SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Hundreds of thousands of Californians remain in the dark as another round of planned power outages hit California. Parts of 29 counties and nearly 600,000 customers are affected. And now the shutoffs are raising new concerns that violent offenders could take advantage of the outages. Victims rights groups say the fear is real. They want to make sure offenders using tracking devices are being monitored. Full Article
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GA: Federal Judge Stops Halloween Signs
A federal district court judge today granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that prohibits law enforcement in Butts County, Georgia from posting signs in the front yards of registrants’ homes on Halloween. In his ruling, the judge stated that requiring registrants to allow the signs to remain in their front yards violated their First Amendment rights. Also in his ruling, the judge explained that a state law that requires law enforcement to identify registrants “does not require or authorize sheriffs to post signs in front of sex offenders’ homes, nor…
Read MoreArmy sex offender argues that prison’s ban on contact with his children violated rights
A soldier convicted of a sex crime involving a child will argue in the military’s top court next week that a prison policy preventing him from contact with his own children violated his rights and unduly punished him. Full Article
Read MoreLA: Teen beat up a stranger he recognized as a sex offender, now faces hate crime count, NOPD says
A 17-year-old boy who realized he was at the same convenience store as a man whose picture had appeared on a mailed sex-offender notice followed the man away from the shop and beat him up, New Orleans police said this week. Now, besides facing a count of misdemeanor battery, Tyrin Calloway stands accused of a hate crime, apparently on the theory that he targeted his alleged victim, a stranger, for being a registered sex offender, according to Criminal District Court records. Full Article
Read MoreCT: Don’t Miss Another Opportunity To Fix Sex Offender Registry
Last session, the state Legislature missed an opportunity to make major changes in Connecticut’s sex offender registry by failing to pass Senate Bill 1113 as proposed by the state Sentencing Commission. The Sentencing Commission was required by the Legislature to examine Connecticut’s sex offender registry and propose changes to the Legislature by 2018. Full Commentary
Read MoreLA: Court sidesteps issue on juvenile sex offenders
Louisiana’s Supreme Court has sidestepped, for now, the question of whether juveniles convicted of sex crimes can be required to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. The case involved a man convicted of having molested his younger sister when he was 14 years old. He was ordered held in juvenile custody until age 21. After his release, he sought relief from the sex registration requirement. The high court on Tuesday ruled that because he was no longer in custody, he was ineligible to file for post-conviction…
Read MorePA: Internet dissemination provision of SORNA II violates the federal prohibition against ex post facto laws
Summary from FAC: A Pennsylvania Appeals Court has found that the dissemination of persons who have been convicted of sexual offenses’ information on the internet (Megan’s Law) violates the ex post facto clause of the Constitution for individuals whose offenses pre-date the ordinance. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court had a prior landmark decision (Commonwealth v. Muniz, 164 A.3d 1189 (Pa.2017)) finding similarly, so this new opinion will not likely be groundbreaking, but it will show that the prior findings are being upheld and people in Pennsylvania DO have relief from the public…
Read MoreHalloween and the Sex Offender Myth: Part I (Updated with Part II)
Part II (October 23): https://baltimorepostexaminer.com/halloween-and-the-sex-offender-myth-part-ii/2019/10/23 Part I (October 19): I often wonder why we don’t dress our kids up as sex offenders. We dress them up as serial killers, witches, goblins, and other horrible monsters. We let our little girls dress up in fishnet stockings, short skirts, and heavy makeup. My own child wants to be a fallen angel. What is a fallen angel but a devil? At first, the sex offender comment makes me a big jerk, highly offensive, yet if one calms down and thinks about it, why…
Read MoreGA: Sex offenders sue Butts County Sheriff’s Office over ‘No Trick or Treat’ signs
When kids are out trick-or-treating, one of parents’ biggest worries is safety — but efforts by a Middle Georgia sheriff’s office to keep children safe are now at the center of a federal class action lawsuit. Full Article and Lawsuit Related GA: Palmer Sheriff Puts ‘No Trick-Or-Treat’ Signs in Yards of Sex Offenders
Read MoreA Q&A on Megan’s Law: Should it apply to child offenders?
Dr. Elizabeth J. Letourneau did the first study looking at the consequences of Megan’s Law on juveniles. She found that kids rarely commit a second offense, and that the people they are most likely to hurt are themselves. She spoke with Julie O’Connor of the Star-Ledger’s editorial board. Below is an edited transcript. Full ArticleFull Article
Read MoreOR: Our View – Stop keeping Oregonians in the dark about sex offenders
Registered sex offenders in Oregon recently got a reminder that the state is keeping an eye on them. Law enforcement agencies conducted the latest in a series of checks on the whereabouts of high-risk offenders. It ended in 15 arrests in Lane County. Unfortunately, the operation also highlighted a serious flaw in the public reporting system that enables tens of thousands of moderate and low-risk offenders to remain in the shadows. Full Article (Free Registration may be required)
Read MoreKY: ‘It will also prevent this from happening again.’ Neighbors, including local prosecutor, sought park to displace sex offender
In a neighborhood of broad lawns and trees, residents wanted one of their neighbors to leave – and they seized on an unusual way to try and get the city’s help to force him out. The drama involved a local prosecutor, a sex offender, and a tiny sliver of land along Dixie Highway with a handful of benches and a doggy bag dispenser. In the spring, a registered sex offender moved in next door to Kyle Burns, who also happened to be an assistant Commonwealth attorney for Campbell County. Burns had an…
Read MoreUK: Manchester Teen Faces Sex Offender Status for Touching 17-Year-Old on the Arm, Waist
Last fall, in Manchester, England, an awkward 19-year-old male student touched a 17-year-old female classmate’s arm on the street during the daytime. He later said he had wanted to make a friend. This rattled the young woman so much that she went to the police. Now the young man is facing possible jail time and could be placed on the sex offense registry. Full Article Related https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/touching-teenage-girl-way-home-17061816?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
Read MoreMO: Sex Offender’s Art Sculpture Allegedly Attracts Children, Disrupts Neighborhood
An art sculpture in the front yard of a Kansas City home attracts a lot of children, which has the surrounding neighbors upset. Normally such art wouldn’t be a problem, though in this case, it’s in the yard of a registered sex offender. The sculpture is made of hanging bikes, and a majority of the bikes look like they’re for kids. The neighbors thought it was a piece of art until they found out the creator and man who lives there is a registered sex offender in Missouri. Full Article
Read MoreGA: NCSO to host 13th annual Halloween Shut-In for sex offenders
The Newton County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Community Supervision will host their 13th annual sex offender Halloween Shut-In from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31. Full Article
Read MoreNJ: Fights to Keep Tabs on Qualifying Sex Offenders
A lawyer for New Jersey arguing Monday before the state Supreme Court called it vital to public safety that certain sex offenders register as such for life. “Society has the right to know of their presence, not in order to punish them, but to protect itself,” Deputy Attorney General Emily Anderson said, defending a provision of a 1994 law named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka of Hamilton Township who was raped and murdered by a neighbor already twice convicted of sexual assault. Full Article
Read MoreUK: Sex offender – ‘I’ve never had so many deviant thoughts’
In 2017, the government’s flagship treatment scheme for people convicted in England and Wales of rape or child sexual abuse was scrapped after it was shown to raise the risk of reoffending. Two sex offenders have told BBC Radio 4’s File on 4 programme what it was like to take part in the rehabilitation programme. Full Article
Read MoreGetting Registered
He was a small man, a proud member of the Tohono Oʼodham Nation. He’d worked as a jockey in his youth, and though he had a hard life on the streets, he was still in amazing physical condition. He had run 60 miles through the Arizona desert to Nogales to visit cousins. He often worked as a truck stop lumper or hung around Home Depot hoping for day labor. A skilled roofer, he occasionally scored a job with a roofing company. The jobs never lasted long. With his record, truth…
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