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
WA: Home helps Walla Walla sex offenders stay on straight and narrow
[union-bulletin.com] About 860,000 registered sex offenders were living in the United States in 2016, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Washington state Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs said Friday that 19,600 of those offenders are in this state. Today 124 of those live in Walla Walla County: 87 in the city, 17 in College Place, and the rest scattered...
Federal Judge Denies TRO at Coalinga
A federal judge on Friday denied a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) requested on behalf of patients at Coalinga State Hospital to stop the confiscation and destruction of their personal electronics, including computers and electronic storage devices. The judge made his decision from the bench after more than an hour of oral argument from attorneys representing both the patients and the state hospital. "This decision...
There’s A Line Between Justice And Vengeance. Larry Nassar’s Judge Crossed It.
[yahoo.com] Rosemarie Aquilina, the judge who presided over the astounding sentencing hearing of former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar this month, has emerged as a heroine for victims of sexual assault. Her decision to allow 156 women and girls to address their alleged abuser in court, with their emotional testimony streamed live across the nation, created an invaluable opportunity for catharsis, and directed...
ME: Our View – The right way to take on sex offenders
We can’t imagine how unsettling it must be to find photographs of your child that were taken without permission and posted online by a sex offender. Nor can we imagine the frustration in discovering that it is perfectly legal. But as the Legislature considers a solution to this upsetting situation, brought to light in the case of an Augusta man who was taking photos...
Recidivism: The Great Lie of “Frightening and High”
[oncefallen.com] Derek W. Logue of OnceFallen.com January 15, 2018 "In so many instances these individuals should never ever be allowed out for a second chance, they're ticking time bombs, its not a questions if they a re-offend, it's a question of when they re-offend." – Lauren Book, Current FL State Senator and victim industry advocate [1] “There is a 90 percent likelihood of recidivism...
MN: Minnesota Federal District Court Enjoins West St. Paul Sex Offender Ordinance
[floridaactioncommittee.org] In a decision issued today, the Federal Court for the District of Minnesota granted a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a West St. Paul sex offender residency restriction. Calling it a close call in light of 8th Circuit precedent that previously found SORRs constitutional, the Judge found that the West St. Paul Ordinance is significantly more restrictive than those upheld by the...
FL: I count too!
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Last night I lay awake in bed with a puzzle racking my brain. How can I finish the sentence “sex offenders shouldn’t be allowed to vote, because ____”? It’s an exercise I go through often, and certainly during every legislation session, where someone comes up with a new “sex offender” rule and I try to play devil’s advocate and come up with some...
FL: My boyfriend is a registered sex offender
[bbc.co.uk] House-hunting always comes with challenges, right? One bed or two? Are the bills included? And, of course, the location. But, for my boyfriend and I, it was on a whole new level, because we had to find somewhere very specific. He’s on probation, convicted nearly nine years ago, when he was 18, of Lewd and Lascivious Molestation and one count of Lewd and...
Where Nassar’s Judge Went Wrong
[theatlantic.com] In 2001, I went to Xipamanine market, a huge open-air bazaar in Maputo, Mozambique, where you can buy everything from clothes to traditional medicine. A Mozambican friend told me how to keep safe from pickpockets. “If someone takes something from you, yell Ladrão! Ladrão!”—Thief! Thief!—“and point to him.” “What happens next?” I asked. “People will grab him,” she said, “and possibly beat him...
How ‘Pseudo-Science’ Turns Sex Offenders into Permanent Outlaws
[thecrimereport.org] A New York Appeals court has rejected the notion that risk prediction under the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) should have a scientific basis. According to the July 2017 decision in People v. Curry, courts must not only adhere to a risk assessment instrument (RAI) that has been repeatedly exposed as pseudo-scientific humbug, they may not even consider a scientifically validated instrument...
CA: Child porn ‘epidemic’ triggers Coalinga hospital lockdown, patients file lawsuit
Two patients at Coalinga State Hospital, which houses nearly 1,000 sexually violent predators, have filed a federal lawsuit against the hospital’s executive director and 10 other staff members for allegedly violating their civil rights during a recent crackdown on portable electronic devices that hospital officials say was prompted by a “child porn epidemic.” Sacramento civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci filed the lawsuit on behalf...
New potential scam “Correctional Services Network of America” targeting sex offenders
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Members are reporting receiving post cards from a Nevada based LLC called “Correctional Services Network of America” in the same style as “ClearMyCase”. The company is using the Florida Sex Offender’s Registry as a marketing list to solicit vulnerable individuals, offering a “review” of their registration status for $299… a “savings” of $500 off their regular price of $899.00. Read more
Washington Post: How an Arizona couple’s innocent bath-time photos of their kids set off a 10-year legal saga
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Lisa and A.J. Demaree’s decade-long legal ordeal started with, by all accounts, an utterly innocent family moment. In 2008, the couple took their three daughters, then ages 5, 4 and 1½, on a vacation to San Diego. They snapped more than 100 photos during the trip, like parents do, including several of the girls playing together during bath time. When they returned to...
MI: Supreme Court Rules in Sex Offender Registry Case
Michigan's Supreme Court says a Detroit-area man who served probation and community service after being charged with touching a girl's breast when he was 19 can be removed from a sex offender registry. Full Article
ME: Lawmaker Seeks to Ban Sex Offenders From Photographing Kids
[usnews.com] AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A Maine lawmaker is proposing a bill that would make it a crime for sex offenders to take photos of children without parental consent. Republican state Rep. Matthew Pouliot (POOL'-yot) says his proposal comes after several parents in Augusta called police last week to complain about a registered sex offender taking photos of girls and women in public and...
MN: Minnesota sex offenders challenge a city’s ban
[startribune.com] Three convicted rapists awaiting release from state custody are suing the city of Dayton, Minn., over an ordinance that virtually bans them from living in the city, arguing that the measure violates their Constitutional rights and is trumped by state law. The men are challenging a far-reaching 2016 ordinance that bars convicted sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school, day...
CA: Coalinga Patients Attempt to Join City, County Lawsuit
Patients at Coalinga State Hospital filed today a motion in Fresno Superior Court that, if granted, would allow them to join an existing lawsuit that attempts to negate their votes taken in a recent City of Coalinga election. The City of Coalinga has blamed the patients for the defeat of its attempted increase in the city’s sales tax. "The voting rights of the patients at Coalinga State...
FL: A residential ministry deals with the sex offender registry
Baptist minister Glenn Burns calls the evening of April 7, 2016, the “crucifixion.” It was the toughest test of his 40-year career. Burns leads a Christian social services ministry in northern Florida called the Good Samaritan Network. Until last April, the nonprofit was headquartered in the town of Woodville, just outside Tallahassee. Its food bank served 7,000 people a month. It also ran a...
Ireland: Teenage sex offenders a growing challenge for social workers
In world of online porn, more than 25% of sex offenders found by Garda are teenagers. What’s the best way to deal with sex offenders? Most people would probably answer they should be locked up, ideally for a long time. But what if the offender in question is a 17-year-old? Or as young as 12? This is where Joan Cherry comes in. She is one...
PA: U.S. Supreme Court denies appeal of sex offender decision
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to a recent state court ruling that determined part of Pennsylvania's sex offender registration law was unconstitutional. Full Article Related https://floridaactioncommittee.org/scotus-refuses-to-hear-pa-case-that-found-sex-offender-registry-punishment/ http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-121B-2016oajc%20-%2010317692521317667.pdf