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. The ACSOL website and recordings are provided as a service to registrants, registrants’ families, and others for general information only. The information on the website and in the recordings are not designed to provide legal or other advice or to create an attorney-client relationship. You should not take, or refrain from taking, action based on their content. Prior results and case studies do not guarantee a similar outcome in future representations. ACSOL accepts no responsibility for any loss or damages that may result from accessing or reliance on content on the ACSOL website and recordings and disclaim, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all liability with respect to acts or omissions made by registrants, registrants’ families and others on the basis of content on the ACSOL website.
Important News / Announcements
General News Feed
Michael Hobbes: No, The Government Did Not Break Up A Child Sex Trafficking Ring In Georgia
[huffpost.com - Michael Hobbes - 9/7/20] Human trafficking has been having an eventful summer. In July, internet sleuths accused online retailer Wayfair of selling missing children in overpriced cabinets. In August, QAnon supporters (along with some well-meaning if ill-informed influencers) held nationwide “Save the Children” rallies. And last week, there was the trailer story. “U.S. Marshals Find 39 Missing Children in Georgia During ‘Operation...
Ireland: Cork neighbourhood targeted by leaflet campaign accusing man of being sex offender
[corkbeo.ie - 9/4/20] A community on the northside of Cork city were targeted overnight by a vigilante leafleting campaign in which a man was accused of being a sex offender. Leaflets featuring a photograph and a name were left on cars overnight in the vicinity, with locals speaking of their distress when they discovered them this Friday morning. There have been several instances of...
Kat’s Blog: Tracking Registrants
SMART/the government’s office of sentencing, monitoring, apprehending, registering and tracking, is in the business of tracking registrants. Registrants are tracked locally, within their hometowns. P.O.’s, police and other law enforcement officials always want to know where they are, where they’re living, working or relaxing. Registrants are tracked through domestic interjurisdictional informational tracking, law enforcement across jurisdictions sharing information regarding the whereabouts of registrants on...
ACSOL Phone Meeting on Sept 12
Please join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci as well as ACSOL President and criminal defense attorney Chance Oberstein for our next phone meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday, Sept. 12, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time and will last at least two hours. Discussion topics will include: proposed SORNA regulations the Willman decision in-person registration during the COVID-19...
Maxwell Monty: There Is Much Malarkey in This Hierarchy
“Enough already! You’re all just a bunch of pedophiles and rapists!” barked the C.O. at midnight as he stood in the middle of the day room of the prison that housed me. And sex offenders were almost the exclusive inmates at this prison. “You perverts don’t deserve this cushy life. And any of you pathetic excuses for humans that disagree, can step out of...
NE: Homeowner Association Seeking Injunction Against Sex Offender Residency
A Beatrice homeowners association is seeking a judge’s order that would prevent a convicted sex offender from residing in their neighborhood. Full Article
Los Angeles County Agrees to Allow Registrants to Serve as Poll Workers
The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters has formally agreed to allow registrants to serve as poll workers. As a result of this agreement, the county has removed language from the website of the Registrar of Voters as well as the poll workers application that previously stated registrants were prohibited from serving as poll workers. "This is a significant victory for registrants in Los...
General Comments September 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.
CA Legislature Passes Senate Bill 145
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...
State Department Notifies Registrant by Email of Revoked Passport
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...
6th Circuit Decision Requires Registration Even When State No Longer Does
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: Second chances? You can “bed” on it
[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...
Kat’s Blog: The Registry: If It’s Not Punishment, Then What Is It?
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...
Of Witches, and Witch Burnings [by Guy Hamilton-Smith]
[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...
Convicted of Sex Crimes, but With No Victims
[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...
KS: Court opinion affirms states’ authority to require sex offender registries
[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...
Juvenile Law Center Report Advocates End of Youth Registration
[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...
Sex Offender Registries Often Fail Those They Are Designed To Protect UPDATED
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...
ACSOL Challenges Irvine’s Presence Restrictions in CA
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...
Action Alert: UPDATED 8/29 Wellington, FL council looking to pass new rules for vacation rentals and those on the registry
[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...