BILLINGS – Montana sex offenders’ online and geographic freedoms could soon become more restricted. Two bills in the state House sponsored by Billings Representatives, House Bill 88 and House Bill 219, take aim at the growing list of 2,271 sex offenders in the state. The existing law requires sexual offenders to register his or her name, address, and phone number with the county at least once a year. HB 88, which was signed into law by Gov. Steve Bullock on March 24, states that offenders must now provide to the…
Read MoreCategory: National
MI: Appeals judges call for change to sex offenders registration law
The state appeals court recently called for state lawmakers to amend the state Sex Offenders Registration Act to show it includes offenders convicted of nonsexual crimes against children. A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals made the statements in a March 26 opinion in which it denied the appeal of ____ _ ____, 48, of Sterling Heights, who along with two co-defendants was convicted in 2012 of 10 crimes related to imprisoning, assaulting and torturing four male juveniles for several hours in retaliation for breaking into his home.…
Read MoreGA: Madison County woman fires gun to ‘send message’ to sex offender
Authorities arrested on Saturday a 61-year-old Madison County woman after she allegedly fired two gun shots as a way of sending “a message” to a convicted sex offender she didn’t want on her property. Full Article
Read MoreOR: Supreme Court to consider – Is it ‘cruel and unusual’ to imprison public masturbator for life?
____ ____ is serving a life prison sentence — but not because, like many in that situation, he killed someone. ____, 69, has repeatedly exposed his genitals in public with sexual intent. In 2012, after a Marion County jury found him guilty of that conduct again, a judge sentenced him to life without any hope of being released. Full Article
Read MoreKS: Registered sex offender will continue to deliver mail despite complaints
On Thursday, Eyewitness News learned a registered sex offender delivers mail to neighborhoods in Wichita and Haysville. From what we have been able to gather from USPS, he will continue to be able to do so. Earlier this week we told you the convicted sex offender would no longer deliver mail to two Haysville Schools. But people who live near the school were worried the offender would still deliver mail in their neighborhood. “I understand the guy needs a job, there’s no denying that, but he doesn’t need to be…
Read MoreVA: ACLU denounces governor’s signing of new sex offender registry bills
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia today condemned Governor McAuliffe’s action on two bills that will create a new sex offender registry, SB 1074 and HB 1353. The new law will require the Virginia State Police to create a supplemental sex offender registry that includes all persons convicted between July 1980 and July 1994 for a crime that would mandate sex offender registration if it occurred in 2015. The supplemental registry will contain a name, year of birth, date of the conviction, jurisdiction in which the conviction occurred,…
Read MorePA: City will pay $50,000 to settle sex offender lawsuit
City Council agreed last week to pay $50,000 toward the settlement of a lawsuit which was filed against the city for discriminating against a registered sex offender. … Their eviction was prompted by Mayor Justin Taylor’s discovery that Patrick had been convicted in 2009 of unlawful contact or communication with a minor, and his subsequent listing on the Megan’s Law Registry. Under a city ordinance which was in effect at that time, registered sex offenders were prohibited from living within 2,500 feet of any facility or area where children might…
Read MoreCT: Restricting housing for sex offenders counterproductive (Editorial)
While well intentioned, a proposal backed by Norwich state Rep. Emmett Riley that would make it nearly impossible to house former sex offenders in urban areas is “misguided and irrational” as one witness succinctly stated at a public hearing last week. The concerns of the Norwich lawmaker are understandable. Norwich and other urban areas have been stung by the placement of former sex offenders in their communities. The burden seems unfair. The fear among families in these neighborhoods is real, even if misplaced. Full Editorial
Read MoreOREGON’S CHURCH FOR SEX OFFENDERS
For over a decade, Sonrise Church’s Light My Way program has been ministering to society’s most downtrodden people. Ex-cons, prostitutes, meth addicts, the impoverished, and the homeless are all welcome at the church’s modern nine-acre campus. The scope of the campus facilities is impressive, and includes a food bank, a community garden, a 90-day shelter for the homeless during winter months, and a food truck designed to bring hot meals to those in need. What really makes Light My Way’s ministry unusual, though, is its controversial decision to embrace registered…
Read MoreTX: Lawsuit targets Krum city law
The city of Krum was presented with a lawsuit Friday morning that alleges its sex offender residency restrictions are unconstitutional. Attorney Richard Gladden is representing 22-year-old Denton resident ____ ____ in the lawsuit. Gladden said ____ was convicted last year of sexual assault of a child in Tarrant County. Gladden said ____ grew up in Krum, but because of the city’s Sex Offender Registry Restriction Ordinance, he was ordered to leave his parents’ house in November. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Animal abuse registry would be unfair, ineffective
We still have our doubts about Logan’s Law. It’s not a law yet, just a bill in the Michigan Legislature — again. First proposed in 2012, the law seeks to create an animal abuser registry to mirror the sex-offender registry that Michigan and many other states use to track those convicted of sexual assaults. The animal-abuse registry wouldn’t be a public list, although anyone with $10 could see it. Full Article
Read MoreHousing the unwanted
Under state law, ____, as a paroled sex offender, cannot live within 1,000 feet of schools—making large swaths of Brooklyn off-limits. Parole conditions also prohibit him from fraternizing with other ex-convicts and limit contact to family and friends screened by parole officials. So when he was finally released from an upstate prison in January, ____ was confused to find himself living with dozens of sex offenders and other parolees in an illegal rooming house in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Full Article
Read MoreNY: ‘Brittany’s Law,’ bill to establish statewide violent offender registry
Legislation that would create a statewide violent felony offender registry has been included in the New York State Senate’s one-house budget, state Sen. Michael Nozzolio said Wednesday. “New York state currently requires all convicted sex offenders to register with the state and it keeps track of those individuals,” he said. “It makes no sense that we do not do the same for those who commit violent felony crimes against our citizens. We cannot continue to put innocent New Yorkers at risk.” Full Article
Read MoreIL: Sex offender workplace registry bill sparks debate
State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) has introduced a bill that would require convicted sex offenders to register with police in the locales where they work to plug a hole in the state’s registry system. The measure is viewed as a common-sense approach by Highland Park Police Chief Paul Shafer and others in law enforcement, and seen as overly punitive and burdensome by some advocates looking out for offenders’ rights. Full Article
Read MoreCT: Bill to Keep Sex Offenders Away From Schools Could Cause ‘Chaos,’ Critics Say
A bill intended to keep convicted sex offenders away from kids would throw the Connecticut’s sex offender registry into “chaos,” according to the state’s Department of Correction. Included in Senate Bill 1087 is a provision that would prohibit registered sex offenders from residing within 1,000 feet of a school or a child day care center, but according to Eric Ellison, deputy director for parole and community services at the Correction Department, that’s not a feasible, or even desirable, goal. Full Article
Read MoreVA: woman convicted for harassing sex offender
All she wanted to do, Delores Ann Harris told a jury Friday, was to protect herself and her granddaughter from a man who had been convicted 21 years ago of aggravated sexual battery, a man who has been on the state’s sex offender registry since 1997. But the convicted sex offender in the courtroom was the victim in the jury trial. And Harris, 61, was the defendant, charged with misusing information from the sex offender registry. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Sex offender fights restraint law Challenges Hartford City child safety zones
Challenges Hartford City child safety zones – Convicted sex offender ____ ____ would like to take his daughter bowling. And to church. And although it’s been more than 20 years since he was convicted of the crime in Los Angeles County, California, the 47-year-old Blackford County man is prohibited from doing those and other activities with his daughter because of a Hartford City ordinance. Full Article
Read MoreIA: Supreme Court rules on sex offender supervision of Waterloo man
The Iowa Supreme Court is questioning whether the supervision of a Waterloo man who was deemed a sexually violent predator is constitutional. ____ ___, 57, was committed to treatment at the Iowa Department of Human Services’ Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders in Cherokee in 2001 after he was released from prison for a 1995 sexual abuse conviction in Dubuque. The state’s sexual predator laws allow for civil confinement for convicted sex offenders who have a mental abnormality that makes them more likely than not to carry out future sex…
Read More