____ ____ is a convicted sex offender who cannot escape his past. The 44-year-old Fond du Lac man served five years in prison for sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in 1991. He was 19 years old when he forced her to have sex with him, court records indicate. Full Article
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ME: 10 years after sex offender murders, questions linger about Maine’s registry
One morning in March, Bangor Police Detective Jeremy Brock and Officer Dustin Dow made their rounds. Two of their stops included the Ranger Inn on outer Hammond Street and a boarding house on Union Street. Each week, Brock usually spends a day on such visits, checking that the 120 or so registered sex offenders in Bangor are living where they have said they’re living. … Little has changed in the registry despite the events of 10 years ago, when two Maine men listed on the registry were murdered by someone…
Read MoreME: This sex assault victim says the offender registry listing is more important to her than prison time
For Tina Dionne, it’s more important for the man who sexually assaulted her as a child to register as a sex offender than serve time in prison. Full Article
Read MoreNY: WE NEED TO RETURN POWER TO LOCAL GOV’T TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITIES FROM SEX OFFENDERS
(Long Island, NY) Assemblyman Dean Murray (R,C,I- East Patchogue) hosted a press conference today to highlight the need to fix laws pertaining to the sex offender registry to help keep our children and communities safe. Since the start of 2016, some level one sex offenders have been removed from the registry, while a State Appeals Court decision last year removed all local restrictions on where convicted sex offenders may reside. He was joined by his Assembly colleagues and Paul Alonzo, Program Manager of Parents for Megan’s Law. “In February 2015,…
Read MoreCO: Supreme court says towns can ban sex offenders
Can a municipality pass an ordinance that effectively bans any registered sex offender from living there? That was the issue in Ryals v. City of Englewood, which the Colorado Supreme Court decided recently. Full Column Opinion
Read MoreMN: Appeals court hears challenge to constitutionality of Minnesota Sex Offender Program
A federal appeals court in St. Louis heard oral arguments Tuesday about whether the state of Minnesota’s sex offender treatment program violates the Constitution with its practice of indefinite detention. The case before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals could force the state to make a series of politically unpopular reforms to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP), which has come under fire for its failure to release more offenders into the community. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Cottage Grove man admits setting fire to sex offender’s future home
MADISON (WKOW) — A Cottage Grove man Monday admitted to setting fire to the future home of a sex offender, and was convicted of felony arson. 51-year old Russell Speigle will be sentenced next month. The crime carries a maximum sentence of forty years. But a plea agreement between Speigle and the Dane County district attorney’s office involves prosecutors asking for no more than one year in jail for Speigle. Full Article Related WI: Man arrested on suspicion of burning house intended for sex offender
Read MoreNE: State appeals decision barring state from adding boy to state’s sex offender list
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) – Nebraska’s attorney general is appealing a federal judge’s decision to block the state from putting a 13-year-old boy who moved to Nebraska from Minnesota on its public list of sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Florida sex offender registry: double-digit growth
More than a dozen people a day walk into the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and register as sex offenders. The county is home to more than 2,200 of them. A recent study by researchers at the Florida Legislature found that the number of registered sex offenders living in Florida communities has increased 44 percent over the past 10 years. Full Article Related Fla. sex offenders figures announced, pushes surroundings awareness
Read MoreWA: Supreme Court – Records of low-level sex offenders are public
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Washington’s Supreme Court says information about low-level sex offenders can be released under the state Public Records Act. The 7-1 decision Thursday overturns a King County Superior Court holding that found the records were not subject to disclosure. The ruling came in a case involving Donna Zink, a Franklin County woman who requested a copy of the Washington State Patrol’s sex-offender database. Full Article Opinion
Read MoreFL: Concerning the Registrants at the Tracks
As mentioned in a prior post; the ACLU filed it’s Appellate Brief on behalf of FAC and the 200+ registered citizens living alongside the railroad tracks at the corner of 79th Street and NW 36th Avenue in Miami. Derek Logue of OnceFallen.com, who had traveled to Florida last week and visited the encampment initiated a post to which FAC replied. Since our reply contained a lot of information and could possibly be an action item for anyone (or group of people) who want to help these people, we’ve re-posted the…
Read MoreIL: ACLU, EFF ask state supreme to strike down limits on free speech in cumbersome sex offender laws
CHICAGO – The ACLU of Illinois, joined by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, today asked the state supreme court to strike down the “incredibly broad scope” of limitations contained in the state’s sex offender registry laws. The amicus brief was filed in the case of ____ ____, a young man from downstate Normal who served a 12-month probation for a misdemeanor offense, which he completed. Though years have passed, Mr. ____ still is forced to navigate a series of onerous and cumbersome requirements under the State’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA). Full Article
Read MoreAL: Pastor wins round in freedom of religion lawsuit
A Chilton County pastor has won a round in his federal lawsuit challenging a state law that ended his residential ministry for sex offenders. U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins on Wednesday denied the state’s requests to dismiss the claims by Ricky Martin, who sued in 2014. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Ducey signs bill ending some sex offender registration
PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has signed legislation allowing some offenders convicted of sexual conduct with a minor to ask a judge to end their need to register as a sex offender. Ducey signed House Bill 2539 by Republican Rep. Rusty Bowers on Tuesday. The legislation only applies to people convicted for an offense committed when they were 21 or younger, where the victim was between 15 and 17 years old and the sex was consensual. Full Article
Read MoreCO: New teen sexting crime falls short in Colorado House
DENVER – A proposal to ratchet back criminal penalties for teens exchanging nude images of themselves has failed in the state Legislature. Democrats voted against the bill in a House committee Tuesday, and it failed by a single vote. Opponents worried that making the crime less serious would mean that some teen couples swapping consensual nude photos could be charged with the less serious crime. Full Article Related Why These Proposed Sexting Laws for Teens Are Totally Missing the Point
Read MoreTX: On the cost-benefit analysis of enforcing sex-offender registry conditions vs. investigating violent crime
Dallas PD has shut down its monitoring unit charged with driving around to make home checks for people on the sex-offender registry, reported WFAA’s Tanya Eiserer in somewhat breathless tones. The story quickly devolved into Chief David Brown’s critics taking pot shots at him for being soft on sex offenders, or whatever. Full Article
Read MoreLA: Senate agrees to ban sex offenders from door-to-door sales
Convicted sex offenders in Louisiana would be unable to work in door-to-door sales, if the state House of Representatives agrees to a measure that won unanimous support from the Senate. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Don’t harass sex predator, judge tells Pasco sheriff’s office
DADE CITY — Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Linda Babb signed a protective order this week that prevents the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office “from further harassment” of a registered sex predator living in Pasco County. Full Article
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