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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Janice's Journal
General News Feed
Janice’s Journal: The Mountain Climb Just Got Steeper
As an advocate and litigator, I often compare my efforts to restore the civil rights of registrants to climbing up a steep mountain. Unfortunately, the mountain I must now climb is steeper due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision issued a few days ago. In that decision, a majority of the Court’s nine justices overturned relief granted by district court judges in three different...
NE: A Better Way Forward: Smarter Public Safety Investments for Douglas County
Source: Nebraskans Unafraid Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson’s recent announcement of a new “investigator” position tasked with verifying the addresses of people on Nebraska’s sex offender registry might make headlines, but it won’t make our communities safer. It’s an initiative based on optics rather than outcomes, intended to project action, not produce impact. Instead of allocating taxpayer-funded resources toward a symbolic gesture with no measurable public...
IA: Man accused of killing sex offender after he was released from prison
Source: azfamily.com 6/26/25 ELKHART, Ind. (WNDU/Gray News) - An Indiana man has been charged with murder after investigators say he shot and killed a sex offender who had recently been released from prison. Nicholas Stanley, 35, is accused of killing 35-year-old Allen Cogswell early Tuesday morning at the Daylite Inn on Cassopolis Street. According to The Goshen News, police confirmed that Cogswell was a sex offender who...
IL: New Joliet Park Created to Force 11 Sexual Offenders To Vacate ‘Pedophile Palace’ On Cora Street
Source: msn.com 6/26/25 JOLIET, IL — Three years after concerned citizens of Joliet raised awareness regarding the opening of a two-story apartment building in the Cunningham Neighborhood to provide shelter for several mostly out of town registered sexual predators and convicted offenders, efforts by the city of Joliet to get rid of the so-called "Pedophile Palace" are finally coming to fruition. This week, for the...
TX: US Supreme Court backs Texas online porn age-check law
Source: tech.yahoo.com 6/27/25 WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday against challengers to a Texas law that requires pornographic websites to verify the age of users in an effort to protect minors after the adult entertainment industry argued that the measure violates the free speech rights of adults. The justices, in a 6-3 ruling authored by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, upheld a...
FL: New Volusia County’s short-sighted ordinance makes it harder to track down homeless sex offenders
Source: wesh.com 6/25/25 VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —A new ordinance in Volusia County has resulted in an increase among the homeless sex offender and predator population on the streets. Deputies aren't just checking on suspects, they're surprising convicted sex offenders. However, the deputies don't know where to look if the offenders are homeless and not showing up for check-ins. Nearly 1,000 offenders live in the...
WA: Feds seek to block WA law requiring clergy to report child abuse
Source: washingtonstatestandard.com 6/23/25 Washington bishops sued last month to prevent the law from taking effect. Now, the Trump administration is looking to back their lawsuit. The Trump Administration moved Monday to join a legal fight to overturn a new Washington law requiring religious leaders to report child abuse or neglect even when it is disclosed in confession. A motion filed in federal court by the Department...
FL: Florida proposes another law named after a child victim
Source: thecapitolist.com 6/24/25 Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Tuesday announced that he will propose legislation aimed at eliminating judicial discretion in cases involving convicted sexual offenders and violent criminals who remain free on bond following a guilty verdict. ... Uthmeier said the measure would require mandatory revocation of bail immediately upon a guilty verdict in cases involving sexual offenses, sexual predators, or violent crimes, preventing...
ACSOL Online Meeting July 12, 2025
You are invited to join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci and an ACSOL board member for our next meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday July 12 online on Zoom beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1:00 PM Eastern, and will last at least two hours. You can use the Zoom app or you can call in using a...
These States Are Debating Castration for Sex Crimes. Experts Call It Cruel and Pointless.
Source: themarshallproject.org 6/21/25 Critics say there’s no evidence that castration prevents future sex offenses. Yet several states are weighing such measures. Last year, Louisiana sparked a slew of sensational headlines when state legislators passed a law allowing surgical castration as punishment for people convicted of sex crimes against children. That was the first successful legislation in a new wave of bills proposing both chemical and...
Action Alert Success: Protest of Facebook page threat against NARSOL board member was sucessful
6/21/25 UPDATE: Thanks to those who filed the protest that caused Facebook to remove the dangerous threat made by Pat Bates Smith! Click here to see the confirmation of removal FYI, our original request was the following: Source: Facebook.com 6/13/25 Facebook was used to alert members of the Proud Boys to the fact that NARSOL planned to conduct its annual conference in Michigan...
FL: Florida to seek death penalty for child sex offender in Putnam County for non-murder offenses
Source: firstcoastnews.com 6/20/25 PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — The State of Florida announced Friday it is seeking the death penalty for a registered sex offender accused of more child sex crimes in Putnam County. According to a May 16 post by the sheriff's office, Welaka resident Dimeco _____, 34, was already a registered sex offender when he was accused in April of sex crimes with...
TN: “Unlawful Photography” law to take effect on July 1st
Source: wbbjtv.com 6/18/25 Unlawful Photography: House Bill 99 by Bulso: The new law enhances the penalty for unlawful photography from a Class A misdemeanor offense to a Class E felony. The penalty would increase further to a Class D felony or Class C felony in certain cases if the victim was younger than 13. Anyone convicted of unlawful photography would also be required to...
MI: Sex offender registry update passes state Senate
Source: wemu.org 6/18/25 The Michigan Senate voted Tuesday to update the state’s sex offender registry laws to comply with a recent federal court ruling. The decision blocked increased reporting requirements for people convicted before new, tougher laws took effect. The court also declared unconstitutional a provision that allowed the state police to decide if an out-of-state crime warranted reporting. Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said...
ACSOL In-Person Meeting in West Sacramento on September 13, 2025
You are invited to attend ACSOL's in-person meeting in West Sacramento, CA on Saturday, September 13, 2025 starting at 10 a.m. The meeting will be held at: Center for Spiritual Awareness 1275 Starboard Drive West Sacramento 95691 The meeting will include discussions regarding topics of interest to both registrants and their loved ones, including the status of proposed changes to the Tiered Registry Law...
NY: Registered sex offender’s arrest raises concerns over New York’s registry flaws
Source: cnycentral.com 6/13/25 ... In New York, sex offenders are classified from Level 1 (low risk) to Level 3 (high risk) based on a point system. However, Ahern pointed out that the system's inability to accurately predict human behavior is a significant flaw. Read the full article
Confining sexually violent persons in the mental health system
Source: mhanational.org (Mental Health America) Summary Sexual crimes are an unspeakable tragedy and among the most serious forms of violence imaginable. This is especially true when the victims are children. In response, at least twenty states and the Federal government have enacted “sexually violent persons” legislation.1 These laws provide for indefinite commitment of persons who have committed sex offenses after they have completed prison terms...
MO: Kehoe signs into law Missouri bill voiding NDAs in child sex abuse cases
Source: missouriindependent.com 6/10/25 Legislation to void non-disclosure agreements in child sexual abuse cases was signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Mike Kehoe. The bill has been called “Trey’s Law,” referring to the late Trey Carlock, who died by suicide in 2019 after being sexually abused by Pete Newman at the Branson-based Kanakuk Kamps. Trey’s sister, Elizabeth Carlock, said at a hearing on the bill in February that...
OK: Sex offenders are a factor in homeless initiatives, city police say
Source: swoknews.com 6/10/25 Sex offenders pose a unique set of problems for those advocating for the homeless. Det. Donald Pauley, who oversees Lawton’s Sex and Violent Offender Registry, explained Lawton Police Department’s existing policies for sex offenders and the registry, as members of the City Council’s Homeless Action Committee continue to weigh decisions about homeless issues. That includes locations that can be created as...
After Kennedy: pondering Eighth Amendment functioning and litigating (e.g. child rape laws)
Source: sentencing.substack.com 6/9/25 With states enacting new capital child rape laws, whither the Supreme Court's 2008 ruling Kennedy v. Louisiana? The U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, by a 5-4 vote in Kennedy v. Louisiana, overturned a state death sentence for a man convicted of child rape. Though rape was commonly a capital offense in the Founding era and for centuries thereafter, the Kennedy opinion said the...