[twitter.com/davidminpdx/ – 6/8/18] While its tempting to say mass incarceration is shrinking (albeit slightly), it might be more accurate to say it is morphing. View the tweet and the graphic
Read MoreAuthor: R H
TN: Summertime and the Livin’ Ain’t Easy!
[womenagainstregistry.org – 6/6/18] Knoxville, Tennessee. The South. Home of plantation porches and sweet tea. Land of greenways, rivers, lakes, mountains, parks and bike trails. Summertime and there’s plenty of outdoor activities, fishing, hiking, biking, kayaking and swimming to name a few. Your city and county tax dollars are at work to help maintain all of these wonderful avenues of adventure and sport, but as a registrant, you are excluded from taking advantage of many of these activities. Your almighty tax dollars aren’t working for you at all. The city of…
Read MoreCA: Federal Court Denies State Hospital’s Motion to Dismiss
[ACSOL – 6/6/18] A U.S. district court today denied a Motion to Dismiss filed by Coalinga State Hospital. Because of the denial, a lawsuit filed on behalf of two patients at that hospital will continue. “Today’s decision is a significant victory for hundreds of registrants who are also patients at Coalinga State Hospital,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “The claims of the plaintiffs regarding retaliation for the exercise of their First Amendment rights are similar to claims that could have been made by many others.” In today’s decision, the…
Read MoreMI: Unexpected comments from a prosecutor
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 6/6/18] Ingham County (Michigan) Prosecutor Carol A. Siemon, issued a statement concerning the sentencing of former Michigan State football players in connection with a sexual offense. Below is an excerpt from her statement, quoted directly: The sex offender registry is a blunt instrument that I believe needs to be reformed and streamlined so that law enforcement can make better use of the information. It would be more effective as a law enforcement tool to keep the public safe if it targeted the cases that are most likely to…
Read MoreHow a phony cop gave this sex offender a new mission in life
[narsol.org – 6/6/18] By Michael M. . . . In late March of 2018, I received a phone call at ten-thirty PM on a Sunday night, purportedly from the County Sheriff’s Department. The caller informed me in an officious manner that they had a warrant for my arrest, issued by a local Superior Court Judge for failure to register as required by law. I replied rather matter-of-factly that I have, indeed, registered as required by law, and recited to him the time and date of said registration, as well as…
Read MoreCA: Judge Aaron Persky recalled over Brock Turner sentencing
[abc7news.com – 6/6/18] SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Voters have recalled Judge Aaron Persky from office after he sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault to a short jail sentence instead of prison. Persky sentenced Brock Turner in June 2016 to six months in jail instead of prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman outside a fraternity house. The recall campaign launched shortly afterward. The campaign gained national prominence after the victim’s powerful courtroom statement lamenting her treatment by the judicial system was circulated…
Read MoreNC: Sex offender accused of attending dance recital
[jdnews.com – 6/4/18] A convicted sex offender accused of attending a Northside High school dance recital was arrested over the weekend but has since bonded out of jail. __________, 44, of N. Carole Drive in Jacksonville was arrested Saturday by the Jacksonville Police Department and charged with felony sex offender on child premises. __________, , a convicted felon, is accused of attending a dance recital at Northside High School on Saturday, according to warrants. Beth Purcell, Jacksonville Police Department’s media liasion, wrote in an email to the Daily News that…
Read MoreShould the Movement to Oust Bad Prosecutors Go After Judges Next?
[slate.com – 6/1/18] Four public defenders think so, but critics worry they’re turning criminal justice reform into an assault on the judiciary. Major cities across the United States are getting swept up in a movement to replace tough-on-crime prosecutors with reform-minded outsiders. Last November, Larry Krasner, a former federal public defender turned civil rights lawyer, was elected district attorney in Philadelphia. He rapidly set about changing business as usual, refusing to prosecute low-level marijuana offenses and instructing his deputies to begin plea negotiations from the minimum rather than the maximum…
Read MoreIt’s a 21st century optical illusion
[twitter.com – 6/5/18] We think that this kind of announcement in a public newspaper makes us all safer when in fact, all it does is drive a person to reoffend by banishing them. Read the full tweet
Read MoreWhy a convicted child molester is likely to be chosen in the MLB draft
[sports.yahoo.com – 6/5/18] Sometime over the next 48 hours, a Major League Baseball team is almost certain to ask a convicted, admitted child molester to play in its organization. It’s likeliest to happen Tuesday, during Rounds 3 through 10 of the MLB draft, or perhaps Wednesday, over the draft’s final 30 rounds. And on the off-chance that the handful of teams with Luke Heimlich on their draft boards opt against selecting him, the chance that he goes unsigned is basically zero. For more than a year now, teams have grappled…
Read MoreOlder teens less likely to think sexting would get them in trouble
[journalistsresource.org – unknown publishing date] Older teens are less likely than younger kids to think they’d get in trouble for sexting, new research finds. The study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of Computers in Human Behavior, also indicates boys are less likely than girls to believe sexting can have serious consequences. For example, girls are more likely to say sexting would result in trouble at school or hurt their chances of getting a job. For the purposes of this study, the researchers describe sexting as “the digital recording…
Read MoreHow to receive updated rulings about the registries
[twitter.com – 6/4/18] You may receive updated rulings about the registries by logging in @ https://scholar.google.com & selecting “Case law”, then choose your state or federal courts. Hope this helps someone who didn’t know before! Read the original tweet
Read MoreThe Holocaust of Sex Offenders
[dsdaughtry.wordpress.com – 6/3/18] A lesson from World War II is to look beyond irrational laws created by the Nazis but focus on the way those laws were quietly reinforced by citizens without challenge or question. Initially, it was the German people and other nations that played a pivotal part of extermination of Jewish populations along with homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or anyone indifferent to the political ideology of the Nazis or its particular allies. After the war, nations took an oath never to allow people to become labeled, marked, branded, or…
Read MoreMA: Victims’ advocate wants psychologists charged if sex offenders repeat
[bostonherald.com 6/3/18] A leading victims advocate wants state-appointed psychologists who declare sex offenders can be released from prison held accountable if the predators strike again. Jennifer Lane, president of Community Voices, said charges should be brought against the examiners in some cases. “I’m so sick and tired of this,” Lane told the Herald. “There are more people defending sex offenders than the victims.” Pedophiles and rapists don’t age out of their horrific habits, she said. “It’s a mental issue.” Her comments come as the Supreme Judicial Court is “taking under…
Read MoreBeyond The Carceral Logic of Civil Commitment
[thenextsystem.org – 11/10/17] A key component of the current system is its reliance on imprisonment as a response to behaviors and populations which are understood as sources of actual or potential harm. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, this carceral response seems to multiply and perpetuate harm rather than reducing it. As we envision a path towards a next system in which communities are able to flourish instead of being torn apart, it is imperative to tackle the question of harm, and dismantle the instincts that lead us too often to reinforce its…
Read MoreMI: How occupational licensing laws harm public safety and the formerly incarcerated
[www.rstreet.org – 5/31/18] Key Points 1) Many occupational licensing laws condition employment on “good moral character,” but how exactly one demonstrates “good moral character” is entirely undefined. 2) Vague language affords boards extensive latitude in denying otherwise qualified people for reasons that may be entirely unrelated to the responsibilities of the job. 3) Not only do these practices fail to increase public safety, recent research has shown that they may make communities less safe by increasing the odds that a person will return to a life of crime. Read more…
Read MoreRecidivism (Re-Offense) Rates for Registered Sex Offenders
[restoringintegritytovirginiaregistry.blogspot.com – no publishing date] National U.S. Recidivism (Re-Offense) Rates for Criminal Offenses, 3 years After Release 1. Vehicle Thefts, 78.8%* 2. Selling stolen property, 77.4%* 3. Burglary, 74%* 4. Larceny, 74.6%* 5. Possessing stolen weapons, 70.2%* 6. Robbery, 70.2%* 7. Domestic Battery, 41%** 8. Drugs, 27%* 9. Rape 2.5%* / Sexual Assault or Rape 5.3%** 10. Murder 1.2%* Read more statistics
Read MoreNew Civil Liberties Alliance to Supreme Court: “Don’t let the Attorney General write criminal laws”
[news-journal.com – 6/1/18] The Constitution vests all legislative powers in Congress, and thus bars Congress from splitting its authority with an unelected executive official. Nonetheless, when Congress in 2006 wrote the rules for registration of sex offenders in the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), it gave a blank sheet, with no guidelines, to the Attorney General to create registration rules for past offenders. This executive lawmaking is being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court in Gundy v. United States. Although the particular case concerns registration rules for sex…
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