I decided to write this because I just graduated college. I have been fighting and fighting and fighting some more with this nonsense hanging over my head. I have been denied jobs because of my sex offender status, I have felt like killing myself, and I sometimes just feel hopeless. I was convicted of a 289a1 or Penetration of a foreign object through force or fear. I was 20 at the time and I was at a party. I hooked up with this girl and the lines got blurred between…
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Can Bad Men Change? What It’s Like Inside Sex Offender Therapy
The men file in, a few wearing pressed button-down shirts, others jeans caked in mud from work on a construction site. They meet in the living room of an old taupe bungalow on a leafy street in a small Southern city. Someone has shoved a workout bike into the corner to make room for a circle of overstuffed chairs dug up at the local Goodwill. The men jockey for a coveted recliner and settle in. They are complaining about co-workers and debating the relative merits of various trucks when a…
Read MoreCA: Coalinga Patients Score Two Victories
Patients at Coalinga State Hospital scored two victories today — one in court and the other in the state legislature. As a result of the victories, the patients’ past votes as well as future votes in City of Coalinga elections are valid. Specifically, a Fresno Superior Court judge ruled today against the City of Coalinga which had attempted to invalidate the patients’ votes in November 2017 which contributed to the defeat of a one cent sales tax. In its decision, the Court noted that the patients’ votes were valid because…
Read MoreMO: Missouri’s dubious export: Sex offenders
Missouri treats all sex offenders living outside of prison as harshly as some states punish their highest-risk sexual predators. Missouri’s one-size-fits-all approach sends hundreds of sex offenders to Kansas, Illinois and Arkansas. Just across the state line, some find relief from the 1,000-foot residency restrictions. Others even end the shame of public registry. Full Article
Read MoreMO: ‘Extremely complex’ sex offender residency restrictions are challenging to enforce
In an effort to keep Missouri children safe, lawmakers have enacted half a dozen laws over the past decade that restrict the rights of convicted sex offenders living among us. Full Article
Read MoreME: Sex offender’s art removed from Lewiston exhibit
[UPDATE LINKS 5/7/18] The University of Southern Maine has removed three works by a highly regarded oil painter from a gallery on its Lewiston-Auburn campus after learning that the artist is a sex offender, a decision that has prompted objections from the show’s curator and the Union of Maine Visual Artists. Full Article Related Articles Sex offender’s artwork pulled from USM show at Lewiston-Auburn gallery Arts pieces by Pelican Bay inmates on display at courthouse [triplicate.com 4/25/17 – non-sex-offender art displayed] So we can’t have out art exhibits shown…
Read MoreGeneral Comments May 2018
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of May 2018. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreFL: Miami-Dade Will Close Sex Offender Camp by May 6, Threatens Jail Time for Stragglers
Since 2014, a colony of homeless sex offenders has been rapidly growing by the railroad tracks near Hialeah. Nobody wants them there, including the dozens who call the ramshackle camp home. Everyone, from the Homeless Trust to the ACLU to the county commission, agrees the encampment is a public health and safety hazard. But for years, the sex offenders have said that restrictive county laws mean they have nowhere else to legally live and that county officials have failed to solve the problem. Full Article
Read MoreHey, NJ — ‘Dead Kids Make Bad Laws’
The above quote isn’t mine, and I would give attribution except that I don’t know who originally said it, but it is so true. Dead kids usually make for emotional, broad brush laws that do more harm than good. I know that in NJ we feel proud of ourselves that we are the state that pioneered the sex-offender registry called Megan’s Law, the law that arose from tragedy in 1994, when 7-year-old Megan Kanka of Hamilton Township was raped and killed by Jesse Timmendeques, a neighbor. But anytime tragedy befalls…
Read MoreTX: How a charity for disabled vets almost gave a sex offender a free home
____ ____, 37, a war veteran and double amputee, was receiving the home mortgage-free, courtesy of the Military Warriors Support Foundation’s “Homes 4 Wounded Heroes” program. The charity worked in conjunction with the home’s most recent owner, Wells Fargo bank. Getting a house is no small deal. Getting one for free, in a settled and safe neighborhood in small-town America, is even bigger. ____, 14 years after he was maimed by a landmine in Iraq, was ready to begin the next chapter of his life among the families of Stuarts…
Read MoreNJ: After state Supreme Court ruling, few sex offenders likely get reprieve from Megan’s Law
A New Jersey Supreme Court ruling exempting certain sex offenders from Megan’s Law registration requirements isn’t likely to apply to more than a few dozen people, state officials said Wednesday, as the public defender’s office began contacting people who now may be eligible to be taken off the list. Full Article
Read MoreIL: State Senate targets masturbating jail inmates, making ‘sex offender’ tag easier
It’s a daily sight being called “a pretty extreme brand of workplace sexual harassment.” Citing a rise of lewd behavior in the Cook County Jail, the Illinois Senate on Wednesday passed a measure that would place inmates on the sex offender registry upon release if they expose themselves or masturbate in front of female staffers more than two times. Full Article
Read MoreState Department Files Motion to Dismiss IML Lawsuit (Updated)
UPDATE 06/07: The date of the IML hearing has been changed from June 25 to July 9 at the government’s request. The State Department today filed a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit which challenges the International Megan’s Law (IML) on procedural grounds. A hearing on the Motion to Dismiss is scheduled for June 25 in Los Angeles. In its motion, the State Department asserts that its final rule issued in September 2016 is consistent with the IML and that its press release issued in October 2017 that included the language of…
Read MoreCA: Senate Public Safety Committee Stops Two Bills
During a hearing today, the Senate Public Safety Committee stopped two bills, SB 976 and SB 1143, that would have harmed registrants as well as their families. The first of those bills (SB 976) would have expanded the definition of “violent felony” to include all felony sex offenses. That change could have resulted in longer prison sentences as well as no consideration for early parole. The second of those bills (SB 1143) would have required registrants convicted of an offense involving a minor to disclose their status as a registrant…
Read MoreCA: Dangerous flaws in Proposition 57 could result in early release of sex offenders
Thanks to Proposition 57, hundreds of sex offenders could be released into our communities through an early parole program. As strong advocates for public safety and most importantly as mothers to our respective families, the prospect of having sexual predators leaving prison early is, to say the least, stomach churning. Full Article
Read MoreIndia: India to join 8 countries having sex offenders database
India will join a club of eight countries with a sexual offender database to monitor and track those convicted of such crimes, amidst growing criticism against it in the US, where it is pursued aggressively. Full Article
Read MoreOK: Governor Fallin Signs Bill Barring Sex Offenders from Living Near Their Victims
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin today signed a bill that helps protect victims from their sex offenders. Fallin signed House Bill (HB) 1124, which prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet and loitering within 1,000 feet from their victims’ homes. Under current Oklahoma law, sex offenders are banned from living near places like schools and playgrounds, but it does not apply to a sex offender living near his or her adult victim. Full Article Related OK: Lawmaker Seeks Change After Sex Offender Gets Out of Prison, Moves Next Door to…
Read MoreNew Law Requires Sex Offenders To Inform Residents Before Moving Into Their Homes (Satire)
In a move designed to keep citizens aware of any potentially dangerous individuals sharing their address, the Illinois General Assembly passed a new law Wednesday requiring sex offenders to inform residents that they will be moving in with them. Full Satire Piece
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