A sex offender ordinance adopted by Carson, a city located within Los Angeles County, is the subject of a lawsuit filed today in Federal district court. This is the fourth lawsuit to be filed in four weeks challenging a city’s sex offender ordinance that includes restrictions regarding where more than 105,000 individuals can be present. Specifically, the Carson ordinance prohibits registered citizens from being present in or within 300 feet of a wide range of locations including schools, parks, library, swimming pools, and bus stops. A registered citizen who violates…
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Do sex offender registries, like new ‘OffenderWatch,’ make us safer? (Op-Ed)
Today the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office announced it was launching “OffenderWatch,” a brand-new way to be scared of your neighbors. … I have a few questions: Why? And what, exactly, are you to do with this information? Do you commit these names and faces to memory? What are you supposed to do when you meet one of these guys on the street? Do you instruct your kids to stay away from these homes? Are we supposed to keep an eye on them in some way? Should we organize patrols…
Read MoreSex offender wants parks proximity (National City)
A registered sex offender in San Luis Obispo County is suing cities across the state, claiming he has every right to go near schools and parks — and National City has become his latest target. ____ ____, 61, of Grover Beach, was convicted in 1979 of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14. His attorney, Janice Bellucci, says he has relatives in National City and wants to visit. She sued the city in federal court last week over its ban on sex offenders being within 300 feet of a…
Read MoreA Better Path to Community Safety (CASOMB Tiering Paper March 2014)
CASOMB first recommended in its 2010 report to the Legislature that revisions to California’s registration laws are needed and recently selected the issue as one which deserves increased focus and effort. The effectiveness of sex offender registration policies and practices has also been the subject of national focus recently, with a variety of jurisdictions addressing the importance of updating registration practices to reflect new research and evidence based approaches. Modifying registration practices will, CASOMB believes, improve public safety in California by focusing effort and resources on more dangerous offenders. Paper
Read MoreSB 1027 (Hill) – Criminal record information: commercial use
Existing law requires a business to take reasonable steps to protect unintended disclosure of customer information and limits theway personal information on customers can be used and disseminated. This bill would prohibit a person who publishes criminal record information, as defined, via print or electronic means from soliciting or accepting a fee or other consideration to remove, correct, or modify that information, as specified. The bill would establish civil penalties for violations of these provisions. Bill Information
Read MoreNATIONAL CITY ORDINANCE CHALLENGED IN FEDERAL COURT
A sex offender ordinance adopted by National City, a city in San Diego County, is the subject of a lawsuit filed on April 4 in federal district court on behalf of a registered sex offender (“registered citizen”). This is the third lawsuit challenging a city’s presence restrictions. The first lawsuit was filed on March 24 against the City of Pomona and the second lawsuit on March 31 against the City of South Lake Tahoe. The National City ordinance includes restrictions regarding where more than 105,000 individuals can reside or be…
Read MoreCounty Launches New Sex Offender Registration, Tracking Site Available to Public
San Mateo County will now be part of a nationwide network of over 5,000 law enforcement agencies, including over 45 California agencies. Full Article
Read MoreRecently identified Fresno sex offender murdered
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Days after a Fresno man was identified as a sex offender, he turned up dead. Now, two people will stand trial for his murder. ____ ____ was stabbed to death in Sept. 2012, just days after a sex offender sweep. An autopsy showed ____ was stabbed 58 times before his body was dumped near Chandler Airport. When U.S. Marshals and local police went door-to-door tracking sex offenders, ____ ____ was right where they expected him. The sting apparently blew his cover, though, and made him a target. Full Article
Read MoreLA Deputies Demanded Sex From Female Trainees: Lawsuit
A group of tattooed male deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who called themselves the “Banditos” allegedly sexually harassed female trainees and demanded sexual favors as part of initiation, according to a report by NBC News. Guadalupe Lopez, who was assigned to the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s station in Boyle Heights beginning in 2011, is seeking unspecified damages. Full Article
Read MoreSuits challenge sex offender laws
Lawyer and her reform group were prompted by recent appellate court ruling A civil rights lawyer aiming to reform sex offender laws has started suing municipalities across California to force the removal of ordinances that bar sex offenders from many public facilities, including parks, swimming pools and bus stops.Janice Bellucci, who practices in Santa Maria and is president of the group California Reform Sex Offender Laws, said the ordinances violate the state and federal constitutions. On Friday, Bellucci sued Pomona in the Central District federal court in Los Angeles, and…
Read MoreVisiting Child Pornography Websites Is a Crime—Appeals Court
Viewing child pornography on the Internet constitutes the crime of “possessing” or “controlling“ such matter, in violation of Penal Code §311.11, the Court of Appeal for this district held yesterday. The court also said that viewing the images constitutes possession inasmuch as a PC automatically captures the images, downloading them to the cache, and that causing them to be visible on the screen amounts to control. Full Article
Read MoreFederal lawsuit calls for repeal of Pomona’s sex offender ordinance
POMONA >> A Santa Maria lawyer filed a federal lawsuit against Pomona this week calling for the repeal of a 2008 ordinance regulating the presence of sex offenders in the city. According to the lawsuit, the city’s ordinance goes beyond what is contained in the ordinances of other cities by prohibiting sex offenders from being on private property, such as arcades or movie theaters. Pomona’s ordinance is “one of the worst ordinances in our state,” said Janice Bellucci, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Frank Lindsey of Grover Beach…
Read MoreAnnual Registration Procedure
Annual Registration: I just went for my annual registration in OC. I literally had to read about the 5 -day statue. Is it 5-working days or 5 days period. Its 5-working days. I showed up on a Monday morning, office was empty and the woman was dressed in an almost uniform. This was my first time to see this. The women in the office (3) all looked up? I’ve been registering here for a long time. The woman greeted me, was very business like and kind of acts like you…
Read MorePOMONA ORDINANCE CHALLENGED IN FEDERAL COURT
A sex offender ordinance adopted by the City of Pomona is the subject of a lawsuit filed today in federal district court on behalf of a sex offender (“registered citizen”). The ordinance includes restrictions regarding where more than 105,000 individuals can reside or be present. Specifically, the ordinance prohibits registered citizens from residing or being present within 300 feet of a wide range of public and private locations including schools, parks, bus stops, railroad station, arcades, health clubs, movie theaters, cyber cafes and museums. A registered citizen who violates the…
Read MoreCA RSOL Meeting in Los Angeles – April 12
The next CA RSOL meeting in Los Angeles will take place on April 12 at 10 am, at the usual location – the ACLU building at 1313 W. 8th Street in Los Angeles. Registrants, family and friends, supporters and professionals are welcome to attend. Media and Government officials are not invited in order to ensure everyone’s privacy. We will discuss current topics, changes in the laws as well as pending litigation and advocacy strategies. Special attention will be given to the recent changes in parks ordinances made by numerous cities in…
Read MoreGrover Beach expands zones barring child molesters
Despite a threatened lawsuit, a resident’s plea and a councilman’s misgivings, Grover Beach effectively blocked any additional child molesters from living in the city. The City Council voted 4-1, with Councilman Bill Nicolls dissenting, to approve the second reading of an ordinance expanding so-called “protected zones” to 2,000 feet around schools, preschools, day care centers and parks. Previously, the distance was 1,000 feet. Individuals convicted of sex crimes against children — younger than 18 — who are required to register as sex offenders are barred from moving into temporary or permanent residences…
Read MoreWill sex offender rules in California change?
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —It may get tougher to track sex offenders under a new state policy California is exploring. Right now, California has an estimated 78,000 sex offenders, all of whom must, by law, register with the state for life. But Thursday, the Sex Offender Management Board started moving forward to change the rules, so that so-called lower-level offenders released from prison would be eligible to register for just 10 to 20 years – after which no one would monitor them at all. Full Article
Read MoreCalifornia “Ban the Box” Resource Guide
A new state law (AB 218) requires that by July 1, 2014, the State of California, as well as every city, county and special district in the state, have a “ban the box” policy in place so that questions about conviction history do not appear on the government’s initial job application. Resource Guide
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