When the Beaumont police detective called him in 2014, Curtis wondered what the officer might want. His only run-in with the law had been half a lifetime ago. In 1985, he had been charged with indecency with a child, his stepdaughter. Curtis, then 34, struck a deal with prosecutors. He would plead guilty, but if after 10 years he kept out of trouble, the conviction would go away. He paid his fees, performed his community service and attended sex offender counseling. The charge was dismissed in 1996. He kept a…
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NY: Banished from New York City [audio]: The Legality, Policy Considerations, and Practical Implications of the Housing Restrictions Faced by People on the Sex Offender Registry
[nycbar.org – 9/11/18] In New York City, there are hundreds of men and women on the sex offender registry who are subject to the Sexual Assault Reform Act (SARA) residency restriction, which prevents them from living within 1,000 feet of a school. This little-known restriction has created enormous constitutional problems. Because our densely-populated city contains virtually no residences that comply with this restriction, prisons are holding these people past the length of their prison sentences if there is no SARA-compliant housing available – a time period that usually extends longer…
Read MoreFL: What Would Dr. King Do? The Case Against Amendment 4 on Felon Voting Rights
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 9/21/18] Florida leads the nation with over 1 million citizens disenfranchised and unable to vote due to felony convictions. The path to having their voting rights restored is long and difficult, and has been found unconstitutional by a federal judge. This November, Floridians who are able to vote will determine whether convicted felons who have completed their sentences, including parole or probation, will automatically have their voting rights restored. With two glaring exceptions: those convicted of murder or a sex offense. The problem with Amendment 4 is that…
Read MoreMI: Does v. Snyder brings changes to state’s Sex Offender Registration Law
Six people who filed a lawsuit against the State of Michigan, challenging the constitutionality of its Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA), have been removed from the public sex offender registry after a final order in their case, Does v. Snyder, was issued in January. The judgment, signed by The Hon. Robert H. Cleland of the Eastern District of Michigan, enforced a unanimous panel ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The court held that the 2006 and 2011 amendments to Michigan’s SORA violate the Ex Post…
Read MoreAR: 15,800 names on Arkansas sex-offender rolls; state’s count second-highest in U.S.
[arkansasonline.com – 9/16/118] Arkansas has about 15,800 registered sex offenders — 526 offenders for every 100,000 residents — the second-highest total in the country based on population, recent national research shows. The manager of the state’s sex-offender registry says the numbers are misleading. “It’s not like we have 16,000 sex offenders roaming loose around Arkansas,” said Paula Stitz. “It’s more like 9,000.” … there are 16,049 people registered in Arkansas’ sex-offender database, Stitz said. Of those, more than 3,100 are incarcerated, about 3,400 are now outside the state, and…
Read MoreKY: Court to consider if sex offender can be alone with own kids
[apnews.com – 9/20/18] FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether a convicted sex offender can spend time alone with his own children. The Courier Journal reports that 33-year-old _____ pleaded guilty to third-degree sodomy of a juvenile male relative in 2007. In 2015, the state learned that _____ was married with two children, who are now 3 and 6. The state won an order from a family court judge barring _____ from being alone with his kids, but a Court of Appeals unanimously…
Read MoreWA: Several more injunctions hit sex offender request
Curtis Hart is scheduled to receive the names of most of Cowlitz County’s 570 level 1 sex offenders Wednesday, but a few names likely will be withheld. One offender was granted a temporary injunction Sept. 11, and requests for injunctions to block the release of at least four other names were filed Monday on behalf of individual offenders. They are each represented by Vancouver attorney Elijah Marchbanks, and all are referred to as “John Does” in court documents. Full Article Also see: WA: Man plans to publish names of level…
Read MoreCA: Free L.A. concert by #TimeDone Campaign
[timedone.org] The Road to Redemption in California is part of a national effort, called #TimeDone, to raise awareness of how many people are affected by the barriers associated with convictions and the extent to which they undermine, economic security, family stability, and public safety. Today, an estimated 70 million people in the U.S. are living with a current or old criminal conviction. This means that long after they’ve successfully completed their sentence, nearly 1 in 5 people continue to face restrictions on jobs, housing, education and other supports that are key…
Read MoreGA: The Jolt: On Stacey Abrams’ ‘08 vote against banishment of sex offenders
[politics.myajc.com – 9/11/18] On Monday, the Georgia GOP again plunged deeply into the legislative record of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, launching an ad that assailed her vote against a sex offender crackdown as “too extreme for Georgia.” The 30-second spot targets her opposition to a 2008 bill that reinstated a range of restrictions that limited offenders from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of a broad range of places where children gather, including schools, churches, community swimming pools and bus stops. The Republican measure was pushed as a…
Read MoreFL: FAC Member Advised Passport Confiscated at Airport
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 9/14/18] A [Florida Action Committee] member just advised us that as he was about to board an international flight (which he properly reported under IML) he was approached by 3 US Marshalls who confiscated his passport and told him he had to get a new one with an identifier. He was not permitted to travel and he had received no prior notice that he had to update his passport. Read the original posting and the comments
Read MoreAZ: Conspiracy theories inspire vigilante justice in Tucson
[hcn.org – 9/12/18] How one man’s imagined discovery of a sex-trafficking camp in the Sonoran Desert gained life online — and in the real world. On May 31, a strange story aired on the nightly news in Tucson, Arizona. KOLD News 13 reporter Kevin Adger told viewers that a local veterans’ rights activist named Lewis Arthur had made a horrific discovery in the bushes beside a frontage road: a bunker used as a stopover by child sex traffickers. The reporter pointed out children’s clothes, an old toilet seat and a…
Read MoreBetsy DeVos is absolutely right about campus sexual assault rules
[theweek.com – 9/13/18] To push an issue, a leader usually needs to have integrity or street cred. Abraham Lincoln had the first when he led the country out of slavery. Richard Nixon, a security hawk, had the second when he made peace with China. President Donald Trump admittedly has neither when it comes to women’s issues. So his administration is hardly in any moral position to revamp the rules governing sexual assault on college campuses that President Barack Obama, a paragon of propriety, put in place. Yet Obama’s rules were…
Read MoreSC: Can sex offenders stay at Red Cross shelters?
With Hurricane Florence barreling towards the coast of the Carolinas, residents in multiple counties have been urged to evacuate either out of town or to emergency shelters. But what about safety at shelters? ABC News asked the American Red Cross if sex offenders were allowed to stay at shelters with others residents. Full Article Related links: VERIFY: Yes, sex offenders can stay at public shelters during Florence in NC [wcnc.com – 9/15/18]
Read MorePA: Extended registration periods under SORNA unlawful
Court ruling against retroactive extension of registration period for 19 individuals who were convicted before the enactment of SORNA – but resentenced to longer / lifetime registration under SORNA after subsequent probation violations. Opinion Related PA: State Supreme Court remanding cases after Muniz All PA articles
Read MoreNE: Judge – Keep juvenile sex offenders off registry
A federal judge has told Nebraska to keep juvenile sex offenders off the state sex offender registry if they weren’t tried as adults — at least for now. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Tuesday’s order from U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf gives a temporary reprieve to dozens of people who received letters from the Nebraska State Patrol telling them they must register as sex offenders. The letters cited a recent Nebraska Supreme Court decision. Full Article
Read MoreOR: Discovery of dog saves Oregon man from sex-crime conviction
[stltoday.com – 9/10/18] The discovery of a black Lab named Lucy led to the unravelling of a criminal case Monday against an Oregon man who had begun serving a 50-year prison sentence. Joshua Horner, a plumber from the central Oregon town of Redmond, was convicted on April 12, 2017, of sexual abuse of a minor. In the trial, the complainant testified Horner had threatened to shoot her animals if she went to the police about the alleged molestation, and said she saw him shoot and kill her dog to make…
Read MoreAcademic Study Reveals 30 States Require Visiting Registrants to Register; 22 States Don’t Remove Registrants After They Depart
Note: before you travel to another state, it is your responsibility to always read up on the latest registration regulations. Don’t depend on secondhand studies like this. Do your research so you don’t land in jail. Download Academic Study that Reveals 30 States Require Visiting Registrants to Register
Read MoreLaws Punishing Homeless People for Sleeping in Public Are Cruel and Unusual, Fed Court Rules
[nytimes.com – 9/5/18] Prosecuting homeless people for sleeping on the streets when there is no shelter available is a form of cruel and unusual punishment that violates the Constitution, a federal appeals court said this week. The case stems from two ordinances in Boise, Idaho, that make it a crime to sleep or camp in buildings, streets and other public places. Six homeless people who had been convicted under the laws sued the city in 2009, saying their constitutional rights had been violated. After years of legal wrangling, a three-judge…
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