Source: reason.com 7/2/24 Consider the following hypothetical: You are jailed for two years as you await trial for murder. You are facing the death penalty. You have cancer, which relapsed during your incarceration without access to adequate treatment. And it turns out you were charged based on a false witness confession, which the local prosecutor allegedly destroyed evidence to obscure. Now imagine suing that prosecutor and being told you have no recourse, because such government employees are entitled to absolute immunity. This is the backdrop for Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s opinion…
Read MoreYear: 2024
It’s Time to Sign Up for ACSOL Zoom Conference to be held on September 20 and September 21
It’s time to sign up for ACSOL’s annual conference that will be held on Friday, September 20, and Saturday, September 21. The conference will be virtual and therefore accessible both by Zoom and by phone. The early bird discount price to attend the conference is $25. “This year’s conference will offer a wide range of dynamic speakers that have important information to share,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “For example, ACLU attorney Kimberly Buddin will provide an overview of the registry nationwide and licensed social worker Alex Gittinger will…
Read MoreCA: Committee Agrees SB 1128 Won’t Be Applied Retroactively
The California Assembly Public Safety Committee today voted in favor of Senate Bill 1128 (SB 1128) that would require individuals convicted of PC 261.5, unlawful intercourse, who are at least 10 years older than their alleged victim, to register. During today’s hearing, however, the Committee agreed that the bill would not be applied to those previously convicted of this offense. According to a report given earlier this month during a meeting of the CA Sex Offender Management Board, the retroactive application of this bill could add up to 32,000 people…
Read MoreGeneral Comments July 2024
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2024. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
Read More‘American Ninja Warrior’ winner Drew Drechsel sentenced to 10 years for child sex crimes
Source: msn.com 6/28/24 Andrew ‘Drew’ Drechsel, who won Season 11 of NBC’s American Ninja Warrior in 2019, has been sentenced to just over 10 years in prison after being charged with multiple child sex crimes. As reported by People, Drechsel was arrested at his home in Florida back in August 2020 after engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage girl in 2014 after they met at an event. Read the full article
Read MoreSupreme Court takes sledgehammer to federal agency power in Chevron case
Source: thehill.com 6/28/24 The Supreme Court took a sledgehammer to executive agencies’ power Friday by overruling a prominent precedent that bolstered their ability to implement regulations in wide areas of American life, including consumer and environmental protections. In an 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority upended a 40-year administrative law precedent that gave agencies across the federal government leeway to interpret ambiguous laws through rulemaking. Known as Chevron deference, the now-overturned legal doctrine instructed judges to defer to agencies in cases where the law is ambiguous.…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: It’s Time to Show You Care
We are a community. A community that includes people required to register, their families and those who support them. Some members of the community never committed a sex offense but pled guilty anyway. Some members of the community have been convicted of a non-violent, non-contact offense. And some members of the community have been convicted of heinous acts and designated as sexually violent predators. Although members of the community appear to be different, we are fundamentally the same because we all know that the registration system is broken and does…
Read MoreAppellate Court Rules Everyone Convicted of PC 288.2 Must Register for Life
Source: ACSOL The Third District Court of Appeals in California issued a decision today stating that every person convicted of Penal Code (PC) Section 288.2, providing harmful material to a minor, must register for life including those whose felony conviction has been reduced to a misdemeanor. The Court based its opinion on an interpretation of PC Section 17(e) which states that judges cannot remove from the registry a person convicted of that offense. “Today an appellate court made a bad decision,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “That bad decision will…
Read MorePlease Call to Oppose CA Senate Bill 1128 that Could Add up to 32,000 People to Registry
It’s not too late to call members of the CA Assembly Public Safety Committee and let them know that you oppose Senate Bill 1128. The committee will hear that bill on July 2. Committee members need to know that if this bill is enacted into law, up to 32,000 people could be added to the registry according to the California Department of Justice. People who may have been convicted more than 30 years ago and who have never been required to register. They also need to know that judges already…
Read MoreACLU Attorney to Speak at ACSOL Conference
ACLU attorney Kimberly Buddin has agreed to speak at the ACSOL conference on Friday, September 20. Buddin is senior policy counsel for the justice division of national ACLU. “Attorney Buddin is a dynamic speaker who is well informed regarding registrants, the challenges they and their families face as well as solutions to those challenges,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “She is a welcome addition to our annual conference.” Ms. Buddin will make a plenary presentation at the ACSOL conference on Friday starting at 9:20 a.m. The topic of her…
Read MoreCA: Turlock, Stanislaus and state officials hold press conference protesting pedophile’s release
Source: modbee.com 6/21/24 At a press conference held at the Turlock Police Department on Friday, state and county officials, as well as members of the community, protested the planned release of convicted child sex offender Kevin Gray. Gray, 72, was convicted of four separate sex crimes against children age 11 and younger. However, he’s admitted that he was not prosecuted for most of his crimes — saying that he’s fondled 50 young girls and indecently exposed himself to 1,000. State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, Stanislaus County District Attorney Jeff Laugero, Turlock…
Read MoreSCOTUS Makes It Easier for Victims of Retaliatory Arrests To Vindicate Their First Amendment Rights
Source: reason.com 6/20/24 When someone claims to have been arrested in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech, what sort of evidence is necessary to make that case? Five years ago in Nieves v. Bartlett, the Supreme Court held that an arrest can violate the First Amendment even if it was based on probable cause, provided the claimant can present “objective evidence that he was arrested when otherwise similarly situated individuals not engaged in the same sort of protected speech had not been.” Today in Gonzalez v. Trevino, the Court said that showing…
Read MoreFL: MMA fighter turns vigilante: Man busts alleged child predator at Walmart
Source: abc45.com 6/21/24 DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — As a professional MMA fighter, Dustin “Scrappy” Lampros spends most of his days training for the ring. But in his free time, he fights for those who can’t defend themselves: hunting down predators who prey on children. One recent case involved Nicholas _____, 43, who was recently arrested for allegedly attempting to meet a minor for illicit purposes. The incident unfolded at a Walmart in Delray Beach. “I have the time to go and do this. Also, I have the skill set…
Read MoreThe Prosecutor Paradox – Premal Dharia, James Forman & Maria Hawilo – Inquest
Source: inquest.org 6/20/24 This article is part of a roundtable about the authors’ coedited collection, Dismantling Mass Incarceration. Next week, we will publish a set of responses from progressive prosecutors, scholars, and activists, followed by a concluding essay from Dharia. In the popular imagination, lawyers argue each side of an issue, while the judge or jury makes the decision. But when we worked as public defenders, we learned that prosecutors were often the true power brokers: They chose what charges to bring, how much discovery material to provide, and whether…
Read MoreCongress can score another bipartisan win for safety and justice
Source: thehill.com 6/18/24 As a recent eruption between members of the House Oversight Committee demonstrated, Congress doesn’t always model good behavior. But beyond the theatrics and gridlock that make headlines, many Americans might be pleasantly surprised to find encouraging examples of serious lawmakers working together. The bipartisan Safer Supervision Act is just that. The legislation, co-authored by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), aligns with the research on what works to make communities safer and provide second chances, building on the success of the First Step Act, on which a Democratic Congress and…
Read MoreEU cancels vote on child sexual abuse law amid encryption concerns
Source: politico.eu 6/20/24 A vote scheduled today to amend a draft law that may require WhatsApp and Signal to scan people’s pictures and links for potential child sexual abuse material was removed from European Union countries’ agenda, according to three EU diplomats. Ambassadors in the EU Council were scheduled to decide whether to back a joint position on an EU regulation to fight child sexual abuse material (CSAM). But many EU countries including Germany, Austria, Poland, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic were expected to abstain or oppose the law over cybersecurity and privacy…
Read MorePorn addiction a serious mental health issue
Source: uintacountyherald.com 6/19/24 Most people recognize the harm and dangers of drugs, alcohol and nicotine addiction, but porn addiction is often overlooked and not recognized due to the taboo nature of the subject. Most people don’t want to think about it, let alone talk about it. Porn addiction often begins at a young age due to technology and the internet making it more available than ever before. Gary Wilson, teacher of anatomy and physiology in Scotland and author of “Your Brain on Porn,” wrote, “The neurological impact of frequent exposure…
Read MoreJudge Tosses Biometric Data Suit Against X
Source: reason.com 6/19/24 X’s child porn detection system doesn’t violate an Illinois biometric privacy law, the judge ruled. A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit concerning the software X (formerly Twitter) uses to find illegal porn images. The suit was brought by Mark Martell, who objected to X using Microsoft’s PhotoDNA software. Martell argued that PhotoDNA—which is used across the tech industry to detect and report child porn—required the collection of biometric data and that this collection violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). A win for Martell could have imperiled…
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