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
LA: Allen Parish considers raising sex offender registration rates [UPDATED with action]
ALLEN PARISH, LA (KPLC) - "I don't like seeing people leaving an adjacent parish to come here as a sex offender because it's more affordable, which is what I'm trying to say," said Allen Parish Chief Deputy Ricky Johnson. It happened first in Lake Charles, then in Sulphur, a raise in sex offender registration rates. And now, Allen Parish officials say they are feeling the effects of...
AL: Student facing charges for streaking at football game dead of apparent suicide
HARVEST, Alabama - The Sparkman High School community is mourning one of their own after a student apparently took his own life. ____ ____, 15, hanged himself Wednesday and died this morning from his injuries, Madison County Coroner Craig Whisenant said today. ____ death came less than a week after he was arrested for streaking across the Sparkman High football field during the Senators'...
Sex offenders congregate to reform laws they consider too harsh
American Bar Association Journal - More than 700,000 people are now registered sex offenders, and some among that group are fighting to change or overturn laws that they consider too harsh. More than 100 people attended a conference held in Los Angeles a few weeks ago to advocate for reform, the New York Times reports. Those attending the meeting—and other conferences like it—claim the sex offender...
Sexual assault not rare among teens. Neither is feeling responsible.
Nearly 1 in 10 young Americans between ages 14 and 21 acknowledges having perpetrated an act of sexual violence at least once, and 4% of a nationally representative sample of American kids reported attempting or completing rape, a new study finds. While those most likely to report initiating unwanted sexual contact in their early to mid-teens were boys, girls were among the perpetrators as...
Mugged by a Mug Shot Online
In March last year, a college freshman named ____ ____ was riding in a van filled with friends from Austin, Tex., to a spring-break rental house in Gulf Shores, Ala. As they neared their destination, the police pulled the van over, citing a faulty taillight. When an officer asked if he could search the vehicle, the driver — a fraternity brother of Mr. ____ who...
MO: Amendment would allow past allegations to be heard in child sex abuse cases
... Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd agrees, and he wants voters to pass an amendment to the Missouri Constitution in fall 2014 that would allow prosecutors in child sexual abuse cases to tell jurors about a defendant’s prior sex offenses, even allegations for which the person never faced charges. Full Article
NY: Penile stimulation test unnecessary [UPDATED with decision]
NEW YORK (AP) — Subjecting a sex offender who is no longer imprisoned to "extraordinarily invasive" penile stimulation testing risks violating the premise that even convicts retain their humanity, a federal appeals court said Thursday. The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan frees ____ ____ of a requirement that he submit to penile plethysmography, a test in which a...
No More Victims
Pennie Farrell, L.C.S.W., Ph.D., says, "80% of sex offenders who successfully complete a certified treatment program never commit another sex crime." In this video, Dr. Farrell shares insights from her 21 plus years experience treating sex offenders. She explains what she is trying to accomplish with her website,http://www.SexOffenderInformationStat..., and she compares recidivism rates between treated sex offenders and other non-sex crime offenders. Other questions...
Unfit to Practice?
In 2007 the civil litigator and former captain in the Army Reserves, now 56, was a JAG lawyer assigned to Los Alamitos Army Airfield when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Virginia tracked hits on approximately 18 commercial child pornography websites. ICE agents in Project Flicker, as it was known, located a number of active and retired military members, civilians, and contractor...
Is It ‘Very Offensive’ for Sex Offenders to Demand Just and Sensible Laws?
The New York Times notes a recent conference in Los Angeles aimed at calling attention to the excesses and injustices of laws aimed at sex offenders. The Times reports that the 100 or so attendees—sex offenders plus their girlfriends, wives, and mothers—"hope to convince judges, lawmakers and the public that indiscriminate laws aimed at all sex offenders are unconstitutional and ineffective." Illustrating the mentality they are fighting,...
General Comments October 2013
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of October 2013. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
DE: ACLU Settles Lawsuit Over Sex Offender Residence
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)- The American Civil Liberties Union has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit challenging a Dover ordinance that prohibits sex offenders from living within 500 feet of day care centers. The ACLU filed the lawsuit in February on behalf of Michael A. Justice, a registered sex offender who began living at his mother's apartment before the ordinance was adopted. Full Article
Restricted Group Speaks Up, Saying Sex Crime Measures Go Too Far
NY Times ... A few weeks ago, more than 100 people — sex offenders, almost all of them men, along with wives, girlfriends and mothers — came from around the country to “Justice for All: A Conference to Reform Sexual Offense Laws.” They and others have formed associations and are holding conferences like this one to argue that a wave of legal penalties and restrictions...
Sex offenders in Oregon: State fails to track hundreds
... Oregon is two years behind entering names into its electronic database of registered sex offenders. It's so out of date that local police don't rely on it. Oregon's public website lists only a fraction — 2.5 percent — of the state's more than 25,000 sex offenders. So residents can't really tell who and how many sex offenders are in their neighborhoods. In fact, Oregon has...
Judge Battles Child Pornography Mandatory Minimum Sentence He Considers Unjust
With momentum building for sentencing reform and federal judges among the most avid supporters of rolling back harsh mandatory minimum sentences, one judge is standing up for lower sentences for a particularly controversial category of defendant — those guilty of child pornography offenses. As with other offenses, lawmakers have ratcheted up the sentences for child pornography sentences — including for online possession. And some...
New Bill in Congress: HR-2083 which contains a very ODD provision affecting more than sex offenders
9-29-2013 Washington DC: Continuing in our effort to review bills in Congress we find something really odd in HR-2083 `Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act' whose alleged purpose is to screen potential employees of schools, and to re-screen actual employees of schools every five years. Before we get into our issue which revolves around ONE definition in this bill, here is the definition:...
‘I Don’t Feel I Was a Victim’
On March 10, 1977, director Roman Polanski raped Samantha Geimer, who was 13 at the time, during a photo shoot in Los Angeles. The agonizing legal dispute that followed lasted a year and ended with the prominent director fleeing the United States. Thirty-two years later, Polanski was taken into custody in Switzerland and placed under house arrest. A Swiss court was supposed to rule...
TX: Condo Association Fighting To Keep Sex Offender Out
A battle between a sex offender in Austin and a home owner's association could set a precedent across the state if not the country. The association's decision to ban sex offenders is now being challenged. A sleepy little community in South Austin is fighting what could be a major case. "I don't know why this law firm has decided to mount a crusade in...
California RSOL Challenge Featured on National TV Show [updated with show]
California RSOL and its recent legal challenge to the Halloween ordinance in the City of Orange that required registered citizens to post a sign in front of their residences will be discussed on "The Doctors", a national TV show, on September 30 on CBS. The discussion is a 5-minute segment that includes "the doctors", a mother from the City of Orange and CA RSOL...
MA: Sex offender’s speech ignites debate over registry system
A high-level sex offender in Belmont, Massachusetts surprised many when he showed up to a town meeting that was held to address concerns about sex offenders like him living in the area. Carl Peterson told those in attendance that he was convicted of sexually assaulting his young niece 12 years ago. The event sparked a debate over possible misconceptions about the 'sex offender' label...