The State Department has modified the Final Rule it published on September 2, 2016, regarding implementation of the International Megan’s Law (IML). The modification corrects the erroneous statement in the Rule regarding whose passports will bear a “unique identifier”. The modification clarifies that “unique identifiers” will be added only to the passports of individuals convicted of a sex offense that involved a minor and who are currently required to register as a sex offender. The State Department’s modification occurred as the result of a petition filed by the Alliance for Constitutional Sex…
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ACSOL Conference Call October 26 – Halloween (with Recording)
ACSOL’s will hold a public conference call on Wednesday, October 26, at 4 p.m. Pacific time. The topic of the call will be “Halloween” and the call will follow the same format as the previous calls. There will be a brief presentation of the topic to be followed by a Q&A session where call attendees may ask questions pertaining to the topic. Dial-in number: 1-712-770-8055 Conference Code: 983459 I look forward to having you call in. Sincerely, Janice Recording Related ***Listen to the Call Recordings (when done)*** ***ACSOL Conference Call Discussions by date /…
Read MoreAsperger’s, autism, and sex offenders
… Then he talked about his son’s diagnosis: Asperger’s Syndrome, a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum. As a young child, Nick flapped his arms and jumped a lot. At three, he barely spoke. As an adult, he still cannot tie his shoes, making it all the more impressive that he has achieved so much. Then the dad added one more item to his son’s resume: Nick is a convicted felon, a sex offender on the registry. He was found guilty of possession of child porn. Full Article
Read MoreLARGE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY, PROFESSOR FINDS
A University at Albany assistant professor has begun looking into how sex offender registries reveal the inequalities of the criminal justice system. The findings of Trevor Hoppe, an assistant professor of sociology, have been published in his paper, “Punishing Sex: Sex Offenders and the Missing Punitive Turn in Sexuality Studies.” The study indicates that approximately 1 percent of African American males in the United States are registered sex offenders while white males are registered at approximately half that rate. Full Article
Read MoreSex offender registries need reform
Twenty-five years ago, with activist Patty Wetterling by his side, Minnesota governor Arne Carlson signed America’s first law establishing a public registry system for sex offenders. The law, which Wetterling helped to write, aimed to give police a starting point for tracking down sexual predators like Danny Heinrich, the man who had kidnapped, molested and murdered Patty’s son, Jacob Wetterling. Full Article
Read MoreThe Myth and the Propaganda of Halloween and Registered Sex Offenders
3 weeks from today is Halloween 2016 and in about 2 weeks I’ll post my annual Do’s and Don’ts list for RSO’s in Virginia on Halloween. Over the years of advocating for data-driven laws and reform here I’ve learned the worst time of year for Myth-Based and Hysteria-Driven articles, policies and laws is Halloween. Halloween can be more emotionally draining than the annual Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. Full Article on It’s Time to Reduce, Reconstruct, Reclassify, Rethink and Reform the Virginia Sex Offender Registry
Read MoreIML Report to Congress Addresses Passport Identifiers, Notifications to Foreign Countries
Three executive branch agencies — the Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Justice — have reported to Congress their plans to implement the International Megan’s Law (IML). The 17-page report also includes a request for an additional $9.3 million in funding each year to implement that law. According to the report, the Angel Watch Center (AWC) will provide written determinations to the Department of State regarding whether an individual is a “covered sex offender”. After that determination is made, the State Department will add an individual’s name to its existing…
Read MoreTeens and sex: When laws don’t keep up with reality
An 11-year-old girl in Michigan streaking in front of her brothers was charged with a sex crime. A 14-year-old boy in Minnesota was charged with distributing child pornography after sending a photo of his genitals to a female classmate. Another 14-year-old boy in South Dakota was charged with rape after getting his 13-year-old girlfriend pregnant. These are all cases that have been worked on by Nicole Pittman, vice president and director of the Center on Youth Registration Reform in California. Full Article
Read MoreSex-offender registry adds costs without protecting public (Opinion)
Last month, a new chapter was written in one of America’s oldest real-life murder mysteries. The body of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling was finally found, 27 years after his abduction. Jacob’s gun-point abduction shocked the nation and spawned a network of state sex-offender registries, South Carolina’s among them. But extensive research since then has raised serious questions about the effectiveness of such measures. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreWhy Current Child Porn Laws Imprison the Wrong People (Opinion)
Growing up, I was taught that prison was a place where people went when they did bad things. It was simple then: There were good people and there were bad people. As I got older, the picture grew more complicated. I saw good people do bad things, and I saw bad people do good things. But recently, when one of the best people in my world did something that landed him in prison, my beliefs about the justice system and how it punishes American citizens were completely upended. Full Article
Read MoreMaking the Case Against Banishing Sex Offenders
Mary Sue Molnar estimates that she gets at least five calls a week from Texans on the sex offender registry who can’t find a place to live. Numerous towns around the state have passed ordinances prohibiting those on the list from residing within a certain distance — anywhere from 500 to 3,500 feet — of a school, park, daycare facility or playground. In some towns, that’s almost everywhere. “We’ve got people living in extended-stay motels,” says Molnar, who runs the sex-offender-rights group Texas Voices for Reason and Justice. “We’re in…
Read MoreSex-offender registries: How the Wetterling abduction changed the country
After Jacob Wetterling was abducted in 1989, a pastor named Thomas Gillespie of the St. Joseph Parish offered support and comfort to the Wetterling family. He invited them to dinner, opened the church for a community prayer service and presented them with hot cross buns at Easter. What the Wetterlings did not know at the time was that Gillespie was a sex offender who admitted molesting a boy in the 1970s and was finally removed from the ministry in 1996. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments October 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of October 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreFormer Inmate Hosts Video Podcast On America’s Criminal Justice System
Already an established independent filmmaker with five film credits under his belt, Matt Duhamel has now set his sights on a weekly video podcast about America’s broken criminal justice system. ‘Solitary Nation’, which is available in both video and audio format on Google Play Music and Stichter, is an interview style show on important subjects such as sex offenders in the community, mass incarceration, collateral effects on family members, children of incarcerated parents and post prison success stories. Duhamel states that the main reason he decided to produce and host…
Read MoreCalifornia Employers’ Fair Chance Hiring Toolkit
Root & Rebound is proud to announce the launch of the first-ever California Employers’ Fair Chance Hiring Toolkit, a critical resource for California employers, H.R. departments, corporate counsel, and business professionals on “Fair Chance” hiring! Full Article
Read MoreSurvey – International Travel after IML
If you have traveled to a foreign country after President Obama signed HR 515 / International Megan’s Law into law on February 8, 2016, please complete this survey to help gather details about the effects of this legislation. We will also share this data with the RTAG group for incorporation into their travel matrix. Thank you. Go to International Travel Survey
Read MoreJustice Department Announces Almost $18 Million In Awards To Support Sex Offender Registration, Assessment, Intervention
Today the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) awarded almost $18 million to implement and enhance sex offender programming throughout the United States. “We have made tremendous strides over the last decade toward building a comprehensive sex offender registration and notification system,” said Director Luis C. deBaca, Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking (SMART Office). “The new awards take our efforts to the next stage, giving our state, local and tribal partners evidence-based tools and technologies that will enhance their capacity to manage sex…
Read MoreSex Offenders International
It would have taken enormous courage to say no because it was a shockingly awful idea that played well to the simplistic and ignorant. President Obama lacked that courage. Perhaps he’s too busy with his lame duck session. Perhaps he feared that a courageous move would have affected the chances of the Democratic candidate for president. Perhaps his talk of reform was just talk, and he’s every bit as good with bad criminal law policy as everyone else. No matter. He signed it. It’s now law. After months of hype…
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