[ACSOL] The petitioning process under the Tiered Registry Law has begun. A quick look at the first 60 days of the process shows uneven results. The best news is that two petitions have already been granted. Both petitions were filed in San Diego County and both petitions did not trigger an objection from the county’s District Attorney. The good news is that court personnel and other government officials at most locations are trying to help registrants who file their own petitions as well as attorneys who file petitions for their…
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Janice’s Journal: Educating the U.S. Supreme Court
How can we educate the U.S. Supreme Court when they refuse to listen? One way is to make noise at their place of business so that they can no longer ignore us. That is the foundation for the plan announced yesterday to hold a vigil on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on March 7, 2023, near to the 20th anniversary of the Court’s infamous decision, Smith v. Doe. In that decision, the Court made a terrible a mistake, a mistake that has caused and continues to cause significant…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Independence for Some, Continued Registration for Others
There are two significant dates about to converge in a few days. Both offer independence to some, but not all. The first of the two dates is July 1 when some registrants in California will be able to petition for the first time their removal from the registry. The size of this group will expand during the next 12 months when eligible registrants celebrate their birthdays. That is because otherwise eligible registrants must wait until their first birthday on or after July 1 in order to submit their petitions. There…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Two Men Required to Register Murdered This Week
Two men, who were required to register as sex offenders, were murdered this week. Each murder is a tragedy. Together the murders should serve as a wake-up call that vigilante violence against registrants has returned. The first murder took place on Monday in a Delaware prison when Phillip Langell, who was 69 years old, was stabbed, punched and strangled by his cellmate. The cellmate is a 55-year-old skinhead convicted of multiple violent offenses and sentenced to life without parole. Perhaps I have watched too many prison movies during the pandemic…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
[4/29/21 Updated with link (see end of post)] As we approach the end of April 2021, we are waiting for the “other shoe” to drop. In fact, we are waiting for two shoes to drop. The larger shoe comes in the form of SORNA regulations proposed by the federal government nine months ago. The regulations, if finalized, would result in great uncertainty for more than 950,000 registrants and their families. That is because the regulations would require registrants to meet new federal requirements, such as the disclosure of all internet…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Worse Than Murder?
As Executive Director of ACSOL, I listen every day to concerns expressed by registrants and/or their family members. Many of those concerns are focused upon challenges that registrants face in employment and housing. This column does not address those challenges. Instead, it addresses the overarching issue that registrants are often treated worse than individuals convicted of murder. Regardless of the sex offense for which they have been convicted or the number of years that have passed since that conviction. I have known this fact for many years. The most obvious…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: We’ve Got Your Back
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) was created about 10 years ago to protect registrants and their families from a constant and continual assault of new laws that added additional challenges to daily life. The challenges included restrictions on where a registrant could visit, where a registrant could live and whether a registrant could celebrate Halloween. During this 10-year period, ACSOL and its foundation has filed more than 100 lawsuits which have resulted in the repeal or non-enforcement of every presence restriction and residency restriction for registrants who…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Tiered Registry Law and Its Early Implementation Significantly Flawed
The Tiered Registry Law, passed in 2017, became effective this month more than three years after it became law. During that long period of time, more than 100,000 people convicted of a sex offense closely watched as the California state government slowly released information regarding the law’s implementation. One positive step in the implementation process was the public release of draft forms that registrants will be required to use when petitioning for removal from the registry. This step included both the opportunity for the public to comment on the draft…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: The Year of Perfect Vision, Part 2
When this year began, I wrote a column called “20/20: The Year of Perfect Vision.” In that column, I expressed a long list of hopes for the year 2020 including the hope that the civil rights of registrants would be restored. As the end of the year 2020 approaches, it is time to reflect upon what progress has been made toward that important goal. The most significant step may have been a decision this week by the California Supreme Court that recognized the rights of registrants in custody to be…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Homeless for the Holidays
Thanksgiving is just a few days away, the first in a series of winter holidays followed by Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s Day. For many people, including some registrants, they will spend those holidays in a sleeping bag on a public sidewalk. In a tent under a bridge. Or in a car if they’re lucky. Although some of those registrants have a low-income job or government assistance, they cannot find a place to live. Why? Not because they can’t afford it, not because of COVID-19, but because of a different…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: We Are at the Brink
The Cambridge English dictionary defines the word “brink” as the point where a new or different situation is about to begin. The word “brink” therefore accurately describes the current situation facing almost 1 million people in the United States who are required to register as sex offenders. There are three reasons this is true. First, the United States is about to either re-elect the same President or elect a new President as well as countless other politicians on the city, county, state and federal levels. The results of those elections…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Mourning the Loss of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
After a long battle with cancer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died yesterday. She and her wisdom will be missed profoundly. As a civil rights attorney, an appellate court judge and a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Ginsburg could be counted on to understand the plight of the underdog. She also understood that being an underdog does not mean you have no rights. Ginsburg is best known for fighting for, and then protecting, the rights of women. She is less known for her position on registrants. Yet buried in…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Zombies versus Sex Offenders?
A friend recently referred to a TV series, IZombie, as a TV show in which some Zombies are portrayed in a positive light. That is, she said, there are good Zombies and bad Zombies. The idea of a good Zombie piqued my curiosity to the point that I watched three seasons of that TV show. I quit watching the show when I realized I was covering my own eyes for large parts of each episode due to the gory scenes they portrayed. What did I learn from watching three seasons…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: CA Action Alert: It’s Time to Protest Exclusion of Registrants from Prison Releases
In my last column, I implored the California Department of Corrections (CDC) to include registrants in its release of prisoners that began on July 1 due to a growing number of COVID-19 infections in the state’s prisons. Since that time, the number of prisoners infected with COVID-19 has increased dramatically in three of those prisons: San Quentin, Avenal and Chuckwalla. That is why I am writing this column. We cannot and should not stand by while thousands of prisoners, including individuals convicted of a sex offense, are exposed to this…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Let My People Go
How dare they! How dare the CA Department of Corrections[1] once again deny rights to individuals solely because they have been convicted of a sex offense. Didn’t they learn? The department has recently lost every case in which another of their “mistakes” involving registrants was challenged. Those cases were focused upon the department’s regulations which denied the benefits of Proposition 57 to every person convicted of a non-violent sex offense[2]. The number of Proposition 57 lawsuits is large and includes successful challenges by ACSOL at both the trial and appellate…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Take Your Knee Off of My Neck
I became a grandmother for the first time a week ago. It’s a moment I have been looking forward to, and planning for, many years. Who knew it would take place during a global pandemic and less than a week after the death of George Floyd? Although I am the founder, past President and current Executive Director of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL), I was uncertain how I would feel about the issue of civil rights for registrants and their families after I became a grandmother. Now…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: The Stage Is Set, But Will the Players Play
California Governor Gavin Newsom has set the stage for the end of in-person registration during the COVID-19 pandemic. He did so by issuing an Executive Order that authorizes and encourages law enforcement agencies to remotely register individuals telephonically and by other means. The reason for these remote procedures, according to the Order, is to protect both law enforcement personnel as well as registrants. We acknowledge that the Governor’s order is a suggestion, not a mandate. There are no penalties for law enforcement agencies that choose to disregard it. But the…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: The Punishment Does Not Fit the Crime
A registrant died yesterday in a Florida jail. He was put into that jail about 60 days ago because he forgot to report his new home address to local law enforcement. The price he paid for his forgetfulness was death. Death due to exposure to the coronavirus. A local public defender tried to get this man released from jail. The public defender knew the risk of infection in that jail was high because more than 20 people, including inmates and staff, had already been infected. The prosecuting attorney also knew…
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