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
Alabama Crushes Sex Offender Reform Camp for No Good Reason
In rural Clanton, Alabama, a pastor named Ricky Martin has operated a camp on his property to help convicted sex offenders reform themselves. Martin's program has since 2010 provided a refuge for over 50 men as they try to assimilate back into society. Not anymore, though. C.J. Robinson, the chief deputy district attorney of Chilton County, thought the group was icky or dangerous or...
Road Map to Restoration (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers)
Since 2012, NACDL’s Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status After Conviction has embarked on a study of relief mechanisms available to those with a conviction on their record on the local, state and federal level. At an event on May 29 at the Open Society Foundations in Washington, DC, NACDL released a major new report – Collateral Damage: America’s Failure to Forgive or...
LA: Sex offender’s 3-year prison sentence for failing to register not excessive
A state appeals court has upheld the three-year prison sentence a Jefferson Parish judge gave a Plaquemines Parish man for failing to complete his sex offender registration. ____ ____, 39, says the punishment is excessive, because he tried to register as a sex offender when he moved to Jefferson Parish but could not afford the $630 notification fee the Sheriff's Office charged him. Full...
Independence Day
It’s July and in two days millions of Americans will be celebrating their freedom; but not us, because they have taken away our freedom. These people will be rejoicing over their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; but not us, and this includes our families and millions of little children that have had their innocence stolen and their lives turned into...
Study: Middle Schoolers Engaged in Sexting Six Times More Likely to Be Sexually Active
Middle school students who have engaged in "sexting" -- sending or receiving sexually suggestive text messages or photos -- are dramatically more likely to be sexually active, according to a USC study released today. Full Article
Riverside County repealing sex offender rules
RIVERSIDE – Riverside County is considering repealing a law that for four years has restricted the activities of convicted sex offenders such as going within 300 feet of day care facilities, schools, school bus stops, parks, public libraries and other places where children gather. Full Article Riverside County Staff Report
General Comments July 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of July 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
AL: Alabama shuts down church’s sex offender housing
CLANTON, Ala. (AP) — Believing it was his calling to reach out to people Jesus called "the least of these," Pastor Ricky Martin built a little church and opened a camp out back for some of society's most unwanted people: Sex offenders. With the help of some former inmates convicted of rape, sodomy, child sexual abuse and other crimes, Martin raised a gray-block chapel...
MA: SJC ruling leads to release of sex offenders
SALEM — Dozens of sex offenders have been released from custody in the two weeks since the state’s highest court ruled that the state’s lifetime community parole law violates the state constitution, the county’s chief prosecutor said this week. And District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said he’s concerned that they’re hitting the street with almost no advance notice. “It’s a dire safety issue for us...
MD: Ruling could scrub quarter of sex offender registry
One-fourth of the names on Maryland's sex offender registry could be removed after the state's top court expanded Monday on an earlier ruling that adding offenders from before the list was created violated the state constitution. The Court of Appeals declared last year that the state could not require the registration of people who committed their crimes before October 1995, when the database was...
OH: Public housing residents illegally allowed registered sex offenders to live with them
CLEVELAND, Ohio - More than two dozen men and women who illegally allowed registered sex offenders to live with them in federally subsidized housing have been charged with theft and tampering with records, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office said Monday. Each of the 27 defendants were charged with theft and the grand jury indictments also include 89 counts of tampering with records. Full Article
Barbados: Proceed with caution
Barbadians are being asked to consider the establishment of a sex offenders’ registry, as a solution to protecting children from abusers and predators. Lauren Book, head of a Florida-based non-profit focused on child abuse prevention is adamant that such a move is “extremely necessary” for Barbados. She has teamed up with Crime Stoppers Barbados to help launch its child sexual abuse intervention programme. Full...
CA RSOL Meeting in San Diego – September 20
On September 20th the monthly California RSOL meeting will be from 10 am to 1 pm in San Diego. The meeting will take place at California Western School of Law at 225 Cedar Street San Diego, CA 92101, Room LH2. Registrants, family and friends, supporters and professionals are welcome to attend. As always media and government officials are not invited in order to ensure everyone’s privacy. Topics of...
FL: Did the police entrap student during sex sting?
There are few things worse than a 24-year-old man seeking sex from a 13-year-old girl, or so it would seem. They should lock him up and throw away the key, or so it would seem. But sometimes, things aren’t what they seem. Full Op-Ed Piece
MN: Sex offender’s case gets review board hearing
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal hearings in July will focus on whether one man in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program should be released. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank and U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey Keyes put the man's case on a fast track after attorney Dan Gustafson argued that every day his client is still confined is a violation of his rights. Full Article
Proposed ‘Audrie’s Law’ ignites new debate over juvenile justice sentences
The California Legislature is working on a proposed sexual assault and cyberbullying law inspired by the case of Saratoga High School student Audrie Pott, who committed suicide in 2012 after she was sexually assaulted at a party and photographs of the assault were distributed to classmates. Full Article
WA: Benton County judge bars county from providing sex offender data
KENNEWICK — A Benton County judge’s signature Friday on four separate orders cleared the way for Donna Zink to appeal in her pursuit to get information on low-level sex offenders. Superior Court Judge Bruce Spanner has barred the county from fulfilling the Mesa woman’s request for the names of more than 400 Level 1 sex offenders, their registration forms and letters sent to them...
AL: New law forces Chilton. Co. sex offenders to leave pastor’s backyard
Since 2010, 53 sex offenders released from prison have moved in to trailers in Ricky Martin’s backyard. The property is located at 40 County Road 374 in Chilton County. Of those 53 convicted offenders, 32 are convicted rapists and 21 have been convicted of molestation. 43 committed crimes against children. Martin pastors Triumph Church, also on his property. Neighbors tell WIAT 42 they do...
AZ: Kindergartner, 5, is accused of sexual misconduct
An Arizona mother is outraged after her 5-year-old son was accused of sexual misconduct for pulling his pants down on the playground. Erica Martinez says her little boy, ____, was playing at Ashton Ranch Elementary School in April when another student told him to pull his pants down or else he would do it for him. Her son complied, pulling down his pants and underwear...
Op-Ed: They’re killing sex offenders, by Chris Dornin
I was pleased to see a recent Sentinel editorial declaring the Internet sex offender roster punitive. My nonprofit group Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform filed an amicus brief in December supporting John Doe, a former sex offender challenging the New Hampshire sex offender shaming list as an unconstitutional ex-post-facto punishment. Opinion Piece