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
VA: revisiting penalties for teen sexting
RICHMOND — Should teenagers who exchange sexually explicit messages and photos face the same punishment as adults charged with producing and distributing child pornography? The Virginia State Crime Commission is revisiting the teen sexting issue and may again consider legislation that would lessen penalties — primarily intended for pornographers — in consensual cases involving suspects who are minors. Full Article
Halloween & Sex Crime: Myth vs. Reality
It is almost Halloween, and as we begin to feel a chill in the air in the northern hemisphere, we also feel the excitement of that annual ritual of trick or treating. But while children look forward to a night of ghouls, ghosts, goblins and goodies, parents ponder the presence of real-life demons in the neighborhood: registered sex offenders. States, municipalities, and parole departments...
This is getting boring, but it’s Halloween again
I really thought this year was going to be different. Last year the "big, bad sex offender at Halloween" hype started as early as August and was in full swing in September. This year, all was quiet on the scare tactics front through the end of September and was slow going into October. However, the past few days have picked up speed, and some...
Prof. Alan Dershowitz: “Harvard’s policy was written by people who think sexual assault is so heinous a crime that even innocence is not a defense.”
It's a great quote, and it appears in this week's Time Magazine in a story about the letter published last week in the Boston Globe signed by 28 Harvard law professors voicing strong objections to the school's one-sided, feminist-inspired sexual misconduct policies. But when Dershowitz continued and said that people accused of rape should have a full and fair opportunity to defend themselves, Time...
The “Sex Offender” Regime is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
If it’s true that all seven of the football players arrested for hazing in the Sayreville, New Jersey, War Memorial High School locker room are students of color, that is one more reason not to prosecute them as sexual felons. I don’t mean not to prosecute them in adult court. I mean not to prosecute them at all. If they’re guilty, they should be...
UK: Man Guilty of Owning Sexy Images of Cartoon Children (Opinion)
A man in Britain has been convicted for his fantasies. ____ ____, 39, was found guilty of downloading "prohibited images" of cartoon girls, some in school uniforms, doing dirty deeds. The fact that these manga drawings are available on legitimate sites did not sway the judge. Nor did the fact that—oh yeah—there were no actual humans in the pictures. Full Opinion Piece
AL: Schools adjust sex offender policies
The Tallapoosa County Board of Education made adjustments to its sex offender on campus policy to take into account laws that allow registered sex offenders some rights to visit their children at school. Full Article
FL: ACLU Challenges Miami-Dade Housing Restriction Forcing Former Sex Offenders to Live by Railroad Tracks
MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida filed suit against Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Corrections, seeking a permanent injunction against a housing ordinance that is extraordinarily difficult for former sex offenders to follow without becoming homeless. The law prohibits former offenders from living 2,500 feet (almost half a mile) from any building the county labels a...
FL: Inside Miami’s Hidden Tent City For ‘Sex Offenders’
In 2009, Miami-Dade County drew national criticism when reports emerged that more than 100 individuals on the sex offender registry were camping under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in the middle of the Biscayne Bay with the blessing of the corrections department, because a patchwork of restrictive laws made it so they had nowhere else to go. In response, officials cleared out the camp and...
NY: West Seneca Neighbors Dismayed Albany Judge Will Hear Sex Offender Group Home Case
WEST SENECA, N.Y. -- The battle to move sex offenders out of a group home in West Seneca will continue in Albany. On Tuesday, the judge moved the case on the state's policy on sex offenders and housing from Erie County Court to Albany County.Since February, residents have repeatedly expressed outrage that seven registered sex offenders are living in a group home on Leydecker...
Sexting amounts to child pornography in the eyes of the law
More than 100 Virginia teenagers are under investigation for sharing child pornography, even if they were simply sexting with their friends. Teens sexting, or sending nude photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend, could end up facing felony charges. Apps like Snapchat, Wickr, and Oovoo allow users to take a photo or video, send it, then the image self destructs on the other end in...
International Travel – China / Thailand
First, I would like to thank everyone for their informative posts regarding the denial of entry of ports of entry. I was convicted of a lewd offense (Indecent Solicitation of a Child; Felony) in July 2003. The offense involved talking about having sex with a person who portrayed to be 14 but was a decoy police officer. My actions were stupid and I paid...
County sued over sex offender ordinance
Seeking to protect civil rights for a “socially outcast minority,” the California chapter of Reform Sex Offender Laws this year has sued 22 municipalities for ordinances that the group contends are inconsistent statewide and unconstitutional, the organization’s president said Monday. San Bernardino County on Oct. 14 was the latest target of California Reform Sex Offender Laws, which is led by Santa Maria attorney Janice...
MO: Amendment 2 asks whether child sex defendants’ past acts can be used against them at trial
The Missouri Constitution currently bars testimony that past acts show propensity — that the accused is likely guilty of the same crime again. Amendment 2 would alter that rule in cases involving child sexual abuse, including allowing testimony about crimes that were never charged. Full Article
Fear the Bogeyman: Sex Offender Panic on Halloween
It can be said that sex offenders are the new bogeymen, mythical monsters invented to scare children into social order. People convicted of sex offenses, and subsequently placed on the public registry, are transformed into a concept of evil, which is then personified as a group of faceless, terrifying, and predatory devils. It would appear that this strategy is used to keep sex offenders...
UK: Paedophiles who download images ‘won’t all be charged’
Some paedophiles with images of child abuse will escape prosecution, the head of the National Crime Agency has said. Keith Bristow said expecting all the estimated 50,000 people in the UK who have accessed abuse images to be brought to justice was "not realistic". He said police would have to focus on those who posed most risk. Labour called it "disgraceful", adding that the...
Jacques: Could your teen face child porn charges?
Michigan teens beware. An indiscreet photo on your phone or computer could land you in court as a felony sex offender. Sex has always preoccupied teens. With the broad proliferation of cellphones and social media, however, young people have a wealth of new ways to make bad decisions. Full Article Related Teens Still Sending Naked Selfies
UK: Anime fan convicted over illegal pictures of imaginary children
A jobless animation fan has made legal history as he was convicted of having illegal pictures of cartoon children. ____ ____, 39, is believed to be the first in the UK hauled before court over his collection of Japanese Manga or Anime-style images alone. He admitted 10 counts of possessing prohibited images of children at Teesside Crown Court. His barrister Richard Bennett said: “These...
Australia: Should sex offenders be allowed to fly?
LAST week the shocking case of a woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted while trapped in a plane’s bathroom emerged. ... The horrifying case has prompted calls from an Australian aviation law expert for sex offenders to be added to the “do not fly” list. Shine Lawyers Aviation Law Solicitor Joseph Wheeler wants the airlines to have access to public sex offender lists, and...
Harvard law Professors Condemn Campus Sex-Assault Policy
A group of Harvard Law School professors condemned the university’s new sexual misconduct policy, saying it violates the rights of the accused and “departs dramatically” from current law. Full Article