WORCESTER — Local efforts to restrict where Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders can live in the city have been put on hold, pending the outcome of a legal challenge to a similar ordinance adopted by another community that is now before the state Supreme Judicial Court. Councilor-at-Large Morris A. Bergman, chairman of the City Council Public Safety Committee, said it is his understanding that arguments regarding that residency ordinance are expected to be made before the SJC in April, with a decision likely to come out in June.…
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NY: Court of Appeals voids sex offender laws
ALBANY — The state’s highest court ruled Tuesday that state law restricting the residency of registered sex offenders supersedes local and county laws, rendering them obsolete. The 5-0 decision by the Court of Appeals marked defeat for Nassau County and any other municipality in New York state hoping to restrict the offenders to within certain distances of schools, parks, playgrounds, daycare centers and other places where children are likely to be. Full Article
Read MoreFL: Sex offender had only one place to live – A parking lot
TAMPA — As a convicted sex offender, ____ ____ ____ was ordered to live in a small parking lot on Channelside Drive. For refusing to stay for more than a few weeks in the empty lot, ____ , 27, was sentenced to 10 years in state prison. On Friday, the 2nd District Court of Appeal reluctantly upheld ____ ’s punishment. “We are troubled by the fact that the terms of ____ ’s community control have rendered him homeless,” the court wrote. “This does not appear to facilitate the goals of…
Read MoreSex offender rules create leper colonies (Opinion)
In a perfect society there would be no sex offenders. In an imperfect society there are. In fact, today over 700,000 sex offenders are registered in the United States. More become registered each year with estimates of an additional 10,000 and 20,000 annually. Full Opinion Piece
Read MoreWI: Sheriff – Why sex offenders live in our communities
Throughout the years I have written articles pertaining to many topics that affect the overall safety of our communities. From theft and fraud prevention to animal bites and cold weather preparation, there is never a shortage of issues in which helpful information can be shared. This week I would like to cover some information regarding sex offenders and the guidelines that govern their re-integration into our communities. Full Article
Read MoreNY: Where should sex offenders live?
Albany – A local attorney told the state’s top court Monday that a county law restricting the residency of convicted sex offenders within 1,000 feet of schools should be superseded by state law and not be enforced. Full Article
Read MoreMA: Sex-offender restrictions back on burner in Worcester
There has been an ongoing debate in Worcester over the past several years about whether the city should restrict where Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders can live. City councilors have talked about the need for an ordinance that would restrict those sex offenders from living within certain distances of public parks, schools, day care centers and other areas where young children may congregate. Full Article
Read MoreGrowing awareness of the limited efficacy of local sex offender residency restrictions
This new Wall Street Journal article highlights the new awareness of enduring problems with sex offender residency restrictions. The lengthy piece is headlined “Cities and Towns Scaling Back Limits on Sex Offenders: Officials Say Buffer Zones Don’t Prevent Repeat Offenses and Make Predators Harder to Track,” and here are excerpts: When Palm Beach County, Fla., was sued earlier this year over its housing restrictions for registered sex offenders, its attorneys took an unusual approach: They suggested the county relax its law. Full Article Related CA Supreme Court to Hear Two…
Read MoreCA Supreme Court to Hear Two Residency Restrictions Cases
The California Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument on two residency restriction cases on December 2 starting at 2 p.m.. The oral arguments are open to the public and will be held at the Ronald Reagan State Office Building, 300 South Spring Street, Third Floor, North Tower, Los Angeles. “The issue of where a registered citizen may live is of great importance to more than 105,000 families within the state of California,” stated California RSOL President Janice Bellucci. “This issue is also important to the protection of the state and…
Read MoreCA Supreme Court to Hear Residency Restrictions Case
The California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on December 2 in Los Angeles on a case in which the constitutionality of residency restrictions have been challenged. Following oral argument, the Court has up to 90 days to render its decision. “Current residency restrictions violate both the state and federal constitutions,” stated CA RSOL President Janice Bellucci. “As applied, they constitute banishment which has been outlawed in our country for more than 100 years.” The case to be argued is In re Taylor, S206143, in which the California Court of…
Read MoreFL: ACLU Challenges Miami-Dade Housing Restriction Forcing Former Sex Offenders to Live by Railroad Tracks
MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida filed suit against Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Corrections, seeking a permanent injunction against a housing ordinance that is extraordinarily difficult for former sex offenders to follow without becoming homeless. The law prohibits former offenders from living 2,500 feet (almost half a mile) from any building the county labels a “school,” a category the county has enforced arbitrarily since the ordinance went into effect in 2010. This restriction has left about fifty former offenders with nowhere…
Read MoreFL: Inside Miami’s Hidden Tent City For ‘Sex Offenders’
In 2009, Miami-Dade County drew national criticism when reports emerged that more than 100 individuals on the sex offender registry were camping under the Julia Tuttle Causeway in the middle of the Biscayne Bay with the blessing of the corrections department, because a patchwork of restrictive laws made it so they had nowhere else to go. In response, officials cleared out the camp and changed the law, in a shift that was supposed to give these offenders a habitable place to live. … The ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit…
Read MoreNY: West Seneca Neighbors Dismayed Albany Judge Will Hear Sex Offender Group Home Case
WEST SENECA, N.Y. — The battle to move sex offenders out of a group home in West Seneca will continue in Albany. On Tuesday, the judge moved the case on the state’s policy on sex offenders and housing from Erie County Court to Albany County.Since February, residents have repeatedly expressed outrage that seven registered sex offenders are living in a group home on Leydecker Road in West Seneca. They say the state moved the men to their neighborhood without notifying them. “You’re putting the fox in the hen house,” said…
Read MoreSan Bernardino County sued over controversial sex offender ordinance
SAN BERNARDINO >> A civil rights attorney fighting for the repeal or revision of laws restricting the movement of sex offenders in cities and counties across California has sued San Bernardino County, challenging its ordinance. Full Article
Read MoreBaldwin Park to consider suspending sex offender restrictions
BALDWIN PARK >> The city could stop restricting where sex offenders can live and move if the council takes the city attorney’s recommendation at its Wednesday meeting. The Baldwin Park Municipal Code prevents sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any children’s facility and from loitering within 300 feet of any children’s facility. The law was enacted in December, 2006, based on a section of the state penal code that allows cities to adopt tighter restrictions on where offenders can live and move. Full Article
Read MoreThe Better Part of Valor: Amending Local Sex Offender Ordinances
A series of lawsuits against California cities has brought the issue of sex offenders in the community back to many city agendas and local public meetings. Two recent decisions by the California Court of Appeal and a case pending before the California Supreme Court effectively limit cities’ ability to enforce local ordinances regulating registered sex offenders who live in their jurisdictions. Few city officials or residents favor the idea of repealing an ordinance intended to protect children from predators, but many cities with such ordinances are being forced to do…
Read MoreNY: Judge Finds State Limits on Sex Offender Moves Illegal
A judge has found the state’s 2005 restrictions on sex offender movement violate constitutional bans on retroactive punishment when applied to a man convicted of sexual abuse in 2002 and effectively banished him from many parts of Brooklyn as a result. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Lewis determined that Executive Law §259-c(14)—which forbids sentenced offenders from “knowingly entering into” publicly accessible areas within 1,000 feet of school grounds and other institutions where minors are present—violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution in the case of ____ ____, convicted…
Read MoreDo Residency Bans Drive Sex Offenders Underground?
Early last year, Los Angeles set aside a sliver of land in its Harbor Gateway neighborhood for the city’s newest and smallest park: two jungle gyms on a fifth of an acre. The project was more than just an effort to increase the city’s green space. City Council members made clear that one of the park’s principal reasons for existence was to force 33 people on the California sex offender registry who were living in a nearby apartment building to move out. State law bars those on its registry from living within…
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