The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision today stating that a registrant’s Fifth Amendment right to remain silent was violated when the government sought to return him to prison because he refused to answer questions regarding his sexual history during a polygraph exam. The questions the registrant refused to answer are (1) after the age of 18, did you engage in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 15, (2) have you had sexual contact with a family member or relative, (3) have you ever physically forced or threatened anyone…
Read MoreCategory: General News
Why does the USA have a sex offender registry, but no murderer registry?
Why does the USA have a sex offender registry, but no murderer registry? reddit discussion
Read MoreNY: But seriously folks – SORA is punishment
2012 – New York’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) imposes a lifetime of police supervision on tens of thousands of persons who have already served their sentences. It is applied retroactively to people whose offenses were committed before its enactment. A person pleading guilty to a SORA-eligible offense need not be told that this additional sanction will be imposed. His or her risk level may be assessed based on charges that were dismissed as part of the negotiated plea. Statements that he or she has never had the opportunity to…
Read MoreNumber of Registered Citizens increasing at record rate
Florida sex offender registry: double-digit growth More than a dozen people a day walk into the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and register as sex offenders. The county is home to more than 2,200 of them. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has a dozen people on staff — including four detectives – who do nothing but register and track sex offenders, who are required by law to register. Full Article N.Y. sex offender numbers outstrip nation’s New York state’s number of registered sex offenders has exploded over the past decade, ballooning…
Read MoreNSA Silent On Spies’ Child Porn Problem
Two senior U.S. intelligence officials said recently that defense and intelligence employees have an “unbelievable” amount of child pornography on their work computers and devices, and that child porn has been found on the systems of the National Security Agency, the country’s biggest intelligence organization. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments May 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of May 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreSandy Rozek: Examination of sex offender laws leads to better understanding
On April 21, Danny Jones, mayor of Charleston, in his daily talk show on WCHS radio, discussed my op-ed “How can a sex offender be rehabilitated if following the rules does not count?” on air. Brenda Jones, the execturive director for the organization National Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc. was his on-air guest. Full Article
Read MoreSex-offender list offers more harm than protection (Opinion)
I was recently on one of the city Facebook pages and noticed a posting that someone had discovered they have a registered sex offender in their neighborhood. What I found disturbing is that the poster made a generalized statement with no details on the registrant other than that they are “Tier 3 most dangerous and most likely to offend.” Nothing was stated as to what the crime was, how long ago, or the registrant’s age at the time the crime was committed. I doubt they ever looked at or considered…
Read MoreDennis Hastert Case Renews Calls To Change Child Sex Abuse Reporting Laws
For nearly 40 years, Scott Cross hid from everybody what he called his “darkest secret.” And in a federal courtroom, the 53-year-old revealed it to the world. “Coach Hastert sexually abused me in 1979, my senior year in high school,” Cross said at former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s Wednesday sentencing hearing on bank fraud charges. Full Article
Read MoreNew Medicaid Guidance Improves Access to Health Care for Justice-Involved Americans Reentering Their Communities
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) strengthened access to health care for individuals transitioning from incarceration back to their communities. New Medicaid guidance released today updates decades-old policy and clarifies that individuals who are currently on probation, parole or in home confinement are not considered inmates of a public institution. It also extends coverage to Medicaid-eligible individuals living in community halfway houses where they have freedom of movement, improving access to care for as many as 96,000 individuals in Medicaid expansion states over the course of…
Read MoreVT: Sheriff Risks His Career by Hiring a Sex Offender
Skill saws screamed, drowning out Top 40 country music tunes while two men labored to transform a run-down garage in the village of Hyde Park. The lead carpenter on the job, Timothy Szad, showed off his work in what will become an evidence room for the Lamoille County Sheriff’s Department. Szad, 56, explained that the gun racks he’s building will hold firearms that have been seized by police. To make sure the slots are the right size, he made a wooden replica of a pistol. Full Article
Read MoreFormer House speaker sentenced to more than a year in prison
CHICAGO (AP) — Dennis Hastert, the Republican who for eight years presided over the House and was second in the line of succession to the presidency, was sentenced Wednesday to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that included accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling. Full Article
Read MorePA: A wide-ranging look at sex offender registration in PA and beyond
The Cumberland County (Pennsylvania) Sentinel recently published a series of articles by Joshua Vaughn that examine the operation and effect of sex offender registration laws from a variety of perspectives. We summarize the articles with links to the Sentinel’s website. Full Article
Read MoreGovernment Files Motion to Dismiss IML Lawsuit [updated with Opposition to Motion to Dismiss]
The federal government filed a Motion to Dismiss the IML lawsuit this week. The government’s motion is based upon allegations that the plaintiffs in the case lack standing and that the challenge to the addition of a unique identifier to passports is not yet ripe. “The government’s Motion to Dismiss the IML lawsuit must be taken seriously,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “The motion, however, is not based upon legal precedent but instead upon wishful thinking.” In its motion, the government argues that plaintiffs lack standing because “they do…
Read More‘Untouchable’: Tribeca Review
The debut feature documentary from David Feige, former attorney-turned-author and now filmmaker, is a thorough and thought-provoking examination of its theme. But the theme is not quite as straightforward as the viewer initially assumes. What starts out as an exploration of the highly emotive, hot-button topic of sexual offenses – particularly those in which children are the victims – turns out to be an indictment of the problems in the American legislative process and its dogmatic and draconian legal system. Full Article Film Website Review: ‘Untouchable’ Questions the Unspeakable Truth
Read MoreEvent Information: Reentry Housing Options for Sex Offenders
Tuesday, April 19, 2016 2:00 pm – Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00) Registered sex offenders face numerous barriers to finding stable housing when they return to the community from jail or prison. Improved housing stability reduces the likelihood of recidivism and makes it easier for registered sex offenders to comply with the terms of their parole or probation. However, creating transitional and permanent housing solutions for registered sex offenders often faces substantial push-back from communities, making it difficult to fund and operate these housing programs. Event Details
Read MoreJob opportunity for people struggling to find work
Hello, affiliates. As you may have read in a recent RSOL newsletter, I started a company called HomePro. One of the main reasons for starting this company was to provide an opportunity for those who are struggling to find work. We provide at-home telemarketing reps to do mostly survey work. It’s not a difficult job, and it can be a stepping stone to better opportunities, as I’ve found that it is generally easier to find a job if you already have a job. We recently made a change in the…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: IML – Court Denies Request for Preliminary Injunction
Today the dragon won. That is, the federal government was given permission to continue its implementation of the International Megan’s Law (IML). The U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California denied our Motion for Preliminary Injunction which attempted to stop the government’s addition of a Scarlet letter to the passports of American citizens as well the government’s notifications to foreign countries that citizens intend to travel there. The court’s denial was based, in part, upon the legal concept of ripeness. That is, whether the issue was ready (or…
Read More