[lfpress.com – 11/29/20] Ontario’s sex offender registry has some soul searching to do. Does it exist to punish offenders, or protect communities? And how can the framework for who goes on the list, which the Supreme Court has ruled discriminatory, support this core objective? The government has one year to amend Christopher’s Law, named for 11-year-old Christopher Stephenson, who in 1988 was tragically abducted, assaulted and murdered by a known pedophile. A coroner’s jury recommended creating an electronic registry of sex offenders to help police target their neighbourhood searches during…
Read MoreCategory: International
Sex Offender Registries in Europe and Around the world
[ccresourcecenter.org – 11/24/20] We are pleased to publish new research by Stephen Schulhofer about the treatment of sex offense registration in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU. The research, presented here with an introduction by Alessandro Corda, comes from material prepared for inclusion in an upcoming draft of the Model Penal Code: Sexual Assault and Related Offenses (full citation and disclaimer below). Introduction: An Important Look at Foreign Policy and Practices Regarding Sex-Offense Collateral Consequences By Alessandro Corda, Lecturer in Law, Queen’s University Belfast School of Law…
Read MoreCanada: Sex-offender provision unconstitutional in not criminally responsible cases: court
[ca.news.yahoo.com – 11/20/20] OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed that Ontario’s sex-offender registry regime violates the constitutional rights of people found not criminally responsible for their actions by reason of mental disorder. The decision came Friday in the case of an Ontario man who was found not criminally responsible in June 2002 for sexually assaulting his then-wife, and other charges, due to a manic episode. Read the full article
Read MoreDutch police give ‘stop paedophile hunts’ warning after Arnhem death
[bbc.com – 11/13/20] A Dutch police chief has called for an end to “paedophile hunting” after a 73-year-old retired teacher was beaten up by teenagers and died of his injuries. Oscar Dros said there was a risk more people could die and he appealed for justice to be left to the authorities. The man from the eastern city of Arnhem was lured into having sexual contact with a minor while in a gay chatroom. Authorities said he was aware the boy was underage. But there was no evidence of past…
Read MoreOffenderWatch and Advocacy Nonprofit Zandoli USA Join Forces to Track Sex Offenders in the Caribbean
[prnewswire.com – 9/15/20] ARIMA, Trinidad and Tobago, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — OffenderWatch the leading sex offender registry management solution for law enforcement, and the Caribbean Committee Against Sex Crimes (CCASC), an initiative of nonprofit Zandoli USA, today announced a joint mission to deliver a network of sex offender registries across the 15 nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) that seeks to track sex offenders throughout the Caribbean and eventually across the world. “With this partnership, we hope to deliver a comprehensive network of shared sex offender registries in all the countries of the Caribbean so that offenders are accounted for and children are saved,”…
Read MoreIreland: Cork neighbourhood targeted by leaflet campaign accusing man of being sex offender
[corkbeo.ie – 9/4/20] A community on the northside of Cork city were targeted overnight by a vigilante leafleting campaign in which a man was accused of being a sex offender. Leaflets featuring a photograph and a name were left on cars overnight in the vicinity, with locals speaking of their distress when they discovered them this Friday morning. There have been several instances of the leaflets being left along a number of streets in the neighbourhood. Read the full story
Read MoreIreland: Vigilantes suspected as child porn man’s car torched in attack
[herald.ie – 8/15/20] Gardaí are closely monitoring the situation after a 59-year-old convicted child porn offender was targeted by vigilantes twice within the space of a week. It is understood that officers have given David _____ security advice after his car was torched near his home off Drogheda Street in Balbriggan on Tuesday evening. The arson attack happened just four days after vigilantes smashed up the same vehicle. Our images show _____’s car on fire in an incident that is being investigated by Balbriggan gardaí. “An exact motive for this…
Read MoreFederal Government Publishes Proposed Changes to SORNA
[ACSOL] The federal government yesterday published in the Federal Register proposed changes to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). The changes encompass a total of 93 pages and include a wide range of topics, including retroactivity, tier levels, professional licenses and travel (both domestic and international). Replies to the proposed regulations are due no later than October 13, 2020. According to the proposed regulations, SORNA will apply to all individuals convicted of a sex offense, including those convicted before it was enacted. The federal government claims to have…
Read MoreBBC: Can Sex Offenders Change?
[bbc.co.uk – Available on BBC iPlayer on August 20, from 6:00 am UK time zone] Follow Becky Southworth as she steps into the unsettling world of sex offender rehabilitation. Meeting the sex offenders living in our communities, Becky tries to understand what drove them to commit these horrific crimes, whilst seeing what treatment is available to stop them committing any more. Becky’s father was convicted of sex offences against children and received 10 years in prison. He has since been released, but while in prison he undertook a sex offender…
Read MoreUK: Online naming and shaming ‘threatening offender rehabilitation’
[bailiwickexpress.com – 8/4/20] Some sex offenders undergoing rehabilitation have lost their jobs, and risk losing their accommodation, after a list of their names and past crimes was posted online, putting pressure on the Police and Probation Services. According to Detective Superintendent Stewart Gull, the recent spate of ‘naming and shaming’ local offenders online after their sentences have been carried out is posing serious problems for their ability to reintegrate into the community. He told Express he is aware of more than 10 individuals – and, in some cases, their families…
Read MoreBermuda: Intellectually disabled man faces sex sentence
[royalgazette.com – 7/11/20] A man who admitted two sex offences against a 13-year-old schoolgirl is be sentenced at Magistrates’ Court next week. Senior magistrate Juan Wolffe signalled that _____, 27, would probably be sentenced to time served after he spent five months on remand. _____, from Smith’s, pleaded guilty on February 17 to two counts of committing an indecent act in front of a child aged under 14. He performed a sex act in front of the girl on April 9 last year at a bus stop in Devonshire. _____…
Read MoreSouth Africa: Call for National Register for Sex Offenders to be made public
[iol.co.za/pretoria-news/ – 7/8/20] Pretoria – As Gauteng police investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of a two-year-old child under isolation for Covid-19 at a local hospital, experts call for the National Register for Sex Offenders to be made public knowledge. Daleen Gouws, the spokesperson for Action Society, said it was unacceptable for a child to be placed under the protection of the state and still be vulnerable to criminals lurking in the shadows. Gouws said it was time the president and other stakeholders took radical action to finally put…
Read MoreAll Nigerian States Declare State of Emergency Over Rape and Gender-Based Violence
[globalcitizen.org – 6/17/20] Governors of Nigeria’s 36 states have unanimously declared a state of emergency, after a series of high-profile cases of violence perpetrated against women sparked nationwide protests by activists both online and at rallies. The governors made the commitment, announced on Friday, via an umbrella body the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) which “exists to foster collaboration amongst the country’s executive governors on matters of public policy and to promote good governance,” according to its website. As part of their declaration, the governors also called on all states to…
Read MoreNigeria: Names of Convicted Sex Offenders now on NAPTIP’s Register
[bellanaija.com – 6/8/20] Remember how a petition was launched in March, urging the Nigerian government to implement a sex offenders registry (i.e rape, paedophilia, sexual harassment and assault)? Well, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has now published names and photographs of some convicted sex offenders on the Nigeria Sex Offender Register. The DG of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, shared a list over the weekend via Twitter. She said the agency is determined to start naming and shaming all sex offenders, and more names of sex offenders…
Read MoreUK: Dating app ‘catfish’ leaves victim “humiliated and vulnerable”
[bailiwickexpress.com – 6/2/20 – Bizarre way to get on the registry] A 26-year-old man has become a registered sex offender after he faked a profile to pose as a real woman, so that he could get sexual attention from others on a dating app. First-time offender, _____ was sentenced to 180 hours’ community service, accompanied by an 18-month probation order, and made to pay £5,000 in compensation to his victim, who said his actions left her feeling “humiliated and vulnerable.” The 26-year-old appeared before the Magistrate’s Court via video link.…
Read MoreUK: Vigilantes ‘set fire to home where paedophile lived’
[metro.co.uk – 5/20/20] A police search has been sparked after vigilantes in Liverpool reportedly torched a house days after a convicted paedophile was removed for his own safety. The sex offender was involved in a ‘dogging gang’ which groomed and ‘systematically’ sexually abused a 13-year-old girl in North Wales in 2005, it is understood. He was jailed for three years after admitting two counts of sexual activity with a child and taking indecent photographs of a child in a 2006 court case, according to the Liverpool Echo. A crowd of…
Read MoreAustralia: Alleged sex offenders to lose anonymity under changes to South Australian law
[msn.com – 5/7/20] South Australian legal reforms that strip alleged sex offenders of their right to anonymity have been hailed as an important safety measure by the victim of a notorious paedophile. But senior legal figures have warned the change could lead to vigilante justice and destroy the reputations of those who are charged but later acquitted. The changes, which have come into effect today, mean anyone charged with a sex offence can be named from their first court appearance. One of two brothers preyed on by convicted paedophile Vivian…
Read MoreMexico: Local Congress approves the creation of a Sex Offender Registry in Mexico City
[eluniversal.com.mx – 3/15/20] Mexico City’s Congress recently approved the creation of the Sex Offender Registry as part of a strategy to prevent Sexual abuse. Eduardo Santillán Pérez, the head of the Justice Commission, presented the bill and explained that in order to create the Sex Offender Registry, lawmakers agreed to reform the criminal code and at least 2 laws. According to the bill, criminals will appear in the registry 10 and 30 years, depending on the crimes perpetrated. Read the full article
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