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
Mexico: Court closes to the public registry of sex offenders of the CDMX
Source: eluniversal.com.mx 2/16/23 [NOTE: This article is in Spanish, so we used online translation to get the following English version. Of course, there may be translation errors] Faced with the argument of violating the right to social reintegration and the presumption of innocence of the sentenced, the Court closes the registry to the public. The vote for its validity will take place on Monday,...
PA: Superior Court finds no vindictiveness by judge, Bedford DA
Source: altoonamirror.com 2/16/23 An opinion handed down by the Pennsylvania Superior Court this week has found that a Bedford County man failed to prove his new minimum sentence of 26.5 years on child abuse charges — more than double his original sentence for the crimes — was based on the “vindictivness” of the judge and district attorney. Mark Allen _____, 53, who is serving...
CA Sex Offender Management Board Reaches “General Consensus” on Changes to Tiered Registry Law
Source: ACSOL The CA Sex Offender Management Board today reached a "general consensus" regarding 5 of 7 proposed changes to the Tiered Registry Law during its monthly meeting. All of the changes considered today were included in a presentation to the board made by ACSOL during the board's meeting last month. Specifically, CASOMB members today gave preliminary approval to the following proposed changes: (1)...
Research paper: America Has Been Going About Stopping Child Sex Abuse The Wrong Way
Source: time.com 2/15/23 By Elizabeth Letourneau and Luke Malone Letourneau is director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Malone is an award-winning journalist who reports on child sexual abuse and victimization. They are co-writing a book about child sexual abuse prevention and the history of U.S. sex crime laws for...
CA: Government Files Motion to Dismiss SORNA Complaint
Source: ACSOL The federal government filed on February 13, 2023, a motion to dismiss the pending lawsuit which challenges SORNA regulations that became effective in January 2022. The motion alleges that the complaint fails to state a claim and that one of the plaintiffs lacks standing. A hearing regarding this motion is scheduled for April 5, 2023, in federal district court in Riverside, California....
LA: Lawmakers, investigators working on ways to prevent sex crimes against children
Source: wafb.com 2/14/23 BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Louisiana leaders are reporting a sharp increase in the amount of sex crimes committed against children. At a special committee meeting Tuesday, Feb. 14, one investigator described the fight as “a war the state is losing.” “There are so many cases it’s a tidal wave of tragedy,” said Davis Ferris, an investigator from the Attorney General’s...
NY: New York to pay Anthony Broadwater $5.5M for wrongful conviction in rape of Alice Sebold
Source: syracuse.com 2/14/23 Syracuse, NY – New York State has agreed to pay $5.5 million to Syracuse resident Anthony Broadwater for his wrongful conviction in the 1981 rape of Alice Sebold, who later turned her account of the attack into the best-selling memoir “Lucky.” Broadwater, now 62, spent 16 ½ years in state prison and more than two decades longer on the sex offender...
WY: Committee Kills Bill Making It Harder For Sex Offenders To Get Off Wyoming Registry
Source: cowboystatedaily.com 2/13/2023 A proposed Wyoming law geared toward making fewer sex offenders able to get their names off the sex offender registry died in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday after lawmakers said the bill’s language confused, rather than clarified, the issue. Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said he wants to resurrect a better version of the bill in time for next...
MT: Montana House Advances Obscenity Bill That Would Subject School Employees to Criminal Liability
Source: msn.com 2/12/23 The Montana House advanced a bill Wednesday that seeks to open up public school employees to prosecution if they show or provide children with materials deemed to be obscene. House Bill 234, sponsored by Lindsay Republican Bob Phalen, passed its second reading in a 55-45 vote, with 13 Republicans voting against it along with all Democrats. It is scheduled for its...
WA: ‘End SVP releases into our communities’: Residents push for new legislation regarding sex-offender housing
Source: q13fox.com 2/11/23 OLYMPIA, WASH. - Residents say they are being blindsided by the locations and sudden pop-up of facilities that will house the highest level of sex offenders. Now state lawmakers are pushing new bills to clear up the situation. Residents in Tenino have been pushing against a Less Restrictive Alternative (LRA) facility since Jan.11. On Friday, several gathered outside a facility in...
FL: Lifetime Registration for Florida Sex Offenders Isn’t ‘Custody’
Source: The United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit 2/9/23 The question before us in this appeal—one of first impression—is whether Florida’s registration and reporting requirements for sex offenders render those offenders “in custody” within the meaning of § 2254(a). Though the question is difficult given Supreme Court and Eleventh Circuit precedent, our answer is no. ... The Florida sex offender registration...
Emily Horowitz Debate Podcast: Does the Sex Offender Registry Do More Harm Than Good?
Source: intelligencesquaredus.org 2/3/2023 [Note by Janice: Emily Horowitz recently did a fantastic job debating "Does the Sex Offender Registry Do More Harm Than Good?" During the debate, Emily successfully debunked many of the myths related to registrants including the "frightening and high" rate of re-offense. It's important to listen to this debate in order to better understand the position of those who oppose us. ...
WI: Mauston facing legal uncertainty over living facility for sex offenders: ‘They’re still going to need a place to live.’
Source: wiscnews.com 2/9/23 Tammy Most and her husband have three children, their youngest being an 8-year-old daughter. They moved into their house near the heart of Mauston’s historic downtown area in 2012, but they didn’t know that their new home would come with a constant state of unease. ... Directly across from Most’s residence sits 108 Wisconsin Street. It’s a modest two-story duplex, and...
IL: Illinois gets penalized yearly for not meeting federal Sex Offender Registry standards, but keeps getting money back
Source: cbsnews.com 2/7/23 CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois loses grant money every year as a penalty for failing to meet federal standards with our Sex Offender Registry. CBS 2's Tara Molina found Illinois manages to get that money back - more than $2.5 million worth. But the state still is not in good standing. This has been going on for more than 10 years. Illinois...
AR: ‘Public safety bill’ to give more disclosure for high-level sex offenders on registry
Source: kark.com 2/7/23 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Lawmakers in Arkansas say public safety is one of the top priorities this legislative session. As of Monday, more and more legislators are signing off on a bill that would provide full disclosure on the sex offender registry in Arkansas when it comes to where exactly the highest-level sex offenders live. HB1004 would amend the Sex Offender...
NY: Unhoused NY sex offenders can’t be convicted for having no address
Source: courthousenews.com 2/3/23 MANHATTAN — A New York appeals court overturned an unhoused man’s conviction for failing to verify his address every 90 days as requested by the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act. The law is unconstitutional when applied to homeless defendants who lack an address, as it deprives them of due process. Read the full article and the text of the ruling
SC: Inmate killed at Richland jail by other inmates, sheriff says many cells don’t lock
Source: msn.com 2/3/23 Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says five inmates are responsible for attacking and killing another inmate inside the county jail last week. Lott held a news conference Friday where he gave new details in the death of 29-year-old Antonious Randolph. Randolph was found unresponsive inside a cell at the jail on January 27, six days after his arrested on sexual assault...
ACSOL Board Member Publishes Updated Version of Important Book
ACSOL board member Alex Landon, who has been a criminal defense attorney for more than 40 years and is also a part-time law professor, has just published an updated version of an important book, "A Parallel Universe." The updated version of the book includes six new chapters including a robust discussion of the Tiered Registry Law. "Once again, Alex Landon and his co-author Elaine...
CA: Armie Hammer breaks silence on sexual abuse allegations: ‘I used people’
Source: theguardian.com 2/4/23 Armie Hammer gave his first interview since the beginning of 2021, when multiple sexual misconduct and abuse allegations were made against the actor, saying all the encounters involved were consensual while acknowledging he was emotionally abusive in his relationships. “I had a very intense and extreme lifestyle,” Hammer told Air Mail, a digital newsletter. “I would scoop up these women, bring...
VT: At what point redemption?
Source: manchesterjournal.com 2/3/23 BENNINGTON — There’s a case making its way through the halls of the Bennington Superior Courthouse that touches on all the things that our criminal justice system is designed to accomplish. The case hinges on what happens to people convicted of crimes who serve their time and stay out of trouble. It begs certain questions: When has someone paid enough for...