[Prison Fellowship] What is the worst thing you’ve ever done? Now imagine being known by that one mistake — regardless of what you’ve done to take responsibility or make amends. You have to write it on the top of every application for employment or housing you ever fill out — for the rest of your life. Labels are powerful, and our society has plenty for people who have been through the criminal justice system and have the record to show for it: Felon. Offender. Convict. Criminal. Even inmate casts a dark shadow in its…
Read MoreMore News
WI: State legislation would exempt teens from a felony for having consensual sex
[WKOW Madison, Wisconsin] Sex between most Wisconsin high school students would be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor, under the so-called “Romeo and Juliet bill” heard Thursday by the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. Public testimony brought out some very strong emotions from people who have seen their lives, and the lives of loved ones, turned upside down by a decision to have sex as teenagers. Cindy Komorowski fought back tears as she told lawmakers about her teenage son, Mitchell. “In the eyes of the law,…
Read MoreCA: Governor Brown Signs Equality California-Sponsored Bill to Reform California’s Sex Offender Registry
[Equality California] Sacramento–California Gov. Jerry Brown today signed a bill to reform California’s sex offender registry, creating a tiered system that will make the registry a more effective tool for law enforcement and bring California’s system in line with the rest of the United States. SB 384 was authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and co-authored by Senators Joel Anderson (R- Alpine), Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), and Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley). The bill was sponsored by Equality California, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, the California Coalition Against Sexual…
Read MoreCA: California will soon end lifetime registration of some sex offenders under bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown
[L.A. Times] Thousands of Californians will be allowed to take their names off the state’s registry of sex offenders as a result of action Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown signed legislation that, when it takes effect Jan. 1, will end lifetime listings for lower-level offenders judged to be at little risk of committing new crimes. The measure was introduced at the request of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and other law enforcement officials who said the registry, which has grown to more than 105,000 names, is less…
Read MoreIN: Indiana Supreme Court – Sex with minors is OK, but it’s illegal to sext them
In Indiana, it’s legal for adults to have consensual sex with minors aged 16 and 17. But it’s illegal to sext those same minors, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled this week. The decision reinstated sexting charges against an adult who texted nude images of himself to a girl he knew was 16. Full Article
Read MoreMI: Michigan’s sex offender registry needs reform, U.S. Supreme Court decides (audio)
[Florida Action Committee] J.J. Prescott, a University of Michigan law professor and expert on sex offender laws, talks about the state of the sex offender registry in Michigan, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision not to review a lower court’s ruling that the registry violates Ex Post Facto Laws. Listen to the audio recording
Read MoreWA: Motion filed to allow sex offender to move after eviction notice
[KREM.com] SPOKANE, Wash. – Attorneys for a level three sex offender released to Spokane in 2016 have filed a motion for him to move to new housing. David McCuistion was served an eviction notice by his landlord at the New Washington Apartments in downtown Spokane back in July. He was served an eviction notice at his current apartment because his landlord did not like the publicity, court documents said. Read more
Read MoreNiagara Falls men imprisoned in beating of sex offender
[The Buffalo News] Rondell V. Ralands of Niagara Falls was sentenced Tuesday to 2 1/2 years in prison for his role in the beating of a registered sex offender who also was his sister’s boyfriend. The woman called Ralands, 29, of 38th Street, and Terrill D. Pettway, 27, of Steele Circle, Town of Niagara, after a Nov. 25 domestic incident with Cyston L. Brundidge Jr., 44. Brundidge needed 47 stitches to close two cuts. When he pleaded guilty, Ralands said he hit Brundidge with a cellphone. Read more
Read MoreGet rid of the registry [Opd Ed]
There’s nothing I can say about the tragedy in Las Vegas, except this: some version of that will happen in Michigan, probably sooner rather than later. The politicians are either in the pay of the gun lobby fanatics or resigned to the fact that they can’t possibly overcome them, so nothing will change. Nothing, that is, unless and until people somehow demand that democracy and sanity be restored. So far, they haven’t, and the senseless killing will go on. But there is something we do have an opportunity to change:…
Read MoreWhere is proof that sex offender lists make communities safer?
I have been trained to use facts as the foundation for my decisions. Your editorial states that the sexual offender registry “is an important public safety tool (that) presents critical public information … that can make communities safer.” Full Letter to the editor
Read MoreHI: 1 in 5 Big Island sex offenders noncompliant with registry requirements
Almost one in five Big Island sex offenders is noncompliant with state sex offender registry requirements. As of Sept. 11, 73 of 402 “covered offenders” — those required to register — weren’t in compliance with the state’s registry law, according to figures from the Department of the Attorney General’s Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center. That’s more than 18 percent. Full Article
Read MoreMN: Supreme Court Won’t Hear Minnesota Sex Offender Case
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that it won’t hear a challenge to Minnesota’s sex offender civil commitment system (Karsjens v Piper), which allows people who have been deemed sexually dangerous to be committed to a treatment facility for an indefinite period of time. Full Article Order List
Read MoreMI: SCOTUS denies review in Snyder v. Doe
UPDATE: Statement from the Michigan ACLU The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it will not hear the State of Michigan’s appeal in a challenge to the state¹ sex offender registration law, which was dealt a major blow by a federal appeals court in a unanimous decision last year. Today’s announcement effectively requires the Michigan legislature to replace the existing law, thus creating an opportunity to reform Michigan’s registry, which has been widely criticized as bloated and ineffective. The lawsuit was originally brought by the ACLU of Michigan and the…
Read MoreGeneral Comments October 2017
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of October 2017. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Read MoreNY: Neighbors question nonprofit’s assistance of sex offender’s home
Along Fountain Street, tall trees and manicured lawns are graced with flowers, trimmed hedges and American flags. And, in the yard next to convicted sex offender ____ ____’s house, two lawn signs together read “Sexually molest a child and you get your home remodeled for free!” The signs highlight not only a simmering feud between ____ and several of his neighbors, documented in several Olean Police Department reports over the last two years, but also a debate the neighbors would like to have: Should nonprofit assistance funds for the impoverished…
Read MoreFL: Yellow wristbands, segregation for Florida homeless in Irma
[Richmond Times-Dispatch] ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) — Shelby Hoogendyk says that when she, her husband and her 17-month-old son arrived at an emergency shelter as Hurricane Irma closed in, they were separated from others by yellow wristbands and told to stay in an area with other people like them — the homeless. Sheriff’s deputies, she says, told them the wristbands were prompted by problems that arose among homeless people at the shelter during Hurricane Matthew a year earlier. “We were treated like we were guilty criminals,” Hoogendyk says. In the…
Read MoreTX: Underage teenager faces life as registered sex offender for having sex with underage girlfriend
[injusticetoday.com] A 14-year-old Houston teenager may be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life after he was charged with having sex with his 12-year-old girlfriend. The seventh grader, whose name has not been revealed, has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. His girlfriend is in the sixth grade, the Houston Chronicle said. “He had consensual sex with his little girlfriend and he loved her. They were boyfriend-girlfriend,” the teen’s mother said. Texas law has the “Romeo and Juliet” exception, which means that having sex…
Read MoreHouse Passes Bill That Could Have Teens Facing 15 Years For Trying To Sext
[Forbes] In Washington as in life, certain roads may be paved with good intentions, but critics of a purportedly well-meaning new bill warn it would lead to major suffering for the very people it’s meant to protect: U.S. teenagers. Last week, the House of Representatives approved H.R.1761, also known as the “Protecting Against Child Exploitation Act of 2017,” which builds on current law that makes teen-to-teen sexting a crime. Reportedly aimed at closing “loopholes” in child pornography legislation, the bill received support from all but two Republican congressmen, Reps. Justin…
Read More