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
TX: Mom Upset Sex Offender Allowed Near Kids in Pee Wee Football League
SHEPHERD, TX (KTRK) -- A San Jacinto County mother says she couldn't believe it when she saw a man she considered an assistant coach on her five-year-old son's pee-wee football team listed online as a sex offender. "I was shocked. I was very upset, very angry. There's really not a word for it," she says. "My son's five years old, this man's out here...
AZ: Arizona’s Naked Photo Law Makes Free Speech a Felony
Which of the following could land you a felony conviction in Arizona? Showing images of naked prisoners tortured at Abu Ghraib; Linking to the iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of “Napalm Girl,” showing an unclothed Vietnamese girl running from a napalm attack; Sharing a close-up photo of a woman’s breast with a breastfeeding support group; Waving a friend over to see a cute naked baby...
Justice Department Announces $17.6 Million in Awards to Support Sex Offender Registration, Intervention and Treatment
The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced more than $17 million in Fiscal Year 2014 grant assistance for states, territories, tribal governments and other entities to use to implement, enhance and maintain sex offender programming throughout the United States. "These awards provide a wide range of assistance to help states, communities, tribes, and even institutions of higher learning manage...
Anti-Junk Forensic Science bill is now law: Criminal Justice Public Policy Breakthrough in California
California Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law SB 1058 bill. The law permits habeas corpus petitioners (i.e. after a conviction) the ability to contest expert testimony that was presented against them at trial. In other words, experts who either repudiate their past testimony or used forensic “science” that is later deemed faulty by legitimate research are subject to later proceedings reversing a conviction....
California Enacts ‘Yes Means Yes’ Law, Defining Sexual Consent
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill into law that makes California the first in the nation to have a clear definition of when people agree to sex. The law goes further than the common "no means no" standard, which has been blamed for bringing ambiguity into investigations of sexual assault cases. The new law seeks both to improve how universities handle rape and...
What I Want You To Know About Being The Sister Of A Convicted Sex Offender
I used to believe in monsters. Until my brother became one. Three years ago, I got a call that my brother had been arrested for molesting his step-daughter. Certain there had been a mistake, I was obviously dumbfounded. Until he confessed. Through slurred words, drunken ramblings and tears that, yes, he had, and on more than one occasion. The arrest was just the very...
Ever have Your Fortune Told.
Human beings have the habit of wanting somebody to be omniscient In powers to predict the future. When you think of a fortuneteller you think of a Gypsy type woman in a dark room with a turbine on her head in front of a crystal ball. We know in our hearts that these people are charlatans, whether they use a crystal ball, tarot cards,...
MA: Outraged Mom, Allegedly Assaults Neighbor Who Faces Child Porn Charges
A Massachusetts mom faces felony charges after she admitted to assaulting her neighbor, who had returned home after being arrested on child porn charges. According to a police report obtained by The Smoking Gun, Nicole Pelletier, 42, entered Gary Spring's condo through an unlocked door the evening of Sept. 22. Full Article
WA: Sex offenders back at Marysville home
MARYSVILLE, Wash. -- Sex offenders have moved back into a church-run home, just a few months after the City of Marysville forced them out. The home in the 15300 block of Smokey Boulevard is located in a light industrial area in Marysville. The city said that it was being used illegally as a residential facility for sex offenders and ex-cons. Full Article
NY: Judge Rejects Sex Offenders’ Challenge to Residency Laws
The claims of nine convicted sex offenders that New York state, county and town sex offender registration requirements and residency restrictions are unconstitutional have been dismissed by a Brooklyn federal judge. But Eastern District Judge Pamela Chen (See Profile) also dismissed without prejudice their claim that state residency laws preempt more restrictive local laws. Full Article
Hesperia settles sex-offender lawsuit
HESPERIA — An agreed-upon dismissal of a registered sex offender’s federal lawsuit was filed Thursday following a settlement. The suit had been filed in July over delay in approving municipal code changes about “presence restrictions” for sex offenders. Hesperia city code sections regulating the residency, mobility and business activities of registered sex offenders were preempted by several state laws that, when taken together, form...
DA’s Sex Offender Ban Continues to Be Repealed by Cities
Westminster city officials this week became the latest Orange County city to repeal a ban on sex offenders in city parks, following a recent appeals court ruling striking down a similar county law. Wednesday night, council members voted 3-1, with councilmember Sergio Contreras voting no and Andy Quach absent, to repeal the ordinance requiring convicted sex offenders to get written permission from police before...
CA Sex Offender Management Board Considering New Tiered Registry Bill
The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB), a state organization, has begun consideration of a new tiered registry bill that would allow some, but not all, registered citizens to end their requirement to register in either 10 or 20 years. The bill would also allow most registered citizens who have been registered for 30 years or more and have not committed a subsequent sex...
CT: Norm Pattis – Courts create special rules for sexual misconduct cases
A future historian might one day write the following of our time: “Despite a generally permissive culture in which sexually suggestive photographs were used to advertise products ranging from toothpaste to cars, 21st century Americans nonetheless harbored draconian and puritanical laws involving sexual misconduct. It is almost as though they were afraid of the very desire they relied upon to entertain and to titillate...
Westminster expected to repeal sex-offender ban
WESTMINSTER – The City Council on Wednesday will likely repeal its ban on registered sex offenders entering public parks – a move that staffers hope will both satisfy recent court decisions that prevent cities from enacting such laws and help settle a potentially expensive lawsuit. Full Article
NJ: Supreme Court – Sex offenders who served their time can’t face penalties under new laws
Sex offenders can not be subjected to punishments under newly created laws if they committed their offense and served their time before the legislation was passed, the state Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision Monday. In 1986, ____ ____ was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a minor and given a 20-year sentence. About six months after his release in 2009, when ____ was under...
IN: Court – Sex offender doesn’t have to register
MUNCIE – A Muncie man convicted of sex crimes in Florida does not have to register locally as a sex offender, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled. In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals court also ordered local authorities to dismiss two criminal charges pending against 44-year-old ____ ____ ____ that stemmed from his failure to register with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office. Full Article
ADVANCING ADVOCACY Workshop Sept 24 (National RSOL)
Join RSOL on fourth Wednesdays (Wed, September 24, 2014 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM E.S.T. - Teleconference) to learn tips and get answers to questions surrounding sexual offense laws and policies, seeking change among lawmakers and the general public, and in general becoming a better advocate. We will be covering everything from basics to more detailed suggestions on how to approach lawmakers and build...
DC: US attorney calls for an end to statute of limitations in sex crimes
WASHINGTON - The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia is urging the D.C. city council to eliminate the 15-year statute of limitations on sex crimes. U.S. Attorney Ron Machen says advances in DNA have erased the need for such a law. But a bill that would wipe the statute off the books has gone nowhere since being introduced early last year. Since at least...
Jurors Beware: State Crime Labs Incentivized to Help Falsely Convict
Many jurors are led to believe that evidence and results provided to them through state crime labs are objective data on which they can rely in determining the fate of the defendant. Earlier this year, we discussed the crime lab scandal at the Hinton Lab in Jamaica Plain in Massachusetts, in which a chemist who was socially wooed by prosecutors falsified lab results in favor of...