[news-journalonline.com – 3/3/20] A bill that would bar judges from granting bail to someone appealing a conviction of a sex offense against a child is moving smoothly through the Florida Legislature. Rep. Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach, introduced the bill after outrage last year led by Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood and others when Mark Fugler was released while he appealed his conviction and 15-year prison sentence for sex crimes involving a child. Leek’s bill adds sex crimes against children to the list of offenses for which judges cannot grant supersedeas…
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Janice’s Journal: Have You Noticed?
Have you noticed there is a change in the relationship between the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) and the National Association for Rational Sex Offense Laws (NARSOL)? We hope so. Because the change in that relationship is the result of both hard work and a change in focus. In order to fully understand the significance of what is happening now, it is important to know a little about the past….including the good, the bad, and the ugly. The good is that NARSOL began almost 15 years ago and…
Read MoreACSOL Meeting in Berkeley on Saturday, March 7
Please mark your calendars for ACSOL’s upcoming meeting in Berkeley: Saturday, March 7 10 a.m. Finnish Hall (upstairs meeting room) 1970 Chestnut Street Berkeley Attendance is limited to individuals required to register, family members, and friends. Media, law enforcement, parole, etc. are not allowed to attend meetings. The meetings start at 10 am and last about 2-3 hours. Topics of conversation include information about ACSOL’s advocacy as well as current topics and pending legal action. Please Show up, Stand up, and Speak up!
Read MoreJoin RTAG’s conference call about possible changes to Angel Watch and Guardian Angel
[registranttag.org – 2/28/20] ALL are invited to hear Update to RTAG’s and Matt Ameika’s Mexican law firm efforts to effect the Angel Watch notification system and Mexico’s parallel Guardian Angel program. We have the acquired 5 Amparo (Remedy) cases to hopefully make changes to immigration procedures. Furthermore, the Mexican courts have recently established that the Mexican constitution and legal rights take priority over international agreements. We have also begun a process of engaging Mexican judges and government officials. Finally, we will discuss plans going forward. Paul Rigney and Matt will…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: App. Goes to Disturbing Lengths to Catch Predators
Good Morning America has run two recent segments on a parental control phone monitoring app. called Bark. For a fee, the tech company advertises that it’s app. can monitor your children’s social media online activities for signs of potentially dangerous situations such as cyber-bullying, adult content, sexual predators, drug use, depression, suicidal ideation, threats of violence and other assorted issues. Understandably, the online world can be a dangerous place, so some parents might choose to monitor their children’s computer activities by paying a tech company to act as “big brother”,…
Read MoreMI: State of Michigan set to pay $80M to settle sex abuse suit with former juvenile offenders
[detroitnews.com – 2/27/20] The Michigan Department of Corrections will pay $80 million to settle a lawsuit with former juvenile offenders who claimed they were sexually abused in Michigan prisons between October 2010 and February 2020, state officials said Thursday. Pending final approval April 9, the state will pay $25 million immediately, $15 million by October, $25 million by October 2021 and $15 million by October 2022. Buy PhotoMichigan officials have settled a sexual abuse lawsuit filed by former juvenile offenders for $80 million. (Photo: Daniel Mears, The Detroit News) State corrections officials and Attorney…
Read MoreMI: Forum: Re-examine child sexual abuse policy
[record-eagle.com – 2/26/20] Kristen Burgess took a courageous step forward (Record-Eagle, Jan. 5) to shed light on the community’s response to intrafamilial sexual abuse. When I started my career in 1987, there were “family-centered” programs for parents who decided not to divorce after intrafamilial child sexual abuse. Families were ordered into long-term programs supervised by the Family Courts. Offenders served time in jail and were slowly reintegrated into the family if agreed upon by all involved. As research demonstrated the impact of child sexual abuse on victims in adulthood, the…
Read MoreFL: Department of Juvenile Justice refuses to accept 15-year-old charged with possession of child pornography
[palmcoastobserver.com] In 2018 under the direction of Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office began participating with the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The ICAC Task Force consists of state and local law enforcement who are dedicated to developing effective responses to the online enticement of children by sexual predators, child exploitation, and child obscenity and pornography cases … Lashbrook identified a residence in Daytona North that was actively engaging in the manufacturing and distribution of child pornography. On Jan. 23, the FCSO Major Case Unit, as…
Read MoreUT: Topless Utah Stepmom Pleads Guilty To Avoid Sex Offender Registry
[reason.com – 2/26/20] Faced with the possibility of being placed on a sex offender registry for 10 years, Utah’s Tilli Buchanan has instead pleaded guilty to lesser charges after being prosecuted for appearing topless in front of her stepchildren. Read the full article
Read MoreBrian Banks to Speak at ACSOL Conference
Brian Banks, who was convicted of a crime he did not commit and who experienced five years in prison as well as the punishment of being required to register as a sex offender, has agreed to speak at this year’s ACSOL conference on Friday, May 29. Banks will join his attorney Justin Brooks, leader of the CA Innocence Project, in a joint presentation about the legal fight that ended in Banks’ removal from the registry as well as exoneration. Sign up today to hear them speak! Both Banks and Brooks…
Read MoreTime to Purge Bloated Sex Offender Registries
[creators.com – 2/22/20] Those who fight for a more equitable way to keep track of sexual predators won a big victory in Michigan last week. That is a state with some 44,000 names on its sexual offenders registry. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland put his foot down and gave the Michigan legislature 60 days to rewrite its current “unconstitutional” registry statute. Last spring, Cleland set a 90-day deadline for lawmakers to rework the law, but he was ignored. This time, he’s serious. Everyone agrees we need to keep track…
Read MoreIN: Bill extending sex crimes statute of limitations advances to full House
[theindianalawyer.com – 2/21/20] “How many more victims will there be?” Dawn Price, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, posed that question before the Indiana House Courts and Criminal Code Committee on Wednesday while testifying in support of legislation that would extend the amount of time victims have to prosecute their perpetrators. Price shared her story of being molested and raped as a child by her adoptive father until she was nearly 13 years old. When Price, then a minor, told her mother what was happening, no action was taken. Even…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: The Power of Intimidation
It’s a phone message you don’t want. Someone from the registry office calling. “This is Mr. ……, call me back, ASAP”. Your mind goes into overdrive. What did I do? Did I go someplace I wasn’t supposed to? Did I cross some imaginary boundary line that I wasn’t aware of? Did someone file some false complaint against me? Your imagination runs amok. Even though you know that you haven’t done anything wrong, that message has put you into panic mode, you’re scared to death to make the return call. You…
Read MoreCA: California Prisoner Confesses To Killing 2 Molesters
[sacramento.cbslocal.com – 2/20/20] CORCORAN, Calif. (AP) — A California prison inmate confessed in a letter that he beat two child molesters to death with a cane while behind bars just hours after his urgent warning to a counselor that he might become violent was ignored, a newspaper chain reported Thursday. Jonathan Watson, 41, confessed in the letter to the Bay Area News Group in Northern California that he clubbed both men in the head on Jan. 16 at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran. Prisoner…
Read MoreMO: Some Sex Offenders Could Be Banned from Going Near Missouri Nature and Education Centers
[douglascountyherald.com – 2/20/20] State Representative Hannah Kelly, R-Mountain Grove, wants to ban some registered sex offenders from going within 500 feet of any Missouri Conservation Department nature or education center. The Missouri House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Committee is considering Kelly’s bill, which could charge violators with a felony. The measure would apply to sex offenders who have committed certain sex crimes against children. “We have an ultimate responsibility to ensure that when the prosecutor goes after that individual for perpetrating evil crimes against a child, that we have…
Read MoreCan we banish our way to public safety? [The Appeal by Kyle Barry]
[mailchi.mp/theappeal – 2/20/20] This month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to curb public lewdness, groping, and other unwanted touching on New York City’s public transit: a three-year ban on “repeat and high-risk sexual offenders” from the city’s subways, buses, and trains. “MTA riders deserve to feel safe, and we have an obligation to ensure they will not be targeted by sex offenders,” he said. “Enough is enough.” It’s not the first time Cuomo has endorsed the idea. Last year, he described a sex offender subway ban as…
Read MoreFL: Day care opens near transitional house with sex offenders
[actionnewsjax.com – 2/19/20] JACKSONVILLE,, Fla. — A local day care opened in a neighborhood surrounded with registered sex offenders and predators. An Action News Jax investigation found people convicted of sex crimes now live less than 1,000 feet from Bella Childcare, which started enrolling children in January. A viewer, who didn’t want to give his name, reached out to Action News Jax to express concerns because he provides transitional housing for sex offenders nearby. The transitional house is on Walnut St., which is right around the corner from Bella Childcare.…
Read MoreFL: Florida can’t bar felons from registering to vote over fees and fines, court rules
[cbsnews.com – 2/19/20] Florida cannot bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Tallahassee federal judge’s preliminary injunction that the implementation of Amendment 4 – approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 to allow most felons who served their time to regain the right to vote – amounted to an unfair poll tax that would…
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