Source: davisvanguard.org 7/26/25 San Francisco – On July 23, 2025, in Department 17 of the San Francisco Hall of Justice, Deputy Public Defender Maria Avalo Cruz argued that her client’s intellectual disabilities rendered him incapable of navigating the digital world, and thus he lacked the intent to possess child pornography—grounds, she said, for dismissing the charges. Cruz asked Judge Brian J. Stretch to grant a motion to dismiss the case, contending that her client’s cognitive limitations made it impossible for him to intentionally obtain or store illicit content. Deputy District…
Read MoreYear: 2025
Trump’s Executive Order Confirms the Registry Machine Isn’t Going Anywhere
Source: substack.com 7/26/25 For anyone holding out hope that a second Trump administration might bring meaningful change to the nation’s sex offense policies, the July 24, 2025 executive order should clear up any confusion: the registry is here to stay—and it’s growing teeth. President Donald J. Trump has made it unmistakably clear that he supports the continued enforcement, expansion, and surveillance of the sex offender registry. This isn’t a course correction or a fresh approach. It’s a doubling down. The executive order, issued under the guise of addressing homelessness, public safety, and…
Read MoreRAA needs volunteers to submit art or writing to “Many Truths” project
Source: restorativeactionalliance.org [Note from Janice: Please consider being a part of this] Restorative Action Alliance is excited to introduce Many Truths: Breaking Down False Dichotomies, a unique creative expression program designed to empower people affected by cycles of harm and the criminal legal system. This initiative invites crime survivors, family members, and system-impacted people to share their experiences and creativity, fostering healing and community connection. We invite submissions of original visual art, photography, poetry, or short stories (no more than 500 words) for inclusion in a curated collection and online gallery. …
Read MoreNinth Circuit upholds nationwide block of Trump birthright citizenship order (lower courts shouldn’t issue blanket blocks)
Source: courthousenews.com 7/23/25 The panel found a nationwide injunction of the executive order doesn’t run afoul of a recent Supreme Court decision that lower courts shouldn’t issue blanket blocks on the president’s orders. A Ninth Circuit panel on Wednesday upheld a federal judge’s nationwide preliminary injunction of President Donald Trump’s Day 1 executive order that denied citizenship to children who are born in the U.S. but whose parents are unlawfully or only temporarily in the country. In a split decision, the panel found the four states that brought the lawsuit…
Read MoreTN: Woman Removed From Sex Registry Banned from Speaking About Case
Source: tba.org 7/21/25 The state of Tennessee agreed to permanently remove a woman from the sex offender registry months after a judge found she had been “falsely labeled as a sex offender.” But state officials included a stipulation in the agreement forbidding her and her attorneys from discussing the agreement and her lawsuit with the media, The Tennessean reports. They also are barred from speaking to lawyers involved in “sex offender litigation.” That limitation could be unconstitutional, according to a First Amendment lawyer. The woman, who is not named, was…
Read MoreUK: The Age-Checked Internet Has Arrived
Source: wired.com 7/25/25 Starting today, UK adults will have to prove their age to access porn online. Experts warn that a global wave of age-check laws threatens to chill speech and ultimately harm children and adults alike. Beginning today, millions of adults trying to access pornography in the United Kingdom will be required to prove that they are over the age of 18. Under sweeping new online child safety laws coming into force, self-reporting checkboxes that allow anyone to claim adulthood on porn websites will be replaced by age-estimating face scans, ID…
Read MoreWA: Mandatory reporting law includes conversations from confession if child abuse is suspected
Source: abajournal.com 7/21/25 Mandatory reporting laws are considered important tools in the fight against child abuse and neglect, according to a court filing by the Washington state attorney general’s office. (Image from Shutterstock) Is a new Washington state law, which requires priests to report suspected child abuse or neglect, including information from confessions, an assault on the Catholic Church and thousands of years of religious doctrine and practice? That’s what the U.S. Justice Department says, asserting that it won’t sit “idly by when states mount attacks on the free exercise…
Read MoreNY: Woodstock Town Board votes to fire employee found to be sex offender in explosive meeting
Source: wamc.org 7/23/25 There’s turmoil on the Woodstock Town Board as lawmakers grapple with how to handle the town’s hiring of a Level 3 sex offender earlier this year. In an explosive meeting that put Supervisor Bill McKenna on the defensive, members of the board voted to fire the employee Tuesday night. A warning to listeners that this story discusses sexual assault. Members of the Town Board say McKenna didn’t tell them that 31-year-old Michael Innello was a Level 3 sex offender when they voted to hire him for a…
Read MoreThe BBC’s Unforgivable asks if we can ever forgive a child sex offender
Source: bbc.com 7/22/25 Writer Jimmy McGovern discusses his new drama set and filmed in Liverpool. Unforgivable, an original drama from multi-award-winning screenwriter Jimmy McGovern (Time, Cracker, The Street) centres around the Mitchell family who are dealing with the devastating aftermath of an act of abuse perpetrated by a member of their own family. The drama examines the extensive ripple effect of abuse from multiple perspectives and how those involved can try to move forwards in the midst of the devastation. Why is Unforgivable a story you wanted to tell? I received a letter…
Read MoreU.K. primary school teacher banned after failing to declare relationship with child sex offender
Source: manchesterworld.uk 7/23/25 A primary school teacher has been banned from the classroom for two years after failing to declare her relationship with a sex offender. Leanne ___, 36, has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct at a hearing of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA). Miss Leanne was a Year 1 teacher at Lark Hill Community Primary School in Salford between 2019 and 2021, when she failed to disclose to the school that she was or had been in a relationship with Person A, who had convictions for child…
Read MoreB.R.A.V.E. San Quentin CA program provides safe space to discuss shame and trauma
Source: sanquentinnews.com 6/28/25 A new 26-week self-help program has been established at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, designed to help those convicted of a sex offense to understand why they committed the crime. The program’s name, B.R.A.V.E., stands for Bridging, Responsibility, Accountability and Vulnerability through Empathy. It began in January 2025 with 38 participants in attendance, which included volunteers and administrative and medical officials. The program gives participants a safe place to understand the trauma they have caused without fear and stigma. This environment will encourage participants to freely discuss the…
Read MoreThe Registry Paradox: Why Ending Sex Offense Registries Could Make Us Safer
Source: Nebraskans Unafraid 7/22/25 For decades, sex offense registries have stood as a seemingly unshakeable pillar of public safety. The logic is intuitive: track people convicted of certain offenses, make their presence known, and communities will be safer. Yet, a growing body of research suggests that this widely accepted strategy is not only largely ineffective in preventing new crimes but may, in fact, be counterproductive, creating a false sense of security while imposing immense, often debilitating, burdens on individuals. It’s time to critically examine whether these registries truly serve their intended…
Read MoreCA Extreme sentencing: OC tutor gets 235 years for molesting 2 students at after-school program
Source: ocregister.com 7/18/25 [ACSOL is posting this to show an example of extreme sentencing] A tutor who sexually assaulted two boys for more than a half-decade while working with them in an Orange County after-school program was sentenced on Friday, July 18, to 235 years to life behind bars. The sentence of Zeta “Jimmy” _______, 53, in a Santa Ana courtroom — officially 235 years, eight months to life — came a little more than two months after a jury convicted him of a dozen felony counts of lewd acts…
Read MoreIndia’s Trains Will Use AI-Based Facial Recognition At Railway Stations to Identify Sex Offenders
Source: freepressjournal.in 7/21/25 AI-powered facial recognition will be deployed at major Indian railway stations, including Mumbai CST and New Delhi, to identify known sex offenders. The initiative aims to enhance safety, particularly for women, by integrating AI tools with national offender databases under the Safe City project. The Indian government will soon begin using artificial intelligence-based facial recognition systems at major railway stations, including Mumbai CST, New Delhi, and Ahmedabad, to track individuals listed in the National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO). The initiative is part of a broader…
Read MoreCASOMB Juvenile Registration Addendum: Registration is Counterproductive for Youth Who Have Offended Sexually
Source: casomb.org California Sex Offender Management Board 7/17/25 In 2018, the Board was tasked by the legislature with making policy recommendations about the management of juveniles who have offended sexually. CASOMB continues to monitor the research and discussions related to the management of youth who commit sexual based offenses and provides this updated addendum, on Juvenile Registration, to continue to provide expertise on this matter. The Board recommends that California does not reinstate registration for juveniles whose only sexual offending was under the age of 18. Research supports that juveniles…
Read MoreNew Lawsuit Challenges CDCR Policy Harming Female Registrants
ACSOL filed a new lawsuit yesterday that challenges a CDCR policy which allows the agency to use a tool that has not been validated to assess the risk of re-offense for women required to register. The name of that tool is the Female Sex Offender Risk Assessment (FSORA). The lawsuit was filed in Sacramento Superior Court and includes a declaration by Dr. Franca Cortoni, an expert in the re-offense rates of female registrants. According to Dr. Cortoni, there is no validated tool for assessing the re-offense rates of women required…
Read MoreCA Public Safety Committee Approves Senate Bill 680
Source: ACSOL The Assembly’s Public Safety Committee today approved an amended version of Senate Bill (SB) 680, which if enacted, would require individuals convicted of statutory rape to register for 10 years. Unlike the original version of the bill, the current version of SB 680 would not be applied retroactively. Instead, the bill would apply only to those convicted of PC 261.5 on or after January 1, 2026. During today’s hearing, four board members and three members of ACSOL testified in opposition to the bill. Also testifying in opposition to…
Read MoreSex Crimes Laws as Moral Panic. The goal of these policies is public safety, but is that attainable?
Alissa R. Ackerman Jul 15 Moral panic occurs when people react to a societal problem with intense fear or outrage toward something they perceive as a threat to their values or safety. Moral panics can happen whether a perceived threat is real or exaggerated. Media accounts fuel and amplify our emotions, and our feelings then turn certain people into villains or monsters. Nowhere is this phenomenon more prevalent than in the study of sex crimes and the people who commit them. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were…
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