Source: floridaactioncommittee.org The Florida Action Committee (FAC), a statewide nonprofit organization advocating for evidence-based criminal justice policies, today announced the filing of a sweeping federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s sex offender registration and restriction scheme as unconstitutional. Filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida (Case No. 4:26-cv-00388-MW-MJF), the lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, along with fifty counties and municipalities that enforce additional residency and presence restrictions. The complaint argues that Florida’s registry has evolved far…
Read MoreAuthor: R H
FL: Florida pastor cleared of child molestation charges says he forgives accusers
Source: roysreport.com 8/10/26 A Florida pastor accused in April of molesting four girls has been cleared of the criminal charges and says he forgives those he believes instigated the investigation that led to his arrest. Angelo Musicaro, 56, founding pastor of Worship-Life Church in New Port Richey, spent 10 days in custody before church members raised money for his $600,000 bond. The Florida state attorney’s office has now dropped all four felony charges. State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said that after testimony was given under oath, the facts did not warrant…
Read MoreWhen bad policies spread: The expansion of the “sex offense registry” model to other convictions
Source: prisonpolicy.org 8/10/26 Shaming doesn’t prevent crime. As anyone who cares about mass incarceration knows, bad policies often spread faster than the facts, especially when their rhetoric targets deep-seated fears. There may be no better example of such upside-down policymaking than conviction-based public registries, starting — but not ending — with sex offense registries. Registry proponents argue that a searchable public database that provides personal information about people with certain convictions empowers individuals and families to make decisions that could reduce their risk of victimization. For instance, they might choose…
Read MoreUK: Registrants have a by vigilante violence and criminal damage target painted on their back
Source: leeds-live.co.uk 8/8/26 Detectives have charged two men after a series of incidents in Leeds where details of alleged sex offenders were posted online. After details were posted online, large numbers of people attended several locations and caused disorder, police said. Darren Cosgrove, 47, of Clover Close, Seacroft, Leeds, and Jack Clarkson, 35, of Freemans Way, Wetherby, have been charged with violent disorder, stalking and public nuisance… Read the full article
Read MoreHow the Feds whip up registrant hysteria: WORST OF THE WORST: ICE Arrests Murderers, Pedophiles, and Kidnappers
[ACSOL is posting this to show one way the DHS supposedly posts this about a few people, but which we know will whip us hysteria against all registrants] Source: dhs.gov WASHINGTON –– U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of more worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens, convicted for horrendous crimes including murder, attempted statutory sex offense with child by an adult, and kidnapping. “Under the Trump Administration, ICE is arresting criminal illegal aliens every single day. Just yesterday,… Read more hysteria
Read MorePOLL: Should ‘low risk’ be a designation in the NYS Sex Offender Registry?
Source: cnycentral.com 8/6/26 SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Should ‘low risk’ be a designation in the NYS Sex Offender Registry? Click here to take the poll
Read MoreMeta Ran Ads That Contained AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Imagery
Source: wired.com 8/5/26 More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week. Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of imagery depicting child sexual abuse. Reader discretion is strongly advised. Over the last nine months, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has run dozens of paid ads that include explicit AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and images of minors alongside sexually suggestive statements, according to details of the ads shared with WIRED.…
Read MoreAustralia’s judiciary tilted against men: Are Australia’s rape reforms sending innocent men to jail?
Source: bettinaarndt.substack.com 8/5/26 Three years ago, Sydney engineer Aaron Peapell was accused of a home invasion — “aggravated break and enter with intent to commit a serious indictable offence.” His intent was rape, according to police. He’d never even met the woman who accused him, and police showed no interest in his irrefutable evidence that he couldn’t have done it. They tried to put him away for 20 years. He self-represented through 20 court appearances, won twice in the District Court — with costs against the Crown — and then again when…
Read MorePaul Redd Freedom Fellowship offers possible job for those with substantial lived experience with the criminal legal system
Source: Paul Redd Freedom Fellowship Paul Redd Freedom Fellowship is sharing a strong employment opportunity with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Freedom Project. The Paul Redd Freedom Fellowship is designed for someone committed to decarceration, successful reentry, and supporting people navigating resentencing, parole hearings, and other post-conviction matters. Position details: Full-time or part-time, with a minimum of 25 hours per week Hybrid position based in San Francisco Pay is $30–$35 per hour, depending on experience Grant-funded through June 2028 Applications are being accepted on a rolling basi The fellow will…
Read MorePA: Courts warn of scam texts targeting registrants
Source: pacourts.us 8/3/26 Franklin County President Judge Shawn Meyers is advising the public to stay vigilant against a recently reported scam involving the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. The scam involves text messages that “spoof” or mimic the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. In the text, the recipient is advised they are being charged with ‘Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Registration Requirements.’ The spoof alleges that an arrest warrant has been issued and bail set for $12,000 to be paid through e-bonds digital bonding or bitcoin. Following…
Read MoreMO: 16 States File Brief in Support of Granting U.S. Supreme Court Petition in Halloween Sign Lawsuit
Source: ACSOL Attorneys General in 16 states have filed an amicus brief in support of the petition filed by the Attorney General of Missouri asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that found a Missouri state law that required registrants to post a sign on their home to be unconstitutional. The basis of that decision is that the state law is compelled speech and therefore in violation off the First Amendment. The lead Attorney General in the amicus brief is the Attorney General…
Read MoreFL: A Mixed Bag: Challenge to Florida’s “SEXUAL PREDATOR” Driver License Branding Dismissed—But Not on the Merits
Source: Florida Action Committee 7/31/26 The U.S. District Court has ruled against the plaintiff in a challenge to Florida’s requirement that the words “SEXUAL PREDATOR” appear prominently on the driver’s licenses of individuals designated as sexual predators. Bad news for this Plaintiff, obviously, but it’s not quite as bad as it seems. The plaintiff, Lane Kirkpatrick, argued that forcing him to carry and present a driver’s license branded with “SEXUAL PREDATOR” violates the First Amendment by compelling him to communicate the government’s message every time he shows his ID. The…
Read MoreAR: Arkansas law creates penalties for librarians distributing content deemed ‘harmful’ to minors
Source: arkansasadvocate.com 7/30/26 A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Arkansas’ 2023 law restricting access to library materials can go into effect, three years after a judge blocked two sections of the law on First Amendment grounds. The three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled that the 18 plaintiffs had no standing to challenge one section of Act 372 and failed to prove that the other section was unconstitutionally vague. The two sections create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors,”…
Read MoreAZ: High court says churches, not judges, define a ‘confession’ when it comes to reporting child abuse
Source: azmirror.com 7/30/26 Advocates warn the broad ruling lets predators use a ‘confessional loophole’ to escape justice The Arizona Supreme Court sided with religious leaders this week who argued the state’s clergy-penitent privilege law shielded them from reporting child sexual abuse to authorities. And in declaring that any intervention by the courts would violate the First Amendment, the justices made clear they don’t think any changes to Arizona law aimed at forcing clergy to report abuse would be constitutional. “We hold that the First Amendment generally prohibits factfinders from…
Read MoreIneffective, Costly, and Harmful: Debunking the Sex Offender Registry
Source: Mitchell Hamline School of Law 3/1/2025 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The modern sex offense registry was borne out of the belief that a public registry listing people who had been convicted of a sex offense would make communities safer. That premise was wrong. We now have thirty years of data concluding that public registries do not work as intended—in fact, there is evidence that public registries actually increase registrant recidivism. Furthermore, there is no definitive evidence that these laws deter non-registrants from sexually offending. At the same time, sex offense registration…
Read MoreA missing underscore sent innocent man to prison for 18 months for non-existent sex offense
Source: arstechnica.com 7/27/26 One missing underscore in a Skyrim-themed username put an innocent Nova Scotia man in prison for 18 months. A 2018 child-luring investigation, which began in Madison, Wisconsin, and eventually extended to Halifax, Canada, was based on a false premise. Police were looking for a man using the Kik messaging service under the name “fus__ro_dah” (two underscores after “fus”), but they accidentally requested records for the username “fus_ro_dah” (one underscore after “fus”). This one-character difference led them not to the perpetrator but to a Canadian man named Brandon…
Read MoreFederal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to Give Federal Inmates Tablets
Source: forbes.com 7/9/26 The Federal Bureau of Prisons announced a historic nationwide inmate tablet services contract, marking a significant technological investment. These secure tablets will provide educational programming, career training, secure communications, and reentry preparation to every federal inmate. Director William K. Marshall III stated the initiative will improve institutional safety, reduce administrative burdens, and expand rehabilitation opportunities. This reform addresses long-standing issues like staffing shortages and inconsistent program delivery, allowing education to continue even during lockdowns. Furthermore, the tablets aim to strengthen family connections, a key factor in successful…
Read MoreOK: Influencer Sara Gilson was fatally shot in a murder-suicide involving her “pedophile” estranged husband, Jeremiah “Shawn” Duffey
[ACSOL note: this shows the lengths to which someone could go who has been accused of a sex offense] Source: people.com 7/27/26 Influencer Sara Gilson was fatally shot in a murder-suicide involving her estranged husband, Jeremiah “Shawn” Duffey Weeks before her death, Gilson accused Duffey of being a pedophile and filed an emergency protective order against him after police found he “had inappropriately touched a juvenile female” player on the basketball team he coached In a statement issued to PEOPLE on July 25, the Owasso Police Department confirmed that his…
Read More