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…
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Tide 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
Read MoreCO: District Attorneys support legislation for charge lesser than child pornography for sexting
News5 is looking into proposed legislation that could change how teens are punished for sexting. Felony child pornography charges are not off the table for students implicated in the Canon City scandal. We spoke with the President of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council who says a new law is needed to properly prosecute juveniles caught sexting. Full Article Related CO: Canon City High School Sexting Scandal – Will Students Involved Be Registered Sex Offenders?
Read MoreMO: Prosecutor scolds community for supporting molester
KANSAS CITY • A Missouri prosecutor has called out members of a small community for shunning a sexual abuse victim while publicly supporting a community leader who confessed to molesting her for more than a decade. In a scathing news release last week, Platte County prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd listed 16 Dearborn residents who had either written letters or testified in court in support of ____ ____ after he admitted the girl’s claims were true. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Eighth Grader Disciplined For Giving Hug To Friend At School
____ ____, 14, is now an eighth grader with a record. ____ was given suspension by Jackson Heights principal Sarah Mansur-Blythe (left) for a hug. That’s right. She hugged a friend who was having a bad day and was immediately reported for discipline under a hopelessly undefined prohibition on “inappropriate or obscene acts.” Full Article
Read MoreCO: Canon City High School Sexting Scandal – Will Students Involved Be Registered Sex Offenders?
Hundreds of Canon City High School students have allegedly taken and shared naked pictures of themselves. As minors, the legal consequences range drastically but they’re all serious. The big question on everyone’s minds now: will the students involved have to register as sex offenders for life? Full Article
Read MoreNC: Supreme Court bars registered sex offenders from some social media sites
RALEIGH – The N.C. Supreme Court has upheld a state law prohibiting registered sex offenders from using Facebook or other social networking sites that minors can join. In the split opinion issued Friday, the justices reversed an N.C. Court of Appeals ruling that found the 2008 law too broad and vague, and therefore unconstitutional. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Senate bill restoring 1,000-foot sex offender-free zone around schools clears judiciary committee
LANSING (WKZO-AM) — Legislation restoring a one thousand-foot zone around public schools where registered sex offenders cannot work or live has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. Committee chairperson Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, authored the bill in response to a federal judicial ruling that tossed out the law as unconstitutionally vague. “If sex offenders are hanging around schools, lets put them away,” Jones said. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Supreme Court scrutinizes sex offender registration requirement
INDIANAPOLIS | Indiana law, since 2006, has required sex offenders who must register in their home states to also register in Indiana if they relocate to the Hoosier State. But does a new Hoosier who committed a sex crime elsewhere prior to 2006 still have to register in Indiana? Or is that an unconstitutional “ex post facto” law that imposes a punishment that didn’t exist when the crime was committed? Full Article
Read MoreCO: Students in sexting scandal could face felony charges
Colorado parents are outraged and concerned as school district officials reveal new details on the “large scale” sexting scandal at Canon City High School. The school district says the scandal involves an equal number of boys and girls — including some who are only in eighth grade – who could face felony charges. This is forcing parents and administrators to re-evaluate how they monitor teen activity in a high-tech world, reports CBS News correspondent Carter Evans. At an emergency meeting Thursday night, concerned parents learned that possibly hundreds of students…
Read MoreMI: Sex offender suit says Michigan registry unfairly restricts housing, employment
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A man on Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry contends changes in the law severely restrict access to housing and contain requirements so vague that offenders cannot know if they are in compliance. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Man arrested in child sex sting sues Orange County Sheriff Office
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A man arrested in a child sex sting is suing the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on claims of entrapment. ____ ____’s attorney said deputies tried to entrap his client, who he said never had any intentions of meeting a 14-year-old girl. Full Article Related http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-11-01/news/os-sex-sting-child-predators-arrests-20111101_1_youth-pastor-disney-worker-disney-employee
Read MoreMI: Inmate Who Killed Child Molester Offers Simple Explanation For Why He Did It
Steven D. Sandison, 51, a now-former inmate at Saginaw Regional Correctional Facility in Freeland, Michigan, offered a simple explanation for killing his cellmate, ____ ____, 67, in October 2014. “The reason I killed him was because he was a child molester,” Sandison told Chief Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard on Monday, MLive reported. Full Article
Read MoreRI: Federal judge orders temporary halt to enforcement of relocation law for R.I. sex offenders
PROVIDENCE — Enforcement of a newly revised state law that prohibits high-risk sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school has been temporarily blocked by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell. On Friday afternoon, McConnell granted a restraining order allowing Level III sex offenders who live within 1,000 feet of a school in Rhode Island to stay in their homes for at least a little longer. McConnell’s action bars the attorney general’s office and the Department of Correction from enforcing the law. Previously, they could not live…
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