[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 MoreTag: California
CA: 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…
Read MoreCA: California death row inmate to be freed; no retrial planned
[kcra.com 4/17/18] BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A man who spent nearly 25 years on California’s death row for raping and killing a toddler before his conviction was overturned won’t be retried and could be freed within days, authorities said Tuesday. Vicente Benavides Figueroa, 68, has remained in prison even though the state Supreme Court last month overturned his 1993 conviction on grounds that medical testimony at his trial was false. Advertisement Many doctors who testified to the cause of the girl’s injuries recanted. Kern County District Attorney Lisa Green announced…
Read MoreCA: Neighbors concerned after registered sex offender moves feet away from elementary school
[10news.com] Neighbors concerned after registered sex offender moves feet away from elementary school SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Neighbors are concerned after they say a registered sex offender moved into their Rancho Bernardo community, just feet away from an elementary school playground. ____________, 32, was convicted of possession of child pornography and lewd and lascivious acts with a child in Tennessee in 2013. Neighbors say they became concerned after ____ moved into a townhouse in their neighborhood weeks ago. According to records on the Megan’s Law website, ____ lives on the…
Read MoreCA: California Lawmaker Banned From Hugging After Investigation
[usnews.com] SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California state senator has been told to stop hugging people after an investigation concluded that his trademark embraces made multiple female colleagues uncomfortable. However, the investigation released Thursday found Sen. Bob Hertzberg’s frequent hugs are not intended to be sexual and more often than not are not unwelcome. Hertzberg, a Democrat from the Los Angeles area, has earned nicknames such as “Hugsberg” and “Huggy Bear” for greeting men and women alike with giant hugs. The Senate Rules Committee formally reprimanded him on Tuesday and…
Read MoreCA: Fresno sex offender faces 1,882 years in prison
[turnto23.com] BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – A Fresno man was found guilty on Wednesday of numerous child molestation and child pornography charges and faces 1,882 years-to-life in prison. _______, 42, a registered sex offender was living with a family and was charged with sexually assaulting two female victims in their home over a period of one year from June 2014 to June 2015. Read more
Read MoreCA: California will fight a judge’s ruling ordering the state to consider earlier parole for sex offenders
[Time.com] (SACRAMENTO) — California said Monday that it will fight a judge’s ruling ordering the state to consider earlier parole for potentially thousands of sex offenders, such as those convicted of raping an unconscious person. Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration will appeal the order by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner, said Vicky Waters, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The judge previously said in a tentative ruling that prison officials must rewrite part of the parole regulations in a ballot measure passed by voters in 2016. No…
Read MoreCA: Judge Issues Final Ruling in Prop. 57 Case
[ACSOL] Emergency regulations, intended to implement Proposition 57 and issued by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), must be set aside, according to a final ruling released today by a Sacramento Superior Court judge. The ruling specifically stated that “CDCR cannot substitute its judgment for what it wishes the drafters of Proposition 57 had said. Nor may CDCR’s…regulations override a clear directive in the Constitution. “Due to this ruling, CDCR’s emergency regulations issued in March 2017 cannot be enforced and new regulations must be issued. The new regulation…
Read MoreCA: NARSOL opposes CA Dep’t of Corrections’ blanket exclusion of sex offenders
[narsol.org] NARSOL is a national advocacy organization that defends and protects the interests of citizens convicted of a sex offense. We are acutely aware that this is a very serious subject and in no way condone sexual abuse. But we are also aware that culture, politics and policy over-react when creating proportional sanctions for these offenses. A large portion of our membership is comprised of family members of those convicted of a sex offense. They have seen first-hand the brutal and unfair treatment of their loved ones. It is clear…
Read MoreCA: Keep violent sex offenders locked up (opinion by Jim Cooper, CA Assembly)
[sacbee.com] Two years ago, California voters were promised that violent sex offenders wouldn’t be released from prison early if they passed Proposition 57, the sweeping ballot initiative allowing the early release of inmates convicted of non-serious and non-violent crimes. But this month, a Superior Court judge tentatively ruled that sex offenders must be considered for early release under Prop. 57. If the ruling is made final, more than half of the 20,000 inmates now serving time for violent sex offenses could be back on the street. That was the hidden…
Read MoreACSOL Phone Meeting Alert for March 12: CA Tiered Registry
ACSOL will conduct a review of the California Tiered Registry during a phone conference call on Monday, March 12 at 5 p.m. (Pacific). The review will include attorneys Eliza Hersh, a leading legal advocate and educator in the movement for criminal justice reform, as well as ACSOL President Chance Oberstein and ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. The conference call will include a discussion of opportunities for some registrants to be removed from the registry prior to implementation of the Tiered Registry through certificates of rehabilitation as well as the reduction…
Read MoreAssembly Bill to Disenfranchise Coalinga Patients
[ACSOL] Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula (Democrat, Fresno) has introduced a bill (AB 2839) that would disenfranchise patients at Coalinga State Hospital, including patients that recently defeated a proposed tax increase attempted by the City of Coalinga. The district represented by Assemblyman Arambula includes both Coalinga State Hospital as well as the City of Coalinga. The proposed bill, if passed, would require anyone adjudicated as a “sexually violent predator” (SVP) and committed to the custody of the State Department of Hospitals for “an indeterminate term” to vote at their “last known address.” Because individuals who are adjudicated as…
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