Recently I read some comments on another advocacy website pertaining to TN’s new law effective July 1, 2019, in which adult registrants may not reside overnight in a home with a minor in it. The comments that caught my attention weren’t the “we’ve got to fight and do something about this” comments, but instead, the number of defeatist comments, “nothing is changing, we’re only fooling ourselves, we’re not winning, little wins mean nothing”. One person even went so far as to say something to the effect that they felt like…
Read MoreAuthor: R H
FL: Florida’s sex offender population is aging. Where can they live out their silver years?
[miamiherald.co – 6/20/19] When Mark Sullivan found his roommate, Aquila “Bud” Albertson, grasping onto their refrigerator door, clearly in pain, Sullivan said the 94-year-old needed medical attention, but Albertson tried to downplay it. The roommates both knew Albertson wasn’t getting the medical care he needed daily. It was left to Sullivan to feed him, give him his glaucoma medicine and clean his sheets when he had accidents. But even Sullivan, 58, couldn’t provide around-the-clock care. He only found Albertson that day because he was given the day off from his…
Read MoreFlorida Action Committee Weekly Update 2019-06-18: Trip to ACSOL Conference
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 6/18/19] Dear Members and Advocates, Some people travel to Los Angeles hoping to run into celebrities or rock stars. My trip to LA for the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) provided just that. To myself and most people in the advocacy community, Eric Janus, Ira Ellman, Adele Nicholas, Emily Horowitz, Janice Bellucci and the others that presented at ACSOL are our rock stars! I was fortunate to meet with, learn from and speak to these celebrities in person! Professor (and former Law School Dean) Eric Janus…
Read MoreCO: “The ultimate scarlet letter”: A 29-year-old could get name off sex-offender registry for juvenile crimes if Denver court decides he’s being cruelly, unusually punished
[denverpost.com – 6/22/19] A 29-year-old Coloradan made to register as a sex-offender for the rest of his life because of two sexual offenses he committed as a child and teenager could get his name off the list if a Denver juvenile court determines the lifetime mandate is cruel and unusual punishment. The development comes via a Colorado Court of Appeals decision, which the 29-year-old’s attorney, Gail Johnson, described as groundbreaking. The decision signals a changing attitude on how long juvenile sex offenders must be tied to their crimes, and it…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Where Does the Burden of Proof Lie?
Just by virtue of being on the registry comes the erroneous assumption that all registrants are a danger to the public. With some of what I’ll call, the lesser offenses, public urination, skinny dipping, sexting, etc. it doesn’t really seem that the state or federal courts “prove” that a registrant is a threat to the community. In the eyes of the law, a “sex offender is a sex offender” and the same registrant label is slapped on everyone for 10yrs. to life. Who bears the burden of proof that a…
Read MoreThe Marshall Project Wins an Edward R. Murrow Award [for “Banished”]
[themarshallproject.org – 6/19/19] “Banished,” The Marshall Project’s immersive multimedia story on the lives of sex offenders living in Miami-Dade County, Florida, who abide by some of the most restrictive housing policies in the country, has been awarded the national Edward R. Murrow Award for “Excellence in Video.” The organization was also awarded a regional Edward R. Murrow prize in the “News Documentary” category earlier in the year for “Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, Episode 9,” produced in collaboration with WNYC. Deftly integrating text and video, “Banished” revealed the day-to-day…
Read MoreFL: Fort Lauderdale relaxes restrictions on where sex offenders can live
[sun-sentinel.com – 6/18/19] Fort Lauderdale city commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to relax the city’s residency restrictions on sex offenders. Offenders will now be allowed to live close to bus stops but they are still barred from living within 1,400 feet of a school, daycare and other places children gather. The change will expand the available housing for convicted offenders from 1.4% of the city to 15.3%. It also brings Fort Lauderdale more in line with Florida state law. Dr. Amy Miller praised the ordinance as “an absolutely phenomenal step,” to…
Read MoreAL: Child sex offender-chemical castration bill sponsor State Rep. Hurst: ‘It should be surgical castration’ — Some offenders ‘ought to die’
[yellowhammernews.com – 6/13/19] Earlier this week, Gov. Kay Ivey signed HB 379 into law, which is a bill that will mandate so-called chemical castration for certain sex offenders as parole condition for early release. The law received headlines all around the country, despite Alabama joining several states, which includes California, Louisiana and Florida, with chemical castration laws already on the books. If the bill’s sponsor had his way, it would go much further. During an interview on Huntsville radio’s WVNN, State Rep. Steve Hurst (R-Munford) explained his push for the…
Read MoreACSOL’s Third Annual Conference Offered Solutions to Registrants Challenges
About 200 people, including registrants, family members and supporters, attended ACSOL’s third annual conference on June 14 and 15 in Los Angeles. The conference included plenary presentations from Professor Eric Janus, civil rights attorney Adele Nicholas, ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci and ACSOL President Chance Oberstein. The conference also featured proposed solutions to challenges faced by both registrants and their families in the form of panels that addressed employment, housing, travel, parole and LGBTQ issues. In addition, a presentation was made by Dr. Leah Chankin, a representative of the CA…
Read MoreACSOL Emotional Support Group Meeting in L.A. on Sat, June 22
ACSOL will conduct an Emotional Support Group for registrants and their loved ones on Saturday, June 22, beginning at 10 a.m. at: ACLU Building 1313 W. 8th Street Los Angeles Free parking is available under the building and there is no charge to attend the meeting. There is also a second Emotional Support Group meeting on the phone most months. If you want to attend this conference call, the group leader wants to talk with you first to ensure we don’t get inappropriate callers. He will tell you the date…
Read MoreWe look forward to seeing you at ACSOL’s conference this Friday!
I really enjoy listening to the speakers that have come and shared about legal challenges across the country. I always walk away amazed of all the info I’ve learned; I’m never disappointed. -Sherri Dear registrants, family members and supporters, Sherri enjoyed how much she learned at the conference. You can too! ACSOL’s annual conference starts this Friday on June 14! Click here to see the schedule. Click here to sign up now to make sure you get a seat! We aren’t just saying that, because we really were given a…
Read MoreNearly 1,700 Suspected Child Predators Arrested During Operation “Broken Heart”
[ojp.gov – 6/11/19] The Department of Justice today announced the arrest of almost 1,700 suspected online child sex offenders during a two-month, nationwide operation conducted by Internet Crimes Against Children task forces. The task forces identified 308 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, and 357 children who suffered recent, ongoing or historical sexual abuse or were exploited in the production of child pornography. The 61 ICAC task forces, located in all 50 states and comprised of more than 4,500 federal, state, local and tribal law…
Read MoreIsrael: Labor’s Gabbay apologizes for calling former MK a ‘sex offender’
[israelnationalnews.com – 6/10/19] The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court accepted the compromise reached between Labor Party Chairman Avi Gabbay and former Labor MK Eitan Broshi in the libel suit filed by Broshi against Gabbay. Gabbay, who called Broshi a sex offender, was ordered to publicly apologize to Broshi and pay him NIS 40,000 in compensation. Read more
Read MoreAL: Alabama governor signs chemical castration bill into law
[cnn.com – 6/10/19] Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday signed a bill into law that requires someone convicted of a sex offense against a child under the age of 13 to begin chemical castration a month before being released from custody. The law requires individuals convicted of such an offense to continue treatments until a court deems the treatment is no longer necessary. It says offenders must pay for the treatment, and they can’t be denied parole solely based on an inability to pay. “This bill is a step…
Read MoreA limited study done by the Department of Justice still proves that registrants have the lowest re-offense rate
[sosen.org – 6/7/19] The Department of Justice Bureau of statistics has put out another report “Recidivism of sex offenders released from state prison a nine-year follow-up 2005-14.” This is another attempt to muddy the waters by the Department of Justice in relation to the re-offense rate of people on the registry. First of all, this is not a valid study for evaluating the amount of recidivism by the 900,000+ people that are registered citizens. This is in fact a limited study of a small group of people that were…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Tennessee’s New Law: A Form of Birth Control for Registrants
Several months ago several TN Senators and Representatives were hell-bent on passing a two-fold law aimed at further punishment against registrants. The first part of the law would have increased the boundary restrictions for registrants from 1,000 ft. to 2,000 ft., thankfully, this portion of the law was abandoned. However, the second part of the law was passed and it is already bringing in to question the amount of “functioning gray matter” that these legislators actually have. Here’s the new law as it is written: State of TN /Senate…
Read MoreFL: Fort Lauderdale opening more neighborhoods to sex offenders with change in strict law
[sun-sentinel.com – 6/7/19] There are no homes at 2700 N. Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale. Although the only buildings standing are a McDonald’s and a Chick-fil-A, 110 people have registered it as an address. All of them are convicted sex offenders. This hot spot for sexual criminals is one of several along Federal Highway in northeast Fort Lauderdale, one of the few slivers in the city where a registered sex offender or sexual predator — rapists, molesters, child porn addicts — can legally reside. That will change soon. The city…
Read MoreNY: Registered sex offender living at Newfane nursing facility
[wkbw.com – 6/6/19] 7 Eyewitness News has learned a registered sex offender is living at the Newfane Rehabilitation and Health Care Center. But he had been quietly living in a local nursing home for months without any residents knowing. What’s even more concerning is how close this facility is to three schools. The registered sex offender has been living at the Newfane nursing center since January, but the state has not notified anyone until Thursday. This is the same center where the state attorney general’s office is also investigating an…
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