[UPDATED LINKS 6/23/18] [floridaactioncommittee.org – 6/21/18] California, which has the largest sex offender registry in the US, has been taking steps in the right direction over the past couple of years. The State recently migrated towards a “tiered” system that would allow some registrants (those deemed “lower” risk to re-offend) to be removed from the registry eventually. While the plan wasn’t perfect, because it tiered people based on offenses rather than actual risk, California is now seeking to enact a new bill to help them introduce empirical evidence into their…
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CA: Louis Theroux’s LA Stories: Among the Sex Offenders
[documentaryvine.com – 2012] In 2012 legendary British documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux relocated his family to Los Angeles after deciding that he needed a break from London. choosing Los Angeles for the lifestyle and the generally good weather. The BBC rented him a small old office in Hollywood which was originally built by Charlie Chaplin. and Louis and a small team set about developing a mini-series set in Los Angeles. The result is the three part series Louis Theroux’s LA Stories. Among the Sex Offenders is the third of the three…
Read MoreCA: Federal Court Denies State Hospital’s Motion to Dismiss
[ACSOL – 6/6/18] A U.S. district court today denied a Motion to Dismiss filed by Coalinga State Hospital. Because of the denial, a lawsuit filed on behalf of two patients at that hospital will continue. “Today’s decision is a significant victory for hundreds of registrants who are also patients at Coalinga State Hospital,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “The claims of the plaintiffs regarding retaliation for the exercise of their First Amendment rights are similar to claims that could have been made by many others.” In today’s decision, the…
Read MoreCA: Judge Aaron Persky recalled over Brock Turner sentencing
[abc7news.com – 6/6/18] SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — Voters have recalled Judge Aaron Persky from office after he sentenced a former Stanford University swimmer convicted of sexual assault to a short jail sentence instead of prison. Persky sentenced Brock Turner in June 2016 to six months in jail instead of prison after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman outside a fraternity house. The recall campaign launched shortly afterward. The campaign gained national prominence after the victim’s powerful courtroom statement lamenting her treatment by the judicial system was circulated…
Read MoreCA: California Program to Help Homeless Vets Excludes Sex Offenders
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/31/18] It sounds like a great program. Homeless military veterans who have been sleeping in their cars and risking arrest for violating a new law making it illegal to sleep in your vehicle in a residential area overnight, can now park their vehicles in the VA parking lot and get a good night’s sleep and access to bathrooms. According to California Radio Station WMOT, “Last month, a non-profit group called Safe Parking L.A. partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer 10 parking stalls for vets to…
Read MoreCA: The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation wants to rid some facilities of sensitive needs yards
[sacbee.com – 5/27/18] The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is changing how inmates are housed, saying current separations between general population inmates and those held in sensitive needs yards have been ineffective in eliminating gangs and violence within prison walls. The agency will instead move toward creating some “non-designated program” facilities, where both groups will be tasked with co-existing. The current system has bred new gangs within the sensitive needs yards, resulting in escalating violence, CDCR Undersecretary of Operations Ralph Diaz said. “We are going to do behavior-based programs…
Read MoreCA: All of Mugshots.com’s alleged co-owners arrested on extortion charges
[UPDATED LINKS 5/20/18] [arstechnica.com 5/17/18] Two alleged owners of Mugshots.com—Sahar Sarid and Thomas Keesee—have been arrested in south Florida on a recently issued California warrant. The notorious website publishes mugshots and then demands payment for their removal. On Wednesday, the attorney general of California brought criminal charges against not only Sarid and Keesee, but also Kishore Vidya Bhavnanie and David Usdan. The quartet has been charged with extortion, money laundering, and identity theft. Bhavnanie was arraigned by a Pennsylvania state judge also on Wednesday—his bail was reportedly set at $1.86…
Read MoreCA: Posting mugshots on internet draws criminal charges from California attorney general
[sacbee.com 5/16/18] California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Thursday filed extortion and money laundering charges against the owners of a website that publishes mugshot photos and charges a fee to remove them. His office is targeting Mugshots.com, which pulls photos and identifying information about criminal suspects from law enforcement departments around the country. The site charges a “de-publishing fee” to remove someone from its archives, according to Becerra’s office. Becerra said it has frustrated people who were accused of crimes they did not commit. “This pay-for-removal scheme attempts to profit…
Read MoreCA: Judge in Stanford rape case breaks silence amid sentencing controversy, recall effort
[cbsnews.com 5/8/18] SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. — A California judge whose sentence for a former Stanford University swimmer in a sex assault case garnered national controversy broke his silence Tuesday ahead of next month’s recall vote. The effort to recall Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky is being closely watched for its national political implications. If it’s successful, Persky would be the first California judge recalled from office in 86 years after he sentenced then-sophomore Brock Turner to six months in jail in June 2016 for sexually assaulting a young…
Read MoreCA: L.A. County Sued Over Ban on Sex Offenders as Poll Workers [by ACSOL]
[usnews.com 5/7/18] LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two registered sex offenders are suing Los Angeles County for the right to become poll workers. City News Service says the suit filed Monday argues that the county’s policy banning offenders violates state law and the Constitution. The suit was filed by two offenders who live in the county and by the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, a nonprofit group. California’s sex offender registration website lists more than 13,000 people in L.A. County, including those convicted of nonviolent offenses. Read more
Read MoreCA: New CDCR Regulations Deny Prop. 57 Benefits to Registrants
[ACSOL 5/4/18] The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has issued new regulations that continue to deny the benefits of Proposition 57 to registrants. The new regulations are dated May 1, but were not publicly available until today. “The new CDCR regulations are inconsistent with a court order issued earlier this year,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “The court in that case clearly ruled that CDCR cannot exclude all registrants from the benefits of Proposition 57.” In its newly issued regulations, CDCR specifically prohibits “inmates convicted of a…
Read MoreCA: San Diego DA Candidate Summer Stephan’s Bad Day
[sandiegofreepress.org 5/3/18] Wednesday, May 2, wasn’t a good day in appointed interim District Attorney Summer Stephan’s quest to win her first election in the June Primary. In Justice Today, a leading publication in the field of criminal justice reform called out Stephan’s claims about human trafficking, suggesting she’s used inflated numbers to bolster her political and professional profile. And Genevieve Jones-Wright, Stephan’s opponent in the upcoming June primary, has asked the State Attorney General’s office to investigate ten alleged violations of state law prohibiting employees–in this case, local law enforcement–from…
Read MoreCA: Wilk sex offender bill passes Senate with unanimous vote [Senate Bill 1199]
[signalscv.com 5/3/18] A bill that State Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Antelope Valley, introduced to reform the release and placement for California sex offenders unanimously passed the Senate on Thursday. Senate Bill 1199 would expand current protections against the ‘dumping’ of sexually violent predators into random communities. Now it would include, when reasonably possible, requiring authorities to take familial and community ties into consideration when determining where inmates convicted of registerable sex offenses are placed upon release. Read more
Read MoreCA: Can You Fire Someone For Being A Sex Offender?
[jdsupra.com 4/30/18] It happens more often than you think. An employee in good standing is “outed” as being listed on a sex offender registry. His/her coworkers are up in arms. Now what? Can he/she be fired? Given California’s relatively new “ban the box” law, employers are limited in how they can use criminal history in employment decisions. For current employees, once a conviction is uncovered, you can’t automatically fire someone for it. Rather, employers must make an individualized assessment to determine if the conviction has a direct and adverse relationship…
Read MoreCA: The Catalyst: Thelton Henderson
[themarshallproject.org 4/23/18] s the judge climbed the watchtower stairs in Pelican Bay prison, he heard muffled gunshots below. When he reached the top, he looked into the prison yard and saw bodies lying in the dirt. One was his law clerk, spreadeagled on the ground in his suit, alongside dozens of inmates. Guards stood over them, guns aimed. “My clerk was thinking he’s gonna die and this is his last day on earth,” Judge Thelton Henderson recalled. What appeared to be the taming of a riot was actually an audacious…
Read MoreCA: Statewide crime initiative gains local support
[benitolink.com 3/28/18] A statewide initiative to change portions of three crime-related laws is picking up steam in the local region. The Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018 would change parts of Proposition 47, Proposition 57, and Assembly Bill 109 to reclassify certain “nonviolent” crimes as “violent” to prevent the early release of inmates convicted of crimes such as assault on a peace officer, rape of an unconscious person or by intoxication, and human trafficking of a child. A complete list of the purported “nonviolent” crimes can be…
Read MoreCA: Root and Rebound to Open Fresno Office to Serve Women with Criminal Records and in Reentry
[rootandrebound.org and calwellness.org] We are thrilled to announce our growth to Fresno, CA! Root & Rebound to Open Fresno Office to Serve Women with Criminal Records and in Reentry We are thrilled to finally share this news—we are opening an office in Fresno, CA thanks to the California Wellness Foundation, which will serve women in reentry and women with criminal records/past justice-involvement to move through the hurdles and obstacles they face and change the systems and structures that create unnecessary barriers to opportunity. A three-person team, composed of a reentry attorney,…
Read MoreCA: Woman awarded $6.45 million in revenge porn case
[cnn.com 4/9/18] Revenge porn can be costly. A federal district court in California last week entered a default judgment against a man and ordered him to pay $6.45 million in damages after he was accused of spreading an ex-girlfriend’s naked pictures and videos online. It’s believed to be the second-largest payout for a victim of revenge porn who was not a celebrity, according to the woman’s lawyers. The unnamed woman, who was listed as Jane Doe in legal filings, sued the man, David Elam II, in civil court. She alleged…
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