NY: These guys are really bad – NY wins big victory in locking up sex offenders forever

Albany, NY — New York’s top court this month delivered a big victory to state prosecutors who want to remove some of the worst sex offenders from society — possibly forever. It dealt a blow to those who fear that the state is expanding a controversial confinement program beyond its Constitutional grounds. Full Article

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NY: Sex Offenders Sue City, State

____ ____ needed to satisfy his crack habit. So he grabbed a sawed-off shotgun and robbed two women in the elevators of Brooklyn apartment buildings. During one of the 1985 holdups, he reached into a woman’s bra looking for cash, he said. Last June, Mr. Griffin was paroled after serving nearly 30 years in prison for robbery, grand larceny and sexual abuse. He wanted to move back home, to New York City. “I have brothers and sisters that have apartments, and nieces and nephews in Brownsville,” said Mr. Griffin, now 52…

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NY: Senate passes “terrorist registry” bill

The State of NY may soon have a “terrorist registry” much like the sex offender registry. Their Senate, yesterday, passed legislation that would create a list of people convicted of terrorism and post their information publicly, so that the community and law enforcement can be aware of “somebody in their community that has been convicted of terrorism who still may be a threat to the safety and security of Americans” Full Article

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NY: WE NEED TO RETURN POWER TO LOCAL GOV’T TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITIES FROM SEX OFFENDERS

(Long Island, NY) Assemblyman Dean Murray (R,C,I- East Patchogue) hosted a press conference today to highlight the need to fix laws pertaining to the sex offender registry to help keep our children and communities safe. Since the start of 2016, some level one sex offenders have been removed from the registry, while a State Appeals Court decision last year removed all local restrictions on where convicted sex offenders may reside. He was joined by his Assembly colleagues and Paul Alonzo, Program Manager of Parents for Megan’s Law. “In February 2015,…

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NY: How Do You Track Sex Offenders? NY County Hires Ex-Cops

The “registry verification representatives” wear street clothes and travel in nondescript Toyota sedans. They work in pairs, knocking on doors at run-down trailers and waterfront mansions to find out if registered sex offenders are actually living where they say they are. But this is not some elite police unit. It is part of an unusual public-private partnership in Long Island’s Suffolk County that uses six retired New York City police officers to hold ex-cons accountable to sex-offender registry laws. Full Article

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NY: State Senate Approves Bill to Keep Sex Offenders out of Homeless Shelters Housing Children

The State Senate recently approved a bill that would prohibit dangerous Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders from being placed in shelters or other temporary accommodations used to house homeless families with children. Charging that “innocent little kids who are one step away from living on the streets should never face the additional horror of living side-by-side with potential sexual predators,” State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) last week praised the Senate’s action. Full Article

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NY: Local Legislator Seeks Change to Sex Offender Registration Law

Thousands of sex offenders will come off the state’s registry this year. But one Broome County legislator and a local advocate have teamed up to bring change to New York’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA). The state law, enacted in 1996, requires level one sex offenders to be registered for 20 years. By 2016’s end, the whereabouts of many of these criminals will be untraceable — even for police. But a concerned local legislator has submitted an advisory resolution that would tighten registry regulations. Full Article

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NY: Sex Offender Can Press Case Against NIMBYs

BROOKLYN (CN) – A convicted sex offender can continue his federal civil rights case against a Long Island-based advocacy group he says repeatedly dogged him at his home in a campaign to rid the county of sex offenders, a federal judge ruled. The plaintiff, identified only as “John Jones,” sued the group Parents for Megan’s Law in federal court in Central Islip in January 2015, claiming it was hired by Suffolk County officials to monitor sex offenders and run them out of town in violation of their Constitutional rights. Full…

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Law and Disorder: A minister, sex offender and advocate

Ten years ago videographer/photographer Max Schulte and I did a project about sex offenders in Monroe County. … While reporting, we met the Rev. David Hess, the minister at West Henrietta Baptist Church. Hess was a Level 1 sex offender — considered the least dangerous — who advocated for thoughtful laws. I did not know much of his story; he was instead a conduit to others whom we interviewed. Full Article

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NY: Mom Believes She Must Helicopter if Lowest-Level Sex Offenders Come Off Registry After 20 Years

FreeRange Kids: Here in my state, something wildly fair is about to happen: People who have been on the Sex Offender Registry for 20 years, who GOT ON the list for a “Level 1” non-violent sex crime like going to a prostitute, “public lewdness,” or peeing in public, are finally going to be allowed to get off it. Full Opinion Piece Lenore Skenazy is the author of the web blog Free-Range Kids. She was a speaker at the 2014 RSOL Conference in Dallas. My Interview in Salon about Sex Offenders…

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NY: Curran calls for Extension of Sex Offender Regisry

Assemblyman Brian Curran (Lynbrook-21st AD) today called for the extension of the statewide sex offender registry that requires registration for Level One sex offenders who registered in 1996. Curran said these individuals were the first offenders to register with the system and were required to register on the statewide registry for a 10-year period at that time. This was extended in 2006 for an additional 10 years, for a total of 20 years, which ends in January of next year. Curran noted that a new roster of Level One sex…

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NY: Local group pushes for hard-copy sex offender registry

When Buffalo’s Common Council meeting is called to order Tuesday afternoon, a local group of parents and community leaders will be calling on the city to be more proactive about its sex offenders. “A lot of people are not computer savvy. We have a lot of foreigners in our city, who may not be able to read and write correct English. We need the registration list to be sent out. The disconnect is that they’re not providing this to us,” he said. Full Article

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NY: Facebook and NY Attorney General Battle Sex Trafficking

Facebook and the New York Attorney General have formed a prolific crime-fighting partnership. The two have teamed up to find missing children and curb illegal gun sales. Now the Batman and Robin of Gotham justice are working on a new plan to battle online sex trafficking. The latest partnership hopes to use Facebook’s mountains of user and ad data to identify human traffickers and child victims of sex trafficking. Full Article

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