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
UK: Police relax monitoring of sex offenders to focus on high-risk criminals
Police forces have dropped measures designed to stop convicted sex criminals reoffending, the National Police Chiefs’ Council has said, in a bid to focus more on those who present a greater risk. The new approach will see some low-risk offenders no longer being subject to annual home visits or having the risks they pose reassessed as thoroughly as before. Full Article
SCOTUS: Sex Offenders Can Access Facebook, High Court Says
Sex offenders who have already served their sentences enjoy a First Amendment right to use social networking websites like Facebook or Twitter, according to a June 19 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court ( Packingham v. North Carolina , 2017 BL 208397, U.S., No. 15-1194, 6/19/17 ). ... But Ira Ellman, a law professor at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Phoenix, said one line...
MO: Supreme Court backs confining sex offenders indefinitely
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a state law allowing two sex offenders to be committed indefinitely to mental institutions after prison is constitutional. Full Article
NJ: Rape victim pushes for stronger child protection
It took 14 years for Jackie Anselmo to go public with her nightmare. Set off by a discovery on social media in the spring, the 28-year-old Lakewood resident decided she had held her trauma in long enough. At age 14, a 24-year-old relative raped her and sexually abused her over a period of years, Anselmo said. He was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, criminal sexual contact...
NY: Mayoral candidate Akeem Browder addresses past as registered sex offender, convicted felon
Green Party mayoral candidate Akeem Browder is a registered sex offender and twice convicted felon, public records show. Browder pleaded guilty in 2000 to an act of sodomy with a 12-year-old girl that took place in 1997 when he was 15, according to the national sex offender registry, which classifies him as a level-three sex offender. Full Article
SCOTUS: High court won’t hear sex offender case
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined a request to review a McLean County case involving the issue of whether registered sex offenders should have access to social media. Full Article Related IL: A setback for First Amendment protection for anonymous speech
SCOTUS Symposium: Packingham and Fact-Checking the Supreme Court
Last week’s decision in Packingham v. North Carolina is getting a lot of attention in part because of this fact checker column in the Washington Post. Packingham involved a challenge to a North Carolina law that severely restricted the ability of registered sex offenders to access various websites, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. All eight participating Justices agreed that the law violated the First...
NC: Facts about the sex offender registry
The N.C. Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry can be easily accessed by visiting the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office website. It’s the third menu button from the right underneath the cover photo. But what does it mean to be on the registry? Is it only for pedophiles or sexual perverts? Is is forever? Today’s Focus piece answers those questions and more. Full Article Related...
WI: Wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet is not punishment, court says
GPS monitoring bracelets are not punishment. Oh, I'm sure they suck. They might chafe. They could cause blisters. They will cramp your style, keep you out of swimming pools, cause a funny-looking bulge in your nylons, spoil your suntan, tether you to a power source for an hour a day. They’ll subject you to derision — or worse. And they’re an enormous invasion of your...
AR: Disabled Little Rock man released from sex-offender list
A Pulaski County circuit judge has released a 38-year-old brain-damaged Little Rock man from an 18-year-old court order requiring him to register as a sex offender, ruling that ____ ____ is not a danger to the community. Full Article
TN: The plea deal _____ didn’t take in Vanderbilt rape case, and why
Prosecutors offered ____ a 10-year prison sentence if he pleaded guilty and avoided a fourth trial in the rape of an unconscious Vanderbilt University student four years ago, ____' lawyer said Saturday. ____ didn't take it. Going to trial was worth the risk of a longer prison term, defense lawyer Mark Scruggs said, because ____ hoped to avoid a lifetime position on the state's...
The Sex Offender: the 21st Century Witch
At the end of May, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed H.R.1761, the “Protecting Against Child Exploitation Act of 2017.” It is intended “to criminalize the knowing consent of the visual depiction, or live transmission, of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.” Going further, those convicted of such a practice would “be fined and imprisoned not less than 15 years nor more than 30 years,...
Successful ACSOL Conference Brought Dignity, Hope and Information to Many
In 2017 The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws held its inaugural national conference, “We Are All In This Together” on June 16th and 17th in Los Angeles at the Southwestern Law School’s historic Bullocks-Wilshire building. More than 165 registered citizens, family members and supporters from across the country were in attendance. Featured speakers at the conference included nationally recognized leaders in Criminal Justice...
Finally, some clearer thinking on sex offenders
After years of panicked and excessively punitive lawmaking against sex offenders, cooler heads are beginning to prevail. The U.S. Supreme Court, for example, on Monday struck down a North Carolina law that effectively banned registered sex offenders from using any social media that is also accessible by children. Full Editorial
Consideration of AB 558 Postponed Indefinitely
Bill author Sharon Quirk Silva has pulled Assembly Bill 558 (AB 558) from consideration during next week's Public Safety Committee hearing. The bill was scheduled for consideration on June 27, but it is now expected that AB 558 won't be heard until 2018 if at all. "The threat of AB 558 has disappeared from the horizon," stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. "There is language...
OK: Lawmaker Seeks Change After Sex Offender Gets Out of Prison, Moves Next Door to Victim
When ____ ____ was 7 years old, her uncle ____ ____ sexually abused her, resulting in ____ being convicted in 2002. Now 21, ____ had hoped to put the ordeal behind her, but now she’s forced to deal with it every day, now that ____ is out of prison—and living in the house next door to her. Full Article
MN: Even Sex Offenders Have Constitutional Rights
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that a North Carolina preventing sex offenders from accessing social media and other websites – without any attempt to tailor restrictions to potential contact with minors – violated the First Amendment. But restrictions on the freedom of speech aren’t the only unconstitutional deprivations sex offenders face. Full Article
IL: Rankings considered for sex offenders
Authorities are working to get a handle on the problem of sex offenders in the state. A state-run task force could change the way the state manages registered sex offenders, but it won't be easy to get everyone on board. One of the main items on the agenda is creating a ranking system. It would be a way to label non-violent offenders who pose...
Justice Alito’s misleading claim about sex offender rearrests
"Repeat sex offenders pose an especially grave risk to children. ‘When convicted sex offenders reenter society, they are much more likely than any other type of offender to be rearrested for a new rape or sexual assault.’” –Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., concurring opinion in Packingham v. North Carolina, June 19, 2017 Full Article Video Related Fact-Checking the Fact Checker A misdirected attack on two notable...
TX: Supreme Court ruling could imperil Texas sex offender rules
Texas rules barring some sex offenders from using certain websites were thrown into jeopardy Monday morning after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar statute in North Carolina violates the First Amendment. Full Article