[wftv.com – 5/22/19] The sexual offender registry is designed to help residents know where sexual offenders live. Channel 9 found out that within a 1-mile radius of Lake Eola Park, there are twice as many homeless sexual offenders as there are sexual offenders living in permanent residences. Related Headlines In dense downtown Orlando, there are 11 sexual offenders and sexual predators with real addresses (homes or apartments). Twice that number — 22 sex offenders or predators — live on the street or list homeless shelters as their residence. “It seems…
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MD: A teenage girl texted her friends a graphic video of herself. A court said she’d shared child pornography
[washingtonpost.com – 5/23/19] The three teenagers regularly shared silly videos, trying to one-up each other and trusting the group text messages would remain private. But one especially sensitive text did not stay among them — landing the teen who first sent it at the center of a novel court case over a sexually explicit video she made and shared of herself. Maryland’s highest court will soon decide whether state laws intended to stop child pornography apply when the child is both the subject and the sender of the graphic material.…
Read MoreThe YMCA bans persons required to register as sex offenders, but how has that worked out for them?
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 5/22/19] The Fulton County YMCA, in Johnstown, New York was just hit with a $10,000,000.00 lawsuit. A 19 year old former employee was charged with raping an underage girl in the locker room In Wichita, Kansas a 31 year old former employee allegedly sexually assaulted three teenage girls this month. The same Y had another instance of sexual assault last year. The YMCA recently enacted a policy barring all persons required to register as sexual offenders from their facilities and revoking the membership of many long-time members after…
Read MoreMA: Baker to refile bill on sexual predators
[eagletribune.com – 5/20/19] Gov. Charlie Baker will ask lawmakers once again to limit the release of sexual predators from prison. The move follows last week’s ruling by the state’s highest court clearing the way for the eventual release of Wayne Chapman. Convicted of raping two Lawrence boys in 1975, Chapman is also a suspect in the 1976 disappearance of Angelo Puglisi Jr., 10, of Lawrence. He has admitted to raping as many as 100 boys in eight states and Canada. Chapman, 71, has been in prison for more than 40…
Read MoreMA: State’s Highest Court Orders Release Of Sex Offender Held Since 1970s
Massachusetts’ highest court ruled Thursday that a 71-year-old convicted sex offender held for more than 40 years as a sexually dangerous person can be released, after two mental health professionals ruled that he was no longer a risk. The court essentially upheld an earlier decision from 2009 in ruling that ___ ___ can’t continue to be held at the Massachusetts Treatment Center. Full Article Related Calling for change before offender ____ is free Tough on sex offender legislation not refiled
Read MoreUT: Lawmaker calls for study in taking some convicts off sex offender registry
It’s a sensitive issues at the Utah Capitol — maybe close to alcohol policy, marijuana and Medicaid expansion — who goes off Utah’s Sex Offender Registry. Depending on the sex crime, convicts now can stay on for ten years, or for the rest of their lives. “We tend to kind of group those sex offenders together in the same broad brush category,“ said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Davis County, who maintained Wednesday during a legislative committee hearing, the circumstances of the criminal acts are often very different. “Sometimes with these controversial…
Read MoreMA: Harvard professor loses post for defending an unpopular client
[theappeal.org – 5/14/19] As soon as it was revealed earlier this year that a house faculty dean at Harvard University, Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., had decided to join the legal team of Harvey Weinstein, students spoke out. Two undergraduates wrote an op-ed in The Crimson, calling on Harvard to “remove” Sullivan, because he chose to defend Weinstein, “the man whose infamous sexual misconduct and assault of over a dozen women initiated the #MeToo movement.” The students say that they “condemn Sullivan’s decision to represent Weinstein” while serving as dean, and…
Read MoreNJ: Gov. Murphy Vetoes 12 Bills, Signs Law Protecting Sex Victims
[patch.com – 5/13/19] New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation to help protect sex-abuse victims while also vetoing 12 bills on Monday. Murphy signed legislation (S477) extending the statute of limitations in civil actions for sexual abuse claims. The signing comes just days after a law firm released the names of more than 100 people who allegedly committed sexual abuse while serving in the Catholic church’s clergy. The law also creates a two-year window for parties to bring lawsuits based on sexual abuse that would be time-barred even with the…
Read MoreND: Jamestown attracts disproportionate number of sex offenders
A disproportionate number of registered sex offenders live in Jamestown compared to other cities in the state, according to Scott Edinger, Jamestown chief of police. Full Article
Read MoreShould Sex Offenders Be Allowed to Get Federal Pensions?
[fedsmith.com – 5/8/19] Legislation has recently been introduced that would prohibit convicted pedophiles from receiving federal pensions. The Denying Pensions to Convicted Child Molesters Act (S. 1264) was introduced by Senator Steve Daines (R-MT). It would block convicted sex offenders from receiving federal pensions. Daines introduced the bill in response to news that Dr. Stanley Patrick Weber, a former pediatrician with the Indian Health Service, was recently convicted to 18 years in federal prison for molesting children while he worked at the agency. Since he will continue receiving an approximately…
Read MoreThe rise of fear-based social media like Nextdoor, Citizen, and now Amazon’s Neighbors
[vox.com – 5/7/19] Violent crime in the US is at its lowest rate in decades. But you wouldn’t know that from a crop of increasingly popular social media apps that are forming around crime. Apps like Nextdoor, Citizen, and Amazon Ring’s Neighbors — all of which allow users to view local crime in real time and discuss it with people nearby — are some of the most downloaded social and news apps in the US, according to rankings from the App Store and Google Play. Nextdoor bills itself as the…
Read MoreIN: Prison Sex Offender Treatment vs. The Fifth
Remember the Inquisition where you could either deny your guilt and get burned at the stake, or confess and get burned at the stake? The idea was that since confessing saves you from eternal damnation, the Inquisition was simply a strict and intensive rehabilitation program, enforcing “acceptance of responsibility” for the offender’s own good. Full Article Related IN: 7th Circuit rules DOC sex offender program violates Constitution
Read MoreAZ: Sex registry bill defeated as senators protest failure to expand rights for sex abuse victims
[azmirror.com – 5/7/19] Lawmakers argued passionately and the Senate president turned off a fellow Republican’s microphone as senators killed a bill expanding the number of people who are eligible to be removed from Arizona’s sex offender registry to protest the blocking of an unrelated bill that would give victims of child sex abuse more time to sue in civil court. House Bill 2613, sponsored by Speaker Rusty Bowers, passed 56-4 in the House of Representatives. But it failed 11-18 in the Senate on Tuesday after Sen. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, led…
Read MoreFL: Approves Database to Publish Details of People Who Pay for Sex
The Florida legislature passed legislation within the past week, Senate Bill 540 and House Bill 851, to establish a public database that tracks people convicted of, or who have pleaded guilty to, soliciting paid sex. While the legislation’s bipartisan authors consider it to be a step toward ending human trafficking, critics call it a means to publicly shame clients and others associated with people who do consensual sex work. The Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database will include anyone convicted of or pleading guilty to “soliciting, inducing, enticing, or procuring another…
Read MoreID: Sex offenders ask court to revive Idaho registry lawsuit
[washingtontimes.com – 5/6/19] A group of 134 sex offenders have asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court to revive their lawsuit against the state of Idaho because they say they were denied their constitutional rights when they were forced to register as sex offenders. The group, referred to only as John Does 1 through 134 in the lawsuit, notified U.S. District Judge David Nye on Sunday that they would ask the appellate panel to review Nye’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit. The group originally filed the lawsuit in 2016, contending that Idaho…
Read MoreNY: Animal-abuser registry plan advances in Oneida County
[romesentinel.com – 5/3/19] A plan to start a registry of convicted animal abusers in Oneida County advanced through a legislative committee this week but not without questions. The Board of Legislators’ Health and Human Services Committee passed the proposal on to the full board Wednesday. The measure would establish an website similar to that of sex offenders, with offender’s names, residence, birth dates, photo and a description of the offense and the sentence. Animal shelters and pet sellers would be able to check it to help reduce the chances of…
Read MoreNC: Child exploitation operations net 82 arrests in eight states
[cnn.com- 5/3/19] Authorities in eight states arrested 82 people in operations this week that also rescued or identified 17 children thought to be victims of exploitation, officials announced Friday. “This three-day operation provides a snapshot of the work that the (Internet Crimes Against Children) Task Force is doing round the clock, seven days per week. Predators are real, and they walk among us,” Alan K. Flora, commander of the North Carolina task force, said. An ex-school bus driver pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl. He got probation. The…
Read MoreNY: Child porn convict living across from school, locked up in Ohio
[whec.com – 5/1/19] News10NBC is tracking the case of ________. We are trying to learn why a man who is a registered sex offender after a child porn conviction, was allowed to live across the street from an elementary school. ________ was in federal court in downtown Rochester Wednesday morning. It was a brief hearing to discuss his most recent arrest. We learned ________ is housed in a federal prison in Ohio where inmates with health issues are kept. ________’s attorney had no comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to…
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