The landmark Pennsylvania law that for nearly a quarter of a century has required a public registry of sex offenders and community notification about their whereabouts is facing a life-or-death challenge before the state’s highest court. Full Article Related PA: Attorney General – Cases could jeopardize Megan’s Law sex offenders registry
Read MoreMore News
Rep. Chris Smith Speaks About The Dangers Of Human Trafficking
Speaking at at the Borgata hotel in Atlantic City during the week before Thanksgiving, Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ 4, delivered the following speech to hundreds of prosecutors at the County Prosecutors Association of New Jersey. … Why International Megan’s Law? We know from law enforcement, academia and media documentation that Americans on the U.S. sex offender registries are frequently caught sexually abusing children in Asia, Central and South America, Europe, and, frankly, everywhere. The inherent secrecy of international travel enables child exploitation. A deeply disturbing 2010 report by the Government…
Read MoreBlack victims demeaned in named violent crime laws
The slayings of Reagan Tokes and Alianna DeFreeze had much in common. Both were abducted, raped and killed in Ohio in 2017. Tokes was a 21-year-old college student, DeFreeze a 14-year-old seventh grader. Both their killers, previously convicted sex offenders, were subsequently found guilty. Yet only one victim got a law with her name on it — Tokes, who was white. That disparity in so-called namesake laws represents a national trend: White crime victims are much more likely to get crime bills named after them than black victims. Full Article
Read MoreTX: Tejano singer convicted of rape to launch comeback tour
[washingtonpost.com – 12/4/19] HOUSTON — A Tejano singer who was convicted of raping an underage female relative and imprisoned for more than a decade is preparing to relaunch his career with a sold-out show in Houston, despite the original terms of his release barring him from visiting the city and surrounding county because the victim lives there. … “For every one person against him, there are three more who support him,” said Vallejo, who noted that Lopez has been busy rehearsing. Tejano is a style of dance music that mixes…
Read MoreTN: Justice Department Announces More than $376 Million in Awards to Promote Public Safety
[justice.gov – 12/4/10] $5,528,132 Will Support Crime-Fighting Efforts in the Western District of Tennessee MEMPHIS – The Department of Justice today announced that it has awarded more than $376 million in grant funding to enhance state, local and tribal law enforcement operations and reinforce public safety efforts in jurisdictions across the United States. $5,528,132 will support public safety activities in the Western District of Tennessee. The awards were made by the Department’s Office of Justice Programs. “Crime and violence hold families, friends and neighborhoods hostage, and they rip communities apart,”…
Read MoreUPDATED: 50-State Chart on Relief from Sex Offender Registration 11-21-2019
[ccresourcecenter.org – 11/21/19] We [Collateral Consequences Resource Center] have completed an overhaul of our 50-State chart on relief from sex offender registration obligations, to bring it up to date and ensure that it is thorough and accurate. This chart documents the duration of sex offender registration requirements, as well as legal mechanisms for early termination from such requirements. In conducting this review, we have identified a handful of states that have, since the chart was last revised in November 2017, expanded the availability of relief from sex offender registration requirements, including…
Read MoreMN: Is Minnesota’s Sex Offender Registry Helping or Hurting?
Minnesota’s Predatory Offender Registry was first passed in 1991. It was intended to assist law enforcement in quickly locating and clearing suspects in child predator and kidnapping cases. 28 years later, the registry covers 21,000+ individuals and requires registration for many more crimes, including “crimes against the person” — 27 of them. It costs over $1m to implement every year. Stacy Bettison recently published an article in Minnesota Bench and Bar entitled “The New Scarlet Letter – Is Minnesota’s Predatory Offender Registry Hurting or Hurting?” Bettison has a strong interest…
Read MoreTinder Lets Known Sex Offenders Use the App. It’s Not the Only One.
Match Group, which owns most major online dating services, screens for sexual predators on Match — but not on Tinder, OkCupid or PlentyofFish. A spokesperson said, “There are definitely registered sex offenders on our free products.” Full Article
Read MoreChild Custody/Visitation Laws Applicable to Registered Persons
[sosen.org – 12/1/19] In my 2016 Jobs and Welfare Survey of 307 registered persons, I found that registrants in this survey were less likely to be married than the general population (34.43% of Regs vs 49% of gen) and less likely to have kids (54.93 Regs. vs 74% Gen. pop.). However, this still means many people forced to register on America’s sex offense registries have families. This makes parental rights an important topic for, registered citizens many of whom are afraid that registry status can be used against them. PURPOSE…
Read MorePA: Attorney General – Cases could jeopardize Megan’s Law sex offenders registry
Survivors of sexual assault have shared with me their struggles in overcoming the traumatic harm caused by those who’ve preyed upon them. Their strength and courage inspires and drives me every day to pursue allegations of sexual abuse wherever we find it. In 1994, 7-year-old Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor — someone her parents did not know had two prior convictions for sexually assaulting young girls. Her death and memory made a profound impact on our nation and resulted in “Megan’s Law.” Through Megan’s Law, survivors…
Read MoreGeneral Comments December 2019
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of December 2019. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
Read MoreKat’s blog: The Flaw in Meghan’s Law
Our hearts go out to the Pennsylvania father who happened to be a registrant and who missed the birth of his third child for no reason other than the fact that he was a registrant. We can all put ourselves in this guy’s shoes and imagine the sense of devastation and embarrassment he must have felt when told he couldn’t attend the birth of his child and then to be escorted out of the hospital by security when he hadn’t done anything. As I try to make some sense out…
Read MoreWhy there is no national domestic assault offender registry – yet
[foxnews.com – 11/30/19] It was a murder so brutal – and one that continues to haunt law enforcement in the quiet community of Osceola County, Florida. … For those like Gibson, who are tasked with safeguarding the most vulnerable in the community, it has raised the question as to what more the justice system should and could be doing to support victims of domestic violence. Namely, why there has been little headway made to establish a national registry for those convicted of domestic violence crimes – similar to the SORNA…
Read MoreTX: Neighbors: Sex offenders may follow proposed Good Samaritan homeless shelter to area
[caller.com – 11/29/19] There was a time when Abel Palacious found himself homeless. Now, he lives across the street from the old Lamar Elementary School. The school, at the corner of Morris and 19th streets, could be converted into the largest homeless shelter in Corpus Christi. It would house 308 beds as the new location for the Good Samaritan Rescue Mission. The organization served Palacious when he was homeless. Even so, he said he can’t support the shelter’s proposed location because registered sex offenders are allowed to stay at the Good Samaritan. He has…
Read MoreIL: Documented harassment of a registrant by a police officer
[uscourts.gov – 11/26/19 – 7th Circuit] The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that state actors have, at a minimum, a rational basis for treating similarly situated people differently. Rex _____ alleges that Officer Tizoc Landeros prevented him from updating his Illinois sexual offender registration and otherwise used his official position to harass Frederickson purely out of personal dislike. Without an updated registration, Frederickson was unable to move from Joliet, Illinois, to nearby Bolingbrook. The district court found that Frederickson had put forth enough evidence to allow a…
Read MoreOH: Cleveland Police: Final warning for dumped child sex files sergeant
[bbc.com – 11/27/19] A police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after confidential files about paedophiles and their victims were found dumped in a recycling bin outside his home. Sgt Martin Skirving-Chehab, of Cleveland Police, took two carrier bags of paperwork home before his mother-in-law accidentally threw them out. The papers contained details about 55 sex offenders. A police misconduct panel gave him a final written warning. It found the officer failed to sort through the carrier bags, risk assess the material or store it in a secure…
Read MoreWI: 65 percent of registered sex offenders approved for Green Bay housing exemption since Nov. 2018
[nbc26.com – 11/28/19] Darlene Esquivel did not want Theodore Blazek to be able to live next door. Blazek, a registered sex offender convicted of possession of child pornography, asked for an exemption to a Green Bay ordinance that bars registered sex offenders with a conviction involving children from living within 1,500 feet of schools, parks, and playgrounds. Blazek declined an on-camera interview, but said he is not a threat and wants to live in the home because he owns it. Esquivel said she told her nine-year-old daughter about Blazek’s history.…
Read MoreNigeria launches first sex offender register
[theguardian.com/ – 11/25/19] Campaigners have hailed the launch of Nigeria’s first sex offender register as a vital step towards tackling reported cases of sexual abuse, which are rising across the country. The publicly accessible onlineregister of people prosecuted for sexual violence since 2015 will allow public bodies and police authorities to conduct background checks and identify repeat offenders. Oluwaseun Osowobi, the director of Stand To End Rape, a Nigerian non-government organisation that supports survivors of sexual violence, said: “If a case is reported anywhere in the country, the case is…
Read More