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
NC: Sex Offender Premises Restrictions Revised in Response to Doe v. Cooper
The General Assembly amended G.S. 14-208.18, the law that makes it a Class H felony for certain registered sex offenders to go certain places. The changes are a response to Doe v. Cooper, a federal case in which the trial judge enjoined every district attorney in the state from enforcing the parts of the law he found to be unconstitutional. Today’s post takes a...
IN: Judge keeps sex offender’s voting suit alive
A registered sex offender’s lawsuit against the Indiana Secretary of State and other parties will proceed, a federal judge ruled Thursday, denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Blackford County resident ____ ____ filed the federal suit alleging his First and 14th Amendment rights were violated because he cannot vote at the local polling place located in the Blackford County High School auxiliary gym. ____’s suit...
Peaceful Protest in Oakland Attracts More Than 40 People
More than 40 people today participated in a peaceful protest held outside the federal district court in Oakland. Participants included registrants and supporters from California as well as several other states, including Florida, Missouri and Oregon. Today's protest included the burning of sex offender registration cards by six registrants led by CA RSOL Treasurer Frank Lindsay. Today's protest was a tremendous success," stated CA RSOL President Janice Bellucci. ...
IL: A chance to get sex offender laws right [Editorial]
When the 19-year-old son of ____ ____ of Downstate Fairview Heights had sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend, he was forced to register as a sex offender. He was a legal adult and she was a minor. Police told his employer to fire him, and when he found a job in a new town, the police there ran him off, too. Full Article Related IL: Sex...
IL: Sex offenders sue, saying registry laws keep them from church, living with family
A 77-year-old man says he's been forced out of his home, had to move out of state and can't visit his daughter's family because of a crime he committed long ago. Full Article
CT: State Supreme Court Overturns Denial Of Rental Assistance To Sex Offender
The state Supreme Court has ruled that housing officials improperly removed a man from Connecticut's rental assistance program because his name was on the state's sex offender registry. The state Department of Housing issued a regulation in 2012 that made those on the registry ineligible for housing assistance. But the court ruled Thursday that the regulation cannot be applied retroactively to those who already were...
Janice’s Journal: We Need YOU to Help Restore Registrants’ Rights on July 27
A federal judge made a wise and brave decision on Friday. She granted a TRO which temporarily prohibits the City of Murrieta from evicting a registrant, who suffers from both medical and financial challenges, from the home of his sister, the only person willing and able to care for him. This judge’s decision is important because it is the first decision by a federal...
Federal Judge Temporarily Stops Residency Restrictions in Murrieta
Federal judge Virginia Phillips issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) today that prohibits the City of Murrieta from enforcing its residency restrictions against a registrant who moved to his sister's home earlier this month. The TRO will remain in effect until August 15 when a hearing will be held to determine whether the judge will grant additional injunctive relief. "This is a great victory...
IN: First In The Nation To Create Child-Abuse Registry
Starting in July 2017, Indiana will become the first state in the nation maintaining a child abuse offender registry, The new law tracks anyone who has ever been convicted in Indiana of child neglect – or physical or sexual abuse of a child. The Offender Registry will be maintained by the Division of State Court Administration. Full Article
Canada: Supreme Court says judges can ban convicted sexual predators from Internet
OTTAWA -- The Supreme Court took steps Thursday to bring the law up to speed to protect children in the rapidly evolving realm of cyberspace in a ruling allowing judges to ban convicted sexual predators from using the Internet. The case turned on one narrow legal issue -- whether a new law can be retroactively applied to case that predated it. As a matter...
NC: Bans sex offenders from spots children gather
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina has banned some sex offenders from places children gather while a similar state law from 2009 remains under federal review. Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill Thursday that would prohibit sex offenders who have been identified as threats to minors from places like arcades, parks, libraries and the State Fairgrounds during the fair. It takes effect in September....
TX: Rowlett Couple Harassed After Mistaken Sex Offender Notice
ROWLETT (CBSDFW.COM) – A Rowlett couple fear for their safety after police mistakenly listed their address as belonging to a sex offender. The Texas Department of Public Safety sent postcards to neighbors within four blocks of the house on Kirby Road, alerting them a “high risk” offender, ____ ____, lives there. “It’s been a nightmare, and I want it to be over,” said Michelle Swindle. Full...
A Defender Office for Supreme Court Advocacy?
An “independent federal public defender office charged with representing poor defendants before the United States Supreme Court” is necessary to fill gaps in legal services to the poor and “better balance the scales of justice between the government and the defendants,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said earlier this month. Full Article
NY: Sex offenders are moved out of North Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB)- Parents are relieved after two sex offenders are moved from a group home in North Buffalo. “I’m thrilled that they’re out of our neighborhood,” said Andy Bus, who lives down the road from the home. Full Article
WI: Sex offenders contesting Pleasant Prairie ordinance
Six convicted sex offenders living in Pleasant Prairie allege the village’s restrictions on where offenders can live are so broad, they effectively banish them from the village in violation of their constitutional rights. A federal lawsuit filed in June alleges the ordinance violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it retroactively applies the restrictions to offenders who committed qualifying crimes...
Emotional Support Group Mtgs Resume in L.A. on August 6
Emotional Support Group meetings for registrants and their loved ones will resume in Los Angeles on August 6 at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held at the ACLU building, 1313 W. 8th Street, and free underground parking is available. There is no charge for attending the meeting. Participants are urged to arrive before 10 a.m. because access to the meeting will close at...
Janice’s Journal: Hand-to-Hand Combat in California Cities
Today we are conducting hand-to-hand combat with cities throughout the state of California in order to challenge their residency restrictions. There are more than 100 cities that have such restrictions and thusfar we have filed nine lawsuits. The series of lawsuits began last year when we challenged residency restriction in the City of Grover Beach that prohibited registered citizens from moving into most of...
AK: Anchorage man says an attacker who called himself the ‘avenging angel’ broke into his home and assaulted him with a hammer
Jason Vukovich, 41, waived his appearance at a court hearing Thursday in an unusual criminal case: the hammer attack he's charged with carrying out against a man on a sex-offender list. While police and prosecutors won't go into details, the victim of the attack, ____ ____, said Vukovich is the man who broke into his Anchorage home in late June and, wielding a hammer,...
MI: Convicted sex offender running for county sheriff
BAY CITY, Mich. — A man convicted of sex crimes and ordered to register as a sex offender wants to be Bay County’s sheriff — and under Michigan elections law it’s legal for him to seek the office. Full Article
How a Plano legislator’s remarks bred strict sex offender laws
Recent research has challenged long-held assumptions that convicted sex offenders are very likely to commit new sex crimes and questioned how those assumptions were reached in the first place. Prior to that, though, one Texas legislator’s words were particularly influential on sex offender laws across the country. (Italics added for clarity.) July 1997: State Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, a former schoolteacher and proponent of...