan if you are on parole or probation the police do not need permission to enter and you can’t deny them entry. To do so would be a probation violation. You might want to read the conditions of your probation that your PO gave you because it probably states they have a right to enter your residence to check on you and it would probably apply even if you were not home but your mother was.
While Halloween is just barely another “traditional” holiday that has largely lost it’s true purpose and meaning, it’s now primarily fallen prey to another American capitalistic and consumer-driven corporate cash grab – just like the other big three. While it’s been commonplace that candy corporations like the Mars Family and Hershey consider this their “Super Bowl” for profit and sales, the local LEO’s are getting in on the act by selling false fear to parents about statistically unlikely threat scenarios happening to their children by one of “those people.”
The hate, shame and vengeance culture in America is too pervasive to even have legitimate hope of things changing. The bar has been set very low when the county officials are blatantly telling erroneous information about “public safety” with impunity. Public opinion and perception takes decades to correct and reshape. So basically, we’re fighting battles in a large ideological war that sadly won’t be won in our lifetime.
In the meantime, our “pubic servants” will continue to shamelessly take false credit for promoting public safety on Halloween.
Who thinks of these things? If your the general public, laws like this create hysteria and make people think there have been instances of offenders committing crimes during Halloween? What’s next? We already where banned from beaches? Parks? Living in certain areas? Travel bans? This is nuts! My sons school just installed raptor! It will read your ID and search the National Database! What if you aren’t online? Duh. What if your a double murderer? Stalker? Drug dealer? Who on earth would think this program only searched for these dangerous sex offenders? Hmmm. This could be a lawsuit. As noted, Ca just enacted SB 384 and the court experience should be enlightening. It’s going to be 25 years for me! I even read the YMCA is even doing this (raptor)
I’m working on a list of Halloween laws across the US.
So far, I got one notice that Tuscaloosa Co AL just sent out fliers for a mandatory Halloween meeting for ALL RCs in the county.
A news outlet in SD reports that state has no Halloween restrictions.
I’m not on parole or probation anymore. My small-town police came by two months ago as a part of a county sweep to check registrant residency. I didn’t answer the door. I never answer the door for police, even if I am home, and I have multiple cameras at my home to protect us from both criminals and dishonest police officers (one of the reasons I’m on the registry to being with). A single officer came back the next day just as my wife was pulling into the driveway. He asked her if I live here and said he wanted to talk with me. I talked to him from the garage and he asked me to confirm that I was living there and if I was still on probation. Then he left.
Now this morning (only two months later), I received a visit from three officers arriving in three separate vehicles. After knocking several times they left (I wasn’t home but I can see the cameras from my phone). They didn’t leave any information on the door and I haven’t received ANY notices via mail.
Last year, while I was still on one-year probation, I didn’t get a single visit from the police and my PO came by about once a month.
The California DOC has published the details of its 2019 Operation Boo, along with a four-page brochure:
https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/parole/parole/operation-boo/
Some of it sounds good at first. They cite statistics showing that most offenses are not committed by strangers, but they nonetheless continue with the scary narratives, including a photo of a what appears to be a cop knocking on a registrant’s door, ready to pull his gun. They make it sound as if the lack of Halloween offenses is due to Operation Boo:
“We’ve chosen Halloween as a good time to make parents and kids aware of sexual predators. Instances of sexual abuse have not been prevalent on Halloween night in California during the two decades since Operation Boo started. Sexual predators shy away from scrutiny and now you’re a part of Operation Boo – helping shine an even brighter light on predators.”
They encourage parents to review the Megans Law website in order to create a map of places to avoid on Halloween and offer other tips to “help ensure your kids and teens are safe from sexual molestation.” Unfortunately I could not find any mention of the fact that many registrants are listed for offenses that have nothing to do with molesting children, although they do point out that 23% of offenses are perpetrated by minors. No mention of recidivism rates, either.
Janice and all, thanks for participation in the Halloween call. Only caught the last hour. Gratitude for the progress and the message of hope.