JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri — A Missouri ballot measure that would allow allegations of past actions to be used against people facing child sexual abuse charges could lead to more wrongful convictions of the falsely accused, a prominent defense attorney said Wednesday. The proposed constitutional amendment is backed by prosecutors, sheriffs and police chiefs’ groups. It would allow past criminal acts — even alleged crimes that didn’t result in convictions — to be used to corroborate victim testimony or demonstrate a defendant’s propensity to commit such crimes when people face sex-related…
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I was taking pictures of my daughters. A stranger thought I was exploiting them.
After my family arrives on the Cape May ferry for our annual vacation to the Jersey Shore, I take pictures of our two daughters on the ferry’s deck as we leave the harbor. I’ve been doing this since they were 3 and 4 years old. They are now 16 and 17. … Totally engaged with the scene in front of me, I jumped when a man came up beside me and said to my daughters: “I would be remiss if I didn’t ask if you were okay.” Full Article
Read MoreMD: Weakening the Shield: Reforming Sex Offender Registry Laws for the Worse?
The sex offender registry has long been a system relied upon by the government to keep track of the residence and activities of sex offenders, including ones who have completed their court-ordered sentences. It is also a shield designed to protect the public; however, the shield could soon be weakened when at least 1,200 names disappear from the State of Maryland’s registry. Full Article
Read MoreLA: Confusion Remains Surrounding Sex Offender Photos Law
Confusion, mis-information or no information continue to be a theme for Louisiana State Representative Barbara Norton’s law on posting sex offender photos in schools where *kids* can see them. At the end of last school year KTBS spot checked 4 local schools. 1 in Bossier and 3 in Caddo, most were not in compliance with the law. Photos of sex offenders were posted in teacher lounges and places that students would not regularly have access to, thus defeating the purpose of Norton’s Act 859. “I wanted to give children the…
Read MoreLiberty and justice for all – and yes, that includes sex offenders
As thousands of students poured through the Spine and milled about the Student Union on the first day of classes, phones and computers all over campus buzzed and beeped, announcing an incoming email that would set one of their classmates apart. When SUNY recommended to UB students be contacted directly about the presence of a Level 2 sex offender on campus, it singlehandedly brought an end to the short-lived possibility that ____ ____ could experience a normal school year. Full Article Related: Sex Offender Enrolls at UB
Read MoreFederal Cybersecurity Director Found Guilty on Child Porn Charges
As the acting cybersecurity chief of a federal agency, ____ ____ should have been well versed in the digital footprints users leave behind online when they visit web sites and download images. But ____ —convicted today in Nebraska on three child porn charges including conspiracy to solicit and distribute child porn—must have believed his use of the Tor anonymizing network shielded him from federal investigators. … The FBI monitored him for a year and after arresting him in November 2012 continued to operate his child porn sites secretly from a federal facility…
Read MoreCalifornia passes ‘yes-means-yes’ campus sexual assault bill
Californian lawmakers passed a law on Thursday requiring universities to adopt “affirmative consent” language in their definitions of consensual sex, part of a nationwide drive to curb sexual assault on U.S. campuses. Full Article LA Times Article
Read MoreScotts Valley sex offender treatment center closes days before school starts
SCOTTS VALLEY >> A sex offender treatment center that drew the ire of some parents because it was located near Scotts Valley Middle School closed Monday. The announcement came Tuesday on the eve of the first day of school in Scotts Valley, months after the Scotts Valley Police Department asked the center to find a new location and almost two years since the facility first opened doors. Full Article
Read MoreMO: No place for sex offenders to go
Ol’ Chaplain Farris Robertson is at it again — housing multiple registered sex offenders in a residential Springfield neighborhood despite a city order to vacate. Attorneys with the city of Springfield, busy defending the city’s position in federal court, have decided to leave the residents of 1809 E. Crestview St. alone, for now. City officials are hopeful a court hearing, expected in early September, will put an end to the discussion and finally force the residents to disband. The city says, among other complaints, that far too many of the…
Read MorePolygraphs don’t work. So why do we still use them?
The FBI gives a polygraph test to every single person who’s considered for a job there. When the DEA, CIA, and other agencies are taken into account, about 70,000 people a year submit to polygraphs while seeking security clearances and jobs with the federal government. Polygraphs are also regularly used by law enforcement when interrogating suspects. In some places, they’re used to monitor the activities of sex offenders on probation, and some judges have recently permitted plea bargains that hinge on the results of defendants’ polygraph tests. Full Article
Read MoreMA: SJC upholds GPS monitoring of sex offenders
The state’s highest court has rejected a challenge to the state law that requires GPS monitoring during probation for people convicted of certain sex offenses involving a child. The court said the law gave judges no discretion on whether to impose the GPS monitoring during probation, and the Legislature had good reasons for enacting the law. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Air Force aiding Florida police in sex stings
CLEARWATER, Fla. – Not only have Central Florida law enforcement officers violated federal rules in conducting “To Catch a Predator”-inspired sex stings, but WTSP in Tampa has learned they may also violate longstanding federal law that prohibits the use of military resources to enforce state laws. Full Article
Read MoreChild-porn sentencing questioned
Are federal sentencing guidelines for possessing child pornography too harsh? Calling the guidelines “draconian,” U.S. District Judge James L. Graham has become increasingly vocal in his criticism from the federal bench in Columbus. Full Article
Read MoreSex Offenders Housing Restrictions Are Pointless (Opinion)
On Thursday, Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times reported that “Dozens of sex offenders who have satisfied their sentences in New York State are being held in prison beyond their release dates because of a new interpretation of a state law that governs where they can live.” In short, since 2005, sex offenders in the state can’t live within 1,000 feet of a school, and a February ruling from the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision extended that restriction to homeless shelters. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreTwo decades later, has Megan’s Law delivered? (Opinion)
It’s been 20 years since New Jersey’s Legislature passed Megan’s Law. The two decades since have been filled with legal challenges and disappointment it didn’t accomplish what many thought it would. It’s what happens when politics and emotion team to shortcut the legislative process. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreMN: Mankato attorney steeped in sex offender controversy
MANKATO — As an attorney for dozens of sex offenders and a member of a high-profile panel to guide lawmakers and the courts, Ryan Magnus has a unique view of Minnesota’s sex offender quandary. When Magnus, a defense attorney with Mankato-based Jones and Magnus, looks at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program, he doesn’t only see the worst of the worst. He sees people who only committed crimes as juveniles, before they mentally matured. It’s too soon to reliably guess if they’ll re-offend as adults. The poster child for these cases…
Read MoreGermany- “Don’t Offend” therapy model
This project is a free of charge treatment offer which underlies confidentiality*. It is directed at people seeking therapeutic help because they feel sexually attracted to children and adolescents and/or who use child abusive images. Within the course of therapy, the person concerned is offered support concerning the prevention of child sexual abuse in the form of hands-on contact or ‘online abuse’ by using or producing child abusive image material. *There is no mandatory report law in Germany For taking part in this project one should be aware of one’s own…
Read MoreMT: Under the radar: More than half of all sex offenders on the registry still lack a tier level
In Montana, sex offenders are supposed to receive a 1, 2 or 3 tier designation, effectively telling the public how dangerous they are. An offender’s designation also affects how they’re supervised on the registry. It affects how often they have to check in and verify their address, how long they have to register and the amount of information that’s made available to the public. But that rule has become the exception. A Gazette examination found that more than half of all sex offenders on the registry didn’t have a tier level…
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