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
MA: Westfield moves to repeal unconstitutional sex offender ordinance
[masslive.com] By Hope E. Tremblay Special to The Republican WESTFIELD - The City Council's legislative and ordinance subcommittee Thursday took the first step toward repealing a local ordinance that unconstitutionally restricts where registered sex offenders may live or visit. The motion to repeal the ordinance was made by Chairman Ralph J. Figy, who said a decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court indicates the...
NH: Bill would use sex offender registry to discourage posting of nude selfies
[unionleader.com] CONCORD — In the wake of a report in the New Hampshire Sunday News about a website where nude selfies of young women are traded like baseball cards, the legislature is looking at tougher penalties to discourage such behavior. A House committee on Wednesday debated a bill that would add people convicted of revenge porn, or any nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images,...
CA: Child trafficking is nonviolent crime under California voter-approved law
[kcra.com] Crime victims, groups start petition to stop early release of violent criminals Mike Luery Reporter Show Transcript SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — Petition gatherers hit the streets of Sacramento on Thursday, trying to collect enough signatures for a new ballot measure that gets tough on crime. "In current law, rape by intoxication and rape of an unconscious person and a slew of other crimes...
UT: Sex offender treatment – Is it working?
If an individual is convicted of a sex offense, he or she is required to follow a number of rules, including registering as a sex offender, serving time in prison or on probation, and undergoing psychological treatment. Full Article
IML Lawsuit Filed
A lawsuit was filed today in the Central District of the U.S. District Court of California challenging regulations issued by the State Department that announced the addition of a “unique identifier” to the passports of some registrants. Addition of the identifier to passports could affect more than 500,000 Americans and their families. “The State Department violated the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA)...
WI: Did a Newspaper Inspire a Murder Attempt?
[lifeonlist.org] Last July, the Hudson Star Observer in western Wisconsin wrote a story about a man moving into a building in town. His name was Brandon Langel. He was on the state’s sex offender registry for crimes he’d committed in 2008, for which he spent four years in prison. The paper ran the story because now he’d be moving into a building where three...
ACSOL Emotional Support Group Meeting in L.A. on Jan 13
ACSOL will conduct an Emotional Support Group for registrants and their loved ones on Saturday, January 13, beginning at 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. The meeting, which is based upon 12 Step principles, will provide registrants and their loved ones with an...
Call-in meeting regarding IML on Jan 30 [Updated with Call Audio]
Please join ACSOL for a call-in meeting regarding International Megan's Law (IML), including the recent lawsuit filed challenging the State Department's regulations regarding passport identifiers. The conference call will be on Tuesday, January 30 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time (8:00 Eastern). Please Show up, Stand up, and Speak up! Dial-in number: 1-712-770-8055 Conference Code: 983459 This will be recorded and available on our website...
CA: Root and Rebound’s Feb 24 Berkeley CA Family Law Clinic for people with records
Root & Rebound will be hosting its second Family Law Clinic for people with records. Root & Rebound will be offering one-on-one appointments with their reentry attorneys for any person with a criminal record who needs help with issues related to family law. Date: February 24th, 2018 Time: 10 am - 4 pm Location: 1730 Franklin St., Suite 300, Oakland, CA 94612 At this...
The Concern for the Damage the Registry does to Young Offenders [opinion]
[sosen.org] Recently there has been major concern over youth being placed on the sex offender registry and a number of articles, not to mention some legislative attempts at change (such as Nebraska legislative bill 689), have been put forth to remove young people from the registry. The reason for this move is pointed out in articles such as ( http://jjie.org/2018/01/08/young-sex-offenders-shouldnt-have-to-register-its-ineffective-and-hurts-everyone-around-them/ ). The problem with...
PA courts put Megan’s Law in limbo
[altoonamirror.com] HOLLIDAYSBURG — Following the sentencing of an area man last month for indecent assault, Blair County District Attorney Richard A. Consiglio informed the judge that the next step in the process — a hearing to determine if the defendant was required to register as a sex offender — had to be delayed because of recent opinions by the Pennsylvania Supreme and Superior courts....
CA: Was homicide victim attacked because of his alleged history as sex offender?
A Los Angeles man who was stabbed more than 50 times and whose body was dumped near Rosamond may have been targeted in the belief that he was a sex offender, according to a search warrant. The slaying of ____ ____ may be connected to comments found on his Facebook page alleging that the 32-year-old was a child molester, Kern County sheriff's Detective Daniel...
CA: L.A. child molester to be released after spending 17 years in state hospital awaiting trial
Just before ____ ____ was scheduled to get out of prison, Los Angeles County prosecutors made a plea to the court: Don’t let him free — he’s too dangerous to live in public. While in his early 20s, ____ had lured young boys who lived in his South L.A. neighborhood to a spot near an alleyway with the promise of candy. He was convicted...
WA: The Island Where Washington State Sends Its Sex Offenders (video)
[VICE News channel on YouTube.com] Twenty minutes off the Puget Sound coast is an island that was the home to a state penitentiary until it closed in 2011. Now, it is used as a facility for the civil commitment of the state’s most violent sex offenders. Watch video
NY: Justice Department probes state’s civil confinement of sex offenders
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is examining New York’s controversial system of civil confinement for sex offenders. The probe was revealed when an attorney with the Justice Department’s special litigation office recently interviewed a sex offender confined at the Central New York Psychiatric Center in Oneida County. Under New York’s decade-old Sex Offender Management and Treatment Act, convicted sex offenders can...
Young Sex Offenders Shouldn’t Have to Register; It’s Ineffective and Hurts Everyone Around Them
Sex offender registration policies were initially developed for adults with sexual offenses, but have recently been extended to include youth with sexual offenses as well. At first glance, sex offender registration and notification (hereafter referred to as SORN) may make us feel safer, produce relief knowing that these individuals are being punished. Full Article
RI: Letter: Leo Carroll: Base sex offender laws on facts rather than myths [opinion]
[providencejournal.com] Two decades of research regarding the effects of sex offender laws have produced no evidence that such laws achieve their stated purposes. A recent review of research on community notification and residency restriction laws in the Oxford Handbook of Sex Offences and Sex Offenders concludes that such legislation is “misinformed and simply incorrect.” These laws are knee-jerk reactions to hysteria fueled by media...
As we move into 2018, are we still in a room without a view? [opinion]
[sajrt.blogspot.com] By Kieran McCartan, PhD, David Prescott, LICSW, & Alissa Ackerman, PhD. The start of a new year is often a time of reflection and hope. We think about our experiences as well as practice over the last year and learn from poor practice as well as build upon good, existing practices. Having a solid, reliable, evidence base is central to all aspects of...
RI: Crossroads will continue to shelter homeless sex offenders as lawsuit plays out
[providencejournal.com] PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Crossroads Rhode Island will continue to take in sex offenders at a homeless shelter in Cranston under an agreement between the parties to a lawsuit challenging a new state law that limits the number of convicted sex offenders who can be housed in homeless shelters. The parties met in chambers Wednesday afternoon with U.S. District Court Chief Judge William E....
Janice’s Journal: To Jail and Then to Hell
A town in Connecticut passed a new law this week that bans registrants from virtually all of its public sites, including parks, recreation centers, event centers, swimming pools, trails, and open space land. The new law also prohibits registrants from attending school events even if their children are participating in them. The town’s decision to ban registrants was made about the same time as...