UPDATED with commentary from ACSOL Board Member Guy Hamilton-Smith (below) Inside the sprawling two-story tan and coral stucco building on New York Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C., is a men’s homeless shelter that once served as a halfway house run by the government. It’s a place that some 20 registered sex offenders call home — according to the city’s sex offender registry. But at least one-third of them don’t really live there, and D.C. authorities have no idea where they are. The men are among the more than 25,000 convicted…
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CO: Decision in Millard v. Rankin (10th Circuit US Court of Appeals)
Plaintiff-Appellees David Millard, Eugene Knight, and Arturo Vega challenge the constitutionality of Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act (CSORA). The district court held CSORA was unconstitutional as applied to the Appellees because the statute inflicted cruel and unusual punishment and violated substantive due process guarantees. Additionally, the district court held that the state courts’ application of CSORA’s deregistration procedures to Vega violated his procedural due process rights. Defendant-Appellant, the State, appeals from the entirety of the district court’s decision. Because the district court’s ruling contravenes binding Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit…
Read MoreACSOL Conference Reorganized as Virtual Conference on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) has reorganized its 2020 conference, “Empowered People Inspiring Change,” so that the entire conference will be held online. Individuals can also attend and participate in the conference by phone. The conference will be held on Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. PST. Sign up today “ACSOL is excited to present its entire conference this year online and by phone,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “By utilizing two technology platforms, we will be able to…
Read MoreAssembly Appropriations Committee to Consider Senate Bill 145 on August 20
The Assembly Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill 145 (SB 145) on August 20, 2020 on the Assembly floor starting at 10 a.m.. The Committee will consider more than 100 bills during that hearing and seating for the hearing will be very limited. The public can view the hearing on the Assembly’s website at https://www.assembly.ca.gov/todaysevents. If passed, SB 145 would exempt from mandatory registration individuals convicted of certain offenses involving minors if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor and if that offense…
Read MoreACSOL Board Member Catherine Carpenter Exposes Laws That Exclude Registrants
ACSOL Board Member Catherine Carpenter has published an academic paper that identifies many laws throughout the country that are characterized as criminal justice reform laws, but exclude anyone convicted of a sex offense from their benefits. “ACSOL has vanquished residency restrictions thanks to the tireless efforts of our Executive Director, Janice Bellucci,” stated ACSOL Board Member Carpenter. “The next frontier for us? Tackling the myriad of laws that exclude registrants from the same criminal justice reform benefits available to others who have committed crimes.” The title of the scholarly article…
Read MoreCA: Legislature Passes Bill that Delays Submission of Some Tiered Registry Petitions
The California legislature has passed a bill, Senate Bill 118, that modifies some provisions of the Tiered Registry Law set to take effect next year. The Governor signed the bill into law on August 6, 2020. “The provision within Senate Bill 118 that will affect the greatest number of people can be found in Section 11 which requires that registrants must wait to file their petition after their next birthday following July 1, 2021,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “As a result, anyone whose birthday is January 1 through…
Read MoreGeneral Comments August 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of August 2020. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
Read MorePA: Supreme Court rules 2nd Generation Registration non-punitive
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Opinion holding that Pennsylvania’s second-generation sex offense registration statute is non-punitive and thus ex post facto challenges against it fail. Case Summary and Details
Read MoreCA: Court Grants Demurrer in Jurors Case
The Los Angeles Superior Court has granted a demurrer in ACSOL’s challenge to an exclusion of all registrants from serving on a jury. The Court also scheduled a hearing to discuss the future of the case on August 11. “We are gravely disappointed that the court took this action,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “By doing so, the court has made a preliminary decision that the legislature can lawfully prevent anyone convicted of a sex offense, regardless of the type of offense or how long ago it occurred from…
Read MoreCA: Authorities issue warning regarding release of ‘dangerous sex offender’ from Coalinga State Hospital
Officials in Orange County are issuing a warning to county residents regarding the release of a “dangerous sex offender” from Coalinga State Hospital after more than 20 years. County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Michelle Steel are also urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene in the release of ___ ___ ___. They’re also asking that the governor reinstate the requirement that he register as a sex offender. … In 1985, Smith pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor sexual offense involving a child and had to register as…
Read MoreCA: Legislature Considering Changes to Tiered Registry Law
The California legislature is considering changes to the Tiered Registry Law that, if passed, would delay when eligible individuals could petition for removal from the registry. That is, individuals would be required to wait until “on or after their next birthday after July 1, 2021, following the expiration of the person’s mandated minimum registration period.” For example, if an eligible individual’s birthday is July 4, 2021, and he is on Tier 2, he can petition for removal on July 1, 2021. However, if an eligible individual’s birthday is June 30,…
Read MoreInternational Megans Law as Compelled Speech
“The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212b(c)(l).” International Megan’s Law (IML), passed in 2016, prohibits the State Department from issuing passports to individuals convicted of a sex offense against a minor unless those passports are branded with this phrase. The federal government’s decision to brand its citizens’ passports with this stigmatizing message is novel and jarring, but the sole federal district court to consider a constitutional challenge to the passport identifier dismissed…
Read MoreLos Angeles Superior Court Denies TRO Application
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has denied a TRO application filed by the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) that, if granted, would have required the CA Department of Corrections (CDCR) to release from prison individuals convicted of a sex offense based upon the same eligibility factors as those convicted of a different type of offense. The basis of the TRO application was the equal protection clause of the state constitution. “We are deeply troubled by the court’s decision because it fails to recognize that individuals convicted of…
Read MoreGeneral Comments July 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2020. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
Read MoreIL: High court upholds ban on sex offenders in parks
The state’s criminal code completely bars child sex offenders from entering public parks, despite an exception written into a similar but separate part of the law, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week. The 5-2 majority held that the exception in Section 11-9.3(a-10) of the Illinois Criminal Code of 2012, which allows child sex offenders to visit public parks with their minor children when other minor children are present, cannot be read into Section 11-9.4-1(b), which prohibits a child sex offender from “knowingly be[ing] present in any public park.” Full…
Read MorePA: Commonwealth v. Torsilieri
Nature of Case: Mr. Torsilieri — the Appellee in this case — was convicted of a sex offense and, as such, was required to register as a sex offender under Pennsylvania’s sex offense registration scheme. He brought a post-conviction challenge alleging that, because Pennsylvania’s sex offense registration law essentially used an irrebutable presumption of dangerousness that if violated several constitutional provisions related to punishment as well as state constitutional provisions protecting reputation. The trial court agreed, and and held that based on expert evidence adducing that re-offense rates were lower,…
Read MoreUT: Supreme Court strikes down law allowing sex abuse lawsuits
The Utah Supreme Court has struck down a state law that allowed victims of sexual abuse to sue decades later, siding against a woman who alleged a former federal judge raped her when she was a teenage witness and he an attorney prosecuting a white supremacist serial killer. The state’s high court ruled the 2016 law unconstitutional, finding the Utah Legislature did not have the authority to effectively erase statutes of limitation after they already timed out. “The problems presented in a case like this one are heart-wrenching. We have…
Read MoreCA: 2020 Ballot Initiative to Repeal Justice Reform Would Come at a High Cost
A new report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) analyzes a November 2020 ballot measure that seeks to roll back key elements of recent justice reforms, including Public Safety Realignment, Prop 47, and Prop 57. As California continues to disproportionately arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate Black, Indigenous, and Latino people, this proposal will particularly harm communities of color. Full Article Report – CJCJ – June 2020
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