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
Visiting Child Pornography Websites Is a Crime—Appeals Court
Viewing child pornography on the Internet constitutes the crime of “possessing” or “controlling“ such matter, in violation of Penal Code §311.11, the Court of Appeal for this district held yesterday. The court also said that viewing the images constitutes possession inasmuch as a PC automatically captures the images, downloading them to the cache, and that causing them to be visible on the screen amounts...
Federal lawsuit calls for repeal of Pomona’s sex offender ordinance
POMONA >> A Santa Maria lawyer filed a federal lawsuit against Pomona this week calling for the repeal of a 2008 ordinance regulating the presence of sex offenders in the city. According to the lawsuit, the city’s ordinance goes beyond what is contained in the ordinances of other cities by prohibiting sex offenders from being on private property, such as arcades or movie theaters....
Appellate court rejects “past as prelude” myth
In a strongly worded ruling, a federal appellate panel has ordered that a Native American man be freed from civil confinement due to evidence of his rehabilitation while in prison. Both a judge and an expert witness had downplayed this evidence, condemning the man as a future risk based on long-ago transgressions, the Fourth Circuit panel concluded. Byron Neil Antone, a 41-year-old member of...
MN: Federal judge calls Minnesota civil commitment program “draconian”
Three weeks ago, a federal judge issued his long-awaited ruling in a civil rights case brought by civil detainees over the constitutionality of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP). Although stopping short, for now, of declaring the program unconstitutional, the judge ordered new procedures to make release attainable for the 700 detainees. He warned that he may ultimately find the program to be unconstitutional if he...
Annual Registration Procedure
Annual Registration: I just went for my annual registration in OC. I literally had to read about the 5 -day statue. Is it 5-working days or 5 days period. Its 5-working days. I showed up on a Monday morning, office was empty and the woman was dressed in an almost uniform. This was my first time to see this. The women in the office...
IL: Agency proposes to remove convicted juveniles from sex offender registry
(KMOV) --A new report from an Illinois agency recommends removing juveniles from the state’s sex offender registry, but law enforcement officials have concerns. The Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission was assigned by the General Assembly to study the laws and remedies for juvenile sex crimes and released its report Tuesday saying, “Illinois should remove young people from the state’s counter-productive sex offender registry and end...
MA: Court Says Sex Offender Law Not Retroactive
BOSTON (AP) — The state’s highest court has ruled that Massachusetts cannot retroactively post information about thousands of registered sex offenders on the Internet. Full Article Related: July 2013 Ruling / Preliminary InjunctionAppellant's Brief SJC ruling keeps 6,000 Level 2 sex offenders off state web registry
Living with 290: My Story
My story goes back to 1968, when my oldest uncle Bobby, home from reform school, forced me to orally copulate him while his younger brothers watched in horror and disbelief. I was five years old and that day has stuck with me in my memory to this day. Before this happened I was a happy boy. Everyone commented to my parents how happy I...
Here’s Why It’s ‘Counterproductive’ To Put Juveniles On The Sex Offender Registry
CHICAGO -- Requiring juveniles to register as sex offenders can hinder rehabilitation efforts and have significant, long-term negative consequences for young perpetrators who are statistically unlikely to re-offend, according to a study released Tuesday. Among the most significant outcomes of the new 150-page report released by the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission is a recommendation that the state end its "counterproductive" practice of requiring juvenile offenders to...
AUS: We don’t want consensual sex teens listed:MP
ROCKHAMPTON MP Bill Byrne said at this stage a public register was only theoretical, and he would reserve his judgment until he had the opportunity to review all information. "I have seen commentary that's been put out by the LNP cabinet ministers and they seem to be equally divided, as I imagine the rest of the community would be, about such a matter," he...
Living with 290: Will I ever get my life back?
I made a mistake and now everyone knows it even people that don't know me. I have had person show up to where I work to beat me up because they seen me on the website. I didn't work there anymore thank God. Still that is messed up. I have missed out on many jobs in my life because of it. I know I...
16-year-old commits suicide after being falsely branded a rapist by drug-dealing gang
A schoolboy hanged himself after he was falsely branded a rapist by fellow pupils after pulling out of a playground drug dealing racket, an inquest heard.Tom Acton, 16, claimed that he was bullied into taking Ecstasy, amphetamines and cocaine in between lessons – yet when his mother, Gaynor, went to see staff at the 1,700 pupil Poynton High School and Performing Arts College in...
POMONA ORDINANCE CHALLENGED IN FEDERAL COURT
A sex offender ordinance adopted by the City of Pomona is the subject of a lawsuit filed today in federal district court on behalf of a sex offender (“registered citizen”). The ordinance includes restrictions regarding where more than 105,000 individuals can reside or be present. Specifically, the ordinance prohibits registered citizens from residing or being present within 300 feet of a wide range of...
IL: Bill would bar sex offenders from fairs
STERLING – Three Whiteside County officials are headed to Springfield today to testify for a bill that could prevent registered sex offenders from attending county fairs. Full Article
MI: Sex Offender Fee Changes Take Effect Next Month
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Registered sex offenders in Michigan are required to pay an annual fee starting April 1. Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation in November requiring Michigan's more than 40,000 registered sex offenders to pay an annual $50 fee. The new fees are intended to cover the $600,000 a year cost to state police to operate the sex offender database. The bill sponsored by...
Supreme Court turns away woman’s challenge to Virginia sex offender registry law
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has declined to take up the case of a Virginia woman who claims the state's sex offender registry law is unconstitutional. The woman was reclassified as a violent sex offender 15 years after being convicted of unlawful sex with minor in a case that did not involve any violence. The reclassification subjects her to a ban on entering her...
Ireland: Irish MP Patrick Nulty quits over ‘inappropriate’ Facebook messages
An Irish parliamentarian has resigned after admitting he sent inappropriate messages to a teenage girl on Facebook. Independent MP Patrick Nulty said he had been "under the influence of alcohol" when he sent messages to a 17-year-old. His shock resignation came hours before Irish tabloid the Sunday World was due to print the story. Full Article
MN: Our View – Reform state sex offender program
Barring a stunning change of heart and hefty dose of political courage, Minnesota’s legislators and governor appear content to dodge the unpopular-but-necessary task of reforming the Minnesota Sex Offender Program this session. Voters need to remember that on Election Day. Equally important, they need to remember it anytime they hear state candidates criticize opponents who advocate reforms as being “soft on crime.” The truth is...
When Should Someone Have to Register as a Sex Offender?
Sex-offender registries, well intentioned but with some faults still being ironed out, have been around in various jurisdictions at least since 2006, when the U.S. Congress passed the Adam Walsh Act. In many jurisdictions, changes were made after college kids caught urinating outdoors were charged with indecent exposure — landing them on sex-offender registries and all the Google searches that go with it. Full Article
OH: ‘Let me live my life’: Registered sex offender shares his side of story
NEWARK — ____ ____ is a registered sex offender. He’ll admit to that, no problem. He is not, however, a pedophile. He is not a child molester, and he has no interest messing with anyone’s kids, he said. “A lot of people don’t know the story,” said ____, 44, from his West Main Street home. “They figure, because someone’s a sex offender, ‘Oh, he likes...