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.
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General News Feed
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
Why the sex offender registry isn’t the right way to punish rapists
There are two parts to any criminal sentence for any crime involving sex. There’s the standard sentence: prison time or probation. As soon as the first sentence ends, the second one begins. After getting released from prison, an ex-offender has to sign up for his state’s sex offender registry. If he moves to another state, he’ll have to sign up there too. Depending on the...
IN: COA reverses lifetime sex offender registration, upholds ban from school property
The Indiana Court of Appeals agreed with a man challenging his lifetime registration as a sex offender that the law as applied to him violates the Indiana Constitution’s prohibition against ex post facto laws. But he lost a similar challenge to the unlawful-entry statute that prohibits him from entering school property. Full Article
SD: Letter – Celebrating freedom in the ‘Land of the Free’
As we prepare to stand watching and enjoying “the freedom parade,” with our children and grandchildren, we must think about the many families who are not allowed that privilege as a family. This single group of American citizens have been “labeled” sex offenders and are banished from public events where children are present, even if it means their own children will have to attend...
AUS: Derryn Hinch’s mission to change Australia’s sex registry
Senator Derryn Hinch wants to use his newly appointed powers to publically expose sex offenders and pinpoint precisely where they live. Full Article Related Don’t Elect Dangerous Derryn Hinch: The Case For Treating Criminals Humanely
IL: Little-known registry lists murderers in your town, but is it a good thing?
... But a few strategic keystrokes will lead anyone with internet access to information about _____'s murder conviction, his current address and a recent photo. His is among more than 3,600 names on the Illinois State Police Murderer and Violent Offender Against Youth Registry, a tool established in 2012 by state lawmakers at the urging of families of victims. ... "I've had comments on...
Janice’s Journal: David Slays Goliath Again
Like the young shepherd who battled the giant Goliath, Major David Ellis slayed Charles Rodrick in federal district court this week. It was Ellis’ second court victory against Rodrick, who is the owner and operator of a series of websites including three websites which identify more than 750,000 American citizens as registered sex offenders regardless of whether they are currently required to register or...
General Comments July 2016
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2016. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Jury delivers $325,000 verdict against sex-offender websites owner
Federal laws protecting the internet did not give the owner of several sex-offender websites license to post false and harassing information, a jury in U.S. District Court in Phoenix decided Friday. Full Article
NV: Ruling Allows Nevada Sex Offender Registration Requirements to take Effect [UPDATED with NV Supreme Court action]
An emergency writ was filed with the Nevada Supreme Court late Thursday in a last-gasp effort to block a new sex offender registry law from taking effect Friday. Full Article Update July 1, 11 am NEVADA SUPREME COURT STOPS SEX OFFENDER LAW FROM BEING IMPLEMENTED CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court Friday put the brakes on a law that would impose new registration...