Month: July 2022

For People Just Leaving Prison, a Novel Kind of Support: Cash

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Source: news.yahoo.com 7/9/22 Alwin Jacob Smith became a free man last summer after being locked up for 21 years because of what he calls “my little old rocky past” — most notably, robbery and drug possession. He worked hard while incarcerated, getting an associate degree in ministry, attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and substance abuse support groups, and eventually leading those groups as a peer mentor. Smith’s release, which he celebrated with a steak-and-eggs breakfast, came about through a California law that allows prosecutors to reevaluate sentences to determine whether they…

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LGBTQ People on Sex Offender Registries in the US (Paper)

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Source: UCLA in escholarship.org 5/2022 The United States has the world’s largest prison population. Overall, mass incarceration disproportionately impacts people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ people are at increased risk for being targeted for sex crimes, as historical prejudice and stigma have depicted LGBTQ people—especially gay/bisexual men—as sexual predators. Despite this, little is known about LGBTQ people on sex offender registries in the United States. In this project, we surveyed people who are required to register on sex offender registries (SOR). Read and download the…

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This Doctor Helped Send Ramiro Gonzales to Death Row. Now He’s Changed His Mind.

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Last September, a psychiatrist named Edward Gripon traveled to Texas’ death row to meet a man he helped put there. He had testified at the 2006 trial of Ramiro Gonzales, who was facing a death sentence for kidnapping, raping and killing Bridget Townsend when they both were 18 years old. “This is a man who has demonstrated a tendency to want to control, to manipulate, and to take advantage of certain other individuals,” Gripon told the jury at the time, predicting that Gonzales would pose a risk of harming more…

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SC: Sex offenders begin applying to get off South Carolina registry

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WBTW) — Sex offenders have begun petitioning the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to be removed from the state sex offender registry, according to a spokesperson with the department. Offenders are now able to apply to be removed from the registry after legislation signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in late May set up parameters to do so. The bill was in response to a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling that said it was unconstitutional for the state not to have a process that allows sex offenders to be removed from the registry.…

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NC: What is Dads Against Predators? What to know about group tied to alleged attack at NC Target

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Source: charlotteobserver.com 7/6/22 An incident that police say led to a gun being fired in a North Carolina Target store has raised questions about the group “Dads Against Predators,” its history and its presence in the state. Three men with ties to the organization lured a 25-year-old man to a Winston-Salem Target in late June and attacked him, according to police, leading the man to fire a gun in the store. It’s not the first time the group, also known as “D.A.P.,” has had run-ins with the law. Read the…

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Why the U.S. Marshals Spend Millions on Sex-Offense Registrant Sweeps

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Source: theappeal.org 7/8/22 The real aim of these operations might be to boost support for cops. Gary, a 62-year-old on Texas’s sex-offender registry, dates the problems with his neighbors to a visit by police in 2018. After a successful real estate career he lives in a relatively safe neighborhood outside Dallas, identifies as a conservative, and has friends on the police force. He’s donated to police charities, once giving $10,000 to the family of an officer killed on duty, he tells The Appeal. He was convicted of child pornography possession…

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WI: Wisconsin court rules against transgender sex offender

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Source: wgno.com 7/7/22 MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled Thursday that a transgender woman cannot change her name because she is on the state’s sex offender registry and the law does not allow people on the registry to change their names. The court’s 4-3 decision upholds the rulings of two lower courts, which rejected the woman’s requests to change her name and avoid registering as a sex offender. Read the full article  

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CA: Nicki Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty on probation, house arrest for not registering as sex offender

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Source: yahoo.com 7/6/22 Kenneth Petty, husband to rapper Nicki Minaj, has been sentenced to probation and house arrest for failing to register as a sex offender, NBC and CBS Los Angeles report. Petty is also ordered to pay a $55,000 fine, in addition to spending three years on probation and a year in home detention, according to the local news outlets. “We appreciate and respect the Court’s decision granting the defense request for probation and home confinement,” Petty’s attorneys Michael Goldstein and Hagop Kuyumjian said in a statement to USA TODAY Wednesday. Read the…

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TN: Asset forfeiture laws expanded for sexual assault and kidnapping

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Source: wkrn.com 7/5/22 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A new state law has expanded criminal asset forfeiture for 12 statutes, mostly surrounding rape and kidnapping. It’s one of the first laws of its kind in the United States. The new law means criminals who violate those laws could lose their homes, cars, weapons, and any property involved in the commission of the crime. State Representative Brandon Ogles of Williamson County sponsored the bill (HB 2271) and explained that if someone kidnaps a person in their car, police can seize the vehicle.…

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WI: Sex offender ‘won’t be released’ unless he accepts housing

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Source: spmetrowire.com 7/1/22 The Stevens Point Police Department says a convicted sex offender has chosen to be homeless upon his release from prison on July 5. Cody ____, 28, was convicted in 2014 of having sexual intercourse with a then-13-year-old girl in 2010 after he invited the girl, and her friend, to his neighbor’s garage and provided them with marijuana that may have contained a “date rape” drug. Cody also had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old in 2012 and had her text him nude photos of herself, police say. While…

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