The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday night agreed to repeal an ordinance that banned registered sex offenders from entering city parks without permission from law enforcement. The council’s unanimous vote comes after state appellate court rulings against similar ordinances adopted by the Irvine City Council and the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Costa Mesa is facing its own lawsuit, John Doe vs. City of Costa Mesa, filed in 2012. Full Article
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Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status after Conviction (Survey)
NACDL (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers) is in the midst of a major study that will lead to a report issued in 2014 on the countless ways in which a person’s rights, ability to work, and the like, are affected by a criminal conviction. As part of this effort, NACDL needs your help. If you are interested in sharing your story of lost rights and privileges resulting from a plea or guilty verdict, please complete survey. Before we would take your story public, someone on our staff will contact…
Read MoreSex Offender’s Case Won’t Face En Banc Rehearing
PASADENA, Calif. (CN) – The full 9th Circuit should have been called to consider whether to let a sex offender challenge his parole conditions, as the question imperils “our constitutional system’s respect for state sovereignty,” five judges said Tuesday. ____ ____ alleges that California prison officials violated his civil rights by imposing residency and GPS monitoring restrictions typically reserved for sex offenders, even though he had only been convicted in the Golden State for robbery. The state justified the Jessica’s Law parole conditions because of ____’s sexual battery conviction in…
Read MoreWI: Sexting can be considered child porn, so what penalties should kids face?
MILWAUKEE —Research shows one in five teens are sexting — the sending of sexually explicit text or email messages. WISN 12 News investigative reporter Colleen Henry looks into the problem facing parents, police and prosecutors — what to do with kids caught sharing these explicit messages. It’s a digital world, which can change as quick as the click of a camera. “I do think it has desensitized us to what we put out there. We share everything else. Why not share a picture of us?” University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee junior ____ said. Full…
Read MoreIN: Special Report – Stopping Near Sex Offenders
VANDERBURGH CO., IN (WFIE) – Thousands of students in the Tri-State ride the bus to and from school each day. Many of those stops are alarmingly close to registered sex offenders. 14 News followed several bus routes throughout the Tri-State and found children, some as young as five-years-old, waiting for the bus just feet away from registered sex offenders. Some parents are already vigilant, but for some parents, it was a wake up call. There are 471 sex offenders in Vanderburgh County. By law, those offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a…
Read MoreThe Public Flaw in Megan’s Law
What illegal behavior is part of your past? Speeding? Underage drinking? Leaving a store with an item you didn’t pay for? If you got caught, were you punished by a state-run website listing your offense and notifying others where you lived? Probably not. But what if those were your punishments? Would they have stopped your objectionable behavior in the future? Probably not. Because public humiliation generally doesn’t work as a method of behavior modification. And that’s why Megan’s Law, which requires authorities to notify communities of the whereabouts of sex offenders, is a bad…
Read MoreUK: Children as young as 10 arrested for rape as 10 cautions given out for child sex crimes
Ten offenders have been given a ‘slap on the wrist’ by Cambridgeshire police over sex crimes involving children, as tough new rules are brought in over cautions for serious offences. New data has also revealed children as young as 10 have been arrested on suspicion of rape. A total of 52 under 16 year- olds have been arrested over alleged rape since 2009 and of those, 36 saw no further action taken, including two 11-year-old boys and a boy aged 10. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Village becomes refuge for sex offenders
Pahokee (United States) (AFP) – Deep in the swamps of southern Florida, Miracle Village lies miles away from the nearest town, surrounded by sugar cane fields. Nearby, the irrigation canals are swarming with alligators. While the name suggests an idyllic rural getaway, the former plantation near Pahokee now is almost exclusively home to men who spent time in prison for sex crimes. Full Article
Read MoreSexual Predators Online
Myth #4: Social media put teens at great risk from sexual predators. In a nationwide survey, boyd and her colleagues found that 93 percent of parents were concerned that their child might meet a stranger online who would hurt them, while only one percent of them indicated that any of their own children had ever had such an experience. By far the biggest fear expressed by parents was of “sexual predators,” “child molesters,” “pedophiles,” and “sex offenders” who might contact their child through their online participation. This mirrors the fears,…
Read MoreGPS monitoring alerts overwhelm probation officers
SACRAMENTO — Electronic monitoring was supposed to help Los Angeles County deal with the influx of thousands of felons moved out of California’s prison system to ease overcrowding. The nation’s largest probation department strapped GPS ankle monitors on the highest-risk of those convicts, expecting the satellite receivers to keep tabs on where they spent their days and nights, and therefore keep the public safe. Instead, agents are drowning in a flood of meaningless data, masking alarms that could signal real danger. County probation officers are inundated with alerts, and at times received…
Read MoreIL: From W.A.R, Action Alert for Illinois Voices
This week, an Illinois Senate Committee will be considering SB2912, a bill that negatively impacts registered sex offenders (RSOs). We need you to take the following action on this bill: Follow the link below to complete a witness slip OPPOSING this billCall or write the sponsors and committee members and tell them you OPPOSE this billPlease do this RIGHT NOW! Don’t put it off. Your voice is critical in helping to STOP these bills before it goes to the full Senate for a vote! Please see the Illinois Voices website…
Read MoreIN: Sex offenders face hurdles rejoining society
Just mentioning the housing needs of convicted sex offenders is sure to raise the ire of many, with the prevailing attitude being “not in my neighborhood.” It’s an understandable reaction, because those who commit sex crimes often prey on the most helpless and vulnerable victims, our children. To say it’s an especially harmful crime falls short of describing the emotional havoc left in its wake. That’s why many states and locales have enacted laws requiring convicted offenders to register where they live and work; where and how they use the Internet,…
Read MoreGermany: Child pornography’s legal grey zone
A German ex-parliamentarian is being investigated for possessing child pornography. Prosecutors and other experts are often forced to make difficult distinctions on whether a given image crosses the line into illegality. When it comes to the legal definition of child pornography in Germany, a large grey area exists. Just by entering relevant terms in a search engine or trying to open a picture on a computer, individuals can face prosecution. That’s because searching for and attempting to obtain child pornography are illegal in Germany, just as the possession of such…
Read MoreAppellate court rejects “past as prelude” myth
In a strongly worded ruling, a federal appellate panel has ordered that a Native American man be freed from civil confinement due to evidence of his rehabilitation while in prison. Both a judge and an expert witness had downplayed this evidence, condemning the man as a future risk based on long-ago transgressions, the Fourth Circuit panel concluded. Full Article
Read MoreBreaking our prison habit
It’s too soon to declare victory in the long struggle to end our tragic addiction to mass incarceration, but America shows unmistakable signs of finally shaking off the deadly craving — and not a moment too soon. More and more Americans are realizing our status as the world’s largest jailer comes at a shocking cost in dollars and human lives with little benefit to public safety. At the end of 2012, America had 5% of the world’s population, but more than 25% of its prisoners — more than 2.3 million, a…
Read MoreSentenced young: The story of life without parole for juvenile offenders
Opponents of juvenile life without parole point out that the same limitations that make children less culpable for their criminal actions also apply to their experience in the courtroom. “Many young adolescents … are not developmentally and intellectually mature enough to be legally ‘competent’ to stand trial,” Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International wrote in their joint 2005 report. The report points out children’s unique vulnerability to making false confessions, not recognizing bad advice from their defense attorneys and not understanding what is at stake during their trials. Full Article
Read MoreCosta Mesa City Council to revisit sex-offender park ban [UPDATED]
UPDATE: Motion to repeal passes 5-0 The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to consider instituting a reward for help in identifying vandals and repealing a law that aims to rein in the movements of sex offenders. The Police Department has recommended that the council consider revoking a 2012 ordinance that bans registered sex offenders from entering city parks and sports facilities without law enforcement permission. Costa Mesa’s ordinance was similar to ones passed by the Orange County Board of Supervisors and Irvine City Council. Two state appellate court decisions, however, have ruled against the legality…
Read MoreNH: Sex Offender Says He Should Be Able To Attend Church
CONCORD, N.H. —A convicted sex offender took his fight to attend church to the state Supreme Court on Wednesday. A lower court told Jonathan Perfetto that he couldn’t go to church because his suspended sentence prohibits him from being around children. Perfetto was convicted in 2002 of possessing 61 images of child pornography. Barbara Keshen of the New Hampshire American Civil Liberties Union told the court that Perfetto, a Jehovah’s Witness, has a fundamental right to go to the church of his choice and should be permitted to be around the…
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