Approximately 850 convicted sex offenders and offenders against children are eligible to petition to get off the state’s criminal offenders registry, after a little-noticed Supreme Court ruling earlier this year. Full Article
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NY: Mom Believes She Must Helicopter if Lowest-Level Sex Offenders Come Off Registry After 20 Years
FreeRange Kids: Here in my state, something wildly fair is about to happen: People who have been on the Sex Offender Registry for 20 years, who GOT ON the list for a “Level 1” non-violent sex crime like going to a prostitute, “public lewdness,” or peeing in public, are finally going to be allowed to get off it. Full Opinion Piece Lenore Skenazy is the author of the web blog Free-Range Kids. She was a speaker at the 2014 RSOL Conference in Dallas. My Interview in Salon about Sex Offenders…
Read MoreME: After attacks on Bowdoin students, nearby church shuts out sex offender group
A church next to the Bowdoin College campus in Brunswick has shut down a support group for convicted sex offenders, after college officials expressed concerns. Last week, Bowdoin’s director of security, Randy Nichols, said in an email to Bowdoin’s students and staff that he had only recently learned about the group, which had been meeting every Tuesday evening for two years at the First Parish Church, on the corner of Maine Street and Bath Road. Nichols said the presence of a group of sex offenders so close to campus was…
Read MoreFL: Palm Beach billionaire victims “complicit” so not truly victims, government says
A routine status check Monday on a 2008 federal lawsuit tied to sex offender ____ ____’s plea deal ended with a new allegation from the government. The two victims who filed the lawsuit — Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2 — aren’t actually victims because they procured other girls for ____ and received money for it, Assistant United States Attorney Dexter Lee said in West Palm Beach federal court. If someone “is complicit in the offenses,” they can’t be considered victims under the federal Crime Victims’ Rights…
Read MoreMN: Judge rejects Minnesota’s bid to delay reforms in sex offender program
A federal judge has rejected a request by the state of Minnesota to delay dramatic court-ordered reforms to Minnesota’s controversial sex offender program. The decision, handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, means the state must promptly evaluate hundreds of sex offenders who are detained at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) and release those who no longer meet the legal criteria for confinement. Full Article
Read MoreOH: Sex-offender registry requires reboot in Ohio and the nation: editorial
Title 1 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 created an all-inclusive state-by-state registry of convicted sex offenders. Known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, Title 1 also attempted the impossible: to protect the public, particularly children, from convicted sexual predators who had done their time and were now back on the street. Full Article
Read MoreUT: Change in law may get some off Utah sex offender registry early
(KUTV) A new bill at the state Capitol could cut time on Utah’s Sex Offender Registry for some people convicted of misdemeanor crimes. “It really acts like a scarlet A, a label,” Angie Fenimore told 2News. The author who said she was abused as a child, testified in support of the measure Thursday — and cast the registry as doing more harm than good. “It’s a wide net that catches everybody, from a 19-year-old who smacks the rear end of a 16-year-old, to someone who is a violent, predatory offender,”…
Read MoreNC: Private school will not rehire principal in wake of sex offender scandal
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WNCN) – A Fayetteville private school principal will not return to her job after school board members voted not to rehire her after she allowed a sex offender to work on campus. In September, ____ ____ was sentenced to 11-months probation as part of a plea deal after she allowed a registered sex-offender to work at Freedom Academy. Dayton told Cumberland County Superior Court Judge James Ammons she was unaware of the law and thought the sex offender, ____ ____ , could work at the school as long…
Read MoreNY: Curran calls for Extension of Sex Offender Regisry
Assemblyman Brian Curran (Lynbrook-21st AD) today called for the extension of the statewide sex offender registry that requires registration for Level One sex offenders who registered in 1996. Curran said these individuals were the first offenders to register with the system and were required to register on the statewide registry for a 10-year period at that time. This was extended in 2006 for an additional 10 years, for a total of 20 years, which ends in January of next year. Curran noted that a new roster of Level One sex…
Read MoreTX: Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office to stop registering some sex offenders
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office will stop registering sex offenders who reside inside municipalities, it announced to cities in October. According to MCSO Lt. Brady Fitzgerald, these regulations were recently “discovered” by the Office, prompting a letter sent to cities sometime in September or October. … The city attempted to bargain with MCSO by offering to pay for 10 percent of their sex offender registrars’ salaries, which is roughly the workload created by the city. MCSO declined their offer. Full Article
Read MoreTN: TBI will soon post animal abuse offenders
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Come January 1, Tennessee will post online a list of animals abusers near you. It will be similar to a sex offender registry, and Tennessee will be the first to have a statewide site. “Her hind legs were put into a pot of water. Boiling water,” said Cindy Marx-Sanders as she held Molly the chihuahua. Molly was rescued from an abusive home. “She is exactly why we need an animal abuser registry,” Marx-Sanders said. Full Article
Read MoreVA: Cost of sex offender program shocks lawmakers
Lawmakers expressed shock Friday over the exponentially rising cost of a program to keep some sex offenders locked up after they complete their criminal sentences. The annual operating cost of Virginia’s Sexually Violent Predator Program is projected to hit $32 million next year – more than a tenfold increase in eight years. The General Assembly created the program in 1998 to keep sex offenders deemed likely to re-offend off the streets after they finish their criminal sentences. The process is known as civil commitment. Full Article Note: Article is from…
Read MoreOH: Supreme Court upholds sex offender registration laws, rejecting cruel and unusual punishment argument
COLUMBUS, Ohio — State laws requiring that certain sex offenders register with local authorities and verify their address every six months for 25 years do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The case involved a 21-year-old defendant, Travis Blankenship, who pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor between 13 and 16 years old, a fourth-degree felony. He challenged the constitutionality of the sentence requirement that he register with the local sheriff and report every six months for the next 25 years. But…
Read MoreTide turns against U.S. residency restrictions on sex offenders
Nearly two decades have passed since Josh Gravens, then 12 years old, was playing with his 8-year-old sister and touched her body in an inappropriate way, landing himself on a sex offender registry. His sister forgave him long ago but Gravens still worries that the incident could force him out of his Dallas home. Concerns about sexual predators have led communities in 30 U.S. states to adopt laws limiting where registered sex offenders can live, typically keeping them away from schools, parks or other places where children congregate. Full Article…
Read MoreOR: Anti-Registry Movement
Anti-Registry Movement (ARM) is a civil rights movement in the struggle against state and federally mandated and Orwellian persecution laws set against America’s newest members of a growing list of second-class citizens: America’s Registered Families (formerly convicted sex offenders and their family members). Our mission is to bring public protests, counter-protests, and demonstrations to the attention of government officials, news media outlets, and to local communities everywhere in the effort to drastically reform or repeal Sex Offender Registration (SOR) laws in the United States. SOR laws have robbed Registered…
Read MoreNC: First Amendment woes in North Carolina
As most VC readers know, First Amendment law is dominated by a single question, the 800-pound constitutional gorilla that’s always in the room: What “level of scrutiny” will the court apply to the challenged government action? How much will it demand from the government by way of justification for whatever it was that it did? How high will it set the bar? … I’ve said it many times before — these sex offender cases are of the deepest importance, not because of any special concern we might have for convicted…
Read MoreRI: Critics of new residency law say it’s dangerous to remove sex offenders from stable living situations
WOONSOCKET – One the few shelters for homeless men in Northern Rhode Island will continue to admit Level 3 sex offenders until the federal court in Providence decides whether it is unlawful to do so. “We’re not looking to bring them in, but if they show up, we’ll take them in,” said Steve Bacon, associate pastor of Harvest Community Church, 60 North Main St. “If the law changes we’ll abide by the law.” In a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, a U.S. District Court judge on Friday…
Read MoreTX: 46 cities face challenge to sex-offender residency laws
AUSTIN — Forty-six small cities across Texas are facing a new legal challenge to their ordinances that regulate where registered sex offenders can live, including several in the Houston area. Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, a statewide criminal-justice advocacy group, announced Monday it has” initiated action to compel, through litigation if necessary,” the repeal of the ordinances in so-called “general law” cities — the latest challenge to the residency limitations in Texas and across the country. Full Article
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