Month: September 2021

FAC’s CALL TO ACTION: Florida Columbia Youth Football Association will not hold football jamboree at park because registrant sits on the park board

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Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 9/18/21 Columbia County, Florida temporarily needs a different venue to hold their annual football jamboree, an event relished by the community.  It could be moved to Annie Mattox Park, but allegations surfaced that a person who is forced to register sits on the park board.  The association said they will be looking elsewhere. The cancelation sparked an uproar at Thursday night’s Columbia County Commissioners’ meeting, which was September 16, 2021.  So far, the video is not up at https://www.columbiacountyga.gov/county/commissions/agenda-and-minutes. This man with a past sex offense was accepted…

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ACSOL Conducts Successful 2021 Conference

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The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) conducted a successful two-day virtual conference on September 17 and September 18.  More than 240 tickets were sold for the conference which included plenary presentations from subject matter experts Dr. Jill Levenson of Florida and ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman of Michigan. The conference also included a wide variety of presentations on topics such as stigma and PTSD experienced by registrants and their families as well as domestic and international travel, parole and probation conditions, and failures to register.  Further, the conference included…

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CASOMB Sept 2021 Reports Changes in Registrant Community, Discusses Additional Counseling Requirement

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Source: ACSOL The California Sex Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB), during its monthly meeting today, reported several changes in the registrant community.  Among those changes is a slight increase in the total number of registrants, from 108,106 in February 2021 to 108,162 in August 2021.  Of that total, there was also a slight increase in the number of registrants not in custody.  That number was 83,201 in August 2021 as compared to 82,526 in February 2021.  The number of homeless registrants decreased from 6,994 in February 2021 to 6,976 in…

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Food Brands Fight the Background Check

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Source: tastecooking.com 9/14/21 A growing number of bakeries, restaurants, and ice cream companies are leading the charge to employ the formerly incarcerated. “It’s the same work I was used to in prison, but the difference is that, in prison, I was working for 10 cents a day.” Alvin Wilson is a 66-year-old baker. Living in New York’s Westchester County with his sister, he’s spent the last seven years mixing brownie batter ingredients and packing the baked result at Greyston Bakery, the organization whose brownies can be found in your favorite…

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IL: Former GOP House speaker agrees to settlement with man whom he allegedly molested as a child: report

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Source: rawstory.com 9/15/21 On Wednesday, CBS 2 Chicago reported that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) has agreed to a “tentative” settlement with the man who alleges he paid him off to cover up child sex abuse. “The man, referred to only as James Doe in filings, brought the breach-of-contract lawsuit in 2016 in a bid to force Hastert to pay the unpaid balance of the hush money, nearly $2 million. Hastert’s lawyers said the 2010 deal was void after Doe spoke about it to others,” said the report. “A…

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OH: Ohio mayor tells ENTIRE school board to resign or ‘face child pornography charges’ after teachers gave children writing prompt to ‘write a sex scene you wouldn’t show your mom’

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Source: dailymail.co.uk 9/16/21 A mayor in Ohio has threatened the city’s entire school board with criminal charges unless they resign over highly sexual writing prompts that teachers gave to underage students. Hudson Mayor Craig Schubert delivered the harsh ultimate during a school board meeting on Monday, garnering loud applause from outraged parents who also spoke out on the issue. At issue are the highly inappropriate writing prompts distributed to students in the Liberal Arts II writing class at Hudson High School, including ‘Write a sex scene you wouldn’t show your mom’,…

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MA: ‘Glaring failure’ in criminal and sex offender background checks for professional license applicants

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Source: boston25news.com 9/15/21 BOSTON — The state agency that oversees the granting of professional licenses for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts workers is falling short when it comes to criminal and sex offender background checks on those applicants, according to a newly-released audit. Auditor Suzanne Bump’s report finds the the Division of Professional Licensure (DPL), which is now referred to as the Division of Occupational Licensure, has been unable to determine whether its boards and commissions were performing Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and Sex Offender Record Information (SORI) checks…

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The 2021 ACSOL Conference

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Conference sign ups ended on Wednesday, September 15, at 11 p.m. (Pacific).   This year’s annual ACSOL virtual conference will be held on Friday, September 17, and Saturday, September 18.  The conference will feature distinguished keynote speakers as well as feature presentations by subject matter experts and panels on a variety of topics important to registrants and their families. Keynote speakers include Jill Levenson, Ph.D., and attorney Miriam Aukerman.  Levenson has published dozens of articles that support registrants and their families, on topics including the ineffectiveness of registries and the myth…

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Sri Lanka: Psychiatric assessment essential for sexual offenders or victims with ADHD: Study

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Source: nation.lk 9/14/21 By Ruwan Laknath Jayakody Owing to neuro developmental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in turn being associated with sexual abuse and related offences in the Sri Lankan context, it is recommended that children and adolescents who are either victims of sexual abuse or offenders of the same, undergo psychiatric assessment, a local study noted. … The instant case described an adolescent who allegedly sexually abused another schoolboy in the context of previously undiagnosed ADHD. Child sexual abuse is the involvement of children and adolescents…

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Singapore: No reason to raise age limit above 50 for caning sex offenders

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Source: theindependent.sg 9/14/21 Singapore — Member of Parliament Murali Pillai (PAP – Bukit Batok) said that serious sex offenders should still be caned regardless of their age because this would be a stronger deterrent against such offences. Speaking in Parliament on Monday (Sept 13), Mr Murali suggested that the current cut-off age of 50 years for caning serious sex offenders was “not fit for purpose.” He observed that middle-aged sex offenders tend to target younger victims; therefore, they should be strongly deterred from such actions. Read the full article  

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Is Sex Offender Sentencing Getting Harsher?

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Source: newsanyway.com 9/14/21 Sex crimes are taken very seriously by the state. Despite the harsh punishments that are attached to these crimes, they do nothing to deter the situation. In fact, in the past few years, sex offenders are some of the most harshly punished criminals in the country. However, the punishment doesn’t always fit the crime. Instead of focusing on the harm that was caused, sex crime penalties are focused on deterring repeat offenses instead of actually fitting the crime committed. How Sex Offenders are Prosecuted Recent political discussions…

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MI: Changes to sex offender list cause confusion

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Source: upmatters.com 9/14/21 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Nearly nine months after the state made court-ordered changes to the sex offender registry, there’s still a lot of confusion and questions about enforcement. Michigan State Police say they are not enforcing violations of the law, which is meant to track offenders, while other agencies are. The registry includes more than 40,000 names. The confusion started a few years back when a federal judge, in response to a lawsuit filed by the University of Michigan Law Clinical Program and the American Civil…

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IL: Democrat-Sponsored ‘TEXAS Act’ Would Allow $10K Bounties On Sexual Abusers…

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Source: nprillinois.org 9/14/21 Two weeks after Texas effectively banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, a Democratic state lawmaker in Illinois is proposing a law based on Texas’ model — but turned on its head. State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), who in 2019 sponsored law defining abortion as a fundamental right in Illinois, is introducing a bill dubbed the “EXpanding Abortion Services Act,” the acronym of which spells TEXAS. The Texas law is uniquely designed, allowing private citizens the right to bring a civil lawsuit against anyone who performs an…

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Action Alert: Congressional Bill to Expand Reach of IML

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A new piece of federal legislation (HR 5150), if passed and signed into law, would expand the reach of the International Megan’s Law (IML).  The new legislation was introduced by the original author of the IML, Rep. Chris Smith (Republican, NJ), as well as Rep. Karen Bass (Democrat, CA). The provisions of the legislation regarding the IML are a very small part of the 92-page bill which claims to be aimed at preventing and protecting victims of trafficking.  The IML provisions would expand the scope of the IML by extending…

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ACSOL Executive Director to Discuss Need to Overturn U.S. Supreme Court’s Mistake on September 18

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ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci will discuss the need to overturn a significant and harmful decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court, Smith v. Doe, during the ACSOL conference on Saturday, September 18, at 10 a.m.  She will also discuss, with ACSOL President Chance Oberstein, the newly effective Tiered Registry Law in California on Saturday, September 18, at 12:30 p.m.. “The U.S. Supreme Court made a terrible mistake when it decided that the requirement to register is not punishment,” stated Bellucci.  “Due to that decision, governments at every level —…

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MD: Maryland judge commits suicide as feds moved in for child porn arrest

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Source: nypost.com 9/11/21 A Maryland judge fatally shot himself just as federal law enforcement showed up to his home to arrest him on child porn charges Friday morning, authorities said. Caroline County Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Newell, 50, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound by FBI agents at around 6:43 a.m., according to the Maryland US Attorney’s Office. The feds were at the judge’s Henderson home to arrest him on a complaint charging him with sexual exploitation of a child for allegedly filming teenage boys in the nude…

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ID: Judge Says Idaho Can’t Force 2 Men To Register As Sex Offenders For ‘Crimes Against Nature’

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Source: boisestatepublicradio.org 9/9/21 A federal judge said the state of Idaho has “no legitimate interest” in forcing two men to register as sex offenders for life due to the state’s “crime against nature” law and will bar officials from doing so. Idaho District Court Judge Lynn Winmill issued a preliminary injunction against the state Wednesday to prevent Randall Menges and an unnamed man identified only as John Doe from having to register. “Doe and Menges are harmed daily by being required to register as sex offenders and the violation of…

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CA: Long Beach Looks To Ban Childless Adults From Park Playgrounds

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Source: losangeles.cbslocal.com 9/9/21 LONG BEACH (CBSLA) – The Long Beach City Council is considering a proposal that would ban adults unaccompanied by children from entering park playgrounds. The motion, which was co-authored by four councilmembers, calls for “kid zones,” which would be designated as “safe spaces” for children at parks, playgrounds and beaches. Only adults who are accompanying a child under the age of 12 would be allowed to enter. The council Tuesday night voted in favor of requesting that the city attorney draft an ordinance that will then return…

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