Author: R H

Canada: Sajjan defends military amid uproar over general’s handling of sex misconduct file

R H

Source: nationalobserver.com 8/6/21 Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s office is standing by the military’s decision to reassign a senior officer who wrote a reference for a convicted sex offender to a new job that involves reviewing ways to eliminate sexual misconduct from the Canadian Armed Forces. Yet survivors and experts of military sexual misconduct are expressing outrage over Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe’s new role, saying it raises even more questions about the Armed Forces’ ability and commitment to addressing the problem. “This decision clearly illustrates an inability to think rationally about the…

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UK: Man fined after sex offender warning daubed on pavement with mop

R H

Source: northantslive.news 10/5/21 A Northampton man has been fined after painting a message outside a house he believed to belong to a sex offender. Jamie David Owens, of Darwin Walk, attended an address in the East Hunsbury area of Northampton on August 1 2021. He took a “pot of white paint and a mop” and proceeded to write a message on the road outside the house. The court was not told what the message said. However, prosecutor Suky Singh told Northampton Magistrates Court Owens “believe the home belonged to a…

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Supreme Court won’t consider whether states can require ID cards for sex offenders

R H

Source: nbcnews.com 10/4/21 WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether states can require ID cards or drivers licenses to identify people as convicted sex offenders. A Louisiana man, Tazin Hill, challenged a state law that required him to carry an identification card that included the words “sex offender” in all-capital letters after he was convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. Hill said the law violated the First Amendment by forcing him to convey the government’s message. A state court judge…

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NC: Man civilly committed as a sex offender for child abuse on Crow Indian Reservation

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Source: ktvq.com 10/1/21 A man accused of sexually molesting young girls on the Crow Indian Reservation has been civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. In a press release issued by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, authorities said Oliver _____, 33, was ordered taken into custody. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina litigates all Adam Walsh Act cases for the entire country. All sexually dangerous persons…

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AZ: Audit finds issues with state’s sex offender website

R H

Source: kold.com 10/1/21 TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) – The state auditor has found problems with Arizona’s sex offender website, which is run by DPS. On the sex offender information page of Arizona DPS’ portal, it states that DPS is responsible for maintaining the sex offender website and verifying the name, address and photograph of each sex offender in Arizona on a daily basis. However, documents released in the Arizona Auditor General report show that there are issues. The AG office sampled a few dozen of the nearly 15,000 sex…

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CA: Registrant and Wife Removed From Plane in Los Angeles Due to Revoked Passport

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Source: ACSOL A registrant and his wife were removed by from a plane they had already boarded in Los Angeles earlier this week.  According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials who removed them from the plane, the registrant’s passport had been revoked because it lacked the unique identifier required by the International Megan’s Law (IML).   According to the registrant, he received no notice that his passport had been revoked prior to boarding the flight from Los Angeles to Amsterdam.  After the registrant was removed from the plane, the…

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Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Bill Cosby for Defending Convicted Sex Offender R. Kelly

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Source: newsweek.com 9/30/21 Bill Cosby has been criticized by Jimmy Kimmel for defending R. Kelly after the singer’s conviction for racketeering and sex trafficking. Cosby faced his own fall from grace in 2018, when he was convicted of three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault. However, Cosby was released from prison in June this year, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated his conviction. “I Believe I Can Fly” singer Kelly—whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly—is now awaiting sentencing after his conviction in a New York court on Monday. Prosecutors…

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CT: Nursing home hit with $10,000 fine after alleged sex assault

R H

Source: ctmirror.org 9/30/21 The state Department of Public Health has fined the owners of an East Windsor nursing home $10,000 for failing to protect the safety of their residents and staff when they admitted a 50-year-old registered sex offender from Massachusetts who allegedly tried to sexually assault a nurse. The incident occurred on May 19, when Miguel _____, a convicted rapist and a registered sex offender in Massachusetts with a warrant out for his arrest at that time, allegedly locked a female employee in his room at the Fresh River…

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GA: ‘Her death would not be in vain’: Petition could create new sex offender ID policy for ATL nightlife

R H

Source: cbs46.com 9/30/21 ATLANTA (CBS46) — A new petition could make it harder for sex offenders to get into metro Atlanta bars and night clubs. The petition already has close to 10,000 signatures and it was started by friends of a local bartender who was kidnapped and raped. Chris Anthony said it doesn’t feel like it’s been almost two months since his friend 27-year-old Mariam Abdulrab was taken from him, “Honestly it still feels fresh you know when you don’t have any answers.” Police believe DeMarcus Brinkley kidnapped Abdulrab from her…

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New Study Finds Registries are Ineffective

R H

A new study, published this month in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, finds that “SORN policies demonstrate no effect on recidivism.”  The study is based upon meta-analyses of 18 research articles about 474,640 formerly incarcerated individuals in several states. Read more about the study Download a PDF of the study: The-effectiveness-of-Sex-Offender-Registration-and-Notification-A-meta-analysis-of-25-years-of-findings    

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CA: Dublin Prison Warden Charged With Sexually Abusing Inmate

R H

Source: patch.com 9/30/21 DUBLIN, CA — A Dublin prison warden was charged with sexually abusing at least one woman incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institute Dublin. Ray J. ___, 54, of Merced was charged with one count of sexual abuse of a ward, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California. The charge was filed Sept. 24 and unsealed Wednesday. Garcia’s custody situation was not clear. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted. Attempts to…

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CA: Demurrer Hearing Scheduled for December 17 in Resentencing Regulations Challenge

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Source: ACSOL The Attorney General of California has filed a demurrer in the pending challenge of regulations issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) that prohibit anyone convicted of a sex offense from resentencing opportunities.  A hearing regarding the demurrer is scheduled for December 17 at 11 a.m. in Sacramento Superior Court. The challenge to CDCR’s regulations was filed on July 6, 2021, after ACSOL formally opposed the regulations both in an April 2021 letter as well as during two hearings conducted in May 2021.  CDCR’s regulations…

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CO: Sex Offender’s Indeterminate Sentence Upheld as Constitutional

R H

Source: bloomberglaw.com 9/29/21 The indeterminate sentence a Colorado sex offender received didn’t violate his equal protection or due process rights even though he has served 37 years for a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 24 years, the Tenth Circuit said Wednesday. Bruce ____ pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault in 1984. The maximum determinate sentence for the crime was 24 years, but the judge sentenced him under the Colorado Sex Offenders Act to a term of confinement lasting from one day to life imprisonment. Bruce ____ argued that…

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FL: Florida Faces Challenges On Sex Offender Registry

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Source: miami.cbslocal.com 9/28/21 TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) — Florida is facing two constitutional challenges from men who live in other states and contend they have been improperly kept on public sex-offender registry lists in Florida. Oregon resident Moji Momeni filed a lawsuit Friday in Leon County circuit court alleging that his constitutional privacy and due-process rights have been violated because Florida continues to list him as a registered sex offender, though he stopped being required to register in Oregon last year. Momeni, who was convicted in 2006 on sexual-abuse charges in Oregon,…

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Philippines: Age of sexual consent

R H

Source: philstar.com 9/29/21 The country has several laws to protect children from domestic violence and sexual abuse. Yet children continue to be victimized. One of the reasons has been the age of sexual consent – at 12 years old the lowest in Asia and one of the lowest in the world. Both chambers of Congress have now given their final nod to their respective measures that will raise the age of sexual consent to 16. Adults who have sex with minors below that age can face prosecution for statutory rape.…

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LA: Lafayette case over Louisiana sex offender identification law could be heard by Supreme Court

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Source: theadvocate.com 9/27/21 Louisiana attorneys may know this week whether the U.S. Supreme Court will review a case this term involving a state statute that compels people convicted of sex crimes to carry cards identifying them as sex offenders. High court justices were culling through possible cases to review in the fall starting Monday morning, including one in which former 15th Judicial District Judge Patrick Michot Sr. ruled in 2019 in favor of Tazin A. Hill, formerly of Duson, a convicted sex offender who altered his state-issued identification card to…

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Janice’s Journal: But It’s Not Punishment

R H

As Executive Director of ACSOL, I communicate with registrants and their families almost daily on a variety of topics.  One of the saddest types of calls I receive are from registrants who were recently released from custody for an offense that is not a sex offense. These calls are sad because they are about the fact that a person is being required to comply with the same parole conditions required of a person just released from custody after a sex offense conviction.  These calls are also sad because there are…

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Washington D.C.: Metro board scuttles vote on its contentious proposal to ban people for sex crime arrests

R H

Source: washingtonpost.com 9/23/21 Metro’s board has dropped a proposal to ban people from the transit system who were arrested on suspicion of sex crimes or found to be carrying a dangerous weapon, the board chairman said Thursday. The proposal had been scheduled for a vote this month, prompting more than 100 letters or messages to board members, mostly against the proposal, and protests at Metro stations and in front of a board member’s house. The proposed ban would have allowed Metro Transit Police to immediately suspend people from stations, trains…

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