Category: Janice’s Journal

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…