The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation. The ACSOL website and recordings are provided as a service to registrants, registrants’ families, and others for general information only. The information on the website and in the recordings are not designed to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. You should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on their content. Prior results and case studies do not guarantee a similar outcome in future representations. ACSOL accepts no responsibility for any loss or damages that may result from accessing or reliance on content on the ACSOL website and recordings and disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all liability with respect to acts or omissions made by registrants, registrants’ families and others on the basis of content on the ACSOL website.
Important News / Announcements
General News Feed
It can be said that sex offenders are the new bogeymen, mythical monsters invented to scare children into social order. People convicted of sex offenses, and subsequently placed on the public registry, are transformed into a concept of evil, which is then personified as a group of faceless, terrifying, and predatory devils. It would appear that this strategy is used to keep sex offenders...
Legislation passed by the Michigan Senate in Lansing would require registered sex offenders to pay an annual fee to help maintain the state's sex offender registry. Senate Bill 221's sponsor, state Sen. Rick Jones, said it is ready for the governor's signature. "These are people who committed crimes," said Jones, R-Grand Ledge. "I do not believe that the hardworking taxpayers in Michigan should foot the bill...
Recent decisions have relied on the reasoning of the US Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe when analyzing challenges to sex offender registry laws. The Smith decision notoriously held that Alaska's sex offender registry did not violate the US Constitution's prohibition on ex post facto laws. The US Supreme Court held that the Alaska registry was constitutional by applying a two-step analysis: first, determining whether the legislation was intended...
The past several weeks I have been researching the sex offender laws applicable for sex offenders living in Rhode Island and in South Carolina. While not surprising, the laws are anything but rational and they are certainly not empirically based. This goes across the board, not merely in Rhode Island or South Carolina but at both the state and federal levels. The Adam Walsh...
24
Oct
2013
Every era in human history has its version of a witch hunt. In the late 1600's, colonial Massachusetts put many people to death via hanging, or burning at the stake, because these folks "confessed" to being witches. In my view, part of what qualifies any government activity as a "witch hunt" involves examining the large gap between the punishment and the crime. Burning at...
It's nearly Halloween. A time for little ghouls and goblins to dress up for Trick or Treat. Tampa radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge is worried about some real scary people. Bubba asked listeners to let him know where sexual offenders are located in their neighborhoods. He says he then went onto the FDLE web site to verify the information and went says he went one...
Two years ago, the U.S. Department of justice prosecuted a 10-year-old boy for aggravated sexual assault on five boys, ages 5-7. The assaults happened on an Army base in Arizona, which is why the DOJ was involved. After winning a delinquency judgment (the equivalent of guilty in juvenile court), the boy was sentenced to five years probation and required to participate in mandatory psychological treatment. He...
22
Oct
2013
On November 9, 2013, Attorney Janice Bellucci with California Reform Sex Offender Laws (www.californiarsol.org) will be in Fresno to talk about her role in helping offenders who must register, to understand they have a civil rights attorney to help them. Janice has filed lawsuits against California Cities, that restrict sex offenders from going into public buildings or other public areas. She has successfully sued...
In North Carolina, a sheriff tells parents to check the online sex offender registry before allowing children to trick-or-treat. In Montana, a town offers a "trunk-or-treat" event where kids can get Halloween candy from trunks of cars in a parking lot to avoid potential danger. In New York, "Operation Halloween: Zero Tolerance" prohibits sex offenders from wearing masks or costumes or answering their doors...
20
Oct
2013
When you get a new appliance, do you take time to fill out the little card and register your toaster, coffee maker or iron? Of course you do, if you want the company to keep track of it and fix it in the event of a breakdown. We’re pretty good in America about registering things. We register our preferences for baby shower or wedding...
19
Oct
2013
ENGLEWOOD - The City of Englewood announced on Tuesday that they plan to appeal the recent federal court decision to allow sexual offenders to be housed near schools, parks, pools and daycare centers. What started the court decision was when a registered sex offender fought the law and won after being told he couldn't live anywhere in the City of Englewood. The ruling has...
18
Oct
2013
The Doctors (TV Show) discuss legislation recently filed in the state of Alabama that would require surgical castration for any child molester over the age of 21 whose victim was 12 years old or younger. Video
MONTREAL - The Crown wants a six-year prison sentence for a 21-year-old man who killed a Montreal father with a single punch. The victim, Iqbal Ahmed, was simply trying to bring his wayward teen daughter home but other teens attacked him, thinking he was a pedophile. A judge will decide Francis Belanger's fate in December following sentencing hearings that ended this week. Full Article
A Virginia church will close its homeless shelter this fall due to fears that the site was housing sex offenders. "This was a rough decision for us because we looked at the overflow shelters as an extension of our ministry," Reverend Tyrone Nelson, who pastors Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, told WTVR News. Nelson added that it appeared that sex offenders were not only spending...
LANSING, MI -- Senate-approved legislation that would prohibit registered sex offenders from loitering near day care centers in Michigan appears to have hit a speed bump on the House side. Shelly Weisberg with the ACLU of Michigan, testifying before the House Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday, warned that Senate Bills 76 and 77 would create "a nearly impossible burden on listed offenders and on law enforcement."...
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown cracked down on sex offenders who disarm their electronic trackers while on parole, signing legislation Saturday requiring that they stay in jail once they are caught. Some counties with severely crowded jails have freed such offenders almost immediately after detaining them for tampering with the GPS devices, a Times investigation found this year. The bill Brown approved requires that...
15
Oct
2013
Louisiana is the world's prison capital. The state imprisons more of its people, per head, than any of its U.S. counterparts. First among Americans means first in the world. Louisiana's incarceration rate is nearly five times Iran's, 13 times China's and 20 times Germany's. Full Article
15
Oct
2013
California RSOL will hold its next monthly meeting on Saturday November 16 at the usual location, the ACLU building at 1313 W. 8th Street in Los Angeles. The meeting will start at 10 am and cover general topics of interest, as well as specific issues pertinent at meeting time, in addition to offering invaluable opportunities to network with others affected by this issue, as well...
Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 145 by Sen. Fran Pavley on Saturday, raising the maximum penalty for the most serious child pornography offenses.The bill was sponsored by Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten and strongly supported by the California District Attorneys Association. SB 145 received the unanimous support of both the Assembly and the Senate because it addresses problems with existing California law....
14
Oct
2013
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama lawmaker is proposing a bill for the 2014 legislative session to further punish convicted child predators before they're released from prison. The Florence Times Daily (http://bit.ly/1fuBdgI) reports Republican Rep. Steve Hurst of Munford is trying again to pass a bill requiring sex offenders over the age of 21 whose victims were 12 or younger to be surgically castrated...