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
Emotional Support Group to Meet on December 10 [date change]
The Emotional Support Group, which is focused upon the emotional needs of registrants and family members, will meet on December 10 (new date) in Los Angeles. The meeting will be held at the ACLU Building, 1313 W. 8th Street, starting at 10 a.m. Free parking is available in the building's underground garage. The meeting will begin promptly at 10 a.m. and those who arrive late...
TX: A Residence Ban Forced This Family into Homelessness for Almost Two Years
Legislators who advocate restrictions on where those on sex offender registries can live often admit that their real purpose is to get registrants out of town altogether. One city has come closer than any other to making permanent exile a reality: Lewisville, Texas. Full Article
International “Sex Offender’ Registries Expand and Proliferate
The number of "sex offender" registries continues to expand and proliferate, according to a recently released federal government report. There are now 24 nations that have existing "sex offender" registries as well as an additional 16 nations that have considered or are considering the creation of "sex offender" registries. The 24 nations that currently have registries are Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, France,...
ACSOL Monthly Meetings Q1 2017
ACSOL holds monthly meetings in various locations on a monthly basis throughout most of the year. Meetings are held on Saturdays - starting at 10 am and lasting about 2 hours. Meetings are open and free to registrants, family members and those who support them. Government officials, the media and all others are not allowed to attend the meetings. Meetings will focus on general...
Judge has ‘ethical and legal’ concerns over FBI running a massive ‘dark web’ child-porn site
A federal judge said he has “ethical and legal” concerns over the Department of Justice’s decision to take control of a child-pornography bulletin board and allow the distribution of as many as 1 million illegal images while agents hacked the computers of the site’s visitors. Full Article
NE: Rethinking Nebraska’s sex offender registry
Do all the people on Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registry really need to be there? Do you think we should know the whereabouts of every sex offender in the state? Some people don’t think so. Groundbreaking research at UNO found that most sex offenders do not reoffend. Research showed that putting every sex offender on a public website can lead to harassment and may contribute...
“Hard to See”: A story of sex offenders takes center stage
“America is Hard to See” is a play based on the lives of Pahokee residents – Aupperlee, her family, and the hundreds of registered sex offenders who live in the town. The script is based on verbatim transcriptions of interviews and news reports about the place, including a 2015 story by First Coast News. Full Article
General Comments November 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of November 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Norwalk Repeals Residency Restrictions
The Norwalk City Council unanimously agreed to repeal the city's residency restrictions during its meeting on November 1. The repeal will take effect 30 days after that vote. In considering what action to take, the Norwalk City Council noted that studies and reports "suggest that blanket enforcement of residency restrictions have not improved public safety". The Council also noted that "residency restrictions have the...
WA: State Dept. of Corrections finds the term ‘offender’ offensive
OLYMPIA —The state Department of Corrections plans to stop referring to the men and women serving time behind bars as “offenders.” Acting Corrections Secretary Dick Morgan told agency employees in a memo Tuesday the word will be replaced in policies and programs with terms such as “individuals,” “students” or “patients” depending on the circumstances. ... The term won’t disappear completely as registered sex offenders...
ACSOL Conference Call Nov 2 – International Travel [Recording added]
Conference Call Recording added here ACSOL’s will hold a public conference call on Wednesday, November 2, at 5 p.m. Pacific time. The topic of the call will be “International Travel” and the call will follow the same format as the previous calls. There will be a brief presentation of the topic to be followed by a Q&A session where call attendees may ask questions pertaining to the...
IL: A setback for First Amendment protection for anonymous speech
Continuing the one-step-forward, one-step-backward pattern that has characterized the cases examining the constitutionality of state sex offender registry statutes, the Illinois Supreme Court has upheld the provisions of the Illinois sex offender statute compelling disclosure of all “Internet identifiers” just a few weeks after the district court in Florida struck down, on First Amendment grounds, a virtually identical provision in the Florida statute. Full...
Three men tried to kill a registered citizen, killed an old lady instead. Tell me again why PFML wants to expand the registry?
Parents For Megan's Law wants the info of level 1 registrants in NY state to register for longer than 20 AND they publish level 1 info in violation of state law. Here is why this is a bad idea-- three vigilante thugs killed an elderly woman and left 13 people homeless by starting a fire in an attempt to kill someone on the registry....
Supreme Court: Court adds five new cases to docket
... Among the court’s other grants today, Packingham v. North Carolina is the case of Lester Packingham, a North Carolina man who became a registered sex offender after he was convicted, at the age of 21, of taking indecent liberties with a minor. Six years after Packingham’s conviction, North Carolina enacted a law that made it a felony for registered sex offenders to access...
Janice’s Journal: A Halloween Hero is Born in Ohio
Halloween is here again. I have just finished another media interview about the dangers of Halloween. This interview was initiated by a newspaper reporter in Tennessee and follows a long string of interviews by newspaper, radio and TV reporters. During each of those interviews, I did my best to turn the focus of the interview from the Halloween myth that registered citizens sexually assault...
California Re-Offense Rates Revealed
The overall re-offense rate for registrants in California is 4.8 percent, according to a recent report issued by Dr. Karl Hanson and colleagues. Of that total, the highest re-offense rate is for transients who lack stable housing. The report also compared re-offense rates for registrants on parole and probation. The report found that registrants on parole have a higher rate of re-offense (6.1 percent)...
Canada: Edmonton judge rules national sex offender registry is unconstitutional
An Edmonton judge has ruled that the national sex offender registry is unconstitutional as it is “over broad and grossly disproportionate” and violates people of their charter rights. In a recently released decision involving the case of an Edmonton man convicted of two sexual assaults, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Andrea Moen found the Sex Offender Information Registration Act removed judicial discretion to refuse...
OH: Official – Halloween child sex attacks unlikely
With Halloween only a few days away, Law Director Gregory Hicks made it clear there is not an increased likelihood of registered sex offenders accosting children during this holiday than any other time of the year. A nine-year study released in 2009 in the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers found there is no significant increase in the risk for non-familial child sexual...
MO: State Rep. wants death penalty as option for repeat sex offenders
It’s the one issue in Jefferson City that State Representative Randy Pietzman says nobody likes to talk about. “This is not a popular topic to talk about if you’re just trying to get re-elected,” he said. But that’s not going to stop him from tackling it head on because he says it concerns the safety of every Missouri child. Full Article
Parents Concerned Over Possible Registered Sex Offenders for Halloween
State officials are cracking down on registered sex offenders, just as Halloween is around the corner. It's called "Operation Boo," which requires that all registered sex offenders to adhere to certain curfews and restrictions between 5 p.m. and 5 a.m., starting on Halloween night. They also cannot put up Halloween decorations or give out candy to trick-or-treating children. Full Article Related https://all4consolaws.org/2016/09/cdcr-agrees-to-drop-halloween-sign-requirement/