Source: vera.org 1/30/24 Craig Caudill had a plan for life after his release from prison. While incarcerated, he completed a commercial driver’s license truck driving program in Huntsville, Texas. He was even entrusted to drive trucks for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison system after completing the program, transporting cotton across the state. Working as a truck driver seemed like a solid option after his release in 2021. He knew there was a demand for truck drivers and that the work paid well. But four days before his…
Read MoreCategory: National
TX: Texas Sues Pornhub for Failing to Check IDs
Source: news.yahoo.com 2/28/24 The first age verification lawsuit against a major web porn purveyor is here. On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he was suing Pornhub’s parent company, Aylo. Paxton claims it is violating HB 1181, a Texas law passed last year. The new law requires porn websites to use “reasonable age verification methods” to make sure viewers are 18 or above and to post warnings about porn’s alleged harms, along with a number for a national mental-health hotline. “Texas has a right to protect its children…
Read MoreGA: Georgia lawmakers hold out hope for bill that would restrict publication of mugshots
Source: georgiarecorder.com 2/26/24 Sheriff’s offices posting mugshots of booked people has been a commonplace practice for a while now. It also has some blood on its hands. “An 18-year-old committed suicide because they did not have the money to get the mugshot removed, and he could not get a job,” said Tyrone Democrat Rep. Derrick Jackson. Georgians who have not been convicted of a crime have lost their jobs and reputations because of their posted mugshot. Those with criminal records have unemployment rates at 27% according to the Prison Policy…
Read MorePlease Join U.S. Supreme Court Vigil on March 15
A vigil will be held near the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, March 15, in order to educate the Court regarding the significant harm suffered by more than one million American families due to the Court’s decision, Smith v. Doe, issued in March 2003. The vigil will begin at 10 a.m. and featured speakers include Janice Bellucci of California and Christopher Sparks of Florida. “It is important to remind the U.S. Supreme Court of the mistake it made 21 years ago,” stated civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci. …
Read MoreTX: ‘The system failed us:’ Audrii Cunningham’s father, grandmother release statement following her death
Source: click2houston.com 2/24/24 LIVINGSTON, Texas – The father of Audrii Cunningham along with her grandmother have released a statement after her body was found in the Trinity River on Tuesday. The Livingston girl was at the center of an Amber Alert and had been missing for six days. Her body was found on Tuesday after multiple days of searching. Saturday, her father and grandmother released a statement, saying they are devastated by what happened to Audrii and also saying the suspect in her murder, Don Steven McDougal, did not show…
Read MoreMS: Mississippi Police Arrested a 10-Year-Old for Peeing Behind His Mom’s Car. Now, the Family Is Suing
Source: reason.com 2/26/24 Third-grader Quantavious Eason was arrested and charged as a “child in need of services” after being caught peeing behind his mother’s car. After her 10-year-old son was sentenced to “adult” probation for public urination last year, LaTonya Eason has filed a lawsuit against the police officers who arrested her son, claiming that their actions amounted to excessive force and inflicted “physical and psychological injury” on her son. In August 2023, LaTonya Eason attended a meeting at a Senatobia, Mississippi, law office, leaving her two children, including 10-year-old…
Read MoreMA: A father did everything he could to protect his son. Until he couldn’t.
Source: bostonglobe.com 2/22/24 BRAINTREE — Kevin Berner hung up the phone and — in a daze — headed toward the kitchen and his 12-year-old son. Hey buddy, can we talk? Minutes earlier, Berner had received a phone call from another father in the neighborhood who shared a disturbing story. He said his son had been in a carpool recently when another boy pulled up a cellphone photo of Berner’s son. The seventh-grader was naked in the photo “from head to toe.” Berner knew that his son — whose learning disabilities…
Read MoreWI: Illinois judge who reversed rape conviction removed from bench after panel finds he circumvented law
Source: yahoo.com 2/24/24 CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois judge who sparked outrage by reversing a man’s rape conviction involving a 16-year-old girl has been removed from the bench after a judicial oversight body found he circumvented the law and engaged in misconduct. The Illinois Courts Commission removed Adams County Judge Robert Adrian from the bench Friday after it held a three-day hearing in Chicago in November on a compliant filed against Adrian. Its decision says Adrian “engaged in multiple instances of misconduct” and “abused his position of power to indulge…
Read MoreTexas, New York, Florida, California, Rhode Island residents among those arrested in 275 non-citizen offender sweep
Source: fallriverreporter.com 2/23/24 WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations officers apprehended 275 unlawfully present non-citizen sex offenders during a nation-wide law enforcement effort that ran from February 5-16, 2024. “ICE is committed to protecting America through the arrest and removal of those who undermine public safety and disregard our laws,” said ICE Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Patrick J. Lechleitner. “Thanks to the around-the-clock efforts of our ERO officers, our communities are safe from 275 individuals who have demonstrated their…
Read MoreWI: At least 30 registered sex offenders live in WI nursing homes, records show
Source: wisn.com 2/22/24 When a family decides to admit their loved one to a nursing home, there is an implied level of trust the facility and its staff will keep that individual safe. … Wisconsin law does not require nursing home leadership to notify staff, residents or their families a registered sex offender lives on the property. “That facility is going to address those issues on a case-by-case basis,” Wisconsin Healthcare Association CEO Rick Abrams said. “If notification is appropriate, I have great confidence that they will do that. But…
Read MoreCO: Legal Paradox in Colorado: Dismissed Sex Offense Charge Leaves Man on Registry
Source: bnnbreaking.com 2/21/24 Discover the legal anomaly that binds Derek Abram Dulac to a sex offender registry despite the dismissal of his sex offense charge. This case challeng In the heart of Colorado’s judicial labyrinth, Derek Abram Dulac finds himself ensnared in a legal paradox that challenges the essence of justice and rehabilitation. His journey through the court system highlights a peculiar anomaly in the law, one that leaves a man tethered to a sex offender registry for charges that no longer stand against him. It’s a narrative that not…
Read MoreWV: Michael Ian Black: West Virginia Republicans Want to Throw Librarians in Jail Over Sexy Stuff
Source: thedailybeast.com 2/21/24 The Mountain State’s House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would make schools, libraries, and museums criminally liable if books have too much sexy stuff in them. We’ve got to do something about these sexy, sexy libraries. Instead of public spaces that house books and other collections that are free of charge to borrow, today’s libraries are little more than recruiting stations for drag queens and aggrieved minorities trying to turn our children into godless monsters hellbent on transforming our once-great nation into Queer Valhalla. Dewey Decimal would…
Read MoreOH: Some say residency restrictions lack efficacy, fairness to sex offenders
Source: local12.com 2/16/24 A Local 12 investigation is prompting a city to take action against sex offenders violating restrictions about where they can live. The stories have revealed that there are hundreds of people on Hamilton County’s sex offender registry who are violating the law by living too close to schools and relatively little is being done to stop them. Local 12 found that even in Norwood, which has passed tougher restrictions than the state provides and where violators are aggressively pursued by the city attorney, there were still five…
Read MoreMO: Missouri Alliance for Family Restoration advocates for updates to sex offender registry guidelines
Source: baptistnews.com 2/19/24 Sex offender registry guidelines should be updated to more accurately reflect those ex-convicts who remain true threats to others, according to the Missouri Alliance for Family Restoration. MOAFR claims the current registration requirements do not align with the actual level of threat many people previously incarcerated for sex crimes pose for society, and were formulated using outdated and inaccurate statistics. Members of the organization argue the registration requirements should be less strict than they currently are, as to offer “a fair chance to live a productive life…
Read MoreFL: Push to abolish sex offender registry picks up steam in Florida
Source: actionnewsjax.com 2/15/24 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There are tens of thousands of people on the sex offender registry in Florida right now, but there’s a growing movement from a group pushing to abolish the public list completely. Right now, you can check the public list to see who’s on it and why. They could be your co-workers, neighbors, or a person who comes by to service your home. “I made a poor judgement call,” a local sex offender told Action News Jax’s Robert Grant. “I put myself in a situation…
Read MoreTN: SB0181 Bill Would Revise Tennessee’s Decades-Old Law Targeting HIV-Positive People Convicted of Sex Work
Source: usnews.com 1/23/24 A proposal advancing in the Tennessee legislature would stop requiring lifetime registration as a violent sex offender for anyone convicted of engaging in sex work while living with HIV NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee would no longer be the only U.S. state to impose a lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” on anyone convicted of engaging in sex work while living with HIV under a proposal that advanced Tuesday in the legislature. The controversial statute still on the books is being challenged in federal court by…
Read MoreTN: HB1617 Legislation Filed For Upcoming Session Will Push For Extension On Time Sex Offenders Are Included On Sex Offender Registry In Tennessee
Source: tennesseeconservativenews.com 12/13/24 [see HB1617 for update] The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] – The new General Session is just a few weeks away, and already a flurry of bills are being filed for introduction and consideration in what will be the 114th General Assembly. One of those bills, House Bill 1617 (HB1617), sponsored by Representative Bryan Richey (R-D20-Maryville), if signed into law will extend the amount of time a person who has been convicted of a sexual offense and obligated to register as a sex offender must remain on…
Read MoreID: Idaho bill to extend death penalty unconstitutional, aims for US Supreme Court review
Source: idahostatesman.com 2/13/24 The Idaho House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would allow the death penalty for anyone convicted of certain sex crimes against preteen children Tuesday, even as its sponsor acknowledged that such a law would be unconstitutional. House Bill 515 is designed to challenge decades of U.S. Supreme Court precedent that limited death sentences to defendants who commit murder, said Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa, who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Josh Tanner, R-Eagle. With the current supermajority of conservative-leaning justices on the nation’s highest court, the hope is…
Read More