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
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...
Sexual Offender Residence Restrictions
ATSA supports evidence-based public policy and practice. Research consistently shows that residence restrictions do not reduce sexual reoffending or increas community safety. In fact, these laws often create more problems than they solve, including homelessness, transience, and clustering of disproportionate numbers of offenders in areas outside of restricted zones. Full Report (pdf)
SC: Public university required students to submit sexual history or face disciplinary action
Clemson University is requiring students to reveal how many times they’ve had sex in the past month and with how many partners. In screenshots obtained exclusively by Campus Reform, the South Carolina university is asking students invasive and personal questions about their drinking habits and sex life as part of what they’ve billed as an online Title IX training course. Full Article
UT: Sex offenders driving up prison population
Prison populations around the country have been in steady decline for the past 10 years. In Utah, it’s a different story. The number of men and women in the state’s prison system has continued to rise, with the highest drivers being nonviolent criminals and sex offenders, who are staying in longer and taking up more beds than ever before, according to data collected by...
AK: How We See It – Sex Offender Laws Need Another Look
Is it assuming too much to believe any substantial changes to the state's sex offender laws is dead on arrival at the state Legislature? Will they even arrive? Arkansas lawmakers approved creation of a sex offender registry in 1997, joining other states and the federal government in establishing new penalties and handling for people convicted of sex-related crimes, particularly against children. These laws varied...
FBI launches a face recognition system
The FBI's new facial recognition system lets local police easily identify you. It will one day spot you from your iris, voice and the way you walk. It's called the FBI's Next Generation Identification system, and the agency said it became fully operational Monday. The government expects the system's database to house 51 million photographs by next year -- and keep growing. But it's not just...
TX: Deputy seeks sex offender dick pics
A Sheriff's deputy in Wise County has been arrested in a bizarre incident. Sgt. Chad Hightower told sex offenders the state now required him to photograph them nude. He even told one fellow he must achieve an erection for the photo shoot, which took place in the police impound yard. Unreal. Full Article Also see Officer arrested for photos of sex offender
The Supreme Court Renders Another Decision Interpreting the Ex Post Facto Clause
June 2013 - The national drive to identify and punish child predators took a step backward this week. While on its surface, the Supreme Court’s decision this week in Peugh v. United States does not deal with sex offenders, its impact will surely be felt in the sex-offender cases. As with the Court’s decision ten years ago in Stogner v. California, the Ex Post...
IL: Study – Home prices may suffer in areas near offenders
BLOOMINGTON — The legal limits on where convicted sex offenders can live have created an unintended financial consequence for McLean County property owners who may have a person considered an outcast by society living next door. The selling price for homes sold within close proximity of where a registered sex offender lives were predicted to be $6,586 lower than sold homes in areas without...
Steep cost to house sex offenders
Sometime before Oct. 24, if all goes according to plan, ____ ____ will move into a rented three-bedroom home on five acres in the backcountry community of Campo — a move that will be unwelcome by neighbors, closely watched by a team of experts, and expensive to taxpayers. _____, 58, is the most recent sexually violent predator to win release from a state hospital to live...
Bellflower eases ‘loitering’ rules for sex offenders
BELLFLOWER — The City Council Monday night gave final approval to an ordinance change halting the enforcement of “loitering” restrictions on registered sexual offenders as listed in a 2010 city law and instead aligns itself with state law on the subject, which is not as restrictive. Originally approved Aug. 25, the ordinance change will take effect in 30 days. There was no comment on...
VA: Justices – Judge erred in ordering lifetime waiver of probationer’s 4th Amendment rights
RICHMOND, Virginia — A judge went too far in requiring a sex offender to surrender his constitutional protection against unreasonable searches after leaving prison, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday. Full Article
AUS: Child sex abuse within families rampant
Victoria Police wants to open a new front in the fight against family violence as frightening new data reveals a 43 per cent jump in child sex abuse cases in the past five years. Detective Superintendent Rod Jouning, head of the Victoria Police sexual and family violence division, said the true rate of child sex abuse by family members and others known to the...
WA: Porn conviction tossed over military’s surveillance role
____ ____, who lives near Seattle, was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2012 for possessing and distributing child pornography that police said they found on his computer. On Friday, a federal appeals court overturned his convictions because of the unlikely — and illegal — source of the investigation. The U.S. Navy. To be specific, an agent of the Naval Criminal...
Sex Offender Sues Westminster For Enacting “Unconstitutional” City Park Ban
An activist working to reform municipal and county sex-offender restriction laws in California is now targeting the City of Westminster, according to a federal lawsuit. Full Article