If you are a male living in the United States above the age of 12, raise your hand if you have never looked at, possessed or shared a picture of a naked female (or male). If you have, you may be a felon subject to imprisonment and be required to register as a sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreCategory: General News
Attorney Ordered to Reimburse Attorney Fees to Registered Citizen
A Los Angeles attorney was recently ordered to reimburse most, although not all, attorney fees paid by a registered citizen and a family member seeking to obtain relief from registration after an arbitrator from the L.A. County Bar Association found that the clients “were clearly given bad advice”. The attorney in this matter advised his clients that the best available relief from registration was a Writ of Mandate. The attorney also advised his client that he was not eligible to apply for a Certificate of Rehabilitation (COR). The registered citizen paid the attorney a total of $4,500 for…
Read MoreThe Online-Sex Predator Panic
North Carolina’s Supreme Court just upheld a law making it a crime for a former sex offender to use social media that minors also use—that is, any social media. Full Article
Read MoreTruTV Show: Adam Ruins Everything – Polygraphs are Pseudoscience
Yesterday while watching the CBS Morning Show I learned about a new television show that uses comedy to skewer misconceptions. So last night we watched the first 6 episodes OnDemand, the premise is great….. take on myths, urban legends, fallacies and issues that you had no idea were built on lies, fear and/or to fill people’s pockets….. and he lampoons these misconceptions with facts, statistics and historical data (noted in upper right corner through each segment)! One segment was on polygraphs and I wanted to share. Video
Read MorePA: Kane appoints special prosecutor to unravel PornGate
Pennsylvanians have already suffered the indignity of learning that judges, prosecutors and other law enforcement officials have used state computer systems to exchange pornographic, racist and misogynistic emails. Now, state taxpayers will pick up the bill for a team of special prosecutors hired to sort out the sordid details of PornGate. Full Article
Read MoreGeneral Comments December 2015
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of December 2015. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreLoretta Lynch’s false claim on sex trafficking arrests
This is a story about how the language regarding the crime of sex trafficking has become so fuzzy that even the nation’s top law enforcement officer can speak before an international audience and utter wildly inflated statistics. Throughout 2015, The Fact Checker has dug into dubious statistics concerning sex trafficking, so this recent speech by Attorney General Lynch caught our eye. Lynch has taken a keen interest in sex trafficking, recently announcing more than $44 million in grant funding to combat human trafficking in the United States, including supporting law-enforcement…
Read MoreWe’re All Offenders Who Haven’t Been Caught
That’s the question posed to the audience of mostly college students by Galen Baughman, a Soros Justice Fellow and the final speaker at the City University of New York TEDx talks at the Borough of Manhattan Community College last week. TEDx talks are known for introducing new speakers with new ideas on everything from tech, to teaching, to society — but Baughman was the first TEDx presenter to address the issue of sex offenders from an unusual viewpoint: He is one. And he must register as a sex offender forever.…
Read MoreNY: Mom Believes She Must Helicopter if Lowest-Level Sex Offenders Come Off Registry After 20 Years
FreeRange Kids: Here in my state, something wildly fair is about to happen: People who have been on the Sex Offender Registry for 20 years, who GOT ON the list for a “Level 1” non-violent sex crime like going to a prostitute, “public lewdness,” or peeing in public, are finally going to be allowed to get off it. Full Opinion Piece Lenore Skenazy is the author of the web blog Free-Range Kids. She was a speaker at the 2014 RSOL Conference in Dallas. My Interview in Salon about Sex Offenders…
Read MoreCriminally Yours: Sex In Vegas
I spent the weekend in Las Vegas not having fun, but taking a CLE on how to defend sex assault cases, particularly those involving Internet child porn. Lawyers came from all over the country, even states with populations as small as Wyoming, where there are more cows than people. Full Article Related Educating Attorneys That they CAN WIN – Las Vegas, NACDL, November 19-20, 2015
Read MoreInternational Megan’s Law – International Travel Action Group
I would like to clarify that there are actually two, nearly identically-named (and destructive) bills entitled, more-or-less, “International Megan’s Law” originating in both Houses of Congress. This has been the source of some confusion. The House bill has an estimated 15% chance of passing and the Senate bill 9%. These estimations are provided by the GovTrack website (and I hope they are correct). [But do keep in mind that we are being prevented from traveling, right now, without those bills.] They are: H.R. 515 in the U.S. House and sponsored,…
Read MoreOH: Sex-offender registry requires reboot in Ohio and the nation: editorial
Title 1 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 created an all-inclusive state-by-state registry of convicted sex offenders. Known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, Title 1 also attempted the impossible: to protect the public, particularly children, from convicted sexual predators who had done their time and were now back on the street. Full Article
Read MoreOpaque military justice system shields child sex abuse cases
WASHINGTON (AP) — More inmates are in U.S. military prisons for sex crimes against children than for any other offense, an Associated Press investigation has found, but an opaque justice system prevents the public from knowing the full scope of the crimes or how much time the prisoners spend behind bars. Of the 1,233 inmates confined in the military’s prison network, 61 percent were convicted of sex crimes, according to the latest available data, obtained through the federal open records law. Children were the victims in over half of those…
Read MoreStates Slowly Scale Back Juvenile Sex Offender Registries
After years of establishing and strengthening sex offender registries, some states are rethinking policies allowing juveniles to be placed on them. In states such as Oregon and Delaware, lawmakers have given judges more power to review who goes on the registry. In Pennsylvania, courts have ended lifetime registration for juveniles. Full Article
Read MoreThe sex offender industry
How often has this advice been given, and how often has the heeding of it led to the unraveling of an enigma or a crime. The sex offender industry is both, and following the money trail reveals what lies at the heart and continues to drive this occasionally well-meaning but more often self-serving complexity of businesses, individuals, and motivations that comprise this billion dollar industry. Full Article
Read MoreSNL Fauxmercial Helps Non Violent Sex Offenders Get Work
Saturday Night Live aired a fauxmercial last night advertising inexpensive help around the house, because Angie’s list is great, but it’s much too expensive. If you’re looking for help around the house and want a real bargain, you might like Aron’s list. That stands for the American Registry of Non Violent Sex Offenders, you know, not the bad kind. Streaking, public urination, missed the cutoff on statutory stuff… Article Video Clip
Read MoreSympathy for the Deviant
The intense stigma surrounding child sexual abuse clouds an already misunderstood subject—and may ultimately prevent potential abusers from getting help before they commit harm. One convicted offender shares his story. Full Article
Read MoreTeen sexting is definitely a problem, but a felony?
True or false: Your teen could be convicted of a felony and be labeled as a sex offender — for life — if he or she has sexted photos of classmates? The answer is “True” if your kid lives in one of the many states, like Colorado, that doesn’t have laws specifically addressing teens who sext. Why bring up the Rocky Mountain state? Earlier this week, it was revealed that an unspecified number of Cañon City High School students had been suspended for using their smartphones to share explicit photos of…
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