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
ACSOL to Lead Lobbying Effort in Sacramento on March 20 and 21
ACSOL will lead the next lobbying effort in the State Capitol on March 20 and March 21. The focus of the effort will be pending legislation, including the Tiered Registry Bill (SB 695). Meetings will begin on Monday, March 20, at 9 a.m. in the ACSOL offices at 1215 K Street, 17th Floor, Sacramento. Training will be provided and all participants will be divided...
CO: Englewood alters but keeps restrictions on sex offenders
After months of city council consideration of the issue of sex offender residency restrictions, Englewood still has such restrictions, but the council relaxed the restrictions and included an amendment allowing offenders currently living in the city to remain. Full Article
Seal Beach Repeals Residency Restrictions
The Seal Beach City Council voted last night in favor of repealing its residency restrictions. The vote was taken based upon a recommendation to repeal by the City Manager which noted that residency restrictions are ineffective and have been stricken down at the state level. The City Council is expected to consider this issue a second time during its next meeting on March 27...
‘There must be a better way’ to look at sex offenses
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), there are 843,260 registered sex offenders listed in the United States. Some will spend five, 10 or 40 years in prison, but in truth, when they get out and reenter society, offenders are doomed to a life sentence without bars. Full Article
Habitual sex offender, public masturbator gets life in prison for latest crime
A sex offender with a long record and compulsion for public indecency was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday for his latest offense -- getting caught masturbating on a MAX train. Full Article
General Comments March 2017
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of March 2017. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
FBI Used Best Buy’s Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance
Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer's request for repairs. Full Article
“Shaming the Constitution: The Detrimental Results of Sexual Violent Predator Legislation” (Book)
The title of this post is the title of this notable new book authored by Michael Perlin and Heather Ellis Cucolo which provides a fitting follow-up to prior posts in this space this week concerning problems with sex offender recidivism data and expanding use of crime registries. Full Article
Afraid of Jail? Buy an Upgrade
How California's pay-to-stay jails create a two-tiered justice system. Full Article Also see Los Angeles Times article
Sex offenders’ prison treatment records should be open to public
____ and ____ are registered sex offenders accused of sex-related crimes just months after they were released from prison. If the latest allegations prove true, whatever steps the state took to rehabilitate them clearly did not stick. Ohio law prevents us from learning what many of those steps might have been. Full Article
The big lie about sex offenders
Much of the destructive, extra-punishment punishment we inflict on sex offenders is due to the widely held belief that they’re more likely to re-offend than the perpetrators of other classes of crimes. This has been the main justification for the Supreme Court’s authorization of sex-offender registries and for holding sex offenders indefinitely after they’ve served their sentences. Lower courts have then cited those rulings...
IL: Bill could end statute of limations for child sex offenders
Attorney General Lisa Madigan wants to erase the statute of limitations allowing felony child sex offenders to evade justice. Madigan's office represents the people of Illinois in criminal cases, and described why it can be so difficult for some victims to come forward. Full Article
Facebook reports journalists to police for flagging possible child porn — on Facebook
Facebook reported journalists at the BBC to police for sending them images related to suspected child pornography on the site, even though Facebook had requested examples, the news organization reported Tuesday. The BBC, which was following up on a past investigation of child exploitation on the social networking site, had found dozens of recent photos of children in sexualized positions and with suggestions of...
Assembly Bill 558 (ML Web Site Exclusion) – Hearing Postponed Indefinitely
UPDATE 3/27: AB 558 hearing has been postponed indefinitely. Update: AB 558 is scheduled for hearing by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on March 28. Public Safety Committee contact info below. Update 3/15: The hearing scheduled for March 21 has been postponed indefinitely. Update 3/10: March 21 at 9 a.m. in Room 126 of the State Capitol. Please join us to speak in opposition to the...
The Lingering Impact of Justice Kennedy’s Trumpesque Claim About Sex Offenders
Last week Robert Montgomery, a senior deputy attorney general at the North Carolina Department of Justice, seemed to have little success convincing the Supreme Court that his state's law banning sex offenders from social media is consistent with the First Amendment. But at least one statement Montgomery made in defense of the law went unchallenged, even though it has no empirical basis. "This Court has recognized...
Sex offender sues Ventura school district
A registered sex offender who committed his crime 27 years ago has sued the Ventura Unified School District over a district policy that forbids him from taking his child to and from her elementary school. Full Article
The Supreme Court’s Sex-Offender Jurisprudence Is Based on a Lie
The Supreme Court believes most sex offenders will keep committing sex crimes. The data suggests otherwise. Full Article
Trinidad & Tobago: Bring sex offenders registry
The T&T Government should partner with the Angel Watch Centre and the United States’ Department of Justice in a bid to alert foreign law enforcement partners about intended travel by convicted registered sex offenders. Full Article
CO: Englewood cuts in half its distance restrictions on where sex offenders can live
The Englewood City Council on Monday approved a measure that would cut in half its 2,000-foot buffer between parks and schools and where newly arrived sex offenders can live. But city leaders decided to allow offenders who already live in the city to continue doing so regardless of the buffer. Full Article
How the Supreme Court Spread a False Statistic About Sex Offenders
When a false idea gains traction, spreading far and wide, it’s always interesting to try to trace it back to its source to figure out what caused it to catch on in the first place. The New York Times has an NY Times: Dubious Data Belies Supreme Court’s Stance on Repeat Sex Offenders, and it pertains to a common myth about sex offenders: that...