Three men who moved to Indiana and were required to put their names on the state’s sex offender registry are likely to win their lawsuit that claims they wouldn’t face that requirement had they lived in Indiana all their lives, a judge ruled, ordering their names removed. Full Article
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Sex offender won’t have to pay victim after Utah Supreme Court overturns order in 2003 crime
The Utah Supreme Court has overturned a judge’s order requiring a sex offender to pay his victim for the wages she lost as a result of his abuse in 2003. ____ ____, who sexually exploited a teenage girl, had been ordered by a judge to reimburse the victim almost $13,000 in wages she lost when depression caused by the offense led to problems at work and a reduction in her hours. Full Article
Read MoreSenate Schools Bill (SB 26) Amended – HEARING April 25
HEARING DATE: April 25 – Senate Public Safety Committee at 8:30 a.m. in Room 3191 (as of 4/8) Sen. Connie Leyva has amended again Senate Bill 26 (SB 26) which would affect whether and when registrants could visit school campuses. As amended, the bill would require registrant parents to be supervised by a school official when they visit a school campus. In addition, the bill would limit visits by registrants who are not parents to times when students are not present. “The bill, as amended, would harm children by effectively denying…
Read MoreMO: Some say new Mo. law tracking sex offenders is unconstitutional
Keeping an eye on sex offenders for life, it’s a new law for Missouri and this now includes first-time offenders. But tonight, there’s a fight to challenge this. Some say it violates the constitution. Full Article
Read MorePA: Does isolating sex offenders really work? Some experts say no
The arguments from experts who contend that residency restrictions such as those sought by Dawn Knull don’t work focus on concerns that the restrictions isolate sex offenders and make it more difficult for them to be rehabilitated. “It is a bad idea from the perspective of public safety,” said Mary Catherine Roper, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which brought the case on behalf of sex offenders that led to the court striking down the Allegheny County ordinance. Many experts have come out in recent…
Read MoreAZ: U.S. judge knocks down Arizona’s child-molestation law, orders ex-teacher released
A U.S. District Court judge in Phoenix has found unconstitutional an Arizona law defining child molestation, and he ordered that a man who already has spent a decade in custody be released. In 2007, a Maricopa County jury found ____ ____guilty of five counts of molestation of a child and acquitted him of two other counts. An eighth count was dismissed by prosecutors. ____ was a former schoolteacher and swim instructor, and the charges came from allegations that he touched children inappropriately while giving them swim lessons. ____denied there was any…
Read MoreInternet Exclusion Bill (AB 558) Hearing Scheduled on April 18
The internet exclusion bill, AB 558, is scheduled to be considered by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on April 18. The committee hearing will begin at 8:30 a.m. in Room 126 and include consideration of more than 30 pending bills. “This bill must be stopped,” stated ACSOL executive director Janice Bellucci. “If the bill becomes law, families will be harmed and victims will be re-victimized.” AB 558 was previously scheduled for a hearing on March 28, however, the bill was pulled from consideration by its author. The Assembly Public Safety…
Read MoreSen. Lara Pulls Tiered Registry Bill (SB 695)
Senator Ricardo Lara, the primary author of the Tiered Registry Bill (SB 695), has pulled that bill from further consideration. The bill had been scheduled to be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee on April 18. The bill could continue if either co-author Holly Mitchell agrees to serve as the bill’s sole author or a new author is identified. In order to remain viable, the bill must be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee during its hearing on April 25. Related California state Sen. Ricardo Lara announces he’s…
Read MoreGeneral Comments April 2017
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of April 2017. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreUT: Audit slams Utah’s sex-offender treatment program in prison
Sex offenders in Utah often stay in prison months beyond their parole eligibility date because of a backlog of inmates awaiting treatment overseen by the Utah Department of Corrections, according to a state audit released Monday. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Sex offenders require constant vigilance from law enforcement
When ____ ____ set foot in South Georgia a few years ago, he had just spent 30 years in a Detroit prison for being a serial rapist convicted 10 times over. Because Palmer committed his crimes before June 4, 2003, under Georgia law, he is allowed to settle down anywhere with no restrictions. Yes, that’s right. Anywhere. He can settle in a home next door to a school or day care or playground — anywhere. “____ ____’s crime is so old (he) can live next to whatever he wants to.…
Read MoreNCMEC Hypocrisy on “Stranger Danger”
Yesterday, Callahan Walsh of NCMEC—The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children—appeared on Good Morning America to urge parents to stop using the phrase “stranger danger”—the phrase that NCMEC itself popularized for decades. They rightly noted—finally—that most child sexual exploitation is from someone known to the child, not a stranger. Full Article Related Group that Put Missing Kids’ Pictures on Milk Cartons NOW Says, “Don’t Teach Kids Stranger Danger” Experts warn against teaching the phrase ‘stranger danger’
Read MoreMN: Lawyers want high court to take Minnesota sex offenders case
Lawyers for sex offenders confined indefinitely to Minnesota’s secure treatment program have asked a judge to stay all further proceedings while they ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court finding that the program is constitutional. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Women working together to change sex offender notification process
Two North Valley women say they have their family lives and careers on hold, to fight for a safer community. Julie Read and Ann O’Brien, who live in the Norterra subdivision of the North Valley, started this mission after an old juvenile detention facility re-opened as the Maricopa Re-entry Center, a place where former inmates who were drug addicts and sex offenders would come for treatment. “It was literally 16 sex offenders came in one day, in addition to the dozens we already have living in our community,” said Read.…
Read MoreExperts warn against teaching the phrase ‘stranger danger’
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is now encouraging parents to steer away from using the phrase “stranger danger,” a slogan that has been taught for decades to emphasize to children the potential threat posed by strangers. Although the group moved away from “stranger danger” years ago, the phrase is so pervasive that many parents still teach it. The group renewed their call to end its use on “Good Morning America” today. “It’s so easy, it rhymes,” Callahan Walsh, a child advocate at the National Center for Missing…
Read MoreMI: Man barred from visiting home county by court
The unusual restriction was upheld this week by a federal appeals court. When ____ ____ is released from prison this year, he can’t set foot in his home county, Baraga, while under the supervision of a probation officer. ____ was convicted of a sex crime in 2009. He has twice been returned to prison for violating conditions of supervised release. ____ admits that Baraga, a remote and sparsely populated area in the Upper Peninsula, isn’t a good place for him to deal with drug and alcohol problems. He said he doesn’t want to…
Read MoreUT: Wasatch prosecutor warns Utah senators he’s coming after them for sex-offender vote
The Utah Legislature approved a bill this past session giving judges more sentencing discretion in cases in which a defendant had consensual sex with a minor under age 14 if that defendant is under 21. The measure passed the House 42-31 and the Senate 15-11. Gov. Gary Herbert signed it into law. It changes slightly the mandatory-minimum requirement of 25 years to life and a lifetime listing on the sex-offender registry for having sex with a minor. But it now has a deputy in the Wasatch County attorney’s office gunning…
Read MoreND: Despite research, lawmakers OK bill keeping high-risk sex offenders from living near schools
North Dakota’s on track to have its first statewide restriction on where high-risk sex offenders can live, with lawmakers voting almost unanimously for a bill that would prohibit such offenders from residing within 500 feet of a school. House Bill 1334, which has received little media attention, quietly passed the House in February and the Senate this week. The bill has not yet been sent to Gov. Doug Burgum, who generally does not comment on legislation before it reaches his desk, his spokesman Mike Nowatzki said Thursday, March 30. Over…
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