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.
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Janice's Journal
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PA: Despite legislative fix, challenges to Megan’s Law continue
nnsylvania lawmakers insist they have fixed problems with Megan’s Law that threatened to allow thousands of sex offenders to avoid having to register with the state. Not so fast, say defense attorneys.Full Article
KY: Governor Matt Bevin Has Apologized for Remarks Linking a Teachers’ Rally to Child Sex Abuse
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin apologized Sunday for saying that children were sexually abused because they were left home alone while teachers rallied to ask lawmakers to override his vetoes. Full Article
IA: 2 Convicted of Sex Crimes Can’t Be Held Indefinitely
The Iowa Supreme Court has dismissed the state's efforts to confine two men convicted for sex abuse crimes indefinitely under the state's law allowing civil commitment of sexually violent predators. Full Article
CA: Bill to accelerate sex offender registry notifications clears Riverside assembly
A Riverside County lawmaker's bill to require prisons, county jails, mental institutions and other facilities to hasten alerts to the California Department of Justice regarding the release of registered sex offenders was unanimously approved today by the Assembly. Full Article
Janice’s Journal: Three Opportunities in Thirty Days
We have three opportunities during the next 30 days to Show Up – Stand Up – Speak Up. Our first opportunity is in Sacramento on April 24 when the Senate Public Safety Committee will consider Senate Bill 1143. If passed, that bill would require registrants convicted of an offense involving a minor to disclose their status as a registrant to potential landlords as well...
IL: Writing Sex Offender Laws Based on Fake Recidivism Numbers Is Rational, Court Says
Last week the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a state law banning sex offenders from public parks, overturning a 2017 appeals court ruling that deemed the statute "unconstitutional on its face because it bears no reasonable relationship to protecting the public." The seven members of the higher court unanimously disagreed, saying, "We conclude that there is a rational relation between protecting the public, particularly children,...
Child trafficking expert speaks at William and Mary
Mosby is an expert in child trafficking in Thailand and founder of the HUG project, an organization dedicated to helping victims of child trafficking. In 2017 she won the TIP award for her work helping victims of sexual abuse. On Monday, Mosby came to the College of William and Mary to speak with students about child trafficking in Thailand and the steps she and...
CA: Pair of bills aimed at release of sex offenders pass Public Safety Committee
A locally authored bill about where the state places sex offenders once they’re released from prison passed the Senate Committee on Public Safety on Monday. Senate Bill 1198, introduced by Sen. Scott Wilk, and Senate Bill 1199, which Wilk authored, address significant concerns about how the criminal justice system deals with individuals convicted of sex crimes. Full Article
OK: Sex offender registry laws grounded in reality, not cruelty [opinion]
[newsok.com 4/10/18] The Oklahoman Editorial Board by The Oklahoman Editorial Board Published: April 10, 2018 LAST year, a federal court judge ruled that Colorado's sex offender registry was unconstitutional because, basically, citizens might use it. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter wants that decision overturned, and is using arguments grounded in legal and practical reality. Hunter, joined by officials from several states, has filed an...
MO: Sex offenders register for a lifetime, but a bill would let some petition for removal
Almost all sex offenders in Missouri are on a state registry for a lifetime, whether they made a one-time mistake, or made repeated or extreme offenses. Rep. Kurt Bahr, R-St. Charles, wants to make it possible for certain people to petition to remove their name from the list and for the registry to be more transparent for the public. Full Article
Senate Committee to Hear SB 1143 on April 24
The Senate Public Safety Committee is scheduled to consider Senate Bill (SB) 1143 on April 24. If passed, SB 1143 would require registrants convicted of an offense involving a minor to disclose their requirement to register to both potential landlords as well as those who have a house to sell. If a registrant failed to make this disclosure, the landlord or seller could lawfully...
CA: Neighbors concerned after registered sex offender moves feet away from elementary school
[10news.com] Neighbors concerned after registered sex offender moves feet away from elementary school SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Neighbors are concerned after they say a registered sex offender moved into their Rancho Bernardo community, just feet away from an elementary school playground. ____________, 32, was convicted of possession of child pornography and lewd and lascivious acts with a child in Tennessee in 2013. Neighbors say...
OR: Retired social worker writes about pioneering work with sex offenders
[statesmanjournal.com] Conversations at the dinner table were different growing up in the Callahan home. When your mother is best known for her work with sex offenders, that’s to be expected. “Some of my earliest memories were of dropping her off at a prison and picking her up,” said Barbara Baer, the oldest of Marilyn Callahan’s three grown children. “I didn’t know anything different. That...
There Are Too Many Kids on the Sex Offender Registry
Both the boys admit they did it. Horsing around, two New Jersey 14-year-olds pulled down their pants and sat on the faces of two 12-year-old boys. As one of them later explained, "I thought it was funny and I was trying to get my friends to laugh." For that act, he and his buddy are on the sex offender registry for life. This was,...
ID: Sex Offender Registry SNAFU
____ ____ wears a small camera pinned to his shirt. He wants his activities recorded because he is unsure what hairpin turn he may come up against next. There have been a lot of switchbacks and bumps over the past 13 years, and the latest one, what he calls a false accusation coupled with threats from Idaho State Police, is taking a toll on...
Attorneys general fighting against 2017 ruling regarding Colorado’s sex offender registry
A group of attorneys general are fighting a 2017 court ruling that declared Colorado’s sex offender registry “cruel and unusual.” Full Article Related Attorney General Hunter Leads 10th Circuit States in Opposing Ruling that Colorado Sex Offender Registration is Unconstitutional (AG Press Release) To read the brief, click here.
VT: Supreme Court says sex offenders can have porn
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the state cannot uniformly declare pornography off-limits to sex offenders. The decision does allow a sex offender’s probation to include such restrictions, but only if they are deemed specifically appropriate to the individual offender. Full Article
CA: We pay millions for sex offender therapy at Coalinga hospital. Most patients aren’t in it
Thirteen years after Coalinga State Hospital was built to treat the state’s sexually violent predators, some of the men there say they’re more like prisoners than patients, and that the multimillion-dollar facility once criticized for its amenities is a sort of purgatory failing to rehabilitate offenders — and therefore failing the public. Full Article
CT: Suit targets WL ban on sex offenders in public places
An anonymous resident and an advocacy group that represents accused and convicted sex offenders have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to strike down the town’s 10-year-old policy barring people on Connecticut’s sex offender registry from a number of public places. Full Article
FL: As Deadline Approaches for Homeless Ex-Offenders, County Threatens to Jail Them
A few miles from Miami International Airport, outside of Hialeah, sits a tent camp of about 280 homeless people. There’s no electricity or running water and no bathrooms. News reports describe the stench of human waste and garbage, tents that flood when it rains, and flies, mosquitoes, and rats infesting the area. “Animals live better than this,” one resident told a reporter. He and...