Note: while this is obviously does not work on all web sites, it might be of use to some extent. Sick of horribly embarrassing things showing up when potential employers Google your name? Tired of everyone knowing you live in a garden level dungeon apartment? Perhaps you just don’t like the fact the internet makes you easy to find. Thankfully, it’s not that hard to delete yourself entirely. Here’s how to do it. For mildly famous (or infamous) individuals, disappearing is essentially impossible, but for the average person it’s surprisingly…
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City Council in Gardiner, Maine, Declines New Sex Offender Restrictions
City councilors tell petitioning residents any new restrictions must come from the Legislature. City councilors in Gardiner, Maine, say they are not interested in moving forward with new restrictions on where some sex offenders can live, despite some residents’ pleas it would make their neighborhood safer. Residents making a case for an ordinance at a meeting Wednesday were told hat the state Legislature is responsible for sex offender residency restrictions, not the city.
Read MoreLife on the List
Does publicly posting names of convicted sex offenders actually reduce the number of sexual offenses? Freelance writer Steve Yoder has written a very informative article about the history of the Nation’s sex offender laws, and outlines many of the consequences (and failures) of these severe laws. He makes the point that despite the fact that legislators “are increasingly adopting a ‘smart on crime’ approach grounded in research on what works, the legal treatment of sexual offenders is moving in the opposite direction.” Increasingly, more people are being added to the…
Read MoreTemporary Restraining Order granted by the court to stop enforcement of Proposition 35
California registrants won a major victory today! Federal district court judge Thelton Henderson granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) late Wednesday that prevents enforcement of requirements in Proposition 35 that require registrants to identify their online identities and activities. The TRO will stay in effect for 14 days. A hearing on whether to extend the TRO is scheduled for November 20 in San Franciso. ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed the lawsuit, which includes California RSOL as a plaintiff, earlier today. Court Decision Update 9:30 pm: More on the ACLU web site
Read MoreSex Offender Laws May Do More Harm Than Good
End Registration of Juveniles, Residency Restrictions and Online Registries One of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights, Human Rights Watch, believes, as many of us do, that “Laws aimed at people convicted of sex offenses may not protect children from sex crimes but do lead to harassment, ostracism and even violence against former offenders.” Read more here: http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/09/11/us-sex-offender-laws-may-do-more-harm-good
Read More“Unjust and Ineffective” Says The Economist Magazine
America has pioneered the harsh punishment of sex offenders. Does it work? The Economist magazine, in this online article describes many of the disturbing issues regarding the sex offender registries, including the fact that teenagers are, in increasing numbers, being made to register—many for a lifetime.
Read MoreHalloween Safety: A National Survey of Parents’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors
In early September 2011, Safe Kids Worldwide performed a survey about “Halloween Safety” and 935 parents responded. Their survey results can be viewed here.
Read More‘Operation Boo’ nets three arrests locally
ANTELOPE VALLEY – Dozens of parole agents fanned out across the Antelope Valley Wednesday night as part of “Operation Boo,” a safety initiative aimed at protecting young trick-or-treaters from sexual predators on Halloween. “This is a night where children are out and about, they’re knocking on doors, they’re introduced to strangers, they’re easy prey for somebody that’s looking to hurt them,” said Jackie Waltman, Administrator for CDCR’s Antelope Valley Parole Office. “That’s why it’s so important that we don’t allow them [sex offenders] to have anything that would lure a…
Read MoreCalifornia judge’s ruling a partial victory for registered child sex offenders
Los Angeles (CNN) — Registered child sex offenders in Simi Valley, California, will not have to post a sign outside their home this Halloween reading in part “no candy,” but they still are prohibited from decorating their houses and handing out candy, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. This is a partial and temporary victory for a group of the city’s sex offenders and their wives who sued the city claiming that a recently passed law was unconstitutional and sought a temporary injunction of the law before a full hearing next…
Read MoreAUS: Why name and shame sex offenders, asks Tom Percy
THE experience with sex offender registers in the US has included deaths and gratuitous violence, as well as payback measures. There are a couple of convicted murderers living in the same suburb as I do. I know, because I’ve seen them. There are probably a few in your suburb, too. Maybe even your street. After all, almost all of them do eventually get out, and they have to live somewhere. Full Article
Read MoreCourt Grants Partial Temporary Restraining Order In Challenge to Halloween Ordinance
The City of Simi Valley is prohibited from enforcing a requirement that sex offenders post a sign on the front door of their homes on Halloween this year, according to a decision by federal district court judge Percy Anderson. The decision will allow the city to prohibit sex offenders from decorating their homes and answering the door to trick-or-treaters as well as require them to leave off all exterior lighting. “We are pleased with the judge’s decision to prohibit the City of Simi Valley from requiring registrants to post a…
Read MoreAnother one bites the dust: Hollow SVP prosecution no match for jurors’ common sense
15 minutes. After a five-week trial, that’s how long it took a jury in a rural Northern California county to decide that an openly gay man who had served two years in prison for a forcible oral copulation of an acquaintance back in 2003 did not merit civil commitment as a sexually violent predator. The prosecution’s case featured a lone government psychologist whose opinion rested on a hollow combination of homophobia, bogus psychiatric diagnoses and trumped-up risk estimates. The psychologist cited archaic (and discredited) Freudian theory to claim that the…
Read MoreOhio To Intensify Monitoring with Three New Initiatives
New sex offender tracking technology. The development of three new initiatives in Ohio will intensify the State’s ability to monitor the more than 19,000 convicted sex offenders living in the state.
Read MoreCOMMENTARY: SOME U.S. SEX LAWS DRACONIAN AS GOVERNMENT SEEKS TO PROTECT CITIZENS
No country on the planet has tried to control it’s citizens sexual behavior more than the United States. That statement is not about the necessity of such laws but rather a matter of fact. Fear and a demand for government protection from “predators” has created some really bad public policy. Originally set up to protect children from pedophiles, the expansion of the publicly available sex offender registry now includes anyone and everyone convicted of a felony with the word sex in it. Getting drunk and showing off your junk can…
Read MoreConvicted East Bay Sex Offender Killed In Prison Cell
FOLSOM, Sacramento County (CBS SF) – A convicted sex offender from Contra Costa County who was killed in an apparent homicide in his state prison cell in Folsom last week has been identified as 51-year-old Raymond Johnston. Lt. Tony Quinn, of California State Prison-Sacramento in Folsom, said correctional officers found Johnston unresponsive in his cell just after 9 p.m. Wednesday as prisoners were being counted. Full Article
Read MoreCan everyone please calm down about child abuse?
Jimmy Savile was a repulsive individual who indulged in vile, degraded, abusive acts. On that we can all agree. But what is less a matter of consensus is how we should respond to the scandal. When I argued on Newsnight this week that we need some calm reflection and that the whole of society should not be reorganised around child protection, it started a minor Twitchunt, and I have been accused of everything from being a BBC stooge to a callous apologist for paedophilia. Full Article
Read MoreAnaheim City Council approves Parks Ban
The Anaheim City Council approved an ordinance prohibiting persons required to register under CA PC 290 to enter public city parks on Oct 23. California RSOL members spoke in opposition. Audio: [audio:https://all4consolaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/anaheim_oct23.mp3] Video: http://anaheim.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1134 Item 29 starts at 1:43 Documents: http://www.anaheim.net/docs_agend/questys_pub/MG38467/AS38506/AS38509/AI40614/Documents.htm City Web Site: http://www.anaheim.net
Read MoreSex Offender Residency Restrictions Impede Safety Goals
Recently, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that a policy banning registered sex offenders from entering Albuquerque’s public libraries is unconstitutional. Over the past decade the availability of online sex offender registries has enabled widespread awareness of sexual offenders living in the community, increasing concerns for the safety of children and leading politicians to pass laws restricting where sex offenders can live, work and even be present. Residence restrictions in 30 states and countless municipalities typically prohibit individuals convicted of sex crimes from residing within 500…
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