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
NM: Halloween Sex Offender Scare Is Largely Myth
[Albuquerque Journal] The spookiest time of the year is fast approaching, and you have likely already heard about local law enforcement officers preparing to keep your area free of danger on Halloween night. They may be visiting schools to counsel kids on safe practices, they may be warning drivers about watching out for children on Halloween night, and in communities across America officers are...
CO: The flaws in Colorado’s sex offender registry
The state’s sex offender registry informs me of an allegedly dangerous man living within a mile of my house who was born in 1927. That’s right: This 90-year-old who committed his crime in the last century is still required to tell the state of his whereabouts on the theory that the information will assist local police in identifying suspects for sex offenses and allow...
NY: Police Reportedly Claim a Brooklyn Teen Consented to Sex in Custody. That’s Impossible.
[theintercept.com] On September 28, attorney Michael David filed notice of a claim against the New York Police Department, the City of New York, and two unnamed police officers, referred to as John and Jim Doe. These plainclothes cops, alleged the claim, “brutally sexually assaulted and raped” his 18-year-old female client. David told me that within a day, he needed to amend the claim: The...
FL: Housing changes for sexual offenders will make Jacksonville safer
[The Florida Times-Union] The city has finally taken a giant step toward protecting all its residents by considering a ordinance that will amend the strict sexual offender housing requirements that have put the community at risk. The ordinance in question decreases the distance sexual predators must reside from places, such as schools, day care centers and parks or playgrounds, from 2,500 feet to 1,500...
Ye Olde Ikea Sex Traffickers
[reason.com] We are in the midst of a massive mommy moral panic. Across the country, mothers are writing breathless accounts on Facebook of how sex traffickers nearly snatched their children at Target/Ikea/the grocery store. While at Sam's Club, one such post explains, "a man came up to us and asked if the empty cart nearby was ours.…He was an African American with a shaved...
PA: Legal questions swirl around Megan’s Law in Pennsylvania
Since 1995, Pennsylvania has had Megan’s Law, which seeks to protect communities by requiring sex offenders to register with the state police, or face arrest if they fail to do so. But a July decision by the state Supreme Court has undermined that once bedrock certainty, and cases like Davies’s are now testing the law’s reach, under which offenders have their photos, addresses and...
CDCR Motion Denied in Prop. 57 Case; New Hearing Date Set
A Superior Court judge has denied the demurrer filed by the CA Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and canceled the hearing on that topic which was scheduled for October 27, 2017. In addition, the judge scheduled a hearing on the merits of the case for February 9, 2018. "Because the judge did not grant CDCR's demurrer, we will have the opportunity early next year to present legal arguments...
VA: Gillespie ad blasting McAuliffe rights restoration policy as soft on sex offenders draws outrage from Democrats
[Richmond Times-Dispatch] A marquee policy initiative of Gov. Terry McAuliffe took center stage in the Virginia governor’s race Monday as Republican Ed Gillespie attacked McAuliffe’s approach to felon rights restoration as charitable to the point of being dangerous and Democrat Ralph Northam pushed back by saying Gillespie should be “ashamed” over his “fearmongering campaign.” The Gillespie campaign rolled out an ad Monday highlighting the...
Can we put all pedophiles on an island to starve?
[quora.com. Scroll down to the comment by Ben Kirssen] I think it is impossible. At least not without some serious collateral damage. The problem lies in the idea to send “all” pedophiles to an island. First you would have to determine who is a pedophile and who is not. That could prove to be tricky. However the last decade some promising ways of identifying...
IN: Churches aren’t school property; sex offenders can attend
[theindianalawyer.com] Three convicted Boone County sex offenders can return to their church congregations after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined that churches are not considered “school property,” so state statute cannot prohibit the offenders from going to church, even when children are present. The appellate court handed down that decision Tuesday in John Doe 1, et al., v. The Boone County Prosecutor, in his...
Sex offender registries endanger the lives they’re meant to protect
Our communities deserve effective public-safety measures that are based on facts and sound research, not wasteful and counterproductive measures born of fear. We all want to be safe. We have to demand our legislators pass laws that work and actually keep us safe. That's especially true when it comes to sexual offenses. http://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/357096-sex-offender-registries-endanger-the-lives-theyre-meant-to-protect?amp
Simi Valley Formally Notifies Registrants of Repealed Halloween Ordinance
The City of Simi Valley has formally notified registrants in that city that they are no longer required to post a sign on the front door of their home on Halloween and are allowed to decorate their homes as well as answer their door to children. According to the letter dated October 18, these changes are the result of a decision made on October...
MO: Vicki Henry Is Fighting to Reform the Way Missouri Treats Sex Offenders
[riverfronttimes.com] Four hours into the armed standoff, the narrow residential street in Arnold is crowded with police cruisers, ambulances and SWAT trucks. Two TV news crews set up in someone's front lawn, training their camera lenses on a boxy armored personnel carrier parked outside a one-floor duplex on West Highview Drive. A TV reporter relays in a breaking news update that federal officials would...
Blind Injustice: How ‘Tunnel Vision’ Convicts the Innocent
[thecrimereport.org] In 1991, soon after he was sentenced to 56 years in an Ohio prison for a crime he did not commit, Roger Dean Gillispie began pestering fellow inmates to save the tinfoil from their tobacco pouches. He also gathered discarded teabags and cassette tapes—anything he could get his hands on to serve as makeshift building materials. Then each evening, after he returned to...
The Sex Offender Registry Leaves Female Sex Offenders Open to Abuse
The plight of registered female sex offenders could be a hard sell to some. Like males who offend, they can and do cause extreme physical and emotional damage to their victims. In addition to prison time, they can also be subject to a long list of lifetime restrictions such as where they can live and work as well as being listed, often publicly, on...
MA: ‘Change of culture and mindset’ needed at Sex Offender Registry Board after probe finds no current addresses for 1,769 sex offenders, state auditor says
Massachusetts Auditor Suzanne Bump on Tuesday criticized the Sex Offender Registry Board for what she described as a culture of passivity in tracking sex offenders, after an audit found the board did not have a current address for more than 1,700 offenders. Full Article
Senate passes Schumer-backed bill to open FBI sex offender database
[syracuse.com] The operators of summer camps, daycare centers and volunteer groups that work with children are a step closer to gaining access to an FBI sex offender database that could be used for background checks on prospective employees and volunteers. The U.S. Senate passed a bill backed by U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer that would close a loophole in the background check system and authorize...
VA: Virginia pulls 132 confined sex offenders from list of eligible voters
[Washington Post] State officials abruptly removed 132 sex offenders from Virginia’s list of eligible voters last week, reacting to the latest problem emerging from Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s sweeping move to restore voting rights to felons who had served out their sentences. A spokesman for McAuliffe (D) said that the offenders, who are confined in a treatment facility under a form of civil commitment, had...
VA: Gillespie ad blasting McAuliffe rights restoration policy as soft on sex offenders draws outrage from Democrats
A marquee policy initiative of Gov. Terry McAuliffe took center stage in the Virginia governor’s race Monday as Republican Ed Gillespie attacked McAuliffe’s approach to felon rights restoration as charitable to the point of being dangerous and Democrat Ralph Northam pushed back by saying Gillespie should be “ashamed” over his “fearmongering campaign.” The Gillespie campaign rolled out an ad Monday highlighting the case of...
FL: More school districts blame sexual abuse victims
[sun-sentinel.com] Despite denying it, Broward and Miami-Dade school districts both have blamed schoolchildren for their own sexual abuse. The Sun Sentinel this week uncovered lawsuits in which the districts claimed children — from ages 8 to 14 — were wholly or partly responsible for what happened to them. The discovery came a week after Palm Beach County Schools came under fire for the same...