A proposal within a comprehensive Massachusetts Senate criminal justice reform bill to create a “close age exception” for the state’s statutory rape law is just one of several provisions to generate heat. The bill, sponsored by Sen. William Brownsberger, D-Belmont, would take away the possibility of prosecution for consensual sex between someone who is 15 and a partner less than four years older, someone under 15 and a partner less than three years older, or someone under 12 and a partner who is less than two years older. It would…
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American Samoa: Amends Act governing sex offender registration
American Samoa’s Governor Lolo Moliga has signed into law a bill amending the American Samoa Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA. The changes allow American Samoa to be in substantial compliance with requirements of the US Sex Offender Registration Act. Full Article
Read MoreWhy kids don’t belong on sex offender registry
California took an important step toward ending the abusive practice of putting kids on sex offender registries when Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 384, which allows juveniles to petition for their removal after five or 10 years. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreCA: Simi Valley City Council may repeal Halloween sex offender ordinance
With two weeks until Halloween, the Simi Valley City Council on Monday night may repeal a controversial law that says registered sex offenders listed on the Megan’s Law website can’t open their doors to trick-or-treating children. Full Article
Read MoreSex Offender Advocates Object To Local Mapping Of Registered Sex Criminals (Updated)
The Board of Directors for the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws objects to local public safety maps which pinpoint the addresses of individuals listed on official state sex-offender registries. NARSOL submitted this letter to Patch explaining why such maps should not be published at Halloween. https://patch.com/us/across-america/sex-offender-advocates-object-mapping-registered-sex-criminals Update – Follow up from Patch ‘Then I See The Delight In Your Eyes Turn To Fear’ Heyl: Some Sex Offender Names Soon Could Vanish From Online State Registry
Read MoreAUS: VG EXPOSED THE LARGEST CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE FORUM.IT WAS RUN BY THE POLICE.
Both men stiffen as VG confronts them. – Go ahead and publish what you know about us now, if you think it’s true, but be prepared for the consequences, says Jon. Next to him in a Brisbane hamburger pub sits Paul. VG has just told them what we’ve uncovered: that they run the world’s largest online forum for child sexual exploitation, “Childs Play”. Full Article
Read MoreOR: Sex-offender stings make it ‘safer for everyone’
During a sting operation last week, state troopers contacted 16 registered sex offenders, some of whom failed to make an annual report or disclose whether they had a change of address. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Supreme Court Hearing Sex Offender Registry Case
[UPDATED LINKS 3/30/18] The Michigan Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the case of a man who was placed on the sex offender registry for touching a girl’s breasts, even though his case was dismissed in 1997 after successful probation and community service. Full Article RELATED LINKS: Change.org petition: Allow “Romeo-Juliet” convictions to apply to expunge their records in Michigan [3/30/18]
Read MoreFL: Sex offenders may soon be able to live closer to schools, day care centers in Jacksonville
Registered sex offenders in the River City may soon be able to live closer to schools, public libraries and other places children frequent if the Jacksonville City Council has anything to say about it. The city council will undergo a second reading of city ordinance 2017-667 on Tuesday. The bill’s primary function is to reduce the required distance a registered sex offender or predator can reside near various locations from 2,500 feet to 1,500 feet, according to the bill’s description. The bill also advises, if passed, that new and upcoming…
Read MoreCO: U.S. court ruling sparks debate over Colorado’s sex offender registry
When David sifted through the mail the morning of his 18th birthday, he hoped to find cards with money. Instead, he received a warrant for his arrest. The charge: statutory rape. It was 2007, and the 17-year-old junior basketball star had recently moved to a small Missouri town, population less than 500, and almost immediately started dating a girl who was one month shy of her 14th birthday. They were intimately involved for nearly three months before David ended the relationship. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Indiana Supreme Court – Sex with minors is OK, but it’s illegal to sext them
In Indiana, it’s legal for adults to have consensual sex with minors aged 16 and 17. But it’s illegal to sext those same minors, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled this week. The decision reinstated sexting charges against an adult who texted nude images of himself to a girl he knew was 16. Full Article
Read MoreGet rid of the registry [Opd Ed]
There’s nothing I can say about the tragedy in Las Vegas, except this: some version of that will happen in Michigan, probably sooner rather than later. The politicians are either in the pay of the gun lobby fanatics or resigned to the fact that they can’t possibly overcome them, so nothing will change. Nothing, that is, unless and until people somehow demand that democracy and sanity be restored. So far, they haven’t, and the senseless killing will go on. But there is something we do have an opportunity to change:…
Read MoreWhere is proof that sex offender lists make communities safer?
I have been trained to use facts as the foundation for my decisions. Your editorial states that the sexual offender registry “is an important public safety tool (that) presents critical public information … that can make communities safer.” Full Letter to the editor
Read MoreHI: 1 in 5 Big Island sex offenders noncompliant with registry requirements
Almost one in five Big Island sex offenders is noncompliant with state sex offender registry requirements. As of Sept. 11, 73 of 402 “covered offenders” — those required to register — weren’t in compliance with the state’s registry law, according to figures from the Department of the Attorney General’s Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center. That’s more than 18 percent. Full Article
Read MoreMN: Supreme Court Won’t Hear Minnesota Sex Offender Case
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that it won’t hear a challenge to Minnesota’s sex offender civil commitment system (Karsjens v Piper), which allows people who have been deemed sexually dangerous to be committed to a treatment facility for an indefinite period of time. Full Article Order List
Read MoreMI: SCOTUS denies review in Snyder v. Doe
UPDATE: Statement from the Michigan ACLU The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will not hear the State of Michigan’s appeal in a challenge to the state¹ sex offender registration law, which was dealt a major blow by a federal appeals court in a unanimous decision last year. Today’s announcement effectively requires the Michigan legislature to replace the existing law, thus creating an opportunity to reform Michigan’s registry, which has been widely criticized as bloated and ineffective. The lawsuit was originally brought by the ACLU of Michigan and the…
Read MoreGeneral Comments October 2017
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of October 2017. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreNY: Neighbors question nonprofit’s assistance of sex offender’s home
Along Fountain Street, tall trees and manicured lawns are graced with flowers, trimmed hedges and American flags. And, in the yard next to convicted sex offender ____ ____’s house, two lawn signs together read “Sexually molest a child and you get your home remodeled for free!” The signs highlight not only a simmering feud between ____ and several of his neighbors, documented in several Olean Police Department reports over the last two years, but also a debate the neighbors would like to have: Should nonprofit assistance funds for the impoverished…
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