[medium.com/@zilneyl/ – 9/7/20] In the current political climate, keyboard warriors are out in full force: tossing rude insults, stigmatizing and labeling individuals, and posting adversarial disagreements to almost every social media post that crosses my desk. I recently stumbled across a Facebook post that advocated letters and petition-signing in the hopes of banning those required to register for a sex offense from yet another venue in life. A little more Facebook digging and I found numerous pages dedicated to labeling both convicted individuals and those only suspected of sex crimes.…
Read MoreYear: 2020
Jill Levenson Issues New Report Regarding Life on the List
[Danielle Arlanda Harris and Jill Levenson – International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology – 9/7/20] In their recent report, “Life on ‘The List’ is a Life Lived in Fear: Post-Conviction Traumatic Stress in Men Convicted of Sexual Offenses,” [a download link is at the bottom of this post] Dr. Danielle Arlanda Harris and Dr. Jill Levenson cogently demonstrate the inherent stress for Registrants as they pursue basic needs for survival as outlined in Maslow’s Hierarchy while simultaneously combating symptoms connected to PCTS (Post-Conviction Traumatic Stress). The report also…
Read MoreMichael Hobbes: No, The Government Did Not Break Up A Child Sex Trafficking Ring In Georgia
[huffpost.com – Michael Hobbes – 9/7/20] Human trafficking has been having an eventful summer. In July, internet sleuths accused online retailer Wayfair of selling missing children in overpriced cabinets. In August, QAnon supporters (along with some well-meaning if ill-informed influencers) held nationwide “Save the Children” rallies. And last week, there was the trailer story. “U.S. Marshals Find 39 Missing Children in Georgia During ‘Operation Not Forgotten,’” proclaimed the government’s official press release. Federal agents and local law enforcement, it said, had rescued 26 children, “safely located” 13 more and arrested…
Read MoreIreland: Cork neighbourhood targeted by leaflet campaign accusing man of being sex offender
[corkbeo.ie – 9/4/20] A community on the northside of Cork city were targeted overnight by a vigilante leafleting campaign in which a man was accused of being a sex offender. Leaflets featuring a photograph and a name were left on cars overnight in the vicinity, with locals speaking of their distress when they discovered them this Friday morning. There have been several instances of the leaflets being left along a number of streets in the neighbourhood. Read the full story
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Tracking Registrants
SMART/the government’s office of sentencing, monitoring, apprehending, registering and tracking, is in the business of tracking registrants. Registrants are tracked locally, within their hometowns. P.O.’s, police and other law enforcement officials always want to know where they are, where they’re living, working or relaxing. Registrants are tracked through domestic interjurisdictional informational tracking, law enforcement across jurisdictions sharing information regarding the whereabouts of registrants on the move. Registrants are tracked by international tracking, the number of countries they are allowed to visit seems to shrink daily. Our country’s “unique identifier” on…
Read MoreACSOL Phone Meeting on Sept 12
Please join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci as well as ACSOL President and criminal defense attorney Chance Oberstein for our next phone meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday, Sept. 12, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time and will last at least two hours. Discussion topics will include: proposed SORNA regulations the Willman decision in-person registration during the COVID-19 pandemic the upcoming Tiered Registry residency restrictions overseas and domestic travel other current topics and pending legal action throughout the nation. Please Show Up, Stand Up…
Read MoreMaxwell Monty: There Is Much Malarkey in This Hierarchy
“Enough already! You’re all just a bunch of pedophiles and rapists!” barked the C.O. at midnight as he stood in the middle of the day room of the prison that housed me. And sex offenders were almost the exclusive inmates at this prison. “You perverts don’t deserve this cushy life. And any of you pathetic excuses for humans that disagree, can step out of your cube (the area that contained our bunks) and challenge me.” As I heard these wildly outlandish statements, my thought was, “Damn, we (sex offenders) truly…
Read MoreNE: Homeowner Association Seeking Injunction Against Sex Offender Residency
A Beatrice homeowners association is seeking a judge’s order that would prevent a convicted sex offender from residing in their neighborhood. Full Article
Read MoreLos Angeles County Agrees to Allow Registrants to Serve as Poll Workers
The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters has formally agreed to allow registrants to serve as poll workers. As a result of this agreement, the county has removed language from the website of the Registrar of Voters as well as the poll workers application that previously stated registrants were prohibited from serving as poll workers. “This is a significant victory for registrants in Los Angeles County,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Any registrant who is otherwise eligible may now serve as a poll worker in that county during this…
Read MoreGeneral Comments September 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of September 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 MoreCA Legislature Passes Senate Bill 145
On the last day possible, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 145. The bill now goes to the Governor who has up to 30 days to sign or veto it. “Senate Bill 145 has been controversial since its introduction,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Due to the dedication of its author, Senator Scott Wiener, Senate Bill 145 was passed over the objections of the Appropriations Committee chair and despite multiple threats of physical harm.” If the Governor signs the bill, judges will have discretion regarding whether to require an…
Read MoreState Department Notifies Registrant by Email of Revoked Passport
ACSOL received today the first report that the U.S. State Department has notified a registrant by email that his passport has been revoked. The email included as an attachment a formal letter from the department. The email and letter were sent to the registrant on August 26, 2020, more than six months after his last trip overseas to a country where he was allowed to enter. According to the department’s message, the registrant was notified that his passport was revoked by email “due to current health and safety measures.” All…
Read More6th Circuit Decision Requires Registration Even When State No Longer Does
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 MoreMaxwell 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…
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