The Supreme Court will soon consider whether to grant a certiorari petition filed by Arizona, which involves a voter-approved amendment to the Arizona Constitution rendering a defendant categorically ineligible for bail if “the proof is evident or the presumption great” that he committed sexual assault. In a 4-3 divided opinion, the Arizona Supreme Court concluded that this amendment was unconstitutional. Arizona has sought review of that decision. Full Article
Read MoreTag: Arizona
AZ: Conspiracy theories inspire vigilante justice in Tucson
[hcn.org – 9/12/18] How one man’s imagined discovery of a sex-trafficking camp in the Sonoran Desert gained life online — and in the real world. On May 31, a strange story aired on the nightly news in Tucson, Arizona. KOLD News 13 reporter Kevin Adger told viewers that a local veterans’ rights activist named Lewis Arthur had made a horrific discovery in the bushes beside a frontage road: a bunker used as a stopover by child sex traffickers. The reporter pointed out children’s clothes, an old toilet seat and a…
Read MoreAZ: Sex offenders are legally living just feet away from Arizona schools
[12news.com – original: 5/16/18, updated 5/24/18] PHOENIX – A loophole in Arizona law allows sex offenders to live near schools, in some cases just feet away from campus. Per state law, it’s only illegal for a sex offender to live within 1,000 feet of a school if that person has been convicted of a dangerous crime against children. According to the state sex offender registry, one sex offender in Mesa lives steps away from two schools, Ishikawa Elementary School and Stapley Junior High. The Maricopa County Adult Probation says his…
Read MoreAZ: NARSOL supports man who won rare constitutional challenge
[narsol.org 4/9/18] y Larry Neely . . . The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) has filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of Stephen Edward May, whose conviction for child molestation in an Arizona case has been set aside by the federal court in Arizona. NARSOL’s interest in May’s case rests on the Arizona statute defining the offense of child molestation to require the accused to prove that any contact with an underage child did not…
Read MoreAZ: Sex offender registration on campus: important for public safety or counterproductive for reintegration?
ASU works with local law enforcement agencies to ensure that convicted sex offenders who work or study on campus comply with sex offender registration and community notification policies as mandated by state law. Those in favor of such requirements say they are important for public safety. But registered offenders and their advocates say these requirements are often counterproductive and affect offenders’ ability to get a second chance, especially in university settings. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Sex offender treatment taking place at Phoenix resort hotel
A Valley behavioral counseling organization announced it will stop holding treatment sessions for sex offenders at a resort hotel, following a CBS 5 Investigation. CBS 5 hidden cameras filmed sex offenders wandering the halls of the Sheraton Crescent Hotel, sitting in the courtyard by the pool and surfing the web on the hotel lobby computers during the counseling session lunch break. Full Article
Read MoreBusiness Ethics Discussion Topic – Public Accommodation and the Sex Offender Registry
My company operates campgrounds on public lands under contract with various public agencies. Over the past several years, there has been a lot of discussion about public accommodation (e.g. can a private photographer choose not to serve a gay wedding). This has never really been a big issue for me in my business, both due to my personal tolerance of just about anyone and the fact that we operate on public lands, which gives us an extra responsibility for broad accommodation. Yesterday a sheriff’s deputy in Arizona comes by one…
Read MoreAZ: Prescott starts new program to monitor sex offenders
Getting aggressive with sex offenders – Sex offenders living in the City of Prescott are now under an additional layer of supervision. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: U.S. judge knocks down Arizona’s child-molestation law, orders ex-teacher released
A U.S. District Court judge in Phoenix has found unconstitutional an Arizona law defining child molestation, and he ordered that a man who already has spent a decade in custody be released. In 2007, a Maricopa County jury found ____ ____guilty of five counts of molestation of a child and acquitted him of two other counts. An eighth count was dismissed by prosecutors. ____ was a former schoolteacher and swim instructor, and the charges came from allegations that he touched children inappropriately while giving them swim lessons. ____denied there was any…
Read MoreAZ: Women working together to change sex offender notification process
Two North Valley women say they have their family lives and careers on hold, to fight for a safer community. Julie Read and Ann O’Brien, who live in the Norterra subdivision of the North Valley, started this mission after an old juvenile detention facility re-opened as the Maricopa Re-entry Center, a place where former inmates who were drug addicts and sex offenders would come for treatment. “It was literally 16 sex offenders came in one day, in addition to the dozens we already have living in our community,” said Read.…
Read MoreAZ: Supreme Court – Bail denial for child sex offenses is unconstitutional
PHOENIX — State laws that deny bail to people solely because they’re accused of having sex with a minor are unconstitutional, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled today. The justices acknowledged arguments by prosecutors that trial judges have the right to keep certain people behind bars while awaiting trial as a method of protecting the public. And they said that the crime of sexual conduct with a minor is a series charge. But Justice Clint Bolick, writing for the unanimous court, said the seriousness of the charge, by itself, is insufficient…
Read MoreAZ: Palm Valley Phase I residents vote to ban some sex offenders
Level II and III sex offenders are being banished from one Goodyear community after residents voted Dec. 2 to keep them out. Homeowners voted 185 to 32 in favor of an amendment to Palm Valley Phase I’s declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions that prohibits offenders from living there, said Curtis Ekmark, an attorney representing the homeowners association. Full Article Related http://www.hoaleader.com/public/Arizona-HOA-Changes-Rules-No-Sex-Offenders-or-Felons-Part-1.cfm
Read MoreAZ: Neighborhood in Goodyear set to vote on a partial ban on sex offenders
A letter sent to residents in the Goodyear neighborhood of Palm Valley shows that they will soon vote on a proposal that would ban level two or level three sex offenders from living in the community. Part of the letter explains some of the concerns that apparently prompted the proposal: “WHEREAS, the Association has determined that Level 3 and Level 2 registered sex offenders present an unreasonable danger to the members of the Association due to 1) the Registrant’s access to the common areas of the Association to which all…
Read MoreAZ: If You Change a Baby’s Diaper in Arizona, You Can Now Be Convicted of Child Molestation
The Arizona Supreme Court issued a stunning and horrifying decision on Tuesday, interpreting a state law to criminalize any contact between an adult and a child’s genitals. According to the court, the law’s sweep encompasses wholly innocent conduct, such as changing a diaper or bathing a baby. As the stinging dissent notes, “parents and other caregivers” in the state are now considered to be “child molesters or sex abusers under Arizona law.” Those convicted under the statute may be imprisoned for five years. Full Article Related PROSECUTORS WOULD NEVER DO…
Read MoreAZ: Supreme Court asked to reinstate no-bail law for some sex offenses
Prosecutors are asking the Arizona Supreme Court to reinstate a law that allows some people accused of sexual abuse of minors to be held without bail. Deputy Maricopa County Attorney David Cole said the constitutional provision limiting access to bail was adopted by voters in 2002. He said the state Court of Appeals, in overturning the law enacted by lawmakers to implement that amendment, failed to give “due consideration to the overwhelming will of the people.” Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Homeless sex offenders still face 72-hour reporting despite 2006 rule change
PHOENIX – A court ruling says an Arizona law intended to make it practical for homeless people to register as sex offenders only goes so far. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Accused found not guilty of sex crime
KINGMAN – Although ____ _____ of Kingman was found not guilty of molestation of a child Tuesday in Superior Court, he still lives with the stigma of being accused. “This has been 13 months of absolute hell. Being accused as a predator, a child molester, anything among those lines, a sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreAZ: Sex offenders might be released by appeals court ruling
Over 500 accused sex offenders could be released due to a ruling by the Arizona Appeals Court. This is a move that has shaken up the state’s prosecutor’s offices. The Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled a state law passed in 2002 which automatically denies bail for accused sex offenders while the await trial is illegal. “Right now, we have a pending public safety disaster. There is a potential.. over 500 sex offenders who could be released,” said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. Full Article
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