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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RSOL Conference 2013 – Mary Sue Molnar: Introduction to Support Groups
Mary Sue Molnar of Texas Voices For Reason and Justice talks about her experience and the formula for successful support groups for ex-offenders. Phil Taylor also contributes his experience. - "Introduction to Support Groups" Recorded Friday August 30, 2013 in Los Angeles at the RSOL Annual National Conference. More RSOL Conference Workshop / Presentation Videos [hana-flv-player video="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFW_JftJK-o" width="400" height="240" description="" player="5" autoload="true" autoplay="false" loop="false" autorewind="true" /]...
RSOL Conference 2013 – Clare Ann Ruth-Heffelbower: Restorative Justice and Sexual Offenders
Keynote Speaker Clare Ann Ruth-Heffelbower speaks on "Restorative Justice and Sexual Offenders" during the RSOL Conference in Los Angeles last August. More RSOL Conference Workshop / Presentation Videos [hana-flv-player video="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjUDF7isgbM" width="400" width="240" description="" player="5" autoload="true" autoplay="false" loop="false" autorewind="true" /]
CA RSOL Challenges Halloween Ordinance in U.S. District Court
A lawsuit was filed today in U.S. District Court challenging the Halloween ordinance adopted by the City of Orange which requires “sex offenders” to post a sign on the front door of their residence. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that the city ordinance violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and places “sex offenders” as well as anyone living with a “sex offender” at...
Orange County’s Vicious Dogs Could Land on Online Database Like Registered Sex Offenders
The county Board of Supervisors gave the initial nod Tuesday to essentially creating a Megan's Law-type list for vicious dogs. Megan's Law provided the online database for registered sex offenders. So just think of the new proposed site like that. Only with dangerous pooches. The supervisors voted 4-0 to tentatively approve changes to the county's ordinance regulating vicious dogs to allow for the database. A...
Canada: Stephen Harper announces tougher measures against sex offenders
VANCOUVER -- The federal government acted to get even tougher on child predators at home and abroad as Prime Minister Stephen Harper unveiled plans Monday for a publicly-accessible national sex offender registry and a law forcing convicted sex offenders to alert Canadian authorities before they travel internationally. Under the Conservatives’ Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act, to be introduced in Parliament this fall, convicted...
NY: County outsources sex offender monitoring to advocacy group
... Suffolk County on Long Island allows a victims’ advocacy group, Parents of Megan’s Law, to monitor sex offenders. The measure was approved unanimously in February of this year and is being heralded by lawmakers as a cost-effective way to keep the community safe. Parents for Megan’s Law is a nonprofit organization that will receive close to $1 million a year to implement the...
Against Juvenile Sex Offender Registration
Catherine Carpenter (Southwestern Law School) was a keynote speaker at the recent RSOL Conference in Los Angeles. Her excellent presentation can be viewed here. This is the paper she is referencing in her workshop. Download it here
OK: Supreme Court rules on sex offender lawsuit [updated with decisions]
OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Supreme Court says people convicted of sex crimes in other states are not required to register as sex offenders in Oklahoma if the convictions occurred before the Legislature passed a sex offender law and if they completed their sentence, probation or parole before Nov. 1, 2005. The justices ruled that two men convicted of sex crimes in other states were...
NC: District Attorney accused of violating sex offenders rights
WENTWORTH - Is the Rockingham County District Attorney violating the constitutional rights of sex offenders? Someone seems to think so.A lawsuit, filed in August, claims Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger Jr., N.C. Governor Pat McCrory, N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and every other district attorney in the state did. “It is a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality on registered sex offenders being banned at...
Draft law banning pedophiles from entering Russia submitted to Duma
MOSCOW, September 16 (RAPSI) - United Russia lawmaker Alexander Sidyakin proposed the imposition on foreign child molesters of a 50-year ban on entry into Russia, and submitted a draft law on the matter to the State Duma for review. The proposed amendments would effectively bar foreigners from entering Russia if they were prosecuted for sexually abusing children in Russian Federation or abroad. The ban...
FBI Releases 2012 Crime Statistics
The FBI estimated that in 2012, the number of violent crimes increased 0.7 percent, according to the figures released today. However, property crimes decreased 0.9 percent, marking the 10th straight year of declines for these offenses, collectively. The 2012 statistics show that the estimated rate of violent crime was 386.9 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants, and the property crime rate was 2,859.2 offenses per 100,000...
Women Against Registry: It’s Time
It’s Time! Women Against the Registry has taken notice that the ACLU of Alabama filed a federal lawsuit against Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin and two officers in the department, for "unannounced, random, and suspicion-less" searches of the home of a registered sex offender. The women of W.A.R. believe that it’s time for ACLU national and ALL state chapters to take action to protect...
AR: Doctor sues state over law barring Medicaid money to sex offenders
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — An Arkansas doctor convicted of possessing child pornography 13 years ago is suing the state over a new law that bars giving Medicaid money to convicted sex offenders. Dr. ____ ____ ____ filed a lawsuit in federal court on Friday and asked a judge to block enforcement of the new restriction, which took effect Aug. 16. The law prohibits any...
Justice Department Announces $15.5 Million In Awards To Support Sex Offender Registration, Assessment, Intervention
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP) today announced more than $15.5 million in Fiscal Year 2013 grant assistance for states, territories and tribal governments to use in implementing, training, maintaining and enhancing sex offender programming throughout the United States. More than $13.3 million will be used to develop or enhance sex offender registration...
How a Law Aimed at Sex Offenders Could Feed into the Growing Surveillance State
Last November, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 35, the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE) Act. Like “tough on crime” anti-trafficking legislation around the country, Proposition 35 was presented as bolstering law enforcement's ability to fight human trafficking by introducing a bundle of new laws that, most prominently, increased penalties for those convicted of trafficking human labor, made prostitution a sex crime, and with less...
‘Post-Snowden Era’ Audit of CA Sex-Offender Monitoring
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - The NSA's controversial domestic surveillance program factored into a 9th Circuit hearing Wednesday on California's monitoring of sex offenders. Proposition 35, passed by voters last year, mostly aims to punish human traffickers, but also mandates that sex offenders give police a complete list of their usernames, screen names, email addresses and Internet service providers within 24 hours of setting up...
Feds launch smartphone app to nab child sexual predators
(CNN) -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has unveiled an iPhone app called Operation Predator that asks the public for help in gathering information on suspected child sexual predators, including those who are fugitives. The new app, created in conjunction with Homeland Security Investigations' Cyber Crime Center, lets users submit a tip by phone or by filling out a tip form in the app....
A Researcher’s Request: For folks in Los Angeles County ONLY
From Nicole Pittman, Raised on the registry.Hi Friends, Nicole Pittman, the author of the Human Rights Watch report, “Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US” brings great news to folks.BBC journalist, Jennifer Forde, and a small team recently relocated to Los Angeles to make a series of documentaries. BBC’s intention is to make a thoughtful, objective...
Convicted Sex Offender Shot Multiple Times in Greenfield
GREENFIELD, Calif- A 29-year old registered sex offender was shot multiple times over the weekend. ____ ____ was shot on Oak Avenue and flown to the hospital. Greenfield police said that though he was shot multiple times, his injuries are non-life threatening. Police do have a suspect in this case, at this time they are not releasing a name. According to the Meagan's Law website,...
Sex Offenders Aren’t All Monsters
Most law-abiding citizens would agree that sex-offenders should be locked-up and the key thrown away or once a child molester is released from prison they should be registered and never be allowed to be around children again. The purpose of sex-offender laws is to protect the public, but what about when human rights are violated to the point where laws are doing more harm...