Sen. Jeff Brandes is spearheading the state’s criminal justice reform initiative. SB 642 is his 10th justice reform-related bill pre-filed for the upcoming Florida session. Full Article
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Kat’s Blog: Residency Restriction Proposal in Hawaii
Last August I wrote a blog piece on the Women Against Registry website regarding homeless registrants living in city parks and on the beaches of Oahu. At that time, the island seemed to be doing just fine without any presence or residency restrictions. Hawaii is one of 20 states that doesn’t have restrictions. Back then, Hawaii’s public defender, Jack Tonaki made this comment “the island is so small, residency restrictions would make it impossible for registrants to find housing.” As far as I can tell, the island hasn’t grown in…
Read MoreFL: Man Sentenced to Death for Killing another Inmate
[mypanhandle.com – 1/29/19] JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. – On Monday, Rocky Ali Beamon was sentenced to death in Jackson County, Florida, for First Degree Premeditated Murder. The conviction and sentence come from the 2012 murder of Bruce Hunsicker at the Apalachee Correctional Institution in Sneads, Florida. Reports said Beamon and Hunsicker were both inmates at the prison, and subsequent confessions by Beamon revealed that the motive for the murder was primarily Hunsicker’s status as a sex offender. Reports also said that Hunsicker also owed Beamon money. After watching the victim for…
Read MoreIA: Bill to Require Continued Registration
… One area I have been working on in past years has to do with requiring sex offenders that have timed out of their requirement to register as a sex offender to continue to register once with the county sheriff when they have moved to a new address. This would apply to sex offenders that have moved within Iowa, or moved into Iowa from another state. Past Iowa Supreme Court precedent has regarded this type of requirement to be applied retroactively as a regulation, not a punishment. It is imperative…
Read MoreVA: Hearing Thursday: EFF Tells Court That Clicking on a URL Isn’t Enough Evidence to Justify A Search Warrant
[eff.org/ – 1/29/19] Identifying IP Address That May Have Connected to a URL Doesn’t Amount to Probable Cause Richmond, Virginia—On Thursday, January 31, at 8:30 am, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will ask a federal appeals court to find that the act of clicking on a URL or weblink isn’t sufficient evidence for law enforcement to get a warrant to search someone’s home. The hearing involves a child pornography prosecution in which law enforcement obtained a warrant to search a defendant’s home based on the attempted connection to a URL…
Read MoreMO: Salvation Army Opens Extreme Emergency Cold Weather Shelter
[ozarksfirst.com – 1/29/19] SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Salvation Army announced Tuesday they are opening up their extreme cold shelters due to extremely cold temperatures. … A picture ID will be required to stay overnight as there will be a Sex Offender Background Check. Read the full article
Read MoreFlorida State Senator Lauren Book introduced Senate Bill 540 that includes the establishment of a “Soliciting for Prostitution Registry”
[flsenate.gov – 1/25/19] SB 540: Human Trafficking GENERAL BILL by Book Human Trafficking; Requiring the owner or operator of a public lodging establishment to train certain employees and create certain policies relating to human trafficking by a specified date; requiring the Department of Children and Families, in consultation with the Department of Law Enforcement and the Attorney General, to establish a certain direct-support organization; requiring that the criminal history record of a person who is convicted of, or enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to, soliciting, inducing, enticing,…
Read MorePA: Family of Pedophile Pastor Now Spreads the Word on How To Prevent Abuse
[blackchristiannews.com – 1/28/19] SOMERSET, Pa. – Jimmy and Clara Hinton don’t want others to miss what they didn’t see for years: their father and husband, a respected pastor for years in his rural community, was keeping his flock in the dark while he molested young children. Today, the elders at Somerset Church of Christ have moved intentionally to protect children. Empty classrooms are locked. Adults working with children operate in teams of two or more. On Sundays, monitors conduct random building sweeps and each Sunday School room has a walkie-talkie…
Read MoreIN: Northwest Indiana legislators support bills closing loopholes in sex offender laws
[chicagotribune.com – 1/25/19] Northwest Indiana legislators said they are in support of bills looking to close some of the loopholes in the state’s sex offender laws. One of those bills would ban sexually violent predators or offenders against children from working as a child care provider or baby sitter, while the other prevents a convicted sex or violent offender from petitioning for a name change. “A lot of the issues that I’ve taken on are all things just like that, where there’s this loophole where it’s a small issue that…
Read MoreMD: Maryland House GOP to push for state income tax cut, violent offender registry
[baltimoresun.com – 1/25/19] Republican leaders in Maryland’s House of Delegates on Friday released their legislative priorities for 2019, including a state income tax cut, a registry for violent repeat offenders, and single-member districts in the General Assembly. Flanked by fellow Republicans, Anne Arundel Del. Nic Kipke, the House’s minority leader, and Baltimore County Del. Kathy Szeliga, the minority whip, also said they would push for authority for greater use of so-called “special police” in Maryland in an effort to try to keep schools safer. Kipke said that Republican delegates represent…
Read MoreMI: Sex Offender Registry afoul of constitution (Editorial)
Michigan lawmakers seem keen on making important reforms to the state’s criminal justice system, which should expand protections for civil liberties. Another item they should add to the list: Revamping the state’s Sex Offender Registry Act. Full Editorial
Read MoreHI: Proposal would put tough restrictions on where sex offenders can live
A proposal before lawmakers would make it illegal for any registered sex offender to temporarily or permanently live within 1,000 feet of a school, childcare facility, playground or park. Full Article Also see HI: Dozens of sex predators registered as living in Oahu parks
Read MoreCA: Wiener legislation seeks to end ‘blatant discrimination’ in sex offender registry laws
A new state bill introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, could possibly change the way young offenders, specifically those who identify as LGBT, are put on the state’s sex offender registry list, Wiener’s office announced Tuesday. Currently, while consensual sex between 15- to 17-year-olds and a partner within 10 years of age is illegal, vaginal intercourse between the two does not require an offender to register as a sex offender. Other forms of intercourse such as oral and anal intercourse require sex offender registration. That practice, according to Wiener,…
Read MoreIL: Court tosses lawsuit in sex-video suicide case
A federal judge in Chicago has dismissed a lawsuit brought against a suburban Chicago school by parents of a student who killed himself after staff warned him he may have to register as a sex offender because they suspected he made a video of himself having sex with a classmate without her knowledge. Full Article Opinion https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/illinois/ilndce/1:2017cv04036/340584/114/0.pdf?ts=1547809387
Read MoreMI: ACLU suit seeks changes to Michigan sex offender registry
Civil rights advocates say ___ is an example of how thousands of people have been unfairly penalized by the Michigan Sex Offender Registry more than two years after the Sixth Circuit Court ruled the state’s changes retroactively putting people on the list for life were unconstitutional. Full Article http://www.aclumich.org/article/what-you-need-know-about-does-v-snyder-ii http://www.aclumich.org/SORAinfo
Read MoreNH: Relief for Some Persons on the NH Sex Offender Registry
Effective June 6, 2016, in New Hampshire, Tier 2 and Tier 3 sex offenders who were convicted before 1992 have a clear process by which they can seek to be relieved of sex offender registration requirements. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Women Against Registry Call to Action – Video visits replacing in-person visits.
Seminole County Jail inmates can no longer handle letters or pictures mailed by family and friends as a new system requires those incarcerated to view digital copies of their messages. Under an agreement between the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and Smart Communications Holding Inc., a Tampa-based company, the jail also plans to replace all in-person visits at the jail with a video-visitation system. SEE: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-seminole-county-jail-mail-20190111-story.html?fbclid=IwAR3YhVlYIZa2oPyeq6XJzEep-Z7F44kPdZrbhkocnQxM0UyQWjwPEZrJI5o If you are in Seminole County please call your state senator and representative to express your concern about the rights of the families who have…
Read MoreSC bill would prohibit sex offenders from working, volunteering around kids
[live5news.com – 1/15/19] MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Right now, registered sex offenders are allowed to work and volunteer around kids, but a South Carolina bill introduced last week in the State House of Representatives could change that. The bill says it would make it “unlawful for a sex offender to work or perform volunteer service with or around minor children under certain circumstances unless approved by a circuit court order that requires the offender’s employment or volunteer service be recorded in the offender’s sex offender registry file, to provide…
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