Category: General News

The state credits community-based treatment efforts, designed to deliver more effective rehabilitation and save money, for a 17 percent decline in juvenile sex offenders over a three-year period. The Ohio Department of Youth Services reported that 85 juvenile offenders were admitted into DYS in 2011 for sex-related crimes that included rape, gross sexual imposition and sexual battery. Year-to-date figures in 2012 suggest a 48 percent decrease in these type of offenders statewide. Full Article

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GRAND MARAIS, Minn. — A sex offender opened fire in a northern Minnesota courthouse shortly after being convicted Thursday, injuring three people — including the local prosecutor, authorities said. The suspect, Daniel Schlienz, 42, was taken into custody after the shootings Thursday afternoon at the Cook County Courthouse in Grand Marais, a remote town near the Canadian border, State Public Safety spokesman Doug Neville said. Schlienz, who had been on trial earlier Thursday on sexual misconduct charges. His father told the Duluth News Tribune that he went to the courthouse…

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Some Mesa parents are outraged that a convicted sex offender lives near their children’s elementary school. What makes them angrier is that there is nothing they can do about it. The parents gathered at Superstition Springs Elementary School on Wednesday to pass out fliers to others dropping their children off on the first day of school. The fliers contain a picture of convicted sex offender Aaron Peeples and a warning that he lives nearby. Full Article

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According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), there are about 500,000 convicted sex offenders across the country who do what they’re supposed to do: register themselves with the local police in their communities. But, according to NCMEC, about a 1 in 5 convicted sex offenders do not register themselves.   And local authorities don’t always have the manpower or resources to go looking for every one of them.  In response, the U.S. Marshals Service started a program called, “Operation Guardian,”  which has targeted the worst of the…

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The NYPD is starting to look like a flashy, forensic crime TV show thanks to a new super computer system unveiled Wednesday near Wall St. The Domain Awareness System designed by the NYPD and Microsoft Corp. uses data from a network of cameras, radiation detectors, license plate readers and crime reports, officials said. Full Article

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Travis accepted a plea deal — though he claims he’s innocent — which offered him five years probation instead of a lengthy prison sentence for indecency with a child. Within a month of cutting the deal, he violated his probation, which mandated that he couldn’t hang out with minors, and was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. He was released last December, having served 16. In the show, “Our America with Lisa Ling,” Ling follows Travis during his first free days as an adult, which have proven to be filled…

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AlertID, Inc., which provides a free online and mobile service for members and public safety officials, today announced that it provides alerts from state sex offender databases (“SODs”) to 166 million people or more than half (53%) of the US population. AlertID, Inc., which provides a free online and mobile service for members and public safety officials, today announced that it provides alerts from state sex offender databases (“SODs”) to 166 million people or more than half (53%) of the US population. AlertID’s sex offender alerts are now available to…

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HOULTON, Maine — Residents will soon see new signs posted at Community Park, the Gentle Memorial Building and local schools declaring each of those areas to be a “Sex Offender Restricted Zone.” The signs are not being placed at the locations to deal with any specific problem involving convicted sex offenders hanging around schools or playgrounds, according to Houlton Police Chief Butch Asselin. Full Article

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With little options, the City of Lockport Common Council voted to repeal a local code regarding sex offender restrictions Wednesday. In July, City Attorney John Ottaviano recommended this decision based on the recent overturning of similar local laws throughout New York state because they are more restrictive than the state law. He said courts will not uphold this local law and will not enforce it. Full Article

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OKLAHOMA CITY –  There’s a fear thousands of sex offenders could drop off the Oklahoma registry and go unchecked. Some have been convicted of rape and child molestation, but want the state Supreme Court to give them a fresh start. Right now the state Supreme Court is looking at two specific cases and whatever the high court decides will set a precedent for all level three sex offenders statewide, including one local man whose daughter is pushing the court to look at individuals on a case by case basis. Full…

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At a court hearing today on the ACLU’s request for a preliminary injunction, the state and the Providence Police Department have agreed not to arrest and/or prosecute the plaintiffs in an ACLU lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that makes it a felony for any person required to register as a sex offender to reside within 300 feet of any school. Across the country, experts involved in the treatment of sex offenders, as well as victims’ rights groups, have opposed sex offender residency laws as being ineffective, counter-productive,…

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — A federal judge has certified a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program as a class action on behalf of everyone committed to the program. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank ruled Tuesday that the lawsuit meets the legal requirements to be certified as a class action. He pointed out that the proposed class includes about 600 people who’ve been indefinitely committed to the program, and he concluded that addressing each case individually would be an enormous drain on legal resources. Frank writes that…

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The Second Circuit Court of Appeals held this week that a judge is not required to inform a child pornography defendant that his plea bargain could lead to civil commitment as a sexually dangerous person at the end of his prison term. According to the appellate court, due process and Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure do not require the district court to advise a defendant of the possibility. Full Article

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Those who choose to serve the public are often confronted with unpleasantness and difficult decisions. Oftentimes those decisions, in order that they be correct ones which benefit society as a whole rather than one small segment of it, must fly in the face of public sentiment. The issue of child pornography is a highly volatile, emotionally charged one, but where it is the right of parents to be emotional where children are concerned, it is the DUTY of those who serve the public to look beyond the raw emotion and…

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