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
New Zealand: Another attempt to establish a sex offenders register
The Police Minister says research has been done on how to establish a sex offenders register in New Zealand. Police and the Corrections Department are working on the proposal and legislation enabling a register could go to Parliament before the election. Police Minister Anne Tolley says they've had a look at problems that were identified when former ACT MP Deborah Coddington tried - and failed...
Living with 290: Compliance Checks
It's 10:30 am on March 6th 2014 and the yearly round of sheriffs coming to my residence has begun for this year. I've been told this is to make sure I live where I live and anything beyond that is a mystery to me (Christ! I just renewed my registration a week ago!). Every time this happens it is just another round of "them"...
Mission Viejo agrees not to enforce Presence Restrictions for 290s
The City of Mission Viejo has agreed not to enforce the presence restrictions in an ordinance it adopted in January 2012. The agreement is now in effect and will continue to remain in effect unless the State Supreme Court makes an adverse ruling in a related case. According to a letter from Mayor Trish Kelley dated February 21, 2014 (below), the Chief of Police Services...
Living with 290: Stinkin sick
Not a lot of time right now, but this is worth mentioning, not for encouragement. I'm sorry to say, rather for the raw gut reality. My old man had a case of food poisoning and boy did he get sick. We basically live in a van, I got a motel room for the night, as i some times do. I am not on parole...
UK: Senior Tory adviser arrested on child abuse images allegations
A senior adviser to David Cameron was arrested on child abuse images allegations, Downing Street said tonight. ... The Prime Minister brought him into Downing Street in 2011 to work in the Number 10 policy unit. He took responsibility for home affairs issues and was among officials who were involved in drawing up controls against internet images of child abuse. Full Article
Canada: Conservatives propose public sex offender registry, despite its failure in the U.S.
The federal Conservatives have announced they are continuing their pursuit of the lowest of low-hanging fruit: registered sex offenders. The Tougher Penalties for Sexual Predators Act, which was formally tabled in the House of Commons Feb. 26, includes nine proposals for dealing with those convicted of sexual offences, including increasing prison sentences for certain child sexual offences and harsher penalties for violations of release...
The Sex Offender Shuffle
Washington Post Opinion Section: I know the term Kafkesque is overused, but I mean come on.The Chicago Police Department forces sex offenders to violate their parole. I know that sounds crazy. I thought it was crazy when I first heard about it, but I’ve spent a lot of time in the last two weeks with sex offenders waiting — for hours and hours —...
MN: Against Publicly Registering Children
Letter to the Editor - What if the worst thing you ever did was posted on the internet for the whole world to see? What if you did that thing as a child but have to wear it like a scarlet letter forever? Full Letter
One Man’s Fight to Prove His Innocence
Katie Couric - One man opens up about his fight for freedom after being accused of sexual assault by his own children. Find out how he was finally freed and reunited with his family. Website
IL: Crowded Chicago Police office forces sex offenders to violate parole
The Chicago Police Department forces sex offenders to violate their parole. I know that sounds crazy. I thought it was crazy when I first heard about it, but I’ve spent a lot of time in the last two weeks with sex offenders waiting -- for hours and hours -- outside police headquarters and watching a Kafkaesque process play out. Every morning sex offenders start...
FL: State senators fast track sex offender legislation
State senators are poised to pass landmark legislation aimed at better protecting Floridians from rapists and child molesters Tuesday, the first day of the annual Legislative session. "I don't want to let one more day go by without making Florida scorched earth for sexual predators," said Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville. The package of four bills would toughen sex-crime sentences, increase community monitoring, and keep...
Wrongly convicted man free after 8 years
Every day behind bars was torture, but holidays hurt the most. It wasn’t just missing Thanksgiving or Christmas with his family. It was that he’d miss out next year, too, and the year after that, and the year after that. Every year for the rest of his life. Prison isn’t supposed to be easy, of course. If you can’t do the time, don’t do...
MA: Porn debate over National Geographic photo goes to SJC
The question of whether a photo of a naked boy in National Geographic constitutes child pornography when found in the troubling jailhouse stash of a convicted sex offender goes before the state’s highest court today. “After a summer day’s swim, a boy returns to his new bike,” reads the caption under award-winning photojournalist Lynn Johnson’s picture in “Inside the Dragon,” the magazine’s 2008 special...
General Comments March 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of March 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
VA: Flaws in the state’s sex offender registry
The Virginia Sex Offender Registry exists to keep society safe, especially its children. Sometimes, it does just the opposite. Sometimes, the law that prevents sex offenders from being on school property and around kids isolates and stigmatizes innocent people. It can ruin lives. Full Article
OR: Teen sexting – A photo sent, life changed forever
A law creates a three-tiered sex offender registration system BEND — Sexting — sending nude pictures or arousing text messages — has become part of our modern-day life. But for one Central Oregon teen, who wants to remain anonymous, sending one picture changed his life. “I’m on supervised probation for 120 months, which is 10 years — and I sent a picture,” he said. Last...
Talk Radio: NATIONAL REFORM SEX OFFENDER LAWS – “The Big Picture affecting our nation.
Part 1: March 2, 2014 - 8 pm PST The vision and mission of this organization. www.nationalrsol.org The effect sex offender laws have on the community. Call in to speak with the host (619) 393-2837 A national organization sees the issue and the affect demoralizing a sex offender has on communities, and why it is imperative to change this thinking to heal society, the...
CO: With 2 Different Bills, Colorado Will Get A ‘Jessica’s Law’
DENVER (CBS4) – Colorado lawmakers from both parties are working on different versions of a bill that would lay out mandatory sentences for child sex offenders. Similar bills have failed before. Last year’s bill, brought by Republicans, died in an end-of-session drama that left Democrats struggling to explain why they opposed a bill that went hard on sex offenders. So this year there are dueling...
PA: Third Judge Rules Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Unconstitutional
Under current Pennsylvania law, juvenile sex offenders have to comply with lifetime registration requirements. But this month, a third Pennsylvania judge ruled that law unconstitutional, setting the stage for the issue to be addressed by the state supreme court. Judges from York, Monroe, and Lancaster counties have now all written opinions stating that the law fails to take juveniles’ greater capacity for reform into account. Full...
Canada: Proposed sex-offender registry will not deter crime, criminal lawyer warns
The Conservative government’s plan to create a publicly-accessible database of child sex offenders will do little if anything to deter sex crimes and could actually lead to an increase in offences, an Ottawa-based defence lawyer warns. Michael Spratt, who has testified at numerous parliamentary committees on criminal legislation, says the sex registry is being sold as a way to protect children and assist parents,...