Patty Wetterling

[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/17/21] Dear Florida Action Committee Members and Advocates, So much respect is deserved by Patty Wetterling. In 1989, Patty’s son Jacob was abducted and killed near their home in Minnesota. Three years after Jacob’s abduction, Minnesota enacted a registry in his memory and a couple years after that, the federal government did the same. In fact, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act was the federal law that proceeded the Adam Walsh Act and was the original federal law that required states to…

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Use science, not stigma, to determine the next steps for Nushawn Williams (Commentary)

[syracuse.com – 3/16/21] Dr. William M. Valenti is a New York state-licensed physician in practice in Rochester. He has worked in HIV medicine, research and HIV health policy since 1981. Anne Kelsey is a staff attorney at the Center for HIV Law and Policy, in Brooklyn. In 1999, Nushawn Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape and two counts of reckless endangerment for having sex while HIV positive at the age of 19 and 20 years old. He served the full sentence of 12 years, but days before…

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UK: People Are Calling For Stalkers To Have A Register Like Sex Offenders

[tyla.com – 3/16/21] Following increased calls for the UK government to introduce greater safety measures for women, a Change.org petition is calling for a stalkers’ register. Paladin National Stalking Advocacy Service founder Laura Richards started the petition which has accumulated over 232,000 signatures. “We need to act now to save lives by protecting women from serial stalkers and domestic violence perpetrators by extending the Multi-agency Public Protection Arrangements to ensure that police, prison and probation services pro-actively identify, track, monitor and manage serial perpetrators,” explains Laura in the petition’s description.…

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KY: Senate panel advances bill supporting child sex-abuse victims

[forwardky.com – 3/16/21] A bill that would extend the statute of limitations for misdemeanor sex offenses involving minors from five to ten years after their eighteenth birthday is progressing through the Legislature. Written by Nadia Ramlagan of Kentucky News Connection Supporters of House Bill 472, sponsored by Rep. Lynn Bechler, R-Marion, said it will help more survivors be heard and their perpetrators held accountable. Nationwide, one in four girls and one in thirteen boys will experience sexual abuse, and 34% of all victims are younger than 12, according to data…

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IN: Bill would allow adults to be charged for sex crimes they committed years earlier as minors

[indystar.com – 3/16/21] Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow courts to charge people over the age of 21 as adults for child molestation acts they committed when they were teenagers. Supporters say they are trying to address an unintentional gap in Indiana law. They say there is no way to criminally convict those who are over 21 years old for child molestation acts they committed as teenagers. “There’s a gap in the law where the perpetrator has no accountability,” said David Powell, a representative from the Prosecuting…

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AL: Mill Street tent camp residents concerned over relocation

[whnt.com – 3/16/21] HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Several residents of a tent camp on Mill Street are expressing their concerns over the forced move to a different location. Some homeless Huntsville residents have until the end of the week to move as the city works on flood mitigation on Mill Street. While some may transition to service centers, many won’t or can’t. Instead, they will be moved to another tent camp on Derrick Street, but that presents another problem. People living at the Mill Street tent camp say there are several…

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CA: Old age not reason enough to release sex offender, state court rules

[sfchronicle.com – 3/16/21] Earl _____ has had multiple convictions for child molesting, the last one in 1988. After being held for 20 years in a state mental hospital awaiting a verdict on whether he should be confined as a “sexually violent predator,” _____  argued that, at age 74, and with no record of violence for many decades, he is too old to be dangerous. A state appeals court was unpersuaded. “While a person may ‘slow down’ with age, it does not necessarily follow that interest in sexual deviancy slows down.…

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IN: Annual Fee for Sex Offender Registration introduced in Vigo County

The Vigo County Council approved an ordinance establishing fees for sex offenders. The ordinance will set a $50 annual fee for sex or violent offender registration and a $5 for each time a sex or violent offender registers an address change. Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer says that Sheriff Plasse approached the County Commissioners with this idea last year. COVID-19 pushed it back a bit, but he says he’s happy the County was able to get this passed. Full Article

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Tinder users will soon be able to access a background check database

[engadget.com – 3/15/21] The data is coming first to Tinder, but will probably be in other Match Group apps as well. The owner of massive dating apps Tinder and Match has just announced a new partnership to help keep its users safe. Match Group, which owns Tinder, Match, OK Cupid, Hinge and several other services, has made an investment in Garbo, a non-profit, female-founded background check platform. As part of the deal, Garbo’s platform will be available to people using Match Group apps, starting with Tinder later this year. If…

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TX: Proposed Kyle sex offender law has supporters and opponents

[communityimpact.com – 3/15/21] Kyle City Council will consider passing a new ordinance which would restrict where some individuals on the Texas sex offender registry can reside, regardless of whether or not the offender is on probation or parole. The ordinance, brought to council by Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett, specifically targets offenders convicted of crimes involving minors. Of the city’s 67 residents on the registry, nine were convicted of minor-related crimes. Kyle does not have the most sex offenders in the region—New Braunfels has 106—but its ratio to normal residents…

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Action Alert: Oppose Florida Senate Bill 932 Time-Share Block

[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/15/21] [Note from ACSOL: the bill applies only to registrants in Florida, however, sometimes legislators are swayed by input from those in other states] Florida Action Committee website article: Florida Senate Bill 932 is on the Agenda to go before the Criminal Justice Committee tomorrow 03/16/21 at 12:30 pm. SB 932 prohibits a court from granting time-sharing with a minor child to a parent registered as a sexual offender or sexual predator. It literally says timesharing MAY NOT be given to a registrant parent unless a judge makes…

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Living with 290: Brothers and Sisters in Pain

What did I do to deserve a life sentence of pain? My motive rejected, judged my behavior a crime. Stunned at the devastating repercussions of my action. The act complete, my destiny sealed, my life shattered. The impact crushed my identity, an annihilation of my worth. The alarming, unreal raid, a SWAT team brandishing assault rifles. Or a subtle summon to appear before a biased, hardened judge. My life ending, my family, friends, church condemning. My reality, years of painful imprisonment, penetrating shame. Alone, I mulled over and over again…

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CA: Sex offender found dead in suspected homicide at San Quentin State Prison

[ktla.com – 3/10/21] A 66-year-old inmate was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison early Wednesday, and state corrections officials said they are treating his death as a homicide. John Sullivan had served half of his 10-year sentence from Placer County for failing to register as a sex offender, a second-strike. He was found during a head count shortly after midnight and pronounced dead less than 40 minutes later. Officials said they suspect his 28-year-old cellmate in the death. He has not been charged, but was serving…

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TX: Man who ID’d himself to police with sex offender card at Conroe Catholic school sentenced to 99 years in prison

[click2houston.com – 3/11/21] CONROE, Texas – A jury sentenced a sex offender to 99 years in prison on Wednesday, officials said. James ____, 65, received the sentence for failing to comply with his sex offender registration requirements. Prosecutors said they presented evidence that ____was unlawfully present at the Sacred Heart Catholic School on April 26, 2019. Read the full article  

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TX: What I learned working in a Texas prison: Retribution, not reformation

[baptistnews.com – 3/11/21] I served as a pastor for 33 years and then worked nearly six years as a counselor at the most high-profile maximum-security prison in Texas. There, I ran the mental health department, nestled in the prison infirmary, which serves all the offenders and, in emergencies, staff and correctional staff. Looking back, I can say there is nothing in the Texas criminal justice system or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that is right, meets the standards of “not cruel or unusual punishment,” nor is fundamentally rooted in…

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CO: Justices consider ramifications of declaring sex offender sentences illegal

[coloradopolitics.com – 3/11/21] Colorado’s 23-year-old sex offender sentencing law is in the hands of the state Supreme Court, as the justices on Wednesday considered whether the Court should strike down a common method of sentencing those defendants charged with felony sex crimes. The Denver District Attorney’s Office appealed a pair of cases to the Court following the 2019 decision of Allman v. People, in which the justices barred people from receiving both prison terms and probation when they are convicted of multiple offenses in a single case. The court reasoned…

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WY: Supreme Court – Sex Offender Must Continue To Register In 1994 Conviction

A man who was required to register as a sex offender because of a change in state law must continue to register even though his conviction occurred more than 25 years ago, Wyoming’s Supreme Court has ruled. … At the time of his conviction, ____ was not required to register as a sex offender because the victim was over 16. However, state law changed in 2007 to require registration by those convicted of third-degree sexual assault regardless of the age of the victim. … However, justices said ____ did not…

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NY: New York Proposes “Clean Slate” Bill to Seal and Expunge Criminal Records [Except Registrants]

[esrcheck.com – 3/10/21] A “Clean Slate” bill proposed in the New York State Senate would create a two-step process to automatically seal and eventually expunge – or erase or remove completely – certain past criminal convictions so ex-offenders may have an easier time finding employment opportunities, according to a report from the New York Daily News. Sponsored by New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie (Democrat-20th District) in January 2021, Senate Bill S1553A (SB S1553A) would amend the criminal procedure law by adding a new section so certain criminal convictions for…

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