Lawmakers rushed to approve the final pieces of a two-year budget and leave Salem after 155 days — five shy of the constitutional deadline to finish their work. One of their final acts was passing an $800 million bonding package to fund construction projects around the state, including a 174-bed psychiatric hospital in Junction City. Some Republican legislators criticized the project because of the high costs associated with staffing and operating the facility after it’s built. The package, however, passed each chamber with a large majority Monday. Full Article
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KS: Sex offender who didn’t register gets 22-plus years
Defense attorney David McDonald had no problem with his client being required to register every three months with the sheriff’s office as a violent offender. However, the recent sentence that client ___ ____ ____, 33, received — 22 years and eight months tied to two Shawnee County cases for failing to register as an offender — is excessive, McDonald said. No one objects to keeping track of violent offenders, McDonald said, but the sentences “have just gone way too far. It’s gone incredibly too far.” Full Article
Read More[UPDATED] Sex offender awarded custody of 6-year-old girl
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A judge in Oklahoma City awarded custody of a child to 55-year-old _____ _____, who is a registered sex offender from Bakersfield. The child is _____’s 6-year-old daughter. The ruling left the girl’s mother bewildered, she said. Full Article More on this story: Registered sex offender has daughter taken away after bullet arrest
Read MoreDE: Lawmakers Pass Juvenile Sex Offender Bill
DOVER, Del. – The state House has given final legislative approval to a bill giving Family Court judges the discretion to determine whether certain juvenile offenders should be declared sex offenders subject to inclusion on the state’s sex offender registry. Full Article
Read MoreOklahoma Supreme Court ruling may result in removal of hundreds of names from sex offender registry
Hundreds of names of convicted sex offenders may be removed from the state’s list of registered sex offenders as the result of an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling handed down Tuesday. In a split decision, the court ruled state corrections officials have been violating the Oklahoma Constitution by retroactively applying state sex offender registry laws, thereby dramatically increasing the time many convicted sex offenders must spend on the registry. (2 Pages) Full Article Case Info
Read MorePetition: Outlaw “Mugshot” Websites, Online “Reputation Management” firms and other Online Extortion Websites
“Mugshot” websites post arrest data, then demand a “Removal Fee” to have the mugshots/personal profiles removed. I have seen extortion fees of these websites range from $79 – $1,700 or higher. Often after the extortion fee is paid, they do not remove the info. or pass it along to another mugshot website. These websites display mugshots/profiles of people who were arrested but never convicted of any crime, people who were convicted then had their conviction overturned, or had their records expunged and even people who are now deceased. Currently Georgia,…
Read MoreUnited States v. Kebodeaux
Judgment: Reversed, 7-2, in an opinion by Justice Breyer on June 24, 2013. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito filed opinions concurring in the judgment. Justice Scalia filed a dissenting opinion. Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Scalia joined as to parts I, II, and III-B. Issue: (1) Whether the court of appeals erred in conducting its constitutional analysis on the premise that respondent was not under a federal registration obligation until the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) was enacted, when pre-SORNA federal law obligated him…
Read MoreMD: Sex offender removed from Md. registry; could be first of many
Maryland officials in recent weeks quietly removed the mug shot of convicted child molester ____ ____. from the state’s sex-offender registry. They also deleted the Internet link to the former middle school teacher’s guilty plea to charges he abused a 13-year-old student decades ago. ____’s physical description, the address of the cottage he lives in near Annapolis, the make and model of the car he drives: Everything the state had tracked for years to keep him from anonymity was erased. ____ was removed not because he was exonerated of his crime.…
Read MoreFL: Commentary: More homeless sex offenders on the way
The United States is home to about 750,000 sex offenders, with slightly less than 60,000 registered in Florida. According to a 2012 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Florida saw a 74 percent increase in the number of sex offenders in the past five years. What has also increased exponentially in the last five years is the number of municipalities that have passed tough residency restrictions against those classified as sex offenders. With thousands being added to the list each year and Florida requiring lifetime registration,…
Read MoreMS: Sex offender wins new sentencing hearing
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A convicted sex offender has won a new sentencing hearing for failing to register in Mississippi because a federal judge erred in putting conditions on his supervised release, a federal appeals court panel has ruled. ___ ___ pleaded guilty in 2011 to failing to register as a sex offender in Mississippi. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison plus 10 years of supervised release. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Florida Appeal Court Approves Weekly Check-Ins for Homeless Sex Offenders
In a case that may have ramifications beyond the Florida Panhandle, where it originated, a state appeals court Monday approved a Bay County Sheriff’s Office policy that requires homeless registered sex offenders to report by 10 a.m. each Monday about where, through a detailed log, they expect to spend the next seven nights. Full Article
Read MoreEarly Bird Registration now open for RSOL Conference in Los Angeles
California RSOL will be hosting this year’s RSOL Conference, from August 29 to September 1. The Conference will take place in Los Angeles, near LAX, and will provide an opportunity to interact and network with researchers, mental health professionals, criminal justice practitioners and advocates interested in reforming current law, policy, and treatment of former sexual offenders. We are certain that all will benefit from this opportunity to share, learn, and strategize with others from around the country. Early Bird registration is now open, until July 30, with significant savings for early…
Read MoreSenate votes to move forward on farm bill that sets policy for farm subsidies, food stamps
NOTE: This bill would make persons previously convicted of certain (sex) crimes ineligible for food stamps / assistance. WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to move forward on a wide-ranging, five-year farm bill. The legislation advanced on a 75-22 procedural vote that sets up a vote to pass the measure next Monday. The bill would cost almost $100 billion annually and would set policy for farm subsidies, food stamps and other farm and food aid programs. Full Article Related: No food stamps for murderers and sex offenders under new farm bill?
Read MoreNo food stamps for murderers and sex offenders under new farm bill?
A farm bill amendment is supposedly aimed at curbing rampant welfare fraud and abuse, but advocacy groups see it as another setback for the recovering incarcerated population. An amendment to the pending farm bill that would deny food stamps to convicted murderers, rapists and pedophiles is receiving stiff opposition. Full Article
Read MoreSCOTUS upholds DNA testing for serious arrests
The U.S. Constitution does not prohibit states from building large DNA databases by collecting samples from everyone arrested for serious crimes, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision Monday. The case produced an unusual divide on the court, with liberal Justice Stephen Breyer joining the court’s Republican appointed justices who upheld the practice and conservative Justice Antonin Scalia writing a bitter dissent joined by most of the court’s liberals. Full Article
Read MoreUnauthorized Arizona-Based Sex Offender Sites Extorting Sex Offenders
A network of Arizona-based websites is using data from sex-offender registries maintained by law-enforcement agencies to basically extort money from purported sex-offenders, some of whom are either no longer required to register themselves or have never actually been convicted of a sex-related crime. Full Article Also see: https://all4consolaws.org/2013/05/sex-offender-data-is-used-to-collect-money-and-intimidate/
Read MoreFL: Florida teen charged in relationship with minor mulls plea deal [UPDATE]
***UPDATE 3: Fla. teen charged over same-sex underage relationship accepts plea deal; won’t have to register as sex offender, report says (CBS) VERO BEACH, Fla., October 3 – ____ ____, the Florida 19-year-old charged over a same-sex relationship with an underage classmate, has accepted a plea deal that will allow her to be released from jail December 20 and not have to register as a felon or sex offender, reports CBS affiliate WPEC. Full Article *** ***UPDATE 2: ____ ____ offered new plea deal VERO BEACH, Fla., October 1 — ____ ____,…
Read MoreMiracle Village: A haven for America’s social pariahs (with Video)
Almost 750,000 Americans are now on sex offender registries, and the numbers just keep growing. Because the truly dangerous are mixed in with the far more numerous low-risk offenders, registries are useless from a public safety perspective. But they do have a pernicious effect on ex-offenders, who oftentimes find themselves with nowhere to go and no hope of ever reintegrating into society. Enter “Miracle Village” in Florida. Built in 1964 for sugar cane workers (some of whom still live there), it was transformed into a haven by an evangelical pastor…
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