The word HOPE has several definitions. Those definitions include a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen, grounds for believing that something good may happen, and a person or thing that may help or save someone.
Applying each of those definitions to the registrant community, there is HOPE for the year 2026. Let’s examine each of those definitions and explore why.
First, HOPE is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. There are many things we desire to happen in the year 2026. For example, we desire that U.S. Supreme Court overturn Smith v. Doe which falsely claims that the requirement to register is not punishment. We also desire that the Tiered Registry Law in California is expanded so that more people are eligible to petition for removal from the registry.
The issue is how do we turn that desire into reality? There are at least two things we can do to turn desire into reality this year. Show up on March 7 near the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to demand that the Court correct its mistake. Show up on March 24 in Sacramento to demand that the Tiered Registry Law be expanded.
Second, HOPE is grounds for believing that something good may happen. We have those grounds knowing that together we can achieve all of our goals. After all, there are almost one million families in the U. S. directly affected by registration laws. When we focus our attention and our resources on the common goal of eradicating the registry, we will be successful.
Third, HOPE is a person or thing that may help or save someone. ACSOL is that person or thing that helps registrants and their loved ones every day. ACSOL does this by providing valuable information on its website, providing emotional support group in weekly meetings, sharing legal updates monthly and listening. ACSOL also files lawsuits when necessary.
Given these definitions of HOPE, there is much HOPE for the year 2026.
Thank you Janice and Team ACSOL along with everyone – I couldn’t get into the meeting on Saturday and I’m behind on important dates – is 3/24 Lobby Day?
I don’t live in CA, but I so appreciate everything ACSOL does for us and/or our family members. No matter what state you are in, we have a common goal to stop the needless destruction of all of lives. A win for one or some – CA registrants – is a potential win for us all. Thank you Janice and Team for all that you do!
I believe prayer could help to realize our hopes to get off the registry?? Maybe setting a time to have everyone do a minute of silences, you can pray or think about something you can do to further hope for everyone? Maybe you don’t believe, I believe God still believes in you? If you just bow your head & close your eyes it will make a difference.
Also, I realize that out of all the people forced to register a very large percentage would rather not be seen or say anything to anyone about being on the s.o.r. so having said that, what about finding something that could be done in the background to help, such as writing articles, doing a video, drawing a cartoon of John Roberts or SCOTUS or politicians that keep coming up with those ludicrous laws to further the punishment that isn’t punishment??? We all have talents, not everyone has been fortune enough to find that talent, yet???
As someone who just successfully discharged his parole, I understand better than most the stigma that registering has on a person and how it is far more punitive than the actual prison sentence. I would GLADLY return to prison for 5, maybe even 10, years to have avoided registration. Why? Because it impacts EVERYTHING I do. When I got out, no one will hire me, and I don’t blame them. The registration doesn’t just say that I was convicted of an offense, it paints me in the worst possible light, using information that isn’t even factually true, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I couldn’t get a job, so I started a business, only to have someone look me up online and use this to try to shut me down. When I applied for a loan, I was denied solely because of my registry status. Literally. And don’t even get me started on housing. The federal government won’t even authorize many of their programs to fund me getting into housing because of my registration status. Did my actions have an impact on others? Yes. Did I merit punishment? Again, yes. Should that punishment have included a lifetime of negative consequences that I could never possibly hope to escape? NO! And that is something that genuinely concerns me. How many people have been killed by their attackers, molesters, etc., all because the attackers were so terrified of the consequences that they would rather kill their victim(s) then risking getting caught and dealing with a lifetime of negative consequences, such as registration? People can, and do, change, and I am living proof of this, which is another reason registration is so harmful. And I will tell you something else, redemption is possible and good can actually come out of the evil we inflicted. People often ask me if I could go back and do it differently, would I, and my response may surprise you: I wouldn’t. Not because I enjoyed the act so much that I want to do it again, but because, without that act, I would have never been put on a path where I actually learned from my poor choices, lessons that I shared with others, lessons that made me the man I am today. I spend my days trying to atone for my actions, indirectly, because I do not want to inflict further trauma on those I harmed, and I do it solely because my poor choices (notice I don’t say “mistakes”), are what put me on the path to redemption. I just wish there was a way I could communicate the depths of my sorrow to those I have hurt.
Thank you for this well written article Janice. You are a saint and you sacrifice so much of your time trying to make things right where they went wrong. We appreciate you every day. To a better 2026! Without Hope, we have nothing.
Janice, you are a very uplifting soul.
This hell our families are suffering under must, at times, even wear you down, because you are right there going through it with us.
The difference is that you don’t have to, but you do it anyway.
Thank You!
Thank you for everything you do.
I believe we need to make a stronger push on registrants who have been able to expunge their record find a way out of the registry, would love to see in 2026 push hope for that! Thank you again for everything you do.
Can you please refer me to an affordable attorney or legal writer to successfully withdraw my unknowing and unintelligent plea, due to breech of contract by government in plea deal made under duress? Happy Newer Years Daily. David
P.S. This petition would have to be filed in The Superior Court of Sacramento California, since that’s where the fundamental error occurred in which I was illegally detained and rearrested against double jeopardy and Due Process, since I had won my Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus in 2008, and I thus, suffered irreparable harm vindictive prosecution…
Hello Janice
For all of those like myself who have been affected by these draconian laws, most of us ex post facto, anything resembling change would be a miracle. No other crime(s) are treated as those of someone with a sex offense. DUI/OWI, selling drugs to minors, physical assault of a child, mistreatment of a minor, are forced to register. Many States have severe restrictions, ordinances which limit where you can live. Some States will not allow you to attend colleges and universities if anyone under 18 is enrolled. We cannot go to Disneyland, Disney World, and other amusement parks all due to the State & National registries. The list of restrictions seems endless. Sooner or later meaningful changes must happen, let’s hope 2026 is where it begins. Thank You
I hoped and hoped and hoped. In the end I got myself off supervision. I got myself off registration. I got myself out of the US. Keep hoping.
Hope does little to bring about change in a world that has experienced the death of truth. Everyone knows the registry is illegal and serves exclusively as a vehicle for perpetual punishment, yet society if perfectly fine with it because they simply do not value truth. It’s not politically safe for elected officials and the media to say: “everything you’ve been told and learned aobut those with a sex offenses is an emotionally-driven lie.”
Thank you Janice ! I have faith that hope is become a reality.
Listening again to Hamilton – It’s Quiet Uptown, and there’s a line… “Forgiveness. Can you imagine.” (repeats) and that hit so hard. Can you imagine if the world, the government, the people could find it in their hearts to forgive. How powerful that is on both sides of the coin.
That’s one of the things that hurts the most with this registration, there is no path to forgiveness for tier 3, federal crimes. (I have not seen presidential pardons for these types of crimes.) So even if you make poor choices at age 19, you are labelled and no path to forgiveness for life.
I have hope, and believe in everything Janice and ACSOL is doing, and look forward to another year of progress and public education.