[The Seattle Times] PHOENIX (AP) — The state Supreme Court says registered sex offenders without addresses or permanent places of residence aren’t subject to Arizona’s requirement to provide notice of address changes within 72 hours. Instead, the court’s unanimous ruling Friday says those offenders only have to register as transients at least every 90 days. The ruling overturns a lower court’s ruling that upheld a man’s felony conviction for failing to notify law enforcement officials of a new residence or address within 72 hours after he left a halfway house…
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OR: Sex-offender stings make it ‘safer for everyone’
During a sting operation last week, state troopers contacted 16 registered sex offenders, some of whom failed to make an annual report or disclose whether they had a change of address. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Supreme Court Hearing Sex Offender Registry Case
[UPDATED LINKS 3/30/18] The Michigan Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the case of a man who was placed on the sex offender registry for touching a girl’s breasts, even though his case was dismissed in 1997 after successful probation and community service. Full Article RELATED LINKS: Change.org petition: Allow “Romeo-Juliet” convictions to apply to expunge their records in Michigan [3/30/18]
Read MoreExtended Sentence
[slate.com] When David Silva returned in 2006 from serving 38 months in New Jersey state prison for offenses related to his substance abuse, he faced more than $35,000 in debt. He didn’t owe this money to private creditors; he was in debt to the government for his prosecutions and stints in prison. Silva’s debts for “use” of the criminal justice system included public defender fees, various surcharges that went to things such as police uniforms and drug-use prevention, and probation supervision fees, as well as restitution and fines. Silva’s debts…
Read MoreEthics and Religion Talk: Should congregations welcome sexual offenders?
[The Rapidian] Fred Stella, the Pracharak (Outreach Minister) for the West Michigan Hindu Temple, responds: “West Michigan Hindu Temple has not had to deal with this issue up to date so I have to speculate on this one. Before anything we must understand that the term ‘sex offender’ has multiple meanings. It stretches from a make out session gone a bit too far between teenagers who have just a couple of years of age difference between them all the way to the most heinous crimes beyond the imaginations of most…
Read MoreFL: Sex offenders may soon be able to live closer to schools, day care centers in Jacksonville
Registered sex offenders in the River City may soon be able to live closer to schools, public libraries and other places children frequent if the Jacksonville City Council has anything to say about it. The city council will undergo a second reading of city ordinance 2017-667 on Tuesday. The bill’s primary function is to reduce the required distance a registered sex offender or predator can reside near various locations from 2,500 feet to 1,500 feet, according to the bill’s description. The bill also advises, if passed, that new and upcoming…
Read MoreHow $40 Can Land You in Prison for Seven Years and on the Sex Offender Registry for Life
[truth-out.org] In December, after more than seven years behind bars, 32-year-old LeeAnn walked out of federal prison. But she’s not a free woman — she will spend the rest of her life on the sex offender registry. Her crime? Letting a girl shower in her mother’s apartment, giving her a clean change of clothes and holding the girl’s $40 while she had sex with a man in another room. These are normal actions in the daily life of sex workers trying to keep themselves and each other safe. But the…
Read MoreShould Animal Abusers Be Registered Like Sex Offenders?
[bigthink.com] One of the objectives of the criminal justice system is to protect the innocent and discourage would-be perpetrators from harming them. Whether it does this in reality or not is another matter. But who among us is more innocent or vulnerable than our pets? They rely on us for so much. Most of us consider our pet a member of the family. The question is, how far should the law go to protect them? This debate has blossomed recently, due to the number of US jurisdictions passing laws creating…
Read MoreMN: After Supreme Court Passes, What’s Next for Sex Offenders?
[U.S. News] When the U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of Minnesota‘s sex offender program, it relieved the pressure for major near-term change in a program that confines over 700 people who’ve finished their prison sentences. Only rarely is anyone released. Here’s a look at a program that is often opaque to the public, and at the handful of people who — at least on paper — may have a shot at release sometime soon: Read more
Read MoreCO: U.S. court ruling sparks debate over Colorado’s sex offender registry
When David sifted through the mail the morning of his 18th birthday, he hoped to find cards with money. Instead, he received a warrant for his arrest. The charge: statutory rape. It was 2007, and the 17-year-old junior basketball star had recently moved to a small Missouri town, population less than 500, and almost immediately started dating a girl who was one month shy of her 14th birthday. They were intimately involved for nearly three months before David ended the relationship. Full Article
Read MoreVA: It’s Time to Reduce, Reconstruct, Reclassify, Rethink and Reform the Virginia Sex Offender Registry
Professor Catherine Carpenter (Southwestern Law School), a nationally renowned criminal law scholar in the area of sex crimes and sex offender registration laws, came to St. Francis College on September 26 to talk about The Unconstitutionality of Sex Offense Laws. Read more and watch video
Read MoreRI: Bill restricting sex offenders in homeless shelters passes Rhode Island House, Senate
[Brown Daily Herald, Rhode Island] Last month, a bill that would cap the proportion of registered sex offenders in homeless shelter beds at 10 percent for shelters whose capacity exceeds 50 people passed in the Rhode Island State House. A coalition of activists are now asking via petition that Gov. Gina Raimondo veto the bill, arguing that the legislation is “against the public interest.” The bill passed the state Senate in June after the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended it for passage. The bill was passed in concurrence by the Rhode…
Read MoreMI: Sex registry rewrite should focus on risk
[The Detroit News] Michigan’s ill-advised scheme to pile on punishment for convicted sex offenders failed to get even a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, leaving the Legislature to craft a new law that will restore both sanity and fairness to the state’s sex offender registry. The High Court said Monday it will not take up Michigan’s appeal of a 6th Circuit Court ruling that struck down its practice of applying new restrictions retroactively to those on the list. Now, the state has no choice but to draft new rules…
Read MoreMore Than Just a Felon: What should we call people with a criminal history — and why does it matter?
[Prison Fellowship] What is the worst thing you’ve ever done? Now imagine being known by that one mistake — regardless of what you’ve done to take responsibility or make amends. You have to write it on the top of every application for employment or housing you ever fill out — for the rest of your life. Labels are powerful, and our society has plenty for people who have been through the criminal justice system and have the record to show for it: Felon. Offender. Convict. Criminal. Even inmate casts a dark shadow in its…
Read MoreWI: State legislation would exempt teens from a felony for having consensual sex
[WKOW Madison, Wisconsin] Sex between most Wisconsin high school students would be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, under the so-called “Romeo and Juliet bill” heard Thursday by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. Public testimony brought out some very strong emotions from people who have seen their lives, and the lives of loved ones, turned upside down by a decision to have sex as teenagers. Cindy Komorowski fought back tears as she told lawmakers about her teenage son, Mitchell. “In the eyes of the law,…
Read MoreIN: Indiana Supreme Court – Sex with minors is OK, but it’s illegal to sext them
In Indiana, it’s legal for adults to have consensual sex with minors aged 16 and 17. But it’s illegal to sext those same minors, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled this week. The decision reinstated sexting charges against an adult who texted nude images of himself to a girl he knew was 16. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Michigan’s sex offender registry needs reform, U.S. Supreme Court decides (audio)
[Florida Action Committee] J.J. Prescott, a University of Michigan law professor and expert on sex offender laws, talks about the state of the sex offender registry in Michigan, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision not to review a lower court’s ruling that the registry violates Ex Post Facto Laws. Listen to the audio recording
Read MoreWA: Motion filed to allow sex offender to move after eviction notice
[KREM.com] SPOKANE, Wash. – Attorneys for a level three sex offender released to Spokane in 2016 have filed a motion for him to move to new housing. David McCuistion was served an eviction notice by his landlord at the New Washington Apartments in downtown Spokane back in July. He was served an eviction notice at his current apartment because his landlord did not like the publicity, court documents said. Read more
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