The Vigo County Council approved an ordinance establishing fees for sex offenders. The ordinance will set a $50 annual fee for sex or violent offender registration and a $5 for each time a sex or violent offender registers an address change. Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer says that Sheriff Plasse approached the County Commissioners with this idea last year. COVID-19 pushed it back a bit, but he says he’s happy the County was able to get this passed. Full Article
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Kat’s Blog: Nevada’s “Self-Pay” Ruling
With every state having its own registry, its own frequently amended and expanded rules, it’s difficult enough for registrants to keep up with what’s going on in their own state, never mind other states. In case you missed it, here’s a gem of a ruling from Nevada that became effective on 6/5/19, that once again reaches into the wallet of registrants and also appears to give sole power over whose wallet is emptied, to the Chief of the State Board of Parole Commissioners. Nevada Senate Bill 8: The State Board…
Read MoreIN: County considers sex offender fee
The Jackson County Commissioners plan to discuss creating an annual fee for work associated with maintaining the county’s sex offender registry. … Commissioners were receptive to the idea. Commissioner Drew Markel said he would like to see offenders pay their fees like those who serve sentences on probation. Full Article
Read MoreFighting the Fees That Force Prisoners to Pay for Their Incarceration
[truth-out.org 5/6/18] This past January, prisoners in Florida went on strike to protest what they called modern-day slavery in the state’s prisons. As of March, not only had the Florida Department of Corrections not responded to the demand for paid labor and improved living conditions, it had also placed some of the prisoners who were demanding fair wages into solitary confinement. As Heather Ann Thompson, author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy succinctly said on Democracy Now!, “If you do not treat…
Read MoreKY: Bill would create annual fee for people on state’s sex offender registry
A bill filed by Muhlenberg County state Rep. Melinda Gibbons Prunty would, if approved, create an annual fee that would be paid by people required to register with the state sex offender registry. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Can’t pay for a lie detector test? For one man that could mean jail
A North Georgia homeless man may go to prison for 18 months because he cannot come up with $250 to take a court-ordered polygraph test. Such a move would seem to violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring it unconstitutional to jail someone for failing to pay a fee or fine. But the man’s attorney, McCracken Poston, said the state Department Community of Supervision is nonetheless pushing for the punishment. “It’s crazy,” Poston told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, saying his client, Robert Murphy, has been unable to find a job since…
Read MoreWY: Sex offender registration fees increase with proposed legislation
Sex offenders in Wyoming may face increased registration fees this July in preparation for the 2019 expiration of the grant supporting Wyoming’s sex offender registration program. At the request of the Wyoming Attorney General’s office, legislators appointed to the Judiciary Committee from both the House and Senate worked together over the interim to propose a bill to create the sex offender registration account, which would house increased registration and reporting fees. The House Judiciary Committee passed the bill with no opposition and the Appropriations Committee passed it with a 5-2…
Read MoreMS: Sex offenders could pay for trooper school under new bill
JACKSON, MISS– One of the main talking points of this legislative session is the incredible shortage of state troopers. Representative Tom Miles told News Mississippi just how critical the shortage is Monday, outlining that only 489 highway patrolmen are on the roadways, and 189 of those are ready to retire. The state needs an ongoing school for state troopers, and the idea has pitched to the state legislature before. The problem has always been how to fund it. Representative Andy Gipson has a solution, at least a long term one. Tuesday, House…
Read MoreLA: Too Poor for Freedom: Sex Offender Registry and the Fourteenth Amendment
If a school mandated uniforms and suspended a child too poor to afford them, there would be an uproar. Media would excoriate the school for denying the impoverished an education due to their financial circumstances. Many would wonder at the cost of a uniform relative to the school’s budget, suggesting that the school simply offer the child a simple uniform. As ever, our instinctive notions of justice and fair play seem to end at criminal court. In the state of Louisiana, a person required to register as a sex offender…
Read MoreLA: HIV exposure law unjustly applies sex offender status, advocates say
As the deadline loomed for ____ to send out notices of her sex-offender status, she had two choices. She could stay at Covenant House with a roof over her head and a structured environment geared toward helping her turn her life around. But if she couldn’t find the $1,200 to pay for the notices, she could be sent to prison. Full Article
Read MoreTN: Kingsport police gets OK to set up sex offender community alert system
A new Tennessee law has paved the way for municipalities to establish their own sexual offender notification system. And the Kingsport Police Department wasted no time getting to work. … The state legislature passed the bill in April that allows local municipalities to create a sex offender notification system – and charge sex offenders a $50 fee to fund that system. This, on top of the $150 fee they must already pay to register as a sex offender. Full Article
Read MoreMO: Area Counties to Charge for Sex Offender Registration
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) Sheriff’s departments from nine counties across northwest Missouri will be taking advantage of a law allowing them to charge sex offenders for maintaining the Sex Offender Registry program. Representatives from four of those counties met at the Buchanan County Sheriff’s office Monday to talk about the charges. Full Article
Read MoreTN: Sex Offender Notification Bill Advances In Tennessee Legislature
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn.(WHNT)-A push for tougher sex offender notification laws in Tennessee came one step closer to reality Tuesday, part of an ongoing effort that originated in Lincoln County several months ago. A committee in the Tennessee Legislature approved HB 1860, a bill that would allow municipal and county governments to mail written notices and post flyers in communities that convicted sex offenders move to. … “This gives parents the knowledge of who is in their community,” said Blackwelder. “It doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime…In this bill there is an additional…
Read MoreMI: Legislation would force sex offenders to pay to be on registry [UPDATED]
Legislation passed by the Michigan Senate in Lansing would require registered sex offenders to pay an annual fee to help maintain the state’s sex offender registry. Senate Bill 221’s sponsor, state Sen. Rick Jones, said it is ready for the governor’s signature. “These are people who committed crimes,” said Jones, R-Grand Ledge. “I do not believe that the hardworking taxpayers in Michigan should foot the bill for a registry of crimes they did not commit.” In a news release on Thursday, Jones cited other states such as Indiana, which charges $50 per year…
Read MoreLA: Allen Parish considers raising sex offender registration rates [UPDATED with action]
ALLEN PARISH, LA (KPLC) – “I don’t like seeing people leaving an adjacent parish to come here as a sex offender because it’s more affordable, which is what I’m trying to say,” said Allen Parish Chief Deputy Ricky Johnson. It happened first in Lake Charles, then in Sulphur, a raise in sex offender registration rates. And now, Allen Parish officials say they are feeling the effects of those decisions. “It’s not a mass exodus from Calcasieu Parish, but we’ve had a few sex offenders that came to Allen Parish and they basically voiced…
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