El Centro City Council approved repealing a city ordinance relating to registered sex offender restrictions due to a state law that precedes the city’s ordinance. The city recently received a letter from a nonprofit group asking them to repeal the ordinance and would challenge the ordinance in court if it was not repealed in 60 days, El Centro Mayor Viegas-Walker said. El Centro and many other cities throughout the state are now having to repeal ordinances implemented in 2006 while the state figured out what the rules would be, said…
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Re-Offense Rate Drops in New CDCR Report
The rate at which registered citizens on parole commit a second sex offense has dropped to 1.8 percent according to a new report issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). “The rate of re-offense for registered citizens on parole is an important fact for the public to know,” stated CA RSOL President Janice Bellucci. “It debunks the myth that registered citizens ‘always’ re-offend.” The report also noted a rise in parole violations from 86.9 percent to 88 percent. Parole violations can be minimal including consumption of a single alcoholic beverage…
Read MoreAdditional Counseling Not Required For Some Registrants
The California Supreme Court has denied review of a case thereby relieving some registered citizens from the duty to participate in a state-mandated sex offender management program. Specifically, as a result of the Supreme Court’s denial, registered citizens currently on probation whose sex offense occurred prior to September 10, 2010, are not required to complete a sex offender management program mandated by Penal Code Section 1203.067(b). The Supreme Court’s decision lets stand the decision of the Court of Appeal in the case People v. Douglas M. which was decided on October 24, 2013. The case was…
Read MoreTN: Sex Offender Notification Bill Advances In Tennessee Legislature
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn.(WHNT)-A push for tougher sex offender notification laws in Tennessee came one step closer to reality Tuesday, part of an ongoing effort that originated in Lincoln County several months ago. A committee in the Tennessee Legislature approved HB 1860, a bill that would allow municipal and county governments to mail written notices and post flyers in communities that convicted sex offenders move to. … “This gives parents the knowledge of who is in their community,” said Blackwelder. “It doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime…In this bill there is an additional…
Read MoreMA: Lawmaker wants to ban sex offenders from lottery winnings
UXBRIDGE — A veteran lawmaker said Tuesday he is working on a bill that would ban convicted sex offenders from payouts by the state lottery. State Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge, was reacting to the recent arrest of a convicted Level 3 sex offender in his hometown. Full Article
Read MoreRegistered Sex Offender Released After Being Wrongly Identified As Person on School Grounds
A registered sex offender who was believed to be the suspicious person spotted on a Sunnyvale school campus in January has been cleared in the case and is no longer in jail, a prosecutor said today. Theodore ____ ____, 42, of San Jose, was released from the Santa Clara County Main Jail on Feb. 24 after prosecutors concluded that he did not visit the South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale on Dec. 20, Deputy District Attorney Brian Welch said. A prosecutor assigned to ___ case came to that conclusion…
Read MoreAnaheim, Grand Terrace Suspend Enforcement of Sex Offender Ordinances
The cities of Anaheim and Grand Terrace have agreed to suspend enforcement of sex offender ordinances that prohibit registered citizens from visiting public parks and other recreational areas. The cities reached this agreement with California RSOL after the organization notified them of recent appellate court decisions that such ordinances were preempted by state law and therefore could not be lawfully enforced. “These agreements are significant victories for registered citizens throughout the state of California,” stated CA RSOL President Janice Bellucci. “They will allow more than 105,000 citizens, their family members…
Read MoreAustralia: Morcombes support sex offenders register
Broadcaster Derryn Hinch says his plan for a public sex offenders register is almost complete and he hopes Daniel Morcombe’s murder will force politicians to act. Hinch has long campaigned to name and shame pedophiles and says the Morcombe case proves the need for a national register so Australians can understand threats in their communities. … Hinch, who has gone to jail for revealing details about sex offenders’ past crimes, says a national register is a no-brainer and that in the US it hasn’t resulted in the kind of vigilante action…
Read MoreGeneral avoids sex offender list
Raleigh, N.C.— Defense attorneys said Sunday that an Army general has agreed to a plea deal that includes the dropping of sexual assault charges against him. Lawyers representing Brig. Gen. ____ ____ said he will plead to lesser charges in exchange for having the sexual assault charges dropped, along with two other counts that might have required Sinclair to register as a sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreMN: As Sex Offender Program Marches On, Rising Costs
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota lawmakers are getting nowhere over how to resolve constitutional questions about the state’s sex offender treatment program, but the same can’t be said about the program’s costs. They’re going somewhere — up. Full Article
Read MoreAR: Police Check On Sex Offenders As Spring Break Looms
Multiple agencies in Sebastian and Crawford counties conducted a sex offender compliance operation this week in preparation for keeping the community safe during spring break, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Operation “Safe Break” confirmed compliance with 452 offenders, checking on them to make sure they are following all sex offender requirements, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Authorities made four arrests during the operation, which involved non-compliance with sex offender registration. Officers will also be seeking warrants on another 10 offenders not arrested during the operation but who appear…
Read MoreTX: Houston father shoots and kills boy in teen daughter’s room
A Houston father shot and killed a teenage boy he found in the room of his 16-year-old daughter in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said. The father heard noises coming from the room and went to investigate. Upon finding the 17-year-old boy with his daughter, the father got into a fight with the boy, and “the homeowner, who was armed, shot the male once,” the office said. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Dozens of sex offenders in Suffolk gave wrong addresses
Dozens of registered sex offenders living in Suffolk County provided inaccurate addresses in the year since county lawmakers passed a law to intensify monitoring of the ex-convicts, and more than 140 others were found to have violated rules requiring them to update their photos on a state registry. Laura Ahearn, executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law, contracted by the county last year to monitor more than 900 registered sex offenders, told lawmakers Thursday that the increased scrutiny has led to an increase in arrests for violating state reporting requirements.…
Read MoreMaking Punishment Fit the Crime
Todd R. Clear, dean of Rutgers University–Newark School of Criminal Justice, is one of the country’s leading criminologists. A former president of the American Society of Criminology, he is widely known for his advocacy of evidence-based programs. In his newest book, The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America, Clear notes that the U.S. stands out among Western democracies for the “relentless punitive spirit” of its three-decades long mass incarceration policies. Full Article
Read MoreDo we really need new sex offender laws every time a child is killed?
First, we need to get out of the way the accusations, based on the title of this post, that I don’t care about the victims. I care about the victims much, much more than those who persist in supporting a system that all but ignores the victims and apparently doesn’t care about any victims except those victimized by registered sex offenders. Florida has just passed a plethora of laws, and is looking to pass more, under the guise of protecting children from those registered sex offenders. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreIN: Many sex offenders fail to register with the state
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – I-Team 8 has learned deputies in Colorado were after an Indiana sex offender the day they say he murdered a mother and her two children, just five and nine years old. I-Team 8 Chief Investigative Reporter Karen Hensel has uncovered ___ ___ once on parole in Indiana, failed to register. ____ moved from Indiana to Colorado in 2012 where he was required to register four times a year. Colorado deputies tell I-Team 8 he was supposed to register March 4. A five day grace period meant the…
Read MoreCalifornia Bill Redefines Quiet, Consensual Sex as Rape
How does classifying most consensual sex as rape help rape victims? As a lawyer who has handled rape and sexual harassment cases, I have no idea, but this radical result is what some want to happen in California. In endorsing a bill in the California legislature that would require “affirmative consent” before sex can occur on campus, the editorial boards of the Sacramento and Fresno Bee, and the Daily Californian advocated that sex be treated as “sexual assault” unless the participants discuss it “out loud” before sex, and “demonstrate they…
Read MoreTX: ‘Failure to register’ nets sex offender 60 years
A Willis man was convicted to 60 years in prison Tuesday for failure to register as a sex offender. A Montgomery County jury in the 435th District Court found ___ ___ ___, 59, guilty of failure to register as a sex offender Monday, and District Court Judge Michael T. Seiler sentenced ___ to 60 years in prison on Tuesday. “We are very pleased with the jury’s verdict and the judge’s sentence,” said assistant prosecutor Shanna Redwine. “Both the jury and the judge obviously appreciate the danger of having a convicted…
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