The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) will lobby newly elected state legislators in Sacramento on January 30 and 31. Training will be provided to registrants, family members and supporters who lack lobbying experience on January 30 at 9 a.m. at 1215 K Street, 17th Floor. Those with lobbying experience will begin meetings in the offices of the newly elected legislators on the same date and at the same time in the State Capitol. Additional details regarding these activities will be provided on this website in January 2017.
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Adelanto plans to educate on sex offenders
Facing potential legal consequences if they attempt to locally regulate registered sex offenders who already fall under state scrutiny, city officials said recently they’ll instead plan to seek out meetings with senior political figures and build a framework for educating residents. Full Article City Council Workshop Audio Workshop Agenda
Read MoreND: Monitoring sex offenders effective
Tory Jacobson was a detective sergeant with the Moorhead Police Department in 2003 when he came up with an idea about how to keep better track of registered sex offenders. The law at the time required people convicted of certain crimes to keep law enforcement agencies informed of their whereabouts. The burden was and still remains on the offender to remain compliant, or face possible incarceration. The problem: Noncompliance wasn’t always immediately apparent, leading in some cases to a lag time between when an offender stopped following the rules and…
Read MoreTwo Federal Courts Call BS on Banning Sex Offenders From ‘Child Safety Zones’
A couple of years ago, ____ ____, a registered sex offender who lives in Hartford City, Indiana, received a citation for sitting in his brother’s car. The car was parked outside his brother’s house, which happens to be across the street from a school. By sitting in it, ____ violated a local ordinance prohibiting anyone convicted of a sex offense involving a minor from entering a long list of “child safety zones”—including schools, parks, libraries, swimming pools, athletic complexes, movie theaters, and bowling alleys— or “loitering” within 300 feet of…
Read MoreIN: Hartford City sex offender ordinance unconstitutionally vague
A 2008 Hartford City ordinance that restricted registered sex offenders from entering or loitering within 300 feet of broadly defined “child safety zones” is unconstitutionally vague, a federal judge has ruled. Full Article Court Opinion
Read MoreNC: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Absurdly Repressive North Carolina Sex Offender Law
North Carolina’s efforts to drive sex offenders out of public life hit another roadblock on Wednesday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit held that two key provisions of a repressive sex offender law violate the Constitution. The ruling marks the second time this year that a federal appeals court has issued a harsh rebuke to a state for enacting outrageous restrictions against former sex offenders, after the 6th Circuit upbraided Michigan for turning sex offender registrants into “moral lepers.” Wednesday’s decision is also a victory for…
Read MoreMN: Should Fewer People be Listed in Minnesota’s Sex Offender Registry?
Minnesota’s sentencing practices for sexual offenders is coming into question by several groups, each taking up different issues with the status quo. As Alpha News reported the national pro-child, anti-crime group PROTECT is calling for tougher sentences in child pornography cases in Minnesota. The organization released a report titled “Children Betrayed.” It calls Minnesota’s sentencing practices “shocking and dramatically out of step with national and state trends,” and found that Minnesota judges award probation for possession and distribution of child pornography in roughly 90% of all cases. The report states…
Read MoreRegistrant Entrepreneurs Create, Sell Holiday Cards
Registrant entrepreneurs have organized to create and sell holiday cards which are available in a variety of sizes. Each of the 12 cards has a different sports theme ranging from golf to NASCAR racing. The cards can be purchased online at www.crazysantacards.com. The proceeds of all sales will benefit registrants and their families. “The holiday cards are beautifully illustrated and contain witty messages,” stated ACSOL president Janice Bellucci. “I will support registrants and their families by purchasing the holiday cards they have created.”
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: The Many Wonders of a 4th Circuit Decision
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals rendered an important decision yesterday, Does v. Cooper, that is full of many wonders. We can only hope that this wonder-full decision will serve as a guiding light for additional federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, in the future. The greatest wonder of the 4th Circuit’s decision was the Court’s insistence that state laws which prohibited some, but not all, registrants from visiting public and private locations must be based upon empirical evidence if those laws could cover locations where people exercise their…
Read MoreFederal judges challenge collateral consequences
Federal judges have begun speaking out about the burdens imposed by severe collateral consequences and the limited ability of courts to mitigate the resulting harm. This is particularly true in the Eastern District of New York, where some judges have openly lamented the lack of statutory federal expungement authority and have used their opinions and orders to call upon the legislature to ensure that those with criminal records are given a fair shot at success. Among the more vocal critics of collateral consequences is recently retired Judge John Gleeson, who…
Read MoreKentucky, Indiana among states not meeting federal sex offender registry mandates
Neither Kentucky, Indiana nor Illinois are among the 18 states in the nation meeting federal guidelines for sex offender registering and notification. In its most basic form, registering as a sex offender means providing certain information, including physical description, fingerprints, a DNA sample, social security number and Internet communication identities to the authorities in the area where the person is going to live, work or go to school. While many states, including Kentucky, began requiring convicted sex offenders to register in the 1990s, it didn’t become federal law — known as the…
Read MoreOH: Proposal would lessen penalties for some sex offenders
Having sex with his now wife and the mother of his three children when she was a 14-year-old high school freshman earned ____ ____ a label he’s found impossible to shake: Tier II sex offender. Now ____ , and countless others throughout Ohio, may get a break. Proposed changes to Ohio’s sex offender registry would give judges more discretion on what conditions are placed on those convicted of sex crimes and allow offenders like ____ to petition to get off the registry. Full Article
Read MoreWA: Former Mesa mayor posts 21,000 sex offender names after long legal battle
This fall, Donna Zink posted a spreadsheet with the names of 21,000 registered sex offenders in Washington, two-thirds of whom had not been previously identified on public registries. Zink spent three years battling in court to release the information under Washington’s Public Records Act, during which she was frequently vilified as a would-be vigilante. To date, the Mesa-based public records advocate has received just one phone call, and law enforcement sources say they don’t know of any incidents stemming from convicted offenders whose information was previously treated as confidential. Full…
Read MoreUT: Sex offender doesn’t have to reveal sexual history, Utah Supreme Court rules
SALT LAKE CITY — A convicted sex offender does not have to reveal his complete sexual history as a condition of his parole, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled. Full Article
Read MoreNY: SORA – The human cost of junk science
Of the nearly 40,000 persons on New York’s sex offender registry, 9,679 are displayed on its public website as Level 3, a warning that he or she presents the maximum risk of committing a sex crime of maximum seriousness. 14,087 persons are displayed as Level 2, meaning they’re moderately likely to commit a moderately serious sex crime. With so many Frankensteins at large, it’s a wonder anyone dares leave the house. How does the State know these people are so dangerous? Because they’ve each had a SORA hearing where a…
Read MoreSex offender registries discourage rehabilitation (Opinion)
Ten years ago, ____ ____ shared a bottle of vodka and played video games with a fourteen-year-old girl in his basement. The two engaged in sexual activity. When her father’s concern for her whereabouts led him to the home, she told him and the police she had no memory of the incident. ____ was sixteen. He was sentenced to five years, most suspended, and put on probation and the sex offender registry for ten years. Full Article
Read MoreAL: Fire breaks out at home of sex offender who is feuding with neighbors
An investigation is underway after a Thanksgiving morning fire damaged the home of a convicted sex offender who has been in a running feud with his neighbors. Full Article Related AL: Sex offender billboard raised in ‘Hatfield and McCoy’ neighborhood feud
Read MoreOH: Greene Co. family welcomes proposed changes to sex offender registry
A proposed change to the sex offender registry in Ohio has one family in Greene County hoping lawmakers will listen to their story when considering the change. News Center 7’s Natalie Jovonovich talked with ____ and ____ ____, a couple who first met as teenagers in a Clark County high school. ____ was a 14-year-old freshman, and ____ was a 19-year-old senior who met through friends. Full Article
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