The state’s highest court has denied the request of a man who sought to withdraw his plea in a Quincy indecent assault case because he wasn’t told about the consequences of having to register as a sex offender. Full Article Decision
Read MoreCategory: National
OH: More than 70 sex offenders are registered to vote at Cleveland schools
While registered sex offenders in the state of Ohio are prohibited from living with 1,000 feet of a school or daycare facility, they are not prohibited from actually entering schools. A News 5 investigation revealed that at least 77 Cleveland sex offenders are registered to vote in the city’s elementary and high schools. Full Article
Read MoreTN: Lawsuit challenges Tennessee sex offender registry
Retroactive enforcement of Tennessee’s sex offender registry law is being challenged in a federal court lawsuit that mimics a separate, successful appeal that led to the nullification of retroactive laws in Michigan. Full Article Complaint
Read MoreTX: A Residence Ban Forced This Family into Homelessness for Almost Two Years
Legislators who advocate restrictions on where those on sex offender registries can live often admit that their real purpose is to get registrants out of town altogether. One city has come closer than any other to making permanent exile a reality: Lewisville, Texas. Full Article
Read MoreNE: Rethinking Nebraska’s sex offender registry
Do all the people on Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registry really need to be there? Do you think we should know the whereabouts of every sex offender in the state? Some people don’t think so. Groundbreaking research at UNO found that most sex offenders do not reoffend. Research showed that putting every sex offender on a public website can lead to harassment and may contribute to conditions that make reoffending more likely. Full Article
Read MoreWA: State Dept. of Corrections finds the term ‘offender’ offensive
OLYMPIA —The state Department of Corrections plans to stop referring to the men and women serving time behind bars as “offenders.” Acting Corrections Secretary Dick Morgan told agency employees in a memo Tuesday the word will be replaced in policies and programs with terms such as “individuals,” “students” or “patients” depending on the circumstances. … The term won’t disappear completely as registered sex offenders will still be identified in that manner. “That won’t change. They will be known as a registered sex offender,” Barclay said. “That is codified in law.”…
Read MoreIL: A setback for First Amendment protection for anonymous speech
Continuing the one-step-forward, one-step-backward pattern that has characterized the cases examining the constitutionality of state sex offender registry statutes, the Illinois Supreme Court has upheld the provisions of the Illinois sex offender statute compelling disclosure of all “Internet identifiers” just a few weeks after the district court in Florida struck down, on First Amendment grounds, a virtually identical provision in the Florida statute. Full Article
Read MoreThree men tried to kill a registered citizen, killed an old lady instead. Tell me again why PFML wants to expand the registry?
Parents For Megan’s Law wants the info of level 1 registrants in NY state to register for longer than 20 AND they publish level 1 info in violation of state law. Here is why this is a bad idea– three vigilante thugs killed an elderly woman and left 13 people homeless by starting a fire in an attempt to kill someone on the registry. None of these killers will be on PFML’s website. Full Article
Read MoreOH: Official – Halloween child sex attacks unlikely
With Halloween only a few days away, Law Director Gregory Hicks made it clear there is not an increased likelihood of registered sex offenders accosting children during this holiday than any other time of the year. A nine-year study released in 2009 in the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers found there is no significant increase in the risk for non-familial child sexual abuse during this holiday period, Hicks said. The vast majority of child sexual abuse cases — more than 80 percent — are done by persons related…
Read MoreMO: State Rep. wants death penalty as option for repeat sex offenders
It’s the one issue in Jefferson City that State Representative Randy Pietzman says nobody likes to talk about. “This is not a popular topic to talk about if you’re just trying to get re-elected,” he said. But that’s not going to stop him from tackling it head on because he says it concerns the safety of every Missouri child. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Sex Offender Registration After Does v. Snyder
The Sixth Circuit’s recent decision in Does v. Snyder, __ F.3d __, 2016 WL 4473231 (6th Cir. 2016), has significant implications for the representation of current registrants who are charged with violating Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA), current registrants seeking removal from the sex offender registry or exemptions from certain SORA provisions, defendants currently charged with sex offenses, and defendants in “recapture” cases. While every case is obviously unique, this memo seeks to provide some general guidance to Michigan’s criminal defense bar in the wake of the Does decision.…
Read More“One strike for sex offenders should be enough” – change.org Petition
“The system failed me and my family and I’m going to do whatever it takes to put an end to the psychos running the streets.” – Shasta Groene For anyone living in the Pacific Northwest in May of 2005, the survival story of Shasta Groene is one you could not turn away from. It has now been almost 11 1/2 years since ____ ____ , a sex offender with a long record of assaults on children, abducted Shasta and her brother Dylan from their Idaho home where another brother, Slade,…
Read MoreSex offenders in nursing homes issue begs for answers
… Others responding to the investigation said it’s a complicated issue in need of more study. “The question is what do we do with these people,” said state Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering. “You obviously have people who are in need of nursing home care who happen to be sexual predators. And what is the alternative for them?” The investigation explored an idea other states have proposed but none have implemented — creating specialized nursing homes for those on the sex offender registry. Critics said that approach would isolate offenders from…
Read MoreIL: Sex offender internet law constitutional
SPRINGFIELD — The state’s highest court has upheld a law that requires sex offenders to disclose information about their internet identities and websites. In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Charles E. Freeman, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act survived First Amendment scrutiny because it bolsters the government’s interest in protecting the public without restricting more speech than necessary. In an 18-page opinion issued this morning, the court critiqued a handful of federal district courts who have found similar statutes unconstitutional and…
Read MoreOH: Convicted rapist says his care hurt by his offender status
Sex offender who lives in Columbus nursing home talks about difficulties in getting housing. Full Article
Read MoreLA: Too Poor for Freedom: Sex Offender Registry and the Fourteenth Amendment
If a school mandated uniforms and suspended a child too poor to afford them, there would be an uproar. Media would excoriate the school for denying the impoverished an education due to their financial circumstances. Many would wonder at the cost of a uniform relative to the school’s budget, suggesting that the school simply offer the child a simple uniform. As ever, our instinctive notions of justice and fair play seem to end at criminal court. In the state of Louisiana, a person required to register as a sex offender…
Read MoreTX: Marion forced to abandon tough sex offender ordinance over lawsuit threat
The city of Marion was given an ultimatum recently, as Texas Voices For Reason and Justice (TVRJ) and the Law Office of Richard Gladden sent a letter asking the city to repeal a local sex offender ordinance. Full Article
Read MoreIA: Why Prosecuting a Teen Girl for Sexting Is Absurd
A 14-year-old in Iowa is facing sexual exploitation charges for sharing a suggestive photo of herself – and that’s not as rare as you might think. Full Article Related http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/10/05/iowa_prosecutor_might_charge_a_teen_with_sex_crimes_for_taking_a_selfie.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_fb_top
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