[npr.org] Every day, judges around the country are deciding the fate of criminal defendants by trying to strike the right balance between public safety and fairness. In Philadelphia, the new progressive district attorney has launched an experiment. He’s asking his prosecutors to raise another factor with judges: the cost of incarceration. The move has ignited a debate about whether the pricetag of punishment belongs in courtrooms. Do a little math: “Fiscal responsibility is a justice issue, and it is an urgent justice issue,” Larry Krasner said at a press conference…
Read MoreTag: Pennsylvania
PA: State Supreme Court remanding cases after Muniz
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Sex offender cases in Pennsylvania are being remanded in the wake of Commonwealth v. Muniz, the PA case which found their registry unconstitutional under the ex post facto clauses of the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions. In Commonwealth v. Polzer, the appellant introduced the issue of whether, “SORNA’S irrebuttable presumption that all sexual offenders pose a high risk of reoffending violates procedural and substantive due process under the Pennsylvania Constitution.” and the due process clause of the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Read more…
Read MorePA: Pennsylvania community leaders deserve appreciation for giving second chances
[floridaactioncommittee.org] Recently, the Spartansburg, Pennsylvania community made national headlines by re-electing their fire chief, who happened to be a registered sex offender. Sadly, the newly re-elected chief resigned over the publicity, but many have stood behind him even in the wake of the negative publicity. A local news station, WJAC, featured another Pennsylvania community that had a similar situation, but chose to handle it in a more humane, compassionate way, that will undoubtedly benefit their entire community. Chief Paul Demi of the Spangler Fire Company said of one of their…
Read MorePA: Names being removed from sex offender registry
[theintell.com] Pennsylvania State Police have started the process for removing as many as 5,000 ex-offenders from the Megan’s Law registry under a state supreme court mandate and a new law. Shaquana Green appeared at a Pennsylvania State Police barracks last month to update her information as a registered sex offender. It’s an annual chore she has done for the last five years, having landed on the Megan’s Law list after disappearing with her daughter for three hours in violation of a custody order. As of this month, though, the name…
Read MorePA: Sex offender resigns as fire chief in Pennsylvania town
[startribune.com] SPARTANSBURG, Pa. — A registered sex offender who was recently re-elected as chief of a Pennsylvania town’s volunteer fire department has resigned. The (Corry) Journal reports that Roger Gilbert Jr. quit the Spartansburg department Sunday, a day after the newspaper reported on his criminal background. Gilbert tells the Journal that he will “no longer be affiliated with any organization that helps anyone.” He was in his second stint as chief after being elected by fellow firefighters. Read more
Read MorePA: Registered Sex Offender Elected As Fire Chief In Pa. Town, Mayor Defends Decision
[pittsburgh.cbslocal.com] SPARTANSBURG, Pa. (AP) – The mayor of a small Pennsylvania town is standing by its volunteer fire company’s re-election of a registered sex offender as its fire chief. Chief Roger Gilbert Jr. was convicted in 2001 of sexual intercourse with a 4-year-old girl and is listed in the state’s Megan’s Law database, The (Corry) Journal reported Saturday . Court records show Gilbert is a felon who completed a five- to 10-year sentence for “involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.” Mayor Ann Louise Wagner says she and firefighters have been aware that…
Read MorePA: Senate positions Megan’s Law fix for vote
[altoonamirror.com] HARRISBURG — A bill seeking to deliver a legislative fix to Megan’s Law for sexual assault offenders was positioned for a Senate floor vote after a key senator gave a green light Monday. Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery, repeated his strong objections to the House-passed legislation, House Bill 1952, at the start of a two-hour hearing Monday morning on the Judiciary Committee, which Greenleaf chairs. Following the hearing, Greenleaf voted with colleagues to approve the bill, which addresses concerns the Pennsylvania Supreme Court raised about Pennsylvania’s sex offender registry. The…
Read MorePA: Thousands of sex offenders no longer have to register. Should lawmakers put them back on a list for life?
About 150 people in Philadelphia are in state prison and 150 more are on probation or parole for neglecting to fill out address-change notifications or missing a required reporting date — all failures to comply with a sex-offender-registration law the state Supreme Court found unconstitutional last July. Now, the fates of those people — along with as many as 17,000 others statewide who were required, under that law, to remain on a registry for decades or life — hinge in large part on the state legislature. On Monday, the Senate…
Read MorePA: State to consider overhaul to sex offender registration law again
[buckscountycouriertimes.com] The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on a bill Monday. Nearly eight years ago, Bucks County resident Steve Gordon left state prison after completing a 10-year sentence for sexually assaulting a woman, but he was not quite a free man. His conviction for aggravated indecent sexual assault meant that Pennsylvania State Police would be keeping tabs on him for another decade. A little more than five years ago, though, Gordon, now 71, suddenly had state police monitoring him for the rest of his life, after state lawmakers…
Read MorePA: U.S. Supreme Court denies appeal of sex offender decision
The U.S. Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to a recent state court ruling that determined part of Pennsylvania’s sex offender registration law was unconstitutional. Full Article Related https://floridaactioncommittee.org/scotus-refuses-to-hear-pa-case-that-found-sex-offender-registry-punishment/ http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-121B-2016oajc%20-%2010317692521317667.pdf
Read MorePA: Legislature moves to keep 17,000 sex offenders on state registry
HARRISBURG — The state House on Tuesday voted unanimously on changes to the state’s sexual offender registry intended to correct problems the state Supreme Court identified as unconstitutional. If left uncorrected, more than three-quarters of the more than 20,000 people now registering on the Megan’s Law list might need to be removed, according to data provided by the Pennsylvania State Police. Full Article
Read MorePA: Legislature to address Pa’s sex offender registration laws
A bill introduced this week in Harrisburg attempts to fix flaws in the state’s sex-offender registration system identified in a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in July and could affect more than 10,000 registrants. Full Article
Read MorePA: This Vermont program might reduce sex offender recidivism. Could it work in Philly?
Counting down his last days in prison, Greg thought about his daughter, and the grandson he’d never met. But his first days of freedom in Summer 2016 yielded more loss than gain. His fresh start was spoiled when Greg’s face appeared on the local television news. There were anticipatory town meetings, preceded by the police of his small Vermont town stepping up patrols, just for him. Within a couple months, Greg was asked to leave his stepfather’s house, before he ended up at a homeless shelter. Full Article
Read MorePA: Updates to Sex Offender Registration Law in Pa. Proposed
A member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives said his proposed legislation will adapt the Adam Walsh Act to prevent retroactive application of the law and still require sex offenders to continue registration as sex offenders to the Pennsylvania State Police. Full Article
Read MorePA: Registered sex offenders resign from fire departments after ABC27 investigation
ABC27 Investigator Kendra Nichols found two local fire departments with registered sex offenders, Londonderry Fire Company near Middletown and Citizens Fire Company of Highspire. At the time of the investigation, both registered sex offenders had the fire department addresses listed on the Megan’s Law website as places of employment. ABC27 told the Londonderry Fire Company the results of the search and it took action. Full Article
Read MorePA: Parole agents arrested sex offender 39 minutes too soon, court rules
If state parole agents had waited another 40 minutes to apprehend fleeing sex offender ____ ____, he wouldn’t have just beat a 46-month to 10-year prison sentence. Full Article
Read MorePA: Appellate court finds ‘predator’ process unconstitutional
A panel of appellate judges ruled last week that Pennsylvania’s established process to designate a convicted sex offender as a “sexually violent predator” is unconstitutional. Full Article
Read MorePA: Ruling halts proceedings related to defendants facing sexually violent predator designations
The state Superior Court has handed down a ruling that put an immediate halt to all court proceedings related to defendants facing sexually violent predator designations. As the second ruling within several months to call the state’s current sexual offender statute into question, District Attorney John T. Adams said that it’s time to start fresh.”What we need now is a rewrite of our statutory scheme dealing with the sexual offenders registry,” he said. Full Article Note: this article appears to be for subscribers only. It may be readable after doing…
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