Source: theappeal.org 7/23/24 A group of nearly 20 federal lawmakers sent letters to two companies this week calling out abusive industry practices and requesting additional information about their profits, policies, and contracts with local governments. In letters sent Tuesday to Sentinel Offender Services, a for-profit probation contractor, and Attenti Group, an electronic monitoring services provider, more than a dozen congressional Democrats excoriated the companies for allegedly abusive industry practices that heap debt onto vulnerable people who are already living in poverty. The lawmakers have given the companies an Aug. 8…
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Lessons learned? I believe I was the target of a police sting – Atwo Zee
Source: Florida Action Committee By Atwo Zee, Registered Traveler . . . Not long after I returned to Iowa after the 2024 NARSOL conference in Atlanta, I received an email forwarded by the national NARSOL office. This message came to them on their main “Contact Us” email address, and whoever sent it was looking specifically for me, “whose story “Unwanted Images” hit home when I was suicidal and wracked with fear …” The sender also complimented my travel blog and expressed a desire to have me participate in a podcast…
Read MoreR. Kelly hopes key technicality will move Supreme Court justices to overturn convictions for sexually abusing teenage girls in the 1990s
Source: lawandcrime.com 7/30/24 Robert Sylvester Kelly, the R&B singer better known as R. Kelly, is looking to overturn his Illinois federal convictions for child pornography and the sexual abuse of teenage girls by making the case to the U.S. Supreme Court that Congress, when extending the statute of limitations on such offenses in 2003, did not “expressly” intend to retroactively punish him for conduct going back to the 1990s. Read the full article
Read MoreEfforts to release prisoners from long sentences draw new interest, including in Oklahoma
Source: duncanbanner.com 7/31/24 Lawmakers across the country have considered legislation this year that would allow courts or parole boards to reevaluate a person’s long prison sentence and decide whether they can be safely released into society. The bills, known as “second look” legislation, often focus on older populations, people sentenced as minors, or those whose crimes might have had a mitigating factor such as self-defense against domestic violence. As America’s prison population both ages and increases, the “second look” movement has gained interest as a way to reduce overcrowding and…
Read MoreMI: Michigan Supreme Court decision will likely strike hundreds from sex-offender registry
Source: apnews.com 7/29/24 DETROIT (AP) — Michigan’s policy of putting people on a sex-offender registry even if their crime was nonsexual is unconstitutional, the state Supreme Court said Monday. In a 5-2 decision, the court said a portion of a 2021 law is “cruel or unusual punishment” barred by the Michigan Constitution. A Wayne County man in 2015 was convicted of holding his wife and two children at gunpoint for hours. After his release from prison, he would face 15 years on the sex-offender registry because his unlawful-imprisonment conviction involved…
Read MoreBloated federal supervision system makes everyone less safe
Source: thehill.com 6/1/24 More released convicts living under the watchful eye of a probation officer means safer communities, right? Wrong. Big government has tainted the criminal justice system. This includes federal supervised release, which is failing everyone it is supposed to help, from taxpayers to law enforcement officers to those trying to rebuild their lives after prison. The Safer Supervision Act before Congress would restore federal supervision to its intended scope and purpose, create safer communities and use taxpayer money more responsibly. Congress originally established federal supervised release to help people “transition…
Read MoreThe Quiet Epidemic of Predators in Uniforms
Source: slate.com 7/23/24 A series of recent groundbreaking investigative reports unveiled what many advocates for police accountability have known for decades: Child sex abuse by law enforcement officials is far too common across our country. Systemic failures within policing—coupled with lax oversight by police departments, prosecutors, and judges—too often shield police officers from meaningful accountability. Child sex abuse is chronic and widespread, yet justice for survivors is rare. Studies have found that nearly 25 percent of girls and roughly 8 percent of boys experience sexual abuse before turning 18. Numerous…
Read MoreCO: Colorado Jail Guard Must Stand Trial for Opening Accused Sex Offender’s Cell, Subjecting Him to Assault
Source: prisonlegalnews.org 7/1/24 On December 13, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied summary judgment to a jail guard who allegedly failed to protect a pretrial detainee from assault by another detainee. But the Court dismissed a municipal liability claim against Colorado’s Chaffee County, even though the guard had been disciplined before—three times—for failing to keep cell doors locked. Jason Harter, then 34, was arrested and booked into Chaffee County Detention Center (CCDC) on February 20, 2020, on charges of kidnapping, forcible rape of an individual…
Read MoreSenate To Vote on Web Censorship Bill Disguised as Kids Safety
Source: reason.com 7/24/24 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) will force a vote this week on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a measure certain to seriously restrict free speech and privacy online for everyone. The meat of the bipartisan bill is creating a “duty of care” for a huge swath of digital companies (any “online platform, online video game, messaging application, or video streaming service that connects to the internet and that is used, or is reasonably likely to be used, by a minor”). This means they’re legally required…
Read MoreRI: Cranston YMCA employee fired for letting sex offender on grounds
Source: wpri.com 5/16/24 The YMCA of Greater Providence (GPYMCA) fired an employee earlier this month after learning she allowed a registered sex offender on the premises. The former employee worked for the aquatics program at the Cranston branch and the sex offender is her fiancé, GPYMCA CEO Karen Santilli told 12 News on Thursday. Watch the video
Read MoreTN: Tennessee will remove HIV-positive people convicted of sex work from violent sex offender list
Source: abcnews.go.com 7/19/24 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — HIV-positive people who were convicted in Tennessee of sex work under a decades-old aggravated prostitution law will no longer be required to face a lifetime registration as a “violent sex offender” under a lawsuit settlement finalized this week. Last year, LGBTQ+ and civil rights advocates filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Volunteer State’s aggravated prostitution statute, arguing that the law was enacted in response to the AIDS scare and discriminated against HIV-positive people. Read the full article
Read MorePlaintiff Files Final Brief in Missouri Halloween Sign Challenge
Source: ACSOL Today the plaintiff in the case challenging Missouri’s Halloween sign requirement filed his final brief in federal district court. The brief includes testimony from the trial which took place in St. Louis on June 20. In the brief, the plaintiff repeated his argument that the Missouri state law that requires signs to be posted on Halloween violates the First Amendment because it is speech compelled by the government. The brief notes that the proper standard of review for this case is strict scrutiny, a burden the Attorney General…
Read MoreMO: Man sentenced to 10 years in federal prison without parole for possessing computer-generated images of child sexual abuse
Source: newstalkkzrg.com 7/19/24 [ACSOL is posting this as a warning of harsh sentences for computer images] SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A West Plains, Mo., man who is a registered sex offender was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for possessing hundreds of computer-generated images of child sexual abuse. Dace Allen _____, 24, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Allen to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration. … This case was brought as part of Project Safe…
Read MoreSC: Church fires long-time pastor after finding out he was convicted 27 years ago of sex offense
Source: chvnradio.com 7/19/24 A church in South Carolina just fired their pastor after finding out some disturbing information about him regarding an assault on a 14-year-old girl. Pastor Donald _____ has been fired from his position at Eternal Church in Fort Mill, SC, in the U.S.A. It was recently revealed that Donald is a registered sex offender convicted of sexual misconduct with a 14-year-old girl, an incident that took place 27 years ago. … The Eternal church elders shared that a few leaders were aware of Donald ’s criminal past.…
Read MoreFL: Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor reportedly arrested again on felony charge over sex offender registration violation
Source: msn.com 7/19/24 [ACSOL is posting this due to it being a well-known figure dealing with multi-state registration laws] Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor was arrested on Wednesday on a felony charge for failing to report his residence change as a registered sex offender, according to The Athletic. Taylor, 65, turned himself into the Broward Sheriff’s Office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Wednesday and he was released on bail on Thursday, per the report. The incident is nearly identical to a situation in 2021, when Taylor was arrested for…
Read MoreFL: Westlake City Council blocks future registrants from living there
Source: cbs12.com 7/17/24 WESTLAKE, Fla. (CBS12) — The Westlake City Council unanimously signed off on plans to enact stricter requirements on sexual predators and offenders – with one minor change. The measure is designed to protect the youngest residents of the area’s fastest-growing city and its main focus is widening the zones where predators are allowed to live, keeping them further away from children. … Under the new regulations, schools, parks, community centers, playgrounds, and “other places where children regularly congregate” would be no-go zones. The proposal originally included libraries,…
Read MoreTN: ‘Disturbing’ recordings from inside child-predator sting shows police, MAGA operatives ignoring laws
Source: newschannel5.com 7/16/24 Recordings show police discussing luring predator suspect to a jurisdiction where he may not leave the jail alive NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — What happens when you give people with bizarre conspiracy theories a gun and a badge? Secret recordings from inside the troubled Millersville Police Department provide a sobering answer to that question. Those recordings — obtained from what was supposed to be a sting operation to nab sexual predators who prey on innocent children — show that, in their zeal to make some big cases, Millersville’s…
Read MoreCA: Montgomery County man gets $431,000 for time wrongly listed on sex offender registry
Source: wsls.com 7/13/24 MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. – A Montgomery County man is finally getting closure after he was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Closure in the amount of nearly half a million dollars. David Kingrea received over $55,000 last year from the Commonwealth for the time he spent in jail in 2014 for a crime he didn’t commit. But that’s not where David’s story ends. There was more money to come for the eight years Kingrea wrongfully spent on the Virginia Sex Offender Registry. “Being on the registry…
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