The Utah Supreme Court has overturned a judge’s order requiring a sex offender to pay his victim for the wages she lost as a result of his abuse in 2003. ____ ____, who sexually exploited a teenage girl, had been ordered by a judge to reimburse the victim almost $13,000 in wages she lost when depression caused by the offense led to problems at work and a reduction in her hours. Full Article
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MO: Some say new Mo. law tracking sex offenders is unconstitutional
Keeping an eye on sex offenders for life, it’s a new law for Missouri and this now includes first-time offenders. But tonight, there’s a fight to challenge this. Some say it violates the constitution. Full Article
Read MorePA: Does isolating sex offenders really work? Some experts say no
The arguments from experts who contend that residency restrictions such as those sought by Dawn Knull don’t work focus on concerns that the restrictions isolate sex offenders and make it more difficult for them to be rehabilitated. “It is a bad idea from the perspective of public safety,” said Mary Catherine Roper, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which brought the case on behalf of sex offenders that led to the court striking down the Allegheny County ordinance. Many experts have come out in recent…
Read MoreAZ: U.S. judge knocks down Arizona’s child-molestation law, orders ex-teacher released
A U.S. District Court judge in Phoenix has found unconstitutional an Arizona law defining child molestation, and he ordered that a man who already has spent a decade in custody be released. In 2007, a Maricopa County jury found ____ ____guilty of five counts of molestation of a child and acquitted him of two other counts. An eighth count was dismissed by prosecutors. ____ was a former schoolteacher and swim instructor, and the charges came from allegations that he touched children inappropriately while giving them swim lessons. ____denied there was any…
Read MoreUT: Audit slams Utah’s sex-offender treatment program in prison
Sex offenders in Utah often stay in prison months beyond their parole eligibility date because of a backlog of inmates awaiting treatment overseen by the Utah Department of Corrections, according to a state audit released Monday. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Sex offenders require constant vigilance from law enforcement
When ____ ____ set foot in South Georgia a few years ago, he had just spent 30 years in a Detroit prison for being a serial rapist convicted 10 times over. Because Palmer committed his crimes before June 4, 2003, under Georgia law, he is allowed to settle down anywhere with no restrictions. Yes, that’s right. Anywhere. He can settle in a home next door to a school or day care or playground — anywhere. “____ ____’s crime is so old (he) can live next to whatever he wants to.…
Read MoreMN: Lawyers want high court to take Minnesota sex offenders case
Lawyers for sex offenders confined indefinitely to Minnesota’s secure treatment program have asked a judge to stay all further proceedings while they ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court finding that the program is constitutional. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Women working together to change sex offender notification process
Two North Valley women say they have their family lives and careers on hold, to fight for a safer community. Julie Read and Ann O’Brien, who live in the Norterra subdivision of the North Valley, started this mission after an old juvenile detention facility re-opened as the Maricopa Re-entry Center, a place where former inmates who were drug addicts and sex offenders would come for treatment. “It was literally 16 sex offenders came in one day, in addition to the dozens we already have living in our community,” said Read.…
Read MoreMI: Man barred from visiting home county by court
The unusual restriction was upheld this week by a federal appeals court. When ____ ____ is released from prison this year, he can’t set foot in his home county, Baraga, while under the supervision of a probation officer. ____ was convicted of a sex crime in 2009. He has twice been returned to prison for violating conditions of supervised release. ____ admits that Baraga, a remote and sparsely populated area in the Upper Peninsula, isn’t a good place for him to deal with drug and alcohol problems. He said he doesn’t want to…
Read MoreUT: Wasatch prosecutor warns Utah senators he’s coming after them for sex-offender vote
The Utah Legislature approved a bill this past session giving judges more sentencing discretion in cases in which a defendant had consensual sex with a minor under age 14 if that defendant is under 21. The measure passed the House 42-31 and the Senate 15-11. Gov. Gary Herbert signed it into law. It changes slightly the mandatory-minimum requirement of 25 years to life and a lifetime listing on the sex-offender registry for having sex with a minor. But it now has a deputy in the Wasatch County attorney’s office gunning…
Read MoreND: Despite research, lawmakers OK bill keeping high-risk sex offenders from living near schools
North Dakota’s on track to have its first statewide restriction on where high-risk sex offenders can live, with lawmakers voting almost unanimously for a bill that would prohibit such offenders from residing within 500 feet of a school. House Bill 1334, which has received little media attention, quietly passed the House in February and the Senate this week. The bill has not yet been sent to Gov. Doug Burgum, who generally does not comment on legislation before it reaches his desk, his spokesman Mike Nowatzki said Thursday, March 30. Over…
Read MoreIL: Federal judge – City of Chicago did not violate rights of homeless sex offenders
A Chicago federal judge recently ended a lawsuit filed by two homeless sex offenders who claimed Chicago city officials violated their civil rights by not allowing them to comply with sex offender registry laws. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Bill would ban sex offenders from college dorms
Sometimes as a state representative, I come across laws that have outlived their usefulness, and at other times, glaring oversights that should have been addressed years ago. On Wednesday, in the House Committee on Higher Education, where I serve as Vice-Chair, I presented HB 355 which corrects one such glaring oversight, the prevention of registered sex offenders living in on-campus college housing. Full Article
Read MoreNV: Bill would allow judge to decide on sex offender registry for Nevada youth
Nevada judges may end up deciding if juvenile sex offenders will have to register and appear in the public sex offender database. Under Assembly Bill 395 a judge would decide if a juvenile has to register while they are a minor and if they need to register as an adult after reaching age 21. Full Article
Read MoreIL: Lawmakers eliminating time-frame protection for child sex offenders
Those who suffered sexual abuse and assault as children decades ago may soon be able to obtain justice by having their victimizers prosecuted. State Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, introduced Senate Bill 189 in January, which would eliminate the statute of limitations for all felony child abuse and sexual assault crimes. It already passed the Senate Criminal Law Committee, of which Bennett is a member, with a 10-0 vote March 7 and is now awaiting a full Senate vote, according to Illinois legislative records. Full Article
Read MoreSCOTUS asks US Solicitor General to weigh in on Ex Post Facto case
News from the U.S. Supreme Court – the court has NOT decided whether it will review Doe v. Snyder, last summer’s ground-breaking decision by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to review an important ruling (Doe v. Snyder) which was handed down last summer by a federal appeals court, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. The request was discussed in a private conference last Friday and today we learned the result – the Supreme Court has made NO decision on the request…
Read MoreCT: Lawmakers consider requiring juveniles to register as sex offenders
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would require juveniles convicted of sexual offenses to register as sex offenders. Judiciary Committee co-chairman Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, said members of the committee believe sexual assault is just as serious when the offense is committed by someone under the age of 18. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Sex offender board aims ‘never to make a mistake’
The city’s sex offender residency ordinance is 10 years old this spring. Passed in 2007, it forbids convicted sex offenders from moving to within 1,500 feet of any place where children are likely to gather. The restriction essentially closes off most affordable residential areas of the city to convicted sex offenders who didn’t already live there before the ordinance was passed. But Green Bay’s ordinance, unlike most of the other 175 ordinances placing housing restrictions on sex offenders in communities throughout the state, provides one major exception: Any sex offender…
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