[govtrackinsider.com – 4/8/20] A potential list of legally binding but to-be-determined “best practices” for internet companies could include almost anything. Context If somebody uses an open online platform such as Facebook, Craigslist, or Reddit to post illegal material such as child pornography, is the platform itself legally liable? Since the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the answer has been no. The person or user who posted the material can — and should — be found criminally guilty, but not the website itself. (Unless the actual primary activity of…
Read MoreYear: 2020
NY: NYC Bar Report to Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Call to Temporarily Suspend In-Person Reporting Requirements
[mitchellhamline.edu – 4/3/20] By NYC Bar Committee | April 3, 2020 Dear Governor Cuomo: The New York City Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Operations Committee and the Sex Offender Registration Act Working Group write this letter to urge the temporary suspension of in-person reporting requirements for people on the sex offender registry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. By continuing to require in-person reporting for the 8,050 New York City residents on the registry, all of whom have in-person reporting requirements at the same office in lower Manhattan, the health…
Read MoreACSOL April 18 Phone Meeting
Dear Registrants, Family Members and Supporters – Please join me and ACSOL President Chance Oberstein, a criminal defense attorney, for our “monthly” meeting to be held as a telephone conference call. The conference call will be on Saturday, April 18 at 10 am Pacific Time (1:00 Eastern) and will last from 2 to 3 hours. Topics of conversation will include information about COVID-19 and its impact upon registrants and their families as well as the Tiered Registry and other current topics as well as recent court decisions and pending legal…
Read MoreACSOL Files TRO Application in Los Angeles Superior Court
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) has filed an application for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in Los Angeles Superior Court. If granted, the TRO would require both the Attorney General and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to temporarily stop in-person registration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The TRO application, filed yesterday, requests a hearing or a decision without a hearing on April 14. “In-person registration continues to threaten the lives of registrants, their families, law enforcement and the public because it increases the risk of infection from COVID-19,” stated…
Read MoreIL: Lawsuit – Release Sex Offenders Who Have Served Their Time
Sex offenders who have completed their sentences but are still being held in Illinois prisons should be released as part of the effort to reduce the state’s prison population during the COVID-19 crisis, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. The request for a temporary restraining order was filed on behalf of Marcus Barnes, a sex offender held at Graham Correctional Center, and about 300 other sex offenders who remain in prison because they have not located state-approved housing required for their release. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: The Punishment Does Not Fit the Crime
A registrant died yesterday in a Florida jail. He was put into that jail about 60 days ago because he forgot to report his new home address to local law enforcement. The price he paid for his forgetfulness was death. Death due to exposure to the coronavirus. A local public defender tried to get this man released from jail. The public defender knew the risk of infection in that jail was high because more than 20 people, including inmates and staff, had already been infected. The prosecuting attorney also knew…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Dissenting Judges Should Be Ashamed of Themselves
A headline at LegalNews.com caught my eye, “High Court Rules Sex Offender Registration Qualifies as Punishment, Dissent Argues Registry is Administrative, Imposes Burden but No Restraint”. The case centered around a Maryland man who had been charged with and pled guilty to human trafficking in 2015. Upon his release from prison, according to the Court of Appeals ruling, the Maryland Sex Offender Registry had “wrongly” added the man’s name to the registry, requiring him to register as a “sex offender”. Under his plea agreement, the charge of trafficking of a…
Read MoreCA: California Courts Temporarily Change Rules To Ease Stress On System
[wbhm.org – 4/7/20] California’s court system, the nation’s largest, announced a series of emergency measures this week to address vulnerabilities related to the coronavirus pandemic. The 11 emergency measures include temporarily eliminating bail for defendants charged with misdemeanors and most nonviolent felonies, conducting pretrial hearings remotely, and placing new limits on evictions and foreclosures. The California Judicial Council adopted the changes Monday. It’s the policy making arm of the state’s courts. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye says the moves aim to reduce jail populations and protect Californians from losing their homes…
Read MoreFL: Broward jail inmate with coronavirus dies at hospital
[sun-sentinel.co – 4/8/20] A convicted sex offender became the first Broward County inmate to die from the new coronavirus, underscoring concern over how the pandemic will pose problems for detention facilities across South Florida. Alan Pollock, 64, died at Northwest Medical Center in Margate on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Broward Public Defender’s Office, which represented him. Broward County’s jails have had at least five inmates test positive for the coronavirus, which has been spreading in detention centers across the U.S. Nationwide, the disease has infected hundreds of detainees as…
Read MoreMI: Judge: State sex offender registry can’t be enforced in pandemic
[detroitnews.com – 4/6/20] A federal judge is commanding state authorities to stop enforcing rules under the Michigan Sex Offender Registry Act during the coronavirus pandemic. According to an interim order U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland issued Monday, officials are “preliminarily enjoined from enforcing registration, verification, school zone, and fee violations of (the act) that occurred or may occur from February 14, 2020, until the current crisis has ended, and thereafter until registrants are notified of what duties they have under SORA going forward.” On Valentine’s Day, Cleland declared the act unconstitutional…
Read MoreLooking For Additional Research Participants: Registered Sex Offenders, Male Or Female, 18 Years Of Age Or Older
[montclair.edu] [Note from Janice: I recommend you take part in this survey because I have corroborated Dr. Lisa Anne Zilney, her professorship at Montclair State University and her past scholarly works re: registrants.] Title: Contextualizing the experiences of sexual offenders Eligibility: You are a registered sexual offender in any state and are at least 18 years of age. Description: This study looks at the long term and short-term impacts of plea deals for sexual offenders. Plea deals can be coercive in nature, innocent individuals sometimes plead guilty, and people…
Read MoreGeneral Comments April 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of April 2020. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
Read MoreSex Offender Registry Requirements Leave Some Facing Stark Choices As Coronavirus Risks Grow
[theappeal.org – 4/3/20] A patchwork approach to the nation’s sex offense registry laws is leaving many of the 900,000 people on the country’s registries with a stark choice as COVID-19 sweeps the country: risk their lives or risk their freedom. This week, a California man had to decide between putting his and his 65-year-old parents’ health at risk or potentially going to prison. Another is already in violation of his state’s law because he spent more than three days in the hospital with his pregnant spouse without first appearing at…
Read MoreACSOL Postpones Annual Conference to October 10 and 11
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) board of directors has decided to postpone its annual conference from May 29 and May 30 to October 10 and 11. The board plans to conduct the conference at the same location, Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and closure of Southwestern Law School, the annual conference could not be held as planned on May 29 and May 30,” stated ACSOL President Chance Oberstein. “We look forward to conducting the conference at the same location in October.”…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: We’re All in This Together, Or Are We?
Several news articles this week about Tampa Catholic Charities setting up a 100- tent homeless shelter called Hillsboro Hope, brought to mind the old biblical line “what so ever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.” Society has always excluded registrants from most homeless shelters. Even during our country’s worst episodes of floods, earthquakes, triple digit and freezing temperatures, registrants have been left to fend for themselves. So, is it any wonder that once again, registrants are being denied the same basic necessities of…
Read MoreProbation and Parole Officers Are Rethinking Their Rules As Coronavirus Spreads
Social distancing is pressing officials across the country to skip traditional methods such as jailing people for “technical violations” like missing check-ins. Full Article
Read MoreMD: Maryland High court rules sex offender registration qualifies as ‘punishment’
[By Guy Hamilton-Smith, an ACSOL board member, a 2019 JustLeadershipUSA fellow, and a contributor to The Appeal and Slate. You can read more of his writing on his website] The Maryland Court of Appeals — Maryland’s highest court — issued an opinion this week that, effectively, calls a spade a spade: that being listed on a sex offense registry constitutes punishment. In Rogers v. State, the appellant had been convicted of a crime that would require registration if the victim was a minor. However, the age of the victim was not an element of…
Read MoreNY: State poised to institute sex-offender ban on mass transit
[politico.com – 4/2/20] New York State is poised to enact a ban on some sex offenders in New York’s mass transit system, a move long sought by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and long dreaded by civil libertarians. The state budget that leaders are now finalizing would allow judges to ban individuals convicted of some sex crimes in mass transit from using the system for up to three years. The MTA has pushed for the ban, arguing that those who commit sex crimes on the subway or bus do so again…
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