[richmond.com 5/1/18] SEATTLE (AP) — A landlord group has sued the city of Seattle over an ordinance passed in August that prohibits them from making rental decisions based on a tenant’s criminal background. The Rental Housing Association of Washington sued the city in King County Superior Court Tuesday. The complaint alleges the city has violated property owners’ due process and free speech rights. It says landowners have a right to select their tenants and the ordinance is unreasonable. The Seattle City Council unanimously approved the “fair chance housing” ordinance in…
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Sex Offender Laws Shame
[youtube.com 3/19/15 – Shame vs guilt] Shame is an unspoken epidemic, the secret behind many forms of broken behavior. Brené Brown is an American scholar, author, and public speaker, who is currently a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. Watch the video
Read MoreCO: Bill bans conflicts of interest on sex offender management board after Contact7 investigation
[thedenverchannel.com 5/1/18] DENVER — The Colorado House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to move forward with legislation that would ban members of the state’s sex offender management board from profiting from the treatment requirements they set. The sex offender management board, also known as the SOMB, sets the standards and procedures for supervision and treatment of convicted sex offenders in the state. Last year, Contact7 Investigates explored allegations of a conflict of interest within the board when it comes to polygraph testing mandated for offenders. Public records show the polygraph company…
Read MoreChild Sexual Abuse Prevention Isn’t a Soft Option
[medium.com 4/29/18 – alternatives to anti-registrant laws] Wouldn’t it be great if we could eliminate child sexual abuse (CSA) with a pill? But it’s a more complicated prospect than it seems. Who would you administer it to? Most child sex offenders are unknown to the police before they offend, and by then, it’s too late for their victims. So would you just administer this pill to everybody, to be on the safe side? And if you did, what if it had side effects? Thinking that we can eliminate CSA with…
Read MoreIreland: Proposal to restrict sex offenders from travelling abroad
[rte.ie 5/2/18] Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan has proposed legislation to restrict sex offenders from travelling abroad. Launching the Sex Offender’s Amendment Bill during Private Member’s time in the Dáil, she said the aim was to protect children who are easy prey in countries where the authorities cannot or will not protect them. Conservative estimates put the number of children trafficked at four and a half million, she told the Dáil this evening. She also said the increase in global travel had created more opportunities for abuse. Deputy O’Sullivan also raised…
Read MoreIL: ‘I’m Scared, Very Scared’: Mass Murderer Moves Into Home Near La Grange Elementary School
[UPDATED LINKS 5/2/18] [nbcchicago.com 4/30/18] Parents tell NBC 5 they’re shocked a mass murderer recently released from prison moved in right across the street from a suburban elementary school. _______, 77, just got out of prison after serving time for killing five people in a Yorkville restaurant in 1972. Neighbors say he’s living in a La Grange home with a family who took him in as part of an outreach program with their Hinsdale church. The home is across the street from Seventh Avenue School. … “How could a sex…
Read MoreCA: Can You Fire Someone For Being A Sex Offender?
[jdsupra.com 4/30/18] It happens more often than you think. An employee in good standing is “outed” as being listed on a sex offender registry. His/her coworkers are up in arms. Now what? Can he/she be fired? Given California’s relatively new “ban the box” law, employers are limited in how they can use criminal history in employment decisions. For current employees, once a conviction is uncovered, you can’t automatically fire someone for it. Rather, employers must make an individualized assessment to determine if the conviction has a direct and adverse relationship…
Read MoreCutting federal prison terms would endanger communities and reward criminals
[foxnews.com 4/27/18] Bills labeled “criminal justice reform” have circulated in Congress for the past three years, but while they are well-meaning, they would do far more harm than good. This includes a measure sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, titled the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act. The Grassley legislation would make our communities less safe by returning still more convicted criminals from federal prisons to the streets sooner. In addition, the Grassley bill would tie up hundreds of federal prosecutors, who would be forced to deal with sentencing reduction motions…
Read MoreBreaking down the Michigan bills+ Breaking down the Michigan bills intended to stop the next Larry Nassar
[bridgemi.com 4/24/18] It’s been three months since Larry Nassar was sent to spend the rest of his life in prison for criminal sexual conduct, after more than 200 women and girls said he sexually abused them. Now, representatives in Michigan’s state House are considering bills they hope will prevent other predators from following in his footsteps. There are more than 30 bills total, which range from more rigorous medical practice requirements to extending the statute of limitations on criminal sexual conduct prosecutions and lawsuits. Most have bipartisan sponsorship. Read more…
Read MoreNY: A Jury Rejected the Charges, but He Still Has to Register As a Sex Offender for Life
[reason.com 4/30/18] New York’s highest court says accusations can be considered for registration purposes even when the defendant was acquitted. In New York a defendant can be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life based on accusations a jury rejected. So the state’s highest court ruled last week in a case that illustrates how fear and loathing of sex offenders lead to results that would be recognized as unjust and illogical in any other context. __________’s 13-year-old niece, identified in court documents as A.B.,…
Read MoreAction Alert for CA: Write AB 2839 letters now and show up on May 9
As our article on California Assembly Bill 2839 described (you can refresh your knowledge by clicking this link), this bill would disenfranchise hundreds of men who are otherwise eligible to vote and have been designated sexually violent predators at Coalinga State Hospital. Please fax a letter to Assembly Elections Committee Chair Marc Berman at 916-319-2194 as soon as you can and before May 9. Please use this as a model, but do not copy it word for word. Also, be sure to include your name and address: Senator Marc Berman,…
Read MoreInstagram now bans registered sex offenders
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/30/18] On April 19, 2018, Facebook owned Instagram, revised it’s Terms of Use. The new version replaces the prior version, which had been in place since 2013, can be found here: http://help.instagram.com/581066165581870?helpref=page_content Sadly, included in this months change is a ban on anyone registered as a sex offender. The restriction did not appear in the prior version. Read more
Read MoreIN: Indiana Supreme Court suggests declaratory judgment a better avenue to challenge collateral consequences
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/30/18] Although the Indiana Supreme Court ruled against a registered sex offender father trying to attend his son’s school events, they did give him some guidance on how to go about his challenge. Douglas Kirby plead guilty to child solicitation eight years ago and was sentenced to eighteen months probation. While he was on probation (and until 2015) he was permitted to come on campus to see his son’s school activities. That was until Indiana passed a law in 2015 making it a felony for him to ” knowingly…
Read MoreCanada: Support group helps sex offenders in Saskatoon
[globalnews.ca 4/28/18] Much like there are support groups for alcoholics or drug abusers, one in Saskatoon is helping sex offenders. Meaghan Craig looks at its importance. As first reported by Global News, convicted sex offender ______ now has a new alias. In the last two months, the soon-to-be 30-year-old has taken the steps to legally change his name to ______ and mask his true identity to members of the public. This on the heels of long-term offender ______ arrest in late April, who was going by the name ______ ,…
Read MoreIndia Sex Offenders’ Registry Not the Answer
[hrw.org 4/27/18] Reeling from protests across the country demanding justice for victims in the recent spate of sexual assaults, Indian authorities are under pressure to respond. One step the government has decided to adopt is a sex offenders’ database, which will store the profile and personal details of convicted offenders and those accused of such offenses. Children accused of such crimes may also be included in the database. For several years, some senior government ministers have been calling for mandatory registration of sex offenders. It reflects public concern that children…
Read MoreFL: Video Shows City Workers Destroying Property of Homeless Miamians
[miaminewtimes.com 4/25/18] The morning of April 17, Wilbur Cauley left all of his belongings in their usual place: stacked by a fence under the I-395 overpass at NW First Court and 13th Street. It was in the middle of a four-block area where about 30 homeless Miamians live. That morning, Cauley, an Army veteran in his late 50s who served three years in Germany, went to a nearby store for a soda. When he returned, he says, a man in a dark-green shirt was kicking bags that contained Cauley’s birth…
Read MorePassport revoked
[narsol.org 4/27/18] By Scott . . . I’m on the board of Illinois Voices for Reform and have been actively involved with the organization since 2012. I am on the registry for life as currently required by Illinois law due to an incident involving a minor back in 2008. I served two years of probation and successfully completed sex offender counseling in 2012. My wife and I love to travel, and we were fortunate to be able to travel to Europe for a week at the end of March. I…
Read MoreFederal SORN Policies
[sexlawandpolicy.org] There are few people as uniformly despised as people with sex offense convictions. It’s not hard to understand when you’re inundated with overblown reports concluding that all people on the registry are sexually recidivistic, incurable, and predatory. Overcome by outrage and fear we support any measures to protect against victimization, even if the proposed legislation is a sweeping and draconian measure. The last twenty-five years is a lasting testament to our panicked response to media hysterics and hyperbole, especially at the federal level. During this time, a number of…
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