California RSOL filed a lawsuit in federal district court on May 2 challenging the sex offender ordinance and sex offender registration process in the City of Santa Ana. The ordinance contains presence restrictions including a prohibition of registrants using the city’s public library. The registration process requires all registrants to register inside the Santa Ana Jail for periods up to four hours as well to wear a prison uniform. Registrants are not allowed to leave during the registration process and are prohibited from using cell phones or any other communications…
Read MoreCategory: California
Former Facebook exec joins Chelsea’s Law effort
Chris Kelly, a former Facebook executive who authored and financed a highly successful California initiative to stop sex trafficking, has joined the effort to pass Chelsea’s Law in all 50 states. Signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010, after unanimously passing both houses of the state Legislature, Chelsea’s Law is a one-strike mandate for sexual predators convicted of a violent sexual assault on a child. It’s named after Chelsea King, a 17-year-old Poway girl who was brutally raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender who was paroled after serving…
Read MoreCivil Rights Attorney Speaks Out in Defense
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – There’s new information on what a civil rights attorney says needs to be happening with ____ ____, the sexually violent predator recently released in Santa Barbara County. She says his release as a transient is doing him no favors, and she says ____ deserves a home. Janice Bellucci has been advocating for reform to sex offender rights for many years now. Although Bellucci admits she’s been ridiculed many times for her views, she sticks firmly by them. “They have declared these people to be safe to…
Read MoreCity of Palmdale to Consider Repeal of Sex Offender Ordinance
The City Council of Palmdale will formally consider during its May 1 meeting a complete repeal of its sex offender ordinance. The ordinance is broad in that it includes both residency and presence restrictions. “It is essential that the City of Palmdale repeal the ordinance on May 1 in order to correct the mistakes made in its passage,” stated President Janice Bellucci. “The current ordinance violates both the federal and state constitutions.” California RSOL met with city officials in early April to discuss the ordinance and stated that the ordinance…
Read MoreCalifornia RSOL Scores Victory in Sacramento
A state bill that would have allowed counties and cities to pass ordinances prohibiting where a registrant can be present (such as parks, beaches and libraries) has been stopped! The bill, S.B. 386, was introduced by Senator Correa of Orange County on February 21. The bill was scheduled for a hearing by the Public Safety Committee on April 30, however, the bill has been withdrawn by Senator Correa from further consideration. California Reform Sex Offender Laws (CA RSOL) lobbied against the bill soon after it was introduced. The lobbying effort…
Read More[UPDATED] RIVERSIDE: RCC student president, a sex offender, seeks re-election
[Updated with reelection – May 2013] Riverside City College’s student body president, a registered sex offender on probation, is running for re-election. As ___ ____ prepares for the May 1 election, college district officials await a legal opinion from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office about whether the student government can or should change its bylaws to prevent candidates with criminal records from running in the future. Full Article Update from May 2013: Figueroa reelected RCC student body president Update: http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20130418-riverside-rccs-student-president-says-sex-offender-past-irrelevant-to-re-election.ece
Read MoreAB 702 Passes First Test
The Public Safety Committee approved by a vote of 4 to 2 Assembly Bill 702 (AB 702), which would create a tiered registry for sex offenders in California. The vote took place after testimony from three representatives of California RSOL as well as oral support from organizations including but not limited to the ACLU and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. Additional support came from registrants and family members who attended the hearing. “The committee’s passage of AB 702 is a vital first step leading to the creation of a tiered…
Read MoreCalifornia college student body president is sex offender
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – When flyers appeared at Riverside City College on April Fool’s Day saying the student body president was a sex offender, students were stunned by the cruel prank. They were even more stunned when they learned it was true. “I was flabbergasted,” said Amanda Waring, a theater arts major who works for the school newspaper. “At first people thought it was a joke.” ___ ___ ___, 40, who was elected to a one-year term as student body president in May, pleaded guilty in 2005 to kidnapping and lewd…
Read MoreFullerton Parks Ordinance preempts State Law
On April 11 a panel of 3 Superior Court Judges found the Fullerton municipal ordinance prohibiting 290 registrants from entering and being near public parks to be preempting state law and thus unlawful. This decision is not published, so it only effects the Fullerton ordinance in this very case. It is is similar to the ruling regarding the County of Orange ordinance from last November. The Court of Appeal’s published opinion regarding the County Ordinance is expected late spring / early summer. Fullerton Parks Ordinance – Appellate Court Decision (April 2013) COURT…
Read MoreSeeking smarter rules for sex offenders
Janice Bellucci is a mother of two, the wife of a pastor and a former Girl Scout leader active in volunteer work. She lives in a gated community an hour’s drive north of Santa Barbara, with needlepoint pillows on the sofa and a vegetable garden in the backyard. She is also the public face of an organization advocating for the closest thing to an untouchable caste in our society: California’s 88,000 registered sex offenders. A former aerospace lawyer, Bellucci is the president of the California chapter of Reform Sex Offender…
Read MoreCalifornia to Host National RSOL Conference
Sign up now: Conference Registration – More Details: Conference Information – National RSOL The 5th Annual Reform Sex Offender Laws Conference, “Justice For All”, will be held in Los Angeles during Labor Day weekend. The conference will begin on Thursday, August 29, with an evening social gathering and continue through noon on Sunday, September 1. The conference will be held at the Westin Hotel near LAX airport. “This is an excellent opportunity for registrants and family members of registrants to learn about the laws and policies that affect their daily lives,” stated…
Read MoreReport outlines extreme abuses by California prison staff
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California parole agent was accused of soliciting one of his parolees to kill another. Numerous corrections department employees allegedly had sex with inmates, including juveniles. Full Article
Read MoreTiered Registry Bill Introduced
A tiered registry bill, which would end the state’s lifetime registry, has been introduced in the state Assembly. The Public Safety Committee will conduct a public hearing on the bill (AB 702) on April 16 in Sacramento. If passed, the bill would create three tiers in which some registrants would be removed from the registry after 10 or 20 years. The language in the bill is similar to AB 625 which was defeated in 2012. “Passage of a tiered registry bill is the highest priority of California RSOL and the…
Read MoreResidency Restrictions Removed in L.A. County
Residency restrictions for most registrants residing in Los Angeles County have been removed, according to a Superior Court decision. The decision, in the form of a blanket stay of enforcement, was issued by Judge Peter Espinoza on March 18. The stay of enforcement applies to all registrants currently on parole who are unable to find compliant housing. The decision allows the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) an opportunity to request from the court, on a case-by-case basis, an exemption “upon a showing of cause why a parolee is…
Read MoreCertificate of Rehabilitation
The first comment below is a very detailed description of the Road to a Certificate of Rehabilitation. We believe it deserves its own post. Thanks to the poster for taking the time to share. Although this unfortunately is not an option for many (PC 290.5), hopefully it will help someone.
Read MoreTests found major flaws in parolee GPS monitoring devices
A little more than a year ago, California quietly began conducting tests on the GPS monitoring devices that track the movements of thousands of sex offenders. The results were alarming. Corrections officials found the devices used in half the state were so inaccurate and unreliable that the public was “in imminent danger.” Full Article Also on Huffington Post
Read MoreLawsuit alleges online extortion, a growing menace
Los Angeles (CNN) — The California man thought he put his past behind him, but then he became victim to an online scam associated more with the mafia than the Internet. He is alleging in a federal lawsuit that three websites are running an extortion racket preying on his history as a one-time registered sex offender. The alleged shakedown is a growing trend in cyberspace that also includes “ransomware” — another extortion scheme that uses fake police and FBI warnings to demand money in exchange for unfreezing data on your computer, experts…
Read MoreSex Offender Sites Accused Of Extorting Money In Federal Lawsuit In California
A recent federal lawsuit claims a group of websites is trying to extort money from some of society’s least sympathetic people: sex offenders. Privately owned sites OnlineDetective.com, SORArchives.com and, before it recently went dark, Offendex.com, attract viewers by advertising photographs, home addresses and personal information of rapists, child molesters and other sexual deviants. Full Article
Read More