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
CA: Tobin Resigns from CA Sex Offender Management Board
Tom Tobin, CEO of Sharper Future, has resigned from the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) where he served as Vice Chairman for more than two years. Although no reason was given for his resignation, a growing number of complaints had been made that his participation on the board was at least an appearance of a conflict of interest because the company he leads...
NY: ‘We Just Want Our Community Back:’ Long Islanders Upset Over ‘Clustering’ Of Ex-Cons In Residential Neighborhoods
[newyork.cbslocal.com 5/21/18] GORDON HEIGHTS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Just how much can one community take? There are multiple neighborhoods in New York where the state has clustered paroled ex-cons, and innocent families are paying the price. A 26-year-old mother accused of trying to kill her baby earlier this month created anguish in her Suffolk County community. Her lawyer claims she was mentally ill and a...
AL: Governor ceremonially signs juvenile sex offender bill
[wbrc.com 5/21/18] MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Monday, Gov. Kay Ivey put her signature on a score of legislation. Although the signing was just for the camera (the laws were already signed in private about a month ago), it still had a special meaning for the Cook family. “Amazing, it was the biggest blessing for us to experience this today,” Kristina Cook said. Ivey put...
Life on the List: Why Reporters Should Stop Using “Predator”
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/22/18] “The anonymity of the Internet has allowed predators to easily hide or misrepresent themselves.” – ABC News, August 2017 “Concerns about sexual predators have led communities in 30 U.S. states to adopt laws limiting where registered sex offenders can live.” – Reuters, November 2015 “Convicted Sexual Predator Allowed to Stay in Hotel During Cancer Treatments” – WFTV 9, May 2017 In May,...
Australia: What impact do public sex offender registries have on community safety?
[aic.gov.au 5/22/18] Abstract: Sexual offending has a significant impact on victims and can cause considerable angst within the community. The effective management of sex offenders in the community is of paramount importance. This paper reviews the latest empirical evidence from Australia and overseas regarding the effectiveness of public and non-public sex offender registries. Results show that while public sex offender registries may have a...
The sex offender registry: a non-punitive civil regulatory scheme
[narsol.org 5/22/18] Keep that in mind. Keep repeating it. A non-punitive civil regulatory scheme. Civil, not criminal. The requirement to register is triggered by a criminal conviction, both felonies and misdemeanors, but the requirement to register is not part of punishment. It is non-punitive. So ruled the Supreme Court well over a decade ago. It is a Non-Punitive. Civil. Regulatory. Scheme. And yet, in...
TX: Houston Is Forcing Its Parolees Out of City Center and into ‘the Boonies’
[injusticetoday.com 5/22/18] Houston has come up with a new way to make life harder for people leaving prison on parole: by forcing the programs that provide them with housing, often paired with job placement and other services, to move outside the city limits. At the end of March, the city council approved an ordinance that imposes new regulations and inspections designed to improve safety...
NC: Appeals court reverses twice-convicted sex offender’s lifetime GPS monitoring
[wect.com 5/15/18] NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) - A state appeals court has reversed a ruling that would have required a twice-convicted sex offender wear a GPS monitoring bracelet for the rest of his life. In 1997, Torrey Dale Grady, 39, pleaded no contest to a second-degree sex offense, and in 2006, he pleaded guilty to taking indecent liberties with a child. Both incidents...
IL: Must Watch – Argument in IL Supreme Court in People v. Bingham
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/22/18] The below video is from the recent argument before the Illinois Supreme Court in People v. Bingham. Jerome Bingham, who committed a sexual offense more than 30 years ago, was arrested for stealing pallets. As a consequence of his stealing these wooden pallets and a further consequence of a 2012 change in the Illinois law that required anyone with a previous sexual...
Tips on Writing to Your Elected Officials
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/20/18] Letters and faxes are an extremely effective way of communicating with your elected officials. Many legislators believe that a letter represents not only the position of the writer but also many other constituents who did not take the time to write. These tips will help increase the effectiveness of your letter: Keep it brief: Letters should never be longer than one page,...
FL: $385 million is what it costs Florida every year to deny civil rights for non-violent felons, report says
[tampabay.com 5/21/18] The Republican-leaning Washington Economics Group of Coral Gables says Florida loses millions by spending on extra court and prison costs while losing the opportunity to create new jobs for new offenders. By Mary Ellen Klas Seven years after Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet voted to end the state policy that automatically restored the civil rights of nonviolent offenders after they...
MO: Mother of Beaten Inmate Files Lawsuit
[floridaactioncommittee.org 5/21/18] Harley Holt was being held in a Jefferson Missouri jail on a charge of failure to register, when two other inmates beat him. He was put into a separate cell, but his repeated requests for medical attention were ignored. Eventually, he lost conscious and was taken to the hospital where he was placed on life support and later died. His cause of...
Sex offender registry: More harm than good?
In the 1990s, in response to a number of horrific and highly publicized crimes against children, states and the federal government created stringent penalties for sex offenders, notably registries where offenders’ names and addresses are available to the public. But now critics across the country are demanding review and revision of these policies, saying they are based on false assumptions, are a waste of...
GA: Pardon Lifts Requirement to Register as Sex Offender
Georgia's highest court says a man convicted of sexually abusing a young girl no longer must register as a sex offender after receiving a pardon. Full Article
WI: Supreme Court rules sex offender can be tried as adult for crime committed at age 9
A convicted sex offender in Wisconsin seemed to believe he was off the hook when police learned that he allegedly committed a sexual assault at the age of 9. Full Article Decision Related In Wisconsin, we can send people to prison for things they did when they were 5
LA: Two sexual exploitation bills pass Louisiana Legislature
[kalb.com 5/18/18] Two bills targeting sexual exploitation passed through the Louisiana Legislature Friday. One would set policies for employers to detect victims of human trafficking, and the other would increase penalties for crimes involving prostitution. Rep. Julie Stokes, R-Kenner, wrote the bill that would relate to the trafficking victims, including employees of sexually oriented businesses like stores selling sexual materials and businesses with live...
WV: Tweaks to enforcement should be considered for complex sex registry law
[wvnews.com 5/19/18] During a recent sentencing hearing, Harrison Circuit Judge Thomas A. Bedell read sex offender registry rules to a defendant. Bedell was reading at a steady pace, and it still took 14 minutes. The Legislature requires that judges read the rules to defendants after they’re convicted, ostensibly to avert the possibility later of offenders saying they never were informed of the requirements. advertisement...
CO: Polygraph testing and treatment of sexual offenders
[jenniferkamorowski.net 5/19/18] On May 9, the Colorado legislature passed House Bill 1427, which prohibits individuals with a vested economic interest in administration of polygraph tests from serving on the sex offender management board (SOMB). Beyond the issue of conflict of interest, there are other reasons to keep polygraph out of sex offender treatment decisions. The primary reasons are issues with reliability and the coercive...
ACSOL Conference: Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Fellow to Speak
Guy Hamilton-Smith, a fellow at the Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Research Institute, will speak at the ACSOL conference on both June 15 and June 16. As a speaker, he will address two issues -- child pornography and how to success as a registrant. "Guy Hamilton-Smith is a leader in our community of registrants," stated ACSOL President Chance Oberstein. "We welcome his participation in...
CA: All of Mugshots.com’s alleged co-owners arrested on extortion charges
[UPDATED LINKS 5/20/18] [arstechnica.com 5/17/18] Two alleged owners of Mugshots.com—Sahar Sarid and Thomas Keesee—have been arrested in south Florida on a recently issued California warrant. The notorious website publishes mugshots and then demands payment for their removal. On Wednesday, the attorney general of California brought criminal charges against not only Sarid and Keesee, but also Kishore Vidya Bhavnanie and David Usdan. The quartet has...