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
Sex offenders are people too
The law has failed on sex offenders. Rather than preventing crime, the law makes crime inevitable. California’s Fourth Appellate District court recently ruled current laws regarding where sex offenders can live as “unreasonable.” This is not an isolated case, but a pattern. California’s judicial system has slowly shifted away from prevention and rehabilitation toward punitive retaliation. Obviously, criminals are not the most pitiable people...
Marina del Rey Deputy Sentenced in Teen Sex Case
A former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy assigned to the Marina del Rey station was sentenced on Friday to serve 90 days in jail for having sexual relations with an underage girl. Kenneth Alexander, 46, will also be on supervised probation for five years and attend a year of sex offender counseling. He must also stay away from the victim, who was 15 years...
You can request to have your address removed from online mapping services
Did you know you can request your home address be removed from Google, Yahoo, Bing and other mapping services? Well you can, and we recommend you do it for your own safety, especially if you are wearing the "sex offender" label. Many online registries use these mapping services, and if you request yours be removed, then it will also be unmappable from the many...
Commentary
click image for larger view © S. Meyers, Sunday Maine Telegram
MN: Study finds state program for sex offenders effective
Sex offenders can stir up a lot of fear and anger in a community. But an innovative program from the Department of Corrections (DOC) is preventing new crimes by matching a sex offender about to be released from prison with a group of four to seven volunteer mentors, according to a study that will be published in Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and...
FL: South Fort Myers apartment complex welcomes sex offenders with nowhere to go
Fairfield Apartments sits in a quiet neighborhood in south Fort Myers. On a recent afternoon, children played on well-groomed lawns as a boy rode his bicycle down a winding street dotted with palm trees. But Julie Evans has a message for her neighbors in the apartment complex down the street. “I got a gun,” she said. “And I will use that gun.” There are...
September 15 Meeting Recap
California RSOL met in Los Angeles with about 45 registrants, family members and supporters at the ACLU building in Los Angeles on September 15. The focus of the meeting was issues involving registrants such as residency restrictions, city and county ordinances, and future litigation. Information was shared during the meeting regarding the recent decision of a California appellate court that a blanket restriction prohibiting...
CA RSOL Meeting in Los Angeles – Nov 10
California RSOL will return to Los Angeles on November 10 at 10 am and will meet at the same location, the ACLU building at 1313 W. 8th Street. Meetings are open to registrants, family members, and supporters but closed to media and government officials. There is free parking and privacy. As always, we will share information about recent laws, court decisions, etc. Admin Note:...
NH: Sex offender residency case dropped
The city of Franklin has dropped its legal fight to overturn a January court decision that found its ordinance restricting the residency of sex offenders unconstitutional. But the city will try other ways to keep sex offenders from living near schools, parks and other places children congregate, Mayor Ken Merrifield said. The city's appeal was scheduled to be heard by the state Supreme Court...
ME: Suit says Maine’s sex offender registry is unfair
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Fifteen people challenging the constitutionality of the retroactive nature of Maine's sex offender registry have gone before the state's highest court. A lawyer for most of the men listed as John Doe in court papers told the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday they were required to register long after they had served time and gone years without any new offenses. He says...
Sex Offenders React To Tougher Residency Restrictions
Local sex offenders said they are fed up with yet another round of proposed restrictions on where they can live. The ordinance being drafted by the Kern County Board of Supervisors would enhance Jessica's Law, passed in 2006, and would limit newly paroled sex offenders from living near school bus stops, churches, day care facilities, and other places where children gather. The ordinance would...
Sex offender residential requirements unconstitutional, court rules [updated with Court Decision]
A blanket restriction prohibiting sex offenders from living near places where children congregate is unconstitutional, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday, throwing a surprising wrench into a popular law. The decision by Division 1 of the 4th District Court of Appeal concerns the 2006 ballot measure known as Jessica's Law, which barred registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or...
A Letter to the Lancaster City Council
This was sent to the Lancaster City Council before the City Council Meeting on September 11: It has recently come to my attention that the city of Lancaster wishes to prohibit registered sex offenders from entering their town. It seems that excluding registered sex offenders is one of those bipartisan issues that everyone can agree on. I frankly don't understand why. Liberals and progressives...
“Gary Blanton Jr. – Beyond The Label” Sneak Preview
Sneak Preview of the upcoming independent film project tentatively titled "Gary Blanton Jr.- Beyond The Label." On June 2, 2012, a career criminal named Patrick Drum killed two people and planned to kill a third along the Washington state peninsula. Because his victims were listed on the state's public "sex offender" registry, Drum was labeled a "hero" by many in the community. But they...
Lancaster furthers restrictions on registered sex offenders [with Video]
LANCASTER – The Lancaster City Council Tuesday approved an ordinance that imposes restrictions and regulations upon registered sex offenders in addition to those imposed under state law. Specifically, the new ordinance prohibits registered sex offenders: From living within 2,000 feet of any school, park or day care center. From living at a residence or hotel/motel/inn where another registered sex offender already lives (with a...
Sex offender arrested in attempt to meet girl, 13
Agents with the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force arrested a registered sex offender suspected of arranging a meeting at the Huntington Beach Pier with an undercover officer he believed to be a minor, authorities said Monday. The arrest came after an investigation into a teen chat room that allows users to have private webcam chats, according to a written release from the Orange...
Simi Valley becomes first city in county to pass Halloween sex offender law
Simi Valley on Monday night became the first city in Ventura County to pass a law that aims to prevent sex offenders from having contact with trick-or-treating children on Halloween. The ordinance, adopted by the City Council on a 4-1 vote, applies to the several dozen convicted child sex offenders who live in Simi Valley and are on the Megan's Law website. Championed by...
Council Focuses On Child-Related Issues
LANCASTER - On Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 5, a teenage girl was walking home from school in Palmdale when she was confronted by a man grabbed her and tore her blouse as she struggled to get away. The man was later found and arrested for attempted rape and assault to commit rape. The city council will decide Tuesday whether to approve an addition to Lancaster’s...
IN: Court rules state sex offender registry unconstitutional
INDIANAPOLIS — A federal court appeals ruling may push state legislators into finding a fix for some long-standing problems with Indiana’s sex and violent offender registry. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled the state’s registry was unconstitutional because it violated the due process rights of ex-offenders in the registry who have no way to correct mistaken information. The registry is a publicly accessible...
Commentary: The Mayor’s Two Hats: Hysteria In Lancaster?
From Norm Pattis Blog: The general counsel of Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College has some explaining to do. As general counsel and board member of the college, R. Rex Parris professes a dedication to the college’s mission statement. That statement pledges a commitment to seeking justice for “the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned.” It is hard to...