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
WI: Washington Co. challenging placement of violent sex offender in Town of Trenton
Source: washingtoncountyinsider.com 6/8/24 The chairman in the Town of Trenton is speaking out about steps being taken to proactively protect the people in his community as Washington County officials have been notified about the possible placement of a violent sex offender. Mike Lipscomb was notified by the Washington County Sheriff prior to the news being released that Outagamie County was looking to place a...
Seventh Circuit: Heck Bars Civil Rights Challenges to Civil Commitment
Source: prisonlegalnews.org 6/1/24 On December 20, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that an Illinois prisoner’s challenge to civil commitment as a sexually violent person after release cannot be raised under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, unless the underlying civil commitment is first terminated in his favor or shown to be invalid “through another outlet.” The ruling extended application of...
Nationwide Action Alert: Tell the US Sentencing Commission how to create a fairer, more just sentencing system
Source: Judge Carlton W. Reeves, Chair, U.S. Sentencing Commission 6/5/24 I’m writing to ask you for a small favor. Most summers, the Sentencing Commission announces the work we plan to prioritize over the coming year. This summer, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Commission’s creation (and twenty years post Booker), we’re doing something different. We’re asking people – including you – to tell...
Federal Supervised Release Is a Wasteful Mess. A Bipartisan Bill in Congress Is Trying To Fix That.
Source: reason.com 6/4/24 When Daniel Brown was released early from federal prison in 2020, 15 years into a 42-year sentence for drug and firearm possession offenses, he was determined not to squander the chance he had been given. By most outward measures, he's accomplished that. He's stayed out of trouble. He's a project manager at a construction company and married with children. But like...
CO: How Did a Local From a Prominent American Indian Tribe Get Stuck in a Sex Offender System That Could Keep Him Behind Bars for Life?
Source: 5280.com June 2024 Most mornings last year, John Red Cloud would rise before daybreak in his home on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in southwest South Dakota. He’d walk to the porch of his house and peer out at the shadows of undulating, grassy hills in the distance. Eventually, dawn would spread across the reservation, illuminating the ancestral land where Red Cloud had...
LA: Louisiana Passes Surgical Castration Bill for Child Molesters, waiting for Governor’s signature
Source: nytimes.com 6/4/24 Judges in Louisiana could order people who are convicted of sex crimes against children to undergo surgical castration under a bill that state lawmakers passed overwhelmingly on Monday. While Louisiana and a few other states, including California, Texas and Florida, have long allowed chemical castration, the option to punish sex offenders via surgical castration — which is far more intrusive —...
Court Grants ACSOL Motion to Intervene in CA SVP Case
Source: ACSOL A judge in California Placer County Superior Court has granted a motion filed by the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) to intervene in the case of William Stephenson who has been designated a sexually violent predator (SVP). Intervention allows ACSOL to assist Mr. Stephenson in his quest to be placed in a residence in Placer County, his county of domicile,...
ACSOL Online Meeting June 15, 2024
You are invited to join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci and an ACSOL board member for our next meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday June 15 online on Zoom beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1:00 PM Eastern, and will last at least two hours. You can use the Zoom app or you can call in using a Zoom...
Trump’s case casts a spotlight on movement to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies
Source: apnews.com 5/31/24 [ACSOL is posting this non-partisan article about voting rights because it affects registrants] WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican-led states have historically made it difficult for those convicted of a felony to vote or barred it altogether. Now the Republicans’ presumptive nominee for president, who lives in one of those states, is among them. Donald Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money...
General Comments June 2024
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of June 2024. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil. This section is not intended for posting links to news articles without additional relevant comment.
The US might restrict social media in prisons and inmates are worried: ‘I may lose my voice soon’
Source: theguardian.com 5/28/24 A proposed change to US prison rules is threatening to punish inmates for using social media or directing others to do so on their behalf, severing what some view as a vital link to the outside world. Delores Eggerson manages her son’s social media accounts while he serves a life sentence in Arkansas. For almost 22 years, she’s logged into his...
CA: Beware of attorneys offering applications for gubernatorial pardons
Source: ACSOL Beware of attorneys offering to submit applications for gubernatorial pardons in California based upon the promise that a pardon will remove you from the registry. The California Department of Justice recently announced that it “will not terminate the requirement to register on the basis of a gubernatorial pardon unless it includes a finding of innocence.” The announcement is reflected on the Governor’s...
NY: Supreme Court rules for NRA in New York government coercion battle
Source: nbcnews.com 5/30/24 [ACSOL is posting this as it could relate to eventually making the registry non-public] WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the National Rifle Association can pursue a claim that a New York state official’s efforts to encourage companies to end ties with the gun rights group constituted unlawful coercion. The justices unanimously found that the NRA can move forward with arguments that...
CA: CDCR Agrees to Change Treatment Requirements for Registrants on Parole
Source: ACSOL The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has agreed in writing to change treatment requirements for registrants while on parole. As a result of this agreement, the number of registrants who are discharged early from parole is expected to increase significantly. The improvements to which CDCR have agreed include the possibility of ending treatment in as little as one year. The...
NY: RAA Applauds NYCLU & Plantiffs for Lawsuit Challenging Banishment Law
Source: restorativeactionalliance.org 5/29/24 Restorative Action Alliance (RAA) applauds the brave plaintiffs and legal professionals of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) who have recently brought a class action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of New York Executive Law § 259-c (14), known as “SARA.” This banishment law affects thousands of individuals with certain sex offense convictions preventing them from being in proximity to restaurants, stores,...
MI: Police use license plate readers to arrest 6, including Wyandotte teacher, in undercover sex sting
Source: detroitnews.com 5/29/24 Six people, including a teacher in Wyandotte and two Venezuelan nationals, have been arrested on sex and prostitution charges after Taylor police and Homeland Security officials posed undercover and then used license plate readers and live-time cameras to pinpoint the suspects. The arrests stemmed from an investigation that ran from April 24-26 and involved both Taylor police and the U.S. Department...
SC: South Carolina family of boy, 13, who died by suicide sues Snapchat over sextortion scheme
Source: foxnews.com 5/26/24 A South Carolina mother is suing Snapchat after her 13-year-old son died by suicide last year. The family says young Timothy Barnett took his own life April 6, 2023, at his Sumter home after he fell victim to a sextortion scheme on the social media app. "On April 6 … it was a typical morning," Betsy Hauptman, Timothy's mother, told Fox...
International Living 2024
This post is intended as a place for discussions about International Living ONLY. Please give your account of a country's expenses, environment, requirements, advantages, limitations, and so on. Each year we will start a new page, just like we do for International Travel.
Alabama Court Rules Residency Restrictions Violate Constitution
Source: ACSOL A federal district ruled yesterday that a state law in Alabama that restricts where registrants may live violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The court's ruling was made in a 162-page decision that carefully reviewed the language of that state law as well as its impact upon more than 20,000 individuals required to register. According to the court, one part...
Get the Facts on Mass Incarceration
Source: sentencingproject.org 5/22/24 Report highlights the growth in state and federal prison populations since the early 1970s, and its far reaching effect on families, communities, and society as a whole. The United States is unparalleled historically and ranks among the highest worldwide in its dependence on incarceration.1 Over five million people in total are under supervision by the criminal legal system.2 Of these, nearly...