Please join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci as well as ACSOL President and criminal defense attorney Chance Oberstein for our next meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday, February 19, on Zoom beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1:00 PM Eastern, and will last at least two hours. You can use the Zoom app or call in using a Zoom phone number. There is no registration needed for this meeting. You can use the Zoom app to see Janice and Chance and choose to show…
Read MoreCategory: General News
FL: OPPAGA 2021 Sex Offender Registration and Monitoring Triennial Review
Source: OPPAGA Report Summary: Both federal and Florida law facilitate oversight of sex offenders and predators living in Florida communities, with state agencies and local law enforcement monitoring, registering, verifying, and providing information about sex offenders. Florida is one of 17 states that is substantially compliant with federal sex offender registry requirements. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s (FDLE) sex offender registry lists more than 78,000 offenders and predators, of which, just over 30,000 reside in Florida communities, a number that has grown 62% since 2005. Approximately 6% of registered…
Read MoreFAC Member Contribution: The Last to Finish Can Win the Race
When I was in my late forties I ran two miles a day. It was a joy to run on the rural Georgia roads, enjoying the clouds overhead and the delightful smell of honeysuckle by the side of the road. I was told of a 5k race in a small town near where I lived. I’m not sure how far 5k is, but I think it’s about 3 miles. I thought, “Why not?” so I signed up and showed up that Saturday, to find it was raining. Not pouring down…
Read MoreBureau of Prisons director slated to resign amid controversy
The director of BOP is resigning after 30 years in the bureau The director of the federal Bureau of Prisons plans to resign amid reports of widespread corruption in the federal prison system. Michael Carvajal, who was appointed to his present position under the Trump administration, told Attorney General Merrick Garland he is resigning from the bureau after serving in it for 30 years, according to a report from The Associated Press that was confirmed by Fox News. Carvajal intends to stay until his replacement is appointed. Carvajal’s pending departure comes months…
Read MoreFederal Government Finalizes SORNA Regulations (and Emergency ACSOL Zoom meeting recording )
UPDATE: Read a summary of the SORNA meeting Listen to the recording of the meeting The federal government today published final SORNA regulations in the Federal Register. According to this publication, the regulations will become effective on January 7, 2022. “The only thing that can stop these regulations is a formal objection by Congress during the next 30 days which is unlikely to happen,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Therefore we must prepare to challenge the regulations through litigation filed in federal courts.” Despite acknowledging that more than 700…
Read MoreNational Action Alert: Write and Call! SORNA Regulations Moving Forward, Now Awaiting AG Approval
UPDATED NEWS 12/8/2021: Unfortunately, this is going to be implemented. Read more here ACSOL’s Response to the proposed regulations: Download a PDF of the following letter Download the PDF file . Download the PDF file .
Read MoreOther than prison, electronic monitoring is ‘the most restrictive form’ of control, research finds
Source: nbcnews.com 9/23/21 In the past 18 months, as the judicial system has increasingly used electronic monitoring instead of prisons to monitor inmates through the coronavirus pandemic, newly released data confirm what activists and advocates have long argued: Ankle monitors are onerous, and they often subject wearers to vague rules, like avoiding people of “disreputable character.” The ankle monitoring business, the research found, is also dominated by four profit-seeking companies, and it ultimately could drive more people back to prison. The new, comprehensive collection of hundreds of electronic monitoring-related rules,…
Read MoreFederal Sentencing of Child Pornography: Production Offenses
Oct 13, 2021 This report updates and expands upon the Commission’s 2012 Report to the Congress: Federal Child Pornography Offenses. It provides the Commission’s most in-depth study of child pornography production offenses to date through an analysis of three primary factors that the Commission has identified as relevant to sentencing child pornography production offenders. Focusing on data related to child pornography production offenders’ proximity to the victim, participation in production, and propensity to engage in other abusive behaviors, this report provides insight into how offenders exploit victims and technology to…
Read MoreFL: Former Seminole County assistant state attorney enters plea on 2 felony sex charges
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Florida. — A former Seminole County Assistant State Attorney has entered a plea on two felony charges of having sex with a minor who worked for him. There was emotional testimony on Thursday in court from the victim, as Andrew Jones took the deal. WESH 2’s Bob Hazen explains why he will avoid jail time for the crime. This former prosecutor, who wanted to be a judge, admitted to having sex with a 17-year-old girl. The victim testified she still has nightmares about it. But the lawyer’s plea…
Read MoreFriends Outside in LA County announce new employment program for PFR
Download the PDF file .
Read MoreStudents disciplined for engaging in sex act at an Atlanta middle school
ATLANTA (CBS46) — Two metro Atlanta middle school students face disciplinary action for their involvement in a sex incident on school grounds. Most parents, like Patrisha Mongeon, were disturbed to learn that the students engaged in a sex act and recorded it. “It’s really scary. My daughter goes here and she’s at the age where these things start happening. I was hoping to wait a little longer before these types of explicit conversations were had in my household,” Mongeon said. A source tells CBS46 that the two students performed a…
Read MoreFL: DOJ Now Investigating Florida Sheriff’s Office For Using A Federal Grant To Fund Its ‘Predictive Policing’ Harassment Programs
Source: techdirt.com 9/21/21 The Pasco County (FL) Sheriff’s Office believes in “intelligence-led policing.” This is its formal slang for harassing residents until (in the office’s own words) “they sue or move.” The Sheriff’s Office turns anyone with a criminal background into a suspect-for-life. Deputies visit residences and residents on the “intelligence-led” shit list multiple times a month, demanding answers to questions they have no business asking. When residents fail to comply, nuisance (in every sense of the word) citations are issued for things like uncut grass or missing mailbox numbers.…
Read MoreKS: Criminal justice panel hashes out potential changes to Kansas offender registry
TOPEKA — Criminal justice advocates, experts and law enforcement are debating potential changes to the Kansas drug and sex offender registry, including whether registries should be made public and an exit mechanism for some offenders. Of primary concern for the Kansas Criminal Justice Reform Commission Subcommittee on Proportionality and Sentencing is whether drug offenders should be included on a public registry or if that information should be available only to law enforcement. Under Kansas law, those with a drug conviction are required to register on the same public list as…
Read MoreMI: Changes to sex offender list cause confusion
Source: upmatters.com 9/14/21 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Nearly nine months after the state made court-ordered changes to the sex offender registry, there’s still a lot of confusion and questions about enforcement. Michigan State Police say they are not enforcing violations of the law, which is meant to track offenders, while other agencies are. The registry includes more than 40,000 names. The confusion started a few years back when a federal judge, in response to a lawsuit filed by the University of Michigan Law Clinical Program and the American Civil…
Read MoreAction Alert: Congressional Bill to Expand Reach of IML
A new piece of federal legislation (HR 5150), if passed and signed into law, would expand the reach of the International Megan’s Law (IML). The new legislation was introduced by the original author of the IML, Rep. Chris Smith (Republican, NJ), as well as Rep. Karen Bass (Democrat, CA). The provisions of the legislation regarding the IML are a very small part of the 92-page bill which claims to be aimed at preventing and protecting victims of trafficking. The IML provisions would expand the scope of the IML by extending…
Read MoreACSOL Executive Director to Discuss Need to Overturn U.S. Supreme Court’s Mistake on September 18
ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci will discuss the need to overturn a significant and harmful decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court, Smith v. Doe, during the ACSOL conference on Saturday, September 18, at 10 a.m. She will also discuss, with ACSOL President Chance Oberstein, the newly effective Tiered Registry Law in California on Saturday, September 18, at 12:30 p.m.. “The U.S. Supreme Court made a terrible mistake when it decided that the requirement to register is not punishment,” stated Bellucci. “Due to that decision, governments at every level —…
Read MoreBill honoring abolitionist aims to expand human trafficking prevention
CLEVELAND (Catholic News Service) — Two members of Congress have introduced a bill to expand successful trafficking prevention efforts in schools and businesses. Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Karen Bass (D-Calif.) introduced the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection and Reauthorization Act of 2021 in the House of Representatives Sept. 3. “During COVID … the exploitation of children has risen substantially, mostly online, and there is kind of like a pent-up demand to exploit, it’s lingering there,” Smith said during a livestreamed news conference prior to the bill’s introduction.…
Read MoreStates of Incarceration: The Global Context 2021
Louisiana once again has the highest incarceration rate in the U.S., (Rates calculated per 100,000 people) unseating Oklahoma to return to its long-held position as “the world’s prison capital.” By comparison, states like New York and Massachusetts appear progressive, but even these states lock people up at higher rates than nearly every other country on earth. Compared to the rest of the world, every U.S. state relies too heavily on prisons and jails to respond to crime. Looking at each state in the global context reveals that, in every region…
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