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
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
SC: No sex-offender status for men convicted under anti-sodomy law in South Carolina
Source: postandcourier.com 4/22/22 COLUMBIA — Men convicted under South Carolina’s anti-sodomy law will no longer be required to register as a sex offender, according to a settlement agreement. The settlement was reached April 22 between Attorney General Alan Wilson, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel and the state’s ACLU chapter. ACLU attorneys filed the federal suit four months prior in the U.S....
Teacher charged with sex assault of 18-year-old student. First case under NH’s new law
BRENTWOOD — A former New Hampshire teacher of the year finalist is facing felony charges, accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old student last year in what is the first criminal case brought under a new state law. Bridgette Doucette-Howell, 38, of Merrimack, was indicted on three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault for allegedly engaging in intercourse, and one count of felonious sexual assault for...
Registrant exploitation websites are officially legal?
Source: msn.com 4/19/21 Scraping public data is legal, the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals has ruled in a potentially landmark decision. The decision follows a ruling by a federal court of appeals that reaffirmed its earlier decision, notably that web scraping (data harvesting, en masse) of data that’s made available to the general public, does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)....
The Supreme Court Won’t Dismantle the Administrative State Quite Yet
Source: barrons.com 4/19/21 Progressives, conservatives, investors and Supreme Court-watchers are all anxiously awaiting the court’s decisions later this spring in two cases—American Hospital Association v. Becerra and West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency—which some experts have warned could sound a death knell for the “administrative state.” Not so fast: the authority of regulators is likely to be further limited, but not gutted. That’s the broad...
NC: Registrant running in part to correct failures in justice system
Source: reflector.com 4/19/21 A candidate for Greenville City Council said his conviction in 2009 for indecent liberties with a child, which landed him on the state’s sex offender registry, was due to systemic problems with the judicial system. William ___, 68, of Greenville was found guilty by a Pitt County jury on two counts of indecent liberties with a child on April 22, 2009....
IL: Roxana rally targets Cone Barn
Source: thetelegraph.com 4/10/21 ROXANA — Since 2006, Tanea Berry and her husband, Josh, have been neighbors to the Cone Barn at 323 N. Central Ave. in Roxana. They have memories of both of their children walking next door and grabbing ice cream. But recently the Berrys, along with other community members, don’t have that same sense of comfort in letting their children near the...
ACSOL and FSF Leaders Educate Judges, Attorneys, Mental Health Professionals
Source: ACSOL Seven members of the ACSOL and Family Safety Foundation (FSF) boards of directors educated judges, attorneys and mental health professionals at the annual Forensic Mental Health Association conference last week in San Diego. The education included a formal presentation by ACSOL board member and Southwestern law professor Catherine Carpenter as well as a poster presentation by ACSOL board members Jay Rice and...
NC sex offender registry makes re-entry a balancing act of restrictions without resources
Source: wunc.org 4/18/22 Chris Budnick is in an impossible position. As the leader of Healing Transitions, a peer-based recovery-oriented service for homeless and uninsured people located in Raleigh, Budnick is left scrambling if someone with a sex offense comes to him for housing. Some of society’s most vulnerable people come to Budnick, asking for help. He has to turn them away due to the...
Path to Freedom
Please post comments here regarding the path you or your loved one took that you hope is leading to, or has already led to, freedom from the registry. Comments could include information regarding the petitioning process in California or any other process in any other state. Sharing this information with others could help them achieve freedom, too.
ACSOL May 21, 2022 Meeting
Please join ACSOL Executive Director and civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci as well as ACSOL President and criminal defense attorney Chance Oberstein for our next meeting. The meeting will be held on Saturday, May 21, 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 call in using a...
WI: Racine County judge rules violent sex offender may be released from supervision and leave state
Source: journaltimes.com 4/15/22 RACINE — A violent sex offender from Racine County, Hung ____, 52, has been released from all supervision and is being allowed to live out of state. This move comes as Racine County is finding it increasingly difficult to find homes for offenders who have served their criminal sentence — both in part due to community resistance to having offenders placed...
Survey volunteer alert to all registrants and family: Please tell us about your experience on the public registry
9/27/22 NOTE: THIS SURVEY HAS COMPLETED. NO MORE VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED. THANK YOU. Dr. Emily Horowitz, author of "Protecting Our Kids? How Sex Offender Laws Are Failing Us" (Praeger, 2015) and Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice at St. Francis College, is seeking to interview those listed on the public registry about their experience for a forthcoming book project. The interviews will...
SC: Apparent leniency in 19-year-old serial rapist sentencing has been attributed by many to his father’s job at the District Attorney’s office
Source: meaww.com 4/15/22 Bowen Turner's sentence of probation in one convicted case after being accused of raping three girls has led to widespread public fury. The controversy has also sparked an interest in his personal life. Orangeburg County Judge Markley Dennis sentenced 19-year-old Turner to just five years of probation despite charges on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct for separate assaults in...
UK: Man who complained about living next door to paedophile jailed for being a paedophile
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk 4/12/22 A man who once complained about living next door to a convicted paedophile has been jailed - for being a paedophile. Darren ____, 53, once complained to his local newspaper that he was furious his housing association didn't tell him his neighbour was a sex offender. But he is now behind bars for subjecting a child to a series of sordid...
Making Headlines: The criminal legal system is massively punitive toward people who commit sex offenses
Source: inquest.org 4/8/22 The death threats started almost immediately. On April 3, 2020, The New York Post published the story of our case under an impossibly salacious headline: “Child rapist ordered released to keep him safe from coronavirus.” The article was no better, describing the underlying crime in vivid detail while underplaying how its subject’s multiple, severe medical issues made him vulnerable to COVID,...
SC: Former deputy, victims advocate arrested, faces registrant embezzlement charges
Source: wpde.com 4/11/22 CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. (WACH) — On Friday, a former Clarendon County deputy and victims advocate was arrested by South Carolina Law Enforcement Division agents. Sabrina Mellerson, 34, has been arrested and faces charges of misconduct in office and embezzlement. SLED conducted the investigation at the request of Clarendon County Sheriff Tim Baxley. According to reports, Mellerson is accused of taking money...
TX: Protestors make alarming allegations about statewide sex offender treatment program in Littlefield
Source: everythinglubbock.com 4/11/22 LITTLEFIELD, Texas – Protestors gathered in front of the Civil Commitment Facility in Littlefield on Saturday morning to shine a light on the injustices they said are happening within the barbed-wire fences of the former prison. Texas created the Civil Commitment Program in 1999; like 20 other states, this kind of program allows state agencies to mandate sex offenders, who have...
ACSOL Leaders to Educate Judges, DA’s and Others in San Diego Conference
Source: ACSOL Several ACSOL leaders will educate judges, district attorneys, public defenders, law enforcement and mental health professionals this week at the annual conference of the Forensic Mental Health Professionals. The conference will be held on April 13 through April 15 in San Diego. ACSOL leaders participating in the conference include Vice President Catherine Carpenter who will make a presentation regarding registrants and the...
FL: ‘Groomer’ debate inflames GOP fight over Florida law
Source: thehill.com 4/8/22 “Groomer” is the new favorite term being used by far-right commentators and activists to describe opponents of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, sparking outrage among LBGTQ advocates who say that it is a smear that feeds into a trope casting members of the community as pedophiles. The Florida bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis week, which opponents have...
![LGBT People on Sex Offender Registries: Results from a National Survey [5/10/22 Webinar]](https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/WI-video-poster-S-test.jpg)
LGBT People on Sex Offender Registries: Results from a National Survey [5/10/22 Webinar]
Source: williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu May 10, 2022 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Pacific Time, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Eastern Time Sex offense registries have operated in the United States since 1947 but have been challenged since their inception on legal, efficacy, and ethical grounds. Sex offense registries ought to be subject to close examination. LGBT people are more likely than cisgender straight people to be...