Category: General News

Jill Levenson Issues New Report Regarding Life on the List

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[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…

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Sex Offender Registries Often Fail Those They Are Designed To Protect UPDATED

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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…

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ACSOL Board Member Catherine Carpenter Exposes Laws That Exclude Registrants

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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…

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CA: Legislature Passes Bill that Delays Submission of Some Tiered Registry Petitions

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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…

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International Megans Law as Compelled Speech

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“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…

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CA: Scammers Target Los Angeles Registrants, Families [UPDATED 7/3/20]

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[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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IL: High court upholds ban on sex offenders in parks

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The state’s criminal code completely bars child sex offenders from entering public parks, despite an exception written into a similar but separate part of the law, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week. The 5-2 majority held that the exception in Section 11-9.3(a-10) of the Illinois Criminal Code of 2012, which allows child sex offenders to visit public parks with their minor children when other minor children are present, cannot be read into Section 11-9.4-1(b), which prohibits a child sex offender from “knowingly be[ing] present in any public park.” Full…

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FAMM and NACDL Present the Movie: The Vanishing Trial

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[famm.org – 6/6/20] Imagine you’re charged with a crime. Now you must choose between pleading guilty and receiving a shorter sentence–or going to trial and risking decades behind bars. “The Vanishing Trial” focuses on four individuals who were forced to make that excruciating choice. Each was threatened with a “trial penalty,” the term used to describe the substantially longer prison sentence a person receives if they exercise their constitutional right to trial instead of pleading guilty. We see how the trial penalty has led to the shocking disappearance of one of…

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Movie “Brian Banks” Now Streaming Free on iTunes, Redbox, and YouTube

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[California Innocence Project – 6/5/20] “Brian Banks” Now Streaming Free on iTunes, Redbox, and YouTube. The feature film follows the true story of Banks’ trials and tribulations in the American criminal justice system San Diego, June 5, 2020 – On Friday, June 5, 2020, “Brian Banks” started streaming free on iTunes, Redbox, and YouTube, and is expected to be free on additional platforms in the days to come. In 2002, Brian Banks was a highly recruited linebacker looking to attend USC to play under Pete Carroll.  His dreams were derailed…

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Inside an innovative program helping sex offenders reintegrate into society – and why it works

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[theconversation.com – 5/10/20] In recent years, the biggest increases in Australia’s prison population have come from people convicted of sexual offences. From 2017-18, this segment of the prison population increased by 10%. The following year, it was up again by 7%. As a corollary, more and more sexual offenders are being released from prisons back to our communities. Understandably, a great deal of public concern often accompanies the release of sexual offenders, especially those who have committed offences against children. Despite this, very few programs exist to support sexual offenders…

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8th Circuit Deems Failure to Register a “Crime of Moral Turpitude”

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[floridaactioncommittee.org – 5/8/20} The US Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit ruled yesterday that Failure to Register as a Sex Offender constitutes a crime of moral turpitude. In Bakor v. Barr, the Petitioner, a permanent resident of the United States, challenges his deportation back to his native country. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Attorney General may remove an alien “who at any time after admission is convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude.” Read the full article Read the opinion PDF on uscourts.gov website  

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