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
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
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...
TX: Program to corral ballooning sex offender registry failing
... In 2011, Texas began a so-called deregistration process. The intent was to remove those who were unlikely to re-offend from the list and, in so doing, save taxpayers money. By focusing police attention on truly dangerous offenders, it would also improve public safety. By that measure, however, the program has been a bust. In the 5 1/2 years it has been in existence,...
NY: These guys are really bad – NY wins big victory in locking up sex offenders forever
Albany, NY -- New York's top court this month delivered a big victory to state prosecutors who want to remove some of the worst sex offenders from society -- possibly forever. It dealt a blow to those who fear that the state is expanding a controversial confinement program beyond its Constitutional grounds. Full Article
“Pokemon Go” leads players to California sex offender home
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- The addictive cellphone game "Pokemon Go" has led people to unlikely places to collect digital monsters - including the gates of a central California ranch that houses alcoholics and sex offenders. ... But De Vaul, 72, told the Los Angeles Times that he was upset. "I have no idea what Pokemon is," he said. "I have no idea who put the...
NV: Sex offender list case off Las Vegas court docket
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A state court in Las Vegas won't hear arguments about a sex offender registry until the Nevada Supreme Court considers constitutional questions raised by lawyers representing 17 unnamed plaintiffs. Court officials said Monday the Tuesday hearing in Clark County District Court was canceled. Full Article
Pervert Park: Where Sex Offenders Try to Be Normal
No one is more of an outcast in modern society than sex offenders. Nobody wants to know them. Nobody wants to think about them. Everyone would prefer that sex offenders just go away. And due to the harsh laws around sex offenses, they more or less have gone away. Pervert Park, which airs Monday at 10 p.m. EST on the PBS series POV, found...
IL: Are Sex Offender Restrictions So Vague They’re Unconstitutional?
A group of convicted child sex offenders is challenging the Illinois law that bans them from parks and schools. They say key sex offender restrictions are so broad it’s impossible to know what is or isn’t allowed and that means the laws violate the constitution. They’re asking a federal judge to immediately suspend certain restrictions on every registered child sex offender in the state...
NC: Sexting charges dismissed for Fayetteville teenager
Charges were dismissed Thursday against a Fayetteville teenager who made international headlines last year after he was accused of making child porn for taking nude photos of himself when he was 16. Full Article
VA: They’ve been living in shacks by the water in Norfolk. Now they have to go — but where?
Officially, the prime spit of waterfront property off the Campostella Bridge – valued at $1.6 million – has been vacant for years. A plan to build 246 apartments there, approved by the city in 2011, fell through. But unbeknownst to the owners, the land has already been occupied. Gina Gallegos and her boyfriend, ____ ____, arrived 18 months ago and claimed a large clearing...
Alton Sterling: When a Sex Offender Gets a Candlelight Vigil
Only in death, it seems, can a person on the sex offender registry be considered a human worthy of love and sympathy. Full Article
The Sex Offender Registry is Bad and Doesn’t Make People Any Safer
There is perhaps no more reviled crime in America today than sexual assault, especially on a minor. When a person is found guilty of sexual assault, he or she is forced to register as a “sex offender,” often a lifelong designation. Yet, is this a good thing? The modern sex offender laws were born out of the “tough on crime” period of the 1990s....
Meet a ‘Violent Sexual Predator’ and Marvel at Our Broken System for Dealing With Sex Offenders
The note in my inbox was straightforward, and suicidal: “I don’t have much time left and that brings me some comfort. I can’t even imagine a life of freedom and happiness anymore. I hope my story will at least help people understand the grey areas of this stigma.” Full Article
I’m a public defender. My clients would rather go to jail than register as sex offenders.
When I first became a public defender, I believed the worst punishment that my clients would face would be time in jail. Since then, I've learned that incarceration is not the only — and perhaps not the worst — punishment the criminal justice system can impose. The registration requirements imposed on those convicted of sex offenses are unfairly harsh and punitive, though few recognize...
Federal appeals court upholds judge’s lowest possible sentence in child-porn case
CINCINNATI, Ohio — An appeals court on Monday rebuffed the U.S. Attorney's Office's attempt to overturn a Cleveland federal judge's decision to give the lowest possible sentence to a man who downloaded and shared child pornography. Full Article
Washington enacts Certificate of Restoration of Opportunity
Washington State courts are now authorized to grant certain individuals a Certificate of Restoration of Opportunity (CROP), which prohibits many state licensing entities from disqualifying the holder solely based on his or her criminal history. A CROP also protects employers and housing providers from liability for negligent hiring and renting. The new certificate authority was created by HB 1533, which was signed by Governor Jay...
Schools turn to high-tech security to block sex offenders from campuses
Parents now go through an extra step on some Orange County campuses that are on the lookout for sex offenders. Full Article