In a move designed to keep citizens aware of any potentially dangerous individuals sharing their address, the Illinois General Assembly passed a new law Wednesday requiring sex offenders to inform residents that they will be moving in with them. Full Satire Piece
Read MoreCategory: General News
Algorithm tool works to silence online chatroom sex predators
An algorithm tool developed by Purdue Polytechnic Institute faculty will help law enforcement filter out and focus on sex offenders most likely to set up face-to-face meetings with child victims. Full Article
Read MoreThe Forgotten Victims of National Crime Week
The week of April 8th to April 14th of 2018 has been declared “Nation Crime Victim’s Rights Week,” and while discussions about crime victims are commonplace, this recognized memorial week provides a greater platform for the victims’ rights group to promote their advocacy. There is, however, a narrative that has been neglected this week—the victimization of registered citizens and their loved ones by virtue of the public registry and the laws they inspire. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Three Opportunities in Thirty Days
We have three opportunities during the next 30 days to Show Up – Stand Up – Speak Up. Our first opportunity is in Sacramento on April 24 when the Senate Public Safety Committee will consider Senate Bill 1143. If passed, that bill would require registrants convicted of an offense involving a minor to disclose their status as a registrant to potential landlords as well as to home sellers if the property is within one-quarter mile of a school or a park. The penalty for not making such a disclosure is…
Read MoreChild trafficking expert speaks at William and Mary
Mosby is an expert in child trafficking in Thailand and founder of the HUG project, an organization dedicated to helping victims of child trafficking. In 2017 she won the TIP award for her work helping victims of sexual abuse. On Monday, Mosby came to the College of William and Mary to speak with students about child trafficking in Thailand and the steps she and others have taken to prevent it. … The U.S. has also come up with preventative measures to help stop its citizens from committing child sex crimes…
Read MoreMO: Sex offenders register for a lifetime, but a bill would let some petition for removal
Almost all sex offenders in Missouri are on a state registry for a lifetime, whether they made a one-time mistake, or made repeated or extreme offenses. Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, wants to make it possible for certain people to petition to remove their name from the list and for the registry to be more transparent for the public. Full Article
Read MoreThere Are Too Many Kids on the Sex Offender Registry
Both the boys admit they did it. Horsing around, two New Jersey 14-year-olds pulled down their pants and sat on the faces of two 12-year-old boys. As one of them later explained, “I thought it was funny and I was trying to get my friends to laugh.” For that act, he and his buddy are on the sex offender registry for life. This was, after all, “sexual contact done for sexual gratification or to degrade or humiliate the victim.” The boys lost an appeal in 2011, with a three-judge panel…
Read MoreAttorneys general fighting against 2017 ruling regarding Colorado’s sex offender registry
A group of attorneys general are fighting a 2017 court ruling that declared Colorado’s sex offender registry “cruel and unusual.” Full Article Related Attorney General Hunter Leads 10th Circuit States in Opposing Ruling that Colorado Sex Offender Registration is Unconstitutional (AG Press Release) To read the brief, click here.
Read MoreVT: Supreme Court says sex offenders can have porn
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state cannot uniformly declare pornography off-limits to sex offenders. The decision does allow a sex offender’s probation to include such restrictions, but only if they are deemed specifically appropriate to the individual offender. Full Article
Read MoreDOJ SMART: Case Law Updates
Through the course of the year, the SMART Office follows state and federal case law about sex offender registration and notification, tracking the latest opinions, trends and arguments. We aim to publish a summary for informational purposes annually. Archived issues are available below. Case Law Updates
Read MoreThe Boy On The Bus: When Sex Offender Registries Aren’t Enough
My husband carries a photo of me in his wallet tucked behind credit cards, his driver’s license and carefully folded bills. I ask him to give it to me as we stand in the reception area of the jail in Tama County, Iowa, in December 2015. He looks ready to ask: Why? Then, he silently pulls it from his wallet. Full Essay
Read MoreDamaging Justice to Make a Point About Rape
There’s currently a campaign to recall a Superior Court judge in my county. Judge Aaron Persky presided over the 2016 trial of Stanford student Brock Turner, who was ultimately convicted of digitally penetrating an unconscious woman on campus. With Turner a young first-timer with no previous police record, the Probation Department recommended a sentence of six months in jail and three years’ probation, focused on rehabilitation. As is typical, the judge followed this recommendation. California law also requires that Turner register as a sex offender for the rest of his…
Read MoreBriefing the Supreme Court: Promoting Science or Myth?
The Supreme Court recently decided, in Packingham v. North Carolina, whether North Carolina’s ban on the use of social networking websites by registered sex offenders is constitutional. The principal legal issue in the case was whether the ban violates the First Amendment’s right to freedom of speech. The Supreme Court found the law unconstitutional for that reason. Yet another issue arose in the briefing and oral arguments before the Supreme Court. The litigants and certain amici curiae engaged in some debate about whether such a restriction is necessary in the…
Read MoreGeneral Comments April 2018
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of April 2018. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreHow Sex Offender Registries Can Result in Vigilante Murder
Some Canadian conservatives are pushing for more public sex offender registries. But there is a history of deadly violence associated with them. Full Article
Read MoreACSOL Conference to Feature National Experts
The second annual ACSOL conference to be held on June 15 and June 16 will feature national experts Laurie Jo Reynolds, Dr. Ilan Meyer and Anokhi Shah. The conference will be held at Southwestern Law School, 3050 Wilshire Boulevard, in downtown Los Angeles. “Laurie Jo Reynolds is an activist, a social justice professor and an artist who understands the challenges registrants and their families face every day,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “She is sure to inspire us all.” Dr. Ilan Meyer is a Distinguished Senior Scholar for Public…
Read MoreMonitoring the Use of Electronic Monitoring
One February night in 2009, our phone rang. It was two in the morning. My 95-year-old mother was on the line. She told me she was having chest pains, thought she was having a heart attack, and had already called 911. Since she lived less than a mile away, my immediate response should have been to rush to her side. Instead, I dialed the 1-800 number anyone on parole on an electronic monitoring device is required to call. The operator picked up after 15 minutes and told me I needed the…
Read MoreWhat BYP100 Director Charlene Carruthers Wishes She Knew About Community Organizing
[teenvogue.com] I wasn’t born a leader; I was agitated into choosing leadership by growing up on the South Side of Chicago. I didn’t wake up at 18 understanding what white supremacy, patriarchy, anti-blackness, and capitalism meant. Self-study, comrades, elders, and people I met in the streets taught me how to understand the world and gave me the room to imagine a radically different future… … Understanding power is essential. We can change the people and the leadership — but if we don’t change the structure, values, purpose, and vision of…
Read More