The list that most sex offenders must sign in order to be granted parole in New York State includes many stipulations, all written in the first person. There are promises to register with local law enforcement, to complete therapy if it is required and to not pick up hitchhikers or visit schools or playgrounds. Full Article
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WI: Lawsuit challenges Kenosha’s sex offender residency restrictions
The city of Kenosha’s restrictions on where registered sex offenders can live are so pervasive that, except in high-risk situations, police will not enforce them knowing it would effectively ban offenders from the city, according to a lawsuit filed this week. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Iowa Park city council turns down father’s plea for sex offender exemption
An Iowa Park man was turned down after asking the City Council on Monday night to consider an exemption to the code of ordinances. After recently writing a letter to the city of Iowa Park, James H. Pappas stood in front of the City Council and requested an exemption for his son, ___ ____, who is in his 60s and was convicted of having child pornography in Duluth, Minnesota. However, the City Council denied the exemption based on Texas state law. Councilwoman Sherrie Williams said, “We’d have to void the…
Read MoreCO: Legislature to blame for sentencing quandary (Opinion)
I feel compelled to respond to Chandler McCorkle’s guest opinion (“Judge failed rape victim, society,” Daily Camera, Aug. 14) because it proceeds from woefully erroneous assumptions about the nature of sex offense probation and sentencing. Ms. McCorkle states that the sentence means that sex offender probationary sentences do not carry “true repercussion(s),” and the judge’s sentence was “naïve [and] unthinkably stupid.” With all due respect, she could not be more wrong. Full Opinion Piece Original Opinion Piece
Read MoreIL: Sex Offender Pleads No Contest
52-year-old blind man, ____ ____ of South Roxana, was convicted in 2000 of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. ____ pleaded no contest Thursday to a violation of the state sex offender registration law. The violation comes after a police compliance check on Halloween of 2014. ____ was sitting just inside the front door of his living room as his step-daughter was handing out candy. State law prohibits registered sex offenders from distributing Halloween candy. ____ was sentenced with 12 months of conditional court supervision. Article
Read MoreWI: Sex offender ordinance hasn’t worked as planned, putting public at greater risk
Last summer, ____ ____ got a notice from the Milwaukee Police Department: He had to move out of his north side rental home. ____, a registered sex offender, hadn’t done anything to violate the terms of his sentence, which stemmed from groping a 13-year-old girl he met online when he was 19. In fact, ____ had stayed out of trouble since his conviction in 2002. The notice alerted ____ that a new Milwaukee ordinance had gone into effect, severely restricting where sex offenders can live. ____’ home was too close to…
Read MoreNJ: 40 people arrested in massive child porn crackdown
Forty men hailing from every corner of New Jersey have been charged in a statewide crackdown on the distribution of child pornography, authorities announced today. Full Article
Read MoreKS: Standoff outside convicted sex offender’s KCK home ends after 6 hours
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Police say from the very beginning after U.S. Marshals descended on ____ ____ home near North 56th Street and Parallel Parkway around 8:30 Tuesday morning, a defiant _____ refused to step outside his small white house on the corner and made threats against officers. Full Article
Read MoreMO: Decades after ‘lie’ puts dad on sex offender registry, he’s pardoned
____ ____, a Clay County father who has long denied that he was a sex offender who molested his own son, received a telephone call Friday that he has wanted for nearly half his life. The call was from the office of Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon. The news: ____ had been pardoned of the crime he said he never committed, and he was told his name would no longer appear on Missouri’s sex offender registry. Full Article
Read MoreCO: Sex offenders sue Englewood claiming city ordinance effectively bans them from city
Three convicted sex offenders have sued the city of Englewood in federal court claiming that its zoning ordinances effectively banish them from living in the city. Full Article Related Sex offenders fearing eviction sue Englewood over residency restrictions
Read MoreWI: Pleasant Prairie under legal fire for sex offender ordinance
A federal judge has been asked to order the village of Pleasant Prairie to notify residents that it is temporarily not enforcing an ordinance that effectively banishes registered sex offenders from living in the village. A preliminary injunction was filed Friday on behalf of 10 registered sex offenders who are challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance. Their attorney, Mark Weinberg, said he filed the injunction request after village officials lacked the “political will” to post notice on the village’s website that the ordinance would not be enforced under the lawsuit…
Read MorePA: Supreme Court ruling will reduce number of sex offenders required to register for life
A ruling issued by a sharply-divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court could greatly alter the registration requirements imposed on some types of convicted sex offenders. The decision by the court’s majority states that offenders who commit some kinds of sex crimes, such as possessing child pornography, cannot be made to register with state police for life unless they commit at least one more sex crime after their initial convictions. In other words, they have to become recidivists to qualify for the lifetime registration. Full Article Decision Dissenting Opinion 1 Dissenting Opinion 2
Read MoreDE: Judge rejects ACLU challenge to sex offender GPS monitoring
A Chancery court judge has rejected the American Civil Liberties Union’s challenge to a state law requiring GPS monitoring of certain convicted sex offenders who have been released from custody and are on probation. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Accused found not guilty of sex crime
KINGMAN – Although ____ _____ of Kingman was found not guilty of molestation of a child Tuesday in Superior Court, he still lives with the stigma of being accused. “This has been 13 months of absolute hell. Being accused as a predator, a child molester, anything among those lines, a sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreNJ: Are Reforms Needed For Megan’s Law?
When ____ ____ got out of prison for a rape he did not commit, he spent the next 20 years on New Jersey’s sex offender registry. Only when he was formally cleared this month did his name come off a list that carries a lifetime of stigma. The case has put a spotlight on whether the registry — created by Megan’s Law and designed to notify parents of predators nearby — is too broad and even ineffective. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Facing legal challenge, Pasco County changes strict sex offender law
The Pasco County Commission on Tuesday amended its sex offender ordinance, the 2015 law that severely restricts where certain registered offenders can live or even go in the county. But why the commission changed the law — which is being challenged in court — is in dispute. Patrick Leduc, the attorney who is challenging the county’s ordinance on behalf of three registered sex offenders, said the changes were designed to protect the ordinance from his legal challenge. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Senate passes Funke bills to root out, crack down on sex offenders
The New York State Senate today passed S.4776, a bill sponsored by Senator Rich Funke, which would expand the information available on the State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) sex offender registry’s website. The Senate also passed S.4765, a bill sponsored by Funke that would make it a felony for a sex offender to fail to appear at a court hearing to determine the risk level of the offender. Both bills passed with bipartisan support. Full Press Release
Read MoreAL: Court rules Martin’s lawsuit against Chilton Co. over anti-clustering law can continue
We previously reported on the case Martin v. Houston, CASE NO. 2:14-CV-905-WKW [WO] (M.D. Alabama 2016), in which the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama considered a pastor’s religious discrimination claims involving the state legislature’s enactment and enforcement of a sex offender law that prevented the pastor’s transitional housing program. The law in question (Alabama Code § 45-11-82) (the “Act”) prohibited individuals whose names are listed on the Alabama sex offender list from living together in the same home, and further provides that offenders cannot live on…
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