[china.org.cn – 8/3/19] China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) announced Friday that a national database of child sex offenders will be established. The SPP will also promote the building of relevant inquiry and restriction mechanisms for candidates seeking employment related to minors, said Shi Weizhong, a senior prosecutor with the SPP, at a video conference on inter-agency protection of rural left-behind children and children living in difficulties. Over 3,600 suspects have been prosecuted for criminal offenses against rural left-behind children since 2018, according to Shi. In the following phase, the procuratorate…
Read MoreAuthor: R H
FL shaming: Could your real estate agent be a sex offender? You likely would never know
[palmbeachpost.com – 3/2/19] Maureen Stilwell had a bad feeling about the property manager in her Wellington neighborhood. He didn’t fit in well with the close-knit community. Folks didn’t like him, said Stilwell, who was on the board of her homeowner’s association at the time. Stilwell did a little digging. She quickly discovered that her community property manager was a registered sex offender. “I was amazed it came right up on Google,” she said. “I emailed the rest of the board and said, ‘We have to get rid of this guy…
Read MoreFL: Convicted sex offender drowned in Duval County jail cell toilet after beating
[firstcoastnews.com – 8/1/19] JACKSONVILLE, Fla — The inmate killed inside his Duval County Jail cell Tuesday was drowned in his jail cell toilet in addition to being beaten by his cellmate, First Coast News learned Wednesday. Paul Dixon, 43, was charged with 2nd-degree murder after police say he killed cellmate _, 56, on the fifth floor of the Duval County jail. Multiple sources tell First Coast News that ____, a convicted sex offender, was beaten by Dixon who then drowned him in his jail cell toilet. The official cause of…
Read MoreNigeria: NAPTIP Launches Sex Offenders Register To Name And Shame Rapists
[channelstv.com – 7/28/19] The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP) has announced plans to launch a sex offender register to name and shame rapists and offenders of other forms of violence against persons. According to the Director General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah, the implementation of the register is aimed at putting an end to all forms of violence against persons in private and public life, and to provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders. “The spate of this mindless abuse of…
Read MoreMore churches are checking the national sex offender registry. Is it helping?
[religionnews.com – 7/30/19] Since they were first offered an opportunity to pool their resources and buy background checks on volunteers and employees at a discount 11 years ago, about a third of Southern Baptist churches have signed up for the OneSource program from LifeWay Christian Resources. Earlier this year, LifeWay reported that 16,000 congregations and other church organizations ran background checks on men and women it hired through a service called backgroundchecks.com. (The Southern Baptist Convention has so far resisted calls to set up a database of its own, saying…
Read MoreA Tale of Two Jeffreys: How the Virgin Islands Welcomed a Rich Sex Offender—and Punished a Poor One
[thedailybeast.com – 7/28/19] From the Virgin Islands comes a tale of two Jeffreys, and the difference great wealth can make when it comes to sex crimes—until it doesn’t. Both Jeffreys were convicted of shameful crimes that required them to register as sex offenders in whatever state or jurisdiction they resided. Jeffrey _____ pleaded guilty in Florida to engaging a minor in prostitution in a 2007 plea deal only a super-rich guy could have swung. He did 18 months locked up, mostly in a private wing of the Palm Beach County…
Read MoreUS mass incarceration damages health and shortens lives
[thelancet.com – July 2019] The USA has a problem with incarceration. Since 1970, the number of people incarcerated has climbed from less than 500 000 to 2·3 million. Despite only 5% of the world’s population living in the country, the USA imprisons nearly 25% of all incarcerated people globally; the highest rate of imprisonment in the world. The sheer scale of imprisonment in the USA and its unequal burden on people from minority and poor backgrounds raises concerns about its impact on the health and wellbeing of the national population. While…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Accusations Against the Deceased
Last week I wrote about the accused and their accusers. But they were all living. What happens when fresh accusations of sexual offenses are leveled against those who are deceased? In East TN a young man recently accused a priest and a former bishop in the Diocese of Knoxville of sexual offenses which he says occurred in the 1990’s. (The lawsuit also contends that a Catholic School music teacher, still living, had also attempted to be inappropriate with the accuser. While this teacher remains employed by the school, the diocese…
Read MoreAR: Arkansas Sex offenders barred from Halloween activities with new law
[myarklamiss.com – 7/25/19] FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA) — We are less than 100 days away from Halloween, and after Wednesday, parents won’t have to be as scared about sending the kids off to trick-or-treat. Nothing is more important to Jennifer Quick than her four kids. “My children’s safety is a top priority,” she said. And as Act 463 goes into effect, she takes a sigh of relief. “I feel like the lawmakers finally putting in some effort towards the safety of our children is a big deal and I think it’s…
Read MoreFL: Court Rules Against Sex Offender On Internet Use
[usf.edu – 7/25/19] Rejecting First Amendment arguments, a state appeals court Wednesday upheld restrictions on internet use by a sex offender. The ruling by the 2nd District Court of Appeal came in a Hillsborough County case in which Quinton Alford was sentenced to 10 years of sex-offender probation for kidnapping and three years of sex-offender probation for sexual battery. The terms of probation included barring Alford from using social media and prevented internet use except for work or shopping. Alford argued that the restrictions were overly broad and violated First…
Read MoreACSOL Emotional Support Group Meetings Available: Sat, July 27 in L.A.; Thursdays in Sac; Monthly on the phone
Emotional Support Group meetings will be held for those convicted of a sex offense and their loved ones. This meeting, which is based upon the format of 12 Step meetings, provides registrants and their loved ones with an opportunity to discuss personal challenges and share their experiences, strengths and hopes, with each other. Attendance is limited to individuals required to register, family members, and friends. Media, law enforcement, parole, etc. are not allowed to attend meetings. There is no cost to attend. No reservations are required. Click here to see…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: The Truth Lies Somewhere in the Middle
On Wednesday, Massachusetts criminal prosecutors dropped their case against actor Kevin Spacey. Spacey had faced a criminal charge of indecent assault and battery in connection with a reported July 2016 incident at the Club Car restaurant/bar in Nantucket. His accuser, an 18 yr. old busboy at the restaurant, had accused Spacey of groping him. The accuser’s mother, a former TV anchor, filed the complaint more than a year after the alleged incident supposedly occurred. Spacey pled “not guilty” and faced up to five years in prison if convicted. The alleged…
Read MoreCA: Ordinance barring car-sleeping on L.A. residential streets quietly expires
[dailynews.com – 7/18/19] LOS ANGELES – A city ordinance barring people from sleeping in vehicles parked on residential Los Angeles streets quietly expired at the end of June, and LAPD officers have been instructed to no longer issue citations for the offense. … “This is very dangerous because the objective of this is to keep all kinds of vehicles off and away from schools and parks, where kids play, and off residents’ front curbs,” said Ryavec, who is also a community officer with the Venice Neighborhood Council. “That evaporated on…
Read MoreWhen autistic people commit sexual crimes
[spectrumnews.org – 7/17/19] Many first-time sex offenders on the spectrum may not understand the laws they break. How should their crimes be treated? For years, Nick Dubin couldn’t bring himself to say the word ‘gay,’ but part of him wondered: Was he gay? Dubin has autism. And growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, he had been mercilessly taunted by his peers, some of whom had called him gay simply because he was different. But what if he actually was homosexual? As an adult, Dubin found some men attractive,…
Read MoreVideos and handouts of ACSOL’s Third Annual Conference are available now!
Couldn’t make it to ACSOL’s 2019 Third Annual Conference? Or maybe you missed something you wanted to hear? You will be excited to hear that videos of SOME of the sessions are now posted on YouTube! Click here to watch them The videos of recordings made at previous conferences are also available. Here are the handouts: ACSOL – Tipping Point – June 2019 ACSOL – Effective Advocacy – June 2019 ACSOL – Janus v2 ACSOL – Tiered Registry – June 2019 CP – Ellmann IL – Challenging Indefinite Imprisonment (Nichols)…
Read MoreNew Survey: Understanding the role of trauma and later sexual offending
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 7/15/19] My name is Melissa Grady and I a faculty member at the Catholic University of America’s National Catholic School of Social Service. I along with my colleague Jill Levenson, professor at Barry University in Florida, are conducting a study aimed at understanding the role of trauma and later sexual offending. There are two surveys associated with this study. The first is one for practitioners who work with individuals who have sexually offended (ISOs). The second survey is for ISOs and have received treatment focused on this issue.…
Read MoreACSOL Meeting in Berkeley on Saturday, July 20
Please mark your calendars for ACSOL’s upcoming meeting in Berkeley: Saturday, July 20 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 MoreIN: Great decision out of Indiana
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 7/12/19] A great decision out of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana was issued earlier this week. … Federal Court Judge Richard L, Young found this result illogical. In his 37 page opinion he writes, “The state has offered no evidence that out-of-state sex offenders or those that leave and return are inherently more dangerous than resident sex offenders, and the court can think of none.” But what is really great about this decision is that it is ANOTHER federal district court that…
Read More