[wmtw.com – 2/25/19] UGUSTA, Maine — A proposal at the Maine State House would add living restrictions to Maine’s sex offender law. The bill would ban a convicted sex offender from living in a multiunit building that shares an entrance with a unit occupied by a minor. Specifically, a sex offender who committed a crime against someone under the age of 14 would be banned from living in a multiunit building with a shared entrance with a person under 18. Maine law requires a sex offender who committed an offense…
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FL: Powerful lobbyist Ron Book arrested on DUI charges
[tallahassee.com – 2/25/19] Ron Book, one of Florida’s most influential lobbyists who also represents the city of Tallahassee, has been arrested on DUI-related charges in Broward County, several South Florida news outlets have reported. Book, 66, was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol Sunday after crashing his Lamborghini near his house, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He was charged with a first-time DUI, refusing to submit to a DUI test and DUI with damage to a person or property, the paper reported. According to the Sun-Sentinel, Book was released…
Read MoreMO: Bill aims to track sex offenders when moving
A new bill making its way through the Missouri House is seeking to track some of the state’s most dangerous sex offenders when moving between counties. Sponsored by Missouri Rep. Randy Pietzman of Troy, Missouri, House Bill No. 2653 would require offenders who have been convicted of first-degree child molestation to wear an electronic monitoring device. “I come from a district that is kind of plagued with sex offenders,” Pietzman said. “I was looking for some kind of an avenue to bring attention to it.” Full Article
Read MoreU.S. Marshalls: Citizens can provide leads and tips on non-compliant registrants
[usmarshals.gov] The frightening aspect involves reporting of non-compliant sex offenders. There are so many things wrong with this. First it perpetuates the myth that former sex offenders represent a heightened danger. Also, people are free to report what they, as untrained private citizens, consider to be non-compliance. Any unsubstantiated report of a technical violation of registration requirements will cause considerable discomfort to a registered citizen. If that person happens to still be under supervision, the report will quite likely result in at least temporary jail time, until an investigation is…
Read MoreOR: Parole board requests bill to eliminate sex offender reclassification deadline
A local mom and alleged sexual assault survivors blasted a bill Friday that would get rid of the state’s deadline for reclassifying sex offenders. “It’s important to do it in a timely manner because it’s in the interest of public safety and this is what people wanted,” Christine VanOrder, a mother and activist, told KATU Friday. Full Article
Read MoreAR: Senate votes 27-1 for sex-offender bill
[arkansasonline.com – 2/22/19] The Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would allow people convicted of sex offenses not to register with the state if their victim was under age 18 and the offender was no more than three years older, under certain conditions. Read more
Read MoreNY: Statement on Landmark Appellate Decision Limiting the Reach of SORA Residency Restrictions
[legalaidnyc.org – 2/21/19] The Legal Aid Society applauded a ruling rendered today by the New York State Appellate Division – Third Department, rejecting the New York State Department of Correction and Community Supervision’s (DOCCS) interpretation of the statutory residency restrictions faced by individuals with prior sex offense convictions. Specifically, the court held that people whose sex offense sentences had already expired were not subject to the law’s harsh mandatory residency restrictions when they were released to parole following a subsequent non-sex offense conviction. The ruling represents the first such limitation…
Read MoreFL: Florida detective kills self after he’s accused of owning child porn
[orlandosentinel.com – 2/21/19] JACKSONVILLE — Authorities say a decorated Florida police detective killed himself just before he was to be arrested on charges that he possessed child pornography. The Florida Times-Union reports that Jacksonville sheriff’s Detective Vernon Richardson killed himself Tuesday, shortly after detectives obtained a warrant for his arrest. The neighboring St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation in December after receiving a tip he had child porn on his computer. Detectives found an image of two adolescent boys having sex. Read more
Read MoreMA: More Than A Quarter Of Boston’s Registered Sex Offenders Are Homeless
The purpose of the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry is to keep track of where dangerous sex offenders are, but what if they have no address? That’s the case with ____ ____, who was arraigned Tuesday, accused of kidnapping two twelve-year-old sisters in Cambridge before they were able to break free. He’s listed on the Sex Offender Registry as “homeless” in Boston. Full Article
Read MoreRI: Concrete thrown at Rhode Island sex offender’s home
Police say someone threw a piece of concrete through the window of a registered sex offender’s home in Providence, Rhode Island. The vandalism occurred at the home of Richard Gardner at around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. Gardner was convicted of multiple child rapes in the 1980s and 1990s in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Residents protested Gardner for weeks after he moved into the neighborhood last year following his release from prison. Full Article Also see RI: City Officials Stoke Mob Mentality in Front of Sex Offender’s Home RI: Judge dismisses charge against sex…
Read MoreFL: Miami-Dade Sex Offenders ‘Forced to be Homeless’
[thecrimereport.org – 2/19/19] Since he was released from prison almost five years ago, John has never had a place he can call home. Suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he spends nights outside in remote areas of Miami-Dade County—sleeping outside on a mat or in the front seat of his son’s truck. John (not his real name) was convicted in 1994 of a sex offense involving a minor. His homelessness is a direct result of the Lauren Book Child Safety Ordinance, enacted in Miami-Dade County in 2010, which bans individuals convicted of…
Read MoreAZ: MariCo attorney behind push to slightly loosen sex offender registry law
More sex offenders would become eligible to have their names removed from the Arizona’s sex offender registry but would face new hurdles in doing so, under legislation being pushed by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. But some criminal justice reform advocates oppose the bill, saying it may actually make it harder for people to get off of the registry. Full Article
Read MoreMT: The Latest: Fox asks Montana lawmakers to act on [child sex crime] time limits
[kansas.com – 2/19/19] HELENA, Mont. The Latest on Montana cases before the Supreme Court (all times local): 4:20 p.m. Montana Attorney General Tim Fox is asking state lawmakers to act after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his petition that would have allowed prosecutors to charge a man for the decades-old rape of an 8-year-old girl. The Republican attorney general called the high court’s decision Tuesday “beyond disappointing.” He is urging the Legislature to repeal statutes of limitations for child sex crimes, saying no offender “should find comfort in running out…
Read MoreNC: Cleveland Co. Sheriff’s Office to start posting names of registered sex offenders on Facebook
[wsoctv.com – 2/18/19] CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. – Cleveland County’s Sheriff’s Office is taking unprecedented steps to make sure you know if a sex offender moves in near you. It is posting on its Facebook page information about sex offenders who have changed their address or who have just become sex offenders. Officials said there is a higher percentage of registered sex offenders in the county than in other counties of similar size, so people need extra help to stay safe. Read more
Read MoreAL: District Court Determines Alabama Laws to be Punishment
Doe v. Marshall – decided February 11, 2019 Conclusion: Alabama can prosecute sex offenses to the full extent of the law. It can also act to protect its citizens from recidivist sex offenders. But the State denies that ASORCNA is designed to “punish” offenders. And once a person serves his full sentence, he enjoys the full protection of the Constitution. Harris, 772 F.3d at 572; accord Packingham, 137 S. Ct. at 1737. Sex offenders are not second-class citizens, and anyone who thinks otherwise would do well to remember Thomas Paine’s wisdom: “He that would make his own…
Read MoreConference Call re. Michigan AG Dana Nessel Amicus Briefs (2/13)
Women Against Registry – Have Questions? We have received many questions since notifying our members of the amicus briefs filed in the Michigan Supreme Court by new Attorney General Dana Nessel in Michigan v Snyder (Case number 153696) and People v Betts (Case number 148981), arguing that Michigan’s sex offender registration and notification requirements are punishment because they are so burdensome and fail to distinguish between dangerous offenders and those who are not a threat to the community. In response to the appeals for answers we have invited Guy Hamilton-Smith…
Read MoreCNMI: Sex registry’s constitutionality questioned
Northern Mariana Islands – A registered sex offender, whose adult girlfriend is currently pregnant, is questioning the constitutionality of the law that created the CNMI Sex Offender Registry, as this prevents him from being around minors, including his own children. … Banes said, the statute is unconstitutional, under both the CNMI and the U.S. Constitutions as applicable in the CNMI under the Covenant. Full Article
Read MoreMI: AG Dana Nessel Does The Unthinkable – Argues The Truth About SORA (Commentary)
Michigan’s Attorney General has entered the cultural and legal conflagration of how we reckon with sexual violence in our society with a remarkable (and compelling) argument: Michigan’s sex offender registries are not effective at stopping sexual violence. It’s a remarkable argument. Safety and accountability have been the ostensible watchwords in our ongoing collective discussion of sexual violence, but strong (and understandable) emotion has tended to override those concerns and diverted discourse into negative-feedback loops of ever more brutal consequences for anyone who would even be perceived to stand in the way of…
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