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
Putting the Cart Before the Horse: The Forensic Application of the SRA-FV
As the developers of actuarial instruments such as the Static-99R acknowledge that their original norms inflated the risk of re-offense for sex offenders, a brand-new method is cropping up to preserve those inflated risk estimates in sexually violent predator civil commitment trials. The method introduces a new instrument, the “SRA-FV,” in order to bootstrap special “high-risk” norms on the Static-99R. Curious about the scientific...
Appeals court rules against Orange County on sex offender law
A panel of California appeals court judges found Friday that state law trumps Orange County's regulations on sex offenders that ban them from parks and beaches. The fourth appellate district decision reverses the conviction of ____ ____, a registered sex offender who was convicted of a misdemeanor for violating the county ordinance after he went to a company picnic at Mile Square Regional Park...
Are Americans increasingly taking the law into their own hands?
WASHINGTON, January 8, 2014 — Instances of citizen vigilantism – citizens exercising law enforcement practices without legal authority – have been showing up in the media more frequently. Apparently a growing number of American citizens feel as if their law enforcement officials are not doing enough to prevent crime and do not want to solely rely on the government for their personal security.While violent...
AL: National Women’s Organization Opposes HB 14
The question we are asking is an obvious one; “do laws such as this truly PROTECT children?” Alabama Representative Steve Hurst seems to think so. His previous years’ and newly introduced legislation, if enacted, would mandate the Department of Corrections to surgically castrate any person over the age of 21 who has been convicted of a sexual crime against a minor under the age of...
ALERT: Serial killer targeting registered sex offenders in New Hampshire
There is a serial killer at large in Keene, New Hampshire. The killer is targeting individuals whose names and addresses appear on New Hampshire’s Registry of Criminal Offenders and whose residences are pinpointed on the Keene Police Department’s online “CrimeReports” map. This killer has struck twice in the past three months, killing one man and severely maiming another. Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform is asking the...
Websites will no longer bill to remove mug shots
TOLEDO, Ohio – Two Internet sites that make money by posting millions of mug shots of people who’ve been arrested have agreed to stop charging them to take down their photos as part of a settlement in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit came about after a number of complaints from people who said the websites were charging hundreds of dollars to remove the mug...
In Wake of NY Times Editorial, CPI Unveils Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct
WASHINGTON / January 8, 2014 – Today the non-profit Center for Prosecutor Integrity (CPI) announces the launching of the new Registry of Prosecutorial Misconduct. The unveiling comes three days after a New York Times’ editorial charged ethical violations by prosecutors have become “rampant” across the nation: http://nyti.ms/1hu7K7V The Registry is the first publicly available national online database to catalog judicial or legal disciplinary committee findings of prosecutorial...
WA: Court postpones decision on releasing sex-offender registration forms [UPDATED]
UPDATE 1/30: Judge rules sex offender data in Benton County not public information YAKIMA, Wash. — A Columbia Basin woman seeking the names of all low-level sex offenders in Yakima County will have to wait another month to learn if she’ll get the list. A public records request by Mesa resident Donna Zink, who has sought similar lists in other counties in order to post the...
El Dorado County Votes to Repeal Sex Offender Ordinance
The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to repeal its sex offender ordinance which prohibited all registered citizens from visiting county recreational areas and the county library. This vote was taken on January 7 in the absence of Supervisor Norma Santiago. A second and final vote on the repeal is scheduled on January 14 and would become effective 30 days later. ...
CA State Assembly Bill Would Overturn Court Decision, Limit Eligibility to Apply for Certificate of Rehabilitation
A bill has been introduced in the California State Assembly that would, if passed overturn a recent court decision and further limit the number of registered citizens who are eligible to apply for a certificate of rehabilitation. That bill is AB 1438, which was introduced by Assembly Members Eric Linder (Republican, Riverside) on January 6. The California Court of Appeals decided in the case, People v. Tirey, on...
Sex offender ordinance inspired by Phillip Garrido expected to be repealed in El Dorado County
PLACERVILLE - The El Dorado County Board of Supervisors is expected to repeal a 2-year-old sex offender ordinance Tuesday to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit. The 2012 ordinance was inspired by Phillip and Nancy Garrido, the county's most notorious sex offenders, who were convicted the year before of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard and holding her for 18 years. The measure forbids registered sex offenders from...
Ireland: Councils to house sex offenders in radical new plan
SEX offenders should be given homes by local authorities on their release from prison, according to a report being considered by Justice Minister Alan Shatter. A high-level plan devised by a number of powerful state agencies recommends that sex offenders be placed in social housing estates and apartment complexes so as to avoid homelessness. The plan, which relates to the Dublin region, is designed to...
KY: (Registered) Sex offender looks to gain admission to Kentucky bar
LOUISVILLE, KY. – ____ ____ ____ graduated in the top third of his law school class at the University of Kentucky, but the state Supreme Court blocked him from taking the bar exam because he is a registered sex offender. In the first case of its kind in Kentucky, the court rejected ____'s bid and a move by the state Office of Bar Admissions...
The Bitter Legacy of Adam Walsh
We can all become angry and frustrated with life. Some of us have been known to express that frustration in ways that later, upon reflection, seem foolish or even tragically self-destructive. John Walsh, with the help of a public that cannot have rational conversation about how to intelligently manage sexual criminality, has succeeded in turning his son’s memory into a curse on a nation....
Editorial: Hands off our laptops
As President Obama ponders a task force's recommendations for reining in electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency, a federal judge in New York has allowed another government agency to invade the privacy of Americans. Judge Edward R. Korman ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents may confiscate and examine the contents of laptop computers of Americans returning to the country even if...
People of Campo tell judge not to place sex offender in their community
SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Campo residents told a judge today they don't want a soon-to-be-released sexually violent predator placed in their rural southeastern San Diego County community. After a hearing last August, Superior Court Judge David Gill found that ____ ____ could safely be released into the community for continued treatment and supervision. Last month, the Department of State Hospitals proposed placing Badger at a...
NV: New Law Puts More Sex Offenders on the Map
LAS VEGAS -- People may soon find out there are more sex offenders living in their neighborhood than they thought. That is because a newly enforced state law is about to re-define who is considered a sex offender who must register. Judges and child welfare advocates say that it is going to be more difficult to tell who is a sexual predator because the sex...
CA RSOL Meeting in Los Angeles – February 8
The next CA RSOL meeting in Los Angeles will take place on February 8th at 10 am, at the usual location - the ACLU building at 1313 W. 8th Street in Los Angeles. Registrants, family and friends, supporters and professionals are welcome to attend. Media and Government officials are not invited in order to ensure everyone's privacy. We will discuss current topics, changes in the...
General Comments January 2014
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of January 2014. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
One in four GPS devices on criminals in L.A. County were faulty
One in every four GPS devices used to track serious criminals released in Los Angeles County has proved to be faulty, according to a probation department audit — allowing violent felons to roam undetected for days or, in some cases, weeks. The problems included batteries that wouldn't hold a charge and defective electronics that generated excessive false alarms. One felon, county officials said, had...