[stjosephpost.com – 8/24/20] TOPEKA – A ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has reaffirmed the authority of states to maintain sex offender registries to inform the public and rejected the claim that registries are a form of punishment, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Monday. The appellate ruling last week reversed a 2017 lower court decision striking down the Colorado sex offender registry as unconstitutional. The case involved a claim brought by three individuals against the director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. “While…
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Juvenile Law Center Report Advocates End of Youth Registration
[jlc.org – 8/13/20] The Juvenile Law Center released today a comprehensive report focused upon individuals who are currently required to register due to their conviction for a sex offense that was committed when they were children. According to that report, there are more than 200,000 such individuals including people who were convicted when they were only 8 years old. The report points out that children on sex offender registries are four times more likely to report a recent suicide attempt as compared to their peers. The same children face residency…
Read MoreACSOL Challenges Irvine’s Presence Restrictions in CA
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) today filed a lawsuit challenging presence restrictions in the City of Irvine which were declared to be preempted by state law six years ago. Today’s lawsuit was filed after repeated requests by ACSOL to repeal the unlawful restrictions including a letter sent to the city dated February 13, 2020. “The City of Irvine has acted unlawfully for the past six years by continuing to require some registrants to obtain prior written approval before entering a public park,” stated ACSOL President Chance Oberstein. …
Read MoreAction Alert: UPDATED 8/29 Wellington, FL council looking to pass new rules for vacation rentals and those on the registry
[floridaactioncommittee.org – Action Alert – 8/24/20] 8/28/20 UPDATE: Wellington approves rules for vacation rentals Wellington, Florida is considering creating a rule that would require vacation rental owners to check to see if potential renters are on the sex offender registry. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow [August 25] and will be held by Zoom. The Responsible Party for all Vacation Rental properties is required to conduct a nationwide search to confirm that the prospective Transient Occupant(s) is/are not a registered sexual offender or sexual predator as a result of…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Zombies versus Sex Offenders?
A friend recently referred to a TV series, IZombie, as a TV show in which some Zombies are portrayed in a positive light. That is, she said, there are good Zombies and bad Zombies. The idea of a good Zombie piqued my curiosity to the point that I watched three seasons of that TV show. I quit watching the show when I realized I was covering my own eyes for large parts of each episode due to the gory scenes they portrayed. What did I learn from watching three seasons…
Read MoreACSOL Executive Director Appointed to CA Supreme Court Case
ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci has been appointed to the case of In re Gadlin, which is currently under review by the California Supreme Court. Prior to Ms. Bellucci’s appointment, Mr. Gadlin was represented by attorney Michael Satris, co-founder of the Prison Law Office, who recently died of a heart attack. The case was fully briefed by Mr. Satris prior to his death. “I am honored to be appointed to this case before the California Supreme Court because it challenges regulations issued by the California Department of Corrections that prohibit…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Job Loss Due to the Registry
A recent USA Today inquiry cost a registrant and his company hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal contracts and who knows how many other jobs. The article in its entirety can be read on the ACSOL website “Sex Offender loses Covid-19 Contract at VA Hospital after USA Today ask questions.” The employee’s janitorial firm had had multiple government contracts over the years. There were never any issues with his employment record, he and his company were responsible employees and in good standing with the federal government’s vendor database. He…
Read MoreCA: Committee Passes SB 145 Despite Chair’s Objection
The Assembly’s Appropriations Committee today passed Senate Bill 145 despite objections to that bill expressed by Committee Chair Lorena Gonzales Fletcher and despite death threats made to its author, Senator Scott Wiener. “We commend Senator Wiener for his courage in the efforts required to obtain passage of Senate Bill 145,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Belulcci. “The Senator faced down not only death threats but also the opposition of the chair of a powerful legislative committee.” Because SB 145 was passed today, it will soon be voted upon by the…
Read MoreIL: Inside the Endless Nightmare of Indefinite Detention Under “Civil Commitment”
[inthesetimes.com – 8/19/20] In June 2019, after serving more than 29 years in Illinois prisons, Otis Arrington expected to be released to freedom: He had finished his time, which he describes as difficult and traumatic, and his exit date was pending. But three days before he was slated to get out, Arrington says he was informed that he would, instead, be placed under a new form of confinement — one with no end date, meted out after he had already completed the punishment imposed by the criminal courts. “I was supposed to get out, and…
Read MoreIreland: Vigilantes suspected as child porn man’s car torched in attack
[herald.ie – 8/15/20] Gardaí are closely monitoring the situation after a 59-year-old convicted child porn offender was targeted by vigilantes twice within the space of a week. It is understood that officers have given David _____ security advice after his car was torched near his home off Drogheda Street in Balbriggan on Tuesday evening. The arson attack happened just four days after vigilantes smashed up the same vehicle. Our images show _____’s car on fire in an incident that is being investigated by Balbriggan gardaí. “An exact motive for this…
Read MoreAL: CCBOE approves policy for low risk juvenile sex offenders
[cullmantimes.com – 8/15/20] The Cullman County School Board has approved a new board policy that will allow the superintendent and school administrators to know the names of students in the system who are low risk sex offenders. The policy was approved during Thursday night’s meeting to bring the system in line with Annalyn’s Law, which was passed by the state in 2018 and requires local law enforcement to notify school system’s when a low risk juvenile sex offender is enrolled in one of its schools. Learning Support Specialist Karen Pinion shared some of…
Read MoreFederal Government Publishes Proposed Changes to SORNA
[ACSOL] The federal government yesterday published in the Federal Register proposed changes to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). The changes encompass a total of 93 pages and include a wide range of topics, including retroactivity, tier levels, professional licenses and travel (both domestic and international). Replies to the proposed regulations are due no later than October 13, 2020. According to the proposed regulations, SORNA will apply to all individuals convicted of a sex offense, including those convicted before it was enacted. The federal government claims to have…
Read MoreCA: Sex offender registration reform effort prompts death threats to Sen. Scott Wiener
[sfexaminer.com – 8/13/20] An effort by state Sen. Scott Wiener to reform sex offender registration laws and ensure equality for the LGBTQ community has drawn harassment from conspiracy theorists. Wiener, who represents San Francisco, said at a news conference Thursday that the QAnon community has claimed the bill, Senate Bill 145, would protect pedophiles, and even accused him of being a pedophile himself. The bill was introduced by Wiener last year to end what he and other advocates said was a blatant discrimination against LGBTQ youth regarding California’s sex offender…
Read MoreCO: New law closes loophole regarding sex offender treatment
[koaa.com – 8/12/20] SOUTHERN COLORADO — Colorado legislators have closed a loophole in state law that allowed certain sex offenders to get out of prison early and transfer to community corrections before completing required treatment. To fully understand what exactly changed in the law, it’s important to take a step back and learn more about the Colorado Sex Offender Lifetime Supervision Act (LSA). This allows people convicted of high-level sex offenses to stay in prison or under supervision until they have progressed in their treatment and are no longer considered…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: A Mother’s Plea, Not So Different Than Ours
A recent, tragic shooting in New Jersey, a Federal Judge’s son killed on the family’s doorstep, her husband hospitalized with multiple gunshots. The Judge believes she was the shooter’s targeted victim because of her position on the bench. The Judge, was uninjured. Yesterday, Judge Esther Salas went on television and broadcast a desperate plea, asking those in power to do something to help those on the bench keep themselves and their families safe from individuals meaning to do them harm. She spoke about the “free-flow” of personal information, including home…
Read MoreTN: Win in Tennessee – District Court Denies State’s Motion to Dismiss and Grants Injunction on Ex Post Facto Grounds
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 8/10/20] A Tennessee Federal District Court last week denied the State’s Motion to Dismiss and ordered an injunction preventing them from enforcing the sex offender registry against an individual whose offense pre-dated the enactment of the ordinance. The best part of this case was that the court based its opinion on Ex Post Facto grounds! Read the full article Link to PDF of the decision [eagle.com]
Read MoreSex offender loses COVID-19 contract at VA hospital after USA TODAY asks questions
[usatoday.com – 8/11/20] Ezekiel Lopez is a registered child sexual predator in Illinois who spent more than three years in prison for sexually abusing two teenage girls under his care. The conviction was not a barrier between Lopez and more than $700,000 in federal contracts to provide cleaning and janitorial services to help fight COVID-19 at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital just outside Chicago. No rules specifically prevented it. Government contractors are supposed to indicate on their applications whether they’ve had any felony convictions within the past two years. But Lopez was convicted…
Read MoreSacramento Caravan: #SayTheirNames & Bring Our Loved Ones Home on Thursday, August 13
[#SayTheirNames] On Thursday, August 13 there will be a #SayTheirNames action at the CA Capitol Building followed by a car caravan to CDCR and a candlelight vigil at night to honor lives lost. For details, read this Facebook page, and click on the graphic at the top of the page. For a schedule, scroll down the Facebook page. Demand a #MoratoriumOnCovidBehindBars: * HONOR the lives of those who have died from COVID-19 behind bars. * EXPOSE how the state continues to threaten the lives of incarcerated people in overcrowded prisons.…
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