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
President Trump: War on Human Trafficking
According to the FBI, human trafficking is believed to be the third-largest criminal activity in the world. In recent years cases have been piling up and leads are hard to follow in many instances. President Trump has vowed to bring "full force and weight" to battle this epidemic aggressively . In a Reuters video the president pointed out the seriousness of this issues in America...
The Transformative Potential of Doe v. Snyder
In late 2016, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s concluded in Does #1–5 v. Snyder that Michigan’s sex offender registry and residency restriction law constituted an ex post facto punishment in violation of the constitution. In its decision, the Sixth Circuit engaged with scientific evidence that refutes moralized judgments about sex offenders, specifically that they pose a unique and substantial risk of...
ACSOL Board Selects Janice Bellucci as Executive Director; Elects Chance Oberstein as President
The board of directors for the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) has selected Janice Bellucci to serve as its first Executive Director. The ACSOL board of directors subsequently elected Chance Oberstein to replace Bellucci as President. "I am honored to serve as the first Executive Director of ACSOL," stated Bellucci. "In that capacity, I will be responsible for conducting the day-to-day business...
Murrieta City Council Revises Residency Restrictions
The Murrieta City Council unanimously voted in favor of revising its residency restrictions on February 21. When it becomes effective, the revised ordinance will apply only to registrants on parole who live within 1,000 feet of schools and parks. The revised ordinance also limits the number of registrants who can live in individual housing units and creates exceptions for some disabled registrants. "The revised...
SCOTUS: Removal of an immigrant for “sexual abuse of a minor”
The facts of the case sound like an episode of “Law and Order SVU.” In 2000, Juan Esquivel-Quintana’s parents lawfully brought him to the United States and settled in Sacramento, California. When he was 20 years old, Esquivel-Quintana had consensual sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend. He later pleaded no contest to violating California Penal Code § 261.5(c), which criminalizes sex with a person “under...
Reason Magazine Questions IML Decision, Other Federal Government Actions
The April 2017 issue of Reason magazine is focused upon federal government actions that result in harm to registrants and their families. The magazine is currently available by subscription only and can be obtained at a price of $15 for an annual digital subscription at www.reason.com. The magazine includes a discussion of our challenge to the International Megan's Law (IML) and includes accurate statements...
The Man Arrested for Praising Jesus
Lester Packingham’s Facebook post is headed for the Supreme Court... Lester Gerard Packingham was having a really good day back on April 27, 2010. The North Carolina man had just learned that a traffic ticket against him had been dismissed, so he logged onto his Facebook account and gleefully told the world: “Man God is Good! How about I got so much favor they...
OR: Lawmakers debate proposal to add sex traffickers to public registry
Should more sex offenders be listed on Oregon's public sex offender registry? State lawmakers discussed the topic on Thursday as they considered a bill to add convicted sex traffickers to the state's public website. Full Article
Bill Would Eliminate Exclusions from Megan’s Law Website (AB 558)
A bill was introduced in the California Assembly on Feb. 14 that would eliminate most exclusions from registrants' information being posted on the Megan's Law website. The author of that bill, Assembly Bill 558 (AB 558), is Assembly Member Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Democrat from Orange County. If the bill is passed, information regarding some registrants whose victims were 16 years and older, successfully completed...
Companies Expanding Employment Opportunities
More than 100 companies have announced that they are now willing to hire individuals previously convicted of a felony offense. The companies range from McDonald's to the New York Times and also include American Express, B F Goodrich, Dunkin Donuts, Hilton Hotels, the Salvation Army, Target and others. It has been reported that some, but not all, of these companies are willing to hire...
Janice’s Journal: Tiered Registry Bill Could Help More Than 90 Percent of Registrants
It has happened at last! A tiered registry bill has been introduced in the state legislature. Before looking at the substance of the bill (Senate Bill 695), it is important to look at those who are offering and supporting it. The bill’s authors are two powerful members of the state Senate -- Senator Ricardo Lara, who chairs the Appropriations Committee and Holly Mitchell, who...
Tiered Registry Bill Introduced as Senate Bill 695
Senator Ricardo Lara introduced today a tiered registry bill (Senate Bill 695). If passed by the legislature and signed by Governor, the bill would create three tiers that would allows most registrants who do not re-offend to lawfully end their requirement to register in either 10 or 20 years. The remaining registrants would still be required to register for a lifetime. "We have just...
Congressman Sensenbrenner Reintroduces Bill to Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Children
Today, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner reintroduced the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act, which would allow the protections of the Adam Walsh Protection and Safety Act to continue saving the lives of children throughout the nation. Full Article
CA Sex Offender Management Board Discusses Revisions to Tiered Registry Bill
Although the tiered registry bill has not yet been introduced in the state legislature, members of the CA Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) discussed today possible significant revisions to that bill. The deadline for the bill to be introduced is Friday, February 17. First, CASOMB recommends that the bill be revised to allow some, but not all, individuals assigned to Tier 3 to petition...
MO: Swan files bill to bar sex offenders from children’s museums, zoos
An incident in which a sex offender visited Cape Girardeau’s Discovery Playhouse children’s museum prompted state Rep. Kathy Swan to file legislation to bar sex offenders from that museum and others. Registered sex offenders would be prohibited from being within 500 feet of any museum, zoo or “other location with the primary purpose of entertaining or educating children” younger than 18 years of age...
WV: West Virginia rejects juvenile sex offender registration
West Virginia's highest court has ruled that juveniles judged delinquents for sex offenses don't have to register as sex offenders when they turn 18. The registration requirement applies to any person convicted of sex offenses. The court says under West Virginia law those delinquency adjudications are not convictions. Full Article Opinion
Want to Make a Lie Seem True? Say It Again. And Again. And Again
YOU ONLY USE 10 percent of your brain. Eating carrots improves your eyesight. Vitamin C cures the common cold. Crime in the United States is at an all-time high. None of those things are true. But the facts don’t actually matter: People repeat them so often that you believe them. Welcome to the “illusory truth effect,” a glitch in the human psyche that equates repetition...
VA: Teen Girl Sent Teen Boy 5 Inappropriate Pictures. He Faced Lifetime Registry as a ‘Violent Sex Offender’ or 350 Years in Jail.
Zachary, now 19, is in jail awaiting sentencing for five pictures his teenage girlfriend sent him of herself in her underwear. He faced a choice between a possible (though unlikely) maximum sentence of 350 years in prison, or lifetime on the sex offender registry as a "sexually violent offender"—even though he never met the girl in person. Here's what happened. Full Article
IL: Court Strikes Sex Offender Park Ban
An Illinois appeals court ruled that a state law making it a crime for convicted sex offenders to set foot in public parks is unconstitutional because it can punish innocent conduct. Full Article Opinion
IA: Aging sex offenders have nowhere to go, Iowa prison director says
That’s because finding places for elderly sex offenders to live after they’ve served their time in prison is very difficult, Bartruff said Monday during a community forum in Coralville. Iowa recently had three sex offenders who had served their time, but because they had no place to go, died behind bars. Full Article