[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/30/18] On April 19, 2018, Facebook owned Instagram, revised it’s Terms of Use. The new version replaces the prior version, which had been in place since 2013, can be found here: http://help.instagram.com/581066165581870?helpref=page_content Sadly, included in this months change is a ban on anyone registered as a sex offender. The restriction did not appear in the prior version. Read more
Read MoreCategory: National
IN: Indiana Supreme Court suggests declaratory judgment a better avenue to challenge collateral consequences
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/30/18] Although the Indiana Supreme Court ruled against a registered sex offender father trying to attend his son’s school events, they did give him some guidance on how to go about his challenge. Douglas Kirby plead guilty to child solicitation eight years ago and was sentenced to eighteen months probation. While he was on probation (and until 2015) he was permitted to come on campus to see his son’s school activities. That was until Indiana passed a law in 2015 making it a felony for him to ” knowingly…
Read MoreFL: Miami-Dade Will Close Sex Offender Camp by May 6, Threatens Jail Time for Stragglers
Since 2014, a colony of homeless sex offenders has been rapidly growing by the railroad tracks near Hialeah. Nobody wants them there, including the dozens who call the ramshackle camp home. Everyone, from the Homeless Trust to the ACLU to the county commission, agrees the encampment is a public health and safety hazard. But for years, the sex offenders have said that restrictive county laws mean they have nowhere else to legally live and that county officials have failed to solve the problem. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Video Shows City Workers Destroying Property of Homeless Miamians
[miaminewtimes.com 4/25/18] The morning of April 17, Wilbur Cauley left all of his belongings in their usual place: stacked by a fence under the I-395 overpass at NW First Court and 13th Street. It was in the middle of a four-block area where about 30 homeless Miamians live. That morning, Cauley, an Army veteran in his late 50s who served three years in Germany, went to a nearby store for a soda. When he returned, he says, a man in a dark-green shirt was kicking bags that contained Cauley’s birth…
Read MorePassport revoked
[narsol.org 4/27/18] By Scott . . . I’m on the board of Illinois Voices for Reform and have been actively involved with the organization since 2012. I am on the registry for life as currently required by Illinois law due to an incident involving a minor back in 2008. I served two years of probation and successfully completed sex offender counseling in 2012. My wife and I love to travel, and we were fortunate to be able to travel to Europe for a week at the end of March. I…
Read MoreFederal SORN Policies
[sexlawandpolicy.org] There are few people as uniformly despised as people with sex offense convictions. It’s not hard to understand when you’re inundated with overblown reports concluding that all people on the registry are sexually recidivistic, incurable, and predatory. Overcome by outrage and fear we support any measures to protect against victimization, even if the proposed legislation is a sweeping and draconian measure. The last twenty-five years is a lasting testament to our panicked response to media hysterics and hyperbole, especially at the federal level. During this time, a number of…
Read MoreIA: Convicted Sex Offender Allowed to Volunteer at Iowa Schools
[usnews.com 4/27/18] WELLMAN, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa teacher purged from the state’s sex offender list has been allowed to volunteer at an eastern Iowa school district. The Des Moines Register reports that _____ has been helping out in the Mid-Prairie schools district, which is based in Wellman. The district granted him special permission to volunteer, after receiving letters of support. Superintendent Mark Schneider says he has informed school principals that Yo_____ der must be with another adult at all times. Read more
Read MoreTX: How a charity for disabled vets almost gave a sex offender a free home
____ ____, 37, a war veteran and double amputee, was receiving the home mortgage-free, courtesy of the Military Warriors Support Foundation’s “Homes 4 Wounded Heroes” program. The charity worked in conjunction with the home’s most recent owner, Wells Fargo bank. Getting a house is no small deal. Getting one for free, in a settled and safe neighborhood in small-town America, is even bigger. ____, 14 years after he was maimed by a landmine in Iraq, was ready to begin the next chapter of his life among the families of Stuarts…
Read MoreNJ: After state Supreme Court ruling, few sex offenders likely get reprieve from Megan’s Law
A New Jersey Supreme Court ruling exempting certain sex offenders from Megan’s Law registration requirements isn’t likely to apply to more than a few dozen people, state officials said Wednesday, as the public defender’s office began contacting people who now may be eligible to be taken off the list. Full Article
Read MoreIL: State Senate targets masturbating jail inmates, making ‘sex offender’ tag easier
It’s a daily sight being called “a pretty extreme brand of workplace sexual harassment.” Citing a rise of lewd behavior in the Cook County Jail, the Illinois Senate on Wednesday passed a measure that would place inmates on the sex offender registry upon release if they expose themselves or masturbate in front of female staffers more than two times. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Judge: Wisconsin sex offender can visit sick son at hospital
[washingtonpost.com 4/25/18] MILWAUKEE — A registered sex offender will be allowed to visit his severely ill 9-year-old son despite objections from Wisconsin Children’s Hospital, a Milwaukee County judge ruled Wednesday. The order from Judge William Pocan carries restrictions, however. Stuart Yates, 49, must give two-hour advance notice for his visits and he can only stay for six hours each time. Yates must also be with his son at all times. Yates was barred from the hospital on March 6 after hospital officials learned of his past. He was convicted of…
Read MoreNJ Supreme Court Strikes Down Mandatory Lifetime Registration for Juvenile Sex Offenders
On Tuesday, April, 24, 2018 the New Jersey Supreme Court struck down a provision of Megan’s Law that required certain juvenile sex offenders to register for life. The case, State in the Interest of C.K., involved a juvenile adjudicated delinquent for a sex offense committed when he was a teenager. The High Court noted that twenty years had passed since C.K. committed his offense and that multiple psychological evaluations had found he posed “an extremely low risk to reoffend.” The Court held that requiring individuals, like C.K., to register for…
Read MoreIs this a trap? US Marshals Service puts up IML Complaint form
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/24/18] As part of the International Megan’s Law, the US Marshals Service has been notifying receiving countries when a registrant is traveling. You can imagine how the immigration officials in a country you are traveling to will react when they receive a warning from the US Marshals that you are arriving. Travelers have been intercepted upon arrival, interrogated and turned back on the next flight. In most cases, they are denied entry, unable to attend to business, visit family, attend a loved one’s wedding ceremony or simply see the…
Read MoreFL: At schools, sexual predator monitoring should start inside the classroom
[floridaactioncommittee.org 4/24/18] Within the past three weeks two teachers from Lake Howell High School were arrested, as usual this was picked up in the news cycle. What stands out to me is how the news reports these arrests, it is reported as just a matter of fact simply to state that it happened. Every October almost every news station has a segment on Halloween and how parents must check the SOR to make sure their kids are safe during trick or treating. Lets put this in perspective for a moment,…
Read MoreME: Maine Towns Allowed To Ban Sex Offenders From Parks, Fields
[mainepublic.org 4/23/18] AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine towns will be able to ban sex offenders from any state or municipal park, athletic field or recreational facility serving children. A new law allows municipalities to prohibit sex offenders from coming within 750 feet of such property. Officials in Madawaska had argued that state law only allowed municipalities to ban such individuals who come near property leased to nonprofits. Republican Gov. Paul LePage signed Democratic Rep. Roland Martin’s bill into law on April 18, and it will take effect three months after lawmakers…
Read MoreMO: Missouri’s awful choice
[handbasketnotes.blogspot.com 4/23/18] This is a terrible story about terrible legislation in Missouri, terrible legislation that offers hope to some. Almost all sex offenders in Missouri are on a state registry for a lifetime, whether they made a one-time mistake, or made repeated or extreme offenses. Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, wants to make it possible for certain people to petition to remove their name from the list and for the registry to be more transparent for the public. A Senate committee heard a bill that already has passed the House…
Read MoreMN: Minnesota Senate passes bill to tighten sex offender, mental health commitment rules
[startribune.com 4/23/18] A proposal that would make it more difficult to release convicted sex offenders and people with mental illness is gaining new momentum at the Minnesota Capitol, as the state faces growing legal pressure to free some patients from its embattled sex offender program. The proposal comes in direct response to a court decision earlier this year that permitted the full discharge of a 51-year-old sex offender, Kirk A. Fugelseth, who has admitted to molesting more than 30 boys and girls and who was confined to the Minnesota Sex…
Read MoreMA: From the Capitol: Democrats reject common sense fixes
[journalstandard.com 4/20/18] This last week in Springfield has me thinking about common sense more and more. Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have run roughshod over what I believe are common sense solutions. It certainly seems that common sense isn’t so common, and I began to wonder how the term originated. … The Sex Offenses and Sex Offender Registration Subcommittee voted down House Bill 4318. After a rapist gets out of prison they can move right next door to their victim. You read that correctly. There are no living restrictions for…
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