On the last day possible, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 145. The bill now goes to the Governor who has up to 30 days to sign or veto it. “Senate Bill 145 has been controversial since its introduction,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Due to the dedication of its author, Senator Scott Wiener, Senate Bill 145 was passed over the objections of the Appropriations Committee chair and despite multiple threats of physical harm.” If the Governor signs the bill, judges will have discretion regarding whether to require an…
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State Department Notifies Registrant by Email of Revoked Passport
ACSOL received today the first report that the U.S. State Department has notified a registrant by email that his passport has been revoked. The email included as an attachment a formal letter from the department. The email and letter were sent to the registrant on August 26, 2020, more than six months after his last trip overseas to a country where he was allowed to enter. According to the department’s message, the registrant was notified that his passport was revoked by email “due to current health and safety measures.” All…
Read MoreMaxwell Monty: Second chances? You can “bed” on it
[Maxwell Monty] On April 3, 2017, I sat down with my copy of the “Wall Street Journal,” took a sip of my morning cup of coffee and began reading a book review of retired U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven’s Make Your Bed. In another lifetime, I may have simply passed over that review, thinking it was another fool’s errand somehow sent by my mother in a continued effort to get me to make my bed. I was fifty-one years old and had never seen the logic in making my…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: The Registry: If It’s Not Punishment, Then What Is It?
We’re tired of hearing that the registry isn’t punishment. Tired of “it’s for public safety” rhetoric that politicians use to keep the public in a constant state of fear, fanning the flames of hatred and depicting anyone on the registry as a violent, predatory monster. The registry is punishment. The courts know it. Registrants know it. Families, friends, spouses and children of registrants know it. The registry protects no one. There is nothing remotely “safe” or public friendly about the registry. It was disturbing to read that in Kansas, the…
Read MoreOf Witches, and Witch Burnings [by Guy Hamilton-Smith]
[littlereddots.substack.com – 8/22/20 – Guy Hamilton-Smith] Note: this piece is adapted from a forthcoming article in the Southwestern Law Review Several years ago, a debate raged in my local paper’s opinion section. Should sex offenders be allowed in church?, or something of the like. I wasn’t a churchgoer, but I had a spiritual experience that I didn’t know what to do with. I asked one of my friends in law school who I knew was religious, and who knew my story, if she would take me to hers. She took me. I…
Read MoreConvicted of Sex Crimes, but With No Victims
[nytimes.com – 8/26/20] Jace Hambrick worked as an apprentice laborer during the week, renovating homes around Vancouver, Wash., and at a neighborhood gas station on weekends. Much of the rest of his life was online. He was hard-core, amassing a collection of more than 200 games. People told him it wasn’t smart to be so cut off from reality, but his internet life felt rich. As a dungeon master in Dungeons & Dragons, he controlled other players’ destinies. As a video warrior, he was known online by his nom de…
Read MoreKS: Court opinion affirms states’ authority to require sex offender registries
[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…
Read MoreJuvenile 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…
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