I decided to write this because I just graduated college. I have been fighting and fighting and fighting some more with this nonsense hanging over my head. I have been denied jobs because of my sex offender status, I have felt like killing myself, and I sometimes just feel hopeless. I was convicted of a 289a1 or Penetration of a foreign object through force or fear. I was 20 at the time and I was at a party. I hooked up with this girl and the lines got blurred between…
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FL: Homeless sex offenders lose court fight to keep Hialeah tent camp. Where to next?
[amp.miamiherald.com 5/10/18] A Miami-Dade judge on Thursday cleared the way for the county to dismantle a tent village of homeless sex offenders outside Hialeah, and a lawyer for some of the residents said the ruling leaves them no choice but to live on a roadside or street somewhere else. “They’ll most likely be relocating to another street corner,” Legal Services lawyer Jeffrey Hearne said after the hearing before Judge Pedro Echarte Jr. in Circuit Court. “New encampments will pop up. And this cycle will continue.” Kendall residents have already been…
Read MoreTX: Father of Texas Teen Doesn’t Want Son Labeled Sex Offender
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/10/18] Richard Culley, a former Army sergeant plans to fight to prevent his son, Ryan, from being labeled as a “sex offender” for having sex with a 15-year old girl who lied about her age. He was convicted solely based on the age of the girl. In Court, it was stipulated that the sex between Ryan and the girl was consensual and there was no coercion, the girl claimed on Facebook that she was 18 years old, the girl was the one who initiated contact with Ryan. Ryan received…
Read MoreCan Bad Men Change? What It’s Like Inside Sex Offender Therapy
The men file in, a few wearing pressed button-down shirts, others jeans caked in mud from work on a construction site. They meet in the living room of an old taupe bungalow on a leafy street in a small Southern city. Someone has shoved a workout bike into the corner to make room for a circle of overstuffed chairs dug up at the local Goodwill. The men jockey for a coveted recliner and settle in. They are complaining about co-workers and debating the relative merits of various trucks when a…
Read MoreCO: Owner of polygraphy firm would have to quit sex-offender management board or give up $1.9M contract under measure heading to Colorado governor
[denverpost.com 5/9/18] Members of the Colorado board that decides how the state’s sex offenders are managed no longer will be able to profit from multimillion-dollar state contracts related to their work with sex offenders under a law legislators passed Wednesday. House Bill 1427 bars members of the Sex Offender Management Board from having direct financial benefits from the standards and guidelines adopted by that board. The legislation, which passed 27-8 in a final Senate vote, now goes to Gov. John Hickenlooper for consideration. Legislators reacted in part to a report…
Read MoreFighting the Fees That Force Prisoners to Pay for Their Incarceration
[truth-out.org 5/6/18] This past January, prisoners in Florida went on strike to protest what they called modern-day slavery in the state’s prisons. As of March, not only had the Florida Department of Corrections not responded to the demand for paid labor and improved living conditions, it had also placed some of the prisoners who were demanding fair wages into solitary confinement. As Heather Ann Thompson, author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy succinctly said on Democracy Now!, “If you do not treat…
Read MoreScam Alert: $2,000 Fine for Moving Without Reporting
[sosen.org 5/9/18] The following is from one of our member families. We had a scare yesterday. Someone called saying they were from (our) County Sheriff’s Department and that my loved one had moved without reporting it within three days. They wanted $2,000 dollars to cover his court fees then directed us to a specific street downtown which is where my loved one’s registration office is located. They indicated he would not be arrested, but would have to show up in court next Friday. They kept him on the phone and…
Read MoreHow do we get better, really? The Achieving Clinical Excellence 2018 Conference in Östersund, Sweden
[sajrt.blogspot.com 5/9/18] The evidence is in, and there’s no doubt. Psychotherapy works for a wide range of conditions and behaviors. People can and do change, often suddenly and unpredictably. Among the most effective mechanisms for change is the most ancient and fundamental approach: the human conversation. Why even mention this? Those working in the fields of violence and trauma (including sexual abuse) too often believe that people who harm others are either unwilling or unable to change, despite decades of evidence. Too many professionals argue over lesser findings or ask…
Read MorePart I: Just another day in the life of a registered sex offender
[narsol.org 5/8/18] By Sandy . . . Each day’s emails and email alerts in my inbox always include at least one especially disturbing situation that threatens the ability of those on the registry to be allowed to resume a normal life, no matter how long ago the offense that caused the registration. The planets must have been in a particularly evil alignment when I started opening today’s offerings. First was a story from several days ago where the art work, highly acclaimed art work, was ordered pulled from a university…
Read MoreIN: 7th Circuit prohibits sex offender from voting at local high school
[theindianalawyer.com 5/8/18] In a decision handed down one day before Indiana’s 2018 primary election, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found a rational relationship between an Indiana statute prohibiting sex offenders from entering school property and the state’s interest in protecting children. The court ruled the state does not violate a convicted sex offender’s voting rights by prohibiting him from voting at a polling place located in a high school, and instead requiring him to vote via one of three alternatives. In Brian Valenti v. Connie Lawson, et al., 17-3207,…
Read MoreMedia focus should be on Really Dangerous People
[sosen.org 5/8/18] It seems like Sex cases always go viral. But an extremely high number of children die even more horrible deaths from other non-sex related criminal acts and you never even see a blip on the radar screen, and then something like what happened to Sierra Newbold happens and the radar screens light up like the 4th of July. A friend of mine, let’s call him John for his own safety, related a story to me. He said that he had a vivid memory of an example of just…
Read MoreFL: Jeanne Baker Debates Ron Book on CBS4 News
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/8/18] Watch as Jeanne Baker shuts down a lying and very angry Ron Book on South Florida’s CBS Affiliate. Watch the debate Related links: Floridians for Freedom presents: Ron and Lauren Book EXPOSED! [ronandlaurenbook.blogspot.com 5/8/18] FAC Letter to Miami-Dade County [floridaactioncommittee.org 5/9/18] FDLE Memo to Law Enforcement Advising of Legislative Changes [floridaactioncommittee.org 5/9/18]
Read MoreFL: Hearing to take place this Thursday in Miami-Dade case
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/8/18] A special-set hearing has been scheduled for this Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 10:15 on Plaintiff’s Emergency Motion for Temporary Injunction. Attorneys for the plaintiffs, homeless registrants, are seeking a stay of the County-imposed deadline to leave the encampment or be arrested. With nowhere else to go, if the Plaintiffs leave the encampment they would be arrested for violating the residency restriction. Read more Related links: Floridians for Freedom presents: Ron and Lauren Book EXPOSED! [ronandlaurenbook.blogspot.com 5/8/18] FAC Letter to Miami-Dade County [floridaactioncommittee.org 5/9/18] FDLE Memo to Law…
Read MoreCA: Judge in Stanford rape case breaks silence amid sentencing controversy, recall effort
[cbsnews.com 5/8/18] SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. — A California judge whose sentence for a former Stanford University swimmer in a sex assault case garnered national controversy broke his silence Tuesday ahead of next month’s recall vote. The effort to recall Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky is being closely watched for its national political implications. If it’s successful, Persky would be the first California judge recalled from office in 86 years after he sentenced then-sophomore Brock Turner to six months in jail in June 2016 for sexually assaulting a young…
Read MoreCA: Coalinga Patients Score Two Victories
Patients at Coalinga State Hospital scored two victories today — one in court and the other in the state legislature. As a result of the victories, the patients’ past votes as well as future votes in City of Coalinga elections are valid. Specifically, a Fresno Superior Court judge ruled today against the City of Coalinga which had attempted to invalidate the patients’ votes in November 2017 which contributed to the defeat of a one cent sales tax. In its decision, the Court noted that the patients’ votes were valid because…
Read MoreMO: Missouri’s dubious export: Sex offenders
Missouri treats all sex offenders living outside of prison as harshly as some states punish their highest-risk sexual predators. Missouri’s one-size-fits-all approach sends hundreds of sex offenders to Kansas, Illinois and Arkansas. Just across the state line, some find relief from the 1,000-foot residency restrictions. Others even end the shame of public registry. Full Article
Read MoreFL: ACLU Sues to Stop Miami Homeless Sex-Offender Camp Evictions
[miaminewtimes.com 5/8/18] In 2007, New Times broke national news with a story about how a group of sex-offenders was forced to live in tents underneath the Julia Tuttle Causeway because of restrictive laws barring them from living within thousands of feet of schools or playgrounds. Their case became a focal point in efforts to reform the nation’s laws governing sex criminals. After a local outcry, the Tuttle colony was uprooted — but soon rematerialized near Hialeah, once again sparking national debate. After New Times wrote about the new encampment last…
Read MoreCA: L.A. County Sued Over Ban on Sex Offenders as Poll Workers [by ACSOL]
[usnews.com 5/7/18] LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two registered sex offenders are suing Los Angeles County for the right to become poll workers. City News Service says the suit filed Monday argues that the county’s policy banning offenders violates state law and the Constitution. The suit was filed by two offenders who live in the county and by the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, a nonprofit group. California’s sex offender registration website lists more than 13,000 people in L.A. County, including those convicted of nonviolent offenses. Read more
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