[UPDATED links 2/18/18] [nebfacts.blogspot.com] The Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week on another bill worth watching. While not focusing exclusively on registered citizens, LB964 does use the fear of the “dangerous sex offender” as a selling point. Mental health professionals would have the same authority as law enforcement to place people in emergency protective custody under a bill heard by the Judiciary Committee Feb. 14. LB964, introduced by Omaha Sen. Mike McDonnell, a mental health professional could take a mentally ill and dangerous person or a dangerous sex offender…
Read MoreAuthor: R H
FL: More Than Half the Registered Sex Offenders in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida are Homeless
[floridaactioncommittee.org] The City of Ft. Lauderdale’s ordinance has caused more than half of the registered sex offenders in the city to be homeless. The City ordinance, which banishes sex offenders from; “within one thousand four hundred (1,400) feet of any of the following:(1) Any school where the majority of the population attending are students less than sixteen (16) years of age; (2) Designated public school bus stop; (3) Child day care facility as defined in the city’s Unified Land Development Regulations where the majority of the population attending are students…
Read MoreCA: Changes Are Coming to California Sex Offender Registry
[independent.com] Fifty-four sex offenders live within two miles of the Santa Barbara Independent’s Figueroa Street offices. Their mugshots, height, weight, ethnicity, eye color, home addresses, criminal charges, and date they were released from jail are listed on the Megan’s Law website. That is about to change. California lawmakers voted last year to reduce the length of time required for sex-offender registration. This means a sizeable number of Santa Barbara County registrants will no longer be tracked or publicly identified. “It’s like putting a GPS on every shark in the ocean…
Read MoreThe Evolution of Unconstitutionality in Sex Offender Registration Laws by Catherine L. Carpenter [paper]
[papers.ssrn.com] Abstract More is not always better. Consider sex offender registration laws. Initially anchored by rational basis, registration schemes have spiraled out of control because legislators, eager to please a fearful public, have been given unfettered freedom by a deferential judiciary. This particular article does not challenge the state’s legislative power to enact sex offender registration laws. Instead, this piece posits that, even if sex offender registration schemes were initially constitutional, serially amended sex offender registration schemes – what this piece dubs super-registration schemes – are not. Their emergence over…
Read MoreReason and the Soho Forum Want to Know, Do We Abolish the Registry?
[UPDATED links 2/21/18] [sexlawandpolicy.org] Dr. Emily Horowitz, noted sex offense policy researcher, and Marci Hamilton, child safety advocate, went toe-to-toe in an engaging debate Monday night, which may be a first of its kind on the need for sex offender registries. On the resolution for whether the laws requiring those convicted of sex offenses to put their names in a registry should be abolished, Dr. Emily Horowitz argued the affirmative and Ms. Marci Hamilton the negative. Even though Dr. Horowitz crafted a well-reasoned argument against the use of sex offender…
Read MorePA: Sex offender resigns as fire chief in Pennsylvania town
[startribune.com] SPARTANSBURG, Pa. — A registered sex offender who was recently re-elected as chief of a Pennsylvania town’s volunteer fire department has resigned. The (Corry) Journal reports that Roger Gilbert Jr. quit the Spartansburg department Sunday, a day after the newspaper reported on his criminal background. Gilbert tells the Journal that he will “no longer be affiliated with any organization that helps anyone.” He was in his second stint as chief after being elected by fellow firefighters. Read more
Read MoreN. Ireland: Self-styled ‘paedophile hunters’ revealed
[bbc.com – UPDATED LINKS 2/15/18] Some of the leaders of self-styled paedophile-hunting groups operating in Northern Ireland have been identified for the first time. There are increasing concerns about the methods many of the groups use, and their lack of accountability. The so-called paedophile-hunting groups target people online who they believe are sexual predators. They confront them and broadcast the encounter live on the internet, then call the police. There have been more than 100 incidents of that nature reported to police in Northern Ireland, but no-one has been charged…
Read MoreID: Scams Targeting Registered Sex Offenders
[kpvi.com] The Idaho Central Sex Offender Registry, administered by the Idaho State Police, has been made aware of several attempted scams targeting registered sex offenders in at least one Idaho county and six Florida counties. One scam involves a caller posing as a law enforcement officer who tells the sex offender that they have missing or out-of-date registration information. The caller then threatens that, in order to avoid arrest for failure to register, the registrant must bring a gift/money card to a specified location (other than the registration office). Read…
Read MoreFL: Maxwell: Sun Sentinel Editorial: Gov. Rick Scott has no credibility on rights restoration
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Gov. Rick Scott claims that he, not a federal judge, should determine how Florida restores the civil rights of ex-felons. Seriously? That would be like having Bill Belichick design the Dolphins’ game plans against the Patriots. Watch the video: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/opinion/95047063-132.html Scott made this absurd argument Monday in response to the Feb. 1 ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker that Florida’s Jim Crow-era system for how ex-felons can regain their rights is arbitrary and thus unconstitutional. A Scott spokesman said authority for clemency rests with “officials elected by Floridians,…
Read MoreAustralia: Victoria gathers momentum on radical new sex offender plan
[news.com.au] IF A convicted sex offender moved in next door, wouldn’t you want to know? “Of course you would,” says Sonya Ryan, a grieving mum who knows all too well what a predator can do. Ms Ryan, whose daughter Carly was murdered by Gary Newman in 2006, is 100 per cent in favour of a new push in Victoria that would give everyday Australians access to a database of the worst of the worst. “It’s long overdue,” Ms Ryan told news.com.au. “When an adult preys on a child, I truly…
Read MoreVA: It’s Time to Reduce, Reconstruct, Reclassify, Rethink and Reform the Virginia Sex Offender Registry
[restoringintegritytovirginiaregistry.blogspot.com] Action Item for EVRYONE! A Virginia Court of Appeals Ruling was Based on One Word in Virginia Code § 9.1-903. that Virginia Has Never Implemented, So the Ruling is Incorrect. Almost a week and a half ago the Court of Appeals of Virginia made a ruling that a Virginia Sex Offender Registry mandate/requirement is NOT punitive. I only learned of this ruling yesterday when I found an article on VA Lawyers Weekly that I was unable to read because I don’t have a subscription. Sex offender registry law not…
Read MorePA: Registered Sex Offender Elected As Fire Chief In Pa. Town, Mayor Defends Decision
[pittsburgh.cbslocal.com] SPARTANSBURG, Pa. (AP) – The mayor of a small Pennsylvania town is standing by its volunteer fire company’s re-election of a registered sex offender as its fire chief. Chief Roger Gilbert Jr. was convicted in 2001 of sexual intercourse with a 4-year-old girl and is listed in the state’s Megan’s Law database, The (Corry) Journal reported Saturday . Court records show Gilbert is a felon who completed a five- to 10-year sentence for “involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.” Mayor Ann Louise Wagner says she and firefighters have been aware that…
Read MoreCA: Sacramento Judge Rules Some of CDCR’s Prop. 57 Regulations Are Void
CA Proposition 57 tentative Ruling – 8 Feb 2018 (PDF) [ACSOL] A Superior Court Judge in Sacramento has ruled that provisions in emergency regulations issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) regarding registrants are void and therefore cannot be enforced. The regulation provisions at issue deny anyone convicted of a sex offense eligibility for parole consideration under Proposition 57. The judge’s preliminary decision was issued in a tentative ruling dated February 8, 2018, and was the subject of a hearing conducted in Sacramento Superior Court this morning.…
Read MoreIs It Better To Do Something versus Nothing? [Podcast]
[registrymatters.co] Episode 10 Is it better to do something versus nothing? Can you do more harm than good by a poorly thought out action than by sitting on the sidelines? That is the topic we’ll be covering tonight. Larry and Andy are discussing if there is some level of harm that can be done by taking action prematurely rather than waiting. An example of this is filing a challenge before there is sufficient evidence to support it. Waiting might produce other challenges that would bolster the case significantly. Additionally, a…
Read MoreNY: “All Sex Offender Registries Should Be Abolished”: Reason/Soho Forum Debate
[narsol.org] That’s the highly controversial resolution that will be argued at the next Soho Forum/Reason debate, on Monday, February 12 at New York’s Subculture Theater from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Emily Horowitz will argue the affirmative position. She is professor and chair of the sociology and criminal justice department at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York, where she founded a program that helps the formerly incarcerated complete college. Marci A. Hamilton will take the negative. She is Fox Professor of Practice and Fox Family Pavilion Resident Senior Fellow in…
Read MoreVA: New bill could allow prosecutors to hold more “sexting” minors accountable
[wset.com] BEDFORD Co., Va. (WSET) – A local prosecutor says a proposed bill that charges teens who willfully send illicit images to one another, with a misdemeanor instead of a felony, could allow them to charge more people. This bill already passed the Virginia Senate. Commonwealth’s Attorney Wes Nance spoke on behalf of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth Attorney’s in favor of this bill before the courts subcommittee. Nance said the juvenile courts system allows for rehabilitation instead of incarceration. “No prosecutor when an individual is a juvenile necessarily wants…
Read MoreIn Denmark, Viral Video Sparks Wave Of Child Pornography Prosecutions
[npr.org] A video that went viral in Denmark three years ago is now the basis for a wave of prosecutions. More than 1,000 young people, many of them teenagers at the time, are now charged with the distribution of child pornography. Sidsel Overgaard reports from Billund, Denmark. SIDSEL OVERGAARD, BYLINE: The video shows two 15-year-olds engaged in sexual activity at a party in 2015. The two boys who filmed it were prosecuted several years ago, but now, 1,004 young people who shared it on Facebook Messenger face charges that could…
Read MorePA: Senate positions Megan’s Law fix for vote
[altoonamirror.com] HARRISBURG — A bill seeking to deliver a legislative fix to Megan’s Law for sexual assault offenders was positioned for a Senate floor vote after a key senator gave a green light Monday. Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, repeated his strong objections to the House-passed legislation, House Bill 1952, at the start of a two-hour hearing Monday morning on the Judiciary Committee, which Greenleaf chairs. Following the hearing, Greenleaf voted with colleagues to approve the bill, which addresses concerns the Pennsylvania Supreme Court raised about Pennsylvania’s sex offender registry. The…
Read More