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
Collateral damage: Harsh sex offender laws may put whole families at risk
Research says that registries and residency bans leave children of sex offenders vulnerable to bullying, homelessness. When ____ ____, 38, bolts from his desk around 5:30 most weeknights, he’s up against his most important deadline of the day. ____ is an audiovisual editor and social media manager at a Christian television studio in St. Petersburg, Florida. By the time he gets home, he and...
AL: Sex Offender Law Challenged
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (CN) - Sex offenders in Alabama must comply with debilitating restrictions that encompass "virtually every facet of their lives," eight men claim in a class action. Eight John Doe plaintiffs sued General Luther Strange III and Secretary of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency John Richardson in Federal Court. The Aug. 20 complaint seeks court relief to prevent application of the Alabama Sex...
National RSOL: International Travel Group
If you or someone you know was denied entry into another country as a consequence of registration, we want to hear from you. A new group, supported by RSOL National, is examining the issues related to registered citizens traveling, including the practice of the US Government notifying receiving countries that a registrant is traveling there. A representative of FAC will serve on the board...
Courts are giving reduced terms to many child-porn defendants
U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin of the Northern District of Ohio polled a jury in February about what jurors thought a suitable sentence would be for ____ ____, a child pornography defendant who was found guilty of having 19 videos and 93 still images on his computer. The jury recommended, on average, a 14-month sentence. Gwin then sentenced ____ to serve five years—longer...
New CDCR Report Reduces Rate of Re-Offense to Less than 1 Percent
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has issued a new report that reflects a significantly lower rate of re-offense for registered citizens on parole. The name of the report is "2014 Outcome Evaluation Report", however, it was issued by the agency's Office of Research in late July 2015. According to the report, the rate at which a registered citizen on parole commits...
How a dubious statistic convinced U.S. courts to approve of indefinite detention [Opinion]
In the 2002 case McKune v. Lile, the Supreme Court upheld a Kansas law that imposed harsher sentences on sex offenders who declined to participate in a prison rehab program. The substance of the Kansas law the court upheld isn’t as important as the language the court used to uphold it. In his opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy reasoned that they pose “such a frightening...
MI: Anderson sentencing hits home with other parents
BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. - The Anderson family of Elkhart are back to waiting, after an uneventful court appearance Wednesday afternoon. The judge delayed a decision on resentencing 19-year-old Zach Anderson who must register as a sex offender in Michigan and Indiana. Full Article
Vigilant Solutions and Watch Systems team to deliver solution for improved registered sex offender compliance
LIVERMORE, Calif., Aug. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Vigilant Solutions and Watch Systems announce today that they have worked together, and in close collaboration with mutual customers, to provide improved abilities to manage registered sex offender compliance efforts throughout the country. Full Press Release
Judge Denies TRO, Schedules New Hearing on October 1 [updated with media]
An Orange County Superior Court judge denied a temporary restraining order (TRO) requested by Richard Linington, a registered citizen, and Michelle Moreno, his fiancée, during a hearing on August 19 that would have prevented the enforcement of new residency restrictions in the City of Cypress. Also during the hearing, the judge recommended that the City refrain from enforcing the restrictions until an October 1...
IN: Suit – Law impedes sex offender’s voting rights
HARTFORD CITY – The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on Tuesday filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of a Hartford City man concerned that a change in state law might impede his ability to vote. A new law went into effect July 1 that prohibits “serious sex offenders” from entering school property. “One of the consequences of this is that these persons...
More fuel for the movement to reform sex offender laws
I’ve written before about the appalling (and unconstitutional) state of our laws regarding prohibitions and restrictions on the activities of convicted sex offenders — restrictions on where they can live, whom they can associate with, the Internet sites they can visit, the jobs they can hold and the places to which they can travel — to which they are subject after they have served...
The system for punishing sex offenders is broken (Opinion)
Think “sex offender,” and you probably picture a creepy guy who likes to lure children to his van with candy. But that’s not the whole picture. The sex offender registry, which currently stands at over 850,000 registered sex offenders, is comprised of many people who should not be lumped into the same category as violent sex offenders and pedophiles. People like teenager Zach Anderson. The...
India: Why it is wrong on the part of the government to propose ‘naming and shaming’ offenders who haven’t been convicted
India, the largest democracy in the world unfortunately possesses a government that leaves a lot to be desired. Leaving no stone unturned to disappoint the very people it was elected to protect, the Indian government has time and again come up with laws and policies that make little or no sense. The latest in line is Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's Independence Day announcement...
Sex Offenders Locked Up on a Hunch [Updated with Responses]
The essence of the American criminal justice system is reactive, not predictive: You are punished for the crime you committed. You can’t be punished simply because you might commit one someday. You certainly can’t be held indefinitely to prevent that possibility. And yet that is exactly what is happening to about 5,000 people convicted of sex crimes around the country. This population, which nearly...
SB 448 scheduled for hearing August 24
The Senate Appropriations Committee will consider Senate Bill 448 (SB 448) during a hearing on August 24. If passed, the bill would require registered citizens to disclose internet identifiers to law enforcement officials. The Senate Public Safety Committee passed SB 448 unanimously based in part upon a promise by the bill's author to amend the bill. According to committee staff, the bill must be...
REGISTERED CITIZEN SUES CITY OF CYPRESS IN ORDER TO CONTINUE LIVING WITH FIANCEE [updated with media]
A lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court on August 13 challenges a new sex offender (“registrant”) ordinance in the City of Cypress that would force registrant Richard Linington to leave the home of his fiancée where he has been living since 2011. The ordinance, which is scheduled to become effective on August 26, 2015, prohibits registrants from living within 1,000 feet of any...
Online Petition: Justice for Zachery Anderson
When my son Zach met a girl through an online dating app, she said she was 17 years old and lived about twenty minutes away. The two decided to meet up and had consensual sex. Zach was a typical 19-year-old studying computer science at Community College -- until he found out that the girl had lied about her age and was really 14. Though...
Sex Offender Sues Arcadia Over Residency Restrictions
Despite revisions last year to an ordinance that severely limits housing options for potential residents convicted of sex crimes, a registered sex offender has filed a lawsuit against the city of Arcadia that seeks to repeal the law entirely. Recent state court decisions have challenged similar ordinances in other California municipalities, as advocates for sex offenders’ constitutional rights have over the last several years...
Folsom registered sex offenders live near elementary school
FOLSOM, Calif. (KCRA) —While researching nearby schools in Folsom for his 5-year-old daughter, Simon Varley also checked the Megan's Law website to see where the nearest sex offenders live. Full Article
MN: Federal judge demands swift action on reforming Minnesota’s sex offender program
Frustrated by legislative inaction, the federal judge who found Minnesota’s sex offender program unconstitutional has threatened a “more forceful solution” if state leaders fail to implement immediate reforms. In a harshly worded order issued Wednesday, Judge Donovan Frank of the U.S. District Court in St. Paul called on the state to correct systemic problems with the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP), which locks up...