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
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
Orange to keep its sex-offender ordinance
As other cities across the county are repealing their sex-offender ordinances following a court ruling saying they conflicted with state law, Orange will keep its sex-offender law as is. Full Article (Paywall) City Council Hearing Video #9.2
Plea Bargaining, Reliance, and Sex Offender Restrictions
Judges often refer to a plea deal as subject to the rules of contract law. However, when judges make that statement, they usually backtrack and realize how poorly contract law operates in the criminal domain. The role of the judge as a third party to the deal as well as a lack of normal consideration are particularly difficult to square with typical contract rules. The ongoing...
Living with 290: Hard Knock Life
I spent three years in prison for a crime I did not commit. The how and why I got there doesn't really matter now. What does matter now is what I continue to suffer as a result of that incarceration. I am still the subject of repeated interrogation. The local law enforcement shows up to where I live and pull me out of my...
NY: Second Circuit rejects array of challenges to lengthy extension of sex offender registration requirement
For a number of years, sex offenders consistently lost in state and federal courts when challenging various sex offender registration requirements and other restrictions on various grounds. In recent years, however, it seems at least a few registered sex offenders are having at least a little success with court challenges to new sex offender registration requirements that seem especially punitive or onerous. But a...
WI: Controversial sex offender proposal tabled by Common Council
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Common Council's Steering and Rules Committee on Thursday tabled a proposal to prevent sex offenders from living within a third of a mile from schools, parks and day cares. That may sound very thoughtful with regards to protecting children. But, speakers at the hearing Thursday offered another viewpoint. It's pretty easy to go online and see if you're living near a sex offender. But,...
My Voice: Treatment, not prison, answer for sex offenses
On behalf of our 4,000-plus members, the Dakota Reform Sex Offender Laws Family Solutions is asking South Dakota Senate candidates to make this issue a campaign priority. Our mission — promote medical research, legislation and education to provide an empirically based, rational approach to dealing with sexually related offenses and stop the cycle of abuse to protect all children. Full Opinion Piece
Santa Fe Springs City Council to consider repeal of sex offender restrictions [UPDATED]
SANTA FE SPRINGS >> The City Council at its meeting today will be asked to repeal a 2010 law that doesn’t allow registered sex offenders to come within 300 feet of day-care centers, libraries, schools and parks. Full Article UPDATE: Santa Fe Springs City Council repeals sex offender restrictions
Opinion: Sex offenders can’t be cured, but can be managed
YOUR ARTICLE “Case shows difficulty of tracking sex offenders” (Metro, June 7) illustrates the folly of our current approach to this highly charged subject. High-risk sex offenders have a compulsive illness that can’t be cured, but it can be managed. As your story indicates, at least one sex offender, desperate not to give in to his compulsion, would call the police for help when...
AL: Man Fatally Shoots Sex Offender Who Molested His Daughter In 2001
An Alabama father took justice into his own hands when he shot and killed a man who molested his seven-year-old daughter in 2001. Full Article
MA: SJC Ends Lifetime Parole for Sex Offenders
The Supreme Judicial Court today ruled that lifetime parole for sex offenders violates the state’s constitution, The Boston Globe reports. In a 6-1 decision where Justice Robert Cordy was the dissenter on some issues, the state's highest court said judges alone have the power to sentence people. The state law that created "community parole supervision for life" for sex offenders unconstitutionally gives the Parole Board that...
City being sued by registered sex offender
The City of Taft is being sued by a registered sex offender. The suit was filed May 29 in federal court and alleges an ordinance passed in 2007 designed to keep sex offenders away from areas where children are likely to congregate is unconstitutional. Full Article
Why single out sex offenders? Drug dealers, drunken drivers live among us
Letter to the Editor - This is in response to the uproar of a registered sex offender living in Allouez: I would rather know if a convicted drug dealer, wife beater or, for that matter, a person convicted of having DUIs lived next to me. They are not monitored such as a registered sex offender and therefore are not under as much scrutiny as the...
Transient sex offenders proving difficult to monitor
Law enforcement in Kern County is finding it increasingly difficult to keep track of registered sex offenders. A growing number of them are joining the ranks of the homeless and are listed as transients. "When you have a sex offender who is a transient, you don't know where they are," said Kern County sheriff's Detective Randall Meyer with the Sexual Abuse and Assault Investigative...
NJ: Christie signs Jessica Lunsford Act into law
TRENTON - Sex offenders will now face tougher prison sentences thanks to a bill signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie Monday. The Jessica Lunsford Act, named after a 13-year-old who was raped and murdered in 2005, means anyone who is convicted of abusing a child younger than 13 will go to prison for 25 years without parole. Full Article
SC: Jindal attacks Sheheen for defending sex offender
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized Gov. Nikki Haley's opponent on Friday during a South Carolina appearance, taking issue with him for serving as defense attorney for a sex offender. Jindal said South Carolina voters have a clear choice for governor this year. The first, he said is his friend, Haley, whom he characterized as the successful governor of a state with...
More college men are fighting back against sexual misconduct cases
____ ____, ____ ____ and ____ ____ were headed toward bright futures at prestigious colleges and universities when each got involved in one-night sexual encounters. All three young men claimed the encounters were consensual — but the women asserted otherwise. In each case, campus officials found the men responsible for sexual assault and expelled or suspended them. But all three are pushing back, suing...
PA: Change in sex offender law leads to appeals
In September 2011, ____ ____, then 26, was arrested for having a relationship with a 15-year-old girl. ... Six months later, he agreed to plead no contest to misdemeanor counts of indecent assault and corruption of minors, while the prosecution dropped felony statutory sexual assault. ... Nowhere in the agreement or at his March 5, 2012, plea hearing was there ever any mention of having to...
FL: Loopholes cast doubt on effectiveness of sex offender laws in Volusia cities
PORT ORANGE — Registered sex offender ____ ____ ____ lives 2,112 feet from Spruce Creek Elementary School. He and other offenders who have served their sentences have been the targets in recent months of politicians including the Port Orange City Council who have enacted new regulations in the name of safety. Port Orange expanded its requirement for sex offenders to live further than 2,500 feet...
57 Convicted Sex Offenders Arrested In Southland ICE Operation
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested 57 foreign nationals with prior convictions for sex offenses during a three-day operation targeting criminal alien sex offenders in the Los Angeles area, authorities announced Friday. Full Article
OH: Police – Sex abuse allegation led to Fostoria fire
FOSTORIA, Ohio (AP) — One of the suspects charged in a house fire that killed two people who were hearing impaired acted out of revenge after accusing the home’s owner of sexually abusing a child, a detective said in court. Three people have been charged in connection with the fire on May 26 that was ruled arson. Full Article