Please mark your calendars for ACSOL’s upcoming meeting: Saturday, Feb 8 10 a.m. ACLU Building 1313 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles (free parking below building) Registrants, friends and family and interested service providers are invited to attend these free meetings. There will be no law enforcement or media present in order to protect everyone’s privacy. 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…
Read MoreAuthor: R H
Kat’s Blog: Band-Aid Fixes
I’m not sure what’s going on in Tennessee. Lately there seems to be an avalanche of bills proposed challenging the rights of registrants. Most of these bills seem to serve no purpose other than to intimidate and scare the bejeezus out of registrants and then, if passed, make their lives more difficult. Rep. Doggett has the “no registrants sleeping in a home with minor children” bill. Rep. Griffey has his “let’s chemically castrate all registrants on parole” bill. Now, here comes Rep. Patsy Hazlewood with HB1922 that would supposedly make…
Read MoreGA: Group confronts Cobb County sheriff over ‘invented requirements’ imposed on sex offenders
[11alive.com – 1/29/20] ATLANTA — A sex offender rights group is accusing the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office of overstepping Georgia’s sex offender registration laws. In a letter sent this week to Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren, the North Carolina based National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) claims deputies are “imposing invented requirements not contained in Georgia law.” NARSOL Executive Director Brenda Jones, in the letter, writes the requirements the sheriff’s office is imposing are considered harassment. The letter includes four specific claims against the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.…
Read MoreNY: DNA evidence exonerates New York City man for 1985 sex assault
[abcnews.go.com – 1/28/20] After spending a full 25-year sentence in prison for a crime he did not commit, a Bronx, New York, man was exonerated by the first prosecutorial conviction review unit on the East Coast. Rafael Ruiz was convicted in 1985 for sexually assaulting a girl in East Harlem. Ruiz, then 25, was sentenced to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison and was released on parole in 2009 after serving the entire stint. Now, at the age of 60, Ruiz had his felony conviction wiped off his criminal…
Read MoreTN: Tennessee bill would allow sex offenders to attend churches under certain conditions
[komonews.com – 1/27/20] NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) –Legislation proposed in the Tennessee General Assembly on Monday would allow sexual or violent sex offenders to attend church or another house of worship under certain circumstances. HB 1922 was filed by Representative Patsy Hazlewood (R-Signal Mountain). Under the bill, the offender would be allowed to attend houses of worship for religious services or to receive educational or social support services. Read the full article
Read MoreCO: Lawmakers consider changes to Colorado’s juvenile sex offender registry
[9news.com – 1/24/20] DENVER — It’s not often you see prosecutors and public defenders working together on the same team. But Thursday night, representatives from both groups spoke before state lawmakers in a joint effort to reform the law around Colorado’s juvenile sex offender registry list. “There are demonstrable…effects for children listed on this public registry right now,” said Amanda Gall, a Sexual Assault Resource Prosecutor at the Colorado District Attorney’s Council. “This bill strikes a balance between public access and privacy for these children.” HB-1079 was passed out of…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Sext Education
An interesting article a few weeks ago out of the United Kingdom has me wondering who’s responsible when children and teens are caught “sexting”? According to The Guardian, there are children as young as 4 years of age sharing indecent photos of themselves via smartphones, 9 yr. old children posting nude pictures of themselves on Facebook Messenger and Instagram. Between Jan. 2017 and Aug. 2019, in the United Kingdom there were 6,499 cases of underage children sexting, cases investigated by British authorities, cases where some of those children actually ended…
Read MoreIL: Registered sex offenders can stay at Wayside Cross a little longer after ruling again delayed
[chicagotribune.com – 1/21/20] The child sex offenders living at Wayside Cross in Aurora can remain at the ministry for at least a while longer, after a judge again delayed ruling on their request to temporarily block enforcement of a sex offender residency law pending the outcome of a lawsuit. The Wayside Cross residents are seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, which would allow them to remain at the ministry until their lawsuit challenging enforcement of a sex offender residency law is resolved. Kane County Circuit Court Judge Kevin…
Read MoreWI: Fond du Lac council mulls ordinance to restrict sex offender placement near parks, schools
[fdlreporter.com – 1/23/20] FOND DU LAC – Should the city regulate the distance from which sex offenders can reside from parks, schools and child-care facilities? Fond du Lac City Council members considered this possibility during its meeting Wednesday night, receiving input from Fond du Lac Police Chief William Lamb and City Attorney Deborah Hoffman about the need for such an ordinance and its legality. Council member Daniel Degner presented the issue to council, stating it was one of the reasons he ran in 2019 for the seat. In 2018, Degner circulated a petition…
Read MoreCA: San Diego Officially Rescinds Sex Offender Law
[nbcsandiego.com – 1/22/20] The city of San Diego has agreed to remove a law that restricted potential living locations for registered sex offenders who are no longer on parole for their crimes. The decision was part of a legal settlement that officially puts an end to the city’s Child Protection Act of 2008. The law prohibited all registered sex offenders regardless of parole status from living less than a half-mile from schools, parks, and other public places. In 2009 the city decided to no longer enforce the Child Protection Act…
Read MoreACSOL Argues Prop. 57 Case Before Appellate Court
ACSOL argued in support of Prop. 57 yesterday before the Third Court Court of Appeals in Sacramento. At issue in the case are regulations issued by the CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) that exclude everyone convicted of a sex offense from receiving the benefits of that ballot proposition. A trial court decided in favor of ACSOL’s position in March 2018 and declared that CDCR’s regulations were invalid because they impermissibly alter and amend the terms of Prop. 57. CDCR appealed that decision and the trial court’s decision was…
Read MoreCA: 2nd California child molester dies after beating with cane
[sfgate.com – 1/22/20] [Note: This information is important because it demonstrates the dangers of CDCR placing registrants in the general population. ] CORCORAN, Calif. (AP) — A second convicted child molester has died after he was beaten with a walking cane by another inmate last week at a central California prison, officials said Wednesday. Graham De Luis-Conti, 62, was pronounced dead on Sunday at a hospital, three days after authorities said he was attacked at California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in the small central city of…
Read MoreNJ: Police Warn Residents Against Fake Sex Offender Notice
[jerseyshoreonline.com – 1/9/20] Howell Police are warning residents of a letter that is making the rounds falsely claiming to be a Megan’s Law notification naming a Howell resident/ business owner. Police shared a community awareness post to their Facebook page emphasizing that the letter is a fake. “The person named is this letter is NOT subject to any type of investigation, prosecution or conviction of any offense related to Megan’s Law. At first this letter may seem real however upon examination it is poorly written and constructed,” stated police. The…
Read MoreFL: Florida House bill would require background checks for delivery workers
[orlandoweekly.com – 1/9/20] Background checks would be required for delivery employees after the murder of a 75-year-old Boca Raton woman in August, under a bill filed Tuesday by Rep. Mike Caruso, R-Delray Beach. Caruso’s proposal (HB 1129) would require all home-delivery workers to undergo background checks that include a search of a multistate criminal database and a search of the National Sex Offender Public Website, which is maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice. The checks would be required “regardless of whether such person, employee, or agent intends to enter…
Read MoreNM: New Mexico rethinks sex-offender registry eluded by Epstein
[sfchronicle.com – 1/9/20] Legislators will consider changes to the state’s sex offender registration policies in response to revelations that deceased financier and New Mexico ranch owner Jeffrey Epstein was allowed to avoid registering locally as a sex offender following a guilty plea a decade ago in Florida Epstein was accused of abusing young women at his desert ranch outside the community of Stanley before his death last year behind bars. Democratic New Mexico state Rep. Matthew McQueen of Galisteo said Thursday that he has filed a bill that would automatically…
Read MoreWhy Re-Arrest Doesn’t Mean You’re a Failure
[thecrimereport.org – 1/7/20] The justice system traditionally uses a simple metric to determine whether an individual continues to be a threat to public safety after leaving prison: has the person been arrested for another crime? Recidivism rates are also used as criteria for judging the success of intervention programs and policy reforms. But a University of Wisconsin Law School professor argues that in both cases, the system too often gets it wrong. Prof. Cecilia M. Klingele. Photo courtesy University of Wisconsin In a recent essay for the Journal of Criminal…
Read MoreParticipate in our study on veterans who have been convicted of a sex crime
[Note from Janice: I recommend this. Emily is a part of ACSOL] Dear Veterans, There is still time to participate in our study on veterans who have been convicted of a sex crime. Thank you to those who have already participated in this research project. As of January 8, 2020, we have received 164 completed surveys; however, we still need more veterans on the registry to complete the survey. Our goal is to have a minimum of 250-300 completed surveys by the end of the month. If you have yet…
Read MoreNY: Cuomo plans to ban sex offenders from MTA transit system
[pix11.com – 1/7/20] Repeat and high-risk sex offenders would be banned from the MTA tranist system under a new law proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The NYPD announced support for the ban when Cuomo suggested it in March of 2019. The ban would apply to offenders for three years and blocks them from the subway, bus and rail systems. “MTA riders deserve to feel safe, and we have an obligation to ensure they will not be targeted by sex offenders,” Gov. Cuomo said Tuesday. “Enough is enough. If we want…
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