An algorithm tool developed by Purdue Polytechnic Institute faculty will help law enforcement filter out and focus on sex offenders most likely to set up face-to-face meetings with child victims. Full Article
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The Forgotten Victims of National Crime Week
The week of April 8th to April 14th of 2018 has been declared “Nation Crime Victim’s Rights Week,” and while discussions about crime victims are commonplace, this recognized memorial week provides a greater platform for the victims’ rights group to promote their advocacy. There is, however, a narrative that has been neglected this week—the victimization of registered citizens and their loved ones by virtue of the public registry and the laws they inspire. Full Article
Read MorePA: Despite legislative fix, challenges to Megan’s Law continue
nnsylvania lawmakers insist they have fixed problems with Megan’s Law that threatened to allow thousands of sex offenders to avoid having to register with the state. Not so fast, say defense attorneys.Full Article
Read MoreKY: Governor Matt Bevin Has Apologized for Remarks Linking a Teachers’ Rally to Child Sex Abuse
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin apologized Sunday for saying that children were sexually abused because they were left home alone while teachers rallied to ask lawmakers to override his vetoes. Full Article
Read MoreIA: 2 Convicted of Sex Crimes Can’t Be Held Indefinitely
The Iowa Supreme Court has dismissed the state’s efforts to confine two men convicted for sex abuse crimes indefinitely under the state’s law allowing civil commitment of sexually violent predators. Full Article
Read MoreCA: Bill to accelerate sex offender registry notifications clears Riverside assembly
A Riverside County lawmaker’s bill to require prisons, county jails, mental institutions and other facilities to hasten alerts to the California Department of Justice regarding the release of registered sex offenders was unanimously approved today by the Assembly. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Three Opportunities in Thirty Days
We have three opportunities during the next 30 days to Show Up – Stand Up – Speak Up. Our first opportunity is in Sacramento on April 24 when the Senate Public Safety Committee will consider Senate Bill 1143. If passed, that bill would require registrants convicted of an offense involving a minor to disclose their status as a registrant to potential landlords as well as to home sellers if the property is within one-quarter mile of a school or a park. The penalty for not making such a disclosure is…
Read MoreIL: Writing Sex Offender Laws Based on Fake Recidivism Numbers Is Rational, Court Says
Last week the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a state law banning sex offenders from public parks, overturning a 2017 appeals court ruling that deemed the statute “unconstitutional on its face because it bears no reasonable relationship to protecting the public.” The seven members of the higher court unanimously disagreed, saying, “We conclude that there is a rational relation between protecting the public, particularly children, from sex offenders and prohibiting sex offenders who have been convicted of crimes against minors from being present in public parks across the state.” Full Article…
Read MoreChild trafficking expert speaks at William and Mary
Mosby is an expert in child trafficking in Thailand and founder of the HUG project, an organization dedicated to helping victims of child trafficking. In 2017 she won the TIP award for her work helping victims of sexual abuse. On Monday, Mosby came to the College of William and Mary to speak with students about child trafficking in Thailand and the steps she and others have taken to prevent it. … The U.S. has also come up with preventative measures to help stop its citizens from committing child sex crimes…
Read MoreCA: Pair of bills aimed at release of sex offenders pass Public Safety Committee
A locally authored bill about where the state places sex offenders once they’re released from prison passed the Senate Committee on Public Safety on Monday. Senate Bill 1198, introduced by Sen. Scott Wilk, and Senate Bill 1199, which Wilk authored, address significant concerns about how the criminal justice system deals with individuals convicted of sex crimes. Full Article
Read MoreMO: Sex offenders register for a lifetime, but a bill would let some petition for removal
Almost all sex offenders in Missouri are on a state registry for a lifetime, whether they made a one-time mistake, or made repeated or extreme offenses. Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, wants to make it possible for certain people to petition to remove their name from the list and for the registry to be more transparent for the public. Full Article
Read MoreSenate Committee to Hear SB 1143 on April 24
The Senate Public Safety Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill (SB) 1143 on April 24. If passed, SB 1143 would require registrants convicted of an offense involving a minor to disclose their requirement to register to both potential landlords as well as those who have a house to sell. If a registrant failed to make this disclosure, the landlord or seller could lawfully cancel an existing lease or contract. “This bill must be stopped,” state ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “If the bill becomes law, there will be a…
Read MoreThere Are Too Many Kids on the Sex Offender Registry
Both the boys admit they did it. Horsing around, two New Jersey 14-year-olds pulled down their pants and sat on the faces of two 12-year-old boys. As one of them later explained, “I thought it was funny and I was trying to get my friends to laugh.” For that act, he and his buddy are on the sex offender registry for life. This was, after all, “sexual contact done for sexual gratification or to degrade or humiliate the victim.” The boys lost an appeal in 2011, with a three-judge panel…
Read MoreID: Sex Offender Registry SNAFU
____ ____ wears a small camera pinned to his shirt. He wants his activities recorded because he is unsure what hairpin turn he may come up against next. There have been a lot of switchbacks and bumps over the past 13 years, and the latest one, what he calls a false accusation coupled with threats from Idaho State Police, is taking a toll on his health. ____, 54, accuses Idaho State Police of coercing him into registering as a sex offender although he has never had to register anywhere else,…
Read MoreAttorneys general fighting against 2017 ruling regarding Colorado’s sex offender registry
A group of attorneys general are fighting a 2017 court ruling that declared Colorado’s sex offender registry “cruel and unusual.” Full Article Related Attorney General Hunter Leads 10th Circuit States in Opposing Ruling that Colorado Sex Offender Registration is Unconstitutional (AG Press Release) To read the brief, click here.
Read MoreVT: Supreme Court says sex offenders can have porn
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state cannot uniformly declare pornography off-limits to sex offenders. The decision does allow a sex offender’s probation to include such restrictions, but only if they are deemed specifically appropriate to the individual offender. Full Article
Read MoreCA: We pay millions for sex offender therapy at Coalinga hospital. Most patients aren’t in it
Thirteen years after Coalinga State Hospital was built to treat the state’s sexually violent predators, some of the men there say they’re more like prisoners than patients, and that the multimillion-dollar facility once criticized for its amenities is a sort of purgatory failing to rehabilitate offenders — and therefore failing the public. Full Article
Read MoreCT: Suit targets WL ban on sex offenders in public places
An anonymous resident and an advocacy group that represents accused and convicted sex offenders have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to strike down the town’s 10-year-old policy barring people on Connecticut’s sex offender registry from a number of public places. Full Article
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