Dan Johnson posted a final message on Facebook to his friends and family Wednesday afternoon. It appeared to be a goodbye. In it, he denied the accusations that had tormented him and his family for the past 48 hours — that he, a Kentucky state representative and the self-proclaimed “Pope” of his Louisville church — had gotten drunk and molested a 17-year-old girl during a sleepover at the church years ago. Full Article
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PA: Legislature moves to keep 17,000 sex offenders on state registry
HARRISBURG — The state House on Tuesday voted unanimously on changes to the state’s sexual offender registry intended to correct problems the state Supreme Court identified as unconstitutional. If left uncorrected, more than three-quarters of the more than 20,000 people now registering on the Megan’s Law list might need to be removed, according to data provided by the Pennsylvania State Police. Full Article
Read MoreTX: State law changed where sex offenders can walk within West Lake Hills
The city of West Lake Hills adopted changes to its sex offender ordinance to be in compliance with state law during the Dec. 13 City Council meeting with hope that the changes will cause Texas Voices for Reason and Justice to drop its lawsuit against the city. Full Article
Read MoreAUS: Pedophile stopped at Sydney Airport by anti-sex tourism law
A convicted child molester was prevented from flying overseas from Sydney Airport on Wednesday under new laws aimed at keeping Australian pedophiles from traveling to Southeast Asia for sex tourism. Laws that took effect on Wednesday prevent 20,000 convicted pedophiles listed on the Australian child sex offender register from leaving the country except for specific purposes approved by law enforcement agencies. Full Article
Read MoreIN: ACLU says sex offender law is tougher on new Hoosiers
Three men have filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Department of Correction, claiming Indiana’s requirement that they register as sex offenders violates their Constitutional rights. Full Article
Read MoreCA: Federal Judge Grants Injunction in Favor of Registrant
U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson issued today a preliminary injunction (PI) ordering the CA Department of Corrections and Parole (CDCR) to allow a registrant to attend and participate in church services as well as to access social media. The judge’s decision followed a hearing on December 11. According to court documents, CDCR prohibited the registrant from attending and preaching at church services although he is an ordained minister. In addition, CDCR prohibited the registrant from accessing social media. In its decision regarding the registrant’s access to social media, the…
Read MoreJudge Roy Moore’s Child Sexual Abuse Was an “Open Secret”
[Psychology Today] It’s the people we know and trust, not strangers, who are most likely to engage in harmful sexual behavior. There has been a tidal wave of accusations of sexual abuse committed against women and/or children from powerful men in media and politics including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Louis C.K., and Roy Moore, the former judge running for Senator in Alabama’s special election, and there will probably be many more, spurred on by the #MeToo movement. What makes these cases so maddening is that many people were aware…
Read MoreSex Registries as Modern-Day Witch Pyres
[injusticetoday.com] Perhaps the most irrefutable statement that can be made about modern day America is this: we have a penchant for putting people in cages. More than any other nation on the planet, we rely on incarceration as the fix for our social ills. America’s unprecedented prison boom spawned advocates who work tirelessly to put the police state toothpaste back into the tube. As a result, despite a steady media diet of cops and robbers police procedurals, the rhetoric on crime policy has begun to shift. The country appears…
Read MoreFL: Oconomowoc tweaks sex offender residency restrictions in wake of federal court decision
[Florida Journal Sentinel] CITY OF OCONOMOWOC – The common council on Tuesday, Dec. 5, voted to repeal and replace the city’s 2011 ordinance outlining residency restrictions for registered sex offenders, joining a handful of other area communities to do so in the wake of lawsuits and a federal court decision earlier this year. Under the new rules, registered sex offenders who did not live in the city at the time of their offense could petition the common council to move into Oconomowoc. Such offenders are currently barred from attempting…
Read MoreFL: Death of sex offender in Georgia State Prison suspicious
[Florida Action Committee] Charles Lee Broady was halfway into a three-year sentence for failure to register as a sex offender when he was found dead, hanging in his cell. Next week, Broady was supposed to appear in Federal Court in a case he brought against the Georgia Department of Corrections after officers allowed gang members to attack him. The previous attacks had been so bad that, after one, his heart stopped and he had to be revived. His family suspects foul play. Read article
Read MoreCT: Sentencing commission tackles three big criminal justice reforms
The public got a chance Monday to weigh in on three proposals that would change Connecticut’s criminal justice system in very different ways. One proposal would change which sex offenders would have to continue to appear on the sex offender registry; another proposes a constitutional amendment on pretrial release and detention, and a third would reduce a state sentence for a misdemeanor offense by one day to prevent more severe immigration consequences. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Inside the Remote, Little-Known Sanctuary for Sex Offenders
Seen from a distance, perhaps from a low-flying helicopter, or standing a few hundred feet away on a road that cuts through the green sugarcane surrounding it, Miracle Village, in Central Florida outside of Pahokee, looks like it could be a modest retirement community. Perhaps a modern-day off-the-grid commune, carved from a little spot of remote farmland. Miracle Village, though, is neither. It is a community devoted entirely to housing convicted sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Zachery Anderson denied termination of probation
For someone who probably should not have been prosecuted in the first place, Zach Anderson is certainly continuing to get a raw deal from the system. Now 22, when Zach was 19 he had sex with someone he met on line who claimed she was 17. Turns out she was only 14. Even though she admitted to lying about her age, Zach was sentenced to jail time, probation and 25 years on Michigan’s sex offender registry. Full Article
Read MoreInternet Censorship Bills Wouldn’t Help Catch Sex Traffickers
[Electronic Frontier Foundation] In the most illuminating part of last week’s House subcommittee hearing on the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA, H.R. 1865), Tennessee Bureau of Investigation special agent Russ Winkler explained how he uses online platforms—particularly Backpage—to fight online sex trafficking. Winkler painted a fascinating picture of agents on his team posing as johns, gaining trust with traffickers, and apprehending them. His testimony demonstrated how, with proper training and resources, law enforcement officers can navigate the online platforms where sex work takes place…
Read More#DontLookAway: The difference between paedophiles and sex offenders
[The Star, Johannesburg, South Africa] Johannesburg – Every now and then police report busting international paedophile rings. The details are gory, adults – usually men – sharing pictures and videos of young children being abused. In one of the cases early this year, one of the worst paedophiles was sentenced to 32 life sentences and a further 170 years for, among other things, sexually abusing his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter. Other than raping her, he used a toy dinosaur, thermometer and a sex toy to penetrate the child. The man, who…
Read MoreDon’t Rush New Sexual Harassment Policies, Some Women Lawmakers Warn
[governing.com] One of the top agenda items for state legislatures next year will be to address the rampant sexual harassment in state capitols. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have been accused of sexual harassment — or worse — since the #metoo movement took off in mid-October. But several women in the Illinois legislature, which has already passed new laws in response to the outcry, caution that lawmakers should take their time when writing new sexual harassment policies. “When you’re in crisis mode, you tend to move quickly. I…
Read MoreMD: Theater cancels ‘A Christmas Carol’ after revelation that Scrooge actor is convicted sex offender
Faced with the revelation that their lead actor was a convicted sex offender and fearing the possibility of protests, the Fells Point Corner Theatre and the Collaborative Theatre Company have canceled their production of “A Christmas Carol,” which was scheduled to open Friday. Full Article
Read MoreWill Feminism’s Past Mistakes Haunt #MeToo?
Women’s fight for the right to work free of sexual insult or molestation has been a long, long one. For nearly two centuries, in labor strikes and broadsides, speak-outs, marches, and now in social media, women have protested the ubiquity of sexual harassment and the impunity of its perpetrators. Full Article
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