AR: Arkansas woman must register as sex offender after trying to frame husband for child porn, rape

[wreg.com – 7/2/19] BENTONVILLE, Ark. — An Arkansas woman was given six years probation for trying to frame her husband by downloading child pornography on his cellphone and telling authorities he raped a 13-year-old girl. Cherie Renee Bolton, 34, of Siloam Springs, pleaded guilty last week in Benton County Circuit Court to distributing, possessing or viewing child pornography and filing a false police report. Bolton must register as a sex offender and pay more than $2,000 in fines and court fees. Judge Brad Karren also ordered that Bolton must serve…

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No Havens for Registered Persons: Why “Most ‘Sex Offenders’ Per Capita” is a Meaningless Statistic

[sosen.org – 7/1/19] A Patch.com article entitled “Sex Offenders: How Illinois Ranks On Registry,” published June 27, 2019, proclaims that Illinois ranks 25th, smack dab in the middle of the list for most registered persons per capita. The article cited ASecureLife, a private website that reviews (and promotes) various security products. In turn, ASecureLife cited the stats from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The statistic has no real meaning, quite frankly. In 2011, Indiana, the state next to Illinois, endured the tragic murder of Aliahna Lemmon. The…

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CA: City of San Diego Asserts that SB 145 Will Allow Cities to Adopt Residency Restrictions for All Registrants

[ACSOL – 7/2/19] In a motion filed today in federal district court, the City of San Diego asserted that the current language of SB 145 would allow cities to adopt new residency restrictions that apply to all registrants, not just registrants currently on parole. The City’s motion was filed in response to a motion filed last week by the plaintiffs for partial summary judgement. The plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment was based upon a state appellate court ruling that limits the application of residency restrictions to registrants while they…

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TN: Tennessee Judge Grants Temporary Restraining Order

[floridaactioncommittee.org – 6/30/19] A federal Judge in Tennessee has issued a temporary restraining order blocking a law scheduled to go into effect tomorrow from being enforced. The law would have prevented a parent from living with or having unsupervised access to their own children if they have ever committed a sex offense. Read more The original story: TN: New Law Forces Dozens on Sex Offender Registry from their Homes

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Emotional Support Group is now available in Sacramento most Thursdays!

You don’t have to be stranded on an island! Help is on the way! Do you feel like you are alone and no one else knows what you are going through, and too afraid to ask? Well, that day has passed… This Emotional Support Group is for those dealing with the stigma of a sex offense and their loved ones. This is based on a 12 step meeting format that allows people to discuss the emotional toil and challenges of life on the registry. When: Most Thursdays from 6:30 to…

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GA: Tag reading cams going up at these schools to catch speeders, sex offenders

[wsbtv.com – 6/22/19] GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. – School’s out, but new safety measures are already planned for the upcoming school year. New tag reading cameras are going up at four schools in Gwinnett County to catch speeders and sex offenders in school zones. “I believe it’ll be a great idea because the safety of our children is what’s important,” said parent Lauren Walker-Robertson. Content Continues Below … Officials are also working to allow the cameras access to the statewide offender database. That way, the cameras can read tags and alert…

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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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Kat’s Blog: Registrants and a Defeatist Attitude

Recently I read some comments on another advocacy website pertaining to TN’s new law effective July 1, 2019, in which adult registrants may not reside overnight in a home with a minor in it. The comments that caught my attention weren’t the “we’ve got to fight and do something about this” comments, but instead, the number of defeatist comments, “nothing is changing, we’re only fooling ourselves, we’re not winning, little wins mean nothing”. One person even went so far as to say something to the effect that they felt like…

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FL: Florida’s sex offender population is aging. Where can they live out their silver years?

[miamiherald.co – 6/20/19] When Mark Sullivan found his roommate, Aquila “Bud” Albertson, grasping onto their refrigerator door, clearly in pain, Sullivan said the 94-year-old needed medical attention, but Albertson tried to downplay it. The roommates both knew Albertson wasn’t getting the medical care he needed daily. It was left to Sullivan to feed him, give him his glaucoma medicine and clean his sheets when he had accidents. But even Sullivan, 58, couldn’t provide around-the-clock care. He only found Albertson that day because he was given the day off from his…

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SCOTUS: Justices Nix Heavy Sentences for Repeat Sex Offenders

In an opinion that aligns Justice Neil Gorsuch with his liberal colleagues, the Supreme Court overturned a law that imposes heightened punishments on sex offenders who are caught with child pornography. “Only a jury, acting on proof beyond a reasonable doubt, may take a person’s liberty. That promise stands as one of the Constitution’s most vital protections against arbitrary government,” Gorsuch wrote for the plurality Wednesday. “Yet in this case a congressional statute compelled a federal judge to send a man to prison for a minimum of five years without empaneling a…

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Bahamas: ‘Don’t Let Public See Sex Register’

The country’s leading counselling and advocacy services provider for abuse victims does not want a sex offender register to be made public. Dr Sandra Dean-Patterson, director of the Bahamas Crisis Centre, said a public register would be ineffective and would lure people into a false sense of security. Her comments when contacted yesterday came after the government published draft regulations for a sex offender registry earlier this month on its website. Full Article

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Florida Action Committee Weekly Update 2019-06-18: Trip to ACSOL Conference

[floridaactioncommittee.org – 6/18/19] Dear Members and Advocates, Some people travel to Los Angeles hoping to run into celebrities or rock stars. My trip to LA for the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) provided just that. To myself and most people in the advocacy community, Eric Janus, Ira Ellman, Adele Nicholas, Emily Horowitz, Janice Bellucci and the others that presented at ACSOL are our rock stars! I was fortunate to meet with, learn from and speak to these celebrities in person! Professor (and former Law School Dean) Eric Janus…

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Janice’s Journal: Court Decision an Important Point on Path to Tipping Point

Another court has spoken the truth: registration is punishment. That court is Division III of the Colorado Court of Appeals. The case is People v. In the Interest of T.B. which was decided last week. This is a case that could be overlooked. After all, this court in only one of several courts of appeal in the state of Colorado. And the plaintiff in this case was a juvenile when he was convicted. The reason the case should not be overlooked is that it is an important data point on…

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