This is your second notice of an extremely important conference call. This month’s call will focus on two very important pending court cases: International Megan’s Law challenge currently pending in the U.S District Court, Northern District of California; and The ACLU’s lawsuit in Rhode Island pending in U.S. District Court, District of Rhode Island. Our special guests will be Janice Bellucci, CA RSOL President, and Steve Brown, Executive Director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. General Q & A will follow after each report. Everyone is invited to listen in on the…
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NY: How Do You Track Sex Offenders? NY County Hires Ex-Cops
The “registry verification representatives” wear street clothes and travel in nondescript Toyota sedans. They work in pairs, knocking on doors at run-down trailers and waterfront mansions to find out if registered sex offenders are actually living where they say they are. But this is not some elite police unit. It is part of an unusual public-private partnership in Long Island’s Suffolk County that uses six retired New York City police officers to hold ex-cons accountable to sex-offender registry laws. Full Article
Read MoreIML Motion to be Heard on March 30 in Oakland
A hearing will be held on March 30 during which a decision is expected by a federal judge regarding whether to grant a Preliminary Injunction that would stop implementation of all or part of the International Megan’s Law (IML). Judge Phyllis Hamilton will preside over that hearing in Courtroom 3 at the U.S. District Court, 1301 Clay Street, Oakland, CA. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m., however, three additional matters are also on the judge’s schedule that morning. A press conference will be held immediately after the…
Read MoreThe U.S. Congress Has Successfully Extended the “Megan” Franchise
We lost the battle, brewing for some eight years in Congress, which will effectively stop those of us, U.S. ‘registered sex offenders.’ from venturing beyond our own countries. The enactment of International Megan’s Law is not the end of the war, however, as we are fighting back against this injustice in the courts and, to the extent that we wield any influence, in the media. The bill was signed into law by President Obama February 8th of this year and will stoke the fire under the simmering cauldron which ‘child…
Read More“My Child’s Toy Has a Pedophile Symbol on It!” — Actual News Report
By buying a plush toy with a heart on it, Tampa mom Nicole O’Kelly unwittingly alerted predators that her little girl “is ready to be traded for sex.” Or so reports (if that’s the word) the station WFLA. Using a garbled mishmash of horror and hysteria, correspondent Melanie Michael told viewers that the toy, a pink stuffed truck recently purchased at a Monster Jam event, “held a sick secret; a disgusting calling card for creeps. The heart on the toy was a symbol for pedophiles.” Um…what? The heart within a heart, the reporter continued, is…
Read MoreIL: Heightened observation deters sex offenders (Opinion)
The last place a convicted sex offender is going to repeat such a heinous crime is at the office of their probation officer. That’s why the news the Illinois Legislature has more than doubled the funding for the Kankakee County Probation Department is good news indeed. Full Article
Read MoreSt. Lucia: Zandoli presents sex offender petition
Saint Lucia is in talks with other countries of the Caribbean on the implementation of a regional registry of sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreNM: Attorney General Would Rather See Sexting Teens Treated As Sex Offenders Than See His Funding ‘Jeopardized’
Teens sexting can’t be addressed by existing laws. Law enforcement — which far too often chooses to involve itself in matters best left to parents — bends child pornography laws to “fit” the crime. They often state they’re only doing this to save kids from the harm that might result by further distribution of explicit photos. How exactly turning a teen into a child pornographer who must add his or herself to the sex offender registries is less harmful than the imagined outcomes cited by law enforcement is never explained.…
Read MoreOH: Sex offender registered to vote at Brook Park elementary school
Registered sex offenders in Ohio are not allowed to reside within 1,000 feet of a school, but they are allowed to enter schools to vote, causing concerns for some elementary school parents in Brook Park. Full Article
Read MoreJuveniles Don’t Belong On The Sex Offender Registry (Opinion)
At the age of 17, Mark O. of Grand Rapids, Mich., got his then 15-year old girlfriend pregnant. Taking responsibility for his actions and agreeing to provide support, he signed the birth certificate and later married the mother of his child. His “reward” was to face charges for sexual assault and a long-term requirement that his name and photo appear on a public sex-offender registry. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreFL: Mentally ill man arrested after hunting down sex offender with hammer, deputies say
A convicted sex offender fended off an attack from a man wielding a hammer and “acting really nervous and sweating” who rang his doorbell Monday night, reports show. ____ ____, 54, opened the door of his Jardim De Largo Street home at around 9:30 p.m. to a man who allegedly lunged at him at him with the hammer, deputies said. Full Article
Read MoreTime has come to declare voting a universal, fundamental right
I voted today. I know. What’s the big deal, right? Most Americans exercise the privilege sorta like they wash their cars. Sometimes it’s important. Other times, whatever. And that’s all it is, you know. A privilege. Yes, it’s 2016. Yes, we talk a good game about self-government and democracy. But voting in American, unlike speech and breeding, still doesn’t rank as “fundamental” in the pantheon of rights, at least not “legally” speaking. Full Article
Read MoreThe Biggest Sex-Trafficking Bust in FBI History Was Totally Bogus
In the press, it was a “wide-reaching sex-trafficking operation” run by Somali Muslim gangs who forced “girls as young as 12” to sell sex in Minnesota and Tennessee. In reality, the operation—which led to charges against 30 individuals, sex-trafficking convictions for three, and an eight year legal battle—was a fiction crafted by two troubled teenagers, a member of the FBI’s human-trafficking task force, and an array of overzealous officials. An opinion released this week by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals shows that federal prosecuters had no evidence whatsoever to…
Read MoreThe List
When juveniles are found guilty of sexual misconduct, the sex-offender registry can be a life sentence. Full Article
Read MoreHe ‘couldn’t fight back’: Mom of beaten baby wants abuser registry
On a November morning in 2013, Erica Hammel learned over the phone that her 1-year-old son Wyatt was near death — hospitalized with a skull fracture and brain damage after being violently shaken by a woman trusted to care for him. Hammel would later learn the woman had twice been convicted of child abuse — a revelation that led the Michigan mother to fight for a state-wide child abuser registry, which, if passed, would be the first of its kind in the nation. Full Article
Read MoreAL: Lawmaker introduces sex offender castration bill
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — An Alabama lawmaker has a plan to permanently and physically punish someone convicted of certain sex offenses against children. The bill, known as HB 365, would make those sex offenders have to get surgically castrated before they leave prison. HB 365 was introduced by State Representative Steve Hurst, R-Calhoun County. He said the bill will be for sex offenders over the age of 21 that committed sex offenses against children 12 years old and younger. “They have marked this child for life and the punishment should fit the…
Read MoreNo, Senator Grassley, the Adam Walsh Act does NOT need to be re-authorized (Open Letter)
Mr. Grassley, like you, we grieve with families of children who are victimized and abused, and we especially grieve that virtually all of this type of crime is committed by the family members and others close to their young victims. Like you, we would like to see a strong commitment to keeping our nation’s children safe. Unlike you, however, we have seen no evidence of this commitment for the past twenty-five years. Such a commitment must be based on solid research, on facts and evidence, and on the reality of…
Read MoreWI: Supervisors balk at sex offender proposal
The Milwaukee County Board’s judiciary committee on Thursday delayed action on a proposed sex offender relocation information policy to give sponsors time to rewrite the proposal to comply with a county attorney’s opinion that found it unenforceable. County Corporation Counsel Paul Bargren says in an opinion that the policy drafted by Supervisors Jason Haas and John Weishan Jr. is in conflict with state law and the state constitution. Full Article
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