Source: reason.com 9/26/24 The N.J. intermediate appellate court held such publication wasn’t protected by the First Amendment law; the state high court just agreed to reconsider that. The question presented is, Is Daniel’s Law, N.J.S.A. 56:8-166.1 and N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1, which prohibits disclosing the home addresses of certain public officials, including judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement personnel, unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff? Here’s an excerpt of the lower court opinion, Kratovil v. City of New Brunswick: Read the full article
Read MoreTag: New Jersey
NJ: Governor, in veto, recommends barring sex offenders from mental health diversion programs
Source: newjerseymonitor.com 11/29/23 Gov. Phil Murphy this week conditionally vetoed a bill that would expand an intervention program to divert some nonviolent criminal defendants to mental health programs, with Murphy recommending lawmakers bar people arrested for sex offenses subject to Megan’s Law. Lawmakers narrowly passed the bill in June along party lines, with Republicans warning it would push violent offenders onto the street. Murphy issued a statement on Monday supporting the spirit of the bill, saying: “Mental health issues should not be unnecessarily criminalized.” “This bill ensures that individuals whose criminal behaviors…
Read MoreNJ: New Lawsuit Challenges New Jersey’s Lifetime Child Abuse Registry
Source: reason.com 3/7/23 “Lifetime registries are wrong,” said the plaintiff’s attorney. “They’re wrong based on the science and they’re wrong based on the reality that risk is not static. It is dynamic.” In New Jersey, individuals found to have committed any act of child abuse or neglect are placed on the state’s child abuse registry for life—creating a permanent stigma that bars them from a litany of professions. Even though the evidence in favor of such registries is sparse, they continue to be popular across the nation. However, one New…
Read MoreNJ: NJ officials warn YouTube vigilante pedophile hunters to cut it out
Source: newsbreak.com 12/24/22 HACKENSACK, N.J. (1010 WINS) — The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office asked the public to stop posing as children online in an attempt to lure pedophiles for YouTube videos on Thursday. This style of vigilante pedophile hunting has become a popular form of schadenfreude-driven entertainment on YouTube and other video platforms. The content creators often model their makeshift stings after “To Catch a Predator,” the television show in which Chris Hansen would confront pedophiles with law enforcement waiting nearby. Read the full article
Read MoreNJ: Area men among 21 accused of being child predators
Source: centraljersey.com 5/26/22 New Jersey Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri announced the arrests of 21 alleged child predators in “Operation Risky Business,” a multi-agency undercover operation targeting individuals who allegedly were using social medial in an attempt to lure underage girls and boys for sexual activity. The defendants will be prosecuted by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and the Division of Criminal Justice. The underage “children” were, in fact, undercover officers, according to information provided on May 26. Most of the defendants…
Read MoreNJ: convicted sex offender sues for right to use social media
Source: nj1015.com 6/2/22 A Camden County woman convicted of sexual crimes involving a minor is suing for her rights, and the rights of other sex offenders in New Jersey, to access social media and adult pornography. In a new lawsuit, Carmen ___ said the restrictions imposed on her by the New Jersey State Parole Board violated her First Amendment rights. The lawsuit names the NJSPB, the state, and several state officials and employees as defendants. It was filed in Mercer County Superior Court last Friday. Court records show Carmen ,…
Read MoreACSOL New Jersey Action Alert: Petition to Abolish or Reform the New Jersey SVP Civil Commitment Law
Source: Jim Grushack started this petition on Change.org to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy The symbol above is associated with the legal system and the principles of fairness and equity. Then, why is it that the symbol of justice, is wearing a blind fold? Is it because the legal system only wants to see, what it wants to see? Plus, she is carrying a sword, to protect and to cut through to the truth. So what truth is she protecting, certainly not the accused sex offender? Eleanor Roosevelt once stated, “Justice…
Read MoreNJ: Police officer admits having sex with underage girl
Source: beaumontenterprise.com 11/15/21 A New Jersey police officer has admitted to having sex with an underage girl and exchanging nude photos with her. Mark Stinnard pleaded guilty in state Superior Court Monday to endangering the welfare of a child. The 37-year-old former Pompton Lakes police officer admitted having a sexual relationship with the girl and requesting that she take nude photos and videos and send them to him. According to the Passaic County prosecutor’s office, police in Riverdale received a report in April 2018 of a minor being sexually involved…
Read MoreNJ: N.J. Supreme Court sides with sex offender seeking removal from Megan’s Law registry
Source: nj.com 8/9/21 An amendment to Megan’s Law that tightens the rules on who can seek to be removed from a sex offender registry can’t be applied retroactively to crimes committed before the amendment was passed, New Jersey’s Supreme Court ruled Monday. The case involved a man, identified by the initials J.D.-F., who was working as a manager at a McDonald’s in Hillsborough in 2001 when he was accused of improperly touching two teenage boys who worked there. He was convicted in December 2002 of criminal sexual contact and child…
Read MoreNJ: Senate approves bill that would ban people listed on the registry from medical licensing
[pix11.com – 6/4/21] TRENTON, N.J. — The New Jersey State Senate unanimously approved a bill Friday that would prohibit the licensing of any health care worker convicted of a sexual offense. The bill would also reform the state’s chiropractor board after a person listed on the registry and on lifetime parole in Florida had his license reinstated by that board. Read the full article
Read MoreNJ: N.J. bill would help people with criminal records find housing
[inquirer.com – 5/31/21] A New Jersey single father of two convicted of drug offenses has been sober for almost two years and has been out of prison for about three. … New Jersey lawmakers are attempting to keep landlords from automatically disqualifying potential tenants who have criminal histories. Instead, bills under consideration encourage landlords to assess each applicant as an individual, taking into account factors such as severity of a crime and the amount of time since it occurred. … Exceptions include applicants who are on sex-offender registries for life.…
Read MoreNJ: Senate Bill Would Reform Chiropractor Board, Ban Sex Offenders from All Health Care Positions
[einnews.com – 5/13/21] Acting in response to the “irresponsible” action by the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners in renewing the professional license of a convicted child sex offender, a Senate committee today approved legislation authored by Senate President Steve Sweeney, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Senator Joe Vitale that would reform the board and prohibit the licensing of any health care worker convicted of a sex offense. The bill, S-3494, would add two public members to the 11-person chiropractic board and expand its responsibilities in reviewing the qualifications of…
Read MoreNJ: All six chiropractors who voted to restore license of sex offender resign
[newjerseyglobe.com – 3/8/21] Six members of the New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners under fire for restoring a medical license to a convicted sex offender have resigned, an attorney representing the chiropractors said. The resignations come six days after Gov. Phil Murphy announced that he was replacing Brett Wartenberg, Thomas Senatore and Paul Lyons on the state regulatory board. The other three members — David Allen, Rosemary Calio and Albert Stabile – were on holdover status and in the process of being replaced. “It is our understanding from recent government…
Read MoreNJ: Man dies in Civil Commitment After Being Beaten by Officers
[floridaactioncommittee.org – 3/4/21] The family of Darrell Smith is suing the state after he was beaten to a near comatose state by a group of correctional officers at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel. The center is New Jersey’s civil commitment center, where people are held indefinitely after completing their sentence. The beating was described as “gang-style” and even after he was left in a catatonic state, officers at the facility waited five days before taking him to the hospital, where he died two days later. Read the…
Read MoreNJ: Murphy replaces three members of board that restored license to convicted sex offender
[newjerseyglobe.com – 3/4/21] Gov. Phil Murphy has replaced three members of the embattled State Board of Chiropractic Examiners after a controversial vote to reinstate the license of a convicted sex offender from Paramus. Murphy is dumping Brett Wartenberg, Thomas Senatore and Paul Lyons and replacing them with Kelly Blunder, Uchenna Abba Onyeani and Michael Kaufman. All six are chiropractors. Despite warnings from the attorney general, the board voted to reinstate the license Dr. Bryan Bajakian, who in 2008 was convicted on charges of luring or enticing underage girls and illegally…
Read MoreNJ: Gov. Murphy: Sex Offender Getting NJ License Back ‘Reprehensible’
[patch.com – 2/26/21] Gov. Murphy called for changes after the NJ chiropractic board gave a sex offender his license back. PARAMUS, NJ — Gov. Phil Murphy called for changes after a former Bergen County chiropractor and registered sex offender gained approval to have his license reinstated after a years-long fight. The New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners made the decision to reinstate Bryan K. Bajakian’s license for a five-year probationary period, according to documents from the board. Murphy called the decision “reprensible” and “unacceptable.” “Folks who voted to reinstate this…
Read MoreNJ: Dem Congressman Once Lobbied Against Child Sex Offender Registry Bill
[dailycaller.com – 8/6/20] A Democratic congressman once fought against legislation that strengthened and improved the national child sex offender registry before taking office. Tom Malinowski, before becoming a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, lobbied against a 2006 bill that imposed tougher penalties on sex offenders, a review of congressional records and lobbying disclosures by The Washington Free Beacon found. He said that expanding sex offender registry requirements would put sex offenders “at risk of retaliation and discrimination.” … Malinowski was a top lobbyist for Human Rights Watch in 2006 and…
Read MoreNJ: Sex Offenders Lose in Attempt to Remove Names From Registry
[usnews.com – 3/18/20] TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Supreme Court this week rejected an attempt by two sex offenders to have their names removed from a public registry. Two offenders identified only as H.D. and J.M. pleaded guilty to sexual offenses in the 1990s and guilty in 2001 to other offenses, one for computer-related theft and one for failure to register as a sex offender, and were sentenced to probation. State law imposes lifetime registration requirements on offenders but allows those on the registry to apply for removal…
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