As citizens, we must be aware of what is going on in our Legislature. Prison is “big business;” educate yourself as to what is really happening in our society before you demand to know where every sex offender lives. America (the land of the free) is number one for incarcerating more of its citizens than any other country. There are currently 2.2 million incarcerated citizens in the nations’ prisons and jails. There are 3,432 registered sex offenders in South Dakota. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreCategory: National
NC: Sex offenders should be formally banned from NC State Fair, agriculture official says
Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler’s department says the state needs tougher laws banning registered sex offenders from the N.C. State Fair. Sex offenders were arrested around the State Fairgrounds twice during last year’s fair. A Raleigh man was charged with flying a drone over the fair, and a convicted child molester was charged with posing as a state ride inspector to get into an area reserved for children’s rides. Full Article
Read MoreTX: City denies illegality of sex offender ordinance
The Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, Inc. filed a petition in Travis County District Court alleging the city of West Lake Hills’ sex offender ordinance is in violation of state law. In response, the City Council voted Jan. 13 to instruct City Attorney Alan Bojorquez to file a denial of the allegations. Full Article
Read MoreMA: Mass. Forced To Remove Names From Sex Offender Database
BOSTON (CBS) – They are the faces of predators, with lists of their charges on public view in most police stations, and anyone can use the state’s registry to search for sex offenders in their community. But many of those names are now being removed from the internet database due to a Supreme Judicial Court decision that will grant many of these offenders new hearings about their classification. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Appeals court overturns seven convictions for online ‘dirty talk’ to minors
AUSTIN — The state’s top criminal court on Wednesday reversed the convictions of seven men who were sentenced to prison for talking dirty to minors online. Five men from Harris County, one from Collin County and another from Montgomery County are among the first to see their convictions reversed after a 2013 Texas Court of Criminal Appeals decision overturned a 2005 law criminalizing sexually explicit online communication with minors. Full Article
Read MoreMA: Sex offenders set to be delisted by court ruling
More than 500 sex offenders are expected to be removed from the state’s public online registry after a controversial high court ruling that has caused a massive backlog of cases, according to officials. … The Herald reported yesterday that a Supreme Judicial Court decision rendered last month has forced the SORB to temporarily remove sex offenders from the online database that allows the public to track them. The hearings to determine the risk that offenders pose have also come to a halt. Full Article Related http://www.myfoxboston.com/news/mass-court-decision-removes-sex-offender-info-from-public/13701168 http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_29359122/sex-offender-ruling-blasted-by-advocates http://www.bostonherald.com/opinion/editorials/2016/01/editorial_sex_offender_snafu
Read MoreNE: City Council Rejects Sex Offender Residency Restrictions
FALLS CITY – City council discussed and took action on whether or not to draft an ordinance restricting the distance a registered sex offender(s) can live to a school or a licensed daycare. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Former Wise County deputy sentenced for taking nude photos of sex offenders
FORT WORTH – A former deputy with the Wise County Sheriff’s Department was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison Wednesday for taking nude photographs of sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreTN: Tennessee becomes first state to release animal abuse registry
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — On Friday, Tennessee became the first state to release an animal abuse registry. It includes the names of people convicted of having intentionally abused animals. Anyone can see the registry, pictures and where offenders live. Full Article
Read MoreVA: VSP launches Sex Offender Supplemental Registry
Virginia State Police have launched a Sex Offender Supplemental Registry online for public access, granting information on cases taking place before the sex offender registry’s founding. Full Article More from Virginia
Read MoreWI: Lawmaker seeks to close loophole for naked baby pictures
MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Lots of families keep naked photos of their babies as keepsakes, but a Wisconsin lawmaker says some of those pictures are made for the wrong reasons. Assembly Republican John Jagler of Watertown is proposing a bill to ban nude baby photos for those intending to use them for sexual gratification. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Lawyer challenges Pasco predator ordinance
the constitutionality of Pasco County’s sexual predator ordinance, which is keeping ____ ____ ____ from returning to the Lutz area to live. _____ was sentenced to community control and sex offender probation after pleading guilty to a molestation charge in Hillsborough County. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Kids or Criminals? series – Locked up at 11, sex offender earns parole at age 32
Khristopher Hood has something he hasn’t had in decades. Hope. Hood was just 11 when he cried alone in his cell, locked up for molesting two younger female relatives. Now 32 and behind bars ever since, he just earned parole. The state will release him next year after he has nine months of intensive therapy. Sentenced to 40 years in 1995, Hood spent his childhood in state juvenile lockup and then, after he turned 17, in adult prison. Full Article
Read MoreWI: Public Defenders Office Questions Sex Offender Housing Bills
An attorney from the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office wants changes to a bill that would restrict housing options for released sex predators, saying it could put the state’s civil commitment law in constitutional jeopardy. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Under lawsuit threat, small cities loosen laws restricting sex offenders
The cities of Pottsboro, Gunter and Whitewright all repealed existing laws restricting sex offenders from schools and public parks at recent city council meetings. This decision came on the heels of a legal notice the cities received from the Texas Voices for Reason and Justice. The advocacy group’s attorney sent this notice threatening to file a legal claim against these three unless their sex offender regulations were repealed. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Federal Judge Enjoins Enforcement of Sex Offender Premises Restriction
Federal Judge Enjoins Enforcement of Sex Offender Premises Restriction Posted on Dec. 17, 2015, 12:51 pm by Jamie Markham • 3 comments A federal judge has permanently enjoined all North Carolina district attorneys from enforcing G.S. 14-208.18(a)(3), the law intended to prohibit certain sex offenders from being at places where minors gather for regularly scheduled educational, recreational, or social programs. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Michigan Supreme Court takes sex offender list case
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to look at the case of a man who’s on the sex offender list for life, although his conviction was erased nearly 20 years ago. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Why Texas’ civil commitment program was found unconstitutional
Recently the Honorable P.K Reiter made headlines by finding Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code unconstitutional. On Monday, December 14, Judge Reiter agreed with Defense Counsel Bill Marshall’s conclusion that the involuntary commitment of Alonzo May under the recently amended law was punitive and a denial of the man’s due process rights under both Texas and U.S. Full Article
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