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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Should sex offenders have the status marked on their driver's license in Tennessee? The idea received a good bit of debate Wednesday on Capitol Hill. A new bill would require the words "sex offender" to be stamped on a convicted offender's driver's license in red three times. It would increase state expenditures one time by $150,000. Full Article

OTTAWA – The federal government plans to create a publicly accessible database of high-risk child sex offenders as part of a bill that takes aim at those who prey on young people. The legislation introduced Wednesday would also require registered sex offenders to provide more information when they travel abroad and permit more sharing of information between federal agencies. In addition, the bill proposes making...

WASHINGTON — Police officers may enter and search a home without a warrant as long as one occupant consents, even if another resident has previously objected, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a Los Angeles case. The 6-3 ruling, triggered by a Los Angeles Police Department arrest in 2009, gives authorities more leeway to search homes without obtaining a warrant, even when there is no emergency....

A Pierce County man had no trouble disabling the GPS tracking device that was bound to his ankle, even though it is supposed to send off an alert to law enforcement if it’s tampered with.“I got sick of this little bugger on my leg, it was beating my ankle into a bloody pulp,” said the 25 year old who asked to be called “Red.” “I’m...

A freshman Republican state lawmaker apologized Monday for introducing legislation that would scrap a state ban on registered sex offenders loitering near schools, daycare centers and other places where children gather. “In hindsight, this rookie mistake was silly,” Rep. Sam Moore of Cherokee County said in an extraordinary speech delivered on the House floor. “I am mature enough to admit that. At the time though, I...

Newbie Georgia Republican legislator Sam Moore has struck a blow--albeit an unpopular one--for constitutional rights, fact-based legislation, and common sense. His bill would remove restrictions on registered citizens, once their sentences are satisfied, that restrict their movements and prohibit their presence in places such as schools and parks.  Shocking as it is in Georgia, there are many jurisdictions throughout the U.S. that do not...

PHOENIX - A state appellate court says Arizona law bars lawsuits against home sellers who don't disclose that a sex offender lives next door, but the ruling also says providing a false reason for selling is another story. The ruling revives a fraud claim against the sellers of a Scottsdale home. The sellers had told the buyers that they were selling because they wanted...

The Texas District and County Attorneys Association's weekly case summaries last week described a new Court of Criminal Appeals decision which required sex-offender registration for offenses committed before the creation of the registry. The decision, though, failed to address the question of whether the underlying statute is constitutional, an issue dissenters said they should have confronted.  Full Article

Twelve towns have passed ordinances to limit where sex offenders can live --  barring offenders from living near schools, or child-care centers. But law enforcement oppose such bans.  Renny Cushing of Hampton, a Democrat, told House colleagues that police know restrictions make monitoring offenders harder. "The chiefs of police do not want to have a situation where you take away one of the tools they...

Madison — Gov. Scott Walker's administration Wednesday dropped a controversial new hire charged with evaluating sex offenders for release back into Wisconsin communities, a move that came only hours after Walker said he opposed the psychologist. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on the hire of Daniel Montaldi as "evaluation director" at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center, a state facility for sex predators. Montaldi,...