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
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
Canada: Law requiring lifetime sex-offender registration upheld, Appeal Court rules
Forcing repeat sex offenders to go on a national registry for life under provisions enacted by the former Conservative government is constitutional, Ontario's top court has ruled. Full Article
IN: Justices to decide if sex offender dad can go to son’s school activities
The Indiana Supreme Court must decide if a Howard County father can attend his son’s school activities despite his serious sex offender status after hearing arguments Thursday on an ex post facto claim. After being convicted of child solicitation in 2010, _____ ____ was sentenced to 18 months of probation and was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years. However, the...
Craigslist Shuts Down Personals Section After Congress Passes Bill On Trafficking
You can still find furniture or a roommate on Craigslist. But ads seeking romance or sexual connections are no longer going to be available, after Craigslist took down the "personals" section Friday for its U.S. site. The company says it made the change because Congress has passed the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, meant to crack down on sex trafficking of children. It was...
NE: Governor vetoes criminal conviction set-aside bill
[journalstar.com] Gov. Pete Ricketts issued his first veto of the session Wednesday, rejecting a bill (LB350) that would allow a person convicted of a misdemeanor or felony, with a sentence other than probation or a fine, to petition the court to set aside their conviction once their sentence is completed. Ricketts said the bill weakened confidence in the criminal justice system with its dramatic...
Emotional Support Group Meeting – March 31, Los Angeles
ACSOL will host an Emotional Support Group for registrants and their loved ones on Saturday March 31, 10 a.m. at: ACLU Building 1313 W. 8th Street Los Angeles Free parking is available under the building and there is no charge to attend the meeting.
Congress quietly preserves ability to pay sexual harassment settlements with taxpayer money
[thinkprogress.org] An overhaul of Capitol Hill’s workplace misconduct system is in jeopardy and likely won’t be attached to a government spending bill this week, diminishing the likelihood of reform before the midterm elections, according to Politico. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who introduced the bipartisan Congressional Harassment Reform Act last December, said on Monday that House and Senate leadership “stripped” provisions from the language from...
Operation “Southern Impact II” – what the numbers don’t tell
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Parents nationwide have been fed misleading headlines touting the results of operation “Southern Impact II” which purportedly “nabbed 76 child-sex predators” and in which “13 children were rescued or identified as victims”. Without more, those are some scary numbers and what appears to be a very successful “operation”, but if you dig below the surface, it’s not so successful after all… For example;...
Some are just ‘the Wrong Sort of Victims’
[thewarrzone.blogspot.co.uk] Recently, I’ve been reflecting on the whole issue of ‘victimhood’ and one thing is clear - there are different types of victims. While there are some who attract widespread popular support, both from agents of the state and from the public at large - particularly those adults who claim to have been abused in childhood - there are others who are deemed merely...
MI: Felony charges dropped against Clinton Township sex offender in Ferndale
[macombdaily.com] Felony charges have been dismissed in Ferndale against a convicted sex offender accused of failing to give his correct address and vehicle information under the state’s Sex Offender Registration law. Joshua Owens, 26, of Clinton Township was arraigned on the two felonies in Ferndale 43rd District Court earlier this month. Owens was convicted in Macomb County Circuit Court in 2006 when he was...
TX: Texas’ anti-gay sex-ed laws hurt kids
[dailytexanonline.com] Texas Health and Safety Code Section 163.002 lays out the guidelines regarding the instructional elements related to sexual education and STDs in public schools within the state. Hidden under points regarding an emphasis on abstinence-based sex ed is a restriction profoundly damaging to LGBTQ kids throughout the state of Texas. Specifically, this law states that sex ed instruction should include an emphasis “ …...
CA: Root and Rebound Free Legal Clinics
[rootandrebound.org] Part of Root & Rebound's mission is to conduct free legal clinics in California for those in the process of reentry to society. For a list of legal clinics and other services, view the Public Education Team Newsletter: Go to http://www.rootandrebound.org/community-trainings Click on the long "Click here" button. Click on "Join our mailing list" at the top of that list. The emails contain...
WV: State Supreme Court Rules Probation Internet Restrictions Violate First Amendment
[UPDATED LINKS 3/20/18] [floridaactioncommittee.org] The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals has ruled that completely restricting a person’s access to the internet as a condition of their parole from prison is a violation of the First Amendment. “Like the statute in Packingham, Mr. Ross’s condition of parole ‘bars access to…sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern...
NY: Gov. Cuomo’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Plan to Protect Your Kids
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently unveiled a legislative proposal packaged as part of a budget amendment to expand already onerous residency and presence restrictions for some sex offenders in New York. Full Article
MA: The New Sex Ed: What Young People Need to Know About Sex Laws
[Keren Goldenberg at kgdefenselaw.com] Like everyone else living in New England, I could not avoid the exhaustive media coverage of the St. Paul School rape trial. From a legal perspective, there was nothing sensational about this case: a 15 year old student claimed that she had been forcibly raped by a senior at her school. The senior claimed that they fooled around but never...
TX: Registered sex offenders targets of latest phone scam
[ktsm.com] EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) - The El Paso County Sheriff's Office says a telephone scam is targeting registered sex offenders in the county, trying to scam them out of money According to EPCSO, registered people around the county have gotten calls from someone identifying themselves as employees of the Sheriff's Office. The scammers tell the registered sex offender that they are non-compliant with...
CA: California Lawmaker Banned From Hugging After Investigation
[usnews.com] SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California state senator has been told to stop hugging people after an investigation concluded that his trademark embraces made multiple female colleagues uncomfortable. However, the investigation released Thursday found Sen. Bob Hertzberg's frequent hugs are not intended to be sexual and more often than not are not unwelcome. Hertzberg, a Democrat from the Los Angeles area, has earned...
NY: State police: Sex offender’s death accidental at Central New York Psychiatric Center
[lohud.com] State police have ruled that a sex offender’s death inside Central New York Psychiatric Center in Marcy was accidental. Investigators determined Philip Barbato, 47, accidentally hanged himself with string while alone inside a shower room, Trooper Jack Kelly said. Barbato had been locked up under the state’s Sex Offender Treatment Program, part of the civil-commitment law that allows for confining sex offenders who...
New book dispels myths about sex offenders
[UPDATED LINKS 4/19/18] [salemweeklynews.com] Even amid the national outcry about sex abuse and sexual harassment, very little is known about sex offenders or the treatments that best help them. Arguably the least understood population of the criminal justice system, sex offenders are subject to some of the country’s most punitive sentencing laws and their incarceration, life after prison and rehabilitation efforts are often misguided....
NJ: Opposition to Blanket Community Notification in New Jersey
[sexlawandpolicy.org] Today, SLAP Center delivered a letter to Assemblywoman Amy Handlin and Senator Christopher Bateman outlining our opposition to their proposal to allow for community notification of New Jersey’s Tier 1 registrants. New Jersey has three tiers of registrants, with only Tiers 2 and 3 currently available to the public. Tier 1 registrants are assessed as having little to no risk of re-offense and...
You’ve Got A Friend, But It’s Not U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions!
[blog.womenagainstregistry.org] U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke at a conference for the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Nashville, TN on Thursday, his focus, increasing the prison population! You would think that government would be more interested in decreasing prison population, wouldn’t you? The federal prison population has decreased from 220,000 to 180,000 over the past few years. To me, that would seem...