[SFGate] SACRAMENTO — With five days remaining in the legislative session, a San Francisco lawmaker revived a bill that would end lifetime registration for most sex offenders after the original bill stalled in a committee. Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB421 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee without a public vote two weeks ago after it passed four committees and the Senate. On Thursday, Wiener used a maneuver known as gut-and-amend to bring it back. Gut-and-amend is a long-used process loathed by some good government groups in which the…
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What You Think You Know About Sex Offenders Is Wrong, Attorney Says
[westworld.com] As writer Alan Prendergast reported, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch has ruled that Colorado’s sex-offender registry violates the due-process rights of three plaintiffs, thereby amounting to cruel and unusual punishment. Boulder attorney Alison Ruttenberg, who filed the case in 2013, sees the opinion as the potential death knell for a law enforcement tool that, in her view, perpetuates factually dubious notions that fall apart when examined in an evenhanded way. “Everybody always jumps to the conclusion that all sex offenders are like the type of sex offender that’s…
Read MorePA: Montco senator’s bill would remove sex offender registration requirement for custody crimes
[Bucks County Courier Times – Pennsylvania] After ____ ____ stole an SUV that was left idling in the parking lot of a Bristol Township convenience store, he quickly learned an 11-year-old passenger was in the backseat. Once the boy made his presence known, ____ pulled over and let him out before driving away, according to court records in the 2009 crime. The boy wasn’t hurt. ____ was arrested and later pleaded guilty in Bucks County Court to charges including theft, receiving stolen property and interference with custody of children. The…
Read MoreCO: District Attorney Stan Garnett against Boulder limiting housing options for sexual predators
[Daily Camera Boulder News] On Tuesday night, the Boulder City Council will discuss whether it wants to draft a new policy limiting where in the city people deemed “sexually violent predators” can live. Ahead of the meeting, District Attorney Stan Garnett urged council members to resist such a policy. “When (a sexual predator) does get placed in the community, we want to know where they are, and if you pass ordinances that try to limit where people can live in the city, that may complicate the efforts of police and…
Read MoreSex offender compliance operation results in 32 arrests in Sacramento County
[Sacramento Bee] A three-day operation by law enforcement agencies in Sacramento County to make sure convicted sex offenders are complying with sex offender registration requirements resulted in 32 arrests. The operation, which began Aug. 21, was carried out by the multi-agency Sacramento Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team in conjunction with the Sacramento County Probation Department, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Parole Team, California Office of Correctional Safety, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Problem Oriented Policing Teams, the U.S. Marshals Service and the Rancho Cordova and Sacramento police departments. Read more
Read MoreCampaign to recall judge in Brock Turner sex assault case can resume
[San Jose Mercury News] In a victory for the campaign to oust Judge Aaron Persky, a retired San Francisco judge Monday ruled that proponents could immediately resume collecting signatures on petitions aimed at putting the recall on the June ballot. Retired San Francisco Judge Kay Tsenin is expected to make a final ruling Thursday in favor of the recall campaign on the underlying legal issues. But after recall advocates Monday burst into applause at the end of the hearing in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Tsenin made it clear that…
Read MoreCA Action Alert: Make Calls! Appropriations Committee to Consider SB 421 on Sept 1
The Assembly Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the Tiered Registry Bill (SB 421) on Friday, September 1. The Committee will review dozens of that bills that day and determine which bills to release from the Suspense File. Bills not released from the Suspense File will no longer be viable. Bills released from the Suspense File will sent to the Assembly floor for consideration during the period September 5 through September 15. “The Tiered Registry Bill faces an important hurdle on September 1,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “It…
Read MoreTeen arrested on porn charges in Burrillville HS Dropbox case as explicit photos go global
[The Providence Journal] BURRILLVILLE, R.I. — The teenage girls may have believed that their intimate photos would stay private. However, more than 40 girls at Burrillville High School have learned the hard way that there is no privacy on the internet, after their “sexually explicit” photos and videos ended up in an online “Dropbox” site — which police say was controlled by a local 16-year-old boy and shared with his friends. Dropbox is a free online storage service that allows users to share and store files such as photos, documents…
Read MoreFalsely Accused of Rape, Former High School Football Star Finally Cleared [video]
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) — After a decade, it was the judgment that Brian Banks and his lawyers from the California Innocence Project fought for: Case dismissed. Watch the video
Read MoreFalsely accused of satanic horrors, a couple spent 21 years in prison. Now they’re owed millions.
[Washington Post] Long before the age of the Internet and the fleeting spasms of mass hysteria that came with it (Remember Jade Helm? Pizzagate?), and going back to the late 20th century, when irrational fears moved slower and lasted longer, there was Satan. The “satanic panic,” some call it now. It began some time in the 1980s, when newscasters and fundamentalist Christian cartoons warned of the evils of the role-playing game “Dungeons & Dragons,” and stretched into the 1990s, when police and psychiatrists saw thousands of unfounded accusations of ritualistic…
Read MoreEx-cons should not be denied entrance into state bar associations
[The Hill, Washington D.C.] Another outstanding candidate was denied admission to the bar this past week because of an old criminal record. Reginald Dwayne Betts, an award-winning poet and memoirist and Yale Law School graduate who served time for a robbery conviction he incurred years ago as a juvenile, was denied admission to the bar of the State of Connecticut. The same week, the ACLU of Washington, along with 48 additional organizations, 34 attorneys, and 20 law school faculty members filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of Tarra Simmons,…
Read MoreAgency Recommends Disciplinary Action Against Platte County, Missouri, Prosecutor [article and radio recording]
[KCUR 89.3 Missouri] In a rare complaint against an elected prosecutor, the Missouri agency responsible for investigating allegations of lawyer wrongdoing has recommended that Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd be punished for professional misconduct. The matter now goes before a disciplinary hearing panel – two lawyers and one non-lawyer – which will hear evidence and recommend what discipline, if any, to impose. The Missouri Supreme Court is authorized to review the panel’s decision and impose punishment ranging from a public reprimand and suspension to disbarment. It’s highly unusual for…
Read MoreIt Could Be You Registered for a Sex Crime [Radio Interview Recording]
[Sex Law and Policy Center and KABF 88.3 FM Arkansas] The reality is that it’s incredibly easy to be registered for a sex crime. Lenore Skenazy of Free Range Kids discussed how your child is more likely to be victimized by the registry than by someone on the registry, at a recent conference. There is a load of truth to her claim, and it points to a much larger issue. These registries are punishment, and the lengths of punishment are only bound by the creativity of policymakers. In no way…
Read MoreCall To Action: Miami-Dade Homeless Encampment [Florida Action Committee]
[Florida Action Committee] After years of posting about the growing encampment of transient sex offenders in Miami-Dade County, it has taken some recent bad media exposure for the County to do something about it. And who do they appoint to spearhead the effort to relocate them? Ron Book! The same person who caused them to be homeless in the first place! Read more
Read MorePsychologist sues California prisons over anti-LGBT harassment
[Forensic Psychologist] Prisons are not known as bastions of healing energy. One of the challenges faced by prison clinicians in the violent and hypermasculine culture of prison is how to uphold their professional ethics when they witness abuse of prisoners by staff. Psychologists may feel internally conflicted, but they rarely file formal complaints that might jeopardize their careers or even their personal safety. So a lawsuit brought by a California psychologist against the Department of Corrections for alleged harassment of sexual minority prisoners is both rare and potentially groundbreaking. …
Read MoreUnder legal threat, Victorville to repeal sex offender residency rules
[Victorville Daily Press] With threat of a lawsuit hanging over its head, the city will repeal local residency restrictions for registered sex offenders and defer to existing state regulations. The move is not unexpected. Cities across California have been forced to bow to pressure from sex offender law reformists in recent years, while courts have simultaneously limited local regulatory authority. In December 2014, the City Council reluctantly agreed to align its local ordinance restricting the movements of registered sex offenders with the statewide regulations already in effect. That decision came…
Read MoreCA Action Alert: Support SB 421 – Call Assy Approp. Committee
The CA Assembly Appropriations Committee will be hearing the Tiered Registry bill—Senate Bill 421–on August 23. For many reasons, ACSOL is not planning on attending this hearing and we do not recommend you attend either. However, all registrants and supporters should call ALL the Assembly Appropriations Committee members at their Sacramento office. Here is a link to the members and their phone numbers: http://apro.assembly.ca.gov/membersstaff The deadline for calling is August 22, the day before the hearing. Tell the staff person that you know the Assembly Member will hear the bill in…
Read MoreTaping began today! A Women Against Registry and Metamora Films Project
www.womenagainstregistry.org A message from the Women Against Registry (WAR) National Directors: W.A.R. is Becoming a Major Player For those of you who might not be aware, Women Against Registry is taking part in the 4th International Conference on Hate Studies in October, 2017. The conference, sponsored by Gonzaga University, will be held on the school’s campus in Spokane, WA. WAR’s participation, following on the heels of our own successful conference, signals an increase in our visibility and our influence within the community. This exposure will ultimately further our ability…
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