Source: cleveland.com 3/16/26 CLEVELAND, Ohio — Let me start with an uncomfortable disclaimer: This column is going to poke holes in a policy that its supporters say was designed to protect children. I understand why that makes people uneasy. When lawmakers say they’re acting to keep kids safe, most of us want to believe the solution must be a good one. But public safety policy shouldn’t be judged by its intentions. It should be judged by whether it actually works. Let’s consider a recent ordinance passed by Middleburg Heights City…
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CA: Fresno Surprising poll results: Should someone who is a registered sex offender be allowed to run for public office?
Source: kmph.com 2/27/26 Local leaders and the community have been in an uproar after a candidate was revealed to have a record as a registered sex offender. Several Fresno city leaders spoke out Thursday at City Hall over the candidacy of Rene Campos, a registered sex offender running for Fresno City Council District 7. … Click here to read the surprising results Click here to read Florida Action Committee’s comments
Read MoreFree webinar for attorneys April 21: Sex Offender Laws: Legal Challenges and Remedies CLE
Speaker Janice Bellucci, Executive Director of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL), will be introduced by SW Prof. Emerita Catherine Carpenter ’76. This event on April 21 will run from 6:00-7:00 p.m. PST and offers 1.0 hour of MCLE credit. Southwestern Law School is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider. The State of California and local governments have passed a wide array of sex offender laws that significantly impact more than 100,000 people who are required to register as a sex offender. Those restrictions include, but…
Read MoreBeyond “Monsters”: The Collective Failure to End the Sexual Violence Epidemic
Source: ampersandsrj.substack.com 3/12/26 I sat in a prison for men convicted of sexual offenses. The cinderblock walls closed in around me, and the fluorescent lights hummed just loud enough to make silence uncomfortable. I had come as a researcher. I had my armor, my research guide, and my pen. A man in a blue jumpsuit mopped the floor. Others milled around, wondering what I was doing. As I read their files, I realized that they reduced men to categories based on the statute they violated or their level of risk.…
Read MoreCA: Former attorney found guilty of 24 counts involving sexual abuse of minors
Source: abajournal.com 3/11/26 A former California attorney was recently convicted of sexually abusing three minor girls over several years and possessing sexually explicit images of two of his victims. Former Walnut Creek, California, real estate attorney Jonathan Dean Bishop, 51, was found guilty March 2 of 24 felony counts for performing lewd acts on girls younger than age 14, identified in court documents as “Jane Doe #1,” “Jane Doe #2” and “Jane Doe #3.” According to a March 3 press release from the… Read the full article
Read MoreFL: Child predators, AI abuse material penalties getting harsher in Florida
Source: tallahassee.com 3/10/26 Florida lawmakers passed a bill to increase penalties for child sexual abuse crimes. The bill also targets AI-generated child sexual abuse material, making its creation and transmission a second-degree felony. It replaces the term “child pornography” with “child sexual abuse material” in state law. Florida lawmakers want to crack down on child sexual predators and AI child sex images or video. A sweeping bill approved Monday, March 8, by the Senate and approved by the House last week would dramatically increase penalties for child sex crimes and…
Read MoreLobby Day Sign Ups Closed
The good news is that more people have signed up for Lobby Day than expected. The bad news is that we cannot accommodate any additional people. Therefore, it is no longer possible to sign up for Lobby Day. If you are not yet signed up for Lobby Day 2026, we hope that you will join us for Lobby Day 2027. .
Read MoreClose to 20% of Children Suffer Sexual Misconduct by Gov’t School Staff
Source: libertysentinel.substack.com 3/10/26 An estimated 17 percent of students in government schools—about 8 million children—are sexually abused in some way by teachers or staff, revealing a far larger epidemic than previously recognized. The epidemic of sexual misconduct targeting children in government schools is back in the headlines, and it is even worse than previously known. According to the latest estimates, a shocking 17 percent of students in government schools will be victims of some sort of sexual abuse or misconduct at the hands of teachers and faculty. That represents…
Read MoreWhen All Files Count the Same: The Problem of Undifferentiated Images in Child Pornography Sentencing
Source: harvardlawreview.org Our society generally agrees that possessing, producing, and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM)1 is morally reprehensible.2 This societal judgment is represented in sentencing outcomes for those convicted of federal child pornography offenses. Of the individuals who were sentenced in 2023 for child pornography–related offenses, ninety-nine percent were sentenced to prison, with an average sentence of 114 months.3 But, despite the severity of these crimes, sentencing fails to consider certain forensic evidence that could help distinguish more and less culpable offenders. Judges have discretion over sentencing outcomes but…
Read MoreCA: Registrant Withdraws from Fresno City Council Election
Source: ACSOL Rene Campos, a registrant, has withdrawn from the Fresno City Council election. The reason for his withdrawal is an inability to obtain 20 signatures from voters. “The fact that Mr. Campos was unable to obtain the necessary signatures to run for Fresno City Council is due in large part to a coordinated campaign to discredit him,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “At least one City Council member as well as other prominent members of that community bullied Mr. Campos as well as voters who might have signed…
Read MoreSupreme Court Vigil 2026 Held in Washington, D.C.
Registrants and family members conducted a vigil today in Washington, D.C., near the U.S. Supreme Court. The participants held printed signs with messages such as “Smith v. Doe Must Go” and “Registration is Punishment.” The sole speaker at the event was civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci. In her speech, she stated that the Court made a “terrible mistake” in 2003 when they issued the Smith v. Doe decision which erroneously stated that registration is not punishment. Bellucci also demanded that the Court overturn its decision immediately. Following Bellucci’s speech, the…
Read MoreACSOL Board Members Meet in Four Congressional D. C. Offices
ACSOL Board Members Janice Bellucci and Roger Hunnicutt met today in four Congressional offices to voice ACSOL’s opposition to three bills recently introduced in Congress. Each of those bills, if enacted into law, would significantly harm up to one million registrants and their families. One of the four meetings was in the office of Rep. Greg Steube (Republican, Florida) regarding HR 7453. If that bill were passed, registrants would be blocked from receiving Medicaid benefits even if they were otherwise qualified recipients. Another of the four meetings was in the…
Read MoreCA: Nonprofit vows to fight proposed California ban on sex offenders in public office
Source: fresnobee.com 3/4/26 An advocacy group is threatening to file a lawsuit challenging a proposal to ban registered sex offenders from running for public office in California with the intent to block a Fresno City Council candidate’s campaign. Spurred by the crowded District 7 race that includes Rene Campos, a registered sex offender, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria said she will amend an existing bill, AB 2753, to include language prohibiting any registered sex offender in California from running for state or local office. Five Fresno City Council members also said last…
Read MoreCA: Asm. Soria Plans to Amend AB 2753 Preventing Registered Sex Offenders from Running for Public Office in California
Source: yahoo.com for ABC30 3/4/26 Candidate hopeful Rene Campos, a registered sex offender who was convicted of possession of child sex abuse material in 2018, finds himself at the center of yet another legislative push for stricter laws. Tuesday, Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria of Merced introduced a bill that would block registered sex offenders from running or holding any local or state public office. “It was very disturbing to hear the news that we would have in the City of Fresno, the fifth largest city in the State of California, have…
Read MoreNC: Ex-inmate buys prison to offer housing and job training for others
Source: goodnewsinstead.com At just 18, Kerwin Pittman found himself facing the challenges of life behind bars due to a conspiracy to commit murder. However, after spending 11 and a half years incarcerated, including a year in solitary confinement, he emerged with a renewed sense of purpose. Now, eight years after his release, he is making history as the first former inmate to purchase a prison in the United States. Following his release, Pittman dedicated himself to advocating for social justice, establishing the Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services, Inc. (RREPS), a…
Read MoreCA: California school files police report after sex offender, city hall candidate, holds event near campus
Source: desertsun.com 3/3/26 Officials at a Fresno elementary school filed a police report after a City Council candidate who is a registered sex offender held a news conference across the street from the campus during weekday afternoon hours, raising questions about public safety and who is legally allowed to run for and serve in public office in California. Rene Campos, 41, a candidate in Fresno’s District 7 City Council race, held the press conference Friday afternoon outside Saint John’s Cathedral in downtown Fresno, according to reporting by The Fresno Bee. The church sits directly…
Read MoreWA: Proposed registered sex offender housing site in Kennewick vandalized again
Source: nbcrightnow.com 3/2/26 KENNEWICK, Wash. – The site of the proposed less restrictive alternative (LRA) housing facility for registered sex offenders in Kennewick was vandalized overnight on Monday, according to Kennewick Police Department officer Jair Ealy-Thomas. The site, on West 8th Avenue, has been the source of controversy in recent weeks and faced opposition from the Kennewick City Council and Kennewick School District. Watch the video
Read MoreFL: Bill upping prison time for child sexual predators heading to Senate floor
Source: floridapolitics.com 3/2/26 The legislation comes as Attorney General James Uthmeier has stepped up action against child sexual predators. A bill designed to increase prison sentences for child sex offenders is now heading to the Senate floor. The Senate Fiscal Policy Committee has advanced the measure, completing the Committee review process in the upper chamber. “This bill increases penalties and creates mandatory prison sentences for the most serious sex crimes, especially those involving children,” said Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Fort Myers Republican who sponsored the bill (SB 1750). “This deals with child pornography…
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