Joe Biden promised us an FDR-sized presidency—starting with bold action to halt the spread of COVID-19, end the worst economic downturn in decades, and stop the climate crisis. Biden could use regulation and executive action to move quickly to decarbonize the economy, cancel student loan debt, and raise wages. But a Biden administration has an even bigger problem than two long-shot special elections in Georgia: the new 6–3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court may soon burn down the federal government’s regulatory powers. … But last year, in a case…
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California Fair Chance Toolkit – A Toolkit for Job Seekers with Criminal Records
[legalaidatwork.org – Nov 2020] Approximately 7 million Californians — nearly one in three adults in California — have an arrest or conviction record. In this toolkit, you will find information about laws in California that protect job seekers with criminal records and sample letters and materials you can use to exercise those rights. Literally thousands of formerly-incarcerated people around California, their family members, and a wide variety of social and racial justice organizations — most notably All of Us or None — worked together to pass the laws discussed in…
Read MoreGeneral Comments December 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of December 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 MoreSex Offender Registration Doesn’t Help Victims, Hurts Young Offenders
Jason was 14 years old when he met his first girlfriend, a 13-year-old neighbor of the foster family with whom he lived. After a few months of dating, his girlfriend’s mother walked in on the teenagers engaging in consensual oral sex and called the police. Jason was arrested and charged with child molestation. He was adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court and placed on the California Sex Offender Registry. Before he was old enough to drive, Jason was branded a sex offender on a public, searchable website. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreConfidential Volunteers for Doctoral Research on Sexual Misconduct Needed [UPDATED 11/28]
[Joseph De Gearo at Adelphi University, NY – adelphi.edu] We are exploring the perceptions of men accused of sexual misconduct during college. The goal of our research is to improve policy, prevention and education. The volunteer would be interviewed confidentially for about an hour by Zoom or phone. If you are male accused of sexual misconduct during college and are willing to volunteer, please contact me: Joe De Gearo [email protected] [updated 11/28/20] (516) 993-0024
Read MoreGeneral Comments November 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of November 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 MoreMy Son is No Sex Offender
My 33-year-old son, Adam, is a registered sex offender in the state of Illinois. Because of this, our entire family exists in the netherworld of the registry. The federal laws mandating a publicly available sex-offender registry were passed in the mid-1990s with the purpose of notifying communities about “sexually violent predators” living in their neighborhoods. But my son is not violent nor is he a predator. My son was convicted of a single, non-violent misdemeanor. He was never in trouble before, and he’s never been in trouble since. There are…
Read MoreACSOL Declares Virtual Conference a Success
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) conducted a successful two-day virtual conference on October 10 and 11. The conference featured plenary speakers such as criminal justice professor Dr. Alissa Ackerman, civil rights attorney Marcus Allen and Justin Brooks of the Innocence Project. The conference also featured panel discussions regarding the federal government’s proposed SORNA regulations, challenges faced by family members, the LGBT community, and travel restrictions. “More than 240 people signed up for this year’s conference,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Although it was ACSOL’s fourth annual…
Read More“Your Life on the List”: A Survival Guide for those Forced to Register Upon Release
Derek W. Logue of OnceFallen.com Since 2015, OnceFallen.com has provided the Informational Corrlinks Newsletter (ICoN) and other prisoner outreach services. In an effort to provide numerous resources for prisoners, those new to life on the registry, and those potentially facing life on the registry (many of whom may not have access to the Internet), OnceFallen has compiled the best information from our website and past issues from the ICoN and created “Your Life on the List”, a registry survival guide. Your Life on the List covers many of the most…
Read MoreGeneral Comments October 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of October 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 MoreJill Levenson Issues New Report Regarding Life on the List
[Danielle Arlanda Harris and Jill Levenson – International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology – 9/7/20] In their recent report, “Life on ‘The List’ is a Life Lived in Fear: Post-Conviction Traumatic Stress in Men Convicted of Sexual Offenses,” [a download link is at the bottom of this post] Dr. Danielle Arlanda Harris and Dr. Jill Levenson cogently demonstrate the inherent stress for Registrants as they pursue basic needs for survival as outlined in Maslow’s Hierarchy while simultaneously combating symptoms connected to PCTS (Post-Conviction Traumatic Stress). The report also…
Read MoreGeneral Comments September 2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of September 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 MoreSex Offender Registries Often Fail Those They Are Designed To Protect UPDATED
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…
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 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 MoreCA: Scammers Target Los Angeles Registrants, Families [UPDATED 7/3/20]
[7/3/20 Janice’s note: we have received new reports regarding the scams in Southern CA, so we are re-posting this 8/4/19 article since it is still happening] Aug 4, 2018: Scammers, who often pose on the phone as law enforcement officials, are threatening registrants with arrest and demanding immediate payment of sums up to $3,000 in order to avoid jail or prison. There are reports of this occurring during the past week in at least two different cities in Los Angeles County — Upland and Lawndale. According to the reports, the…
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