Local and county politicians around the state hopped on a populist bandwagon nearly a decade ago, hurriedly passing laws that outdid the state’s effort to keep convicted sex offenders from living or even walking near schools, parks and daycare centers — in the absence of any real evidence that stricter laws were needed. Full Editorial
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VA: Sex offender registry – Bad idea (OpEd)
Virginia lawmakers introduce many bad ideas, but they also wisely dispense with a good proportion of them. One of those that has escaped the ax comes from state Sen. Ryan McDougle, and would establish a supplemental sex-offender registry. The supplemental registry, which would be published on the State Police website, would include the names of persons who committed various offenses between 1980 and 1994. Full OpEd Piece
Read MoreAR: Sex Offender Database Violates Federal Law
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas is violating federal law with the way it tracks certain sex offenders. It has cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars and some say is putting the public in danger. The Adam Walsh Act was passed in 2006. Nearly 10 years later, Arkansas is non-compliant in three major areas. They are: failing to report certain juvenile offenders, establishing a process for getting off the registry and not listing all offenders online. Full Article
Read MoreMA: Worcester’s sex-offender ordinance awaits court ruling on Lynn measure
WORCESTER — Local efforts to restrict where Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders can live in the city have been put on hold, pending the outcome of a legal challenge to a similar ordinance adopted by another community that is now before the state Supreme Judicial Court. Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman, chairman of the City Council Public Safety Committee, said it is his understanding that arguments regarding that residency ordinance are expected to be made before the SJC in April, with a decision likely to come out in June.…
Read MoreID: Bill would add violent criminals to sex offender registry
BOISE — An Idaho legislative panel is considering a bill to add people convicted of violent crimes – such as murder, kidnapping and felony domestic violence – to the state’s sex offender registry. The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to consider expanding the registry to include violent offenders. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Court of Appeals voids sex offender laws
ALBANY — The state’s highest court ruled Tuesday that state law restricting the residency of registered sex offenders supersedes local and county laws, rendering them obsolete. The 5-0 decision by the Court of Appeals marked defeat for Nassau County and any other municipality in New York state hoping to restrict the offenders to within certain distances of schools, parks, playgrounds, daycare centers and other places where children are likely to be. Full Article
Read MoreIA: Blue Grass woman finds her own address on sex offender registry, used without her knowledge
BLUE GRASS, Iowa (KWQC) — We hear about the sex offender registry when there is a change in the law or a big compliance check. But does it really hold offenders accountable? A Blue Grass woman says, not as much as you might expect. And her story hits close to home. She lives in an established neighborhood with nice houses fronted by big yards. You wouldn’t think a sex offender lived there. And as far as we know, one doesn’t. But for a little while this winter, Stefanie Mucha’s Valley…
Read MoreMI: Mom on mission for a public child abuse registry
… The proposed registry would be searchable by name, similar to the state’s sex offender registry. Specific details of the proposed child abuse registry have yet to be determined. But such a registry would give people another way to check whether someone has been convicted of child abuse, be it a new neighbor, a babysitter, someone who is dating an ex-spouse or someone who is marrying into the family. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Sex offender had only one place to live – A parking lot
TAMPA — As a convicted sex offender, ____ ____ ____ was ordered to live in a small parking lot on Channelside Drive. For refusing to stay for more than a few weeks in the empty lot, ____ , 27, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. On Friday, the 2nd District Court of Appeal reluctantly upheld ____ ’s punishment. “We are troubled by the fact that the terms of ____ ’s community control have rendered him homeless,” the court wrote. “This does not appear to facilitate the goals of…
Read MoreVA: Campbell – Sex offender bill would stir up angry mobs
HB1366 patroned by Del. Jeff Campbell, R-Marion, passed the House of Delegates recently, unanimously, with absolutely no discussion or debate and with very little notice by most Virginians. ***Article no longer online*** More at restoringintegritytovirginiaregistry
Read MoreAR: Sex Offender Registry – Address Debate
(KARK) — CONWAY, AR — An Arkansas advocacy group is fighting to get law enforcement agencies to remove the full addresses of sex offenders on websites. The group wants the numbers blocked, but not everyone is budging. Carla Swanson — with Arkansas Time after Time — sent out 900 letters to registered sex offenders with listed addresses on sheriffs’ websites. She says a couple hundred came back to her because the offender no longer lived there. Swanson says that proves the system isn’t very effective, but that’s not her only…
Read MoreNH: Supreme Court Rules That Retroactive, Lifetime Registration Requirement Is Unconstitutional As Applied To ACLU Client
CONCORD – In a victory for fundamental fairness, the New Hampshire Supreme Court held today that New Hampshire’s law requiring the registration of certain criminal offenders is unconstitutional as applied to an ACLU client because the law retroactively imposes lifetime restrictions on individuals who were convicted before these lifetime restrictions were enacted. Full Article Also see: N.H. Supreme Court: Disabled sex offender eligible to get off sex offender registry
Read MoreMN: Sex offender trial highlights differences between Minnesota, Wisconsin
ST. PAUL – The trial in the lawsuit against Minnesota’s program for treating its most dangerous sex offenders opened with contrasts: how two very similar states can have such dramatically different results in treating offenders. About 20 years ago, Minnesota and Wisconsin established programs to treat sex offenders who seemed likely to recommit crimes. But where Minnesota’s program has more than 700 offenders confined to its facilities in Moose Lake and St. Peter, Wisconsin’s Sand Ridge facility is home to 362 committed offenders, Deborah McCulloch, head of the Wisconsin program,…
Read MoreNE: Boy’s family fighting state putting him on sex offender registry
Juveniles aren’t listed on Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registry, but a 12-year-old boy who recently moved to the state could end up there by the letter of the law. His family is fighting the move, and a federal judge already has agreed to block the Nebraska State Patrol from adding his name and picture to the registry and public website while the civil case is pending. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Stranded triplets’ dad arrested on sex offender violation
HOUSTON — The father of month-old premature triplets who were staying in a hotel with his wife and toddler daughter with no money to get home was arrested Tuesday at a Houston motel for a sex offender violation. ___ ___ was arrested following his appearance in a KHOU-TV report about the family’s financial troubles. Full Article
Read MoreMinnesota Sex Offender Program violates human rights (Opinion)
The Associated Press reported this week on the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. This civil commitment program allows the state to place sex-offenders who have finished their prison sentences into high-security custody for an indefinite period. In other words, if sex-offenders meet certain, supposedly objective criteria, Minnesota holds the authority to put them in a penal dungeon, with little hope of release within their lifetime. This is not only a violation of due process, but a complete removal of any of the needed neutral tendencies of law. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreMN: Trial may bring changes to sex offender program
A federal court trial starting today could decide the future of the state’s controversial sex offender treatment program. More than 700 civilly committed sex offenders are suing the state claiming it’s unconstitutional to keep them locked up indefinitely and that they don’t get adequate treatment from the program run by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Full Article
Read MoreKY: Teen sex a crime? Ky high court to hear case
The eighth-grade boy and his seventh-grade girlfriend had been dating about 1½ years when they decided to have sex, which they did twice at her house when nobody was home. The boy, 15, also texted two nude pictures of himself to the girl, 13, who sent him one back. When the girl’s parents found the pictures on her phone, they took out a warrant in Woodford Circuit Court, and the boy was charged with sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor, and possessing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor, a felony.…
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