Source: azmirror.com 1/27/23 A proposal to increase the punishments for sexual offenders could put teenagers in prison. State law punishes sexual conduct with a minor who is at least 15 with a class 6 felony — the least serious felony type, which can potentially be moved down to a misdemeanor. House Bill 2169 seeks to rectify that by changing the classification to a class 4 felony, for which the standard penalty is 2.5 years in prison, and mandating one year of jail time if the offender was placed on probation. …
Read MoreTag: Arizona
AZ: Changes needed in sex offender registry rules
Source: azcapitoltimes.com 1/13/23 In the late 1980s and early 1990s, a rare spate of high-profile child abductions and murders, mostly sexual in nature, terrified America. With constant media coverage, parents across the country were easily led to believe that their children could be in imminent danger. As demands from the public, as well as a few prominent parents of missing or murdered children escalated, legislatures responded, and the sex offender registry was born. This primal need to protect our children from any possible harm resonates in us all. Human logic…
Read MoreAZ: Scottsdale adopts new anti-registrant rules for short-term rental property operators
Source: ktar.com 11/7/22 Scottsdale became the latest city to approve of new rules aiming to better guide short-term rental owners and properties. The new requirements include obtaining a Scottsdale license for each property, organizing sex offender and background checks on booking guests and … Read the full article
Read MoreAZ: U.S. Marshals target sex offenders in Northern Arizona operation
Source: kyma.com 9/20/22 YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – The combined efforts of the United States Marshals Service, Navajo County Sheriff’s Office and state police departments led to hundreds of sex offender compliance checks. In a press release, only one arrest was made in a compliance operation across Northern Arizona. “The Marshals Service is committed to assisting our partner agencies with sex offender compliance checks. By determining if offenders are complying with court ordered requirements, especially in rural communities, we help protect those most vulnerable to sex offenders,” said District of…
Read MoreAZ: Judge limits privilege defense in AZ Mormon sex abuse case
Source: msn.com 8/19/22 An Arizona judge overseeing a high-profile lawsuit accusing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of conspiring to cover-up child sex abuse has ruled that the church may not refuse to answer questions or turn over documents under the state’s “clergy-penitent privilege.” Clergy in Arizona, as in many other states, are required to report information about child sexual abuse or neglect to law enforcement or child welfare authorities. But an exception to that law — the privilege — allows members of the clergy who learn of…
Read MoreAZ: Elderly Child Molesters Pose Dilemma For Courts And Community
Source: arizonadailyindependent.com 6/18/22 Richard ___ was placed on intensive supervised probation last summer after pleading guilty in a Cochise County courtroom to felony sexual abuse of a teenaged boy who lived in Richard’s neighborhood. It was the latest in a string of sexual misconduct with children the now 85-year-old has engaged in dating back to the 1950s, according to court records. But Richard has been in the county jail since June 9 on a no-bail order at the request of his probation officer who alleges Richard recently committed three violations…
Read MoreAZ: Audit finds issues with state’s sex offender website
Source: kold.com 10/1/21 TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) – The state auditor has found problems with Arizona’s sex offender website, which is run by DPS. On the sex offender information page of Arizona DPS’ portal, it states that DPS is responsible for maintaining the sex offender website and verifying the name, address and photograph of each sex offender in Arizona on a daily basis. However, documents released in the Arizona Auditor General report show that there are issues. The AG office sampled a few dozen of the nearly 15,000 sex…
Read MoreAZ: Bowers revives sex offender registry bill HB2674
[azmirror.com – 1/28/21 House Speaker Rusty Bowers is taking another shot at passing legislation making it easier for some people to get their names off the state’s sex offender registry. House Bill 2674 would give some relatively low-level offenders an opportunity to end their lifetime obligation to register as sex offenders. People convicted of crimes including sexual abuse of a minor who is at least 15 years old, indecent exposure, sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual extortion and misrepresenting a person’s age for purposes of committing a sexual offense would…
Read MoreAZ: Arizona’s Sex Offender Laws: Recommendations for Reform
[Tamara Rice Lave in arizonastatelawjournal.org – 1/13/21] In this Article, I consider ways in which Arizona’s laws regarding sex offenders should be reformed. I begin by focusing on laws that are designed to deal with the danger posed by convicted sex offenders: registration requirements, residence restrictions, and civil commitment. I contend that the state has overstated the risk posed by convicted sex offenders and that the laws meant to control them may do more harm than good. Next, I turn to police sexual violence. I argue that the state needs…
Read MoreAZ: A Scout for Teen Athletes Tries to Shed a Sex Offender Stigma
[phoenixnewtimes.com – 12/7/20] Justin _____, seen here mopping the floor at a basketball tournament he hosted, is trying to escape the stigma of his criminal past. Will society let him? Are there some breaches of trust one can never come back from? Or is there a point when the stigma associated with a crime does more harm than good? These questions have renewed attention as our society scrutinizes its relationship with the criminal justice system. For the Phoenix high school basketball community, they are concrete ones. Justin _____, 36, is a fixture…
Read MoreTX: Convicted Arizona sex offender must register in Texas
A three-judge panel with the Texas 14th Court of Appeals determined July 11 that a person must register as a sex offender in Texas if they were convicted of sexual abuse via Arizona law. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Sex registry bill defeated as senators protest failure to expand rights for sex abuse victims
[azmirror.com – 5/7/19] Lawmakers argued passionately and the Senate president turned off a fellow Republican’s microphone as senators killed a bill expanding the number of people who are eligible to be removed from Arizona’s sex offender registry to protest the blocking of an unrelated bill that would give victims of child sex abuse more time to sue in civil court. House Bill 2613, sponsored by Speaker Rusty Bowers, passed 56-4 in the House of Representatives. But it failed 11-18 in the Senate on Tuesday after Sen. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, led…
Read MoreAZ: Fann removes key roadblock to sex offender registration bill
[azmirror.com – 4/22/19] House Speaker Rusty Bowers’ bill to allow some people to petition to stop registering as a sex offender is back on track after his counterpart in the Senate gave it a chance to pass a key legislative roadblock. For several weeks, Senate President Karen Fann had kept House Bill 2613 from getting a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee, which she chairs. Fann, a Prescott Republican, held the bill after details became public about sex crimes charges that former Rep. David Stringer had faced in Maryland in…
Read MoreAZ: Stringer fallout halts sex offender registry reform
[eacourier.com – 4/11/19] Legislation that would make more people eligible to have their names removed from Arizona’s sex offender registry may end up being an inadvertent casualty of the recent revelations of decades-old sex crime allegations that led David Stringer to resign from the Arizona House of Representatives. House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa, sponsored House Bill 2613, which he crafted with assistance from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. The bill would expand the list of crimes for which sex offenders could petition to be removed from the registry, while…
Read MoreAZ: Sex offenders get chance to end life-long registration under House proposal
[azcapitoltimes.com – 3/29/19] State lawmakers are weighing whether to give judges more leeway to eliminate the requirement that certain people register for life as sex offenders. A measure approved Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee would allow people convicted of certain sex crimes, when they turn 35, to petition to be absolved of the mandate. Not everyone would be eligible. The legislation pushed by House Speaker Rusty Bowers would apply only in situations where the offender was younger than 22 at the time and the victim was at least 15…
Read MoreAZ: MariCo attorney behind push to slightly loosen sex offender registry law
More sex offenders would become eligible to have their names removed from the Arizona’s sex offender registry but would face new hurdles in doing so, under legislation being pushed by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. But some criminal justice reform advocates oppose the bill, saying it may actually make it harder for people to get off of the registry. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Human Trafficking Grant Goes to Arrest Suspected Victims in Tucson
[reason.com – 12/10/18] A Tucson Weekly investigation finds that federal funds to “fight sex trafficking” are actually perpetuating it. The program raked in $1.5 million from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in its first year. Its mission: to disrupt human trafficking and help the crime’s victims in southeastern Arizona. Instead, Southern Arizona’s Anti-Trafficking Unified Response Network (SAATURN) largely engaged in arresting and prosecuting sex workers, including some suspected of being victims of sexual exploitation. We know this thanks to some solid investigative work from Tucson Weekly. Last week’s cover story…
Read MoreDenying Bail
The Arizona Supreme Court got it right: categorical denials of bail to persons charged with sexual assault violates the Constitution. Full Article Also see Is a Categorical Denial of Bail for Accused Sex Offenders Constitutional?
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