[nysenate.gov – 10/11/18] Albany, NY – Being a sex offender carries with it the often well-earned reputation of being unable to mix with society. Even hardened criminals have expressed their disgust with the lewd and deviant acts perpetrated by sex offenders. A recent study has found dozens of sex offenders in New York State living in group homes for people with developmental disabilities. Their crimes can run the gamut from watching child pornography to public exposure to sexual assault. In his capacity as Chairman of the New York State Senate…
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Guy Hamilton-Smith on Sex Offender Registration & Social Media [audio]
[shows.pippa.io – 10/10/18] In this episode, Guy Hamilton-Smith, Legal Fellow at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center, discusses his article “The Digital Wilderness: A Decade of Exile & the False Hopes of Lester Packingham.” In Packingham v. North Carolina (2017), the Supreme Court unanimously held that the First Amendment protects the right of registered sex offenders to use social media. Nevertheless, many states make it almost impossible to exercise that right, by prosecuting technical reporting requirements as strict-liability felonies. Hamilton-Smith explains how this…
Read MoreOH: Body of registered sex offender found wrapped in plastic; death ruled homicide
[palmbeachpost.com – 10/10/18] MONTGOMERY COUNTY, OHIO — The man whose body was found wrapped in plastic Monday afternoon by a Browns Nursery worker was identified as a 47-year-old Clay Twp. man. Steven T. Johnson died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, but it’s too early to know how long he’d been dead, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Johnson reportedly was identified through fingerprints. Johnson’s body was discovered off Arlington Road on nursery property, Sgt. M.D. Hutchison of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said. Read…
Read MoreGA: Thomas County deputies keep ‘watchful eye’ on sex offenders
[walb.com – 10/4/18] THOMAS CO., GA (WALB) – Locating and registering sex offenders is a top priority for Georgia sheriff’s offices. The Thomas County Sheriff’s Office said they verify registered sex offenders multiple times throughout the year, as part of the “Operation Watchful Eye” initiative. Lt. Tim Watkins, Thomas County Sheriff’s Office chief investigator, said Halloween is one of those holidays that they make sure all registered sex offenders in the county are where they’re suppose to be. “They have to be inside their residence. They cannot have any decorations…
Read MoreMA: Sex offenders have access to kids on Halloween
[bostonherald.com – 10/7/18] Sex offenders are forbidden under state law from driving an ice cream truck, but they can hand out all the candy they want on Halloween in what one child advocate is calling a risky oversight. “Halloween is like Christmas for sex offenders,” said attorney Wendy Murphy. “They know they’ll have lots of access to kids and that they can’t get in trouble even though they’re required to stay away from children.” Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas all have “no candy” laws that ban sex offenders…
Read MoreFL: Ex Post Facto Lawsuit Filed (FAC)
A lawsuit was filed in Federal Court challenging the Florida Sex Offender registry. The suit is a facial challenge, filed on behalf of persons required to register in the State of Florida. It argues that the registry violates the Ex Post Facto clause of the constitution, constitutes Cruel and Unusual Punishment, violates Procedural Due Process, violates Substantive Due Process, is unconstitutionally Vague, has no rational relationship to its purpose and asks the Court to permanently restrain and enjoin the FDLE from enforcing the registration statute. More from Florida Action Committee
Read MoreWA: DEFAMATION? Website Names Men Anonymously Accused Of Sexual Assault
A website created by University of Washington students allows users to anonymously post the names of men who have allegedly committed sexual assault — an act that could land the site’s administrators in legal hot water. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Texas Supreme Court to hear sex offender law challenge
The Texas Supreme Court will consider a challenge to the state’s retroactive sex offender laws that some say unfairly stack new punishments on those convicted in plea deals. Full Article Related TX: For some sex offenders, their deal with the state wasn’t really a deal
Read MoreMA: The Case for Dismantling the Sex Offender Registry with Dr. Emily Horowitz [presentation]
[sopri-ma.org – 10/25/18] with Dr. Emily Horowitz, author of Protecting Our Kids? How Sex Offender Laws are Failing Us Thursday, October 25 @ 7pm Cambridge Friends Center, 5 Longfellow Park (off Brattle Street coming out of Harvard Square, Cambridge) Emily Horowitz, Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at St. Francis College (Brooklyn, NY), will review some of the research and evidence about sex offense registries and the harm they cause. She will discuss recent efforts to challenge these popular but ineffective and damaging policies. “The sex offense registry is essentially…
Read MoreFL: Banished
[themarshallproject.org – 10/3/18] The sun has barely risen over Miami, and Dale Brown loads an orange shopping cart with everything he owns. Through the morning’s swampy heat, he pushes the cart to the edge of the railroad tracks, where he hauls the items one at a time into some overgrowth and covers them with branches. His tent from Wal-Mart, meticulously rolled and packed. A garbage bag with clothes and a blanket. He unscrews the lid to a plastic gallon jug and empties his urine into the brush. “You feel like…
Read MoreWA: On McNeil Island, the only residents are 214 dangerous sex offenders
Civil commitment centers, which exist in less than half of US states, are meant as a community safeguard, but they’re riddled with controversies. Full Article
Read MoreMO: The sex offender next door – 1,300 missing Missouri criminals must be found quickly
Jackson County remains at the center of a scandalous problem with unregistered sex offenders in Missouri. According to an audit released Monday, 439 sex criminals in Jackson County have failed to register as required by law — more than 20 percent of all the known sex offenders in the county. Statewide, roughly 1,300 sex offenders have failed to register, and “their locations are unknown,” according to the report. The problem threatens neighborhoods and public safety. Jackson County officials and the sheriff’s office should commit whatever resources are needed to find…
Read MoreNV: Nevada to embark on new sex offender registry system, but critics say it’s overly harsh
Las Vegas attorney Alina Shell represents sex offenders, and she said it’s been an emotional time in recent weeks among clients calling her office. Starting Oct. 1, Nevada will be implementing its version of the federal Adam Walsh Act, a law that significantly changes the way the state classifies its more than 7,200 sex offenders. Rather than categorizing them according to their projected risk of reoffending, they’ll be categorized according to the original crime they were convicted of — a process that will reshuffle thousands of them and lead to…
Read MoreMO: Proposed ordinance would keep sex offenders from serving liquor
To serve alcohol in Kansas City, you need a liquor card. The public safety committee is considering a new proposed ordinance that would change that, but some agencies are concerned. The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, or MOCSA, is speaking out. Victoria Pickering, Director of Advocacy for MOCSA, said, “The goal is to prevent individuals who have a history of committing sexual offenses from being able to work with alcohol which is the number one drug that’s used to facilitate sexual assault.” Full Article
Read MoreNV: New bill may create longer waits at Las Vegas police headquarters
Days before a Nevada bill changing the sex offender registry goes into effect, the Metropolitan Police Department suggested ways to avoid anticipated large crowds at Las Vegas police headquarters. People who need to file or request police reports may do so at any of Metro’s 10 substations, said Lisa Hank, director of Metro’s Police Records and Fingerprint Bureau. That way people can avoid crowds and longer wait times potentially caused by Assembly Bill 579, which takes effect on Oct. 1. The bill requires sex offenders to report to police and…
Read MorePA: Inmates in Pennsylvania launch boycott of prison profiteers
[workers.org – 9/27/18] “I am going to boycott the third-party correspondence system,” Bryant Arroyo, an activist and organizer currently detained at SCI Frackville in central Pennsylvania, told this WW reporter during an extended Sept. 23 interview. Arroyo urges all prisoners to immediately cease sending and accepting mail in response to the draconian new prison policies of current Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. Eliminating the right of prisoners to send and receive correspondence via postal service is the most controversial aspect of a sweeping crackdown imposed in September by the Pennsylvania Department…
Read MoreWI: For now, sex offenders will not be allowed to move into the village of Hartland
Members of the Hartland Village Board have voted to begin work on an ordinance that will restrict where sex offenders can live. In the meantime, the village will not allow any new offenders to move into the village. … The moratorium states that sex offenders cannot move into Hartland until the village’s average amount of sex offenders living in the village is the same as the rest of the county. Full Article
Read MoreNY: People are using a new app to report sex assault anonymously
[nypost.com – 9/21/18] In the wake of #MeToo, more than 1,000 people have downloaded an app aimed at rooting out repeat sex offenders by allowing victims and witnesses to report the crimes anonymously and join forces against the sickos. Called JDoe, the free app launched on the Apple and Android app store in April. It works by prompting users to report when and where an incident took place, along with the name of the perpetrator and any details of the crime. The information is then stored in an encrypted database.…
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