National Archives - Page 26 of 215

Kids’ Online Safety Policy Bill is a Pretext for Censorship

August 3, 2023 R H

Source: newrepublic.com 8/2/23 The first thing you need to know about the latest bill in Congress meant to protect children on the internet is that one of its co-sponsors has been waging this fight against tech platforms since the days of MySpace. This bill, the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, concerns children who were not yet born at the dawn of social media, whose parents could once have jockeyed to remain in each other’s Top 8, while their own parents in turn may have sounded the alarm about such…

Chief Justice John Roberts defends legitimacy of court

July 31, 2023 R H

Source: news.yahoo.com 9/10/22 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday defended the authority of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution, saying its role should not be called into question just because people disagree with its decisions. When asked to reflect on the last year at the court in his first public appearance since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Roberts said he was concerned that lately some critics of the court’s controversial decisions have questioned the legitimacy of the court, which he said…

FL: Sex offender camp growing in Florida woods; public apparently not warned

July 28, 2023 R H

Source: fox8.com 7/28/23 CLEARWATER, Florida (WFLA) — A Florida camp powered by solar panels and a generator is home to about a dozen sex offenders who claim they were sent there by probation officers, but there is no indication the public was alerted. Land records indicate the tents that sit under a structure made from branches are on land owned by the Florida Department of Transportation. A state spokesperson said they were “not aware of this.” Several sources, including a defense attorney, told Nexstar’s WFLA that anyone on probation is…

MS: Mississippi to pay more than $400K in attorneys’ fees over unconstitutional sodomy law

July 28, 2023 R H

Source: mississippitoday.org 7/28/23 Mississippi will have to pay more than $400,000 in attorneys’ fees after the attorney general’s office spent years defending a sodomy law that criminalizes oral and anal sex. The law in question — Section 97-29-59 — was deemed unconstitutional in 2003 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case Lawrence v. Texas that private sexual conduct was constitutionally protected. But Mississippi kept its sodomy law on the books, opening the door for a 2016 legal challenge that resulted in the expensive attorneys’ fees. The AGs office,…

NC: Keeping tabs on registered sex offenders part of a three-day operation in Cleveland Co.

July 26, 2023July 26, 2023 R H

Source: wbtv.com 7/26/23 CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) – Cleveland County deputies have been out for the past two days checking on convicted sex offenders in the area. Dozens of officers both in uniform and plain clothes are making sure those convicted of the crime are living where they’re supposed to and staying away from schools, parks and anywhere children may congregate. Teams that fanned out making close to 400 compliance checks to make sure registered sex offenders are playing by the rules. … A person charged with a sex offense…

OH: Reagan Tokes law ruled constitutional by state Supreme Court

July 26, 2023 R H

Source: 10tv.com 7/26/23 COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that a state law allowing prison officials to keep prisoners beyond their sentence if the prisoner violates the law while incarcerated is constitutional. In a 5-2 decision on Wednesday, the state’s highest court found that the Reagan Tokes law does not violate the constitutional rights of inmates. The law was passed in 2019 and named after the 21-year-old Ohio State senior who was killed in February 2017. Tokes was kidnapped, raped and fatally shot by Brian Golsby,…

AZ: Navajo Council passes legislation to improve sex offender registration

July 26, 2023 R H

Source: nhonews.com 7/25/23 On the final day of the 2023 Navajo Nation Council Summer Session, Legislation No. 0104-23 was introduced to amend the Sex Offenders Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) in Title 17 of the Navajo Nation Code. The legislation aims to allow civilian employees of the Navajo Nation Police Department to help register sex offenders in a timely manner, along with handling administrative tasks related to registration. Currently, only Navajo police officers are responsible for sex offender registration, which sometimes poses challenges due to their field duties and emergency…

AK: Mat-Su bans sex offenders from living near childcare centers, schools, parks

July 21, 2023 R H

Source: alaskawatchman.com 7/20/23 In an effort to protect children from sex crimes, the Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved a new ordinance that prohibits sex offenders from taking up permanent residence within 1,000 feet of any school, daycare facility or public park. Approved at the assembly’s July 18 meeting, the ordinance does not apply to sex offenders who live in a restricted zone prior to the new law. Sex offenders may not, however, purchase or lease a new permanent residence within the restricted areas. Introduced by Assemblyman Ron Bernier, the law is…

FL: Man jailed after allegedly attempting to use pickup to run over sex offender

July 15, 2023 R H

Source: villages-news.com 7/15/23 A 67-year-old Wildwood man has been jailed after allegedly attempting to use a pickup to run over a convicted sex offender. William Harold Bailey went to the sex offender’s residence on County Road 121 shortly before noon Thursday and “aggressively” confronted the sex offender, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. He allegedly took a swing at the sex offender, who was not identified in the report. Bailey got into his tan pickup truck and attempted to strike the sex offender, with whom…

TX: Sex offender in Fort Bend County gets 60-year sentence for refusing to register

July 14, 2023 R H

Source: cw39.com 7/14/23 RICHMOND, Texas (KIAH) — In June of 2020, now-53-year-old Brian _____ told police in Missouri City that the laws of Texas didn’t apply to him. Officers had just discovered that the convicted sex offender had been living in that community for years without registering as is required by state law. Shortly after, _____ fled the state, but U.S. Marshals eventually tracked him down in Arizona. On June 30, A Fort Bend County jury convicted him on two charges of Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Registration Requirements…

MN: 8th Circuit OKs conditions in embattled Minnesota sex offender program

July 13, 2023 R H

Source: 7/13/23 courthousenews.com ST. LOUIS (CN) — The Eighth Circuit has once again given its blessing to a Minnesota program that detains certain sex offenders indefinitely, finding that neither the program nor the conditions it subjects detainees to violate their First, Fourth or 14th Amendment rights. The program at issue, the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, houses about 740 civilly-committed men in two high-security facilities in rural parts of the state. Most, but not all, of those detainees have sex offense convictions — in many cases, multiple such offenses — and judges determined…

Federal Prison Authority Consulting Services to speak 7/10/23 on CCNCR

July 8, 2023 R H

Source: cautionclick.com 7/7/23 Guest speaker Bruce Cameron, MS, LPC-S, LSOTP-S. will be on Caution Click’s monthly meeting on Monday, July 10. Mr. Cameron is the founder and lead program analyst for Federal Prison Authority. He will discuss his consulting services that will cover a wide range of information that may be helpful to many of us. He has helped people currently incarcerated, and post release. Some of his topics he will discuss are sex offender treatment, supervised release and deregistration evaluation. Click here to read Federal Prison Authority’s website. Click…

MO: Missouri governor explains why he vetoed bill that included Blair’s Law

July 8, 2023 R H

Source: kctv5.com 7/6/23 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Missouri’s governor has vetoed S.B. 189, which included Blair’s Law to increase the penalty for celebratory gunfire, but he explained his reasons for doing so in a letter. Blar’s Law was named after 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane, a Kansas City girl who was killed by celebratory gunfire on July 4, 2011. According to a press release, Gov. Mike Parson vetoed the bill due to the following provisions that were included: “Section 610.140 – could allow criminals convicted of sexual offenses, including sexual…

IL: SIU Illinois researcher’s team advocates for new assessment, treatment approach for juvenile sex offenders

July 7, 2023 R H

Source: news.siu.edu 7/6/23 CARBONDALE, Ill. — Tamara Kang, assistant professor in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, and her colleagues have created a new research-based assessment for juvenile sex offenders, which they say is more accurate, effective and beneficial for the young offenders and society as a whole than current systems. And since 95-97% of juveniles won’t reoffend, the team recommends treatment over incarceration. “A lot of times the public views juveniles with sex offenses as really dangerous, but the vast majority of them aren’t different…

DE: Crypto phone scam targets people on Delaware’s sex offender registry

July 6, 2023 R H

Source: delawarepublic.org 7/5/23 A new phone scam targeting people on Delaware’s sex offender registry has drawn the attention of Delaware’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Last week, reports of the bizarre phone scam reached Delaware’s Sex Offender Management Board, which includes representatives from law enforcement, behavioral health treatment providers and the Office of Public Defense. Board Chair Robert Hudson says the callers, posing as law enforcement, told targets they had failed to register as sex offenders and warrants had been issued for their arrest. According to the callers, those…

IL: Why doesn’t Illinois copy Missouri’s Strict GPS “Sex Offender” Law?

July 5, 2023 R H

Source: khmoradio.com 5/5/23 Will there be a time when Illinois passes the same strict law that Missouri has when it comes to Sex Offenders? People are questioning why doesn’t Illinois have the same law. What is this law exactly? Here are the details… North Carolina has just joined Missouri, Wisconsin, and other states as states that can legally GPS Strack Registered Sex Offenders for the rest of their lives. When I saw that headline, as a resident of Illinois, I thought to myself, why don’t more states have that law?…

ID: Idaho federal judge declined to dismiss six convicted sex offenders’ challenge

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023 R H

Source: courthousenews.com 7/3/23 BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho federal judge declined to dismiss six convicted sex offenders’ challenge to a state law allegedly unfairly applied to them even though they were convicted prior to the enactment of portions of the law. The offenders would have been eligible to petition for removal from the sex offender registry after 10 years, but amendments retroactively subjected them to lifetime registration. The individuals have plausibly alleged the law is punitive in effect as it significantly restricts where they may legally live and work. Read…