The Missouri Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation last year that would remove many juvenile offenders from the public sex offender registry, which is posted on the Internet. It would not have lessened the punishment for any offender. Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed the legislation and then launched a misleading campaign in which he highlighted some of the worst offenders on the registry. Let me tell you my son Zach’s story, as it gives a very different perspective. It shows how harmful the sex offender registry can be for juveniles who should not…
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FL: Idea to put signs in sex offender’s yards brought up to Port Orange council
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Port Orange City Council members met Tuesday night to discuss a proposal to put signs up in the yards of sexual predators that let everyone know just who is living in their neighborhoods. The issue came about when a group of parents pushed to have a sexual offender moved away from a nearby elementary school. They got what they wanted when the man moved away. Full Article
Read MoreNH: House committee passes bill prohibiting restrictions on where sex offenders can live
A House committee easily passed a bill, 18-1, prohibiting restrictions on where sex offenders can live yesterday, noting that judges have twice ruled residency restrictions unconstitutional. Still, lawmakers predicted a tough fight in the Senate, which has rejected similar bills before. “There is a perception that this bill is being soft on crime,” said Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, a Manchester Republican who voted for the bill. “All of us who have heard (this debate) know the benefits of the bill. But we’re going to need to explain it.” Rep. Al Baldasaro,…
Read MoreCO: Sex-offender treatment system criticized at hearing
A convicted sex offender publicly criticized Colorado’s treatment system at a legislative hearing Tuesday, saying he cannot even go fishing because his privileges have been restricted. ____ ____ spent seven years in prison for fondling a girl. He said he came out well-adjusted and optimistic and rated as a low risk to commit a new sexual offense. But after nearly two years of treatment in the community, “I don’t feel well-adjusted and optimistic at this point,” he said. Turner’s testimony at a House and Senate Judicial Committee hearing came on the heels…
Read MoreWI: 7th Circuit upholds $100 annual sex offender registry fee
The $100 that Wisconsin sex offenders must pay every year for being listed on a registry is not an unlawful fine, a federal appeals court has ruled. But the court did not address other lifetime conditions of Wisconsin sex offender registration because it found the challengers lacked standing. The decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by a Green Bay federal judge, and also thwarted the plaintiffs’ request to proceed as unnamed. Instead, the court added their names to the case. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach…
Read MorePA: Supreme Court reinstates child porn charges in Lehigh County sexting case
A video of a teenage girl and boy engaged in a sex act circulated among Allentown youths for at least a year before another girl was charged with possession and distribution of child pornography for posting it on Facebook. Although a Lehigh County judge agreed with the girl’s attorneys that the charges were “an overreaction by law enforcement” and dismissed them in 2012, the state Supreme Court on Thursday reversed his decision. The girl, identified in court papers only as C.S., must return to Lehigh County juvenile court to face felony…
Read MoreCO: Audit criticizes Colorado’s program for monitoring sex offenders
Colorado is overtreating many low-risk sex offenders in the mistaken belief that they cannot be cured, an independent consultant has found. As a result, the state’s Sex Offender Management Board is wasting significant amounts of public money on supervision in the community, according to a report from Central Coast Clinical and Forensic Psychology Services. The report, released earlier this month, also concluded that Colorado’s system for classifying some offenders as sexually violent predators is hopelessly flawed and in urgent need of replacement. That means Colorado could be classifying the wrong people…
Read MoreNV: Nevada’s Disappearing Sex Offender
Big changes for sex offenders in the western US state of Nevada. If implemented on February 1, 2014 as planned, the stealth roll out of the Adam Walsh Act will have a number of unintended consequences. These include: a dramatic increase in the number of citizens required to register as sex offenders including all those as far back as 1956 who were convicted of sex crimes against minors–even when the offender was himself a minor at the time. So a 12-year-old boy who in 1956 who molested his 10-year-old sister…
Read MoreGA: New state law gives ex offenders hope for landing a job
A new state law is a beacon of hope for job seekers with a criminal history. Albany Second Chance hosted workshops for ex-offenders Monday at Albany Technical College and Albany State University. Speakers from the Georgia Justice Project said state is the second worst in the nation for barriers that keep ex-offenders from finding jobs, but they hope the Record Restriction Law will help. Many of the hundreds of people crammed together in the Albany Tech Kirkland Conference Center were seeking a new beginning. “Who doesn’t wish they could go back and…
Read MoreNY: Mount Pleasant police chief faces child-porn charges
Mount Pleasant Police Chief ____ ____, accused Thursday of possessing child pornography, told federal investigators his alleged habit began when he was researching material for school classes he was teaching about the dangers of sexual abuse, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains. “But shortly thereafter (____) began viewing child pornography for personal interest,” the 10-page complaint says. Full Article
Read MoreCO: Greeley police chief supports easing sex offender living restrictions
GREELEY – Sex offenders against children could be allowed to move closer to schools and parks in Greeley. “We’re trying to strike a balance between the need for public safety. We want to protect our kids from sex offenders, versus being able to have these folks rehabilitate and not re-offend out here,” Greeley Police Chief Jerry Garner said. Garner supports an ordinance that would reduce from 750 feet to 300 feet the mandatory distance a sex offender must live from parks, schools, playgrounds and pools. He said the city attorney suggested the…
Read MoreSex offender fights registry by registering his registerers [updated]
UPDATED with related story If nothing else, ____ ____ is not your typical ex-con. At first glance, he looks like the model returning citizen: After serving more than a decade in prison, ____, 70, returned to the District, started a gallery for prison art and ran for mayor. … So, for his latest act, ____ has decided to protest his treatment by creating his own online data base and registering the people who monitor him at the sex offender registry. Full Article Related: Dennis Sobin Has a Registery for People Who…
Read MorePA: Juvenile Law Center Wins Second Ruling Declaring Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Requirements Unconstitutional
For the second time in the last three months, a Pennsylvania judge has ruled that Pennsylvania’s juvenile sex offender registration requirements are unconstitutional. On January 16, 2014, Monroe County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington ruled that Pennsylvania’s law requiring juveniles convicted of sexual offenses be subjected to lifetime sex offender registration violates their rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution. (Read Judge Patti-Worthington’s opinion here.) Full Article
Read MoreVirginia anticipates need for more prison beds if oral sex is banned for teens
A Republican lawmaker in Virginia has proposed re-criminalizing oral and anal sex — but only for teenagers. State Senator Thomas Garrett, who calls himself a “Cuccinelli Conservative,” filed a bill on Wednesday to “amend and reenact § 18.2-361 of the Code of Virginia, relating to crimes against nature.” Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to re-establish the ban on oral and anal sex in his state. The law had previously been declared to be unconstitutional by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In its 2003 Lawrence…
Read MoreNY: Danger of a Different Kind – Firefighters Push to Keep Sex Offenders Out
The dangers of being a firefighter. Some are obvious. And others, not so much. That’s why the New York State Firemen’s Association is fighting to prevent what it claims is a danger of a different kind. Convicted sex offenders volunteering as firefighters. “Current labor law does give certain considerations and prohibits sex offenders from working in positions similar to firefighters that are entrusted with people’s safety and well-being. And so we just want some parity brought into our field,” said Andrew Maracco, FASNY lobbyist. Hundreds of firefighters and emergency responders are pushing…
Read More2014 Women Against Registry’s Operation Push Back
This Press Release was just sent out to all Missouri Media and Legislators: As Director of Women Against Registry, I am contacting your agency on behalf of over two million women, family members and those affected by the public sex offender registry. We have grown tired of the continued penalties registrants and their FAMILY members increasingly face. We have begun “Pushing Back” on legislation and false media representation. For too long we have heard heart-breaking stories from families being destroyed, children beaten, passed over for higher education opportunities, family homes/property…
Read MoreAL: National Women’s Organization Opposes HB 14
The question we are asking is an obvious one; “do laws such as this truly PROTECT children?” Alabama Representative Steve Hurst seems to think so. His previous years’ and newly introduced legislation, if enacted, would mandate the Department of Corrections to surgically castrate any person over the age of 21 who has been convicted of a sexual crime against a minor under the age of 12 years. But a national women’s organization is challenging the usefulness of such a law, asserting that it does nothing to increase community safety but seriously…
Read MoreALERT: Serial killer targeting registered sex offenders in New Hampshire
There is a serial killer at large in Keene, New Hampshire. The killer is targeting individuals whose names and addresses appear on New Hampshire’s Registry of Criminal Offenders and whose residences are pinpointed on the Keene Police Department’s online “CrimeReports” map. This killer has struck twice in the past three months, killing one man and severely maiming another. Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform is asking the State of New Hampshire and the City of Keene to take immediate steps to prevent further tragedy by taking down the State’s online sex offender registry…
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