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
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NE: Should Minnesota juvenile land on Nebraska Sex Offender Registry?
The Nebraska Supreme Court won't be asked to weigh in on whether the way a state law is written should result in a 12-year-old boy ending up on the state's Sex Offender Registry. The question specifically is whether, by the letter of the law, minors listed on another state's sex offender registry should be put on Nebraska's list when they move to Nebraska, even...
FL: FSCJ changes policy to restrict sex offenders, bar sex predators from campuses
Florida State College at Jacksonville has implemented a policy that mandates sex offenders go through an additional application process while baring sexual predators from enrolling. Full Article
One Survivor’s Crusade Reveals a Plague of Errors in Nation’s Sex Offender Registries
Estimates of the number of entries with crucial mistakes run into the tens of thousands. One man—and pretty much only one man—is trying to fix them. Full Article
Janice’s Journal: SB 267 – Time to step up
***Senate Public Safety Committee Hearing on May 12*** - The California legislature yesterday struck a blow against all registered citizens. That blow is passage of Senate Bill 267 (SB 267) by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. Despite testimony in opposition to the bill from the ACLU, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Alameda County and California RSOL, the Committee passed the bill unanimously. If...
Sex offenders registry may put man back in prison for offence committed as child
Josh Gravens is trying to figure out how he’s going to tell his five children that he might be going to prison for a very long time. Gravens, 28, is a one-time convicted juvenile sex offender facing a possible 25 years to life sentence for a felony related to a crime he committed in his childhood, and for which he has been to prison...
Database Infamia: Exit from the Sex Offender Registries
Since originating in the early-mid 1990s, sex offender registration and community notification laws have swept the country, now affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals. The laws require that individuals provide, update and at least annually verify personal identifying information, which governments make publicly available via the Internet and other means. Typically retrospective in their reach, and sweeping in their breadth, the...
California grapples with where sex offenders can reside
SAN FRANCISCO - California cities and counties are grappling with how far they can go to restrict where sex offenders can live amid a shifting legal landscape. The California Supreme Court last month struck down San Diego's blanket enforcement of a state law banning registered sex offenders from living near schools or parks. The Supreme Court said sex offenders can still be banned from...
MT: Senate panel advances sex offender residency bill
HELENA, Mont. A plan to keep high-risk sex offenders from living near children advanced out of a Montana Senate panel Tuesday. The bill restricts adults who victimized young people from living within 300 feet of an established daycare center, playground, park, athletic facility or any place where children live. Sponsor Rep. Jeff Essmann said his constituents have repeatedly told him they don't want known...
County unaffected by sex offender ruling
Lake County >> Even though the county has the highest number of sex offenders when compared to its neighbors, the recent loosening of housing restrictions will not cause any notable change in Lake County. “The supreme court’s decision doesn’t affect us,” Lake County Chief Probation Officer Rob Howe said. “With the current supervised population, there is no affect in Lake County, not to say...
Chris Hansen using crowd funding to get back to catching predators
Chris Hansen is going back into the predator-catching business, but this time he's asking his fans to help him. The veteran network news correspondent, known for the "Dateline NBC" investigative series "To Catch a Predator," is turning to crowd funding to support a new hidden-camera operation to capture men who use the Internet to find underage sex partners. The results will become the basis...
Punitive Effect of Retroactive Application of Sex Offender Registration Requirements
Typically, the courts find that the retroactive application of sex offender registration statutes does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause, because such statutes are found to be nonpunitive. See, e.g., Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003). Recently, however, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine held that particular amended provisions of the Maine Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA"), as applied to...
Another (incredibly trivialized) attack on Social Security
The National Journal, an elite newsmagazine that claims to be "regarded as the most influential publication in Washington," is trumpeting a big scoop about Social Security on its homepage. "Social Security Doles Out More Than $500,000 to Sexual Predators," the Journal reports. Since the National Journal also claims to be "fiercely honest and scrupulously non-partisan," this sounds like something worth looking into. Full Article Related http://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-06-14-14087.pdf...
FL: Beach to consider sexual offender ordinance
With the more people coming to St. Augustine Beach, the police department thinks it’s time to consider a sexual offender ordinance. ... “We’ve seen the crowds double in the past couple years, and the ordinance will protect both the residents and tourists,” Parker said. He also said the city needs to adopt a sexual offender ordinance because there have been two related incidents within...
DE: Should towns ban sex offenders?
UPDATED with Opinion: Make sex-offender rules uniform There are more than 4,500 people on Delaware's sex offender registry – about 1 for every 200 citizens in the state. In most of Delaware, sex offenders are not permitted to live within 500 feet of a school. But eight towns have written rules expanding that zone five or sixfold, effectively banning sex offenders from their borders....
Genetics can make people more likely to commit sex offenses, study says (UK)
London (CNN) A new study has concluded that genetics as well as environment can influence the likelihood that a person will become a sexual offender. Full Article | Study [html] [pdf]
Janice’s Journal: Registered Citizens Trapped in U.S.
Registered citizens are being trapped in the U.S. by the federal government. They are not allowed to travel overseas for business reasons, to visit family members, or just to relax on vacation. The reason given for this entrapment is to prevent the international sex trafficking of children. We do not support international sex trafficking of children which is a heinous crime. However, the U.S....
Board Repeals Sex Offender Residency Restrictions
RIVERSIDE (CNS) - The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to nullify an ordinance prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living in close proximity to schools and parks. On a 4-0 vote, with Supervisor John Tavaglione absent, the board followed a recommendation from Riverside County Counsel Greg Priamos that Ordinance 902 be invalidated effective May 7. Priamos proposed the repeal based on a California Supreme Court...
MI: Time to rethink sex offender rules (Opinion)
In the 20 years since Michigan decided it would be a good idea to keep tabs on sex offenders with a record of targeting children, the state's sex offender registry has swelled exponentially. Full Opinion Piece
Sharon Runner Demands Transparency from Corrections Department
SACRAMENTO – Senator Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster) has called upon the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide insight into its decision to terminate enforcement of the uniform sex offender residency restrictions under Jessica’s Law. “I was alarmed by CDCR’s sweeping decision to stop enforcing the people’s will as expressed in Jessica’s Law,” said Runner. “The residency restrictions in Jessica’s Law provide important...
Is Alabama’s sex offender registry necessary or ‘pointless’?
Two weeks ago, California became among the first states to relax rules about where registered sex offenders can live in relation to schools and parks, according to a recent article on Slate.com. In the Slate piece, criminologist Emily Horowitz of St. Francis College in Brooklyn and author of "Protecting Our Kids?: How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us," says that sex offender registries, once...