We cannot control what happens in the world, in our country, in our state or in our neighborhood. What we can control is our attitude toward what happens in those locales. I choose hope and I strongly encourage you to choose hope as well. Regardless of whether your candidate was elected to office. Regardless of recent indictments of two former registrants for a large number of sex offenses, including possession of more than 1,000 files of child pornography. Regardless of the fact that three people who were removed from the California registry have…
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Janice’s Journal: Answers to Questions are Only Stop Gap Measures
About a month ago we identified three cases for which we had not yet received an answer. As of today, we have answers to those questions, however, some of those answers have resulted in more questions. First, a federal district court in Missouri has issued its decision regarding Halloween signs. That decision was strong and clear: Halloween signs are unconstitutional. The court even granted a permanent statewide injunction that in essence prohibits law enforcement in the state of Missouri from enforcing the state law that required the Halloween signs. While…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Waiting for Answers
As the month of September comes to a close, we find ourselves waiting. Waiting for answers in several important cases. First, we are waiting for a federal district court in Missouri to either issue a decision on the merits of a challenge to the state’s Halloween sign requirement or to clarify whether a temporary restraining order issued last year will remain in effect this year. Although the trial in this case took place in June and final briefs in the case were filed in July, the court has not yet…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: We Did It!
Thanks to almost 50 individuals, we did it! We raised $10,175 for the matching grant program in about two weeks. As a result, ACSOL has a total of $20,175 to apply toward significantly increasing the number of registrants who are eligible to petition for removal from the registry. This is not the first step, but it is an important step, in a multi-step process that began about 18 months ago when ACSOL made a presentation to the CA Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB). During that presentation, ACSOL identified several improvements…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: A Small, But Significant Victory
Marion County, Arkansas, posted signs on the front door of registrants last year identifying those individuals as people required to register as a sex offender. The signs stayed in place not for one day, but for about two weeks – a week before Halloween, Halloween and then a week after Halloween. This Halloween sign requirement was not a state law. In fact, it was not a county law. Instead, it was a decision by a county sheriff who printed signs with his name on it. Implementation of the Halloween sign…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: It’s Time to Show You Care
We are a community. A community that includes people required to register, their families and those who support them. Some members of the community never committed a sex offense but pled guilty anyway. Some members of the community have been convicted of a non-violent, non-contact offense. And some members of the community have been convicted of heinous acts and designated as sexually violent predators. Although members of the community appear to be different, we are fundamentally the same because we all know that the registration system is broken and does…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Reaching the Goal of 100
It happened. I have reached my goal of helping 100 registrants obtain a court order terminating their requirement to register. That goal was met yesterday in Los Angeles County under the sweetest of circumstances when a Superior Court judge who previously denied a registrant’s petition granted the same registrant’s petition. The judge’s initial decision denying the registrant’s petition was flawed because it was based upon facts not in evidence. That decision was also flawed because the judge acted as if he was still employed as a prosecutor and not an…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: It’s a Game of Jenga
Let us be clear. The ultimate goal of ACSOL is to eliminate the registry. The only question is how do we do it? For many years, ACSOL has identified three paths toward elimination of the registry – education, litigation, and legislation. ACSOL has traveled and continues to travel down all three paths. Many people want a definite answer. They want to know which path will ultimately lead to the end of the registry. My honest answer is I don’t know. And the fact is I don’t care. That is, I…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Glimmers of Hope
There are glimmers of hope on the horizon for registrants and their families. Most of that hope is based upon recent court decisions. However, one piece of hope comes in the form of a recently published newspaper article. Both will be discussed below. One form of hope comes from a recently published newspaper article about a person charged with shooting and killing another person. The headline of that article identified the suspect in that killing as a parolee. It was only upon reading the full article that the suspect was also identified as a person…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: It’s the End…It’s the Beginning
Today is the last day of 2023. It has been a year full of progress. And it has been a year full of challenges. One form of progress in 2023 was a growing number of people whose petitions have been granted and are therefore no longer required to register in the state of California. This progress was due in large part to an appellate court decision, that shifted the burden of proof from the person required to register to the district attorney. Specifically, the decision stated that a district attorney…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Bullies Come in All Sizes
Bullies come in all sizes. There are schoolyard bullies who steal children’s lunch money. There are gang members who steal people’s cars. And there are terrorists who hijack airplanes. What these bullies have in common is that they threaten and intimidate others. And when their threats and intimidation don’t work, they sometimes resort to violence. In the registrant community, bullies abound. Sometimes they come in the form of a parole officer who threatens to return a registrant to prison if he does not do what they are told to do. …
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: This Federal Court Got It Right — Mostly
Note: The beginning of this column was written on Friday, October 27. The end of this column was written on Monday, October 30. The U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, got it right today when they granted our motion for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO). The court looked at the facts presented to them and asked the right questions. In doing so, the court shifted the burden of proof to the government. That is, the court required the government to provide solid evidence that a sign on the front…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: The Glass Is Half Full
Is the glass half empty or is the glass half full? It’s a question many have asked when they believe not all of their needs or desires have been met. The answer to that question often depends upon whether the person who asked it is an optimist or a pessimist. I am an optimist and I declare that the glass is half full. That is, the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) has approved two proposed changes identified by the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) and CASOMB plans…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Where Should They Live?
Officials in Placer County, California, are up in arms and complaining mightily that a 66-year-old registrant who has been designated a Sexually Violent Predator is about to be released in that county. Never mind that he was convicted more than 30 years ago and has completed many years of treatment. Never mind that experts have determined he no longer poses a current risk. Instead of relying upon these facts, Placer County officials and other government representatives are crying “not in my back yard”, otherwise known as NIMBY. And they appear…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Incrementalism: The Pros and the Cons
Incrementalism can be defined informally as taking one small step at a time. Incrementalism can be defined formally as a method of change by which many small changes are enacted over time in order to create a larger change. Regardless of the definition applied, incrementalism has both pros and cons. Advocates of incrementalism believe that small changes can be used to form a solid foundation upon which larger changes can be based. They argue that a solid foundation is necessary in order to survive expected future challenges. Opponents of incrementalism…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: CASOMB Moving Too Slowly on Proposed Changes
The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) is moving slowly toward recommending that the state legislature make three significant changes to the Tiered Registry Law. If the legislature adopts those changes, tens of thousands of individuals required to register in California will become eligible to petition for removal from the state registry. It is sometimes difficult to watch CASOMB’s slow progress. After all, these changes were originally posed by ACSOL in January 2023, more than five months ago. And during the intervening months, ACSOL has provided CASOMB with a lot…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Best Way to Serve and Protect Victims is to Better Serve Offenders
The United Kingdom (U.K.) is not known for having an open mind regarding individuals required to register. Instead, the U.K. is known for stopping and returning to the country-of-origin individuals required to register even if the individuals have entered the U.K. via airport on their way to another destination. In such cases, the U.K. has returned the individuals to their country-of-origin at the individuals’ expense. Therefore, it was surprising, perhaps even shocking, to hear the voice of reason in a government report issued recently in the U.K. First, the report…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Are California Judges Getting Smarter?
There are two recent court decisions, one from an appellate court and the other from a trial court, that may be evidence that California judges are getting smarter on issues of importance to the registrant community. In the appellate court decision, three judges decided that the District Attorney must prove that a person required to register poses a current risk before a court can require continued registration beyond the minimum amount of time required under the Tiered Registry Law. In doing so, the appellate court overturned a trial court decision…
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