The Dobbs Wire: Flashback to 1996

[The Dobbs Wire (@TheDobbsWire) / Twitter  – 4/19/21] A Massachusetts father writes about his young son — an important matter requiring a trip to the police station.  It’s a powerful, poignant story that the Chicago Tribune published on Dec. 1, 1996.  The father inquires, “What will be done with this information?”  He asked that question shortly after the Massachusetts sex offense registry got rolling, on Oct. 1, 1996.  Massachusetts was the last of the states to create an official blacklist.  This year marks 25 years that every state has had…

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Canada: What a new report reveals about Manitoba sex offenders and victims

[winnipeg.ctvnews.ca – 4/16/21] WINNIPEG — A Manitoba committee tasked with determining if the public needs to be notified about a sex offender has released a report giving the province a look at the offenders and the victims involved. The Community Notification Advisory Committee (CNAC) is a group of representatives from Manitoba Justice, corrections and Manitoba police agencies, along with medical or therapeutic practitioners and civilian members. The committee was created in 1995 to review sex offender cases referred to it by police agencies, and recommend if the public should be…

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Australia: Judges push for more powers to control who is placed on sex offenders register

[theage.com.au – 4/13/21] A group of County Court judges is urging the state’s law reform body to give judges more discretion over who is placed on the sex offenders register. In a submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission, the County Court of Victoria said judges should have more powers to decide whether a convicted sex offender should be placed on the register and to expunge the registration of criminals who have previously been registered. The only current exemption is for offenders under 19, who can apply to be kept…

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TN: Ruling could signal future change to Tennessee’s sex offender registry

[newschannel5.com – 4/7/21] NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Could hundreds of sex offenders be removed from the state’s sex offender registry? That’s the worry from some victim advocates following a federal court decision this week affecting two convicted sex offenders in Tennessee. The lawsuit was filed by two anonymous convicted sex offenders, John Doe #1, and John Doe #2, who said Tennessee’s sex offender registry act should not apply to them. That law, passed in 2004, required the two to register as sex offenders and obey distance requirements when finding a…

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Trinidad: Public to know sex offenders if new law passed

[newsday.co.tt – 3/24/21] MEMBERS of the public will soon be able to learn the identities of any convicted sex offenders living amongst them, according to a new bill laid in the Senate on Tuesday in the name of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2021. The Commissioner of Police (CoP) shall maintain a Public Sex Offender Website, the bill mandates, which the public can access at the click of a mouse. Two years ago in February 2019 Al-Rawi had piloted the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2019 which…

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ND: Shouldn’t we ask if ‘bias crime’ legislation actually works?

[thedickinsonpress.com – 3/23/21] Fargo-area politicians and activists will no doubt have a lot of success milking this issue for notoriety, and donations, but even if they’re successful in implementing a policy, and even if that local policy withstands legal scrutiny under state law, it isn’t likely to change much of anything. MINOT, N.D. — Bias crime laws, the new lingo for hate crime laws, are, from the perspective of public policy, not all that unlike policies the death penalty or sex offender laws. They’re all great for politicians who want…

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Academy Expels Registered Sex Offender Adam _____ After Variety Investigation

[variety.com – 3/17/21] After a story in Variety in November exposed the fact that registered sex offender — and noted cinematographer — Adam ____ has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2007, the organization has taken action and removed him. An Academy source confirmed to Variety that Adam ____ is no longer a member. When asked for a comment, a representative for the Academy did not immediately respond. Adam ____ also appears no longer to be in the American Society of Cinematographers, an…

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New Zealand: Ex-NZ First MP Darroch Ball, advocating for victims, blasts ‘out of touch’ Greens for opposing child sex offender list

[newshub.co.nz – 3/17/21] Former NZ First MP Darroch Ball, who advocates on behalf of victims, has described the Greens as “out of touch” for opposing the registration of child sex offenders. Nearly 600 child sex offenders will be put back on the national register after MPs rushed through urgent, retrospective changes on Wednesday to the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016. The Supreme Court ruled in 2016 that the law was not clear enough when it came to people who committed an offence before it came…

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Malaysia: [Expand and] Put sex offenders list under home ministry, NGO tells govt

[freemalaysiatoday.com – 3/4/21] … It added that the list should be more complete, user-friendly, and accessible to the public with information on all types of sex offenders, not just paedophiles. Former deputy minister for women, family and community development, Hannah Yeoh, had announced the setting up of a child sex offender registry, which has been up and running since April 1, 2019. Read the full article Related links: Govt urged to establish accessible sex offenders list [theborneopost.com – 3/4/21]  

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NY: Rensselaer County proposes animal abuser registry

[news10.com – 2/23/21] TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — On Tuesday, Rensselaer County legislators filed a local law to create a local animal abuse registry. “This legislation will establish an online registry for individuals who are convicted of animal abuse and neglect,” said Minority Leader Peter Grimm. “It is in the best interest of our residents and their animals that an online registry be established identifying individuals, living in Rensselaer County.” Read the full article  

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New Zealand: Man wins appeal to have name struck off Sex Offender Register

[rnz.co.nz – 2/9/21] The man was sentenced to nine months home detention in early 2018 after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography in early 2016. At his 2018 sentencing, the Judge also made an order that he be placed on the Child Sex Offender Register, which was established using the Registration Act in late 2016. The man committed the offence prior to the Registration Act coming into force but was convicted and sentenced after that date. The man did not seek to appeal his nine-month home detention sentence but challenged…

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AZ: Bowers revives sex offender registry bill HB2674

[azmirror.com – 1/28/21 House Speaker Rusty Bowers is taking another shot at passing legislation making it easier for some people to get their names off the state’s sex offender registry. House Bill 2674 would give some relatively low-level offenders an opportunity to end their lifetime obligation to register as sex offenders. People convicted of crimes including sexual abuse of a minor who is at least 15 years old, indecent exposure, sexual exploitation of a minor, sexual extortion and misrepresenting a person’s age for purposes of committing a sexual offense would…

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Sri Lanka: Should Sri Lanka Have A Sex Offender Registry?

[roar.media – 1/23/2021] Last month, Minister of Public Security Rear Admiral (Rtd.) Sarath Weerasekera announced he would publicly name perpetrators of child abuse, rape and assault in an attempt to deter other potential offenders. Weerasekera said that, in addition to facing legal consequences, offenders will have their photographs and personal details released to the public. If this is done — albeit with a clearer sense of structure, scrutiny and with the purpose of protecting potential victims and communities rather than shaming perpetrators — it would effectively constitute a system similar…

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MI: ACLU calls for Whitmer veto on Legislature-approved changes to Sex Offender Registration Act

[mlive.com – 12/20/20] DETROIT – Approved changes to Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act are unconstitutional and ineffective at stopping offenders, argues the state’s ACLU chapter in an appeal for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to veto. State lawmakers approved altering registration protocols for sex offenders during the Legislature’s Wednesday, Dec. 16 session, fulfilling a 4-year-old mandate from the U.S. Court of Appeals. The federal court ruled in 2016 that it was unconstitutional to impose new restrictions on people convicted before the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act was updated with added rules in…

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GA: Removing the Scarlet Letter

[lagrangenews.com – 12/15/20] Decades ago, our state established the Georgia Sex Offender Registry (SOR).  The purpose of SOR is to protect our citizens from sexually dangerous predators by identifying offenders that present the greatest risk of sexually re-offending. However, many people who are registered with SOR should not be because they pose no danger to society. Read the full opinion  

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LA: Legislators look at options to increase reliability of LA. sex offender registry

[houmatoday.com – 12/18/20] Legislators began Thursday looking at changes to state law that would address inaccuracies in the registry that alerts neighbors that someone convicted of sex and/or child predatory crimes lives nearby. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor found that the severity of the crime, called a tier, wasn’t accurate for 61% of the sex offenders tested. The information listed on the registry wasn’t updated in 21% of the cases. That could mean the public often doesn’t know when a predator is within their midst. It could also mean that the…

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Pakistan: Chemical Castration, Sex Offender Registry in Pakistan’s New Rape Law

[vice.com –  12/16/20] Rocked by intense protests after a violent gang rape in September, Pakistan’s president has approved a new anti-rape law that seeks to double down on sexual crimes against women and children in the country. Anti-Rape Ordinance 2020 will give speedy trials to women and children, create a national registry of sex offenders, give privacy to victims and survivors, and also allow chemical castration of repeat sex offenders. Moreover, the consent of the convict will not be taken for executing castration, the discretion of which will be held…

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