Attorneys Present Arguments Regarding Missouri Halloween Sign Law Before 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

Source: ACSOL Attorneys representing Thomas Sanderson, a person required to register, and the State of Missouri formally presented oral arguments yesterday before three judges of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.  The focus of the oral arguments was a state law that requires all persons required to register to post a sign on their home on Halloween.   During oral argument, the State of Missouri continued to assert that the sign requirement is conduct, not speech, and therefore not protected by First Amendment.  The state also asserted that the sign requirement…

Read More

WI: Amber Alert cancelled for Ruby Lehmann, suspect in custody

Source: wisn.com 9/13/25 Authorities have cancelled the Amber Alert for 6-year-old Ruby Lehmann on Sept. 13, just before 6 p.m. Lehmann is safe, according to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office and the suspect, Jordan Coyle, is in custody. The Amber Alert for Lehmann went out Thursday, after she went missing from her grandmother’s house in Almond, Wisconsin. Officials in Portage County believed Ruby was with Jordan ______, 34. Jordan is a registered sex offender. Family told law enforcement he’s the girl’s uncle. According to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office on…

Read More

UK: Sex offender chemical castration pilot expands

Source: bbc.com 9/16/25 Chemical suppressants for sexual offenders will be trialled in north-west and north-east England as part of efforts to cut reoffending, the justice secretary has said. The government had pledged to widen the existing pilot in four prisons in the south-west to 20 prisons following recommendations from the independent sentencing review to explore its use in May. The medication limits “problematic sexual arousal” and restrains offenders who could be a risk to the public, David Lammy said. The expansion means about 6,400 sex offenders will be able to access medication alongside psychological…

Read More

MI: Michigan GOP bill aims to ban pornography online, including content on “disconnection between biology and gender”

Source: cbsnews.com 9/15/25 A group of House Republicans has introduced a bill in Lansing that intends to ban all pornography online, including descriptions of “a disconnection between biology and gender.”  House Bill 4938, named the “Anticorruption of Public Morals Act,” was introduced Thursday and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.  “Don’t make it, don’t share it, don’t view it,” lead sponsor Rep. Josh Schriver of Oxford, a Republican from District 66, said in a social media post about the bill along with a request to add porn distributors to the…

Read More

ME: AI-generated child sexual abuse images are being created in Maine. Police can’t investigate

Source: themainemonitor.org 9/15/25 Across the country, 43 states have outlawed sexual deepfakes, and 28 banned AI-generated child sexual abuse material.   A Maine man went to watch a children’s soccer game. He snapped photos of kids playing. Then he went home and used artificial intelligence to take the otherwise innocuous pictures and turn them into sexually explicit images. Police know who he is. But there is nothing they could do because the images are legal to have under state law, according to Maine State Police Lt. Jason Richards, who is…

Read More

FL: Putnam County passes one of Florida’s toughest sex offender ordinances after ‘Predator Camp’ outcry

Source: Florida Action Committee re: actionnewsjax.com 9/12/25  Months after a storm of community outrage over what neighbors called a “predator camp,” Putnam County has enacted one of the strictest sex offender ordinances in the state of Florida. The controversial park at the center of it all — CCM Park on Balsam Street — once housed more than 22 registered sex offenders living in proximity. The situation sparked public concern, a series of investigative reports, and ultimately, sweeping legislative action. Action News Jax Nicholas Brooks revisited the site this week and…

Read More

FL: Florida Supreme Court to Review “Sexual Predator” Driver’s License Labeling

Source: Florida Action Committee 9/9/25 A case with major implications for the constitutional rights of those on the registry is now headed to the Florida Supreme Court. Attorneys for Michael Crist have filed a notice seeking review of an appellate decision that upheld Florida’s requirement that people classified as “sexual predators” have that exact phrase printed in bold letters on their driver’s licenses. Crist, who was accused in 2019 of trying to cover the label with a sticker, argued that the mandate violates the First Amendment by forcing individuals to…

Read More

CA: Bay Area sex offender with cancer denied mercy release

Source: mercurynews.com 9/9/25 A state inmate convicted of child molestation in Marin County in 1989 has been denied early medical release because of terminal cancer. Victor Wayne Cooper, 69, lived in Novato when the crimes occurred. He allegedly molested a 6-year-old Novato girl, the daughter of an acquaintance, over a five-month period. Cooper was convicted of four counts of lewd acts against the girl. A judge sentenced him to 60 years to life in prison. Cooper had two prior rape convictions. Last year, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…

Read More

AL: Alabama defends law limiting where sex offenders can go

Source: courthousenews.com 8/1/25 An Alabama law restricting sex offenders’ movements is under legal scrutiny after a federal appeals court hearing Friday that could reshape how the state regulates their interactions with minors. The case centers on a provision of the Alabama Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act that restricts where registrants can be present, potentially criminalizing routine activities like work, attending church or family gatherings. Amended in 2017, plaintiffs claim the provision redefined “reside” and “overnight visit,” imposing sweeping restrictions that could transform routine activities into criminal acts. Three…

Read More

Automated Sextortion Spyware Takes Webcam Pics of Victims Watching Porn

Source: wired.com 9/3/25 A new specimen of “infostealer” malware offers a disturbing feature: It monitors a target’s browser for NSFW content, then takes simultaneous screenshots and webcam photos of the victim.   Sextortion-based hacking, which hijacks a victim’s webcam or blackmails them with nudes they’re tricked or coerced into sharing, has long represented one of the most disturbing forms of cybercrime. Now one specimen of widely available spyware has turned that relatively manual crime into an automated feature, detecting when the user is browsing pornography on their PC, screenshotting it, and taking…

Read More

Australia: Even in Death, the Punishment Continues: The Registry That Doesn’t Let Go

Source: www.canberratimes.com.au 9/4/25 A sexual assault victim has mounted a campaign to stop voluntary assisted dying in prison, feeling “robbed” her perpetrator died on his terms. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was permitted to die voluntarily because of a terminal cancer diagnosis, becoming the first prisoner in NSW to access the system. He was seven years into a 30-year prison term with a non-parole period of 20 years for a string of sex crimes.   A victim – the man’s daughter – revealed the pain the…

Read More

UK: A scheme helped prevent sex offenders committing more crimes – then it closed. Why?

Source: bbc.com 9/3/25 It took me some time to find the front door of the Safer Living Foundation. There was no nameplate, and the building was one of many anonymous red-brick Victorian terraced houses in Nottingham. It was January 2025, and I was wrapped up against the cold as I walked up and down the street trying to find the right address. There was a very good reason for this anonymity. The foundation works with people convicted and imprisoned for sexual offences after they have been released back into the…

Read More

Predators trailer explores To Catch A Predator’s complicated legacy

Source: yahoo.com 8/19/25 On the surface, To Catch A Predator may seem like it was a moral net-positive. The Dateline series helped apprehend multiple criminals before they could target more children. That, at least on paper, sounds like a good thing. Predators, a new documentary delving into the repercussions of the popular show, however, argues that its legacy is a lot more complicated than that.  “A cultural sensation from its inception in the early 2000s, Dateline NBC’s candid-camera investigative series To Catch A Predator ensnared sex offenders and lured them to a film set, where…

Read More

Janice’s Journal: CA Assembly Appropriations Committee Strikes Again

The CA Assembly Appropriations Committee made a surprising decision last week when they reversed their position on a bill (Senate Bill 680) that will require a new category of people to register.  The category will include everyone convicted of Penal Code Section 261.5, unlawful intercourse, on or after January 1, 2026. This is the same committee that attempted to stop the Tiered Registry Law in 2017.  And it happened on the same day of the year, the Friday before Labor Day. What appears to be different this year is that…

Read More

NY: Proceed Cautiously With Changes To Sex Offender Classification System

Source: post-journal.com 9/2/25 No one knows if an effort to update the way New York decides how likely a sex offender is to reoffend will move in the state Legislature this year after more than a decade of inaction. Part of the bill is intriguing. Sen. Liz Krueger, D-New York City, and Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter, D-Syracuse, say the form most commonly used to assess a convicted sex offender’s danger to the community upon release is the Static 99/R, which aggregates criminal history as well as demographic characteristics to assign a…

Read More

IN: Judge finds AI child pornography defendant not guilty due to uncertain law

Source: cbs4indy.com 8/31/25 Marion Superior Judge James Osborn was clearly challenged when it came to hearing a case this month consisting of ten counts of child exploitation and child pornography against a former employee of the Marion County Forensic Services Agency. Watch the video Read the article  

Read More