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
CASOMB: Year End Report (2014)
The beginning of 2015 is an opportune time to provide an update and overview of activities, plans and recommendations of the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) and the State Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders Committee (SARATSO). The picture of sex offender management in the state is a complex one with many moving parts. This Report touches on many of those components....
Teens Who Sext Are Child Pornographers? (Op-Ed)
Thanks to our mistaken belief that no one under 18 can have any legitimate sexual feelings—and hence any sex they’ve engaged in was coerced and bound to render unspeakable emotional harm—we have laws on the books like this one in Wisconsin, according to USA Today (boldface mine, all mine!): In 2012, state lawmakers passed into law a mandatory, minimum three-year prison sentence for possessing child...
NY: Senate passes Sex Offender Legislation
Albany, N.Y. – The New York State Senate passed a bill Thursday granting municipalities the authority to establish residency restrictions for registered sex offenders. Sen. Rich Funke (R-NY 55th District) first announced the bill Monday alongside Penfield Supervisor Tony LaFountain. Penfield is working on a child safety act that would prevent level two and three sex offenders from living in designated child-safe zones, which...
Sex Offenders Employ Simple Techniques to Change Identity
Sexual offenses – particularly those against children – are among the most reprehensible of crimes. Two techniques that sex offenders use to escape detection from the law are manipulating their ID and residing at addresses other than those reported to authorities, a nationwide study found. Donald Rebovich, Ph.D., professor of criminal justice and executive director of the Center for Identity Management and Information Protection...
WI: Man arrested on suspicion of burning house intended for sex offender
Dane County authorities arrested a town of Cottage Grove man they say set fire to a house Sunday night in a vigilante effort to keep a sex offender from moving in there. Russell A. Speigle, 50, was arrested on a tentative charge of arson for the fire, which destroyed a home at 4721 Gaston Circle in the town of Cottage Grove, Sheriff Dave Mahoney...
OK: Sex offender chemical castration bill defeated in Senate committee
OKLAHOMA CITY – A Senate panel on Tuesday defeated a measure that would have allowed for the chemical castration of violent sex offenders.bThe Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Senate Bill 671 by Sen. Mark Allen, R-Spiro, by a vote of 5-4 with no debate. The legislation would have applied to sexually violent offenses including rape, rape by instrumentation, lewd or indecent proposals or acts...
Living with 290: Torn and Angry
He has a violent history of fighting and no love for authority (cops). He felt the street life was appealing until prison came knocking on the door. One night of drunkenness and high off of whatever he could get his hands on changed our lives forever. .... Just know that in 1997 Jazz was one of the fastest 400/800 meter runners in the country....
FL: Proposed bills aim at tracking sex offenders for life
Some Florida lawmakers are pushing to require convicted sex offenders to wear monitoring devices for the rest of their lives. Even after the convicted offender completed the probation period, he or she would still have to wear or carry the electronic monitoring device under proposed bills SB 134 and HB 203. Full Article
Do Sex Offender Registries Reduce Recidivism?
No. Or at least that is what the empirical evidence and research on this issue shows. But that doesn't mean we should not have them. The fact is that the registries don't really do anything to improve public safety. They just make people feel safer and in control; unfortunately this is a false sense of security. Full Opinion Piece [Paul Heroux is a state...
Can a Child Be a Sex Offender?
Sitting down with someone branded a child sex offender wasn’t ever how Nicole Pittman imagined she’d be spending her days. Yet in doing that, she’s discovered how nuanced the world of crime and law can be. Full Article Related: Human Rights Watch - Raised on the Registry
NY: Ruling stirs debate on limiting where sex offenders live
MINEOLA, N.Y. -- A decision by New York's highest court striking down dozens of local laws that set boundaries on where convicted sex offenders may live has rekindled a debate over whether such laws really work to protect children. New York's Court of Appeals ruled unanimously last week that only the state has the power to tell offenders where they can and cannot reside,...
Op-ed: The sexual violence that has no name
He was my teacher. I was 19 years old and had graduated from high school the year before. I never said no. Legally, the incident was just poor judgment on both sides. Physically, there were no bruises. There was no force. This doesn’t fit the narrative of the girl who got drugged and raped at a fraternity party, nor does it resemble any sort...
Monthly Meeting April 11, Lobbying April 13/14 in Sacramento (updated)
California RSOL will return to Sacramento to to conduct a monthly meeting for registered citizens / family members on April 11 and lobby on April 13 and 14 (please note new dates for lobbying). The lobbying effort will focus on creation of a tiered registry as well as opposition to two bills that would allow cities and counties to adopt presence restrictions. "If Assembly Bill...
Northern Ireland: Sex offender awarded £20,000 in damages against Facebook
A convicted child abuser who featured on a Facebook page set up to monitor paedohphiles in Northern Ireland is to be awarded £20,000 in damages, a High Court judge ruled today. In a landmark verdict, Mr Justice Stephens held that both the social media giant and page operator Joe McCloskey were liable for misusing private information. He also ordered that the ‘Keeping Our Kids...
How I Became a Monster
Hello. I'm a monster. Not just any kind of monster. Vampires and werewolves get to star in movies. They're monsters, but they can also be heroes. I'm the worst kind of monster. I'm a sex offender. And the worst kind of sex offender. I'm a pedophile. Don't worry. I'm locked up. I've been in a federal penitentiary for almost two years and I'll be...
Wanted: Protection for Kids (Editorial)
California is often labeled the most litigious state, and a rash of lawsuits around the state not only upholds this contention, but threatens the safety of California’s children. Local ordinances defining places where convicted sex offenders may not visit are apparently going the way of the dodo, under an onslaught of legal challenges aimed at expanding the rights of offenders. Two such lawsuits, targeting...
NY: High Court right to overturn local sex offender laws (Editorial)
Local and county politicians around the state hopped on a populist bandwagon nearly a decade ago, hurriedly passing laws that outdid the state’s effort to keep convicted sex offenders from living or even walking near schools, parks and daycare centers — in the absence of any real evidence that stricter laws were needed. Full Editorial
VA: Sex offender registry – Bad idea (OpEd)
Virginia lawmakers introduce many bad ideas, but they also wisely dispense with a good proportion of them. One of those that has escaped the ax comes from state Sen. Ryan McDougle, and would establish a supplemental sex-offender registry. The supplemental registry, which would be published on the State Police website, would include the names of persons who committed various offenses between 1980 and 1994....
Hemet Man Displays ‘Child Molester Danger’ Sign To Warn Residents Of Neighbor
HEMET (CBSLA.com) — A homeowner has displayed two bright green posters in a Hemet neighborhood in an effort to warn neighbors of a man who is registered as a sex offender on the Megan’s Law database. Doug Ennen made the posters, one of which says “Child Molester Danger,” and taped them to his two cars. He then parked one of those vehicles in front...
AR: Sex Offender Database Violates Federal Law
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas is violating federal law with the way it tracks certain sex offenders. It has cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars and some say is putting the public in danger. The Adam Walsh Act was passed in 2006. Nearly 10 years later, Arkansas is non-compliant in three major areas. They are: failing to report certain juvenile offenders, establishing a...