Source: thedailybeast 8/12/24 The top YouTuber announced several company-wide changes in a leaked memo that were precipitated by an ongoing internal investigation. It’s a bad time to be MrBeast. A few weeks ago, YouTube’s highest paid content creator, real name Jimmy Donaldson, was caught up in scandal after one of his longtime collaborators, Ava Kris Tyson, was accused of sending explicit messages to a 13-year-old girl when she was 20. Now, a former employee’s claimed MrBeast “knowingly” hired a registered sex offender to work on his $54-million-a-year channel. The person…
Read MoreTag: Prejudice
‘I lost my retirement, my career, my home’: the Americans imprisoned for being HIV-positive
Source: theguardian.com 12/1/22 Thirty-three states maintain laws tied to exposure or transmission, many developed long before the illness was understood Robert Suttle was 30 when he was arrested and imprisoned for the felony of “intentional exposure to the Aids virus”. He had met the man at a gay club on New Year’s Eve 2007 and they had quickly begun a relationship. Suttle says he disclosed his status as HIV-positive to his partner immediately. However, when the couple separated a few months later, the man pressed charges claiming that Suttle had…
Read MoreCA: Gavin Newsom signs law to seal criminal records of hundreds of thousands of Californians
Source: sacbee.com 9/30/22 California will soon seal conviction and arrest records for certain ex-offenders that maintain a clean record, a move supporters call the most far-reaching reform of its kind in the nation. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Thursday night from Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, allowing people convicted of a felony to have their records automatically sealed if they complete their sentence and remain conviction-free for at least four years. Records of arrest that never resulted in a conviction can be sealed as well. … The law…
Read MoreFAC’s CALL TO ACTION: Florida Columbia Youth Football Association will not hold football jamboree at park because registrant sits on the park board
Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 9/18/21 Columbia County, Florida temporarily needs a different venue to hold their annual football jamboree, an event relished by the community. It could be moved to Annie Mattox Park, but allegations surfaced that a person who is forced to register sits on the park board. The association said they will be looking elsewhere. The cancelation sparked an uproar at Thursday night’s Columbia County Commissioners’ meeting, which was September 16, 2021. So far, the video is not up at https://www.columbiacountyga.gov/county/commissions/agenda-and-minutes. This man with a past sex offense was accepted…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Worse Than Murder?
As Executive Director of ACSOL, I listen every day to concerns expressed by registrants and/or their family members. Many of those concerns are focused upon challenges that registrants face in employment and housing. This column does not address those challenges. Instead, it addresses the overarching issue that registrants are often treated worse than individuals convicted of murder. Regardless of the sex offense for which they have been convicted or the number of years that have passed since that conviction. I have known this fact for many years. The most obvious…
Read MoreHow Thousands of American Laws Keep People ‘Imprisoned’ Long After They’re Released
[politico.com – 12/30/20] In the run-up to the election in November, there was a pervasive belief that the fate of the nation could hinge on Florida because of its 2018 passage of Amendment 4, which reversed a permanent voting ban for 1.4 million Floridians with felony records. Then, in September, an appellate court ruled that people with felony convictions must pay all their court fines and fees before they are permitted to exercise the franchise. Activists called the decision an affront to American democracy; the vote, they argued, is the…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Registrants Left Out in the Cold, Again
Great News! Fremont, Ohio in Sandusky County has a homeless shelter. A homeless shelter that denies access to registrants, but a homeless shelter none the less. I can’t help but wonder what the “do-gooders” of this town were thinking when they set up what is basically an “emergency shelter” and then decided to be prejudiced against who they will take in. According to the local law enforcement of Fremont, there are approximately 6-8 homeless each night in the town. Coincidently, the new shelter can hold 8 people. But if one…
Read MoreTX: ‘Wept like babies that day’: Man recalls family’s reaction after child sex abuse conviction overturned
[kvue.com – 11/15/19] GEORGETOWN, Texas — For more than 20 years, Troy Mansfield was branded a “registered sex offender,” a shameful asterisk by his name that followed him everywhere. “I took my stepdad’s name and I wanted it to be a good name,” Mansfield said. “And I felt like somehow or another it got trashed by me, and I didn’t mean for it to.” The father of two sons struggled to support his family from a cleaning business, purposely in his wife’s name, Amy Mansfield. “We lived between $16,000 and…
Read MoreOR: “Say More About That” Show Notes: Episode #30 – The bias against sex offenders
[therapyden.com – 9/22/19] Today, I talk to fellow therapist Taunya Gesner about her experience working with sexual offenders. We discuss what attracted her to this population and why she feels strongly about speaking up for them. We talk about therapist’s automatic bias about the population. We dive into my bias about how there is a part of me that thinks sexual offenders are evil. (Spoiler alert, they’re not all evil.) We discuss misconception the public has about them and how it’s incredibly difficult to find a good job and adequate…
Read MoreA Tale of Two Jeffreys: How the Virgin Islands Welcomed a Rich Sex Offender—and Punished a Poor One
[thedailybeast.com – 7/28/19] From the Virgin Islands comes a tale of two Jeffreys, and the difference great wealth can make when it comes to sex crimes—until it doesn’t. Both Jeffreys were convicted of shameful crimes that required them to register as sex offenders in whatever state or jurisdiction they resided. Jeffrey _____ pleaded guilty in Florida to engaging a minor in prostitution in a 2007 plea deal only a super-rich guy could have swung. He did 18 months locked up, mostly in a private wing of the Palm Beach County…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: The Media Loves To Hate “Sex Offenders”
The manner in which news about sexual offenses is reported by the media affects public opinion and perception of “sex offenders”. Registrants seldom receive good press and it seems too often that “as the media goes, so goes the law.” While re-offense rates for registrants are on the decline compared to other types of offenses, news media ignores and fails to report these facts. Positive facts about registrants just don’t make for eye-catching headlines, they don’t create the hype and moral panic that media relies on to sustain its self.…
Read More