Source: kvue.com 9/21/22 BURNET, Texas — John Benedict “J.B.” _____ pleaded guilty Tuesday and was sentenced to 50 years in prison for violating his sex offender registration requirements. _____ was required to register as a sex offender after multiple 1997 Williamson County convictions for victimizing two young girls over a four-year period, according to a release from the 33rd/424th District Attorney’s office in Burnet. Years after he was paroled from prison, _____ used an unreported Facebook account to attempt to contact one of his victims, which is in violation of…
Read MoreMonth: September 2022
FL: What do you think about Jacksonville not enforcing the sign requirement for sex offenders on Halloween?
Source: news4jax.com 9/22/22 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two registered sex offenders filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Jacksonville because they want to decorate for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays. Thursday, the offenders asked the judge to pause the city sign requirement outside their home because they believe it’s unconstitutional. Sex offenders in Jacksonville are required to have signs posted outside their home that read “no candy or treats here” so that children don’t trick-or-treat at their homes on Halloween. Because of the lawsuit, the city of Jacksonville has…
Read MoreNY: Catalfamo: End in-person college instruction for sex offenders
Source: poststar.com 9/20/22 Dave Catalfamo, Republican candidate for state Assembly District 113, pledged on Tuesday that he would introduce legislation that would bar registered sex offenders from taking classes on college campuses. The pledge is inspired by a SUNY Adirondack student, Destiny Rose, who began a petition to remove a registered sex offender, Timothy ___, 50, of Glens Falls, from campus, and switch him to virtual learning. Catalfamo said a story in Tuesday’s Post-Star is what prompted his pledge. As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition had 1,001 signatures. ___ was…
Read MoreChild Sex-Abuse Cases No Longer ‘Priority’ for FBI amid January 6 Investigation, Whistleblower Claims
Source: yahoo.com 9/20/22 The FBI is sidelining investigations into child sexual abuse in order to pursue January 6 probes and is inflating the number of “domestic extremism” cases across the country, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee claimed in a letter Monday, citing whistleblowers. The committee’s letter was spearheaded by ranking member Jim Jordan, and was addressed to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. It comes on the heels of another committee letter that cited whistleblowers claiming the FBI was “pressuring agents” to label cases as “domestic violent extremism” even when they didn’t…
Read MoreSociologist, Author Emily Horowitz to Join ACSOL Virtual Conference on October 1
Sociologist, professor and author Emily Horowitz will join the ACSOL Zoom conference on Saturday, October 1, 2022 both as a plenary speaker and a panelist. She will share with all conference attendees the results of her recent research regarding the daily challenges faced by registrants in the presentation, “I’m Free, But Not Free. Alive But Not Alive: Life on the Registry.” She will also join ACSOL President Chance Oberstein on a panel regarding “How to Succeed in an Adverse Social Environment.” The conference will also include presentations by civil rights…
Read MoreACSOL October 15, 2022 Meeting
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 meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday, October 15, online on Zoom beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1:00 PM Eastern, and will last at least two hours. You can use the Zoom app or call in using a Zoom phone number. There is no registration needed for this meeting. You can use the Zoom app to see Janice and Chance and choose to…
Read MoreFormer Law Enforcement Launch Raven to Combat Child Exploitation
Source: prnewswire.com 9/19/22 Raven, the first effort of its kind, will fight to increase resources and funding to law enforcement to help save children from exploitation WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — As cases of child exploitation are rapidly increasing, some of the world’s most respected retired child exploitation investigators, retired ICAC Commanders, sex offender treatment providers, technology innovators and policy experts in the United States announced the formation of Raven. The 501(c)4 organization is dedicated to protecting children from victimization by raising awareness of the threat of online child…
Read More“Panicked Legislation”: Read ACSOL board member Professor Catherine Carpenter’s newest law review article
Professor Carpenter makes a groundbreaking and innovative argument against the registry. She presents a compelling case for how judges could utilize the “Irrebuttable Presumption Doctrine” to challenge the registry on the basis that it is grounded in false and discredited junk science. Click here to download the free “Panicked Legislation” article Abstract of the paper: We are in the throes of a moral panic. It is not the first time, nor will it likely be the last, but it is among the most enduring. Dubbed the sex panic, it has…
Read MoreHow to Get a Sex Offender Out of Your Neighborhood
Source: truthfinder.com 9/14/22 One where they don’t have to be concerned when their children go to play outside. But it’s hard to know who all your neighbors are. You may be inclined to background check your neighbors. You never know, there might be individuals with a criminal history on the block, including people who commit sexual assault and other sex crimes. Many parents can’t help asking themselves, “What do I do if I live next to a sex offender?” One thing you do is worry. Another is to constantly keep…
Read MoreCA: Number of CA Registrants Continues to Drop Although at Slower Than Expected Rate
Source: ACSOL The Tiered Registry Law was passed by the California state legislature and signed into law by the Governor in 2017. That law became effective more than four years later in January 2021. An integral part of the Tiered Registry Law is the ability of some, but not all, registrants to petition for removal from the registry starting on July 1, 2022. According to a report made today by the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) during a monthly meeting of the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB), the…
Read MoreFL: Florida sex-offender registry challenge rejected
Source: cbsnews.com 9/14/22 TALLAHASSEE – In at least the third similar case filed by out-of-state residents, a federal appeals court Wednesday rejected an Oklahoma man’s constitutional challenge to being kept on a Florida sex offender registry. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by Douglas Lindsey, who was convicted in 1999 of statutory rape, sodomy, and lewd molestation in Oklahoma and was required to register in Oklahoma as a sex offender. In 2009, he successfully requested to be removed from the Oklahoma registry. Lindsey moved to…
Read MoreCA: 140+ arrested in massive California child sex crimes sweep
Source: ktla.com 9/14/22 In a span of just seven days, law enforcement agents in California arrested 141 people in a wide-ranging crackdown on child sex predators, authorities announced Wednesday. The operation, dubbed “Protect the Innocent,” involved 64 agencies across five California counties. “The goal of Operation Protect the Innocent was to conduct investigations and arrests by utilizing (CyberTips) received, identifying suspects for arrest, and contacting individuals on probation and/or parole,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release. From Sept. 6 through Sept. 12, members of the L.A.…
Read MoreEmily Horowitz: 18-Year-Old Faces Possible 70 Years in Federal Prison for Snapchat Sexting Crime
Source: reason.com 9/14/22 by ACSOL board member Emily Horowitz “I’m not saying my kid should get nothing,” says Eric Beyer Jr.’s mother. “But to take an 18-year-old kid and put him in jail for longer than he’s been alive?” Teens using Snapchat. (Franviser | Dreamstime.com) Let’s say you’re a 17-year-old boy asking two 16-year-old girls to sext you on Snapchat—well, that’s pretty normal these days, right? Let’s agree that it is. Now, let’s say that you possibly paid the girls for their sexts, and then allegedly threatened to expose them…
Read MoreNational Center for Missing & Exploited Children Warns About Unsafe ‘Back-to-Schooling’
Source: reason.com 9/9/22 You’re more likely to be struck by a meteor than to have your kid abducted by a stranger. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) gets about $40 million a year in federal funding. It spends at least a few of those bucks crafting unnecessary emails like the one I got last week with the subject line: “Are your kids safely back-to-schooling?” Not only is “back-to-schooling” not a verb, but also the question seems geared less toward making kids safe and more toward making parents…
Read MoreRebecca Myers: “I have spent 25 years treating serious sexual offenders – this is what I’ve learned”
“Sexual offenders can be deceitful and cruel. But they may also be ashamed and desperate to change. Helping them is the only way to prevent more victims.” ” ‘I’ve got a list of questions I’d like to ask you about your sexual offending against children, if that’s OK,’ I say. ‘You might find some of them … ‘ I pause, unable to find the words, ‘ … a bit detailed and personal.’ The grizzled old man sitting in front of me nods, but does not make eye contact. I don’t…
Read MoreCA: Lakeside neighbors furious over home housing sex offenders
SAN DIEGO — Frustration and worry have grown in Lakeside over a home that is housing a group of registered sex offenders in a family neighborhood. Neighbors say they checked the California Megan’s Law website, and were surprised to learn five sex offenders were living in the home. Some reached out to CBS 8 for answers as to why they weren’t notified. “I’m so angry about this, it’s not fair,” said Jeanette. Lakeside neighbors are fuming after learning five registered sex offenders are living under this roof on Sesi Lane…
Read MoreCourt to Rule on SORNA Regulations Motion Without Hearing
The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) decided today to waive oral argument regarding its pending Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed in the SORNA regulations challenge. The decision to waive oral argument was made by PLF after the court delayed six times the date of the hearing on that motion. In the absence of oral argument regarding the motion, the court will make its decision based upon the extensive written record provided by both parties. The court does not have a deadline by which to make its decision, which could affect the…
Read MoreUncivil Commitment: How The DOC Can Keep You Past Your Sentence
By Matthew Feeley, One of the foundations of a civilized society is the concept that people who do wrong need to be held accountable for their crimes. What naturally follows from that precept is that once a person has successfully paid society back by serving their prison sentence, they have earned the right to be free and return home. What would you think about a slick scam that legally circumvented such justice? A system where, after serving years in prison and mere days before being released, the state went back to…
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