Coalinga City Council is suing Fresno County to overturn an election decided partly by the sex offenders in a state hospital. Voters rejected a penny sales tax increase by just 37 votes in November. 127 of those ‘no’ votes came from inside the walls of Coalinga State Hospital, where some of the state’s sex offenders are actually legal voters. Full Article Related http://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/political-notebook/article184847643.html
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Media face challenges in rush to sexual misconduct reckoning
[richmond.com] NEW YORK (AP) — Talk-show host Tavis Smiley isn’t just upset with PBS for firing him on sexual misconduct charges. He’s upset about his depiction in the media. Smiley believes that if he hadn’t talked publicly about romantic relationships with subordinates at his company, the behavior that led to his downfall, the public would make little distinction between him and those who have been accused of sexual assault or rape. Conflation of different forms of misbehavior — the idea itself is controversial — is one of the issues…
Read MoreOnce a sex offender always a sex offender — even beyond death?
Who was Benjamin Gran? Registered sex offender sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release after he was caught with a massive amount of child pornography; Autistic young man caught in a “witch hunt” after being duped by an unrepentant pedophile; Third fatality in the deadly Amtrak derailment; Member of the Special Olympics team; Member of a pedophile group online; Someone who paid his debt to society and was on the right path; Convicted sex offender found in possession of child porn while working in IT at a college; Huge train…
Read MoreThe Christmas I Sat Next to a Sex Offender
Last year my husband and I celebrated our first Christmas with our infant daughter. She couldn’t understand the holiday, of course, but that didn’t stop us from discussing Advent calendars, wreaths, and Jesse Trees in depth, continuing a friendly argument about Santa Claus that has been going on since our engagement. Citing our childhood experiences as rationale, we hashed out the significance of the Incarnation in the form of felt, cardboard calendars filled with chocolate, and a fat man driven around by reindeer. Christmas in my youth meant festive cooking…
Read MoreFL: Proposed legislation would require landlords to provide proof of employee background checks
State Senator Greg Steube (R-Sarasota) has introduced legislation that would require landlords to disclose when they’ve run background checks on their employees, Mike Vasilinda of Capitol News Service reports. Full Article
Read MoreIN: Sex Offenders Sue Over Indiana Registry Requirement
[US News] INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Three men have filed a lawsuit over an Indiana requirement that they register as sex offenders when moving to the state, saying they’re being treated differently than other residents in similar situations. Patrick Rice, Adam Bash and Scott Rush all were convicted out of state and before the enactment of the Indiana Sex Offender Registration Act, The Indianapolis Star reported. The men’s lawsuit says that in accordance with an Indiana Supreme Court ruling, the Department of Correction does not typically require sex offenders convicted before…
Read MoreCA: Federal Court Limits Residency Restrictions to Parolees
A federal district court ruled on Dec. 22 that residency restrictions adopted by cities and counties may only be applied to registrants while on parole. “This is a significant victory for registrants and their families,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “The Court’s decision dramatically reduces the ability of a city or a county to restrict where a registrant may live.” According to the court’s decision, the general rule is that local governments are preempted by state law from adopting laws that restrict the daily lives of registrants because state law “fully occupies” the field of…
Read MoreNY: Cuomo wants revenge porn posters to register as sex offenders
[New York Post] Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to criminalize revenge porn — and force the creeps who post it online to register as sex offenders — under a plan he’ll unveil in his upcoming State of the State Address, The Post has learned. As part of the proposal, the governor also intends to outlaw “sextortion,” or threatening someone into preforming sex acts. “The dangerous proliferation of sextortion and revenge crimes disproportionately targets young women and girls and causes harm and embarrassment that can follow victims their entire lives,” Cuomo…
Read MoreMN: 14-year-old sends her crush an explicit snap – and now faces child porn charges
[gomn.com] St. Paul, Minn – Teenagers sext. That’s generally what research has determined – it happens, it’s not uncommon. One study found more than half of its respondents sent explicit messages while under 18 years old; and 28 percent included a photo. But a Minnesota 14-year-old who Snapped an explicit selfie to a boy at her school could be forced to register as a sex offender because of criminal charges filed against her, the ACLU of Minnesota said. What happened The girl (not identified because she’s a minor) goes to…
Read MoreWA: ‘He’d pulled it together’ – Mom on son killed in Amtrak crash
____ ____ was a train enthusiast, a beloved son and an autism success story. He was also a registered sex offender, having served nearly two years in federal prison for child pornography crimes. On Wednesday, the world learned that he among the three men killed in the derailment of the Amtrak Cascades that crashed into Interstate 5 during an inaugural run. Much was made at SeattlePI and elsewhere of ____ ‘s criminal history in the hours after the 40-year-old’s identity was released. Speaking by phone Wednesday evening, though, ____’s mother…
Read MoreNE: Registering with Dignity: A Practical Guide to Reentry and Life on the Registry
[nebfacts.blogspot.com] The Sex Law and Policy Center has compiled a useful and informative guide for people forced to register as sex offenders and their loved ones. From the SLAP website: Over the past year, we’ve diligently worked to draft a reentry guidebook specifically for people on the registry and the people that love and support them as they navigate the ins and outs of registration and reentry. There is a discussion about the varying pieces of federal legislation requiring registration for sex offenses. One section details constitutional protections, while another…
Read MoreNY Daily News Needs to Shame Sex offenders Posthumously
[floridaactioncommittee.org and nydailynews.com] This week’s tragedy in Washington, when an Amtrak train derailed killing several passengers, could have stood alone as “big news” for the NY Daily News. So why did the news outlet need to run as story titled, “Third man killed in Washington state Amtrak derailment was convicted for child pornography.” Were they trying to suggest that the deaths were not a complete tragedy? Were they trying to further wound an already deceased man? Read more
Read MoreOR: Starting in 2018, Life in Prison for Oregon Sex Crimes
NewscomOregon is about to enact one of the country’s most draconian, carceral, and unnecessary “public safety” measures. Beginning on January 1, 2018, certain sex crimes committed in the state will come with a presumptive sentence of life in prison, without the possibility of parole or release. Full Article
Read MoreVT: City won’t fight sex offender ruling
The Board of Aldermen will not challenge a superior court’s decision that strikes down a city ordinance restricting where convicted sex offenders can live in Rutland. … Hoar’s ruling said Rutland had “not meaningfully articulated” the danger posed by sex offenders and said the city “declares plaintiffs nuisances for no discernible activity but drawing breath.” “What the city has done here is effectively to declare an entire class of persons to be a public nuisance by simple virtue of their physical existence,” Hoar said. “Plaintiffs have been convicted and punished;…
Read MoreThe psychology behind making others the villain
[sosen.org] With all of sexual harassment charges floating around possibly it’s time for us to look at the psychological reason why this is such a touchy subject. Okay, I don’t know if anybody else sees this, maybe my experiences are different than other people’s, but from my point of view the feminists have opened themselves up to having the pendulum swing the other direction, this could push our society back towards Victorian values of high neck collars and long dresses in the workplace coupled with modern high-tech body cameras on…
Read MoreWI: Sun Prairie alders eye sex offender residency ordinance changes after lawsuit threats
[hngnews.com] Convicted sex offenders are threatening to file lawsuits over an ordinance that restricts where they can live in the City of Sun Prairie. City officials plan to head off litigation by considering changes to the city ordinance next week. It’s something other Wisconsin municipalities dealt with this year after a federal court ruled that ordinances restricting where convicted sex offenders could live were unconstitutional. Registered sex offenders aren’t allowed to live or loiter within 1,500 feet of a school, daycare center, park, playground, church, and other places where children…
Read MoreVA: It’s Time to Reduce, Reconstruct, Reclassify, Rethink and Reform the Virginia Sex Offender Registry
[restoringintegritytovirginiaregistry.blogspot.com] Virginia Bill HB144- Patroned by Delegate Mark Cole Would Allow RSO’s Convicted of a Misdemeanor to Petition for Removal from the VSP Registry After 7 Years Instead Having to Wait 15 Years A Bill has just posted in LIS (see below) and I am just dumbstruck. It’s a positive Bill that would only help a small percentage of Virginia RSO’s, but it actually helps instead of hurts and that’s why I’m shocked at the moment. I have no idea where this proposal came from as I have not been…
Read MoreFL: Lawsuit over ‘defamatory’ ECSO billboard dismissed
A man who claims he was falsely labeled as a sexual predator on a law enforcement billboard had his defamation lawsuit thrown out Monday. Full Article
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