INDIANAPOLIS — A federal court appeals ruling may push state legislators into finding a fix for some long-standing problems with Indiana’s sex and violent offender registry. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled the state’s registry was unconstitutional because it violated the due process rights of ex-offenders in the registry who have no way to correct mistaken information. The registry is a publicly accessible database that contains personal information, including the photographs and addresses of sex and violent offenders who live in Indiana. Full Article
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Commentary: The Mayor’s Two Hats: Hysteria In Lancaster?
From Norm Pattis Blog: The general counsel of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College has some explaining to do. As general counsel and board member of the college, R. Rex Parris professes a dedication to the college’s mission statement. That statement pledges a commitment to seeking justice for “the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned.” It is hard to find a class of people who better fit that classification than the 700,000-plus souls on the nation’s sex offender registries. While some registrants are no doubt…
Read MoreChild porn evidence unreliable: study of Playboy
A commonly used method of judging a woman’s sexual maturation may not be good enough in child pornography prosecutions. That, at least, is what a group of pediatric endocrinologists concluded from a study of more than 500 Playboy centerfolds. “So often these people get convicted on what I refer to as felonious bad taste,” said Dr. Arlan Rosenbloom, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “They’re downloading stuff that isn’t very nice, but isn’t illegal.” Full Article
Read MoreTX: Texas Students Revolt Against Mandatory RFID Tracking Chips
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (NBC) — Students and parents are rallying against new ID badges that track student movement on the campuses of two San Antonio, Texas schools. Father Steven Hernandez does not agree with the district’s new pilot program called Radio Frequency Identification System, or RFID. The new identification tags are designed to help the district improve safety by locating students at any time, while on campus, at John Jay High School and Anson Jones Middle School. RFID tags are also supposed to help with attendance by counting students more…
Read MoreSex offender arrested in Irvine park
IRVINE – A registered sex offender was in custody after visiting a park to play tennis, the first such arrest in the city since it adopted a law that banned sex offenders from city parks. The 51-year-old Garden Grove man was taken into custody Thursday, after police officials said he drove to Citrus Glen Park to play tennis. Full Article
Read MoreDrum pleads guilty to double murder
At a last-minute hearing in Clallam County Superior Court Thursday, Patrick Boyd Drum, 34, of Sequim, pleaded guilty to all charges stemming from a June double murder. Drum shot and killed Gary Lee Blanton Jr., 28, and Jerry Wayne Ray, 55, before fleeing four miles up Blue Mountain Road and eluding law enforcement for several hours June 3. Blanton and Ray were both registered sex offenders and Drum told Sheriff’s deputies that is why he killed them, according to court documents. Full Article
Read MoreLancaster City Council Meeting – 9/11 [Presence, Residency, Halloween Ban]
It’s time to Show Up, Stand Up and Speak Up! The first two cities in L.A. County have proposed ordinances that would prohibit all registrants, regardless of type or date of offense, from visiting parks, libraries, museums and other public areas. These ordinances must be stopped before L.A. County duplicates Orange County where most cities have such ordinances!! We effectively stopped the City of Cerritos, the first city in L.A. County, from passing its ordinance on August 23 when that city honored the request CA RSOL’s to stop further consideration…
Read MoreMeeting Draws Negative Attention
An organization aimed at reforming sex offender laws chose an Albuquerque hotel to host its fourth annual conference, but safety worries prompted the city to beef up security at nearby parks and schools. The city held a meeting Tuesday evening to address residents’ concerns, but it was sparsely attended. Albuquerque Police Cmdr. Kevin Rowe, who organized the meeting, assured the public that police were prepared for the conference. He even sang a song he said he had written for the occasion. One of the seven people in the audience stormed out…
Read MoreLocals remain concerned over reform sex offender conference
People have expressed concerns about Albuquerque hosting a national conference on sex offender laws this week. After the announcement Monday, Albuquerque police said they would hold a special meeting Tuesday to answer questions about safety and security surrounding the conference. The handful of people who showed up to the meeting said they left feeling even more disappointed and confused than before. Full Article
Read MoreFederal Sex Offender Civil Commitment Process Under Fire
Among other provisions, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 allows the federal government to indefinitely detain “sexually dangerous” offenders through a civil commitment process, which requires mandatory court hearings after such offenders have been certified by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as eligible for commitment. The Adam Walsh Act was named for the kidnapped and murdered son of America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh. [See: PLN,June 1996, p.12]. Full Article (pdf) (at www.prisonlegalnews.org)
Read MoreUK: Ruling allows sex register appeals
Sex offenders can appeal against having to register with police for life from Saturday, despite concerns raised by a children’s charity that they must “always be considered a risk”. Thousands of sex offenders will be able to apply to have their names removed after the Supreme Court ruled it was a breach of offenders’ human rights to be put on the register for life with no review. The Government has already expressed concern about the plans, with Home Secretary Theresa May saying “the minimum possible changes to the law” would…
Read MoreTX: “A Child Protection Act That Doesn’t”
On June 29, 2012, Texas Congressman Lamar Smith introduced H.R. 6063, a bill which, on its surface, is as noble and well-intentioned as a piece of legislation can possibly be. Titled “The Child Protection Act of 2012,” it would be difficult for anyone to find fault with its lofty purported goal – to protect children. While I cannot find fault with the goal, the bill itself is a misguided, misinformed, and useless piece of pompous political puffery and does little if anything at all to protect any child from anything.…
Read MoreNational Conference on Sex Offender Issues, Sept. 6-9, Albuquerque, NM
“Children’s safety is at stake,” asserted Robert Combs, this year’s Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL) conference committee chairperson. “And it will remain at stake until the sex-crime panic can be countered with factual information to ensure public safety.” “Inclusion on the sex offender registry does not signify the person is any sort of a threat whatsoever,” agreed Brenda Jones, RSOL’s executive director. “And therein lies the problem. We as a society need to educate ourselves, and the 4th annual RSOL national conference taking place in Albuquerque, NM, September 6 –…
Read MoreNew law orders libraries to oust sex offenders
LANCASTER – In a unanimous vote, the five-member City Council this week gave its initial approval to an ordinance that, among other restrictions, bans registered sex offenders from going near public libraries and museums. A Santa Barbara County attorney, who traveled about 100 miles to the Antelope Valley to protest the proposed ordinance, said it will be contested in court. “The one thing I forgot to say in there is, ‘You will be sued,’” attorney Janice Bellucci said outside of City Council chambers Tuesday night moments after she publicly addressed…
Read MoreLake County man gets prison in killing of neighbor he thought was child molester
A Lake County man was sentenced Wednesday to 32-years-to-life in prison for killing a neighbor he mistook for a convicted child molester. Ivan Oliver, 34, was convicted two weeks ago by a jury of first-degree murder for stabbing Michael Dodele 65 times at a Lakeport mobile home park. He also was found guilty of a special allegation of using information from the Megan’s Law website to commit a felony. A confusing entry led Oliver to believe Dodele was a convicted child molester. Dodele, 67, was listed for being a serial…
Read MoreIN: Indiana sex offender list violates due process
A federal appeals court said Indiana’s sex and violent offender registry unconstitutionally violated the due process rights of thousands of registrants because it did not give them a chance to fix mistakes. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago rejected arguments by the Indiana Department of Correction that it was not directly responsible for errors in the registry, which contains about 24,000 names, and that registrants had other procedures to challenge mistakes. Full Article
Read MoreNew Cerritos ordinance bans sex offenders from city parks, libraries [updated / Video]
California RSOL will be attending this ordinance’s second reading (August 23) to speak in opposition. See letter sent to City Council here. CERRITOS – Registered sex offenders won’t be allowed in city parks or many other public facilities under an ordinance approved last week by the City Council. Gary Berg, the city’s director of community and safety services, told the council Thursday that passing the ordinance isn’t going to prevent crime and enforcing it is problematic. Nevertheless, the council passed the ordinance 4-1. Council members Jim Edwards, Bruce W. Barrows,…
Read MoreSimi Valley sex offender law on track for Halloween [updated with video]
The Simi Valley City Council on Monday night introduced the latest version of a proposed Halloween law aimed at protecting trick-or-treating children from having contact with sex offenders. As initially put forth, the ordinance applied to all 119 of the city’s registered sex offenders. The version introduced at Monday night’s council meeting limited the application of the proposed law just to those convicted pedophiles living in Simi Valley who are publicly listed on the Meagan’s Law website. Full Article
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