A vigil will be held near the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, March 15, in order to educate the Court regarding the significant harm suffered by more than one million American families due to the Court’s decision, Smith v. Doe, issued in March 2003. The vigil will begin at 10 a.m. and featured speakers include Janice Bellucci of California and Christopher Sparks of Florida.
“It is important to remind the U.S. Supreme Court of the mistake it made 21 years ago,” stated civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci. “It is also important to demand that the Court correct that mistake.”
A similar vigil was held at the same location last year. Last year’s vigil attracted more than 50 individuals required to register and members of their families.
This year’s event will include leaders from several non-profit organizations that support registrants and their families. The event is a collaborative effort and therefore there is no one organization that is leading the event.
Additional information regarding the event is available by reading the PDF downloadable below:
I can’t go, still being on probation travel restrictions, but Thank You Janice for speaking for us.
The vigil on March 15 will be another reminder to the Court that they made the wrong decision in Smith v. Doe based in part upon assertions in Psychology Magazine in 2003 that the re-offense rates for those convicted of a sex offense are “frightening and high” up to 80 percent. The Court has made mistakes in the past in cases such as Plessy v. Ferguson when they ruled that separate but equal schools are okay and in the Korematsu case when they ruled that it was okay to send US citizens of Japanese descent to interment camps. The Court later corrected their mistakes proving that their mistakes can be corrected. It’s time for the Court to overturn Smith v. Doe, to admit that registration IS punishment and NOT the same as applying for membership in Price Club!
Thank you ACLU for helping we the lifelong persecuted. As a tier 1 individual 12 years ago. I have petitioned the court in Michigan asking for registry removal as I’m a disabled senior citizen needing to live in a senior apartment complex. I meet all the requirements and petitioned a year and a half ago. My attorney prepared request has sat on the judges bench for an entire year with no action or explanation for delay in deciding approval. I wish I could be there, however travel is difficult for me. I pray the powers to be are moved to action regarding our plight. It’s time to discontinue the national registry. It serves no purpose except to punish men and women and their families. Let’s put a stop to this ancient practice of punishment.
I am parent of recent nonviolent SO and so new to understanding the unjust and overbearing requirements of registration and “scarlet lettering ” that nonviolent offenders are required to endure, along with their innocent family members, AFTER having paid for their crime. Thank you so much for speaking up for those who financially cannot!
I am in Kansas and unable to come and participate but want to. God’s speed.
For those who are unable to travel to DC for this vigil, please consider making a donation that will be used to pay for the expenses of the vigil. It’s easy to make a donation using “Donate” button on the home page of this website or by sending check to ACSOL at 2110 K Street, Sacramento 96816. Thanks!
Universal, eternally immutable, infinitely unquestionable Frightening and High is beyond a travesty of Justice… it’s an insult to rational thinking. That’s what this is…it applies to whomever they say it applies to .. it never changes under any circumstances no matter how much time passes or what happens, nothing has to be proven, and no challenge to its credibility, or application is considered. Thus it is presumed to be universal, eternally Immutable, and infinitely unquestionable.
No actual evidence has ever been required to establish this, and all efforts to introduce legitimate scientifically produced evidence to refute it has been rejected, without consideration. So beyond Unquestionable, it is presumed to be universally, infinitely unquestionably and eternally immutably and infallibly true. This kind of presumed credibility is usually reserved exclusively for the undisputed proclamations of an omniscient deity.
Unless it is simply applied arbitrarily, in violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. So which is it, a devine proclamation or an arbitrarily applied requirement masquerading as a devine proclamation?
Im in Virginia. I might be able to go. Thank you Janice.