SIOUX CITY | A Pierson, Iowa, woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for living with a known sex offender and leaving her 6-year-old twin sons with him. ____ ____, 36, pleaded guilty in Woodbury County District Court to two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment. Full Article
Read MoreCategory: National
FL: Welcome to Pariahville
When you are a registered sex offender in America, you lose the right to choose where you want to live. By law. Your backstory doesnt matter. Nor does the nature of your crime or your excuse. You are exiled from society, and only a few places will welcome you. Like this place in South Florida. The City of Refuge. Jay Kirk reports on life in an American community—yes, that’s definitely the right word—like no other. Full Article
Read MoreOH: Pedophiles should not be allowed to mix with minors on college campus (Column)
Every parent’s nightmare is a reality in the classrooms of Cuyahoga Community College. Literally, as I type this article, blossoming teenage girls and budding teenage boys are schoolmates with adult registered sex offenders who have failed to report Tri-C as their school. Many have stipulations that prohibit unsupervised contact with minors. Full Column Response: Should former sex offenders be allowed on college campuses?
Read MoreTX: Texas Voices standing against sex offender residency restrictions
Texas Voices, a group made up of families of people on Texas’ sex offender registry and others who support reform of Texas sex offender statutes, has been quite active this session, and it’s a good thing. As Grits told their indefatigable leader Mary Sue Molnar when the organization began, every other criminal justice reform group and activist in the state, including me, will inevitably sell them out at the Legislature. When someone says of a proposal, “well, we can do that but we have to exclude sex offenders,” reform advocates…
Read MoreNV: Volunteer work helps sex offender deal with past, build a future
Clients arrive early at the Las Vegas Senior Food Pantry down on Ninth Street, where Teri De La Torre and her small team of volunteers distribute bread, produce, meat and dry goods to the neighborhood’s low-income elderly. The food bank’s headquarters at the corner of Ninth and Bonneville is as neat and manicured as any of the law offices in the area, but there aren’t many billable hours to be found here. The tiny nonprofit has been known for many years more commonly as Jude 22 after the Bible verse…
Read MoreTX: Closing Sex Offender Loophole
SAN ANTONIO – A state lawmaker says he’s making good on his promise to close a loophole in Texas law that could put children of sex offenders in danger. You would think that a convicted sex offenders’ parental rights would be revoked, but that’s not always the case. And it took a brave woman coming forward to the Trouble Shooters to get lawmakers at the State Capitol to take action. Full Article
Read MoreNM: Sex offender registration can be confusing issue
Deputy Pat Montes with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office has the job of keeping track of Lincoln County’s sex offenders. “We are mandated to track and register sex offenders,” said Lincoln county Sheriff Robert Shepperd. “The rules and regulations change all the time.” Full Article
Read MoreFL: Council toughens sexual predator ordinance
The Marco Island City Council passed a tough new ordinance Monday that council members say has made Marco Island a less likely home for a registered sex offender or sexual predator. Full Article Related: Pasco toughens regulations on where sex offenders may live Sex offender surprises Pasco County commissioners with emotional plea
Read MoreNE: Should Minnesota juvenile land on Nebraska Sex Offender Registry?
The Nebraska Supreme Court won’t be asked to weigh in on whether the way a state law is written should result in a 12-year-old boy ending up on the state’s Sex Offender Registry. The question specifically is whether, by the letter of the law, minors listed on another state’s sex offender registry should be put on Nebraska’s list when they move to Nebraska, even if their cases went through juvenile court. In Nebraska, lawmakers opted to exclude juveniles unless they were prosecuted criminally in adult court. But when the Minnesota…
Read MoreFL: FSCJ changes policy to restrict sex offenders, bar sex predators from campuses
Florida State College at Jacksonville has implemented a policy that mandates sex offenders go through an additional application process while baring sexual predators from enrolling. Full Article
Read MoreSex offenders registry may put man back in prison for offence committed as child
Josh Gravens is trying to figure out how he’s going to tell his five children that he might be going to prison for a very long time. Gravens, 28, is a one-time convicted juvenile sex offender facing a possible 25 years to life sentence for a felony related to a crime he committed in his childhood, and for which he has been to prison already. The current charge is not a repeat sex offence; he just failed to correctly update his personal information with his local police department in Texas.…
Read MoreMT: Senate panel advances sex offender residency bill
HELENA, Mont. A plan to keep high-risk sex offenders from living near children advanced out of a Montana Senate panel Tuesday. The bill restricts adults who victimized young people from living within 300 feet of an established daycare center, playground, park, athletic facility or any place where children live. Sponsor Rep. Jeff Essmann said his constituents have repeatedly told him they don’t want known predators living near elementary schools. One woman asked “‘Can you do something about the sex offender that lives right up there?’ and pointed to an apartment…
Read MoreFL: Beach to consider sexual offender ordinance
With the more people coming to St. Augustine Beach, the police department thinks it’s time to consider a sexual offender ordinance. … “We’ve seen the crowds double in the past couple years, and the ordinance will protect both the residents and tourists,” Parker said. He also said the city needs to adopt a sexual offender ordinance because there have been two related incidents within their jurisdiction. “Recently we had an incident on the beach with a guy who was using binoculars to watch girls,” he said. … “He turned out…
Read MoreDE: Should towns ban sex offenders?
UPDATED with Opinion: Make sex-offender rules uniform There are more than 4,500 people on Delaware’s sex offender registry – about 1 for every 200 citizens in the state. In most of Delaware, sex offenders are not permitted to live within 500 feet of a school. But eight towns have written rules expanding that zone five or sixfold, effectively banning sex offenders from their borders. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Time to rethink sex offender rules (Opinion)
In the 20 years since Michigan decided it would be a good idea to keep tabs on sex offenders with a record of targeting children, the state’s sex offender registry has swelled exponentially. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreIs Alabama’s sex offender registry necessary or ‘pointless’?
Two weeks ago, California became among the first states to relax rules about where registered sex offenders can live in relation to schools and parks, according to a recent article on Slate.com. In the Slate piece, criminologist Emily Horowitz of St. Francis College in Brooklyn and author of “Protecting Our Kids?: How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us,” says that sex offender registries, once thought to be a strong front-line protection against sex crimes against children, are largely “pointless.” Full Article
Read MoreFL: Marco Island may increase sex offender buffer zone
MARCO ISLAND, Fla. – Keep sex offenders out! That’s the message from Marco Island. The city might ban sex offenders from living 2,500 feet from where kids live, play and go to school. But, on an area as small as Marco Island, does that mean sex offenders will be banished completely? Full Article
Read MoreMI: Parts of state’s sex offender law unconstitutional
Michigan’s Sex Offender Registry law is so vague that parts of it are unconstitutional, including the requirement that offenders stay at least 1,000 feet from schools, a federal judge has ruled. Full Article Related Michigan’s unfair sex offender list (Commentary) Sex offenders can be within 1,000 feet of schools after federal judge strikes down parts of law
Read More