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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Sex Offender Registries: Fear without Function? A Study
Abstract: I use three separate data sets and designs to determine whether sex offender registries are effective. First, I use state-level panel data to determine whether sex offender registries and public access to them decrease the rate of rape and other sexual abuse. Second, I use a data set that contains information on the subsequent arrests of sex offenders released from prison in 1994 in...
CA RSOL Letter to Ed Royce, Chairman Committee on Foreign Affairs re. H.R. 2848 (Int. Megan’s Law)
Below find a copy of a letter sent by CA RSOL's Janice Bellucci to Ed Royce, Chairman Committee on Foreign Affaris in opposition to H.R. 2848 (Int. Megan's Law). Feel free to use this letter as a guide to compose your own letter protesting this unconstitutional portion of the bill. Full Size Letter (pdf)
2011: A Quiet but Growing Judicial Rebellion Against Harsh Sentences For CP Offenses
Federal criminal sentences should be “sufficient, but not greater than necessary.” They should fit the crime, provide for “adequatedeterrence,” “protect the public,” and promote rehabilitation. Since the Supreme Court decisions in Booker and Kimbrough, federal courts again have great discretion, within certain limits, to decide appropriate federal sentences. Congress, however, has taken pains to limit that discretion with regard to child pornography offenses, and the federal...
Int’l Megan’s Law Amendment to Protect More Kids
Washington, Aug 1 - A legislative effort by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) to restrict the passports of U.S citizens who have been convicted of sex crimes against children took a leap forward today when it was unanimously approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Smith wrote an amendment which is now part of the U.S. State Department authorization bill, H.R. 2848, which is expected...
FL: Sex offenders, Pahokee congregation forge unlikely bond
PAHOKEE — The pianist at First United Methodist Church was as nervous as he'd ever been before a performance. Music comes naturally to ____ ____. So he wasn't worried what they would think of his playing. He was worried what they thought of him. "Do they know about my past?" Had they seen the newspapers? The ones that showed his face and the words sex...
General Comments August 2013
Comments that are not specific to a certain post should go here, for the month of August 2013. Contributions should relate to the cause and goals of this organization and please, keep it courteous and civil.
Conceived in Failure: The Adam Walsh Act’s Dangerous Consequences to Society
This short analysis of the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act of 2006 and its implementation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania seeks to explore the background, philosophical failures and statistics to justify repeal of the AWA. Additionally, there are significant policy recommendations that provide real reforms that provide enhanced community safety while not violating Constitutional principles or denying the ability for former offenders to successfully...
SC: Killing Sex Offenders – The Apparent Hypocrisy of Crew 41
Jeremy Moody, a member of a small but violent racist skinhead gang called Crew 41, shocked South Carolina authorities last week when he told them that he and his wife shot and stabbed to death a middle-aged couple July 21 because the man was a registered sex offender. But if ridding the world of sex offenders was Moody’s goal, he didn’t have to go outside...
Sheriff’s deputy accused of rape, soliciting bribes while on duty
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy accused of raping women and soliciting bribes while on duty is due in court Wednesday morning. ___ ___ ___ , 28, was arrested at his home Monday night without incident after a nearly three-year investigation. ___ , a seven-year department veteran, was most recently assigned to patrol duties at the Palmdale Station. Full Article
New girl blamed to teen bullying suicide case
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new classmate has been implicated in the death of a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide after saying three boys sexually assaulted her and circulated photos of the abuse online. Audrie Pott hanged herself in September, about a week after passing out drunk at a party at a friend's house in Northern California. The 15-year-old said boys she had known...
No Justice: Sex Offenses, No Matter How Minor or Understandable, Can Ruin You for Life
The collection of laws and restrictions that regulate people categorized as “sex offenders” has been punctuated by names such as Megan, Jessica and Adam. These are the names of children, all victims of heinous crimes that sparked high-profile campaigns aimed at creating "get tough on crime” legislation. Today you can go online to your state's Megan's Law website, where all convicted sex offenders are...
Opinion: Place focus on worst sex offenders
State legislators should review laws regarding our sex offender registry in order to allow law enforcement to focus on the most dangerous. We have no empathy for those individuals who committed violent sexual acts against any adult or minor. But the requirements of sex offenders to register keeps local law enforcement officers checking up on some people who pose little risk to the public....
Some Ankle Bracelet Alarms Go Unchecked
Three decades after they were introduced as a crime-fighting tool, electronic ankle bracelets used to track an offender's whereabouts have proliferated so much that officials are struggling to handle an avalanche of monitoring alerts that are often nothing more sinister than a dead battery, lost satellite contact or someone arriving home late from work. Amid all that white noise, alarms are going unchecked, sometimes...
Opinion: Sex Is Different, Under The Law
By Norm Pattis - I've been practicing law just long enough to know that I will never make sense of it all. It's not that I am stupid, although my shortcomings are certainly an issue. The larger truth is that the law is irrational. It bumps, grinds and gyrates in ways that simply make no sense. This is especially true in criminal cases alleging sexual misconduct....
SC: In wake of murders, calls for sex offender registry to go private
GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) - At its heart, law enforcement agencies across the country say that the sex offender registry is a great resource when used. For example, when people are moving into a neighborhood, or perhaps if they have questions about a neighbor. "The sex offender registry is a tool, and it's a tool for both law enforcement and the general public," said Lt....
W.A.R. Calls out Governor Nikki Haley, Nancy Grace, Dr. Drew, Anderson Cooper and Other News Media
Women Against Registry- Recently, this country has gone through months of listening to stories about George Zimmerman and the murder of a slain man and his scorned mistress, Jodi Arias . Where is the news coverage of the brutal stabbing murders of the Parkers? Why aren’t the perpetrators faces who forced their way in to Charles and Gretchen Parker’s home, not all over the air...
Sheriff: SC killer randomly targeted sex offender
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man targeted a sex offender at random, killed him and his wife and later told deputies he planned to kill others on the state's sex registry, authorities said Wednesday. Jeremy Moody and his wife, Christine, were arrested and charged with murder, Union County Sheriff David Taylor said. Jeremy Moody confessed to the crime and told investigators they...
IN: Facebook Sex Offenders Ban Ruled Unconstitutional By Indiana Court
INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana law that bans registered sex offenders from using Facebook and other social networking sites that can be accessed by children is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The 7th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Chicago overturned a federal judge's decision upholding the law, saying the state was justified in trying to protect children but that the "blanket ban" went...
OK: Experts say Okla. sex offender registry is flawed
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A system for categorizing sex offenders that experts describe as flawed is causing local police departments and state prison workers in Oklahoma to spend time and money monitoring thousands of sex offenders who pose little risk to the public. When the federal government imposed requirements on states in 2006 to create a three-tiered system for ranking sex offenders, Oklahoma lawmakers decided...
KS: Kansas appealing in sex offender registry ruling
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas will appeal a state district court judge's decision that orders a child molester's name to be removed from its offender registry after finding the registration laws violate the U.S. Constitution, the state's top prosecutor said Thursday. At issue is Tuesday's decision in which Shawnee County Judge Larry Hendricks found that Kansas law ostracizes offenders and requires them to remain...