Source: ACSOL A lawsuit was filed in a Florida federal district court today that challenges the continued registration of non-residents and deceased persons convicted of a sex offense. According to the lawsuit, the Florida registry currently includes more than 28,000 people who do not live in that state as well as more than 1,300 people who are dead. The plaintiff in this lawsuit was convicted of having sex with a minor (17-year-old woman) who he later married and together they had a child. After the couple divorced, the plaintiff was…
Read MoreMonth: July 2021
Challenge Grant Offered to Challenge CA Tiered Registry Law
A challenge grant in the amount of $2,000 has been offered for the purpose of challenging California’s new tiered registry law. Specifically, the funds are to be used to help create an “off-ramp” so that individuals assigned to Tier 3 would be eligible to petition for removal provided they are not convicted of a subsequent sex offense. The Tiered Registry Law currently requires anyone assigned to Tier 3 to continue registration for life. Matching funds can be sent to ACSOL either using the “Donate” button on the home page of…
Read MoreACSOL Files Lawsuit Challenging Re-Sentencing Regulations
ACSOL has filed a lawsuit challenging regulations issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) that categorically exclude inmates required to register from re-sentencing opportunities provided in recent legislation. The lawsuit was filed on July 6 in Sacramento Superior Court. “The regulations being challenged repeat the same mistake made by CDCR in its regulations implementing Proposition 57,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “That is, the re-sentencing regulations create a categorical exclusion of all registrants even though the legislation does not.” The individual plaintiff in the case, Antoine…
Read MoreCA: Dad tackles person convicted of sex offense who exposed himself in front of 5-year-old daughter
A brave dad tackled and duct-taped a person who is listed on the sex offense registry who broke into a California home and exposed himself in front of his sleeping 5-year-old daughter, according to a new report. The man started creeping around outside the home in Grayson around 5 a.m. Tuesday, KOVR reported. “He went and knocked the door, he tried to open the door, peeking through the window, trying to see and he was showing his private parts around the windows,” said the little girl’s sister, Ceci Ramirez, translating…
Read MoreWhy Sex Offense Laws Do More Harm Than Good
By Deborah Jacobs There are few crimes more heinous than child molestation. Whether violently attacked by a stranger or preyed upon by a trusted adult in the home, school or place of worship, children who survive such assaults are often left to walk a lifelong path of sorrow and pain. Unfortunately, our government has failed to take steps that will make a meaningful difference in preventing sex offenses. Megan’s Law, civil commitment, and the newest trend in anti-sex offense legislation, banishment zones, which restrict people convicted of a sex offense…
Read MoreHigh price for moral panic over historical sexual abuse
Have a look at these extraordinary figures. Two years into our National Redress Scheme (NRS) for victims of institutional sexual abuse, over $500 million has been paid to 5,920 of 10,000 applicants who have so far applied – a mere blip compared to the 60,000 victims assumed to be eligible. The total cost of the scheme is estimated at an astonishing $4.01 billion, according to the Royal Commission’s report on redress. Responsible institutions, like the churches, are paying out part of this money but the Commonwealth Government has already handed out $55 million…
Read MoreMN: Victoria neighborhood protests person listed on the registry at level 3
A group of frustrated, angry and concerned citizens is keeping a close watch on a person listed on the registry at level 3, recently released into their Victoria neighborhood. The group is hoping to have Vanhecke removed from that area. But state Department of Corrections officials believe he is not a public danger and is entitled to live at the residence in question. One DOC official believes the community group maintaining a constant vigil outside Vanhecke’s residence may be doing a disservice to him and the community. Regardless of the…
Read MoreColorado Court Upholds Severely Limited Use of Internet, Social Media for Registrant on Probation
A Colorado court of appeals issued a decision today upholding a condition of probation that severely limits a registrant’s use of both the internet and social media while he is on probation. The court acknowledged in its decision that the registrant’s offense did not include use of either the internet or social media. “This decision is outrageous and must be appealed,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “This court made a huge and erroneous leap in logic that a person who commits a hands-on offense with a family member, who…
Read MoreCA: Arrival of registered person in Oakley has neighborhood in an uproar
Source: ktvu.com 7/7/21 OAKLEY, Calif. – The arrival of a registered person has an Oakley neighborhood in an uproar. Residents say they are afraid for their children and feel like prisoners in their homes. “For 30 nights I have not slept until 4 a.m. because I am awake thinking about what we can do,” said Jennifer Curran who lives with her husband, son, and daughter on Fetzer Court. Across the street is a rental newly occupied by Jeffrey ____, 52, “There are 19 children who play on this block, not…
Read MoreAustralia: Up to 3 years in prison for not reporting a “belief of sexual offending against a child”
Source: lexology.com 7/7/21 In brief – important development in Queensland’s child protection laws will take effect in term three. Recently, the Queensland Government, through the Criminal Code (Child Sexual Offences Reform) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (Qld) (Amendment Act), has made several key amendments to the Queensland Criminal Code to provide greater protection to children from sexual abuse. In particular, the Amendment Act will, from 5 July 2021: make it an offence for any adult not to report a belief of sexual offending against a child by another adult…
Read MoreTX: Texas to be first state to make buying sex a felony
Source: inforney.com 7/6/21 A new law that goes into effect Sept. 1 will make Texas the first state to punish sex buyers with a felony. HB 1540 was filed by state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston. It passed both chambers of the state legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. The new law creates a separate offense for buying sex and raises the penalty to a state felony subject to jail time. It expands first-degree felony human trafficking to include certain actions related to obtaining victims from shelters…
Read MoreTX: Austin man to use backyard as homeless encampment site [EXCEPT FOR…]
Source: spectrumlocalnews.com 7/6/21 AUSTIN, Texas — Josiah Ingalls isn’t giving up on his plan to use private land as an encampment for people experiencing homelessness. “Whenever you talk about housing and the homeless and that it’s not the government’s job and how people should do it and people should put them in their own backyard, well that’s what we are literally doing here,” Ingalls said. Ingalls is in the process of forming a nonprofit called Camp Haven Sanctuary, a temporary homeless encampment aimed at addressing the homelessness crisis in Austin. Camp Haven…
Read MoreWI: Rittenhouse attorney wants to show victim was a person convicted of a sex offense
Source: news.yahoo.com 7/6/21 MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse’s attorney wants a judge to allow him to argue that one of the men his client fatally shot during a Wisconsin protest was a person convicted of a sex offense, saying it supports a defense theory that he attacked Rittenhouse and intended to take his gun because he couldn’t legally possess one. Mark Richards maintained in court filings Thursday that Joseph Rosenbaum was convicted of having sex with a minor in Arizona in 2002 and was prohibited from possessing firearms. Rosenbaum…
Read MoreVA: Neighbors concerned about plans for a sanctuary for people listed on the registry in Wise County
Source: wcyb.com 7/5/21 WISE COUNTY, Va. —An East Stone Gap community is concerned after learning a sanctuary for people with a sex offense conviction in their past might be intentionally relocated to their neighborhood. Residents of the Inby Lane Mobile Home Park received this letter from their landlord. Image of letter Longtime resident Vernon Porch Jr. has an eight-year-old daughter. Porch says he plans to leave the mobile home park. “Most of the time we have eight kids here just playing at my house and we can’t live here anymore…
Read MoreNC: Person convicted of sex offense arrested for failing to report online identifiers
Source: fetchyournews.com 7/4/21 Murphy, NC— Sheriff Derrick Palmer announced the July 01, 2021 arrest of Anthony ____, a 44-year-old male who listed a Murphy, North Carolina address, for violations of the Sex Offense Registry. In March 2021, Anthony reported in person to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office to register as a person convicted of a sex offense. During the registration process, it was found that Anthony had been convicted for Assault with Intent to Commit Criminal Sexual Conduct First Degree and Criminal Sexual Conduct with a Minor Second Degree in…
Read MoreCA: Journalist Reports High COVID Death Rate at Coalinga State Hospital
Source: kvpr.org 7/2/21 A journalist has discovered and reported that a high rate of registrants forced to reside at Coalinga State Hospital, California, have died due to COVID. According to the report, COVID killed a total of 30 patients at that hospital. This total represents more than two percent of all patients at Coalinga State Hospital and is twice as high as patients at other state hospitals and seven times as high as inmates in state prisons. An audio version of the report is available. The report starts at about…
Read MoreUK: Declan Lancaster started killer blaze after wrongly believing another man living there had a sex offense conviction
Source: sunderlandecho.com 7/2/21 A killer who sparked a deadly fire at his hostel after he wrongly concluded a man who lived there had a sex offense conviction in his past, has been jailed for life. By Karon Kelly Friday, 2nd July 2021, 2:49 pm Declan Lancaster, who had taken a cocktail of drink and drugs, started a blaze in a linen cupboard at Manor House in Sunderland on November 3, 2018, because he wanted to “scare and frighten” another tenant. Newcastle Crown Court heard as the flames took hold, Patryk…
Read MoreIs the Tide Turning Against Public Sex Offense Registries?
BY RORY FLEMING JULY 2, 2021 On June 8, the American Law Institute, arguably the most prestigious non-governmental law reform organization in the country, concluded its national meeting. One of its agenda items was to have its thousands of elected members—top federal appeals judges among them, who enjoy lifetime appointments after being confirmed by the United States Senate—vote on a draft of the revised chapter of the Model Penal Code for sex crimes. The Model Penal Code, first codified in 1962, helps guide legislation as well as interpretative decisions by courts. ALI’s membership voted to approve the most recent draft, which…
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