[Battle Creek Enquirer] A convicted sex offender’s plan to open a business next to a toy store in downtown Battle Creek has hit a major stumbling block. Reece Adkins’ business partner, Cindy Dian, contacted the building owner, John Hennink, on Thursday and asked if the lease could be dissolved. Hennink said yes. Adkins, who pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person under 13 in May 2000, was planning to open Cereal City Food Auction, … Read more
Read MoreCategory: National
Fort council amends sexual offender domicile restrictions
[Daily Jefferson County Union] To comply with recent federal court rulings, the Fort Atkinson City Council has amended its ordinance restricting the placement of sex offenders. At its meeting Tuesday, the council removed the domicile restriction from the ordinance that had prevented convicted offenders who did not live in Fort Atkinson at the time of their offense from moving into the city once released. When adopted in February 2016, many other municipalities were including the domicile restriction in their ordinances. Since then, in a federal case titled Hoffman v. the…
Read MoreIA: Warrantless Search of Sex Offender’s Mobile Phone OK
The warrantless search of a sex offender’s mobile phone at a supervised release facility was constitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held Aug. 10. Full Article
Read MoreVA: Ex-con feels he’s being forced to re-offend, asks state to step in
Thousands of your tax dollars are being spent to help sex-offenders keep a roof over their heads. On Tuesday, a man called 12 On Your Side, saying he’s upset he’s being kicked out of the program just as he’s working to rebuild his life. Full Article
Read MoreCruel and Unusual: The Case Against Registering Kids as Sex Offenders
[Impact Justice] America’s kids have racked up some big wins in the nation’s most august court. The victory lap began in 2005 when the Supreme Court banned the death penalty for juveniles. (Roper v. Simons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005).) In 2010, the Court barred mandatory life without parole for juveniles, except those convicted of murder. (Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010).) Two years later, the Court eliminated this exclusion, reasoning that a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release violates juveniles’ constitutional protections against “cruel…
Read MoreAre Sex Offender Registries Too Strict?
[Newsweek] Public sex offender registries are at the forefront of what I’ve described in my research as a “war on sex.” Offenders convicted of sex crimes are now singled out for surveillance and restrictions far more punitive than those who commit other types of crime. More than 800,000 Americans are now registered sex offenders. Tracking them has created a booming surveillance industry. In my work on sex offender registries, I have found that black men in the U.S. were registered at rates twice that of white men—resembling disparities found in…
Read MoreSex Offender, 81, Jumps Off Joliet Bridge, Drowns: Police
[Joliet Patch] JOLIET, IL — An 81-year-old man who was a convicted sex offender took his own life on Friday morning by jumping off the downtown Cass Street Bridge, police said. A call came into the Joliet Police Department’s communications center at 6:59 a.m. in reference to someone who jumped into the Des Plaines River. A few officers were in the immediate area. They quickly accessed a police boat and tried to save the man from drowning. “As the officers observed the man in the water, he attempted to be…
Read MoreWA: Seattle set to prevent landlords from considering applicants’ criminal records
[The Seattle Times] Seattle set to prevent landlords from considering applicants’ criminal records. Seattle landlords would be almost completely prohibited from screening prospective tenants based on their criminal histories, under a proposed ordinance approved by a City Council committee Tuesday. The only people who could be denied housing based on their criminal histories would be those listed on sex-offender registries because of adult convictions. And landlords denying housing to such sex offenders would still need to state a legitimate business reason for doing so. Read more
Read MoreNY: Order reveals ongoing confinement of sex offender
Saratoga County’s first civilly confined sex offender remains in custody nearly a decade after his original release date, according to an appeals ruling issued Thursday. Full Article
Read MoreMN: Study gives hope for children with sexual behavior problems
[Star Tribune] It’s common to feel many emotions when faced with the prospect of children as victims, or perpetrators, of sexual violence: Horror. Grief. Anger. Shame. One emotion we rarely dare to feel is hope. But findings from a new, myth-busting study by the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA) give us hope in abundance for these children, their families and society. The project, funded by Raliance, a nonprofit that distributes funds from the National Football League, examined how Minnesota identifies and treats children with sexual behavior problems, as well…
Read MoreMO: City Union Mission sues Jackson County sheriff over arrest threats
[The Kansas City Star] The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is targeting some sex offenders for arrest at the City Union Mission because it sits near a park, according to a federal lawsuit alleging that the practice violates the charity’s constitutionally protected rights of religious freedom. The suit centers on how the sheriff’s office interprets a Missouri law that prohibits certain offenders from “loitering” within 500 feet of a public park that contains a pool or playground equipment. The mission operates several facilities in the 1100 block of East 10th Street…
Read MoreAL: Teacher Accused of Sex with Students Gets Charges Thrown Out as Unconstitutional
DECATUR, Ala. – An Alabama teacher accused of having sex with two of her students succeeded in having her charges thrown out on constitutional grounds, Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson confirmed Thursday. Carrie Witt was facing potential prison time for allegedly having sex with two students between 16 and 19 years old while she taught at Decatur High School. Read more
Read MoreMI: Neighbors, community members react to registered sex offender looking to open business
A registered sex offender wants to open up shop two blocks away from a school, and right next door to a toy store. He says he wants to help the community, but some neighbors say no way! Full Article Update Sex offender warned to stay away from his own business
Read MoreU.S. Counter-Terrorism Unit Targets Virginia Prisoner for Writing About Prison
Free Speech vs. Incarceration Nation: In case no one noticed ICE and the Counter-terrorism Units have branched out thanks in part to Trumps insistence on ‘Mexican Rapists.’ ICE’ website keeps bragging about all the ‘sex offenders’ they’ve caught trolling the internet (never mind that the sex offenders are not ‘illegal’ its just easier to hook into long standing prejudices and pump up their statistics. Instead of actually going after dangerous people ICE (and now with the BAN) they are targeting the easiest most accessible people (like federal prisoners and the…
Read MoreThe school of redemption
[vindy.mobi] We forgive. We hate. They are two polarizing traits that distinguish humans from all other species. In America, we are exceptional at both, and that is the paradox in “The Land of Dreams.” We watch news footage of kangaroo leadership and human atrocities in far-flung places and convince ourselves that we are an advanced and reasoned society as we sign checks to the needy, walk racetracks for cancer, build homes for the poor and so on. All of it, though, conceals an ugly American truth – like a waterway…
Read MoreThe Practical Case for Parole for Violent Offenders
[NY Times] The American criminal justice system is exceptional, in the worst way possible: It combines exceptionally coercive plea bargaining, exceptionally long sentences, exceptionally brutal prison conditions and exceptionally difficult obstacles to societal re-entry. This punitiveness makes us stand out as uniquely inhumane in comparison with other industrialized countries. To remedy this, along with other changes, we must consider opening the exit doors — and not just for the “easy” cases of nonviolent drug offenders. Yes, I’m suggesting that we release some of the people who once committed serious, violent…
Read MoreFL: Hundreds of Miami Sex Offenders Live in a Squalid Tent City Near Hialeah
Cradling a heavy box of Budweiser against his flour-dusted apron, Mario Medina clicks open the door and greets two waitresses behind the counter at La Cascada, a retro Cuban pizza parlor in Northwest Miami-Dade. Besides the voice of a sports commentator on the TV and sporadic blips from arcade games in the back, the restaurant is quiet, and all five tables are empty. It’s 30 minutes into the lunch rush hour, but only three weary patrons in construction boots sit hunched over glasses of cold beer at the bar.“Before, we…
Read MoreMA: Landlord to sex offenders in Ware, on registry himself, says safe home cuts risk
Many of the 23 registered Level 3 sex offenders who live in Ware rent from another Level 3 sex offender who owns several properties and plans to provide a home for other offenders who need help. Full Article
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