[fox42kptm.com – 5/20/20] A shooting in North Omaha has sparked concerns over the state sex offender registry. Following the death of Mattieo Condoluci, members of the National Association of Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) are calling for the state to remove the public state sex offender registry. “If he was not on the registry I have no doubt he would be alive,” NARSOL Vice Chair Robin Vander Wall said. Vander Wall said the current system requiring sex offenders to register and make their address public is not effective in keeping…
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NE: ‘We’re sitting ducks’: Concerns of copycat attacks following sex offender’s killing
[ketv.com – 5/19/20] OMAHA, Neb. —When “Jay” first heard the motive behind Mattieo Condoluci’s death, he immediately feared for the safety of his family. “We’re sitting ducks,” he said. Prosecutors believe James Fairbanks sent KETV Newswatch 7 an anonymous email about killing Condoluci. The sender said he had been looking for an apartment in the area when he discovered Condoluci on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry. The sender described Condoluci as standing in his driveway pretending to wash his truck while staring at a group of children playing in the…
Read MoreCO: Divided state Supreme Court ruling allows convicted man to terminate sex offender registration
[coloradopolitics.com – 5/19/20] In a 4-3 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that a criminal defendant was entitled to his request to de-register as a sex offender because he completed the terms of his probationary sentence and therefore no longer had a conviction under the law. Brian Keith McCulley pleaded guilty in 2000 to two counts of sexual assault. One of the charges, a misdemeanor, resulted in 60 days in jail while the other, a felony, carried a deferred judgment. In Colorado, deferred judgments allow for completion of probation lasting…
Read MoreHow the “Stranger Danger” Panic of the 1980s Helped Give Rise to Mass Incarceration
[jacobinmag.com – 5/18/20] The missing-child panic began with Etan Patz. Plenty of kids had gone missing before, but Etan’s case seemed specially designed to provoke a mass hysteria. In 1979, the six-year-old boy’s mother arranged for him to walk to the school bus stop on his own. She watched him depart from her Manhattan fire escape. Another mother was waiting two blocks away in an apartment overlooking the bus stop site, but Etan never arrived. The tragedy was and remains impossible to comprehend. His first time walking to the bus…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Wakulla County, Florida Discrimination Case
This news out of Florida is one of those David and Goliath type lawsuits, the little guy against the giant. City Walk Urban Mission in Wakulla County, Crawfordville, Florida, a small faith-based ministry whose motto is “every saint has a past, every sinner has a future” has come under fire by some of the town’s folk and law enforcement. Since 2013, this tiny non-profit ministry has worked to help rehabilitate ex-offenders, provided food and shelter, assistance in procuring employment and for some, reconnection with their families. The ministry’s address, a…
Read MoreNE: Suspend In-person Reporting During the Pandemic
[nebraskansunafraid.org – 5/14/20] he Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association (NCDAA) and ReConnect, Inc., have teamed with Nebraskans Unafraid (NU) to call on Gov. Ricketts to temporarily suspend in-person reporting requirements for registered people during the pandemic. The request was made in a May 11, 2020 letter to the governor. The letter was signed by Joseph L. Howard, president of the NCDAA Executive Board; Jeanie Mezger, NU Board member; and LaVon Stennis-Williams, Executive Director of ReConnect, Inc. ‘By mandating in person registration during this pandemic, the State forces its citizens to…
Read MoreNC: Registrants Win in North Carolina Court
[ACSOL] A federal trial court in North Carolina has ruled in favor of registrants whose out-of-state convictions were determined by law enforcement to be “substantially similar” to sex offenses in North Carolina. As a result of this decision, registrants who were convicted of an out-of-state sex offense prior to December 1, 2006, and who also moved to North Carolina prior to that date are no longer required to register. The foundation of the Court’s decision was a violation of the substantive due process provision of the 14th Amendment. Specifically, the court…
Read MorePA: Court Determines Annual Registration, Internet Publication Punishment
[ACSOL] The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued an important decision on May 11, 2020, in which it determined that annual registration as well as publication of a registrant’s personal information on the internet constitutes punishment. The petition in this case committed a sex offense prior to the effective date of these requirements. According to the Court, annual in-person registration “imposes affirmative restraints and probation-like conditions.” The Court determined that the annual registration requirement was excessive. The Court also ruled that the state law requiring the posting a registrant’s personal information…
Read MoreOH: Coronavirus In Ohio: People With Sex Offenses Risk Health For In-Person Registration
[radio.wosu.org – 5/7/20] Even as most Ohioans are encouraged to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic, people convicted of sexual offenses are still required to register in person. Some Ohio counties and even nearby states have waived that in-person requirement, but most, including Franklin County, have not. “So we are crossing over to the records department here in Franklin County where they make everyone start their registration journey,” says Zach Ruppel. Ruppel is familiar with this journey: He often walks people through the sex offender registration process for their first…
Read MoreFL: Court: Miami jail can’t be forced to give inmates soap, tests during coronavirus outbreak
[miamiherald.com – 5/5/20] A federal appeals court has blocked, for now, a judge’s order forcing Miami-Dade County to give masks, soap and cleaning supplies to inmates at a jail wracked by the novel coronavirus. The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday said that Miami District Court Judge Kathleen Williams overstepped the law when she ruled that inmates at the Metro West Detention Center must get the supplies — and also be tested for COVID-19, as well as people who have been in contact with them. “To avoid contempt,…
Read MoreNE: Scammers targeting Madison County sex offenders
[kearneyhub.com – 4/20/20] The Madison County Sheriff’s Department has received complaints about unknown callers claiming to be representatives of the department. The calls specifically target registered sex offenders and make various threats or demands of money, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s department. The callers identify themselves as either Sgt. Downs or Sgt. Lyle, neither of whom work for the Madison County Sheriff’s Department. Read the full article Past quotes from Janice: “If you receive a call that demands immediate payment for a failure to register, be on…
Read MoreCO: Colorado Governor Stops In-Person Registration During Pandemic
[ACSOL] The Governor of Colorado has issued an Executive Order that temporarily suspends the requirement to register in person during the pandemic. Specifically, the Order suspends the requirement that registrants provide a current photograph or a set of fingerprints to verify their identity during registration. As a result, registrants are allowed to register using alternate effective means determined by local law enforcement. The purpose of the Executive Order, issued on April 6, is to “mitigate the effects of the pandemic, prevent further spread, and protect against overwhelming our health care…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: State Representatives or Modern-Day Snake Oil Salesmen?
Some Tennessee Representatives and Senators seem hellbent on promoting a never- ending stream of bills that serve one purpose, to make the lives of registrants miserable. There are several state representatives in particular that concoct a constant barrage of new bills aimed specifically at “sex offenders”, bills that appear to be the “bread and butter” of these “representatives of the people.” If they’ve made it their life’s mission to deny any humanity, any shred of dignity to registrants, they’re doing a fine job. Perhaps they reason, this is what gets…
Read MorePrison phone companies are profiting from a pandemic, here’s how the FCC can help
[thehill.com – 4/21/20] These days, most of us are staying in touch with our loved ones by phone calls or video chats. A single phone call costs us nearly nothing, a video chat requires only a Wi-Fi connection. But for millions of people, it isn’t so easy. As jails and prisons suspend in-person visits, most incarcerated people and their families are paying outrageously high costs to simply stay connected. The Federal Bureau of Prisons just made voice and video visitation free in its 122 prisons, and while noteworthy, this isn’t enough to ensure…
Read MoreBipartisan coalition calls on SBA to roll back record-related restrictions in COVID-19 small business loan programs
[womenagainstregistry.org and ccresourcecenter.org – 4/18/20] On April 17 a diverse bipartisan group of civil rights, advocacy, and business organizations, including CCRC, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and SBA Administrator Carranza expressing concern over the restrictions imposed by the SBA on people with a record of arrest or conviction under two programs recently authorized by Congress in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The letter points out that these unwarranted restrictions on loan programs intended to aid small businesses and non-profits will have a significant and detrimental impact in communities across the…
Read MoreIL: Porn Convictions Tossed Due to Use of Confidential Information
[bloomberglaw.com – 4/14/20] An Illinois man’s convictions on two counts of child pornography were tossed and resentencing was required on a third because the trial court improperly allowed the jury to hear confidential pretrial services information about his residence, the Seventh Circuit ruled. Defendant Michael Chaparro told the Office of Probation and Pretrial Services he had lived at the address linked to a computer containing images of child pornography. Read the full article (ONLY with a subscription!) Read the court document
Read MorePath of Federal Criminality: Mobility and Criminal History
[ussc.gov – 4/14/20] This study expands on prior Commission research by examining the geographic mobility of federal offenders. For this report, mobility is defined as having convictions in multiple states, including the location of the conviction for the instant offense. This report adds to the existing literature on offender criminal history in two important ways. First, the report provides information on how mobile federal offenders are, as measured by the number of offenders with convictions in multiple states. Second, the report provides information on the proportion of offenders with convictions…
Read MoreEARN It Act is ostensibly a bill to prevent sexual exploitation of children online, but critics say it could end internet privacy and encryption features
[govtrackinsider.com – 4/8/20] A potential list of legally binding but to-be-determined “best practices” for internet companies could include almost anything. Context If somebody uses an open online platform such as Facebook, Craigslist, or Reddit to post illegal material such as child pornography, is the platform itself legally liable? Since the enactment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the answer has been no. The person or user who posted the material can — and should — be found criminally guilty, but not the website itself. (Unless the actual primary activity of…
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