UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK [Excerpt from page 1:] While the Court appreciates the State’s compelling interest and laudable efforts to protect children from sex offender recidivists on the internet, New York’s attempt to advance this interest via blanket restrictions cannot be squared with the significant freedom of speech rights at stake. For the following reasons, Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction is GRANTED. While parole officers remain free to impose individualized restrictions on supervisees based on the Registrant’s specific circumstances and risk of recidivating using…
Read MoreCategory: National
Community supervision, once intended to help offenders, contributes more to mass incarceration
[usatoday.com – 11/19/20] Justice officials are recognizing that community supervision can be a tripwire that perpetuates incarceration based on crimeless technical violations Miriam Aroni Krinsky and Vincent Schiraldi Opinion contributors One of the first people to die of COVID-19 in New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail system was Raymond Rivera — a 55-year-old father and husband who lost his life in April. The “offense” that ultimately resulted in a death sentence for Rivera? Leaving a drug program without permission — a minor technical violation of the parole he was on for stealing a motorcycle…
Read MoreKY: A third Louisville police officer has pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a minor in Explorer program
[wdrb.com – 11/16/20] LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A third Louisville Metro Police officer has pleaded guilty to sexual abusing a minor while serving as a mentor in the department’s youth Explorer program. Former Officer Brad ____ faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court on Monday to a misdemeanor charge of sexual abuse. ____ , who resigned from the department earlier this month, will be sentenced March 10, and prosecutors indicated they would recommend six months incarceration. The judge will…
Read MoreAR: Cop kills dog during sex offender compliance check at wrong home
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 11/17/20] Officer James Freeman of Greenbrier, Arkansas was doing a sex offender compliance check on private property when the homeowner’s dog barked at him. So Freeman shot the dog. Read the full article and watch the video
Read MoreNIJ: Tracking Sex Offenders: Federal Law, Resources Have Led to Marked Improvement of State Registries, But More Work Is Needed
[nij.ojp.gov – 11/13/20] Communities want to know when convicted sex offenders are living in their midst. For a quarter century, federal law has guaranteed communities the right to know. In 1994, Congress mandated that all states develop sex offender registries. Two years later, Megan’s Law provided that sex offender information must be made public. In the ensuing decade, sex offender laws and registries sprang up in all states — but not always with the full impact intended. In some instances, technology deficits limited information sharing across registries and jurisdictions, a…
Read MoreFL: Disney World Vacation Leads to Fight Over Florida Sex Offender Law
[wjno.iheart.com – 11/10/20] TALLAHASSEE — A Pennsylvania man has filed a challenge to a Florida law that has kept him on a sexual-offender registry after a 10-day family vacation to Disney World in 2015. The man, identified in court documents as John Doe, reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office when he came to Florida because he was on a Pennsylvania registry at the time as a result of a child-pornography conviction in 2002. Doe was removed from the Pennsylvania registry in 2016 but has remained registered as a sex…
Read MoreNH: ‘Hellhole’ dad on track to get 15-year prison sentence vacated
A clerical error will likely upend a guilty plea that sent a Manchester father to prison for 15 years for the abuse of his two young children in what police described at the time as a hellhole, according to court documents. … The issue: ____ wasn’t informed that once his 15- to 30-year sentence is completed, he will have to register as a child offender. The defense lawyer who handled his original case, Paul Garrity, has said he was not aware that adults convicted of serious harm against children land…
Read MoreIL: Name Change for Transgender Sex Offender Debated at Seventh Circuit
[courthousenews.com – 11/6/20] CHICAGO (CN) — A Seventh Circuit panel heard arguments Friday over whether a Wisconsin law barring convicted sex offenders from changing their name amounts to free speech infringement. The underlying lawsuit was brought in Milwaukee federal court in May 2019 by Karen Krebs, a transgender woman from Kenosha, Wisconsin, who cannot change her name due to a 1992 conviction which required her to register as a sex offender. Wisconsin law makes it a Class H felony for anyone who is required to register as a sex offender…
Read MoreOH: Landlord with convicted rapist as tenant tests nationwide eviction moratorium
[beaconjournal.com – 11/4/20] When Norton resident Charles Fowler discovered he had a Barberton tenant with a criminal record that included rape living at one of his rental properties, he knew he had a problem. For one, there was a nationwide moratorium on evictions. The ban was first passed by Congress earlier this year as a response to rising unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic. That ban expired, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order extending it until Dec. 31. .. He contacted U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez’s…
Read MoreOK: Sex-Offense Registry Sweeps Intended to Boost Support for Cops Unwittingly Spread COVID-19
[shadowproof.com – 11/2/20] The Oklahoma City Police Department pulled off a social media coup on July 7. “Meet the top 10 most wanted individuals being sought by our Sex Offender Registration Unit,” the department posted on its Facebook page. “It’s important we keep tabs on these guys (and gal), so help us find them.” The post engaged a huge number of readers, receiving 1,500 shares and nearly 500 comments. Told dangerous people were loose on city streets, readers responded. “[She] works at [a local store] I’m fucking sick!” posted one.…
Read MoreIL: Ex-teaching assistant gets probation for sexually abusing 14-year-old student
[news-gazette.com – 10/30/20] URBANA — A 24-year-old woman who admitted having sex with a teenage boy for whom she acted as a teaching assistant has been sentenced to four years of probation. Judge Roger Webber said Friday he did not believe Allyssa Gustafson, who had no prior criminal convictions, was a danger to the public. However, he said the requirement that she register as a sex offender for life — “the modern-day equivalent of the scarlet letter” — would serve to punish her. Read the full article
Read MoreIL: A Veteran Cook County Judge Has Been Repeatedly Blocked from Hearing Sex Offense Cases. Here’s Why.
[bettergov.org – 10/22/20] A Chicago teenager pleaded with Cook County Judge James Linn to impose the maximum prison sentence on the man who sexually assaulted her and her two sisters for several years and threatened to kill them if they told anyone. “Help us ensure that there will be one less rapist out on the streets,” the woman, then 19, wrote in a victim impact statement read aloud at the sentencing hearing in May 2011. “At the end of the day, I just want justice to be served the correct…
Read MorePA: Appellate Court finds registration violates right to reputation under Pennsylvania Constitution in as applied case
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 10/23/20] Before you get too excited, this is an as-applied case, meaning the decision only benefits the person challenging and not everyone on the Pennsylvania registry, but it’s a win nonetheless, and a win on a novel argument, so it’s good news. A Pennsylvania intermediate court found that SORNA violates an individual’s right to reputation under Article I, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution by creating an irrebuttable presumption that she poses a high risk of committing additional sexual offenses. The law says, “[s]exual offenders pose a high…
Read MoreWilliams Institute report : Over 6,000 people are civilly committed in the US
[williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu – 10/2020] Black men and men with male victims are more likely to be committed Twenty states, the federal government, and D.C. have laws that allow for the indefinite detention of sex offenders designated as a “Sexually Violent Person” or “Sexually Violent Predator” (SVP) beyond the term of their incarceration. This report explores the implications civil commitment laws have for Black and sexual minority communities. In the 1990s and 2000s, federal lawmakers and legislators in 20 states and the District of Columbia passed laws that allow for the detention…
Read MoreTN: Operation Blackout To Crack Down On Sex Offenders During Halloween Season
[radionwtn.com – 10/20/20] The Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) is responsible for the supervision of more than 3,800 registered sex offenders. TDOC’s mission is to enhance public safety for all Tennesseans including our most vulnerable citizens – our children. That’s why the department launches a special operation this time of year called, Operation Blackout. According to Assistant Commissioner of Community Supervision Lisa Helton, “Operation Blackout provides all registered sex offenders under the supervision of the Tennessee Department of Correction with additional restrictions during a time when families and children might be…
Read MoreLA: Court strikes Louisiana’s ‘Sex Offender’ ID requirement
[startribune.com – 10/20/20] NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana’s requirement that people convicted of certain sex crimes carry a state-issued ID card with the words “SEX OFFENDER” printed on it in orange capital letters is unconstitutional, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The 6-1 ruling upholds a decision by a state judge in Lafayette who last year threw out a charge filed against a man who altered his card to remove the label. State attorneys had argued that the state had a legitimate interest in having the information on the ID card:…
Read MoreIA: New tool to monitor registrants: License Plate Reader Contract Approved in Davenport, Iowa
[ govtech.com 10/15/20] While the devices are touted as investigative tools — helping to locate stolen cars, missing persons and the like — privacy and civil rights advocates say the technology also raises concerns around misuse and surveillance. (TNS) — Davenport City Council members on Wednesday unanimously approved a contract that will give Davenport police an enhanced tool for tracking stolen vehicles, wanted criminals and abducted children. The little-noticed, high-speed cameras mounted on police cars, road signs, bridges and poles photograph thousands of plates per minute. The devices convert each…
Read MoreACSOL and Allies Submit Formal Response to Proposed SORNA Regulations
[ACSOL] Today 10 legal professionals from six different states submitted a formal response to the U.S. Department of Justice regarding proposed SORNA regulations that could adversely affect the daily lives of almost one million people required to register as a sex offender. The response is 36 pages long and includes a request that the federal agency issue revised regulations and allow for additional comments from the public in the future. “ACSOL and its allies have prepared a comprehensive response to the proposed SORNA regulations,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. …
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