[rootandrebound.org – press release] [Note: AB 2138 will not benefit those convicted of a sex offense] Sacramento, CA—This past weekend, Governor Edmund “Jerry” Brown signed AB 2138, authored by Assemblymembers David Chiu and Evan Low, to remove barriers for occupational licensing for close to 8 million Californians living with criminal records. AB 2138 was supported by a coalition of 50+ organizations, including East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), Root & Rebound, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC), All of Us or None, Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Alameda County Public Defender, PolicyLink,…
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FL: Banished
[themarshallproject.org – 10/3/18] The sun has barely risen over Miami, and Dale Brown loads an orange shopping cart with everything he owns. Through the morning’s swampy heat, he pushes the cart to the edge of the railroad tracks, where he hauls the items one at a time into some overgrowth and covers them with branches. His tent from Wal-Mart, meticulously rolled and packed. A garbage bag with clothes and a blanket. He unscrews the lid to a plastic gallon jug and empties his urine into the brush. “You feel like…
Read MoreCA: When Handing Out Candy To Trick-or-Treaters Means Risking Arrest
[theappeal.org – 10/1/18] Lawyer [Janice M. Bellucci] seeks end to Halloween restrictions that target people convicted of sex offenses. Before the police apprehended Steve, he tried to kill himself by cutting his wrists, he told The Appeal. Then 20 years old, he had attempted to sexually assault a 12-year-old girl in California. “I couldn’t believe I had done that,” said Steve, whose name has been changed to protect his identity. “I felt I couldn’t live with myself.” He spent three years in prison, and after he was released, stayed in…
Read MoreACSOL Meeting October 13 in West Sacramento
Please mark your calendars for ACSOL’s upcoming meeting: Saturday, October 13 10 a.m. 1275 Starboard Drive West Sacramento, CA 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 MoreTwo California Cities Repeal Halloween Restrictions
The Cities of Lancaster and Temecula this week repealed restrictions which prohibited all registrants living in those cities from fully participating in Halloween celebrations. The repeals took place after letters were sent to a total of five cities warning that the restrictions were preempted by state law. The letters also warned cities that fail to repeal the Halloween restrictions could be sued in court.. “We congratulate Lancaster and Temecula for taking the necessary steps to repeal their unlawful ordinances,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “And we are preparing to…
Read MorePA: Inmates in Pennsylvania launch boycott of prison profiteers
[workers.org – 9/27/18] “I am going to boycott the third-party correspondence system,” Bryant Arroyo, an activist and organizer currently detained at SCI Frackville in central Pennsylvania, told this WW reporter during an extended Sept. 23 interview. Arroyo urges all prisoners to immediately cease sending and accepting mail in response to the draconian new prison policies of current Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. Eliminating the right of prisoners to send and receive correspondence via postal service is the most controversial aspect of a sweeping crackdown imposed in September by the Pennsylvania Department…
Read MoreNY: People are using a new app to report sex assault anonymously
[nypost.com – 9/21/18] In the wake of #MeToo, more than 1,000 people have downloaded an app aimed at rooting out repeat sex offenders by allowing victims and witnesses to report the crimes anonymously and join forces against the sickos. Called JDoe, the free app launched on the Apple and Android app store in April. It works by prompting users to report when and where an incident took place, along with the name of the perpetrator and any details of the crime. The information is then stored in an encrypted database.…
Read MoreIndia gets a sex offenders registry. What’s that?
[indiatoday.in – 9/13/21] India’s new National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO), a resource only law enforcement authorities can access, has 4.4 lakh entries. Who’s in it? The government said Thursday, the day of the launch, that it would “include offenders convicted under charges of rape, gang rape, POCSO and eve teasing”. POCSO stands for Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act. Each entry has the following information: Name, address, photograph and fingerprint details. A graphic tweeted by the Women and Child Development Ministry said it would also include DNA samples,…
Read MoreNY: Banished from New York City [audio]: The Legality, Policy Considerations, and Practical Implications of the Housing Restrictions Faced by People on the Sex Offender Registry
[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…
Read MoreFL: 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…
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