In what may foreshadow the end to a new “yes means yes” standard of consent for date rape, already been adopted in California and New York as well as on many other campuses, a judge has ruled – in a case in which both parties were so drunk they did not even know if sex had actually occurred – that the new standard violated the U.S. Constitution. Full Article
Read MoreCategory: General News
A Grandma Reflects on Sex Offender Laws: “My Husband Would Have Gone to Jail”
Following up on the Zach Anderson case — the 19 year old on the Sex Offender Registry for 25 years for having consensual sex with a girl who said she was 17 (but was really 14) — comes this grandma’s letter. The Sex Offender Registry is a Free-Range issue because it grows out of the belief our kids are in constant danger and it perpetuates that belief, by making many non-threatening people like Zach into scary dots on the “maps of local sex offenders.” Full Article (FreeRangeKids)
Read MoreMany sex offenders denied entry into Mexico. But others live here.
Mexico has no national registry of sex offenders, but it’s been able to use an international database to bar entry to more than a thousand known abusers and would-be child sex tourists over the last 22 months. Full Article Related All Posts in International Travel International Travel (Main Post)
Read MoreWhen the sex offender registry goes too far
You may have heard about questionable instances of people being put on a sex offender registry: teenagers having sex with other teenagers, overly curious children touching each other’s private parts, someone urinating in public. These are hardly the pedophiles and violent criminals who abduct and rape the innocent, but oftentimes they are subject to the same stringent restrictions on where to live and shop and the same stigma that makes finding a job very difficult. The case of Zachary Anderson helps to illustrate the failure of this one-size-fits-all punishment. ……
Read MoreGoogle, Facebook, Twitter join crackdown on child porn
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Yahoo will be among the first technology companies to use the Internet Watch Foundation’s “hash list” to identify and remove child abuse images uploaded to their services, the British anti-abuse organization announced Monday. Not to be confused with a hashtag, a hash is a string of code that can serve as the digital fingerprint of an image. Sharing the list of fingerprints with Internet companies will allow victims’ images to be identified and removed more quickly, preventing them from being repeatedly shared. Full Article
Read MoreThe Crimes of Children
Round Rock High School, just north of Austin in the Texas Hill Country, sprawls over 88 acres. It feels like a small liberal-arts college: There is a junior R.O.T.C. Training center. There are basketball courts, a gymnastics facility, a swimming pool, a football field, soccer fields, and a baseball diamond that, along its outfield fence, bears a faded sign commemorating the school’s 1997 state championship victory. Full Article
Read MoreMURRIETA: Mayor Ramos facing sexual harassment claim
A Ramona woman has filed a claim against Murrieta and Mayor Harry Ramos, alleging the mayor sexually harassed her at a Chamber of Commerce mixer in January. Full Article
Read MoreThink All Child Molesters are ‘Pedophiles’? Think Again.
Categorizing those that sexually abuse children as predatory pedophiles is not only a common misconception – it’s also dangerous. It gives us a sense that offenders are easier to identify through grooming behaviors or a lack therof, and easier to understand – that they have a sexual perversion that can’t be cured. This makes it all the more difficult to understand how someone respected and well-liked could sexually abuse a child. Full Article
Read MoreDoes youthful mistake merit sex-offender status?
(CNN)Zachery Anderson was a 19-year-old college student with no criminal history when he met a teenage girl on the dating app “Hot or Not” and had sex with her in December. The girl, who admitted she lied about her age, turned out to be only 14, making their encounter a sexual crime. Despite statements from the girl and her mother begging the judge for leniency, Anderson was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years on probation. But that is the least of his problems. The liaison also landed…
Read MoreGeneral Comments August 2015
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of August 2015. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreDear 37 Million Ashley Madison customers: Welcome to Our World
I am a registered sex offender. Now, before you get convulsions, reach for your pistol, knife, baseball bat, scream obscenities, flip me off, or whatever, hear me out, because for once, it’s not about me, it’s about YOU. Full Article on sosen.org
Read MoreThe Supreme Court’s Crucial Mistake About Sex Crime Statistics
Proponents of criminal justice reform never talk about sex offenders. They’re political untouchables subject to lifelong restrictions that continue long past their confinement, restrictions justified as necessary to protect the public from their propensity to re-offend. Two Supreme Court decisions established that justification. But they rely on a scientific study that doesn’t exist. Full Article Related ‘Frightening and High’: The Frightening Sloppiness of the High Court’s Sex Crime Statistics
Read MoreShelby Introduces International Megan’s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation
WASHINGTON, DC – Monday, July 27, 2015 – U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) today introduced S.1867, legislation to protect children from exploitation by establishing an international notification system to provide advanced notice of travel by registered sex offenders to destination countries. This legislation is a companion to H.R. 515, which was introduced by U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ). Full Press Release S.1867 Related FY 2016 DOJ Interpol Brief (p 14/15, 18) Interpol and Green Notices International Megan’s Law / RSO Travel Issues Janice’s Journal: Registered Citizens Trapped in U.S. Green…
Read MoreNY: Bronx Dad’s Case Tests Restrictions on Sex Offenders
MANHATTAN (CN) – With a name resembling a kindergartner’s alphabet primer, the lawsuit ABC v. DEF takes on far more insidious themes – namely the parental rights of a Bronx man who spent eight years in prison for raping his ex’s teenage niece. A federal judge issued an order in the case last week that could earn that man unspecified financial compensation from New York state. Full Article
Read MoreME: Residency restrictions for sex offenders offer false sense of security (Editorial)
Old Orchard Beach is considering placing restrictions on where sex offenders can live in the seaside, southern Maine community. While such restrictions could make residents and visitors feel safer, registries and limits on where offenders can live and work haven’t been shown to make much difference in their two-decade history. Instead, a heightened focus on treatment and rehabilitation would likely be more effective at reducing the horrific crime of sex abuse. Full Article
Read More‘Right to be forgotten’ threatens free speech
Last year the European Union’s highest court ruled that European citizens have a “right to be forgotten” when it comes to search links to unfavorable Internet posts that are harmful and irrelevant. The court ruled in favor of a Spanish citizen who complained that Google’s links to an old notice about his house being repossessed violated his privacy rights because the issue was now irrelevant. The court ruled that search engines must have a mechanism to allow people to request the removal of links to negative stories, even if the…
Read MoreReport a sex offender on Craigslist, win cash prize (SLO PD)
The San Luis Obispo Police Department and SLO County nonprofit Crime Stoppers have issued a cash reward to a tipster who reported a Craigslist post containing a photograph of a man’s genitalia and a message soliciting “young girls” for sexual acts. Full Article
Read MoreHere’s an IUD–but wait! You can’t have sex yet! [Opinion]
By now virtually everyone in the “sex offender laws reform” camp knows the story of Zack Anderson, the 19 year old Indiana youth who faces imprisonment and sex offender registration for a sexual liaison with a 14 year old who pretended to be 17. His parents have pushed and pushed for publicity on this—good for them!—and they have it. The story made the New York Times, quoting RSOL’s executive director Brenda Jones saying that the public registry was “a conviction on steroids.” Lenore Skenazy wrote a wonderful piece for reason.com…
Read More