Friends, New Yorkers, Countrypersons! Lend us your ears! We come not to praise SORA but to bury it. For the courts say its purpose is not to punish, but to protect public safety. And courts are honorable persons, otherwise they wouldn’t have “Hon.” in front of their names. SORA was enacted in 1996 to create a class of persons permanently labeled “sex offenders,” based on scientific proof that anyone who commits a sex offense is an incurable, murderous pedophile. Therefore, they have no constitutional right to be let alone even…
Read MoreCategory: General News
Sext Offenders
By Bill Maher – A school in Newtown, Connecticut is in the news, but this time not for a tragic shooting. At least not with a gun. Some kids at the high school there got to texting and Snapchatting each other naked pictures of themselves, as kids of that age will sometimes do, and some of the nudey photos got circulated, as pics of that type always seem to do. And now there’s been some arrests. Full Article
Read MoreIML Lawsuit Media Articles (updated 2/19)
Added 2/19 http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/19/21st-century-public-shaming/ http://www.downtownexpress.com/2016/02/18/dont-brand-sex-offenders-passports/ http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/news-sex-offenders-megans-law-obama/Content?oid=4486073 Added 2/12 https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/02/12/civil-rights-group-files-lawsuit-questioning-constitutionality-of-international-megans-law/ http://kron4.com/2016/02/10/sex-offenders-to-be-identified-federal-passports-law/ Added 2/11 https://pcjc.blogs.law.pace.edu/2016/02/11/international-megans-law-h-r-515-necessary-constitutional/ http://wemeantwell.com/blog/2016/02/11/u-s-passports-of-sex-offenders-to-be-marked/ http://nationalrsol.org/blog/2016/02/09/first-lawsuit-challenging-intl-megans-law-filed-in-ca-federal-court/ 2-10-16: International Megan’s Law Conference Call (National RSOL) https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-authorized-create-angel-watch-center-expand-child-protection-efforts-following Added 2/10 http://reason.com/blog/2016/02/10/lawsuit-says-scarlet-letter-passports-fo http://www.courthousenews.com/CNSNEWS/Story/Index/86768 http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/02/09/civil-rights-group-opposes-law-identifying-sex-offenders-on-passports/ http://www.newsweek.com/civil-rights-group-sex-offender-passports-marking-state-department-424754 http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sex-offender-passport-20160209-story.html http://fox40.com/2016/02/09/sex-offenders-challenge-new-federal-passports-law/ http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/02/obama_signs_international_megans_law.html
Read MoreObama Just Signed a Really Bad Criminal Justice Law
Is this really the best Congress can do? – After months of hype about the historic bipartisan consensus that we must make the American criminal justice system less harsh, President Obama finally signed a justice reform bill into law Monday. There’s only one problem: Instead of making the justice system more fair and less punitive, the new law will make it more vindictive and petty. Specifically, it will require people who have been convicted of sex crimes against minors to carry special passports in which their status as registered sex…
Read MorePresident Signed HR 515, International Megan’s Law
President Obama signed HR 515 into law on February 8. The law will require federal agencies to notify destination countries that registered citizens are coming to visit as well as to require the Secretary of State to add a “unique identifier” to the passports of some registered citizens. “The President’s decision, if unchallenged, would require the Secretary of State to add a Scarlet Letter to the passports of hundreds of thousands of American citizens,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “Therefore a lawsuit has been prepared and will be filed on February 9 challenging…
Read MoreSex offenders face obstacles from well-intended laws
I’ve been trying to help a sex offender I’ll call George to find a home plan in preparation for his release from prison in March. I’ve known this man for 10 years. His crimes are computer crimes and stupidity. Will he re-offend? Of course I don’t know. I do know it’s statistically unlikely that he would molest a child. But I don’t know. What I also know is that if he can find housing and a job, he has a much better chance of not re-offending and public safety will…
Read More7th Circuit OKs sex-offender GPS monitoring
Wisconsin lawmakers didn’t violate the U.S. Constitution when they mandated that anyone deemed to be a sexually violent person wear a GPS monitoring device following his or her release from civil commitment, a federal appeals court has held. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a state statute requiring such persons to wear a monitoring device for the rest of their lives. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments February 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of February 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreHR 515 Articles (Collection – updated 2/8)
All articles about HR 515 in one place…
Read MoreCongress votes to stigmatize and surveil the travel of second-class US citizens
Can second-class US citizens be required to carry second-class US passports with a conspicuous stigmatizing “scarlet letter” label? Congress has now said yes. Do DHS pre-cogs have the omniscience and infallibility of angels at predicting and protecting the US and the world against future crimes? Congress has now said yes. Full Article
Read MoreObama Could Still Stop ‘Megan’s Law’ From Making Sex Offenders Get Special Passports
Both the U.S. House and Senate have signed off on a bill to brand registered sex offenders as such on their passports and require federal officials to notify foreign governments whenever certain offenders intend to travel there. The bill is now on its way to President Obama; it’s unclear whether he’ll sign. If he does, it will be “the first time in U.S. history that any such special designation will appear on the passports of any U.S. citizens,” writes lawyer and New America Foundation Senior Fellow David Post at The Volokh Conspiracy, “and I…
Read MoreCongress Acts to Mark Passports of Sex Offenders
Target of legislation is sex-traffickers; critics call it a ‘scarlet letter.’ Legislation requiring the State Department to identify registered sex offenders with a special mark on their passports received final passage in the House of Representatives on Monday night and went to President Obama’s desk. The White House has not indicated whether President Obama plans to sign the bill. Full Article
Read MoreThis is how to pass a bill with no facts to support it
The discussion in the U.S. House pertinent to International Megan’s Law has ended with a vote to pass the resolution under suspension of the rules. Ten legislators spoke in favor of the bill. They all threw out a lot of numbers, sometimes in conflict with each other, all designed to draw conclusions that cannot be concluded with any degree of logic. Remember that the bill is named International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders. Child exploitation and other sexual…
Read MoreShould a 9-year-old Be Branded a Sex Offender for Life? [Opinion]
Southwestern Law School professor Catherine Carpenter put it bluntly in her new research paper, “Throwaway Children: The Tragic Consequences of a False Narrative.” “Truth be told,” she wrote, “we are afraid for our children and we are afraid of our children.” Full Article
Read MoreJudge Gives Man 5 Days for Child Porn, Rails Against Harsh Sentences
A Brooklyn man who faced 10 years for downloading child pornography was sentenced to five days by a federal judge who sharply criticized punishment guidelines for failing to distinguish between dangerous offenders and those who pose little threat. Full Article
Read MoreCongress Reschedules HR 515 Vote for February 1 [updated with media]
The U.S. House of Representatives has rescheduled its vote on HR 515, International Megan’s Law, for Monday, February 1. As originally scheduled, the vote will be under a “suspension of the rules” and therefore debate will be limited to no more than 40 minutes and require a 2/3 vote of those present regardless of how many members are in attendance. “There is still time to send E-mails this weekend and to make phone calls on Monday,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “The vote on this and seven other bills…
Read MoreAre We All Sex Offenders? Galen Baughman – TEDxCUNY
Galen works alongside many others in reforming the criminal justice system, but his angle might surprise you. Join him as he shares his crusade for equal justice, which has led him to the courtroom, advocacy, and beyond. https://youtu.be/pYt-3fai-PI View on youtube
Read MoreWhy Some Young Sex Offenders Are Held Indefinitely
On the afternoon of ___ ___’s 18th birthday, three parole officers showed up at his home in West New York, N.J. Sanchez was in his slippers and shorts, and when his mother asked if she could grab her son something else to wear, an officer assured her that ___ would be gone only for a little while. That was five years ago. ____ is behind bars, but he is not in a regular prison. He is considered a resident, one who is detained involuntarily and indefinitely at the Special Treatment…
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