Source: denverpost.com 6/28/21 Juveniles cannot be mandated to register as lifelong “sex offenders” in Colorado if there is no way for offenders to be individually assessed or to later be removed from the registry, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday. The 6-1 decision follows a new law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday that eliminates mandatory lifetime sex offense registration for juveniles who commit multiple sex offenses. The law takes effect Sept. 1. The justices found that mandating all people who committed multiple sex offenses when they were children…
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Urgent: SCOTUS petition needs signatures now
This note is for all organizations and individuals that fight (each in their own way) against the draconian sex offense laws in this country. Please forward this email to any pertinent organization or individual that we may have unintentionally overlooked. To those of you who don’t know us, we are the parents of an incarcerated son who, in 2016 was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for a crime without a victim; for a nonviolent, non-contact, first offense; for the crime of falling prey to the manipulative tactics of seasoned…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Independence for Some, Continued Registration for Others
There are two significant dates about to converge in a few days. Both offer independence to some, but not all. The first of the two dates is July 1 when some registrants in California will be able to petition for the first time their removal from the registry. The size of this group will expand during the next 12 months when eligible registrants celebrate their birthdays. That is because otherwise eligible registrants must wait until their first birthday on or after July 1 in order to submit their petitions. There…
Read MoreCan Children Who Commit Sex Offenses Be Rehabilitated?
By John Borneman 29 JUN 2018 In the first season of Showtime’s Dexter, the character Dexter Morgan, a vigilante serial killer who also works for the fictitious Miami Metro police as a forensic technician, hunts a child molester who had escaped justice and the law. After nearly strangling his prey, Dexter yells, “Open your eyes and look at what you did!” The molester, a choir director who also murdered some of the young boys he assaulted, cries, “I couldn’t help myself. … Please, you have to understand.” Dexter replies, “Trust me,…
Read MoreCT: Stratford Man Refuses Probation, Wants Jail Instead!
The man is convicted of a sex offense and reportedly believes probation would make him a pariah in the community. STRATFORD, CT — A 61-year-old Stratford man, who was convicted of a sex offense, was sentenced to 30 months in prison this week on a probation violation, after he told a judge he would break probation again if given such a sentence, reported the Connecticut Post. Rae was convicted on possession of child pornography charges in 2009 and was released in October of last year. Prior to that sentence, he…
Read MoreNY: Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct
This has been a long 8-year fight to hold prosecutors accountable for professional misconduct that steals liberty from the innocent, leaves the true criminal on the streets and costs municipalities millions in wrongful conviction settlements
Read MoreFL: Every Parent’s Worst Nightmare
We’ve all heard the phrase “every parent’s worst nightmare” in the context of a person with a sex offense conviction. It usually conjures the image of an abduction and sexual assault and murder. But for every parent who happens to be required to register due to a past sex offense, our “parent’s worst nightmare” is that one day, some law will come out that will take our own children away from us. We are facing our worst nightmare. Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 141 into Law. The bill, titled,…
Read MoreFL: DeSantis signs bill closing sex-offense registration loophole
ALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law Tuesday effectively closing a loophole in Florida’s sexual offense registration law. The former law’s loophole allowed a person convicted of a sex crime to forgo registering because they didn’t pay a court-ordered fine. In 2020, a judge ruled that Ray La Vel James of Tampa, who spent 12 years in prison after being convicted of molesting two girls at a public pool, didn’t have to register as a sex offender because the law states registration isn’t required until a…
Read MoreMD: Maryland’s Most Wanted – Kevin, convicted of a sex offense
Source: foxbaltimore.com 6/22/21 BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A person convicted of a sex offense accused of failing to register and then skipping town is the focus of this week’s Maryland’s Most Wanted. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, 59-year-old Kevin … has been on the run for more than a year. Kevin, who was convicted of sexual assault in New Jersey in 2001, is now accused of failing to register. “There’s a reason the law requires these individuals to register,” said Deputy US Marshal Al Maresca. “It’s in the public interest.”…
Read MoreAL: Gadsden person on the registry arrested for not carrying proper identification
Source: cbs42.com 6/22/21 ETOWAH COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) — A Gadsden man was arrested during a traffic stop last week when authorities discovered he had a sex offense conviction in his past and did not meet the identification requirements under Alabama law. According to the Etowah County Sheriff’s Office, Timothy ____ was arrested during a traffic stop in the Gallant area on June 16. During the traffic stop, the deputy discovered Timothy had a sex offense conviction in his past and he was not carrying the required identification needed under Alabama…
Read MoreMI: Lawsuit against state’s Sex Offense Registry Act enters final judgment
Source: wnem.com 6/21/21 A federal judge has granted a motion for litigation about the state’s sex offense act to enter final judgment. Parts of Michigan’s Sex Offense Registration Act (SORA) were ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland on Feb. 14, 2020. The litigation has been ongoing for nine years. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the court delayed the final judgment in April 2020. The court held a retroactive punishment of the 2011 amendments to SORA can not be served. Several other SORA provisions were found unconstitutional for…
Read MoreACSOL Leaders to Host Training on July 8 for CA Tiered Registry Petitions — to be rescheduled —
Latest update on 7/19/21: Rescheduled for 7/29/21 Updated with meeting details June 21, 2021 ACSOL leaders Chance Oberstein and Janice Bellucci will conduct a training session for California registrants, family members and supporters regarding the petitioning process under the Tiered Registry Law. The session will be held on Thursday, July 8, starting at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. The session will be recorded and available later on the ACSOL website. “We look forward to sharing information with registrants and others regarding the petitioning process available under the Tiered Registry Law,”…
Read MoreUK: People convicted of a sex offense may have ‘danger warnings’ stamped on passports and driving licences
Source: essexlive.news 6/20/21 Labour is calling for the change People convicted of a sex offense may have a ‘danger warning’ stamped on their passports and drivers licences, it has been reported. Labour MP Sarah Champion is calling on the DVLA and the passport office to mark the files of 100,000 people who are listed on the registry as having a sex offense conviction. The MP for Rotherham hopes the change will close a loophole whereby paedophiles change their names so that crimes do not show up during Disclosure and Barring…
Read MoreCompliance checks conducted of 620 people with a sex offense conviction, [only] 18 arrests made
Source: msn.com 6/18/21 A recent compliance check of people convicted of a sex offense was conducted in the valley during the week of June 7-11, 2021. The LVMPD’s “Sex Offender Apprehension Team”, in conjunction with the United States Marshals Service “Sex Offender Predator Apprehension Team” and Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, reached out to over 620 registered people. Fifteen arrests were made for Failure to Obey Sex Offense Registration Laws and an additional three arrests were made for outstanding arrest warrants related to current alledged sex crime investigations. People…
Read MoreNJ: Murphy signs historic law banning landlords from asking renters about criminal records (except…)
In a step toward racial equity and ending housing discrimination, Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed the Fair Chance in Housing Act, barring landlords in New Jersey from asking about criminal history on housing applications. At the state’s first commemoration of Juneteenth as an official holiday, Murphy signed the historic “ban the box” bill (A1919), which advocates say is the most sweeping form of the law in the nation. “With today’s action, Governor Murphy has put New Jersey at the forefront of criminal justice reform by helping to dismantle the…
Read MoreHow a suicidal pizza man found himself ensnared in an FBI sting
This isn’t a story about the police stings that we are all too familiar with. But it is another example of how the FBI goes too far with sting operations. This is based on a story on CNN.com back in 2017 Every day was the same for Rayyan, 21, a depressed pizza delivery man from Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Working for a pizzeria in Detroit, he’d drive late nights on desolate inner city streets, smoking pot hoping to keep boredom at bay. He carried a pistol to protect himself from robbers.…
Read MoreCO: Supreme Court exempts people listed on registry from key 2019 decision
Ruling in 2019 prohibits sentencing defendants to prison followed by probation in same criminal case The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday exempted people with a sex offense conviction from a key 2019 decision that prohibited defendants from being sentenced to prison followed by probation in the same criminal case. People with a sex offense conviction in Colorado can face such punishment in some circumstances, the justices found in a pair of opinions that examined how the state’s sentencing laws for sex offenses drastically differ from sentencing for other crimes. The…
Read MoreThe Punishment Economy: Winners and Losers in the Business of Mass Incarceration
Source: prisonlegalnews.org 5/1/21 by Daniel A. Rosen “This is an industry that profits from human suffering.” —David Fathi, Director, ACLU’s National Prison Project Starting with math may be a bad idea, but numbers help tell this story: In Virginia, keeping the average prisoner behind bars costs taxpayers about $30,000 per year; in some states like New York or California it’s twice that much. Prisoners over 50 years old with chronic health problems cost taxpayers as much as $150,000 a year. Yet experts have long agreed that most criminals “age out”…
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