[nycbar.org – 9/11/18] In New York City, there are hundreds of men and women on the sex offender registry who are subject to the Sexual Assault Reform Act (SARA) residency restriction, which prevents them from living within 1,000 feet of a school. This little-known restriction has created enormous constitutional problems. Because our densely-populated city contains virtually no residences that comply with this restriction, prisons are holding these people past the length of their prison sentences if there is no SARA-compliant housing available – a time period that usually extends longer…
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FL: What Would Dr. King Do? The Case Against Amendment 4 on Felon Voting Rights
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 9/21/18] Florida leads the nation with over 1 million citizens disenfranchised and unable to vote due to felony convictions. The path to having their voting rights restored is long and difficult, and has been found unconstitutional by a federal judge. This November, Floridians who are able to vote will determine whether convicted felons who have completed their sentences, including parole or probation, will automatically have their voting rights restored. With two glaring exceptions: those convicted of murder or a sex offense. The problem with Amendment 4 is that…
Read MoreCASOMB Discloses Current Registrant Statistics
The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) disclosed several registrant statistics during its monthly board meeting on September 20. The statistics were presented by representatives from several state agencies. According to the California Department of Justice, there are currently a total of 106,627 people required to register as sex offenders. Of that total, there are 77,666 people who live “in the community”, that is, not in jail, prison or a state hospital. The total also includes 6,652 people who are homeless (also referred to as transients) of which about 1,500…
Read MoreAR: 15,800 names on Arkansas sex-offender rolls; state’s count second-highest in U.S.
[arkansasonline.com – 9/16/118] Arkansas has about 15,800 registered sex offenders — 526 offenders for every 100,000 residents — the second-highest total in the country based on population, recent national research shows. The manager of the state’s sex-offender registry says the numbers are misleading. “It’s not like we have 16,000 sex offenders roaming loose around Arkansas,” said Paula Stitz. “It’s more like 9,000.” … there are 16,049 people registered in Arkansas’ sex-offender database, Stitz said. Of those, more than 3,100 are incarcerated, about 3,400 are now outside the state, and…
Read MoreKY: Court to consider if sex offender can be alone with own kids
[apnews.com – 9/20/18] FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether a convicted sex offender can spend time alone with his own children. The Courier Journal reports that 33-year-old _____ pleaded guilty to third-degree sodomy of a juvenile male relative in 2007. In 2015, the state learned that _____ was married with two children, who are now 3 and 6. The state won an order from a family court judge barring _____ from being alone with his kids, but a Court of Appeals unanimously…
Read MoreCA: Free L.A. concert by #TimeDone Campaign
[timedone.org] The Road to Redemption in California is part of a national effort, called #TimeDone, to raise awareness of how many people are affected by the barriers associated with convictions and the extent to which they undermine, economic security, family stability, and public safety. Today, an estimated 70 million people in the U.S. are living with a current or old criminal conviction. This means that long after they’ve successfully completed their sentence, nearly 1 in 5 people continue to face restrictions on jobs, housing, education and other supports that are key…
Read MoreGA: The Jolt: On Stacey Abrams’ ‘08 vote against banishment of sex offenders
[politics.myajc.com – 9/11/18] On Monday, the Georgia GOP again plunged deeply into the legislative record of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, launching an ad that assailed her vote against a sex offender crackdown as “too extreme for Georgia.” The 30-second spot targets her opposition to a 2008 bill that reinstated a range of restrictions that limited offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of a broad range of places where children gather, including schools, churches, community swimming pools and bus stops. The Republican measure was pushed as a…
Read MoreACSOL Emotional Support Group Meeting in L.A. on Saturday, Sept 22
ACSOL will conduct an Emotional Support Group for registrants and their loved ones. They are usually held the fourth Saturday of each month, so this year they are planned for: Sep 22, Oct 27, Nov 24, Dec 22 The next meeting is Saturday, Sept 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. The meeting, which is based upon 12 Step principles, will provide registrants and their loved…
Read MoreFL: FAC Member Advised Passport Confiscated at Airport
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 9/14/18] A [Florida Action Committee] member just advised us that as he was about to board an international flight (which he properly reported under IML) he was approached by 3 US Marshalls who confiscated his passport and told him he had to get a new one with an identifier. He was not permitted to travel and he had received no prior notice that he had to update his passport. Read the original posting and the comments
Read MoreAZ: Conspiracy theories inspire vigilante justice in Tucson
[hcn.org – 9/12/18] How one man’s imagined discovery of a sex-trafficking camp in the Sonoran Desert gained life online — and in the real world. On May 31, a strange story aired on the nightly news in Tucson, Arizona. KOLD News 13 reporter Kevin Adger told viewers that a local veterans’ rights activist named Lewis Arthur had made a horrific discovery in the bushes beside a frontage road: a bunker used as a stopover by child sex traffickers. The reporter pointed out children’s clothes, an old toilet seat and a…
Read MoreBetsy DeVos is absolutely right about campus sexual assault rules
[theweek.com – 9/13/18] To push an issue, a leader usually needs to have integrity or street cred. Abraham Lincoln had the first when he led the country out of slavery. Richard Nixon, a security hawk, had the second when he made peace with China. President Donald Trump admittedly has neither when it comes to women’s issues. So his administration is hardly in any moral position to revamp the rules governing sexual assault on college campuses that President Barack Obama, a paragon of propriety, put in place. Yet Obama’s rules were…
Read MoreOR: Discovery of dog saves Oregon man from sex-crime conviction
[stltoday.com – 9/10/18] The discovery of a black Lab named Lucy led to the unravelling of a criminal case Monday against an Oregon man who had begun serving a 50-year prison sentence. Joshua Horner, a plumber from the central Oregon town of Redmond, was convicted on April 12, 2017, of sexual abuse of a minor. In the trial, the complainant testified Horner had threatened to shoot her animals if she went to the police about the alleged molestation, and said she saw him shoot and kill her dog to make…
Read MoreAcademic Study Reveals 30 States Require Visiting Registrants to Register; 22 States Don’t Remove Registrants After They Depart
Note: before you travel to another state, it is your responsibility to always read up on the latest registration regulations. Don’t depend on secondhand studies like this. Do your research so you don’t land in jail. Download Academic Study that Reveals 30 States Require Visiting Registrants to Register
Read MoreLaws Punishing Homeless People for Sleeping in Public Are Cruel and Unusual, Fed Court Rules
[nytimes.com – 9/5/18] Prosecuting homeless people for sleeping on the streets when there is no shelter available is a form of cruel and unusual punishment that violates the Constitution, a federal appeals court said this week. The case stems from two ordinances in Boise, Idaho, that make it a crime to sleep or camp in buildings, streets and other public places. Six homeless people who had been convicted under the laws sued the city in 2009, saying their constitutional rights had been violated. After years of legal wrangling, a three-judge…
Read MoreACSOL Meeting in Berkeley on Sat, Sept 15
Please mark your calendars for ACSOL’s upcoming meeting in Berkeley: Sept 15 10 a.m. Finnish Hall (upstairs meeting room) 1970 Chestnut Street Berkeley 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 up!
Read MorePA: Professor fired over child-sex conviction must be rehired by Pa. university, state court says
[pennlive.com – 8/31/18] Lock Haven University must reinstate a mathematics professor who was fired after his 28-year-old conviction for molesting two children was discovered, a Commonwealth Court panel ruled Friday. Prof. Charles Morgan can’t be allowed to teach high school students who are taking advanced placement classes at the school, however, the state judges found. That decision, outlined in an opinion by Senior Judge James Gardner Colins, upholds an arbitration ruling won on the prof’s behalf by the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, the professors’ union. University…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: You May Be Eligible to Vote (CA)
The mid-term election will take place in about two months. And it is important that your voice as well as the voices of all eligible registrants be heard in that important election. Many, although not all, registrants in the State of California are eligible to vote. For example, you are eligible to vote if you are currently in jail provided that you are serving a misdemeanor sentence or are awaiting trial. You are also eligible to vote if you are on federal supervised release, mandatory supervision or probation. Finally, you…
Read MoreND: North Dakota works to track registered sex offenders
[inforum.com – 9/2/18] Keeping track track of sex offenders in North Dakota requires technology and the teamwork of law enforcement and communities across the state. There are among nearly 1,900 sex offenders in the state, according to Liz Brocker, a spokeswoman for the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office. A website for the Attorney General’s Office tracks the locations of sex offenders in the state, based on their residence or place of employment. Staff with the office work extensively to keep the website up to date with extensive information on offenders,…
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