SAN MARCOS — The City Council has voted to start the process of repealing its sex-offender residency and loitering restrictions after receiving a letter threatening a lawsuit if it didn’t repeal the rules, which courts have ruled unconstitutional elsewhere. The San Marcos City Council’s July 25 vote for the first reading of the repeal was unanimous. Full Article
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WY: Sex offenders now pay the cost of supervision
Previous source of cash has run dry, so the state charges registrants for every change of status. A new Wyoming law means sex offenders must now pay to register or make changes to their registration. If they ignore the new law, they’re subject to criminal charges. It’s a big change for both offenders and law enforcement. In Teton County, where many residents are transient, the law was already tough to enforce. “Say we get a tourist come in from out of town who isn’t currently registered in Wyoming,” Teton County…
Read MorePatient is a sex offender with a tracker on his ankle
When I received shift report for my very ill, bed-bound patient, the RN giving report pointed out the tracker affixed to his anklet. She had admitted him a few hours earlier and did not know the details and there was nothing noted in his chart. Before she left, she looked online and he is a convicted sex offender (lewd and lascivious with a minor under the age of 14). Is it appropriate to add this new information (pedophilia) to your shift report? To his chart? Discussion on Nursing Forum
Read MorePA: Sex offender registry changes need quick evaluation (Editorial)
Jennifer Storm, Pennsylvania’s victim advocate, said her office currently keeps more than 3,900 victims notified about the status of Megan’s Law sex registry offenders, including changes in their jobs or where they live. Understandably, she told the Associated Press, it’s a matter of safety and “piece of mind.” Full Article
Read MorePA: Ruling raises questions about sex offender registry’s future
Changes are coming to Pennsylvania’s sex offender registry as a result of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision issued this week, but experts say it’s unclear exactly how they will play out. Full Article
Read MorePA: Some lawyers, prosecutors disagree on child interference convictions being Megan’s Law offenses
Philadelphia resident ____ ____ became a registered sex offender in Pennsylvania last year after pleading guilty to interfering with the custody of her daughter. But if prosecutors had let the 49-year-old noncustodial parent plead guilty to a different crime for signing her daughter out of school without the consent of the girl’s legal guardian in 2015, ____ wouldn’t find her photo and personal information listed with convicted child molesters, kiddie porn collectors and rapists on Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law registry. Pennsylvania prosecutors know what criminal offenses carry so-called Megan’s Law attachments,…
Read MoreTN: White County Inmates Given Reduced Jail Time If They Get Vasectomy
Inmates in White County, Tennessee have been given credit for their jail time if they voluntarily agree to have a vasectomy or birth control implant, a popular new program that is being called “unconstitutional” by the ACLU. On May 15, 2017 General Sessions Judge Sam Benningfield signed a standing order that allows inmates to receive 30 days credit toward jail time if they undergo a birth control procedure. Full Article Women who volunteer to participate in the program are given a free Nexplanon implant in their arm, the implant helps prevent…
Read MoreNV: Nevada implementing law on juvenile sex offenders
Counties are implementing a new law dealing with juvenile sexual assault cases, the latest effort in the state to legislate such crimes after the passage of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Sex offender registry notifies neighbors of criminal conviction
Including inmates, 616 registered sex offenders live in New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, but opinions vary among legal professionals about whether the registry protects the community or if the punishment goes too far. Full Article
Read MorePA: Woman charged with not revealing sex offender’s whereabouts
Though it’s unclear if a woman knew before police told her that the man she married is a convicted sex offender wanted for allegedly not registering his whereabouts as the law requires, police charged her Wednesday with knowing and not revealing his whereabouts. Full Article
Read MoreKS: Judge tosses lawsuit brought by Kansas sex offenders against the sexual predator program
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Kansas sex offenders who are confined indefinitely in a state program for post-prison mental health treatment, saying they didn’t do enough to substantiate their claims. Full Article
Read MoreBill offers needed reform for sex offender registry
California’s cluttered sex offender registry is too large to be effective and must be reformed if it is to be of any use to law enforcement. Full Article
Read MorePA: Pennsylvania Supreme Court finds state sex offender registration law punitive and thus unconstitutional to apply retroactively
In a big opinion today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided its state’s sex offender registration law, though civil in design, was punitive in practice and thus cannot be applied retroactively. Full Article
Read MoreSex offender consequences in the Supreme Court – what’s ahead?
“The Supreme Court’s Mixed Signals in Packingham” is the title of a thoughtful comment by Bidish Sarma analyzing the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Packingham v. North Carolina, recently published on the American Constitution Society website. (An early analysis of the Packingham decision by Wayne Logan appeared on this site on June 20.) Mr. Sarma proposes that “the time has come to ask whether society’s ‘war’ on sex offenders who have already completed criminal sentences has gone too far.” Full Article
Read MoreWe must protect children at schools from dangerous sex offenders: Connie Leyva
Just last year, a group of concerned Fontana parents discovered a loophole in the law that allows dangerous sex offenders to enter school grounds and target children. They found out that dangerous sex offenders could volunteer at schools if they were given permission by a school official. Full Op-Ed piece
Read MoreWA: He spent 9 years on McNeil Island without his day in court
____ had spent more than a year in the Yakima County Jail when he filed an Alford plea — not admitting the crime but conceding he likely would be convicted — on a second-degree attempted kidnapping charge. “I was told that I was going to be released the day I was processed,” he said. Instead, he spent the next nine years at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island, without ever having a civil commitment trial or being convicted of a violent sexual offense. Full Article
Read MoreCanada: Court blocks extradition of Nova Scotia man accused of sex crimes in U.S.
Nova Scotia’s highest court is ordering Canada’s justice minister to take another look at her decision to allow the extradition of a Nova Scotia man accused of sex crimes in Minnesota. Full Article
Read MoreMO: Court backs confining sex offenders indefinitely
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a state law allowing sex offenders to be committed indefinitely to mental institutions after prison is constitutional. Full Article
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