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
CA: CASOMB Discusses Tiered Registry Bill
The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) discussed the Tiered Registry Bill and registrant statistics during its monthly meeting today. The discussion included a detailed account of the history of the Tiered Registry Bill as well as its future. Dan Felizzatto, the lead lobbyist for the Los Angeles District Attorney (DA), who was the bill's sponsor, led today's discussion. The lobbyist stated that the...
Murderer said he would “spend his remaining days killing sexual offenders”
[Florida Action Committee] A Canadian man, Derrick Lawlor, who now stands accused of Murder, told his therapist that if he only had two months to live, he would kill every sexual offender. Read more
RI: Assembly OKs Bill Alerting Parents to Sex Offenders Living Near Bus Stops
The Rhode Island General Assembly passed legislation introduced by Senate Majority Leader Michael J. McCaffrey (D-Dist. 29, Warwick) and Rep. Joseph J. Solomon Jr. (D-Dist. 22, Warwick) that would mandate the notification of parents of schoolchildren when sex offenders are living near school bus stops. Full Article
Phone Meeting to Discuss New Tiered Registry Law (9/26, RECORDING UPLOADED)
ACSOL will conduct a phone meeting on Tuesday, September 26, at 5 p.m. to discuss the new Tiered Registry Law. The 90-minute meeting will begin with an overview provided by attorneys Janice Bellucci and Chance Oberstein followed by questions and answers. To join the meeting, call 1-712-770-8055 and then key in access code 983459. Listen / Download call
CO: Why One County Took Its Sex-Offender List Offline
Montrose County, on Colorado's Western Slope, has pulled its sex-offender list offline, reportedly because of a recent court ruling in which U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch found that such registries constituted cruel and unusual punishment in the case of three plaintiffs. The action was taken despite the fact that the ruling is specific to the complainants in question, rather than everyone on the...
The sex-offender panic is destroying lives
The video below tells the story of Shawna, an Oklahoma woman who is still in mandatory treatment because 15 years ago, when she was 19, she had sex with a boy who was 14. Full Opinion Piece Also see Shawna: A Life on the Sex Offender Registry
Resources for Those Dealing with Sex Crime Accusations
[Law Offices of Ned Barnett] If you or a loved one has been falsely accused of a sex crime, there are ways to obtain help in your situation. Below is a list of organizations, advocacy groups, and resources for those who have been falsely accused, in need of support, or want to get involved. Although the main purpose of some of these organizations may...
CA: Federal lawsuit challenges Simi Valley Halloween sex offender law for second time
[Ventura County Star] For the second time in five years, a federal lawsuit is challenging the constitutionality of a Simi Valley law that bars registered sex offenders listed on the Megan's Law website from opening their doors to trick-or-treating children on Halloween. The law, enacted by the City Council in September 2012, also forbids the registered sex offenders from decorating the outside of their...
CA: “A Stranger Looking to Kidnap and Sex Traffic a Child Is Highly Unlikely” – Roseville, California Police
Looks like the Roseville, California, police department got a little fed up with social media posts going on about local “sex trafficking kidnappers” and “suspicious people.” And so it came out with this amazing document on its Facebook page: True facts about the fears its citizens feel and perpetuate. Kudos to a department that seems determined to do its job. If called, it will...
CA: Registrant and Family Challenge Halloween Ordinance
Today a lawsuit was filed in federal district court challenging a city law that requires sex offenders (“registrants”) on Halloween to post a sign on the front door of their homes, to refrain from decorating their homes, to extinguish all lights outside their homes and to refrain from answering the door to trick-or-treaters. The lawsuit asserts that the law, adopted by Simi Valley law,...
What is a Valid Evaluation or Study of Recidivism
Over the years a lot of studies and evaluations have been done on everything from the safety of automobiles, airplanes and ocean liners to the type of people that buy fast food rather than cook at home. So what truly is a valid study and what Is required for it to meet scientific standards? Please understand I am not talking about pseudo scientific standards...
Shawna: A Life on the Sex Offender Registry
I met Shawna a year into filming “Untouchable,” a documentary that examines sex offender laws through the lives of individuals on the sex offender registry. It was at an Oklahoma treatment center where she was participating in a mandatory group therapy session. She was there because fifteen years earlier, Shawna was deemed to be a sexual predator after pleading guilty to having consensual sex...
CA: Gov. Brown supports bill sent to him that would end lifetime listing of many sex offenders on public registry
[LA Times] After an emotional debate, state lawmakers on Saturday gave final legislative approval to a controversial bill that would end the lifetime listing of many convicted sex offenders on a public registry in California. The bill, which was shelved then revived, was sent to the governor on the last day of the legislative session with Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) calling it...
CA Assembly Passes Tiered Registry Bill [Updated 9/16, 6 a.m.]
Today the Assembly passed the Tiered Registry Bill (SB 384) by a vote of 42 to 22. A minimum of 41 votes was required for the bill to pass. Due to the Assembly's passage, the final legislative step for the bill is concurrence by the Senate which is expected later today. During the Assembly's consideration of the bill, only three members spoke: two in...
Bermuda: ‘No public list of sex offenders’
Details of sex offenders will not be put on a public register, the Attorney-General said yesterday. Full Article
The Politics of Defending the Sex-Offender Registry
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch recently ruled that Colorado's sex-offender registry violates the due-process rights of three plaintiffs, thereby amounting to cruel and unusual punishment. Boulder attorney Alison Ruttenberg, who's kept the case going for the past four years, lauded this decision because it acknowledged that treating every person on the registry like a violent child predator was patently unfair. But she's not surprised that Colorado Attorney...
While sex offenders fight for a shot off the registry, opponents raise safety concerns
A federal judge declared Colorado’s sex-offender registry unconstitutional earlier this month, ruling that making sex-offenders' addresses, ages and photos accessible to the public is cruel and unusual punishment. Now, an effort to reform California’s own sex-offender registry is raising questions and concerns. Full Article
CA: FACING A LAWSUIT, TWENTYNINE PALMS COUNCIL REDUCES SEX OFFENDER RESTRICTIONS
In a turnabout from the hysteria surrounding past discussion on repeal of Twentynine Palms Municipal Code 11.32, the City Council last night held their noses and voted 5-0 to do away with the local law which forbids registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks or day care centers, or from even being within 300 feet of any park or school....
CO: Coffman will appeal federal ruling declaring sex offender registry unconstitutional
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman will appeal the recent federal ruling declaring the state's sex offender registry unconstitutional. Full Article Related http://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/13/colorado-sex-offender-registration-appeal/
When Junk Science About Sex Offenders Infects the Supreme Court: A ‘Frightening’ Myth About Sex Offenders
[New York Times] This month the Supreme Court will have a rare opportunity to correct a flawed doctrine that for the past two decades has relied on junk social science to justify punishing more than 800,000 Americans. Two cases that the court could review concern people on the sex offender registry and the kinds of government control that can constitutionally be imposed upon them....