Source: pew.org 8/4/25 Overview Throughout the country, people rely on state and local courts to resolve a wide variety of issues, from traffic tickets and divorces to debt cases and shoplifting charges.1 These interactions can affect their lives, their communities, and their opinions of the legal system. To learn more about how people in the U.S. interact with and view courts, The Pew Charitable Trusts conducted a national poll of 2,016 adults in August and September 2024. The poll, administered by public opinion polling firm SSRS, asked individuals about their general…
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NARSOL Announces New Conference Location and Dates
NARSOL has announced a new location and dates for its annual conference. That conference will be held in Atlanta from October 17 through October 19. Details regarding the conference, including how to sign up, can be found on the NARSOL website at http://www.narsol.org. The NARSOL conference was originally scheduled to be held in Michigan in June 2025. That conference was cancelled after the hotel in which the conference was to be held withdrew its contract with NARSOL. According to a NARSOL statement, at least three of the original plenary speakers…
Read MoreU.S. Sentencing Commission Announces Appointment of Sentence Impacted Individuals to New Advisory Group
Source: ussc.gov 8/11/25 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Judge Carlton W. Reeves, Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, today announced the appointment of nine individuals to serve on the newly established Sentence Impact Advisory Group (SIAG). Advisory groups provide Commissioners with important perspectives that help them in policy making and ensure fairness in federal sentencing. The newly appointed SIAG members include those individuals who have been impacted by federal sentencing or have family members that have been. Judge Reeves said, “I am very grateful to those who have accepted this appointment to…
Read MoreHotel Sex Trafficking Suit Can Proceed, Inviting Hotels to Profile and Harass Guests
Source: reason.com 8/11/25 Can a hotel be guilty of sex trafficking just because it didn’t surveil its customers enough? A hotel could be legally liable for sex trafficking because it failed to intervene against a guest who wore “sexually explicit clothing” and had condoms in her room, according to a recent ruling from Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Kacsmaryk—who gained national notoriety a few years ago for a ruling that suspended approval of the abortion pill mifepristone—denied the hotel’s motion…
Read MoreSex offenders trying to rebuild their lives find ‘angels’ in Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA)
Source: catholicregister.org 8/10/25 EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the names in this article have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals. Few crimes elicit society’s rancor and scorn like sex abuse. Whether it’s the vulnerability of the victims or the intimacy of the assault, sex crimes have a unique stigma that follows offenders into prison. This presents a challenge not just for society, but especially for Christians, who believe in God’s radical love and forgiveness, even for sex offenders. Circles of Support and Accountability volunteers are helping sex offenders…
Read MoreJAMA Study shows dramatic increase in mortality risk among incarcerated and recently released
Source: jamanetwork.com 6/3/25 Key Points: Question Are individual incarceration status and county incarceration rates associated with all-cause and overdose mortality in the US? Findings: In a nationally representative cohort study of approximately 3.26 million adults observed from 2008 through 2019, individuals incarcerated at the time of the survey experienced a 39% higher risk of all-cause mortality and more than 3 times the risk of overdose mortality compared with nonincarcerated individuals. County incarceration rates were also associated with increased all-cause mortality risks, even for nonincarcerated residents. Meaning: These findings suggest that incarceration…
Read MoreFL: Florida Sues Huge Porn Sites Including XVideos and Bang Bros Over Age Verification Law
Source: 404media.co 4/5/25 The state of Florida is suing some of the biggest porn platforms on the internet, accusing them of not complying with the state’s law that requires adult sites to verify that visitors are over the age of 18. The lawsuit, brought by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, is against the companies that own popular porn platforms including XVideos, XNXX, Bang Bros and Girls Gone Wild, and the adult advertising network TrafficFactory.com. Several of these platforms are owned by companies that are based outside of the U.S. Uthmeier alleges…
Read MoreEmerging Technology and Risk Analysis for Crimes That Involve Targeting and Exploitation of Children
Source: rand.org 6/18/25 Paper overview: his report is one in a series of analyses on the effects of emerging technologies on U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) missions and capabilities. As part of this work, the research team was charged with developing a technology and risk assessment methodology for evaluating emerging technologies and understanding their implications in a homeland security context. The methodology and analyses provide a basis for DHS to better understand the emerging technologies and the risks presented. This report describes the implications that the metaverse could have…
Read MoreWI: Convicted Sex Offender’s Appeal Prompts Ordinance Change
Source: doorcountypulse.com 8/7/25 Following an appeal from a convicted sex offender, the Village of Forestville is revising an ordinance related to the distance convicted sex offenders may reside from “where children are known to congregate.” The village’s ordinance, adopted in December 2007, prohibits a convicted sex offender from living within 2,500 feet of any school, licensed day care center, park, trail, playground, place of worship or library. Village President Terry McNulty said the state’s sex offender registry showed a convicted sex offender who moved to the village lived around 400…
Read MoreLA: Sex offender’s offer of lollipops to children at school bus stop leads to new state law
Source: shreveportbossieradvocate.com 8/7/25 Sex offender’s offer of lollipops to children at school bus stop leads to Louisiana new state law When law enforcement officers with the Bossier Sheriff’s Office and the Shreveport District Office of Probation and Parole brought attention to a convicted sex offender’s offer of candy to children at a school bus stop in Bossier Parish, it led to an addition to state law. House Bill 111, passed by the legislature and signed by the governor, went into effect Friday and prohibits convicted sex offenders from coming within 500…
Read MoreUS Sentencing Commission Unanimously Adopts Policy Priorities
Source: ussc.gov 8/6/25 WASHINGTON, D.C. ― Today, the U.S. Sentencing Commission has unanimously voted to adopt priorities for the 2025-2026 guideline amendment cycle. Each year, the Commission solicits comments from the public on how the agency can improve federal sentencing. Similar to years past, the Commission received insightful feedback on a range of issues from judges, members of Congress, executive branch officials, probation officers, advisory groups, attorneys, academia, advocacy organizations, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, and others. In reflection of the comments and ideas it has received, the Commission voted…
Read MoreOK: Limited housing options contribute to sex offenders becoming homeless
Source: koco.com 8/5/25 Five registered sex offenders were arrested at Oklahoma City parks over the weekend, drawing attention to the difficulties faced by individuals with sex offenses in finding legal housing. Some have nowhere to legally live. In Oklahoma, registered sex offenders cannot loiter within 500 feet of schools, daycares or parks. Of the five men arrested at Scissortail Park and Myriad Botanical Gardens, four were identified as transients. City leaders said this highlights a broader issue. “The spaces people with sex offenses can legally live is just extremely limited,”…
Read MoreCA: First Public Database of CA Police Officer Misconduct Records Unveiled
Source: filtermag.org 8/5/25 Seven years in the making, a searchable database of California law enforcement misconduct and use-of-force reports is now available to the public. The free database contains records from close to 12,000 cases and 700 police departments, shining a light into the practices of what has long been among the least transparent states in the country when it comes to officer misconduct. The state-funded Police Records Access Project was created by the California Reporting Project, a team spearheaded by journalists and data scientists from Stanford University and the University of…
Read MoreTaking Child Pornography Seriously by Improving Restitution for Victims
Source: heritage.org 8/4/25 With President Trump again in office and the Justice Department under new leadership, this is a good time to evaluate the vital task of providing restitution for victims of child pornography. This Legal Memorandum explains the unique nature of child pornography and how it impacts victims and highlights ways in which it has not been taken as seriously as it should be. It then examines how the Supreme Court’s misguided interpretation of the existing restitution statute in Paroline v. United States actually made obtaining restitution more complicated…
Read MoreOK: 5 men arrested at OKC parks for violating sex offender safety zone laws
Source: koco.com 8/5/25 OKLAHOMA CITY —Five men were arrested at Oklahoma City parks for violating the law prohibiting sex offenders from entering safety zones around schools, even though all incidents occurred after park hours when it was dark. … All three men, who are transients, face charges for entering the safety zone as sex offenders. The three men all have prior convictions for sex-related crimes. But park visitors told KOCO that they usually feel safe there overall. … The Oklahoma City Police Department did not comment on whether this is…
Read MoreSD: Sex offender, Chamberlain man running for SD governor
Source: keloland.com 8/4/25 CHAMBERLAIN, S.D. (KELO) — 44-year-old Terry Gleason of Chamberlain acknowledges the uphill battle he faces. “I am an unknown,” Gleason said Saturday. “Not very many people know me, and so it is a long shot, but I feel at the same time, some of the other candidates are also long shots. I think I have just as much to give to South Dakota as any other candidate.” Gleason is a registered Republican running as an independent for governor of South Dakota in 2026. KELOLAND News interviewed him in…
Read MoreDonald Trump praises registered sex offender invited to speak at White House event for children’s fitness
Source: yahoo.com 8/1/25 President Donald Trump’s attempt to revive the long-defunct Presidential Fitness Test veered into political scandal and absurdity Thursday after he launched the children’s health initiative alongside a convicted sex offender, boasting that there’s “nobody like him.” It was meant to be a nostalgic salute to American fitness. Instead, it became a microcosm of the Trump presidency: chaotic, controversial, and colliding with decades of unresolved questions about power, accountability, and abuse. In front of cameras, Trump signed an executive order reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test in public schools. Framed as a national push…
Read MoreAL: Alabama lawmakers want to impose death penalty on child rapists, challenging precedent
Source: alabamareflector.com 8/1/25 Alabama lawmakers are preparing to reintroduce a bill that would make the rape or sodomy of a child a capital offense, punishable by death, state officials said in a press conference Thursday. Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, one of the bill’s sponsors, said that while it is “unfortunate” that such a bill is “necessary,” the rape of a child is “the worst of the worst of offenses” and therefore “deserves the worst of the worst punishments.” HB 29, sponsored by Simpson in the 2024 legislative session, would have…
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