NEW ORLEANS – The ACLU of Louisiana delivered an open letter today to all of Louisiana’s parish sheriffs, concerning regulation of the Halloween holiday. The letter reads as follows: Full Letter In response to: Plaquemines placing sex offender signs on lawns for Halloween
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MD: ‘Vigilante justice’ leads to prison time in fatal beating of sex offender
A 20-year-old Reservoir Hill woman was sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for what prosecutors called an act of vigilante justice when she led a group beating of a sex offender that turned fatal. Her father was also sentenced to jail time for his role. Full Article
Read MoreDE: When Halloween fun is against the law (Opinion)
Halloween is a time for costumes, parties and seeking out some chills and thrills. It is also when sex offenders are placed in the spotlight as law enforcement, neighborhood watch groups and local media tell parents their little ghosts and goblins are in imminent danger of becoming prey. The result is a slew of policies aimed at keeping sex offenders off the streets and in their homes on Halloween – usually with the doors locked and the lights off. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreMS: Registered Sex Offender Emerges as Star College Football Player
A registered sex offender has emerged as a star player on a top tier college football team, resuming his athletic career after being expelled from the Air Force Academy where he was court-martialed for sexual assault. No NCAA rule prevents a person with a criminal conviction from playing college athletics, a spokesperson told ABC News. It is left up to the individual college or conference to determine eligibility. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Nonprofit To Expand Nassau County Sex Offender Program
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Starting next year, the Long Island-based group Parents for Megan’s Law will begin monitoring the online activities of Nassau County’s registered sex offenders. The monitoring will include tracking posts on Facebook and Twitter and forwarding leads to police, Newsday reported. Full Article
Read MoreVA: revisiting penalties for teen sexting
RICHMOND — Should teenagers who exchange sexually explicit messages and photos face the same punishment as adults charged with producing and distributing child pornography? The Virginia State Crime Commission is revisiting the teen sexting issue and may again consider legislation that would lessen penalties — primarily intended for pornographers — in consensual cases involving suspects who are minors. Full Article
Read MoreThe “Sex Offender” Regime is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
If it’s true that all seven of the football players arrested for hazing in the Sayreville, New Jersey, War Memorial High School locker room are students of color, that is one more reason not to prosecute them as sexual felons. I don’t mean not to prosecute them in adult court. I mean not to prosecute them at all. If they’re guilty, they should be disciplined by the school, kicked off the Bombers team, and held accountable to their victims by making amends in words and deeds. But the punishment the…
Read MoreAL: Schools adjust sex offender policies
The Tallapoosa County Board of Education made adjustments to its sex offender on campus policy to take into account laws that allow registered sex offenders some rights to visit their children at school. Full Article
Read MoreFL: ACLU Challenges Miami-Dade Housing Restriction Forcing Former Sex Offenders to Live by Railroad Tracks
MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida filed suit against Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Corrections, seeking a permanent injunction against a housing ordinance that is extraordinarily difficult for former sex offenders to follow without becoming homeless. The law prohibits former offenders from living 2,500 feet (almost half a mile) from any building the county labels a “school,” a category the county has enforced arbitrarily since the ordinance went into effect in 2010. This restriction has left about fifty former offenders with nowhere…
Read MoreFL: Inside Miami’s Hidden Tent City For ‘Sex Offenders’
In 2009, Miami-Dade County drew national criticism when reports emerged that more than 100 individuals on the sex offender registry were camping under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in the middle of the Biscayne Bay with the blessing of the corrections department, because a patchwork of restrictive laws made it so they had nowhere else to go. In response, officials cleared out the camp and changed the law, in a shift that was supposed to give these offenders a habitable place to live. … The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit…
Read MoreNY: West Seneca Neighbors Dismayed Albany Judge Will Hear Sex Offender Group Home Case
WEST SENECA, N.Y. — The battle to move sex offenders out of a group home in West Seneca will continue in Albany. On Tuesday, the judge moved the case on the state’s policy on sex offenders and housing from Erie County Court to Albany County.Since February, residents have repeatedly expressed outrage that seven registered sex offenders are living in a group home on Leydecker Road in West Seneca. They say the state moved the men to their neighborhood without notifying them. “You’re putting the fox in the hen house,” said…
Read MoreSexting amounts to child pornography in the eyes of the law
More than 100 Virginia teenagers are under investigation for sharing child pornography, even if they were simply sexting with their friends. Teens sexting, or sending nude photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend, could end up facing felony charges. Apps like Snapchat, Wickr, and Oovoo allow users to take a photo or video, send it, then the image self destructs on the other end in a matter of seconds. Full Article
Read MoreMO: Amendment 2 asks whether child sex defendants’ past acts can be used against them at trial
The Missouri Constitution currently bars testimony that past acts show propensity — that the accused is likely guilty of the same crime again. Amendment 2 would alter that rule in cases involving child sexual abuse, including allowing testimony about crimes that were never charged. Full Article
Read MorePA: Megan’s Law mandate unfairly punishes offenders, court rules
[Updated with Decision] Some of Pennsylvania’s latest sex offender registration requirements run afoul of a constitutional ban on laws that create new penalties for people who have already paid for their crimes, the Commonwealth Court has ruled. The panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges also found, however, that requiring sex offenders to reveal their email addresses and other online aliases is not a violation of the First Amendment right to anonymous speech. Full Article Decision: http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/214MD13_10-14-14.pdf
Read MoreMaking money off sex offender information
NEW BLOOMFIELD — How much money would you pay to know if any sex offenders live in your area? Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Kids Live Safe charges its subscribers $29.97 per month, or $59.88 per year, to tell them where registered sex offenders live in relation to their houses, schools or other places they frequent. Users can set up email alerts for up to four addresses, install filters to monitor their children’s online activity, and create profiles of their children to give to law enforcement if their children ever disappear. Full…
Read MoreNY: Judge rules on difficulty for sex offenders to live in Brooklyn
Forcing sex offenders to stay 1,000 feet away from schools, playgrounds and daycare centers if they were convicted before that state law was enacted is unconstitutional, a new Brooklyn Supreme Court ruling has found. Full Article Also see: Devine v Annucci (decision)
Read MoreIA: Change to Custody Law Regarding Sex Offenders
2012 – A new law tells judges in custody cases to consider if a parent let a child be around a sex offender. The change in Iowa custody law took effect July 1, 2012. It adds to the long list of factors a judge can consider to decide what custody arrangement is in the best interest of a child. The new law allows the judge to consider if a parent let someone have custody, control or unsupervised access to a child while knowing the person is required to register as…
Read MoreKS: Wichita school district completes installation of visitor security system
By Monday, all Wichita public schools will have the new Hall Pass security system, which scans visitors’ driver’s licenses and checks them against a sex-offender database. This summer, the Wichita school board voted to spend up to $200,000 to install scanners and related equipment at all 91 school buildings and train employees to use them. Schools have been installing the system at a rate of about one high school feeder pattern per week. Full Article
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