In Colorado prisons, the number of men and women serving life sentences for sex offenses today is 41 times greater than that of just 14 years ago. On the roster of lifers, sex offenders now outnumber everyone else — killers, kidnappers, armed robbers, arsonists, habitual offenders, adults who fatally abuse children. Sixty-three percent of all Colorado prisoners sentenced to life are sex offenders, a figure that is more than four times the national average. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The sponsor of a 1998 law providing lifetime supervision of sex…
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AZ: Professor – Halloween sex offender scare is a myth (CBS5 News)
PHOENIX (CBS5) – It’s something you hear about every Halloween – to be on the lookout for convicted sex offenders preying on Valley children. But CBS 5 News has learned that the Halloween sex offender scare may be just a myth. CBS 5 News contacted law enforcement agencies in Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Peoria, Scottsdale and Surprise. None of the police departments have reported any problems involving a sex offender and children on Halloween, over the past five years. Full Article
Read MoreOH: Councilman tables own proposed ordinance on sex offenders
AMHERST — A proposed ban which would have prevented registered sex offenders living within the city limits from participating in Halloween will have to wait.At a committee meeting Monday, Phil Van Treuren made a motion to table the ordinance which he promoted one week ago through a news release.Van Treuren said his proposed ordinance was recommended after seeing the Village of Orwell in Ashtabula County adopt a similar ordinance recently, prohibiting sex offenders from answering their door during and around Halloween. After getting feedback from council members and Law Director…
Read MoreFL: Black swan crash lands on Florida SVP program
Dan Montaldi’s words were prophetic. Speaking to Salon magazine last year, the former director of Florida’s civil commitment program for sex offenders called innovative rehabilitation programs “fragile flowers.” The backlash from one bad deed that makes the news can bring an otherwise successful enterprise crashing down. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Legislation would force sex offenders to pay to be on registry [UPDATED]
Legislation passed by the Michigan Senate in Lansing would require registered sex offenders to pay an annual fee to help maintain the state’s sex offender registry. Senate Bill 221’s sponsor, state Sen. Rick Jones, said it is ready for the governor’s signature. “These are people who committed crimes,” said Jones, R-Grand Ledge. “I do not believe that the hardworking taxpayers in Michigan should foot the bill for a registry of crimes they did not commit.” In a news release on Thursday, Jones cited other states such as Indiana, which charges $50 per year…
Read MoreOK: Sex Offender Law Successful Challenge Sets Stage for Other Jurisdictions
Recent decisions have relied on the reasoning of the US Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe when analyzing challenges to sex offender registry laws. The Smith decision notoriously held that Alaska’s sex offender registry did not violate the US Constitution’s prohibition on ex post facto laws. The US Supreme Court held that the Alaska registry was constitutional by applying a two-step analysis: first, determining whether the legislation was intended to have a punitive effect and if so, analyzing the results of the “intents-effects” test established by the court in Kentucky vs. Mendoza-Martinez. The Oklahoma Supreme Court…
Read MoreBubba the Love Sponge warns communities about sexual offenders
It’s nearly Halloween. A time for little ghouls and goblins to dress up for Trick or Treat. Tampa radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge is worried about some real scary people. Bubba asked listeners to let him know where sexual offenders are located in their neighborhoods. He says he then went onto the FDLE web site to verify the information and went says he went one step further to verify the offenders information on individual county law enforcement web sites. Bubba then had yard signs printed on a red background with bold…
Read MoreCO: Englewood to appeal sexual offender decision
ENGLEWOOD – The City of Englewood announced on Tuesday that they plan to appeal the recent federal court decision to allow sexual offenders to be housed near schools, parks, pools and daycare centers. What started the court decision was when a registered sex offender fought the law and won after being told he couldn’t live anywhere in the City of Englewood. The ruling has potential to undermine laws in five other Colorado cities that place distance restrictions on how close some sex offenders can live to certain locations. Full Article…
Read MoreShould Child Molesters Be Castrated?
The Doctors (TV Show) discuss legislation recently filed in the state of Alabama that would require surgical castration for any child molester over the age of 21 whose victim was 12 years old or younger. Video
Read MoreVA: Sex Offender Fears Force Church to Close Homeless Shelter
A Virginia church will close its homeless shelter this fall due to fears that the site was housing sex offenders. “This was a rough decision for us because we looked at the overflow shelters as an extension of our ministry,” Reverend Tyrone Nelson, who pastors Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, told WTVR News. Nelson added that it appeared that sex offenders were not only spending the night at the church but that they were “actually using our address. They were using the shelter and probably had been using the shelter on…
Read MoreMI: ACLU – Day care bills place ‘nearly impossible burden’ on sex offenders, police
LANSING, MI — Senate-approved legislation that would prohibit registered sex offenders from loitering near day care centers in Michigan appears to have hit a speed bump on the House side. Shelly Weisberg with the ACLU of Michigan, testifying before the House Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday, warned that Senate Bills 76 and 77 would create “a nearly impossible burden on listed offenders and on law enforcement.” Full Article
Read MoreLouisiana is the world’s prison capital
Louisiana is the world’s prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world. Louisiana’s incarceration rate is nearly five times Iran’s, 13 times China’s and 20 times Germany’s. Full Article
Read MoreAL: Lawmaker lobs bill to castrate sex offenders
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – An Alabama lawmaker is proposing a bill for the 2014 legislative session to further punish convicted child predators before they’re released from prison. The Florence Times Daily (http://bit.ly/1fuBdgI) reports Republican Rep. Steve Hurst of Munford is trying again to pass a bill requiring sex offenders over the age of 21 whose victims were 12 or younger to be surgically castrated before being released from prison. Under Hurst’s bill, the castration would be financed by the sex offender. A version of the same bill Hurst tried passing last…
Read MoreOK: Sex offenders removed from registry
TAHLEQUAH — Several convicted sex offenders residing in Cherokee County have been removed from the state’s sex offender registry following a ruling from the Oklahoma Supreme Court last June. Cherokee County Sheriff’s Investigator James Brown has received letters from the state indicating two offenders of the 100-plus living here have been removed from the Department of Corrections registry, so far. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Sex offender pleaded to living near day cares
GRAHAM — A registered sex offender pleaded guilty Monday to violating the state’s sex offender laws by living within 1,000 feet of two child-care centers. Before he was charged in April, Alamance County Sheriff’s deputies told ____ ____ ____, 52, that he couldn’t live at his residence on Morningside Drive in Burlington. In warrants, deputies stated that ____’s residence was within 747 feet of Unique Ventures Child Care Services and 638 feet from Gospel Tabernacle day care. … He pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of sex offender residence violation and one…
Read MoreLA: Allen Parish considers raising sex offender registration rates [UPDATED with action]
ALLEN PARISH, LA (KPLC) – “I don’t like seeing people leaving an adjacent parish to come here as a sex offender because it’s more affordable, which is what I’m trying to say,” said Allen Parish Chief Deputy Ricky Johnson. It happened first in Lake Charles, then in Sulphur, a raise in sex offender registration rates. And now, Allen Parish officials say they are feeling the effects of those decisions. “It’s not a mass exodus from Calcasieu Parish, but we’ve had a few sex offenders that came to Allen Parish and they basically voiced…
Read MoreAL: Student facing charges for streaking at football game dead of apparent suicide
HARVEST, Alabama – The Sparkman High School community is mourning one of their own after a student apparently took his own life. ____ ____, 15, hanged himself Wednesday and died this morning from his injuries, Madison County Coroner Craig Whisenant said today. ____ death came less than a week after he was arrested for streaking across the Sparkman High football field during the Senators’ Sept. 27 football game against Grissom High School. Full Article Related: WHNT Coverage (since removed – cached page)
Read MoreMO: Amendment would allow past allegations to be heard in child sex abuse cases
… Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd agrees, and he wants voters to pass an amendment to the Missouri Constitution in fall 2014 that would allow prosecutors in child sexual abuse cases to tell jurors about a defendant’s prior sex offenses, even allegations for which the person never faced charges. Full Article
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