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
Discredited Sex Assault Research Infects U.S. Legal System
When a toxin enters a biological ecosystem, its effect is magnified as it moves up the food chain. Even if it can be cut off at the source, the ever-widening distribution of its increasingly harmful form can cause problems for decades. Misinformation functions in a similar fashion, gaining traction as it’s repeated by increasingly high-profile individuals who venture ever further from the source material....
Therapists’ Perceptions of Their Encounter With Sex Offenders [paper]
[researchgate.net] Haneen Elias and Muhammad M. Haj-Yahia February 2016 Abstract Despite the increasing interest in therapists’ responses to their encounter with sex offenders, there is a lack of research on their subjective perceptions of this encounter and on their experience working with this client population. The study presented in this article is part of a larger qualitative research project conducted among 19 social workers...
CA: NARSOL opposes CA Dep’t of Corrections’ blanket exclusion of sex offenders
[narsol.org] NARSOL is a national advocacy organization that defends and protects the interests of citizens convicted of a sex offense. We are acutely aware that this is a very serious subject and in no way condone sexual abuse. But we are also aware that culture, politics and policy over-react when creating proportional sanctions for these offenses. A large portion of our membership is comprised...
SD: Fixing South Dakota’s offender registries
[rstreet.org] My name is Eli Lehrer and I’m here to testify on H.B. 1244. I am president of the R Street Institute, a conservative think tank headquartered in Washington. I also serve as adviser to the Criminal Justice Task Force of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). My comments on this bill represent only my personal views and are not necessarily those of ALEC...
ND: N. D. Supreme Court destroys some electronics, returns others to family
[narsol.org] By Andrea Johnson . . . The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled [Feb. 22] that the state can destroy convicted sex offender______’s laptop and portable hard drive, but must return his X-Box and PlayStation to his family. ______, 38, of Minot, is serving 10 years in prison for child porn possession. He had appealed North Central District Court Judge Doug Mattson’s decision ordering...
WI: Losing Track
[UPDATED links 3/4/18] [wisconsinwatch.org] Losing Track by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism explores flaws in Wisconsin’s GPS monitoring program for offenders. In 2013, the Center exposed problems including false alerts and lost signals that sent offenders to jail even when they did not violate terms of the monitoring. Full Series Related links: Opponents claim GPS monitoring violates civil rights; judges not so sure...
FL: Urgent call to action – Stop Senate Bill 1226 and House Bill 1301
[UPDATED 3/10/18] H1301/SB1226 Passes by Florida Action Committee Sadly, but not surprisingly, the Florida Legislature passed another stupid, punitive and unnecessary sex offender bill that will only enrich those in private prisons, the GPS vendors and the Books. Read more [floridaactioncommittee.org] THE TIME IS NOW! ITS OUR LAST SHOT AT TRYING TO STOP THIS! WE NEED 100’s of calls to each of these...
KS: Kansas bill would reveal names of juvenile sex offenders
[kake.com] TOPEKA, Kan. (KAKE) - The family of a Newton mother and daughter who were killed last year is pushing for a new law that would reveal the names of child sex offenders. Keith Hawkins was sentenced this month to life without the possibility of parole for the deaths of 24-year-old Alyssa Runyon and 4-year-old Zaylynn Paz. In a letter to Runyon's family, Hawkins...
CO: There are 808 registered sex offenders in Aurora, and you should be worried for reasons you might not think
It’s an online compilation of every person in Colorado convicted of what most people imagine are only the most heinous sexual crimes, revealing who they are, what they look like and where they live. Only the Colorado Sexual Offender Registry is not that simple. Full Article
General Comments March 2018
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of March 2018. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
CA: After sexual predators swung an election, new law would change California voting rules
Four months after the patients of Coalinga State Hospital doomed a 1-cent sales tax needed to maintain police and fire staffing in the city, the California State Assembly is weighing a change to state voting law that would limit sexually violent predators' voting rights. Full Article AB 2839 Related Assembly Bill to Disenfranchise Coalinga Patients
TN: Suspect in sex offender slaying turns himself in, daughter safe
[theleafchronicle.com] A man who was shot to death in his home on Paradise Hill Road Tuesday night was a registered sex offender, and a friend of his daughter's was arrested Wednesday and charged with his slaying. At about 10:23 p.m., Tuesday officers were called to 1232 Paradise Hill Road for a shooting in progress, according to a news release from Clarksville Police spokesman Jim...
MI: Bohacek-authored sex offender bill passes house
[thenewsdispatch.com] INDIANAPOLIS — Senate Bill 12, authored by State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, recently passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 91-0. SB 12 would make it unlawful for a sex offender to intentionally establish residence within one mile of their victim. According to a press release from Bohacek's office, this law currently only applies to sex offenders whose victims are minors....
NC: Tracking sex offenders is a large task that falls to a handful of people
Investigator J. Moore spends his days keeping tabs on the sex offenders living in Wake County. “When we go out, we just go door-to-door until we run out of time or we run out of people. And we never run out of people,” Moore said. Full Article
AL: Federal jury finds man caught in Columbus child sex sting not guilty
It took a federal jury slightly more than an hour Wednesday to find an Auburn, Ala., man accused of being a child sexual predator not guilty. Full Article
PA: Pennsylvania community leaders deserve appreciation for giving second chances
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Recently, the Spartansburg, Pennsylvania community made national headlines by re-electing their fire chief, who happened to be a registered sex offender. Sadly, the newly re-elected chief resigned over the publicity, but many have stood behind him even in the wake of the negative publicity. A local news station, WJAC, featured another Pennsylvania community that had a similar situation, but chose to handle it...
AL: Bill would change school reporting, enrollment for juvenile sex offenders
[decaturdaily.com] MONTGOMERY — Juvenile sex offenders who are considered high or moderate risks for repeating such crimes would not be allowed to attend traditional public schools under proposed legislation in the Statehouse. Senate Bill 26 also would require the State Board of Education to develop by next year a policy for the supervision and monitoring of juvenile sex offender students considered by courts to...
MI: Legislation approved to prevent sex offenders to go to same school as their victims
[fox47news.com] The House Law and Justice Committee approved legislation on Tuesday that better protects underage students and victims of sexual-based crimes. The legislation was introduced by Representative Lana Theis, State Rep. from Brighton. The three-bill package was prompted by a recent Livingston County case where a 16-year-old was convicted of criminal sexual conduct against multiple victims as young as 12. Two of the underage...
House passes anti-online sex trafficking bill, allows targeting of websites like Backpage.com
[UPDATED links 2/28/18] [floridaactioncommittee.org and The Washington Post] The House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that gives prosecutors, state attorneys general and sex trafficking victims a clearer route to pursue legal action against websites hosting advertisements for prostitutes, which advocates have long argued are a hive for trafficking children. The bill now goes to the Senate, which already has passed a similar version...
CA: Keep violent sex offenders locked up (opinion by Jim Cooper, CA Assembly)
[sacbee.com] Two years ago, California voters were promised that violent sex offenders wouldn’t be released from prison early if they passed Proposition 57, the sweeping ballot initiative allowing the early release of inmates convicted of non-serious and non-violent crimes. But this month, a Superior Court judge tentatively ruled that sex offenders must be considered for early release under Prop. 57. If the ruling is...