The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation.
Important News / Announcements
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
02
Sep
2020
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of September 2020. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
01
Sep
2020
On the last day possible, the California legislature passed Senate Bill 145. The bill now goes to the Governor who has up to 30 days to sign or veto it. "Senate Bill 145 has been controversial since its introduction," stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. "Due to the dedication of its author, Senator Scott Wiener, Senate Bill 145 was passed over the objections of...
ACSOL received today the first report that the U.S. State Department has notified a registrant by email that his passport has been revoked. The email included as an attachment a formal letter from the department. The email and letter were sent to the registrant on August 26, 2020, more than six months after his last trip overseas to a country where he was allowed...
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a decision, that if left unchallenged, will require some individuals convicted of a sex offense to continue to register for life even if the state in which he resides no longer does. "This decision is shocking and could reverse the benefits of every state's Tiered Registry laws as well as other post conviction relief," stated ACSOL...
[Maxwell Monty] On April 3, 2017, I sat down with my copy of the “Wall Street Journal,” took a sip of my morning cup of coffee and began reading a book review of retired U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven’s Make Your Bed. In another lifetime, I may have simply passed over that review, thinking it was another fool’s errand somehow sent by my...
We’re tired of hearing that the registry isn’t punishment. Tired of “it’s for public safety” rhetoric that politicians use to keep the public in a constant state of fear, fanning the flames of hatred and depicting anyone on the registry as a violent, predatory monster. The registry is punishment. The courts know it. Registrants know it. Families, friends, spouses and children of registrants know...
[littlereddots.substack.com - 8/22/20 - Guy Hamilton-Smith] Note: this piece is adapted from a forthcoming article in the Southwestern Law Review Several years ago, a debate raged in my local paper’s opinion section. Should sex offenders be allowed in church?, or something of the like. I wasn’t a churchgoer, but I had a spiritual experience that I didn’t know what to do with. I asked one...
26
Aug
2020
[nytimes.com - 8/26/20] Jace Hambrick worked as an apprentice laborer during the week, renovating homes around Vancouver, Wash., and at a neighborhood gas station on weekends. Much of the rest of his life was online. He was hard-core, amassing a collection of more than 200 games. People told him it wasn’t smart to be so cut off from reality, but his internet life felt...
[stjosephpost.com - 8/24/20] TOPEKA – A ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has reaffirmed the authority of states to maintain sex offender registries to inform the public and rejected the claim that registries are a form of punishment, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said Monday. The appellate ruling last week reversed a 2017 lower court decision striking down...
[jlc.org - 8/13/20] The Juvenile Law Center released today a comprehensive report focused upon individuals who are currently required to register due to their conviction for a sex offense that was committed when they were children. According to that report, there are more than 200,000 such individuals including people who were convicted when they were only 8 years old. The report points out that...
UPDATED with commentary from ACSOL Board Member Guy Hamilton-Smith (below) Inside the sprawling two-story tan and coral stucco building on New York Avenue in Northeast Washington, D.C., is a men's homeless shelter that once served as a halfway house run by the government. It's a place that some 20 registered sex offenders call home — according to the city's sex offender registry. But at...
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) today filed a lawsuit challenging presence restrictions in the City of Irvine which were declared to be preempted by state law six years ago. Today's lawsuit was filed after repeated requests by ACSOL to repeal the unlawful restrictions including a letter sent to the city dated February 13, 2020. "The City of Irvine has acted unlawfully...
[floridaactioncommittee.org - Action Alert - 8/24/20] 8/28/20 UPDATE: Wellington approves rules for vacation rentals Wellington, Florida is considering creating a rule that would require vacation rental owners to check to see if potential renters are on the sex offender registry. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow [August 25] and will be held by Zoom. The Responsible Party for all Vacation Rental properties is...
23
Aug
2020
A friend recently referred to a TV series, IZombie, as a TV show in which some Zombies are portrayed in a positive light. That is, she said, there are good Zombies and bad Zombies. The idea of a good Zombie piqued my curiosity to the point that I watched three seasons of that TV show. I quit watching the show when I realized I...
ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci has been appointed to the case of In re Gadlin, which is currently under review by the California Supreme Court. Prior to Ms. Bellucci's appointment, Mr. Gadlin was represented by attorney Michael Satris, co-founder of the Prison Law Office, who recently died of a heart attack. The case was fully briefed by Mr. Satris prior to his death. "I...
21
Aug
2020
A recent USA Today inquiry cost a registrant and his company hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal contracts and who knows how many other jobs. The article in its entirety can be read on the ACSOL website “Sex Offender loses Covid-19 Contract at VA Hospital after USA Today ask questions.” The employee’s janitorial firm had had multiple government contracts over the years. There...
The Assembly's Appropriations Committee today passed Senate Bill 145 despite objections to that bill expressed by Committee Chair Lorena Gonzales Fletcher and despite death threats made to its author, Senator Scott Wiener. "We commend Senator Wiener for his courage in the efforts required to obtain passage of Senate Bill 145," stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Belulcci. "The Senator faced down not only death threats...
Plaintiff-Appellees David Millard, Eugene Knight, and Arturo Vega challenge the constitutionality of Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act (CSORA). The district court held CSORA was unconstitutional as applied to the Appellees because the statute inflicted cruel and unusual punishment and violated substantive due process guarantees. Additionally, the district court held that the state courts’ application of CSORA’s deregistration procedures to Vega violated his procedural due...
[inthesetimes.com - 8/19/20] In June 2019, after serving more than 29 years in Illinois prisons, Otis Arrington expected to be released to freedom: He had finished his time, which he describes as difficult and traumatic, and his exit date was pending. But three days before he was slated to get out, Arrington says he was informed that he would, instead, be placed under a new form...
The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) has reorganized its 2020 conference, "Empowered People Inspiring Change," so that the entire conference will be held online. Individuals can also attend and participate in the conference by phone. The conference will be held on Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. PST. Sign up today "ACSOL is excited to...