[indystar.com – 3/16/21] Indiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow courts to charge people over the age of 21 as adults for child molestation acts they committed when they were teenagers. Supporters say they are trying to address an unintentional gap in Indiana law. They say there is no way to criminally convict those who are over 21 years old for child molestation acts they committed as teenagers. “There’s a gap in the law where the perpetrator has no accountability,” said David Powell, a representative from the Prosecuting…
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AL: Mill Street tent camp residents concerned over relocation
[whnt.com – 3/16/21] HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Several residents of a tent camp on Mill Street are expressing their concerns over the forced move to a different location. Some homeless Huntsville residents have until the end of the week to move as the city works on flood mitigation on Mill Street. While some may transition to service centers, many won’t or can’t. Instead, they will be moved to another tent camp on Derrick Street, but that presents another problem. People living at the Mill Street tent camp say there are several…
Read MoreCA: Old age not reason enough to release sex offender, state court rules
[sfchronicle.com – 3/16/21] Earl _____ has had multiple convictions for child molesting, the last one in 1988. After being held for 20 years in a state mental hospital awaiting a verdict on whether he should be confined as a “sexually violent predator,” _____ argued that, at age 74, and with no record of violence for many decades, he is too old to be dangerous. A state appeals court was unpersuaded. “While a person may ‘slow down’ with age, it does not necessarily follow that interest in sexual deviancy slows down.…
Read MoreTinder users will soon be able to access a background check database
[engadget.com – 3/15/21] The data is coming first to Tinder, but will probably be in other Match Group apps as well. The owner of massive dating apps Tinder and Match has just announced a new partnership to help keep its users safe. Match Group, which owns Tinder, Match, OK Cupid, Hinge and several other services, has made an investment in Garbo, a non-profit, female-founded background check platform. As part of the deal, Garbo’s platform will be available to people using Match Group apps, starting with Tinder later this year. If…
Read MoreTX: Proposed Kyle sex offender law has supporters and opponents
[communityimpact.com – 3/15/21] Kyle City Council will consider passing a new ordinance which would restrict where some individuals on the Texas sex offender registry can reside, regardless of whether or not the offender is on probation or parole. The ordinance, brought to council by Kyle Police Chief Jeff Barnett, specifically targets offenders convicted of crimes involving minors. Of the city’s 67 residents on the registry, nine were convicted of minor-related crimes. Kyle does not have the most sex offenders in the region—New Braunfels has 106—but its ratio to normal residents…
Read MoreAction Alert: Oppose Florida Senate Bill 932 Time-Share Block
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/15/21] [Note from ACSOL: the bill applies only to registrants in Florida, however, sometimes legislators are swayed by input from those in other states] Florida Action Committee website article: Florida Senate Bill 932 is on the Agenda to go before the Criminal Justice Committee tomorrow 03/16/21 at 12:30 pm. SB 932 prohibits a court from granting time-sharing with a minor child to a parent registered as a sexual offender or sexual predator. It literally says timesharing MAY NOT be given to a registrant parent unless a judge makes…
Read MoreCA: Sex offender found dead in suspected homicide at San Quentin State Prison
[ktla.com – 3/10/21] A 66-year-old inmate was found unresponsive in his cell at San Quentin State Prison early Wednesday, and state corrections officials said they are treating his death as a homicide. John Sullivan had served half of his 10-year sentence from Placer County for failing to register as a sex offender, a second-strike. He was found during a head count shortly after midnight and pronounced dead less than 40 minutes later. Officials said they suspect his 28-year-old cellmate in the death. He has not been charged, but was serving…
Read MoreTX: Man who ID’d himself to police with sex offender card at Conroe Catholic school sentenced to 99 years in prison
[click2houston.com – 3/11/21] CONROE, Texas – A jury sentenced a sex offender to 99 years in prison on Wednesday, officials said. James ____, 65, received the sentence for failing to comply with his sex offender registration requirements. Prosecutors said they presented evidence that ____was unlawfully present at the Sacred Heart Catholic School on April 26, 2019. Read the full article
Read MoreTX: What I learned working in a Texas prison: Retribution, not reformation
[baptistnews.com – 3/11/21] I served as a pastor for 33 years and then worked nearly six years as a counselor at the most high-profile maximum-security prison in Texas. There, I ran the mental health department, nestled in the prison infirmary, which serves all the offenders and, in emergencies, staff and correctional staff. Looking back, I can say there is nothing in the Texas criminal justice system or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that is right, meets the standards of “not cruel or unusual punishment,” nor is fundamentally rooted in…
Read MoreCO: Justices consider ramifications of declaring sex offender sentences illegal
[coloradopolitics.com – 3/11/21] Colorado’s 23-year-old sex offender sentencing law is in the hands of the state Supreme Court, as the justices on Wednesday considered whether the Court should strike down a common method of sentencing those defendants charged with felony sex crimes. The Denver District Attorney’s Office appealed a pair of cases to the Court following the 2019 decision of Allman v. People, in which the justices barred people from receiving both prison terms and probation when they are convicted of multiple offenses in a single case. The court reasoned…
Read MoreNY: New York Proposes “Clean Slate” Bill to Seal and Expunge Criminal Records [Except Registrants]
[esrcheck.com – 3/10/21] A “Clean Slate” bill proposed in the New York State Senate would create a two-step process to automatically seal and eventually expunge – or erase or remove completely – certain past criminal convictions so ex-offenders may have an easier time finding employment opportunities, according to a report from the New York Daily News. Sponsored by New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie (Democrat-20th District) in January 2021, Senate Bill S1553A (SB S1553A) would amend the criminal procedure law by adding a new section so certain criminal convictions for…
Read MoreNE: School placed in “lock out” during sex offender investigation
[nebraska.tv – 3/10/21] GENOA, Neb. — Twin River Public Schools was briefly placed in “lock out” Tuesday while the Nance County Sheriff’s Office measured the distance between the residence of a recently-registered sex offender and the school. In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said 27-year-old George ____ registered at the Nebraska State Patrol office in Norfolk and listed a Genoa address. NSP explained to ____ that he could not live within 500 feet of a school or childcare facility per Nebraska statute. Read the full article
Read MoreCA: Home Breaking News Failure to Register as Sex Offender Lands Man in Prison for Longer than Original Sentence
[davisvanguard.org – 3/10/21] SACRAMENTO, CA – Local resident Donnell Cox was sentenced Monday to two years in California State Prison here in Sacramento County Superior Court for charges resulting from a crime he was convicted of more than a quarter-century ago. Cox, 57, failed to sign up for the sex offender registry, a felony in California that carries a sentence ranging from 16 months to three years—interestingly, he will be serving a sentence considerably longer than his original sentence. About 25 years ago, in 1994, Cox was convicted of sexual…
Read MoreBiden Prepares to Strip College Students [accused of sexual misconduct] of Due-Process Rights
[news.yahoo.com – 3/10/21] It’s always worth reminding people that if President Joe Biden were compelled to live by the standards he intends to institute for college students accused of sexual misconduct, he would be presumed guilty of rape, denied any legitimate opportunity to refute Tara Reade’s charges, and tossed from office in disgrace. The New York Times reports today that Biden’s Kafkaesque “White House Gender Policy Council” is “beginning his promised effort to dismantle Trump-era rules on sexual misconduct that afforded greater protections to students accused of assault.” The subhead…
Read MoreMoratorium Against the Use of Derogatory Words Replaced by Person-First Language
[einpresswire.com and womenagainstregistry.org – 3/8/21] Restoring Families of People who are Required to Register by Ending Dehumanizing and Derogatory Labels ARNOLD, MO, UNITED STATES, March 8, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — Women Against Registry Family Foundation Announces the Launch of a Twelve Month Moratorium banning derogatory or negative words used across the nation when describing a person convicted of any sex-related offense or in reference to their families including the children. Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done – Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice…
Read MoreIL: Apartment building where sex offenders have stayed should be shut down, Englewood residents say
[chicago.suntimes.com – 3/8/21] Englewood residents protested outside an apartment building Monday that they said had become a frequent home to paroled sex offenders. The latest to move-in is Cayce ____, convicted in the 1997 sexual assault and murder of 20-month-old Quortney Kley. ____moved to the 6600 block of South Perry Avenue last week from Crystal Lake after residents in that McHenry County city petitioned for his removal. ____ is on mandatory supervised release — got out of prison in February after serving 24 years of a 48-year sentence, according to…
Read MoreNJ: All six chiropractors who voted to restore license of sex offender resign
[newjerseyglobe.com – 3/8/21] Six members of the New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners under fire for restoring a medical license to a convicted sex offender have resigned, an attorney representing the chiropractors said. The resignations come six days after Gov. Phil Murphy announced that he was replacing Brett Wartenberg, Thomas Senatore and Paul Lyons on the state regulatory board. The other three members — David Allen, Rosemary Calio and Albert Stabile – were on holdover status and in the process of being replaced. “It is our understanding from recent government…
Read MoreFL: Florida Lawmakers Weigh Rules on Union Dues, [Sex Offense] Ballot Measures
[nbcmiami.com – 3/7/21] The Florida Legislature enters the second week of its 60-day session Monday as it dives deeper into the process of winnowing the thousands of bills before it. … In the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, lawmakers in the coming week are considering a key change in sexual offender laws. Sexual offenders released from prison are supposed to register with authorities. But a court had ruled that sexual offenders don’t have to register if they hadn’t finished paying off any restitution they might owe. In other words, you’re not…
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