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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Janice's Journal
General News Feed
Court Expands Eligibility for Certificates of Rehabilitation [with CORRECTION]
CORRECTION: The information in the article below is based upon a court document from 2014 that was mistakenly identified as a 2015 appellate court decision. Regrettably, this year's decision did not expand eligibility, but instead eliminated eligibility for many individuals to apply for a Certificate of Rehabilitation. A California Court of Appeal issued a decision this week that expands eligibility for registrants to apply...
VA: Cost of sex offender program shocks lawmakers
Lawmakers expressed shock Friday over the exponentially rising cost of a program to keep some sex offenders locked up after they complete their criminal sentences. The annual operating cost of Virginia's Sexually Violent Predator Program is projected to hit $32 million next year - more than a tenfold increase in eight years. The General Assembly created the program in 1998 to keep sex offenders...
OH: Supreme Court upholds sex offender registration laws, rejecting cruel and unusual punishment argument
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State laws requiring that certain sex offenders register with local authorities and verify their address every six months for 25 years do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The case involved a 21-year-old defendant, Travis Blankenship, who pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor between 13 and 16 years old, a fourth-degree felony....
Early release saves money and redeems lives
About 20 federal prisoners from Massachusetts serving time for drug-related crimes are newly free after having their sentences reduced. They’re among the first to benefit from a revision of sentencing guidelines for drug offenses that, on average, shaves two years off qualified inmates’ jail terms. About 6,100 prisoners nationwide are affected, the majority of them African-American and Hispanic men convicted of dealing drugs. Over...
Sex offenders on probation: setting them up to fail
Sex offenders are the modern witches. There are so many things that rankle when it comes to society’s increased crackdown on sex offenders and their subsequent treatment, but one that never fails to get to me is their ridiculously unfair treatment on probation. Full Article (2008)
Tide turns against U.S. residency restrictions on sex offenders
Nearly two decades have passed since Josh Gravens, then 12 years old, was playing with his 8-year-old sister and touched her body in an inappropriate way, landing himself on a sex offender registry. His sister forgave him long ago but Gravens still worries that the incident could force him out of his Dallas home. Concerns about sexual predators have led communities in 30 U.S....
OR: Anti-Registry Movement
Anti-Registry Movement (ARM) is a civil rights movement in the struggle against state and federally mandated and Orwellian persecution laws set against America's newest members of a growing list of second-class citizens: America's Registered Families (formerly convicted sex offenders and their family members). Our mission is to bring public protests, counter-protests, and demonstrations to the attention of government officials, news media outlets, and...
NC: First Amendment woes in North Carolina
As most VC readers know, First Amendment law is dominated by a single question, the 800-pound constitutional gorilla that’s always in the room: What “level of scrutiny” will the court apply to the challenged government action? How much will it demand from the government by way of justification for whatever it was that it did? How high will it set the bar? ... I’ve...
What’s In a Date?
When Frank Lindsay walked into his home to find a young man wielding two hammers—one in each hand—in his dining room, he assumed he had disrupted a robbery. It wasn’t until the man called him a “pervert” that Lindsay realized he was the target of a planned attack. Full Article
PA: Gun rights for sex offender lands in Idaho Supreme Court
BOISE – A former Idaho man’s problems convincing the state of Pennsylvania he should have the right to bear arms landed in the Idaho Supreme Court Tuesday. ____ ____ was convicted of rape in Idaho in 1992, a felony that carries a permanent loss of gun rights. That conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor in 2004 through a sentencing agreement, but he was still required...
Mexico: Human trafficking survivor – I was raped 43,200 times
Mexico City (CNN)Karla Jacinto is sitting in a serene garden. She looks at the ordinary sights of flowers and can hear people beyond the garden walls, walking and talking in Mexico City. She looks straight into my eyes, her voice cracking slightly, as she tells me the number she wants me to remember -- 43,200. ... Her testimony was used as evidence in support...
REGISTRANTS SUE CA DEPT OF JUSTICE — DEMAND IMPROVEMENTS TO, OR END OF, MEGAN’S LAW WEBSITE [updated with media]
California Reform Sex Offender Laws (CA RSOL) and two registrants today will file a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court requesting immediate changes to, or in the alternative, the ending of, the state’s Megan’s Law website. The request is based upon the failure of the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) to comply with a state law that required the agency to add conviction...
San Diego city schools ranked by sex offenders living nearby
SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Jessica's Law was supposed to keep sex offenders away from schools but earlier this year the California Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. CBS News 8 crunched the numbers and found out which San Diego schools have the most sex offenders living nearby. Sex offenders live in neighborhoods all over San Diego and parents have every right to be...
California lawmaker would end statute of limitations for rape cases
State Sen. Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) said Monday that she will introduce legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations for rape and some other sexual crimes to increase the chance that victims will get justice. California law generally limits the prosecution of a felony sexual offense to 10 years after the offense is committed, but more time can be provided if new DNA...
Sex offender info often should be shared by buyer’s agents: NAR, attorneys
A Florida real estate agent recently said that a client had fired him, in part, because he hadn’t disclosed that the property the client was interested in was next to the home of a sex offender. The agent said he regularly advises buyers to visit neighborhoods in person, to check in with police departments and to review websites. He said he told the buyer, however, that...
RI: Critics of new residency law say it’s dangerous to remove sex offenders from stable living situations
WOONSOCKET – One the few shelters for homeless men in Northern Rhode Island will continue to admit Level 3 sex offenders until the federal court in Providence decides whether it is unlawful to do so. “We’re not looking to bring them in, but if they show up, we’ll take them in,” said Steve Bacon, associate pastor of Harvest Community Church, 60 North Main St....
TX: 46 cities face challenge to sex-offender residency laws
AUSTIN -- Forty-six small cities across Texas are facing a new legal challenge to their ordinances that regulate where registered sex offenders can live, including several in the Houston area. Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, a statewide criminal-justice advocacy group, announced Monday it has" initiated action to compel, through litigation if necessary," the repeal of the ordinances in so-called "general law" cities --...
CO: District Attorneys support legislation for charge lesser than child pornography for sexting
News5 is looking into proposed legislation that could change how teens are punished for sexting. Felony child pornography charges are not off the table for students implicated in the Canon City scandal. We spoke with the President of the Colorado District Attorneys' Council who says a new law is needed to properly prosecute juveniles caught sexting. Full Article Related CO: Canon City High School...
MO: Prosecutor scolds community for supporting molester
KANSAS CITY • A Missouri prosecutor has called out members of a small community for shunning a sexual abuse victim while publicly supporting a community leader who confessed to molesting her for more than a decade. In a scathing news release last week, Platte County prosecuting attorney Eric Zahnd listed 16 Dearborn residents who had either written letters or testified in court in support of...
SCOTUS to Decide Reach of Sex Offender Registry
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will consider whether the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act requires sex offenders who move to a foreign country to notify their prior home state of their change of residence. At issue is are the cases of two men who lived on opposite sides of the Missouri River in the Kansas City Metropolitan area, were both convicted...