The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a decision, that if left unchallenged, will require some individuals convicted of a sex offense to continue to register for life even if the state in which he resides no longer does. “This decision is shocking and could reverse the benefits of every state’s Tiered Registry laws as well as other post conviction relief,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “The Court has literally ruled that once a sex offender, always a sex offender.” The petitioner in this case, Mr. Willman, was…
Read MoreMonth: August 2020
Maxwell Monty: Second chances? You can “bed” on it
[Maxwell Monty] On April 3, 2017, I sat down with my copy of the “Wall Street Journal,” took a sip of my morning cup of coffee and began reading a book review of retired U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven’s Make Your Bed. In another lifetime, I may have simply passed over that review, thinking it was another fool’s errand somehow sent by my mother in a continued effort to get me to make my bed. I was fifty-one years old and had never seen the logic in making my…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: The Registry: If It’s Not Punishment, Then What Is It?
We’re tired of hearing that the registry isn’t punishment. Tired of “it’s for public safety” rhetoric that politicians use to keep the public in a constant state of fear, fanning the flames of hatred and depicting anyone on the registry as a violent, predatory monster. The registry is punishment. The courts know it. Registrants know it. Families, friends, spouses and children of registrants know it. The registry protects no one. There is nothing remotely “safe” or public friendly about the registry. It was disturbing to read that in Kansas, the…
Read MoreOf Witches, and Witch Burnings [by Guy Hamilton-Smith]
[littlereddots.substack.com – 8/22/20 – Guy Hamilton-Smith] Note: this piece is adapted from a forthcoming article in the Southwestern Law Review Several years ago, a debate raged in my local paper’s opinion section. Should sex offenders be allowed in church?, or something of the like. I wasn’t a churchgoer, but I had a spiritual experience that I didn’t know what to do with. I asked one of my friends in law school who I knew was religious, and who knew my story, if she would take me to hers. She took me. I…
Read MoreConvicted of Sex Crimes, but With No Victims
[nytimes.com – 8/26/20] Jace Hambrick worked as an apprentice laborer during the week, renovating homes around Vancouver, Wash., and at a neighborhood gas station on weekends. Much of the rest of his life was online. He was hard-core, amassing a collection of more than 200 games. People told him it wasn’t smart to be so cut off from reality, but his internet life felt rich. As a dungeon master in Dungeons & Dragons, he controlled other players’ destinies. As a video warrior, he was known online by his nom de…
Read MoreKS: Court opinion affirms states’ authority to require sex offender registries
[stjosephpost.com – 8/24/20] TOPEKA – A ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has reaffirmed the authority of states to maintain sex offender registries to inform the public and rejected the claim that registries are a form of punishment, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Monday. The appellate ruling last week reversed a 2017 lower court decision striking down the Colorado sex offender registry as unconstitutional. The case involved a claim brought by three individuals against the director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. “While…
Read MoreJuvenile Law Center Report Advocates End of Youth Registration
[jlc.org – 8/13/20] The Juvenile Law Center released today a comprehensive report focused upon individuals who are currently required to register due to their conviction for a sex offense that was committed when they were children. According to that report, there are more than 200,000 such individuals including people who were convicted when they were only 8 years old. The report points out that children on sex offender registries are four times more likely to report a recent suicide attempt as compared to their peers. The same children face residency…
Read MoreSex Offender Registries Often Fail Those They Are Designed To Protect UPDATED
UPDATED with commentary from ACSOL Board Member Guy Hamilton-Smith (below) Inside the sprawling two-story tan and coral stucco building on New York Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C., is a men’s homeless shelter that once served as a halfway house run by the government. It’s a place that some 20 registered sex offenders call home — according to the city’s sex offender registry. But at least one-third of them don’t really live there, and D.C. authorities have no idea where they are. The men are among the more than 25,000 convicted…
Read MoreACSOL Challenges Irvine’s Presence Restrictions in CA
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) today filed a lawsuit challenging presence restrictions in the City of Irvine which were declared to be preempted by state law six years ago. Today’s lawsuit was filed after repeated requests by ACSOL to repeal the unlawful restrictions including a letter sent to the city dated February 13, 2020. “The City of Irvine has acted unlawfully for the past six years by continuing to require some registrants to obtain prior written approval before entering a public park,” stated ACSOL President Chance Oberstein. …
Read MoreAction Alert: UPDATED 8/29 Wellington, FL council looking to pass new rules for vacation rentals and those on the registry
[floridaactioncommittee.org – Action Alert – 8/24/20] 8/28/20 UPDATE: Wellington approves rules for vacation rentals Wellington, Florida is considering creating a rule that would require vacation rental owners to check to see if potential renters are on the sex offender registry. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow [August 25] and will be held by Zoom. The Responsible Party for all Vacation Rental properties is required to conduct a nationwide search to confirm that the prospective Transient Occupant(s) is/are not a registered sexual offender or sexual predator as a result of…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Zombies versus Sex Offenders?
A friend recently referred to a TV series, IZombie, as a TV show in which some Zombies are portrayed in a positive light. That is, she said, there are good Zombies and bad Zombies. The idea of a good Zombie piqued my curiosity to the point that I watched three seasons of that TV show. I quit watching the show when I realized I was covering my own eyes for large parts of each episode due to the gory scenes they portrayed. What did I learn from watching three seasons…
Read MoreACSOL Executive Director Appointed to CA Supreme Court Case
ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci has been appointed to the case of In re Gadlin, which is currently under review by the California Supreme Court. Prior to Ms. Bellucci’s appointment, Mr. Gadlin was represented by attorney Michael Satris, co-founder of the Prison Law Office, who recently died of a heart attack. The case was fully briefed by Mr. Satris prior to his death. “I am honored to be appointed to this case before the California Supreme Court because it challenges regulations issued by the California Department of Corrections that prohibit…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Job Loss Due to the Registry
A recent USA Today inquiry cost a registrant and his company hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal contracts and who knows how many other jobs. The article in its entirety can be read on the ACSOL website “Sex Offender loses Covid-19 Contract at VA Hospital after USA Today ask questions.” The employee’s janitorial firm had had multiple government contracts over the years. There were never any issues with his employment record, he and his company were responsible employees and in good standing with the federal government’s vendor database. He…
Read MoreCA: Committee Passes SB 145 Despite Chair’s Objection
The Assembly’s Appropriations Committee today passed Senate Bill 145 despite objections to that bill expressed by Committee Chair Lorena Gonzales Fletcher and despite death threats made to its author, Senator Scott Wiener. “We commend Senator Wiener for his courage in the efforts required to obtain passage of Senate Bill 145,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Belulcci. “The Senator faced down not only death threats but also the opposition of the chair of a powerful legislative committee.” Because SB 145 was passed today, it will soon be voted upon by the…
Read MoreCO: Decision in Millard v. Rankin (10th Circuit US Court of Appeals)
Plaintiff-Appellees David Millard, Eugene Knight, and Arturo Vega challenge the constitutionality of Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act (CSORA). The district court held CSORA was unconstitutional as applied to the Appellees because the statute inflicted cruel and unusual punishment and violated substantive due process guarantees. Additionally, the district court held that the state courts’ application of CSORA’s deregistration procedures to Vega violated his procedural due process rights. Defendant-Appellant, the State, appeals from the entirety of the district court’s decision. Because the district court’s ruling contravenes binding Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit…
Read MoreIL: Inside the Endless Nightmare of Indefinite Detention Under “Civil Commitment”
[inthesetimes.com – 8/19/20] In June 2019, after serving more than 29 years in Illinois prisons, Otis Arrington expected to be released to freedom: He had finished his time, which he describes as difficult and traumatic, and his exit date was pending. But three days before he was slated to get out, Arrington says he was informed that he would, instead, be placed under a new form of confinement — one with no end date, meted out after he had already completed the punishment imposed by the criminal courts. “I was supposed to get out, and…
Read MoreACSOL Conference Reorganized as Virtual Conference on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) has reorganized its 2020 conference, “Empowered People Inspiring Change,” so that the entire conference will be held online. Individuals can also attend and participate in the conference by phone. The conference will be held on Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. PST. Sign up today “ACSOL is excited to present its entire conference this year online and by phone,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “By utilizing two technology platforms, we will be able to…
Read MoreAssembly Appropriations Committee to Consider Senate Bill 145 on August 20
The Assembly Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill 145 (SB 145) on August 20, 2020 on the Assembly floor starting at 10 a.m.. The Committee will consider more than 100 bills during that hearing and seating for the hearing will be very limited. The public can view the hearing on the Assembly’s website at https://www.assembly.ca.gov/todaysevents. If passed, SB 145 would exempt from mandatory registration individuals convicted of certain offenses involving minors if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor and if that offense…
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