Today is the last day of the year 2024. During this year, I have given a lot of speeches. Speeches to attorneys, speeches to social workers, speeches to family members of registrants and a long list of others.
The bottom line is that I am willing to give a speech about registrants and the challenges they face to almost anyone. That is because spreading the word about this topic is important. After 15 years of giving speeches on this topic, however, I recognize that I am only one voice. That many more voices can and should be heard on this important topic in order to achieve the goal of persuading the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a terrible decision they made more than 20 years ago.
There is a passage in a new book by author Malcolm Gladwell, Revenge of the Tipping Point, that supports the need for more voices to be heard. That passage states clearly: “One successful demonstration is more effective than a hundred speeches.”
I believe this statement adds both significance and impetus to the demonstration that will be held in Washington, D.C., in March 2025 in support of registrants and their families. The demonstration must be successful in order to achieve the result we all want and need. That is, to overturn Smith v. Doe, the Court’s terrible decision made in March 2003, which declares that the requirement to register is not punishment.
This Court decision was made based in part upon a statement that registration is similar to membership in Price Club, a big box store. I doubt that the attorney who uttered that statement had ever entered a Price Club store much less become a member. And I doubt even more that the Supreme Court Justice who asked that question had done so either.
Because of this terrible decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, government organizations at every level have been allowed to pass new laws and apply them retroactively to registrants. For example, people convicted of a sex offense before the internet existed are now listed on the internet in public postings that often include their photo and home address. This has resulted in vigilante violence including the murder of innocent registrants and their families in their own homes. There are, of course, many more examples of laws that have been passed and applied retroactively that have destroyed registrants’ employment opportunities and led to the breakup of families.
It is important to know that the attorney who stated that registration is similar to membership in Price Club is now the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His name is John Roberts and as Chief Justice, it is his duty to lead the effort necessary to overturn the Court’s terrible mistake.
In order to persuade Chief Justice Roberts and the eight remaining members of the Court, we must educate them. And we will do so on March 3 in a successful demonstration near the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Come join us and let your voice be heard in a place that will make a difference with an audience that could change history by overturning the terrible decision the U.S. Supreme Court made more than 20 years ago. If you join us on March 3, I promise that you will feel empowered. That you have made a difference.
I hope to see you there!
– Janice
I would love to go but the Gestapo won’t let me work or live anywhere nor leave my county. I am hoping it will be live or at least recorded like last year’s.
If John Roberts needs educating on the law then he shouldn’t be a justice
Smith vs. Doe needs to be overturned immediately! This poor Supreme Court decision has affected a vase majority of citizens in the most horrific way that impacts their safety, family, employment, living arrangements ( renting housing etc) and their overall existence as a member of society. This decision based on pure lack of knowledge and solely on equally in the likes of having a membership at Price club is absurd and a death warrant for all who are affected by this decision. Also , the legal argument that being on the registry is not punishment but purely administrative is clearly a death warrant for all citizens who are required to be placed on the public internet registry. ! This wrong must be reconciled by then attorney for the state of Alaska now Supreme Court chief justice Roberts . I believe Janice will get the opportunity to argue this case in front of the court on our behalf and I believe she and her team will prevail.
I hope I can come.
Your Life Accomplisments Just Don’t Stop TzhANK GOD for YOU (&z Uncle Frank, ordained] what a wonderful way to see 2025 and beyond Honorsble Bellucci !
“Happy New Year.” That is a promising phrase peppered with hope, isn’t it? Except everyone gets a clean slate and reset button hit on Jan. 1st, but not us. We’re denied the hope and promise of planning and anticipating prosperity.So when I hear someone yell “Happy New Year” I’m reminded how I’m not allowed to participate in that sentiment. Thinking about all this makes my depression have depression.
Especially when the most powerful among us continue to manipulate the ignorance and fear of society to maintain power and control.
A few things to hammer home pertaining to the dysfunctional registry:
Just today, Robert’s press release stated that SCOTUS must remain independent and viable under it’s rulings against threats of intimidation and violence. – now he has a chance to prove it. SCOTUS is the ONLY way this thing ends. The lawmakers are too arrogant and proud to admit they’re wrong and made a mistake with SORNA.
Society needs to stop having a pathological obsession with our lives. We reserve the right not to be forced to walk on eggshells waiting for the other shoe to drop.
My wish for the New Year is that the appeal Doe v Mayes in the Ninth Circuit of Appeals is granted so [people in Tier 1] in our state (for 40 years!!) are not put on the public registry and subject to community notifications where they could lose family and friends that they’ve worked so hard to create. AND so that notifications are not sent out to the schools where children of [people on Tier 1] live which could make the children shunned by classmates. This will endanger [people on Tier/Level 1] and their families- their lives and their mental health. So much emphasis is put on mental health these days — but the government does not care about the mental health of [People Forced to Register (PFR)] and their families. We will be in DC on March 1.
We need Janice in our state to educate our newly formed Sex Offense Management Board (which will most likely take them several years just to choose who to be on it!).
The Supreme Court says that the registry does not affect where a registrant works or lives and freedoms are not restricted. Have they walked in the shoes of a PFR? Have they talked to the families of PFR? I think not. They will allow individual states who have senators with political agendas to continue to punish retroactively lives of those who made a mistake, have repented, have tried to move on with their lives, but then new laws the the US Supreme Court allowed, prevent that.
I read on other support groups the heartaches of PFR. Let the sentences be served then release us. Give us peace in 2025
I would love to be there, but I have back issues. How much would it be to sponsor someone that can go but doesn’t have the money? I would be willing to at least contribute part if not all of one person’s expenses.
I believe that. My Lead in the Navy told me what seemed like 100 times to do a certain task , but when he came in and “demonstrated” what he would do to me if I didn’t follow orders, I suddenly saw the light! 😎
Signed up for the vigil – one ticket and one scholarship. I hope to see many others there.