If you think the Sex Offender Registry is not unconstitutional; than please leave this webpage, now; by official decree, of the author of this webpage.
New Blogs Part 14
If you believe it is ok to deny registered sex offenders human rights or U.S. Constitutional rights. If you do not believe registered sex offenders are denied their human and constitutional rights or if you are against free speech.
Please leave this web page now. Thank you.
By remaining on this web page you here by acknowledge that you support human rights and United States constitutional rights for registered sex offenders and that you support freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech is understood to be fundamental in a democracy. The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights.
Please leave this web page now. Thank you.
By remaining on this web page you here by acknowledge that you support human rights and United States constitutional rights for registered sex offenders and that you support freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech is understood to be fundamental in a democracy. The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights.
This blog is not for people to be critical of what is posted here and if the reader is critical of anything here than that means they did not read the disclaimer on the top of each of the pages here and are not welcome here and should stop reading and leave this blog upon my request and in the name of freedom of speech, and my rights as a American citizen.
No sexual abuse is ever acceptable. Sex offense laws and policies should be based on sound research and common sense, not fear, panic or paranoia. Current laws and policies that paint all sex offenders with one broad brush are counter- productive, wasteful, and cause needless harm. Each offense must be judged on its own merits with a punishment that fits the crime and does not waste taxpayer dollars. The public sex offender registry and residency restriction laws do not protect children but instead ostracize and dehumanize individuals and their families. Money spent on purely punitive measures would be better used for prevention, healing, and rehabilitation.
The author of SO FAQ does not affiliate with any other organization or people on the internet or the world for that matter. I have been saying this since I first logged on to the internet. Just because I like organizations like the ACLU; does not mean I believe in everything they believe in or stand for. Just like in our great country when we vote; we will never believe in everything the candidate we vote for; believes in or stands for. That doe not mean we are should not vote.Hey, this blog looks real nice on a cell phone; as I have recently discovered.
Please ignore the official counter on this blog. Shortly after I put this counter on every page of my blog it became impossible to update with it in the html of this blog. I had to take it off all my blog pages. I just realized today it is still on my untouched SOFAQ homepage still and I believe it is true, counting not only computer hits but phone hits as well. I am pasting a copy of it here:
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| SFAQ real hits as of Sept 17 2021 That's right; the home page of this blog registers 1,571,853 hits. check the bottom of this page to see for yourself: http://sexoffenderfaq.blogspot.com/2014/01/sex-offender-faq.html |
Below is a great example of my typos. I had the wrong words on the top of pages on this blog for almost 2 years. All I can say, is like I always say: no one pays me for this and I have no one helping me; at all, (like my art work) so my typos are just are part of my journalist attempts.:
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 08 2022
I just removed a paragraph that started with these words.: Some of these articles are just plan communist propaganda. That was there by mistake. It was to be a disclaimer for my old Alternative Military News Now blog that I took down because I just got sick of war news.
New Blogs Part 13 Updated April 17 2022
Since part of the theme of this blog is against sexual assaults; I am going to post these stories I have found on Google News. Since they are just plain too disgusting to post (they still need to be read by people in authority of such things especially) in detail I am going to present them just how you you find them in Google News. Click here.
This is a example of how we are destroying our country by mainly ignoring the Constitution of the United Sates. It is also a example of how the very same thing that is happening in the Ukraine may someday happen here.
TX: PROTESTORS MAKE ALARMING ALLEGATIONS ABOUT STATEWIDE SEX OFFENDER TREATMENT PROGRAM IN LITTLEFIELD
April 11, 2022
Source: everythinglubbock.com 4/11/22
LITTLEFIELD, Texas – Protestors gathered in front of the Civil Commitment Facility in Littlefield on Saturday morning to shine a light on the injustices they said are happening within the barbed-wire fences of the former prison.
Texas created the Civil Commitment Program in 1999; like 20 other states, this kind of program allows state agencies to mandate sex offenders, who have already served their time in prison, to partake in treatment programs intended to mitigate possible reoffending in the future.
In 2015, Governor Abbott reformed the program and worked with private contractors to set up a treatment facility in Littlefield, but the advocates said the program isn’t doing what it was created to do.
Protestors told KLBK News that they believe residents’ civil rights have been violated.
“We don’t support anyone committing crimes- I want to make that clear. This is supporting people being released [from treatment] after they’ve served their time,” said Kevin Word with Texans Against Civil Commitment.
According to its website, “The Texas Civil Commitment Office is a small state agency tasked with providing intensive supervision and treatment to sexually violent predators.”
The agency said it focuses on public safety, supervision and treatment, but protestors argued that the program is a for-profit scheme by private groups.
“Murderers are being let out. They’re not being post-convicted and held because they might do something. That’s why these men are here- because they might do something,” Word said.
Read the full article: https://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/protestors-make-alarming-allegations-about-statewide-sex-offender-treatment-program-in-littlefield/ :
NEWS
Protestors make alarming allegations about statewide sex offender treatment program in Littlefield
Posted: Apr 11, 2022 / 08:03 PM CDT
Updated: Apr 11, 2022 / 08:04 PM CDT
LITTLEFIELD, Texas – Protestors gathered in front of the Civil Commitment Facility in Littlefield on Saturday morning to shine a light on the injustices they said are happening within the barbed-wire fences of the former prison.
Texas created the Civil Commitment Program in 1999; like 20 other states, this kind of program allows state agencies to mandate sex offenders, who have already served their time in prison, to partake in treatment programs intended to mitigate possible reoffending in the future.
In 2015, Governor Abbott reformed the program and worked with private contractors to set up a treatment facility in Littlefield, but the advocates said the program isn’t doing what it was created to do.
Protestors told KLBK News that they believe residents’ civil rights have been violated.
“We don’t support anyone committing crimes- I want to make that clear. This is supporting people being released [from treatment] after they’ve served their time,” said Kevin Word with Texans Against Civil Commitment.
According to its website, “The Texas Civil Commitment Office is a small state agency tasked with providing intensive supervision and treatment to sexually violent predators.”
The agency said it focuses on public safety, supervision and treatment, but protestors argued that the program is a for-profit scheme by private groups.
“Murderers are being let out. They’re not being post-convicted and held because they might do something. That’s why these men are here- because they might do something,” Word said.
The treatment program is not clearly defined by legislators and it leaves room for interpretation. Because of this, family members with loved ones in the facility said there’s no telling when these individuals will be released.
“My son has been in Civil Commitment longer than he was in prison. And he’s still at tier one. This is his seventh year in Texas Civil Commitment,” said Linnell Hanks, mother of a Civil Commitment resident.
The treatment program consists of five tiers which residents must complete before being released.
However, protestors said that’s an insurmountable task when punishments for breaking arbitrary rules can and have caused residents to move back a tier in their treatment.
“The program has released less than six [residents] since 2015 and there have been 29 that have died in the facility. Medical care is non-existent,” Word explained, adding these individuals were originally in a successful, outpatient program before the facility opened.
TCCO said in a statement to KLBK News today that these allegations are not true and said 13 people have been released from the program since 2016 and only three “sexually violent predators have passed away.”
After the story aired on Monday, several people reached out to KLBK’s newsroom claiming TCCO’s statement is false. They said they can prove 29 people have died, along with several other allegations, but these claims have not yet been substantiated.
Nicole Robinson has a son living in the Littlefield facility, which is why she attended the protest. She said, “They’re supposed to be residents and they’re not being treated like that. They are being treated like animals. They’re being taken advantage of and they’re being used as a check.”
She’s not the only person who told KLBK News that profit is standing in the way of justice.
“That’s the reason why they don’t want them to graduate… because when they graduate, they have to have enough guys to cycle them out in order for them to keep getting they check,” Robinson explained.
Some protestors and organizations, like Families Against Committing Texans Standup (F.A.C.T.S.) and Texans Against Civil Commitment, said they are calling for reform.
Others are “advocating to shut down this program,” said Jennifer Williams, whose son remains in the facility.
“I’m asking Senator [John] Whitmire to come and shut it down like he promised to do in 2015 when he walked through these walls and said, ‘if it doesn’t work, I’m going to shut it down…'” Williams tearfully expressed. “These are free men. They’ve done their time.”
However, protestors said they feel this program is a continuation of these offenders’ time in prison.
TCCO sent KLBK News a statement “in reference to a public awareness event conducted outside of the Texas Civil Commitment Center (TCCC) located in Littlefield, TX.”
The statement regarding TCCC and its “clients” who reside at the facility reads:
“The individuals who reside at TCCC are civilly committed sexually violent predators. A sexually violent predator, by definition, is a repeat sexually violent offender who suffers from a behavioral abnormality that makes the sexually violent predator likely to engage in repeated, predatory acts of sexual violence. Sexually violent predator civil commitment is governed by Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code.
Pursuant to Section 841.001 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, the Legislature found in part:
That a small but extremely dangerous group of sexually violent predators exists and that those predators have a behavioral abnormality that is not amenable to traditional mental illness treatment modalities and that makes the predators likely to engage in repeated predatory acts of sexual violence.
That treatment modalities for sexually violent predators are different from the traditional treatment modalities for persons appropriate for involuntary commitment under Subtitle C, Title 7.
That a civil commitment procedure for the long-term supervision and treatment of sexually violent predators is necessary and in the interest of the state.”
TCCO added that it is “responsible for providing appropriate and necessary treatment and supervision for committed persons through the case management system and developing and implementing a sex offender treatment program for sexually violent predators committed under Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code. Chapter 841 further requires TCCO to implement a tiered treatment program.”
You can find a summary of TCCO and the tiered treatment program online, “which include general information regarding the commitment process as well as statistical information concerning the sexually violent predators supervised by TCCO.”
The statement continued, “One issue raised by Attorney Ryan Brown consists of questions regarding sex offender treatment during COVID-19 related quarantines. The COVID protocols utilized at the TCCC can be found in the COVID-19 resources section on TCCO’s website: https://tcco.texas.gov/resources.”
Regarding the 29 possible deaths and five completions of the program, TCCO said, “While any loss of life is a tragedy, this assertion is not correct. Rather, three sexually violent predators have passed away at the TCCC … Since 2016, thirteen people have been released from the Texas Civil Commitment Center – nine of whom have been released off of civil commitment by their court of commitment. In sum, thirteen people have been fully released from civil commitment from 2016 to present.”
TCCO’s reported statistics as of April 11, 2022:
• 552 total civilly committed sex offenders from 112 counties: 111 in prison and 437 in the community.
100% are male.
• 13 SVPs that no longer had the behavioral abnormality that qualified them for commitment have been
released by the court. Four SVPs are in Tier 5 independent living in the community. Two additional
SVPs were in Tier 5 but were moved back to the confined facility for more intensive supervision and
treatment due to regressions in their treatment and/or behavior.
• Age range is 24 to 91 years old with an average age of 56.78 years.
• Population is 54.74% Caucasian, 25.00% African-American, 19.89% Hispanic, 0.18% Native
American and 0.18% other.
• 65% of SVPs have only child victims, 17.5% have only adult victims and 17.5% have both adult and
child victims.
MAKING HEADLINES: THE CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM IS MASSIVELY PUNITIVE TOWARD PEOPLE WHO COMMIT SEX OFFENSES
April 12, 2022
Source: inquest.org 4/8/22
The death threats started almost immediately. On April 3, 2020, The New York Post published the story of our case under an impossibly salacious headline: “Child rapist ordered released to keep him safe from coronavirus.” The article was no better, describing the underlying crime in vivid detail while underplaying how its subject’s multiple, severe medical issues made him vulnerable to COVID, and that the sentence being served was not actually for the crime itself, but rather for so-called “technical” violations of probation. The Post had apparently noticed earlier articles in The Appeal and The Boston Globe — which had both rightly emphasized the obvious injustice and life-threatening danger at the heart of the case — and decided to take the story in another direction. It was that version of the story that spread around the world, from Peru to Brazil to Italy.
In the aftermath, the two of us, the client and his lawyer, were both attacked and threatened. Our hope in sharing what we went through during those early days of the pandemic is to shed some light on how attempting to attain a measure of simple justice can be punishing, daunting, even life-altering. How so many trapped in our system of mass caging seldom get the attention our case did. How even when attention is given, it can become its own form of punishment. And how our laws, practices, and institutions are massively punitive toward people who commit sex offenses. All of this is by design, and largely for political reasons. Any perception of leniency, or even mere humanity, toward someone our society deems repugnant becomes a liability.
Read the full article: https://inquest.org/making-headlines/
The irony of it all. Lets just hope that is not what they say about us as a country some day. As some of our elected officials point their fingers at so called sex offenders and blame them for our troubles, denying the fact that they are part of the reason we are falling; by denying them constitutional rights in other words human rights. Just like this guy who complained about his neighbor; when he was just as bad if not worse. :
UK: MAN WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT LIVING NEXT DOOR TO PAEDOPHILE JAILED FOR BEING A PAEDOPHILE
April 15, 2022
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk 4/12/22
A man who once complained about living next door to a convicted paedophile has been jailed – for being a paedophile.
Darren ____, 53, once complained to his local newspaper that he was furious his housing association didn’t tell him his neighbour was a sex offender. But he is now behind bars for subjecting a child to a series of sordid sexual abuse from the age of seven until she was around 11.
The abuse ranged from kissing and touching the child to forcing her to perform sex acts on him on more than one occasion. His sick offending came to light when he was spotted with the victim, prosecutor David Watson told Liverpool Crown Court.
Mr Watson said the person who saw them felt like something “wasn’t right” so contacted social services. The victim later told her mum that she’d been sexually abused by Darren for “ages”.
The child told the police how Darren , a self-employed musician, used to kiss her and put his penis on her and recalled on one occasion how he had touched her. She also told them how he asked her not to tell anyone about the abuse as it would mean he would be sent to prison.
Read the full article: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/man-who-complained-living-next-23696100
SC: APPARENT LENIENCY IN 19-YEAR-OLD SERIAL RAPIST SENTENCING HAS BEEN ATTRIBUTED BY MANY TO HIS FATHER’S JOB AT THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
April 15, 2022
Source: meaww.com 4/15/22
Bowen Turner’s sentence of probation in one convicted case after being accused of raping three girls has led to widespread public fury. The controversy has also sparked an interest in his personal life.
Orangeburg County Judge Markley Dennis sentenced 19-year-old Turner to just five years of probation despite charges on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual misconduct for separate assaults in recent years. Furthermore, the perp will not have to register as a sex offender after serving probation. Bowen was also cited for violating the terms of his bond several times after his seizure. Chloe Bess, who was assaulted in June 2019, said she was “extremely disappointed” by the sentence. Dallas Stoller, another alleged victim of Turner’s, killed herself in November.
“If he has completed five years without any violations and has done all the counseling necessary, then he will not have to register as a sex offender,” Dennis announced on Friday, April 8, to disappointed groans from the courtroom attendees. Bess said she was at a party with Bowen when he pulled her behind a truck around 3 am and sexually assaulted her. “Bowen then pulled her pants and underwear off and forced himself sexually on the victim,” Second Circuit Deputy Solicitor David Miller said in court.
Meanwhile, a motion filed on April 6 by the South Carolina Victim Assistance Network argues that Bowen escaped custody by leaving house arrest nearly 50 times. He allegedly visited multiple golf courses, shopped at sporting goods shops, went to a car dealership in Georgia, visited a steakhouse in Columbia, and even visited the grave of victim Stoller. The apparent leniency in Bowen’s sentencing has been attributed by many to his father’s job at the District Attorney’s office.
Read the full article: https://meaww.com/bowen-turner-parents-sentence-father-da
New Blogs Part 14 Updated April 18 2022
The article below is the exact lying discrimination the so called sex offender faces. I have talked about this prejudice so many time through out this blog; I am not going to comment again, instead I will let this article speak for itself.:
Republicans' "groomer" attacks BACKFIRE spectacularly | No Lie podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w0R04KdG5Q
Comment on the above mentioned video page:
Thank you for pointing out the homophobic notion they have that being gay automatically makes you interested in children. Not enough people in the media have pointed out that hateful and false narrative.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated April 21 2022
NC: REGISTRANT RUNNING IN PART TO CORRECT FAILURES IN JUSTICE SYSTEM
April 19, 2022
Source: reflector.com 4/19/21
A candidate for Greenville City Council said his conviction in 2009 for indecent liberties with a child, which landed him on the state’s sex offender registry, was due to systemic problems with the judicial system.
William ___, 68, of Greenville was found guilty by a Pitt County jury on two counts of indecent liberties with a child on April 22, 2009. He served two consecutive sentences totaling three years and two months for the crime that court documents said took place July 1-8 of 2007.: https://www.reflector.com/news/local/city-council-hopeful-on-sex-offender-registry-says-he-is-running-in-part-to-correct/article_eb762f72-b362-5e8e-82cd-a17b1345cfe0.html
THE SUPREME COURT WON’T DISMANTLE THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE QUITE YET
April 20, 2022
Source: barrons.com 4/19/21
Progressives, conservatives, investors and Supreme Court-watchers are all anxiously awaiting the court’s decisions later this spring in two cases—American Hospital Association v. Becerra and West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency—which some experts have warned could sound a death knell for the “administrative state.” Not so fast: the authority of regulators is likely to be further limited, but not gutted. That’s the broad takeaway I got from moderating a recent panel for the Brookings Institution of constitutional and administrative law experts—Professors Anne Joseph O’Connell, Susan Rose-Ackerman, Ilya Wurman and public interest lawyer and author Simon Lazarus.
Of the two cases, only West Virginia appears likely to trigger constitutional issues. In that case, multiple state attorneys general challenged the constitutional authority of the EPA to set broad carbon dioxide emissions standards for greenhouse gas emissions outside the “fence” of power plants. This challenge has aroused intense interest because of the possibility, with the court now dominated by six Republican presidential appointees, three of them by President Trump, that the court could drastically limit regulators’ authority.
…
Nonetheless, some of the Six seem intent on radically beefing up the nondelegation doctrine. This is most evident in Gundy v. U.S. in 2019 where a plurality of the court upheld the delegation to the U.S. attorney general of the authority to require the registration of sex offenders convicted before the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act was enacted by Congress in 2006. Justice Neil Gorsuch, in a dissenting opinion joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, argued that giving such broad power to the attorney was delegation “running riot.” Justice Elena Kagan, author of the plurality in Gundy, responded bluntly that “if SORNA’s delegation is unconstitutional, then most of Government is unconstitutional.” That warning applies not just to SORNA, but to many other agencies, including even the Federal Reserve, whose statutory mandate likewise is broad—to assure “stable prices and maximum employment,” terms that Congress has not defined.
Read the full article
Note: If a popup appears, click the X inside it to close it. This technique works for some websites.
According to the court documents, the victim was under 16. William was 54.
In a phone call Monday, William did not deny his status on the registry.
“That’s one of the reasons that I’m running,” he said. “I want to make sure that we give justice to all people and maintain a right for all citizens to have an equal participation and fairness in the court system.
“I didn’t get bitter with that, and I’m not going to go through my court case, but one thing for sure that, regardless of our political party and persuasion, we must consider the issues and the character behind the often emotional and misleading political process. How we conduct ourselves through the political season is just as important as the ballots that are cast on Election Day.”
William compared his situation to that of Dontae Sharpe, the Greenville man who in 1994 was convicted for the murder of George Radcliffe, 33, in a Greenville neighborhood at the age of 19. Sharpe was exonerated after serving 25 years in prison and in November 2021 was pardoned by Gov. Roy Cooper.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 03 2022
I once worked as a caregiver for a male employer, and on my very first night on the job, he asked me to get into bed with him.
This sexual harassment is LEGAL, because I am a domestic worker.
Caregivers, housecleaners, and other domestic workers like me are EXCLUDED from the most basic workplace protections like sexual harrasment, overtime pay, and paid sick leave.
It means millions of Black, Latinx, and Asian immigrant women like me are often in the position of praying employers do the right thing every time we enter a home.
That’s why this month, we’re ramping up our campaign to pass a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights to correct these injustices, and I’m asking if you can join us to launch with unstoppable momentum.
Will you join us and call on your representatives to support the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights?
TAKE ACTION →
Care work is on track to be one the fastest growing sectors in the next decade. But care workers like me are still governed by the laws of the slavery-era past.
In the 1930s when most workers were given basic workplace rights by Congress, farm workers and domestic workers, the majority of whom were Black, were deliberately left out.
Now thanks to the relentless leadership of the incredible domestic workers who are part of the National Domestic Workers Alliance around the country, we’ve pushed ten states and two major cities to pass domestic workers bills of rights or protections. But we won’t stop until all domestic workers are protected.
Will you join us as we push tirelessly to pass a National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights by adding your name to our petition calling on Congress to act at last?
TAKE ACTION → : https://act.domesticworkers.org/a/bill-of-rights-shlb
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 22 2022
You mean all the people that support SOR, that are prejudice by nature; are prejudice against LGBTQ's? Like I have been saying for years people need a scapegoat, they need to be prejudice and hate others; there is always the RSO to give these people a outlet. You should be thankful for people against such things; they may be our only saving grace.
UCLA STUDY IDENTIFIES SIMILARITIES, DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STRAIGHT AND GAY REGISTRANTS
May 10, 2022
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law has completed a study regarding registrants focused on the similarities and differences between straight registrants and registrants who are members of the LGBTQ community on a variety of issues, including but not limited to, employment and housing. A webinar was conducted today regarding the study and a full report will be issued next week.
The study includes data received from 965 individuals of whom about 20 percent self identified as members of the LGBTQ community. The average age of the individuals who participated in the study was 50.5 years and 87.4 of the participants identified as white. Most of the individuals who participated in the study were men (96 percent) with only 3.2 percent of the participants self-identified as women and .7 percent of the participants self-identified as transgender.
According to the study, LGBTQ registrants were convicted at a higher rate for offenses involving images (46 percent) and less likely to be convicted of an offense involving a family member (24 percent). LGBTQ registrants are also less likely to be employed, self-employed or retired. However, LGBTQ registrants are more likely to be students at a college or university.
LGBTQ registrants are less likely to live with family members and are more likely to have been refused housing by a potential landlord. With regard to violence and harassment, LGBTQ registrants are more likely to have been verbally or physically assaulted than straight registrants. Both groups of registrants have been threatened with violence and had objects thrown at them to the same degree.
Today’s presentation was led by Ilan Meyer of UCLA Law School’s Williams Institute. The Institute is a think tank at UCLA Law dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy that conducts independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
Lara Stemple, Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at UCLA School, also spoke during today’s webinar. The focus of her presentation was upon women and transgender registrants.
According to Ms. Stemple, 44 percent of the women who participated in the study had an associates degree or higher as compared to 52 percent of the men who participated. However, 42 percent of the men who participated in the study had incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level as compared to only 39 percent of the women who participated in the study.
About 40 percent of the women who participated in the study have been hit, beaten, physically attacked or sexually assaulted as compared to 21 percent of the men. However, 37 percent of the men who participated in the study had property robbed, stolen or damaged as compared to 24 percent of the women who participated in the study.
The third person to make a presentation during the webinar was Tyrone Hanley of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Mr. Hanley acknowledged that many members of the LGBTQ community avoid the issue of registrants as well as registrants themselves. He said a broad coalition is required in order to bridge the gap between the LGBTQ community and registrants.
Today’s webinar was recorded and will be available online soon.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 25 2022
NUMBER OF CA REGISTRANTS CONTINUES TO DECREASE
May 24, 2022
The number of individuals required to register in California continues to decrease, according to the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB). During the past two months, the total number of individuals required to register decreased by 532 and the total number of registrants who are homeless decreased by 422.
“It appears that the Tiered Registry Law is having the desired effect, that is, it is leading to the removal of registrants who do not pose a current danger,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci.
In addition, the California Department of Justice reported during last week’s CASOMB meeting, that there are 80,610 registrants living in the community. Of that total, there are 18,993 registrants who have failed to register on time. : https://all4consolaws.org/2022/05/number-of-ca-registrants-continues-to-decrease/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated June 05 2022
I am convinced that when our country decided to ignore the constitution and inflict the SOR on it's citizens, many times retroactively; that was the beginning of the end of our country. Compare the dates to when our country started going down hill to the beginning of the SOR. You can not ignore that the SOR is perpetuated by the lying, conspiracy laden, republican party. The worst part of that is that it is not the right wing. It is a 2 party system and I have voted republican in the past because of disagreement with the democrats on things or just because no-one runs democrat here. Though it all, I still love our country. I think the drama makes you love it more.:
EMILY HOROWITZ: THE REAL MONSTERS – SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES DON’T MAKE US ANY SAFER. ABOLISHING THEM WOULD.
June 3, 2022
Source: inquest.org 6/3/22
Watching the Senate hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, I was struck by how Republican senators pounced on the judge’s thoughtful, considered, and mainstream sex offense sentencing. My research examines why our sex offense policies are based on fear-driven myths and how excessive criminal-legal responses do not genuinely and effectively address sexual violence — and do create new harm. And at the time, based on this knowledge, I wrote about the spectacle, where politicians like Josh Hawley accused Jackson of “endangering our children” and not “protecting the most vulnerable,” while those voting in her favor were branded “pro-pedophile” by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The message was clear: Supporting sex offense policy as it exists on the books is the same as supporting sexual violence, not caring for children, and, as in Salem, the equivalent of being someone who sexually offends.
Since 1994, ostensibly in the name of public safety, legislators passed sweeping federal, state, and local laws imposing onerous requirements and restrictions on people who have completed sentences for sex-offense convictions. On pain of further punishment and incarceration, these provisions require their names’ inscription on registries easily consultable by the public, notification of their moving into a new community, and restrictions on residency, travel, work, and presence. In practice, these burdens fail to reduce recidivism while subjecting those on them to never-ending state surveillance; even after sentence completion, not adhering to the myriad of complex and ever-changing rules, such as failure to update personal information to law enforcement, can result in reincarceration. An example: A 62-year-old, last convicted of a sex offense in 1989, and off probation since the mid-1990s with no sexual re-offense, received two years in prison for failing to update his registration in 2020.
For almost three decades, the Sex-Offender Registration and Notification Act, also known as SORNA, has subjected millions with sex-offense convictions to a period or even a lifetime of being openly named, shamed, and essentially banished from society.
As I argue here, and in greater detail in my forthcoming book, From Rage to Reason: Why We Need Sex Crime Laws Based on Facts, Not Fear, the experiences of those convicted of sex offenses starkly reveal what happens when our society gets drunk on punishment. In my work, I focus exclusively on the post-sentence, public, and specialized punishments to which those convicted of sex offenses are subject. I do not question the need for them to be held accountable or to be prosecuted in the criminal legal system. Those decisions have their place, but they are not the focus of my work. What I address, instead, is the enhanced and extraordinary civil and criminal punishments for this group of people beyond the already extensive range of collateral consequences faced by others with criminal histories.
Read the full article: https://inquest.org/the-real-monsters/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated June 21 2022
UK: DO SEX OFFENDER REGISTERS ACTUALLY REDUCE REOFFENDING RATES?
June 16, 2022
Source: digitaljournal.com/ 6/16/22
This article covers what it means to be on a sex offender list and assesses whether or not they help reduce reoffending…
In the year ending December 2021, the UK reported a staggering 183,587 sexual offences, a 22% increase from the figures reported for 2020.
Despite increased awareness campaigns and measures, such as the sex offenders register, figures continue to climb. In this article, we’ll examine what this means and shine a spotlight on the question, ‘do sex offender registers actually reduce reoffending rates?’.
Ineffective Against Reoffending
When it comes to reoffending, the general consensus is that being placed on the sex offenders list has little to no impact. This conclusion is reached through a study which showed that reoffending rates have remained steady at between 26.0% and 31.8%.
Read the full article: https://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/do-sex-offender-registers-actually-reduce-reoffending-rates
VANDENBERG SFB COMMANDER SUED FOR DENYING RETIRED VETERAN ACCESS OVER MOLESTATION CONVICTION
June 15, 2022
(Tribune News Service) — A retired Air Force veteran in Santa Barbara County has filed a lawsuit against Vandenberg Space Force Base, accusing its commander of denying him access to the installation last year over a 30-year-old child molestation conviction, according to federal court documents.
In a lawsuit filed May 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 75-year-old plaintiff Joseph Simonson accused Col. Robert A. Long, commanding officer of Vandenberg SFB, for denying access over the 1992 conviction.
Additionally, Simonson said Long denied access to “constitutionally” protected retirement benefits by preventing physical access to the base and without providing notice, according to the filing.
Simonson seeks a judgment giving him access to the base, attorneys’ fees and “other relief the court deems just and proper,” the lawsuit states.
Defendants in the lawsuit include Long, who is the current commanding officer of Space Launch Delta 30, which controls the base, and at least 10 unidentified John Does.
A spokeswoman for Space Launch Delta 30 did not comment on the lawsuit and referred to Vandenberg personnel at the main gate, who stated that expired retiree cards are usually the only reason why those veterans are denied access. An individual’s ban is base-specific, meaning that the retiree could access another installation, according to base personnel.
The complaint stems from an incident at the base in October 2021, when Vandenberg personnel informed Simonson that he was no longer permitted to enter the base for any purpose, even for medical treatment for a recent diabetes diagnosis, according to court records.
Documents show Simonson attempted to enter the base for a medical appointment but was denied by Vandenberg security forces personnel, who told him that he was not allowed on base due to his “presence on California’s sex offender registry” for the conviction he received four years after retiring from the military.
Simonson said that he is a Vietnam War-era Air Force officer who retired at the rank of major and that his conviction had nothing to do with his military service.
In addition, Simonson said he had base access for nearly 30 years without incident after his conviction and even worked there as a defense contractor from 2005 until he retired in 2014, while holding a “secret” security clearance during that time, court records show.
Records also show that since retiring, Simonson had relied on access to Vandenberg Space Force Base, where he routinely purchased gasoline, clothing, groceries and obtained prescription drugs.
“Because many of these benefits are available only on military bases, retired service members must have physical access to those bases in order to obtain and exercise these benefits,” according to Janice Bellucci, his attorney. “This is particularly true of medical and dental care, for which ‘direct care’ is provided only at on-base military treatment facilities.”
“As for many years, [Simonson’s] access to Vandenberg SFB also became [his] most meaningful social outlet in retirement,” according to Bellucci.
Defendants have 60 days to respond to the lawsuit, according to records.
I post on https://all4consolaws.org/ sometimes under the name Newb Commenter because I am new at it. I use the same email as this blog and my art blog that are one and the same. I recently noticed the excellent replys I get. I am going to post them here now. You can view them here too.: https://all4consolaws.org/2022/06/general-comments-jun-2022/
Newb Commenter
June 13, 2022 3:51 am
What if the SOR and all the obscene sentences for RSO’s; is all based on lies and conspiracy theories?
David
Reply to Newb Commenter
June 13, 2022 10:20 am
@ New: First, they ARE based upon the BIG LIE that goes all the way back to what may be the 1st S.O. Registry case to go before SCOTUS, “Smith v. Doe“, in 2003, in which the Justices were falsely informed – and believed – the recidivism rate for sex offenders is “frightening and high”.
(TRUTH: The actual recidivism rate, from sources including the U. S. Department of Justice, is extremely low, approximately 4% [as I recall].)
Secondly, (and some may find this objectionable) in line with what you ask, I think the academics and legal system should do a thorough assessment of sexual offenses, the long-term damage they cause, and the length of sentences/ incarceration. Sentences are ALL OVER THE PLACE from shockingly lenient to insanely excessive – often for surprisingly similar offenses. It would be far better for all of society if sentences reflected the actual harm done to the victims, rather than the hysterical moral outrage felt by judges or juries.
New Person
Reply to Newb Commenter
June 13, 2022 4:15 pm
I’m saying the government has defamed all of us since the 2003 Smith v Doe decision. Will the government own up to it? I dunno, but I’m hoping they do get sued once they acknowledge they’ve been using false data all this while!
dph
Reply to Newb Commenter
June 16, 2022 12:18 pm
Thanks Newbie for making us think. It’s not out of the realm. Is it. Look at Trumps doings of incorrect info to his voters and what insurrection it caused and effects.
SOME OF THE JUSTICES added just that with using a Pyschology Today magazine ARTICLE NOT even the writer was one, but made his own totales of FEAR AND FRIGHTENING and a Dead Justice stated his words from the quoting and DENIED Justice from FALSE or rather FAKE NEWS )?_). And it’s effects affecting so many today wrongfully with incorrect data to date. NOW THAT is lies and theoretical nonsense. IT BECOMES LAW!
Another awesome story from thee awesome www.lgbtqnation.com
NY police will no longer target gay men in public bathrooms
“This kind of blatant homophobia has no place in policing.”: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/06/ny-police-will-no-longer-target-gay-men-public-bathrooms/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 01 2022
New CA Tiered Registry Lawsuit Filed in L.A. Superior Court
June 17, 2022 –
Source: ACSOL A lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on June 16 challenging a provision of the California Tiered Registry Law. Specifically, a registrant is challenging his assignment to Tier 3 based upon his conviction for violating Penal Code Section 288(c)(1). According to the lawsuit, the registrant's tier assignment violates the equal protection clause of the state constitution. The lawsuit requests that...: https://all4consolaws.org/2022/06/new-ca-tiered-registry-lawsuit-filed-in-l-a-superior-court/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 08 2022
I seriously wonder if all the unconstitutional laws and inhuman treatment of so called RSO's is all because of people who believe conspiracy theory's and lies.:
NC: WHAT IS DADS AGAINST PREDATORS? WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT GROUP TIED TO ALLEGED ATTACK AT NC TARGET
July 8, 2022
Source: charlotteobserver.com 7/6/22
An incident that police say led to a gun being fired in a North Carolina Target store has raised questions about the group “Dads Against Predators,” its history and its presence in the state. Three men with ties to the organization lured a 25-year-old man to a Winston-Salem Target in late June and attacked him, according to police, leading the man to fire a gun in the store. It’s not the first time the group, also known as “D.A.P.,” has had run-ins with the law.
Read the full article: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article263221138.html
WHY THE U.S. MARSHALS SPEND MILLIONS ON SEX-OFFENSE REGISTRANT SWEEPS
July 8, 2022
Source: theappeal.org 7/8/22
The real aim of these operations might be to boost support for cops.
Gary, a 62-year-old on Texas’s sex-offender registry, dates the problems with his neighbors to a visit by police in 2018. After a successful real estate career he lives in a relatively safe neighborhood outside Dallas, identifies as a conservative, and has friends on the police force. He’s donated to police charities, once giving $10,000 to the family of an officer killed on duty, he tells The Appeal.
He was convicted of child pornography possession in 2007, spent five years in prison and 10 years on probation, and hasn’t reoffended since, state records show. “It’s very serious,” he said of his offense. “It’s wrong. I take responsibility.” (Gary isn’t his real name, which he asked to have withheld to protect his company and family.)
That day four years ago, a team of local officers and U.S. Marshals showed up at his home in full tactical gear and a tactical vehicle with the Marshals’ logo, he says. They were checking the addresses of those on the registry. Gary showed them his license and they left—the whole thing took perhaps five minutes.
Since 2006, the federal government has funneled millions into sometimes-massive operations to verify the addresses of those on sex-offender registries. It’s hard to tell how often these happen–the Marshals Service didn’t respond to multiple requests from The Appeal about how many operations they ran in the latest fiscal year. But a look at how authorities talk about the operations–and the flattering press coverage they generate–indicates their importance in selling the public on more police. Worse, studies show they likely do nothing to improve public safety or make incidents of sexual violence less likely.
Read the full article (may require signing up for free news alerts): https://theappeal.org/us-marshals-spend-millions-on-sex-offense-registrant-sweeps/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 13 2022
I am glad I am not the only one who talks like this about republicans: especially about sex offender laws.
Email I got from: https://www.kelly.senate.gov/
I got to tell you I do not like posting stuff like that email I got from Mark but he sounds aright to me. I will leave a small portion of the email and if you want more your going to have to ask Mark for his email list. I really like the analogy of Indiana Jones. I have made that statement myself online, a few times. I like when the dad say's; something like, Indie you just killed those men and Indiana says; but dad, their Nazis. In the context of WWII it is very expectable and feasible even in cinema to portray Indiana's blind American heroism.
Email I got from: https://www.kelly.senate.gov/
Nazis - I hate these guys
"Famous movie hero Indiana Jones spoke for all of us--or at least I thought--when he uttered those words in the movie Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. But that was in 1989, when Republicans were conservative and wrong, but still a functioning party in a two-party democratic political system, not the deranged fascistic cult they've become."
I do not agree with the general view, that all republicans are deranged. I still am puzzled why politicians believe in conspiracy theory's and lies or will not come out against such thinking publicly; for the good of their fellow man.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 15 2022
This is not the first time I have read sex offences blamed on immigration. Blaming sex offences on immigration sounds like the making of a conspiracy theory. This is a great example of how politicians prove they believe in conspiracy theories in connection with sex offences. I think they are saying we should deny all immigrants access to our country because some of them may be sex offenders. This is; in my opinion, a small example of the many conspiracy theories they believe in, that cause them to strip our citizens from their constitutional rights over sex offences.:
--An arrest is made in the Ohio rape of a 10-year-old, which recently became a viral story
Disgusting Vile Republicans Rewrite History on 10-Year-Old Abortion
Republicans who took issue with the accuracy of a story about a 10-year-old girl needing an abortion are now starting to accept it as fact because there’s a detail of the story they believe they can use to their benefit. The initial story was that a young girl from Ohio was raped and due to Roe vs. Wade getting overturned, she had to travel to Indiana in order to get the procedure done. Right-wing commentator Clay Travis, for example, tweeted, “Media reports of a 10 year old being raped in Ohio and Having to leave the state for an abortion appear to be completely made up.” Well now there is a 27-year-old man who has been arrested and charged for the rape and he happens to be an undocumented immigrant. So now these same right wingers are providing updates to the story highlighting the person’s immigration status and arguing Joe Biden never should have let this person into the country in the first place.
View this email I got from David yourself here.: https://davidpakman.substack.com/p/coup-planning-panicked-lawyers-major
LGBTQ PEOPLE ON SEX OFFENDER REGISTRIES IN THE US (PAPER)
July 11, 2022
Source: UCLA in escholarship.org 5/2022
The United States has the world’s largest prison population. Overall, mass incarceration disproportionately impacts people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ people are at increased risk for being targeted for sex crimes, as historical prejudice and stigma have depicted LGBTQ people—especially gay/bisexual men—as sexual predators. Despite this, little is known about LGBTQ people on sex offender registries in the United States.
In this project, we surveyed people who are required to register on sex offender registries (SOR).
Read and download the research paper: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0q56r56r
Yeah I took it down. Forget I said that. I do not want to be to general about a population of people. There are good and bad people in all of the political spectrum. I think to speak generally about any group of people; who for whatever reason, has chosen to vote the way they do, would be wrong. To be so general is almost the same thing as saying you can not practice this religion or that. That would be anti-American.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 16 2022
A Casper man was acquitted on six counts of child sexual abuse charges at the end of a three-day trial in Natrona County District Court.
Published: July 14, 2022
Thomas "Tad" P. Byrum was charged with two counts of second degree sexual abuse of a minor and four counts of third degree sexual abuse of a minor.
Read More: Jury Acquits Casper Man on Child Sex Abuse Charges | https://k2radio.com/jury-acquits-casper-man-on-child-sex-abuse-charges/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 22 2022
Great comments on this page; especially mine under Newb Comenter, I miss spelled Commenter. My question is: with so many school teachers charged, how many of those are innocent of the crimes they are charged with. I hope our so called justice system will take special care to find this out. Imagine how easy it would be for a student that does not like their teacher to accuse them falsely. Look and see the news for social media being use by students against their teachers. If students can do things like this; why would it be too far fetched for them to make false accusations against them. Read more here: https://all4consolaws.org/2022/07/at-least-181-k-12-educators-charged-with-child-sex-crimes-in-first-half-of-2022/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 25 2022
Hey I am not commenting on this. I told myself I was not going to post another post about weapons of war. This seems to me to be something like that. This seems like future CIA stuff and I do not want any part of it. I do not want to know about war in anyway. It seems like this type of story should be out there; if this is totally accurate. Peace is the future. The future is somewhere out there, maybe, so far, it can not be comprehended; or maybe it is next month or day. Who knows? None of us do, or will ever know, or could say we knew; about the future of this world's population.
Axios
Biological weapons could target DNA, food supply, two U.S. ...
Biological and chemical weapons have the potential to pose a national security threat to the U.S. that the country is not equipped to handle...: https://www.axios.com/2022/07/24/bio-weapons-target-us-joni-ernst-jason-crow
New York Post
Dem lawmaker Rep. Crow warns Americans enemies could use DNA tests to kill them
“That's what this is, where you can actually take someone's DNA … their medical profile, and you can target a biological weapon that will...: https://nypost.com/2022/07/24/rep-crow-warns-enemies-could-use-dna-tests-to-kill-americans/
'You can take someone's DNA and design a weapon that can kill them': House intelligence committee member warns people not to share health data with sites like 23andMe because it can be used to program new bio-weapons to target them: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11042835/House-intelligence-committee-speaks-new-DNA-bio-weapons-target-single-person.html
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 29 2022
I have many family members in Florida that I do not visit because of the inhuman legal system of the repressive, oppressive, so called; justice system of Florida. I do not want my family to suffer of course. If I was Florida; I would always treat my citizens humanly, considering they could sink into the ocean.
The sea level in Florida has risen about 1 inch per decade and heavy rainstorms are becoming more frequent and severe. Scientists predict the southern third of the state could be underwater by 2100, and that parts of Miami could be underwater even sooner.: https://stacker.com/florida/going-underwater-how-climate-change-has-affected-florida
Commission Meeting – Call 319-527-3487
Jul 27, 2022 | 8 comments
UPDATE
The agenda for the forthcoming Brevard County Commission meeting has been posted and they WILL be discussing the amendment to their sexual offender/sexual predator ordinance.
We are calling upon members to appear at the Commission meeting to speak against the ordinance and show support for the other members who will speak against it. There will be a second conference call on THURSDAY July 28th from 7pm-8pm to continue to organize attendees, speakers and letter writers. Join the planning meeting. Call 319-527-3487, or contact membership@floridaactioncommittee.org for questions.
The meeting will take place on August 2, 2022, 5:00 PM, at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, FL 32940
If you are unable to attend the Commission meeting but wish to make your voice heard, please write a letter to to the commissioners and send by email to us that will be hand delivered to the meeting for inclusion in their minutes.
Please send an email to membership@floridaactioncommittee.org containing your comments as you want them presented to the commissioners. We will not be able to read it at the meeting but we will submit your email for inclusion into the minutes of the meeting.
1. Use subject line: “Opposition to Proximity Ordinance Amendment”
2. Start your email with “Dear Commissioners”
3. End your email with your real name. Include phone, address or other Identification if desired. Your email will already be included.
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO REGISTERED CITIZENS
If you plan to attend, please be certain to send email to SORT@bcso.us. For Example: “This e-mail is notification of my attending the following public meeting: Name: ______________, Birthdate: ___________, Meeting: .Brevard County Commissioner’s Meeting, Located at 2715 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building C, Viera, FL. 32940. Tuesday August 2, 2022 at 5pm. ”
This is our opportunity to show up and speak out, please, please, please do your part!
Contact membership@floridaactioncommittee.org for more information.
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8 Comments
Facts should matter on July 28, 2022 at 11:53 am
IF John Tobia’s mindset and temperament is anything CLOSE to resembling Joe “I run the County” Mullins – then don’t get too elaborate with your enthusiasm and expectations.
However, if you’re the timid and meek type, just stay home. If you’re grateful to just “be out of prison” then stay home. If you’re not angry and fed-up, just stay home. If you think that you’re not a victim government encroachment and invasive intrusion, then stay home. If you’re unable to look these people in the eye while talking , then stay home.
You’re not there to change minds. You’re there to tell them what they’re doing is WRONG.
Reply
Dennis on July 28, 2022 at 2:15 pm
Well I agree with you basically, but hopefully we change their minds as to whether cruelty is good politics. Or at least plant seeds of doubt. And perhaps change some minds among the more thoughtful members of the audience and the public.
Reply
Miami Homeless Trust Receives $41MM/yr; Dade Commissioners Cone Up With An Idea Worse Than Ron Book’s on July 28, 2022 at 9:09 am
Reply
RUDY101 on July 27, 2022 at 8:07 pm
As I have said before, I REFUSE to comply with every single minute obstacle and hurdle of this bizarre registry. It almost is not reality. It will make you detach from reality if you aspire to make your life goal every single detail of this unconstitutional registry. I am living comfortably in the desert and away from the unconstitutional web of deceit that some desperate lawmakers use to TRY to make a name for themselves. They are a pathetic mess and trying to make up for the failures that they have had in their lives and to take it out on the registered, scared society that all of you live in. I refuse, bottom line
Reply
Jacob on July 28, 2022 at 8:00 am
‘I’m so brave that I live out in the desert to get away from society.’
Reply
Roger Mansfield on July 27, 2022 at 3:49 pm
I’ve been dealing with the County Commission in one way or another for years….. we CAN NOT go to the podium and in ANY WAY portray ourselves as “victims” of the draconian ordinance. That falls directly into the Commissioners response where they can go on and on about the way we destroyed our victims lives and now we’re whining.
Do we all deal with hardship because of this thing? ABSOLUTELY. I personally can’t go to any of my children’s homes to see my family.
I’m fortunate enough to have places to shop and conduct personal business but I realize that there are many of us that don’t have that ability.
I ran into John Tobia in public one time in a County office and ended up having a 5 minute discussion on this. About 2 minutes into the conversation I was able to shut him down by telling him “Commissioner, I’m not a victim, I had a victim”. Still was a terse conversation but you tell that my comment confused him and took him out of him canned rhetoric.
Reply
Jacob on July 27, 2022 at 7:16 pm
Roger makes an important point. When someone like Tobia asks you a question in public, he is not making an inquiry; instead, he is planting a trap so he can use you to make a point. I think the previous meeting’s volunteer speakers intuitively sensed this. Avoid joining in games you can’t win!
I am grateful that someone was able to get five minutes of his time to feel him out; most of the rest of us get three if we’re lucky.
Reply
Anonymous on July 27, 2022 at 10:57 am
As stated before we should expect that they will make condescending remarks and default to “it protects the children” when it doesn’t of the sort. We need to be able to respond in a way that makes our points without invoking an angry response. We are and have to be the better people.
Reply
Submit a Comment: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/call-to-action-brevard-county-commission-meeting/
REALPAGE INCORRECT SEX OFFENDER DATA $9.73M CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT SETTLEMENT
July 29, 2022
Source: topclassactions.com 7/28/22
RealPage agreed to pay over $9.73 million to resolve claims that it violated the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by allowing incorrect sex offender registry data on tenant screening reports.
The class action lawsuit settlement benefits individuals who were subject to a RealPage report between June 14, 2017, and March 2, 2021, where the report included a record from a sex offender registry with the record matching the report subject based on the birth date range, but where further review shows a differing birth date.
RealPage offers rental property solutions including property management, sales, marketing, screening, revenue management and more. Tenants attempting to rent an apartment or house may have their background screened during the application process through RealPage.
However, RealPage may violate federal reporting laws by including incorrect information on tenant background checks.
A 2019 class action lawsuit claims the company includes information from sex offender registries on certain background checks despite these reports not being associated with the report subject.
Read the full article: https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/money/realpage-incorrect-sex-offender-data-9-73m-class-action-lawsuit-settlement/
CO: VCSO: MAN SAYS HE SHOT A SEX OFFENDER
July 29, 2022
Source: tristatehomepage.com 7/28/22
VANDERBURGH CO., Ind. (WEHT) – The man accused of shooting and killing another man on Maggie Valley Drive in Vanderburgh County apparently did so because he thought the man he shot was a sex offender.
Ricky Allen Kiper Jr. was arrested Wednesday and charged with the murder of James Christopher McClernon. An autopsy shows McClernon died of multiple gunshot wounds.
According to court documents Kiper showed up at a home where McClernon was staying around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. The documents go on to say Kiper, McClernon and several others had a conversation when Kiper told McClernon, “You killed my daughter,” then shot McClernon at least twice, including once in the head.
According to investigators Kiper originally told them McClernon had a knife, but witnesses say McClernon was not threatening Kiper.
During questioning after being detained, officers say Kiper admitted to shooting McClernon two times, claiming he was protecting children inside the home. Deputies also say, during that interview, Kiper said he was justified in killing a sex offender, and officials confirmed McClernon was on the registry.
Read the full article: https://www.tristatehomepage.com/news/crime/vcso-man-says-he-shot-a-sex-offender/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 30 2022
Let me repost the post I posted the way I should of. I am not https://floridaactioncommittee.org/ and should not have posted it like it was my own. These guys are really good and I have told them that when they firsts started by email. They emailed me back and were always nice to me. I meant what I said in my last post though. My grandparents started a day in there small seaside community in Broward County; called my last name day. In other words if my last name was Jones, it was called Jones day and a bunch of people would meet there and celebrate it every year. I still have many relatives there and still do not want to go there because of the weird bazaar laws that exist. Here is how I should have posted that post, yesterday.:
UPDATE: CALL TO ACTION: Brevard County Commission Meeting
Jul 27, 2022
UPDATE The agenda for the forthcoming Brevard County Commission meeting has been posted and they WILL be discussing the amendment to their sexual offender/sexual predator ordinance. We are calling upon members to appear at the Commission meeting to speak against the...: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/call-to-action-brevard-county-commission-meeting/
Here is another great story they posted; like I used to here. There should be a statistic website that keeps track of these things.:
Sex offender kills himself after conviction
Jul 29, 2022
An Alabama man who was convicted of trying to have sex with a teenager in Marianna is dead. Authorities said he killed himself Wednesday night while awaiting his sentencing. Prison officials said he was discovered dead in his cell around 12:30 a.m. Thursday. Law...: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/sex-offender-kills-himself-after-conviction/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 13 2022
3:13 PM on Aug 12, 2022 — Updated at 3:39 PM on Aug 12, 2022
A man who drank from a water bottle following his guilty verdict in a Denton County courtroom Thursday was taken to a hospital and died later in the day, according to his defense attorney.
Edward Peter Leclair, 57, of Frisco faced five counts of child sexual assault related to an incident that took place in June 2016, according to jail records. He was arrested in July 2018 and later posted bond.
Leclair’s defense attorney, Mike Howard, who represented Leclair throughout the case, said this week’s trial began with jury selection Monday.: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2022/08/12/man-drinks-cloudy-water-dies-after-guilty-verdict-announced-in-denton-county/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 14 2022
WI: THE 7TH U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS HAS RESTORED A LAWSUIT OVER HARTLAND’S LIMIT ON SEX OFFENDERS
August 12, 2022
Source: jsonline.com 8/12/22
A small Wisconsin town’s attempt to ban more sex offenders from living there flunks one of two tests that would make it unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The decision sent the matter back to a lower court for argument about the second test, and whether the local law should be thrown out.
Hartland adopted an ordinance in 2018 after it felt it had more offenders per capita than other Waukesha County communities. A sex offender who wanted to move there sued, claiming the ordinance amounted to an ex post facto law. Such laws, specifically prohibited in the U.S. Constitution, punish conduct that occurred prior to a law’s passage.
A judge dismissed the case, agreeing with the village that the law applied only to new conduct after it was passed — like moving to Hartland as a sex offender.
Under that analysis, the plaintiff argued, a town could force out people with past convictions by imposing new penalties triggered by even passive or innocuous current acts without worry of running afoul of the ex post facto clause.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, said it was overturning its own legal precedents upon which the district judge relied.
Hartland’s ordinance is retroactive, the court ruled.
“The Village advances the startling argument that because the Ordinance is ‘temporary,’ it cannot be retroactive. Assuming with skepticism that a four-year ban is still temporary, we fail to see how an allegedly shorter deprivation of a constitutional right has any bearing on our analysis,” the decision reads. “This imaginative position from the Village borders on the frivolous and can be quickly dismissed.”
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 19 2022
TN: FROM REGISTRY TO LIFE SENTENCE: HAS TENNESSEE’S SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY GONE TOO FAR?
August 15, 2022
Source: newschannel5.com 8/15/22
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Attorneys have called for a change to the Tennessee sex offender registry they said created an unconstitutional punishment as legislators added more restrictions each year.
Nashville defense attorney David Raybin has at least three cases where he argues his clients should be taken off the registry because lawmakers piled on more penalties after they were already convicted.
“The Constitution says you cannot enact what’s known as an Ex Post Facto law. You cannot make it illegal to do something today that you’ve already done two years ago,” Raybin said.
Read the full article: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/from-registry-to-life-sentence-has-tennessees-sex-offender-registry-gone-too-far
FIFTH UPDATE: SORNA REGULATIONS HEARING RESCHEDULED FOR SEPT 12, 9AM PT. ZOOM AVAILABLE.
August 17, 2022 : https://all4consolaws.org/2022/08/sorna-regulations-hearing-scheduled-for-july-18/
COMPELLING LAW REVIEW ARTICLE PROVIDES NEW TOOL FOR CHALLENGING SEX OFFENDER LAWS
August 18, 2022
The tool described in the law review article is the Irrebuttable Presumption Doctrine which can be used “to combat false presumptions in legislation that masquerade as universal truths.” For example, many courts have falsely stated that the rate of re-offense for a person convicted of a sex offense is “frightening and high.”: https://all4consolaws.org/2022/08/compelling-law-review-article-provides-new-tool-for-challenging-sex-offender-laws/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 26 2022
CA: CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS ALLOW LAWSUITS AGAINST ‘CYBER FLASHERS’
August 23, 2022
Source: usnews.com 8/22/22
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Victims who receive unsolicited sexually graphic material by text, email, app or other electronic means could sue the sender under a bill that California lawmakers sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday.
The bill targets what’s known as “cyber flashing,” where victims receive such unwelcome surprises often from strangers.
Read the full article: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2022-08-22/california-lawmakers-allow-lawsuits-against-cyber-flashers
Yeah, Philadelphia Freedom!
PA: PENNSYLVANIA COURT DECIDES STATE REGISTRY LAWS VIOLATE STATE CONSTITUTION
August 24, 2022
Source: ACSOL
A court in Pennsylvania decided this week that its state registry laws violate the state’s constitution for two reasons. First, the laws are based upon a false presumption that all registrants have a high risk of reoffending. Second, the laws are punitive.
“This decision by a Pennsylvania court is the clearest statement available to date regarding how registries punish individuals convicted of a sex offense and yet are ineffective at preventing future sexual abuse,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “Although this decision is binding only in Pennsylvania, this decision could serve as a model for other courts to follow.”
In its decision, the Court of Common Pleas found that registration laws in Pennsylvania are based upon a presumption that “all sex offenders, regardless of their personal characteristics and circumstances, have a high risk of reoffending sexually.” The Court then determined that the government’s presumption violated the state constitution’s right to reputation because it “unduly stigmatizes person convicted of sexual offenses.”
The Court also found that the existence of government records, such as a public registry, subjects registrants to negative stigmatization that is a threat to registrants’ reputations. That stigma, in turn, results in difficulty finding housing, employment/education as well as establishing pro-social relationships with others.
The Court further found that the “special stigma associated with the registry requirement is the express accusation in the legislative findings that everyone convicted of a sexual offense presents a ‘high risk’ of sexually offending. This strongly implies that even though one has been convicted and served his or her sentence, one remains a serious threat to society.” The Court also said that it is “this designation, this “scarlet letter of “high risk”, that distinguishes the heightened stigma sexual offenders experience, and hence their greater marginalization….” In addition, the Court declared that the government’s presumption that all registrants post a high risk of re-offending “compounds the isolation and ostracism” experienced by registrants and “sorely diminishes their chances of productively reintegrating into society.”
This decision includes a battle of experts, including Dr. Karl Hanson and Dr. Elizabeth Letourneau, who testified that 80 to 95 percent of all registrants will not reoffend. They also testified that there are more effective means available, such as treatment programs and professional support systems, to accomplish the aim of reducing sexual re-offense.
The Pennsylvania court also decided that the state registry laws were unconstitutional because they are punitive. The Court reminded the state government that “individuals are presumed innocent until they are found guilty by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” The Court went on to rule that the rights of registrants to challenge the state’s registry laws are both “inadequate and illusory.” For example, a person assigned to Tier II must wait 25 years “before the opportunity to ever contest the fact or dangerousness…and is akin to no post-deprivation process at all.”
The Court went on to find that registrants are on “de facto probation for the entirety of their lives, with the regulation, control and sundering of privacy that such statute entails.” The Court also found that the state’s registry laws promote the traditional aims of punishment — retribution and deterrence. Further, the Court found that registration requirements are “comparable to a long probationary tail, an extended period of supervision and government control over one’s personal life which is a component of criminal punishment and, like a sentence, carries a degree of retribution. The difference, of course, is that probationary tails have end dates for compliant offenders.”
Also in its decision, the Court noted that the state’s registry laws waste resources that “could more effectively be applied to reduce the recidivism risk of offenders who are actually at high risk of committing subsequent sex offenses, imposes unnecessary burdens on individuals who are already unlikely to reoffend, and thereby impedes the public safety portion of the purposes of SORNA….”
Download the opinion PDF: https://all4consolaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/PA-Torsilieri-state-SORNA-Opinion-2022.pdf
PA-Torsilieri-state SORNA-Opinion-2022
I like stories like this because it shows the vulnerability of people in law enforcement to becoming sex offenders themselves. I think of these people that do these internet stings and how it must effect them, negatively mentally. Then again there are some really demented people that could be police. To me and the many law enforcement people I have met in my life and read about and watched shows about; there is nothing worse than a law enforcement person gone bad. Wonder what the statistic is for law enforcement that commit suicide after being accused of a sex offence; I imagine that number is high. Would people not commit suicide if they were accused of a sex offence; if it were not for the fact that so call sex offenders have their constitutional rights and human rights taken from them? Would they not commit suicide if it were not for the fact that all so called sex offenders endure cruel and unusual punishment? Like I always say when our country stepped over that line with dehumanizing sex offence laws; that marks the beginning of the end of America. Why, for politics? For votes? Maybe we have become like Rome in it's last days of the coliseums. What ever the delusional, disgusting, reason we decided on bazar, Nazi like, sex offence laws on our citizens; is permissible, history shows; that is when governments fall.
Found this but no police info.:
Results
Non-sexual violent offenders (15%) and AdultSOs (14%) had the highest rate of self-harm, significantly more than ChildSOs (11%), non-sexual non-violent offenders (10%), and PolySOs (0%).: https://healthandjusticejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40352-021-00146-6
UT: FORMER PROSECUTOR FOR AG’S CHILD PROTECTION UNIT ARRESTED IN CHILD PORN INVESTIGATION
August 25, 2022
Source: ksl.com 8/25/22
SPANISH FORK — A man who used to work for the Child Protection Division of the Utah Attorney General’s Office has been arrested and accused of possessing child pornography.
Gary ___, 66, of Spanish Fork, was arrested Wednesday by Utah County sheriff’s deputies for investigation of six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
The investigation began Aug. 4 when investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of suspected child pornography being uploaded on a social media app. Police say the uploaded explicit images were of children under the age of 10.
On Wednesday, deputies went to Gary’s home to serve a search warrant.
“Gary is a retired assistant attorney general from the Utah Attorney General’s Office where he worked in the Child Protection Division and prosecuted crimes against children,” detectives noted in a police booking affidavit.
Police have requested that Gary be held in the Utah County Jail without the possibility of posting bail, pending the formal filing of criminal charges because of the “egregiousness of the crime” and also because young children often visit his house, the affidavit alleges.
Read the full article: https://www.ksl.com/article/50463801/former-prosecutor-for-ags-child-protection-unit-arrested-in-child-porn-investigation
When I drew my Sex Offender Comics back in 1999; I thought it was ironic when the threat of sex offenders to children was in the news constantly (most of which is conspiracy and lies); when at the same time I kept reading article after article of children dyeing in parked cars.: http://sexoffenderfaq.blogspot.com/p/sex-offender-so.html this is the exact image: here
5-year-old dies after found in hot car in Texas
An investigation is underway after the boy was found unresponsive inside a vehicle outside an elementary school while classes were in session.
Published Aug. 26, 2022 11:04 AM MDT | Updated Aug. 26, 2022 11:05 AM MDT
According to an analysis from Kids and Car Safety, 56% of all child hot car deaths from 1990 to 2021 happened when the child was left in the vehicle unknowingly.: https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/texas-child-marks-19th-hot-car-death-nationally/1237497
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 01 2022
National gymnastics associations across the world have been called out for rampant mental, physical, and sexual abuse of young, vulnerable athletes in the past few years, and Gymnastics Australia is one of them. In 2020, the Human Rights Commission led an investigation that uncovered shocking, systemic abuse suffered by athletes. Now, Gymnastics Australia is claiming it wants to embark on a restorative justice journey with the survivors -- but requiring that they sign non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, first. Gymnastics Australia cannot be allowed to muzzle young victims of abuse!: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/653/354/889/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 05 2022
Fox News is responsible for destroying so many lives with it's, sex sells, anti SO articles; I do not think even God will forgive them. Good to see they published one good news story.:
OR: REGISTRANT DIED TRYING TO STOP SAFEWAY SHOOTING RAMPAGE
September 2, 2022
Source: foxnews.com 9/2/22
A man lauded as a hero for confronting a shooter inside an Oregon grocery store Sunday was convicted of child sex crimes while in the Army decades ago.
Donald Surrett, Jr. died while trying to stop 20-year-old Ethan Blair Miller’s shooting rampage. Police said Surrett’s decision cost him his life but likely saved the lives of others.
Information from state court records and the Oregon State Police’s sex offender registry indicates Surrett did not reoffend after his prison release,the lowest classification in the state and an indication he was not considered a high risk for reoffense.
Video shows 66-year-old Surrett hid behind a produce cart until the gunman, who had near the store entry shot and killed 84-year-old Glenn Bennet, looked the other way and then attacked him with a knife, police said.
“Mr. Surrett’s background does not change the fact that in this instance, when faced with great peril, he acted heroically in attacking and attempting to disarm an active shooter in his place of work,” Miller said. “While Mr. Surrett’s past may complicate how people feel about his legacy, his actions in the moment were courageous and for those actions, he deserves praise.”
Read the full article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-who-died-trying-stop-safeway-shooting-rampage-had-criminal-past
TX: MAN WRONGFULLY CONVICTED OF MOLESTING A CHILD 30 YEARS AGO SUES FOR THE IMPACT THE CASE HAS HAD ON HIS LIFE
September 3, 2022
Source: kvue.com 8/31/22
AUSTIN, Texas — A petition was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Troy Mansfield, the man wrongfully convicted of molesting a child 30 years ago, to sue Williamson County for the impact the case has had on his life.
Then, in 2016, a judge overturned Mansfield’s conviction, ruling that prosecutors had violated his constitutional rights by not disclosing favorable evidence. Mansfield was no longer a convicted felon and was taken off the sex offenders list.
Mansfield then tried to sue the County over the wrongful conviction, leading to the petition with Supreme Court to allow his lawsuit against the County. A response to the petition is expected by the end of September.
Man sexually assaulted 11-year-old he met on Instagram and gave her drugs
On Monday, the lorry attendant was sentenced to 20 years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane. Read more at straitstimes.com.
.10 hours ago: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/man-sexually-assaulted-11-year-old-he-met-on-instagram-and-gave-her-drugs
Instagram is long overdue for a comeuppance.:
Instagram was fined $402 million for mishandling teens' data in the EU
Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Meta $405 million for making public the data of many young users in the EU, and violating GDPR in then process.
GA: GEORGIA DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF ARRESTED IN FLORIDA FOR SOLICITING PROSTITUTION
September 3, 2022
Source: foxnews.com 9/2/22
A Georgia deputy police chief was arrested in Florida after he allegedly solicited prostitution in the Sunshine State.
Cartersville Deputy Police Chief Jason DiPrima was arrested Thursday in Polk County, Florida.
He faces charges of soliciting another for prostitution, lewdness or assignation.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 08 2022
I just removed a paragraph that started with these words.: Some of these articles are just plan communist propaganda. That was there by mistake. It was to be a disclaimer for my old Alternative Military News Now blog that I took down because I just got sick of war news.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated October 4 2022
VA: Victory in Supreme Court of Virginia against out-of-control prosecution
September 23, 2022
Source: ajustfuture.org 9/20/22 Justices declare effort targeting leading advocate illegal, ending 5-year court battle On Thursday, the highest court in Virginia ended the Commonwealth’s 13-year campaign to indefinitely detain a prominent advocate on criminal justice matters, Galen Baughman. In a victory for justice the Supreme Court ruled that the petition filed against Baughman in 2017 was illegal. A Short History of Baughman’s Fight Baughman...: https://ajustfuture.org/baughman-supreme-court-win/
IA: Former Iowa City schools counselor awarded $12 million after being wrongfully imprisoned for 6 years for sex offense
October 2, 2022
Source: press-citizen.com 9/30/22 Donald Clark won $12 million in a lawsuit he filed against the state of Iowa on Thursday, years after being exonerated and released from prison on false charges that he sexually abused a student while working as an Iowa City elementary school counselor. A jury awarded Clark $8 million in past emotional distress damages and $4 million for future damages after...: https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/2022/09/30/former-iowa-city-schools-counselor-12-million-after-wrongful-conviction-donald-clark-sexual-abuse/69530109007/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated October 20 2022
GERMAN COURT GRANTS PROTECTION TO FORMER FLORIDA SEX OFFENSE REGISTRANT ON HUMAN RIGHTS GROUNDS
October 7, 2022
Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 10/7/22
Taken from the FAC article:
SOURCE: Steven Whitsett, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Sending registrants back to prison for mere administrative violations of Florida’s sex offender registry violates human rights law. How’s that for a bit of good news?
After paying my “debt to society” by completing a lengthy prison term in Florida and two years of supervision, I decided that I didn’t owe anything further and was not going to be persecuted in my own country for the rest of my life. So, I packed my bags and boarded a plane bound for Europe. Passing first through Norway and Denmark, I made my way into Germany and sought protection from the German government on the ground that my human rights were being violated by Florida’s sex offender registry. (My treatment by the German federal police is a story worthy of its own article.)
Initially, the German immigration authority (BAMF) rejected my claim for asylum and ordered me to leave Germany within 30 days. I had different plans, though. Instead of leaving, I hired a German lawyer and appealed to the administrative court. On appeal, we raised several human rights claims against the sex offender registry scheme in Florida. This article addresses only one of them.
Courts in Europe operate quite differently from their American counterparts. In Europe, courts participate directly in the investigation of claims and are free to send investigators in search of evidence. This court ordered the German Foreign Office to send an investigator to Florida to independently research the facts of my case.
While the German court was looking into my claims, Florida issued a warrant for my arrest on grounds that I had violated the reporting and notification requirements of the sex offender registry. Specifically, Florida alleges that I (1) failed to report of a change of address, (2) failed to report my new residence in Germany, (3) failed to appear for my six-month registration update, and (4) failed to report that I possessed a valid passport. The German investigator discovered that the prosecutor assigned to the case in Florida is demanding a minimum of 18 years imprisonment for these violations.
Read the full FAC article: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/german-court-grants-protection-to-florida-sex-offender-registrant-on-human-rights-grounds/
The above story reminds me of this story:
AMERICAN SEX OFFENDER POLICY CONDEMNED AS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION BEFORE THE UNITED NATIONS
April 18, 2021
[justfactsnotfear.com – 3/19/21]
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7-zezT91pE
Visit justfactsnotfear.com/ : https://justfactsnotfear.com/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated November 07 2022
Canada: Supreme Court rules mandatory sex offender registry is unconstitutional
October 28, 2022
Source: nationalpost.com 10/28/22 Mandatory listing on Canada’s sex offender registry is, for some offenders, an unjustified infringement on their liberty that is not rationally connected to the goal of investigating or preventing sexual crimes, the Supreme Court ruled Friday. Automatic lifetime listing in the case of multiple sexual offences is similarly “overbroad,” the court decided in striking down both laws to permit discretion by... https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/supreme-court-mandatory-sex-offender-registry-unconstitutional
IA: Sheriff spreads lies about why registrants have lower recidivism rate
October 31, 2022: https://qctimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/sex-offender-compliance-checks-net-10-arrests/article_f61d18b8-81a0-5e97-bd1f-27dbec4cbc9f.html
Also, sign up for email lists on the following page as well.:
Sign the change.org petition: Public Sex Offender Registration is Violation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
November 1, 2022
Source: Florida Action Committee (FAC) started this petition To: The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the United Nations, Complaint Procedure Unit, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Petition to Declare Public Sex Offender Registration in the United States a Violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) The Florida Action Committee, Inc. (FAC) is a 2,500+ member non-profit public safety organization that advocates for the rights of...: https://www.change.org/p/public-sex-offender-registration-is-violation-of-universal-declaration-of-human-rights
TX: Man jailed on sex offender charges found unresponsive, dies in cell at Bexar County Jail
November 1, 2022
Source: ktsa.com/ 10/31/22 SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — A 65 year old inmate at the Bexar County Jail found unresponsive in his cell Monday morning has died. It was just after 2 A.M when the inmate was found in his cell by a Deputy conducting face to face checks. Medical staff from University Hospital responded to the call for help and began life saving...: https://www.ktsa.com/man-jailed-on-sex-offender-charges-found-unresponsive-dies-in-cell-at-bexar-county-jail/
This sounds like a great lawyer. I hope he does well.:
WA: WASHINGTON HIGH COURT SAYS CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER CAN PRACTICE LAW
November 3, 2022
Source: reuters.com 11/3/22
A sharply divided Washington Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a man who was previously convicted of a sex offense and other crimes can be licensed as an attorney.
The 5-4 decision clears the way for Zachary LeRoy Stevens, who graduated from Arizona State University’s law school in 2018, to practice law in Washington.
The opinion said Stevens had a difficult childhood in Utah and sought refuge online, where in 2006 he sent pornographic images of minors to a detective posing as a 14-year-old. He was charged in 2010 with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of voyeurism, which required him to register as a sex offender.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated November 15 2022
Canada: Jamie Sarkonak: What counts as a sex crime is too broad and it’s ruining people’s lives
November 7, 2022
Source: nationalpost.com 11/7/22 If some sex crimes are of such low significance that it’s considered a civil rights violation to put convicts’ addresses in a database for police eyes only, Parliament should re-examine its approach to sex-related offences as a whole. The recent Supreme Court decision in which it was declared unconstitutional to order all sex offenders onto a national registry upon conviction highlights a problem,...:
CA: WHEATLAND MAN GUILTY OF MURDER: INFLUENCED BY CONSPIRACY THEORIES, BANKS HAD ‘HIT LIST’ OF POTENTIAL VICTIMS
November 7, 2022
Source: appeal-democrat.com 11/3/22
As the spread of conspiracy theories and disinformation continues to creep into every corner of American life, the consequences of movements such as QAnon have shown to be fatal – the most recent well-covered example being the attack on Paul Pelosi at his home allegedly by a man who fell deep into the conspiracy rabbit hole.
On Oct. 28, a Wheatland man, 44-year-old Rory Banks, who also seemed to be affected by misinformation online, was found guilty by a Yuba County jury for the May 12, 2021, murder of 55-year-old Ralph Mendez. The jury found that Banks was guilty of burglary and the premeditated murder of Mendez.
At around 12:45 a.m. on that day in May of last year, the Wheatland Police Department received a 911 call related to a shooting that had taken place in the 200 block of G Street in Wheatland, the Appeal previously reported. Mendez was found by law enforcement officers with a gunshot wound. Lifesaving measures were performed but he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the department.
After an investigation, Banks was determined to be the shooting suspect.
“Banks broke into Mendez’s home, waking Mendez and his 88-year-old mother. Banks executed Mendez, shooting him in the torso and the head,” Yuba County District Attorney Clint Curry said in a statement. “Banks then used Mendez’s home phone to call 911. Wheatland Police officers arrived within minutes, finding Banks covered in blood in the driveway, with a pistol on the ground nearby. Banks surrendered and confessed to the murder.”
He was taken into custody without incident and booked into Yuba County Jail for murder and residential burglary. The weapon used in the fatal shooting was recovered at the scene.
“This was not a random act,” Wheatland Police Chief Damiean Sylvester said at the time. “We believe the victim was targeted by the suspect.”
In fact, according to evidence presented during the trial, it was determined that what Banks had done was not random, but was the act of a person convinced certain conspiracy theories were real.
“Rory Banks set out just after midnight on May 12, 2021, armed with two handguns, four knives, OC spray, strobe lights, a hit list with four names and addresses, and an intent to murder every person in Wheatland listed on California’s sex-offender registry,” Curry said. “Banks did not know any of them personally, but appointed himself judge, jury, and executioner.”
Curry said Mendez was one of four men on Banks’ kill list.
During the trial, Banks’ attorney argued that Banks should be found insane or receive a lesser punishment of voluntary manslaughter because Banks believed he was defending the community from sex offenders – that belief is part of a conspiracy theory often pushed by supporters of QAnon. At the trial, the jury heard from two psychologists who examined Banks.
“We are thankful the jury upheld the rule of law in this case,” Curry said. “While no one likes sex offenders, you can’t lower yourself to their level, murder someone in cold blood, and think you’re going to get a pass.”
New Blogs Part 14 Updated November 17 2022
Canada: P.E.I. has 199 people on the National Sex Offender Registry, but that number may drop
November 16, 2022
Source: msn.com 11/16/22 The number of people on P.E.I. who are on the National Sex Offender Registry could drop after a recent Supreme Court decision. Since 2011, any Canadian who has been convicted of two or more sexual offences is automatically listed on the registry for life. The Supreme Court has determined that is unconstitutional, saying the list should be based on an offender's...: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/p-e-i-has-199-people-on-the-national-sex-offender-registry-but-that-number-may-drop/ar-AA14bGLd
New Blogs Part 14 Updated January 13 2023
MAGA guy who calls Democrats paedophiles turns out to be a paedophile
Jan 02, 2023
A man who supports the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement and believes Democrats are paedophiles actually appears to be a paedophile himself.
In a clip uploaded to Twitter, journalist Andrew Callaghan of the HBO Max documentary This Place Rules interviews Dave Todeschini, a QAnon decoder and YouTuber.
He speaks about the Democratic politicians in Washington, DC, and the Capitol Hill riot in January 2021.
Pasted from and full article here.: https://www.indy100.com/viral/maga-guy-calls-democrats-paedophiles
New Blogs Part 14 Updated January 30 2023
CA Court Blocks DOJ’s new SORNA Rule Because it Violated Due Process and First Amendment
January 18, 2023
Los Angeles: A California court last week blocked the Department of Justice’s new Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act rule because it violated due process and the First Amendment.
“The DOJ almost never loses these cases. That they lost here goes to show just how far out on a limb the DOJ is with this rule,” said Caleb Kruckenberg, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “The rule clearly violated due process and free speech protections. And while the court felt bound by precedent to conclude that the rule didn’t violate the constitutional separation of powers, we will continue to press this issue in the hopes that the Supreme Court will finally enforce constitutional limits on the executive branch.”
The rule required anyone who had been convicted of a sex crime to register as a sex offender in their state, even if—as in the case of our client, John Doe*—their conviction had been expunged and they were not even allowed by their state to register. Because John Doe could not register, the DOJ’s rule said that he could be prosecuted at any time, and he would have been forced to prove that registration was impossible—an affirmative defense that turns the presumption of innocence on its head.
The court ruled that it was likely an unconstitutional violation of due process to require John, or anyone else, to affirmatively prove their innocence only after being arrested and charged.
U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal noted in his order the profound threat the rule posed to justice: “For individuals like Plaintiffs, at least some of whom allege a remarkable record of rehabilitation and positive contributions to society following convictions in the distant past, the prospect of being returned to prison for up to 10 years due to circumstances beyond their control is a particularly disturbing one.”
The court also found the rule’s requirement that registrants disclose their internet usernames likely violated the First Amendment by making it impossible for them to protest anonymously on issues of public concern, like the DOJ rule.
Finally, the court ruled it was bound by Ninth Circuit precedent to reject a challenge to the DOJ’s power to issue any rules at all, but the order noted the “significant, even disturbing” threat to the separation of powers that arose from the rule.
With this order, the DOJ’s SORNA rule is now unenforceable in California and could be vacated nationwide in the judge’s final decision. The case is John Doe v. Department of Justice.
*Our client is using the pseudonym John Doe to protect the life and reputation he has built in the decade-plus since his record was fully expunged.: https://all4consolaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Decision-PI-Jan-2023.pdf#page=1&view=FitH
CA: A Federal Judge Says the DOJ’s Sex Offender SORNA Registration Rules Violate Due Process by Requiring the Impossible
January 19, 2023
Source: reason.com 1/19/23
Justice Department regulations threaten people with prosecution for failing to register even when their state no longer requires it.
A rule that Attorney General Merrick Garland issued in 2021 notionally requires people to do things that are plainly impossible. If they have been convicted of a sex offense, they must register with their state, even when the state neither requires nor allows them to do so. They also must supply the state with all the information required by federal law, even when the state does not collect that information.
Under 18 USC 2250, someone who fails to meet those requirements and who travels outside his state can be charged with a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. At trial, the defendant has the burden of proving that he was unable to register “as required” by the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). That Kafkaesque situation, a federal judge in California ruled yesterday, violates the constitutional right to due process.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated February 24 2023
Let's look at this from another point of view. I see it as, social media and all them that support it; are responsible for countless deaths and sexual molestation of children. OK maybe it is not so cut and dry as that. It can not be denied that if you support social media, you have to claim at least a small amount of blame for the crimes that take place because of social media existing. It is no secret that I believe and have always believed that social media should not exist and should be abolished by the government. Unless everything you publish, can be seen by the whole internet; it should not be published, especially by the mobs of social media.
When the mob of social media says someone deserves more prison time; what does that mean? I call it the pot calling the kettle black.
R Kelly sentenced to 20 years in child porn case, social media says ‘not enough’
Disgraced R&B star-turned-convicted sex offender R. Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday on another set of sex crimes, including a number...: https://opoyi.com/usa/r-kelly-sentenced-to-20-years-in-child-porn-case-social-media-says-not-enough/
I am sorry but this made me laugh. We need the entire police department to find the man that groped a woman.:
Police: Man wanted for groping woman in Brooklyn Surveillance video shows the suspect get out of a car and run into a building, where police say he groped a woman he was following. .1 hour ago: https://news.yahoo.com/police-man-wanted-groping-woman-171700004.html
New Blogs Part 14 Updated February 27 2023
NY: New York to pay Anthony Broadwater $5.5M for wrongful conviction in rape of Alice Sebold
Source: syracuse.com 2/14/23 Syracuse, NY – New York State has agreed to pay $5.5 million to Syracuse resident Anthony Broadwater for his wrongful conviction in the 1981 rape of Alice Sebold, who later turned her account of the attack into the best-selling memoir “Lucky.” Broadwater, now 62, spent 16 ½ years in state prison and more than two decades longer on the sex offender...: https://www.syracuse.com/news/2023/02/new-york-to-pay-anthony-broadwater-55m-for-wrongful-conviction-in-rape-of-alice-sebold.html
Why Do We Treat Sex Crimes Differently Than Other Violent Crimes?
February 25, 2023
Source: thecrimereport.org 2/21/23
In a recently published research paper in the Stanford Law Review, Aya Gruber, a law professor at the University of Colorado, considers the concept of “sex exceptionalism” in the United States criminal justice system and asks readers to take a second look at how we treat sex crimes.
Gruber previously published “The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women’s Liberation in Mass Incarceration” with University of California Press.
In “Sex Exceptionalism in Criminal Law,” Gruber argues that treating sex crimes differently than other crimes is not natural or neutral but rather has a political history that should be examined.
Sex exceptionalism is the idea that sexual behavior and desires are seen as fundamentally different from other human behavior and deserve special treatment.
“There was this notion that the feminist position on rape was always more, more, more, more incarceration, more policing, more prison.” Gruber told The Crime Report. “But it was also even non-feminists who were just having a hard time talking about it and didn’t approach it like you would approach a burglary or theft or other crimes.”
Gruber’s paper challenges traditional narratives about the origin of rape laws and their moral underpinnings.
The article suggests that it is now time to critically examine whether sex crimes should be treated differently than other violent assaults and calls for a further examination of the impact the treatment of sex crime actually has on the legal system.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated March 15 2023
House Judiciary Pass Sex Offender Petition Registry Removal Bill
SD: House Judiciary Pass Sex Offender Petition Registry Removal Bill
March 3, 2023
Some sex offenders who committed their crimes out of state could petition to get off the South Dakota state sex offenders list under a bill passed Friday morning by the House Judiciary Committee.
SB 176 would allow an individual taken off an out-of-state sex offender list to petition to be removed from the South Dakota sex offender registry.
It would also allow a person who committed a crime in the other state that was not an offense that would land them on the South Dakota registry to petition to be removed.
Supporters said they wanted to treat all South Dakotans the same.
The measure passed the committee 11 to 2.
Republican Rep. Mike Stevens from Yankton said that under current law, the state’s courts could not remove someone from the list whose sex offense occurred in another state.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated March 23 2023
RI: Federal judge rules sex offender residency law is unconstitutional
March 17, 2023
A state law that makes it a crime for Level 3 sex offenders to live within 1,000 feet of a school was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge on Thursday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island challenged the statue when it was first enacted in 2015, and it’s been subject to a preliminary injunction barring its enforcement since then.
Currently in Rhode Island, state law says sex offenders are barred from living within 300 feet of a school. In the wake of Thursday’s ruling, it will not be going up to 1,000 feet.
Some residents said they believe it should be even more than 1,000 feet.
“That’s probably the most vile crime that could happen to a child and I think we should be strict and stronger on that sort of thing,” said David Campbell, a resident.
The federal judge found that the statute would require individuals subject to the law to guess whether they were in compliance with it, and potentially face a criminal trial if guessed wrong.
“Judge McConnell today ruled that summary judgement should be granted for the plaintiffs, essentially us, on the basis of a constitutionally void for vagueness statue,” said Attorney John MacDonald.
Read the full article: https://turnto10.com/amp/news/local/sex-offender-residency-law-federal-judge-unconstitutional-school-children-student-ruling-enforcement-preliminary-injunction
‘How long is long enough?’: Independent task force challenges length of prison sentences in America
March 22, 2023
Prisoners with long-term sentences need more opportunities to have their sentences reviewed. Lawmakers and state agencies need to identify and address racial disparities in sentencing. And the amount of a drug involved in a crime should be decoupled from the length of an offender’s sentence.
Those are some of the recommendations from the authors of a yearlong study of the nation’s use of lengthy prison sentences published Tuesday.
The independent task force, co-chaired by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, and former Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, was convened by the nonpartisan think tank the Council on Criminal Justice and its panel of 16 experts, including former prosecutors, law enforcement officials, advocacy groups, victims and former prisoners.
The recommendations come amid growing concern over public safety and rising homicide rates, but task force director John Maki, who has served as head of an Illinois nonpartisan prison watchdog, said it’s important to look at whether long sentences are the best use of public safety dollars, especially as states consider boosting sentences.
Read the full article: https://www.yahoo.com/news/long-long-enough-independent-taskforce-090014338.html
New Blogs Part 14 Updated April 07 2023
VA: Governor approves compensation payment for man wrongfully convicted of molestation Source: roanoke.com 3/27/23 David Wayne Kingrea’s long search for justice took another step this month as Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved more than $50,000 in compensation for Kingrea’s wrongful conviction and the year he spent in jail. Kingrea, 49, of the Pilot community in Montgomery County, said Thursday that the money will help him and his wife care for their special-needs son Dylan. What is...: https://roanoke.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/governor-approves-compensation-payment-for-wrongfully-convicted-montgomery-county-man/article_3afda200-c8db-11ed-8107-eb72d6dc75e1.html
VA: Governor approves compensation payment for man wrongfully convicted of molestation
Source: roanoke.com 3/27/23 David Wayne Kingrea’s long search for justice took another step this month as Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved more than $50,000 in compensation for Kingrea’s wrongful conviction and the year he spent in jail. Kingrea, 49, of the Pilot community in Montgomery County, said Thursday that the money will help him and his wife care for their special-needs son Dylan. What is...: https://roanoke.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/governor-approves-compensation-payment-for-wrongfully-convicted-montgomery-county-man/article_3afda200-c8db-11ed-8107-eb72d6dc75e1.html
UT: Utah Governor signs bill H.B. 139 to allow some lifetime offenders to petition the courts for registry removal
Source: le.utah.gov 3/14/23 Utah Governor signed bill H.B. 139 to allow lifetime-offenders, convicted in another jurisdiction, the ability to Petition the Courts to be removed from the registry after living in the State for two consecutive years (at least 183 per years), with the intent of primarily residing in Utah, and meeting other conditions. This is available 20 years after release from confinement, or...: https://le.utah.gov/~2023/bills/static/HB0139.html
Action Alert for Illinois Residents: Call and email today to support SB 2158 to end weekly police registration
Source: Illinois Voices for Reform, Chicago 400 Illinois residents, we have a great opportunity to support legislation that would improve the lives of registrants and their loved ones, and we urgently need everyone's help! Our colleagues at the Chicago 400 have been hard at work on a bill that, if passed, would make the following changes to our harmful and wasteful registration and residency...: https://secure.everyaction.com/sJmSS9PYGkWQxj74V6ZwpA2
Juvenile detention staff who sexually victimized children face few legal sanctions, study says
Source: msn.com 4/1/23 Most juvenile detention staff who sexually victimized children faced no legal repercussions for their actions, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report that examined substantiated incidents from 2013 through 2018. The Bureau of Justice Statistics study released Friday found that among 499 substantiated incidents, perpetrators faced legal action 31% of the time, and that incidents were typically handled internally, with a reprimand or discipline, demotion or...: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/juvenile-detention-staff-who-sexually-victimized-children-face-few-legal-sanctions-study-says/ar-AA19lrD7
ID: The Idaho Children’s Trust Fund says prevention is more important than focusing on penalties for offenders
Source: idahonews.com 4/3/23 BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Many children in Idaho will be the victims of abuse and/or neglect. The Idaho Children’s Trust Fund says one in eight Idaho children will be the victim of sex abuse. Rather than focusing on penalties for offenders, Idaho Children’s Trust Fund Executive Director Roger Sherman says the focus should be on prevention. He says, “we as a...: https://idahonews.com/news/local/1-in-8-idaho-children-will-be-a-victim-of-sex-abuse
MO: MO Supreme Court sends Boone County sex offender case back to circuit court
Source: komu.com 4/4/23 JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to send a Boone County woman's case back to circuit court after she said she should be removed from the sex offender registry. The 4-3 decision by the Court reversed the circuit court’s judgment and sent back the case for further proceedings... https://www.komu.com/news/midmissourinews/mo-supreme-court-sends-boone-county-sex-offender-case-back-to-circuit-court/article_72034d4a-d317-11ed-9b52-a7e9e139a652.html
MD: Report details ‘staggering’ church sex abuse in Maryland
Source: apnews.com 4/5/23 BALTIMORE (AP) — More than 150 Catholic priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused over 600 children and often escaped accountability, according to a long-awaited state report released Wednesday that revealed the scope of abuse spanning 80 years and accused church leaders of decades of coverups. The report paints a damning picture of the archdiocese, which is...: https://apnews.com/article/baltimore-archdiocese-sex-abuse-report-7d5d3af098da59a1c9313a246566638c
FL: ANC chair’s sex offender registration in Florida spurs calls for transparency
Source: gwhatchet.com 4/6/23 The chair of Foggy Bottom’s local governing body is a registered sex offender in Florida, and court records reveal a criminal history he had not publicly disclosed in D.C. before this week. Joel Causey – the highest-ranking official on the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission, which represents residents on and near campus – was convicted in 1998 for...: https://www.gwhatchet.com/2023/04/05/anc-chairs-sex-offender-registration-in-florida-spurs-calls-for-transparency/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated April 19 2023
President Biden has proclaimed April 2023 as Second Chance Month, but the U.S. Senate has yet to act!
Now more than ever, it is crucial that we raise awareness about the challenges encountered by individuals with a criminal record, even after facing their consequences. When we extend second chances to men and women with a criminal record, our communities can become safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
Using our quick and easy tool, find your lawmakers and send a letter urging them to take a stand for justice that restores. You can use our pre-written letter or make it your own.
Act soon! Click this link to send a letter of thanks to President Biden and urge your senators to declare April as Second Chance Month.: https://p2a.co/abkgci7
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 02 2023
WV: Parole officer sexually assaulted victims on multiple occasions
Source: wvmetronews.com 4/21/23 PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — More information has come out about the disgraced parole officer sentenced for sexually assaulting a female officer. Anthony _______, 44, worked for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation as a parole officer in Parkersburg. He admitted to forcing at least two victims into performing sex acts on him, this according to U.S. Attorney for the Southern...: https://wvmetronews.com/2023/04/21/parole-officer-sexually-assaulted-victims-on-multiple-Occasions/
Roman Polanski, 1977 rape victim Samantha Geimer smile for social media snap
May 1, 2023 R H
Controversial director Roman Polanski reunited with Samantha Geimer, the woman he pled guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than 40 years ago.
Geimer was 13 years old at the time Polanski – who was in his 40s – was arrested and charged with rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, providing controlled substances to a minor, and lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under 14.
Following his guilty plea in 1977, Polanski fled the country and became a fugitive, first finding refuge in London and then settling in France.
While Polanski has never stepped foot on U.S. soil or any country that would extradite him to the United States, he has still created films and won the Academy Award for best director in 2002 for “The Pianist.”
In the Instagram photo shared from Geimer’s private account to Polanski’s wife Emmanuelle Seigner’s profile, both Roman and Samantha smiled for the camera.
“Thank you Samantha,” Emmanuelle captioned the shot with a few heart emojis.
Read the full article: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/roman-polanski-1977-rape-victim-samantha-geimer-smile-social-media-snap
NY: Friends Urging Convicted Sex Offender Anthony Weiner to Run for NYC Mayor
Source: headtopics.com 5/1/23 Friends of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), a convicted sex offender, are urging him to run for political office again. sex offender, are urging him to run for political office again — making a comeback by pitching himself as a moderate Democrat to rebuild New York City. Curtis Sliwa, the former GOP mayoral candidate for New York City, said he and...: https://headtopics.com/us/friends-urging-convicted-sex-offender-anthony-weiner-to-run-for-nyc-mayor-38636030
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 19 2023
MI: Class of sex offenders seek damages from Michigan governors for their enforcement of registration requirements
Source: courthousenews.com 5/3/23 Various state officials, including several governors, can be sued in their individual capacities for damages after they continued enforcement of unconstitutional sex offender registration requirements, a class of anonymous plaintiffs told an appeals court panel. CINCINNATI (CN) — A federal judge improperly granted several state officials immunity and erred when it dismissed constitutional claims brought by a class of anonymous sex...: https://www.courthousenews.com/class-of-sex-offenders-seek-damages-from-michigan-governors-for-their-enforcement-of-registration-requirements/
CA: Former federal agent from Riverside gets life in prison for sexual assault of 2 women
Source: ktla.com 5/8/23 A former special agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) from Riverside was sentenced to life in federal prison for sexually assaulting two women and using his law enforcement position to prevent them from reporting his violent crimes, authorities announced Monday. The former federal agent, 48-year-old John Jacob Olivas, started his government career in 2007, working in Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He...: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/former-federal-agent-from-riverside-gets-life-in-prison-for-sexual-assault-of-2-women/
Her son said his stepdad was sexually abusive. A judge gave the stepdad custody anyway. Then she found the photographs.
Thu, May 18, 2023 at 1:12 PM CDT: https://news.yahoo.com/her-son-said-her-ex-181227896.html
I hope this dude helps RSOS for constitutional rights.:
FL: ‘Justice’ reformer, ex-BSO deputy Bleiweiss avoids prison but must submit to sex-offender treatment
Source: floridabulldog.org 5/10/23 Self-appointed justice reformer Jonathan Bleiweiss, credibly accused of molesting 25 men when he was a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy, has shut down an attempt to send him back to prison for a long stretch. Prosecutors wanted substantial prison time to punish Bleiweiss for violating his probation. Under the terms of a generous 2015 plea deal, he served less than four years...: https://www.floridabulldog.org/2023/05/justice-reformer-ex-bso-deputy-bleiweiss-Must-submit-sex-offender-treatment/
John Legend knows the obstacles of life after prison. He wants you to know them too
Source: npr.org 5/4/23 When incarcerated people leave prison, are they actually free? Turns out, the singer/songwriter John Legend is one of 113 million American adults who has had a family member incarcerated. He tells his family's story in this 30-minute documentary that asserts people can't be free unless they have the necessary resources when they leave prison. From the get-go HOME/FREE lists the problems...: https://www.npr.org/2023/05/04/1173870744/john-legend-knows-the-obstacles-of-life-after-prison-he-wants-you-to-know-them-t
SAN JOSE — Authorities said a man being held at Santa Clara County Main Jail was pronounced dead after deputies found him unresponsive inside his cell Saturday afternoon.
Sheriff’s deputies performing a welfare check found the 74-year-old man inside Main Jail Dorm 2B at 2:05 p.m. and administered CPR until medical personnel arrived, according to a news release from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. The man was pronounced dead at a local hospital at 2:55 p.m.
Authorities did not release the man’s name Monday, pending notification of his next of kin.
The sheriff’s office said a preliminary investigation showed no evidence of foul play or suspicious circumstances leading to the death. The man was housed alone at the time he was found, authorities said.
The man was booked into the jail on June 14, 2020 on multiple charges of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age, the sheriff’s office said.
NE: Prison ordered for a man who tried to burn alive a registrant in his house
Source: newschannelnebraska.com 5/15/23 NEBRASKA CITY – A Nebraska City man was sentenced to prison Monday for starting a fire after bragging he would deal with residents on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registration. Otoe County Attorney Jennifer Panko-Rahe said 20-year-old Seth Buller went to a residence listed on the registry with intent to harm whoever was living there. She said when his attempt to...: https://www.newschannelnebraska.com/story/48909844/prison-ordered-for-attempt-to-burn-house-on-sex-offender-registration
OR: Kotek wants $6.7M to clear backlog of unclassified sex offenders
Source: katu.com 5/17/23 PORTLAND, Ore. — Gov. Tina Kotek wants lawmakers to spend millions clearing a backlog of unclassified sex offenders. In March, KATU Investigator Wright Gazaway found there are nearly 15,000 unclassified sex offenders who are Oregon residents. That means the state agency that monitors them has no idea how dangerous those people are or their risk to commit another sex crime. The...: https://katu.com/news/katu-investigates/tina-kotek-wants-67m-to-clear-backlog-of-unclassified-sex-offenders
I would get involved with this but have no camera on my computer. If someone could; I would appreciate knowing why someone has to register for life when the charge is deferred adjudicated and has nothing to do with children.
TX: Council on Sex Offender Treatment (CSOT) Ethics Committee Agenda for June 9
Source: hhs.texas.gov This meeting will be webcast. Members of the public may attend the meeting in person at the address above or access a live stream of the meeting at https://texashhsmeetings.org/HHSWebcast. Select the tab for the Winters Live on the date and time for this meeting. Please e-mail Webcasting@hhsc.state.tx.usif you have any problems with the webcasting function. This meeting will be conducted via videoconference...: https://www.hhs.texas.gov/about/communications-events/meetings-events/2023/06/09/council-sex-offender-treatment-csot-ethics-committee-agenda
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 24 2023
Dallas man exonerated of 1990 sexual assault conviction after 26 years in prison
Tyrone Day maintained his innocence since his arrest in 1989 but took a plea deal in an effort to avoid trial and the risk of a long sentence.: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2023/05/24/dallas-man-exonerated-of-1990-sexual-assault-conviction-after-26-years-in-prison/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated June 10 2023
AZ: Data suggest changes for sex offense policies
Based on a false premise, Justice Anthony Kennedy asserted in the case of Smith v Doe 538 U.S. 84 (2003) that “the risk of recidivism posed by sex offenders is frightening and high,” as high as 80% for those who are untreated. This, he contended, made it vital that the public be able to identify these individuals in the interest of public safety.
Justice Kennedy’s statements were wrong then and they are wrong now. They were based on an article in a lay publication, Psychology Today, not a peer-reviewed journal, that was written by a sex offender counselor, not a researcher, who earned his living selling his counseling program to prisons. The author has since disavowed these numbers and said they were never meant to be used as a basis for any type of judicial ruling.
It is now clear, based on decades of data, that those who have committed sexual offenses rarely recidivate. Indeed, while the recidivism rate for drug offenses exceeds 80%, study after study finds the three-year recidivism rate for people who commit sex offenses to be 3.5%, much lower than that claimed by Justice Kennedy. This low recidivism rate is in line with the finding that the vast majority of sexual offenses — as high as 95% — are committed by people who are first-time offenders and thus are not on the registry at all.
Read the full article: https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2023/05/18/data-suggest-changes-for-sex-offense-policies/
HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (PARSOL) strongly urges the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to uphold Chester County Judge Allison Bell Royer’s finding in the case of Comm. v. George Torsilieri that Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) is unconstitutional.
Royer found that “SORNA is unconstitutional both facially and as applied to this Defendant on the bases that it employs an irrebuttable presumption that is not universally applicable and because its punitive nature offends Alleyne and Apprendi; results in a criminal sentence in excess of the statutory maximums; violates Federal and State proscriptions against cruel and unusual punishment; and breaches the separation of powers doctrine.”
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania heard arguments today from Commonwealth attorney Ronald Eisenberg, Esq. that “sex offenders” are highly likely to recidivate, to which the Justice Christine Donahue replied that, according to the record for this case, “80 to 95 percent of [past] offenders are likely NOT to recidivate.”
“The fact that people can and do change is an important cornerstone of PARSOL’s core values,” said PARSOL Legislative Director Randall Hayes. “Prevention, treatment, and healing are possible. We take a person-first approach to criminal justice reform that cultivates a fair and just society, honors inherent dignity, and promotes respect and fairness.”
“Decades of research states that sex offense registries are not only ineffective, but the damage they cause to individuals’ reputations is also known to increase the likelihood of re-offense,” added Theresa Robertson, Ph.D., PARSOL executive director. “We work to provide resources and advocacy for Pennsylvania citizens who struggle daily with the added burden placed upon them by public registries.”
Appellee attorney Aaron Marcus, Esq. agreed in his argument, stating, “There is a difference between the conviction and the effect of the registry’s label of a ‘high risk of danger’ on individuals, particularly things like unemployment and joblessness, houselessness, depression, and even suicide are affected by the label. SORNA says that individuals on this registry pose a risk of sexual danger, not just at the time of conviction, but now and forever into the future as long as they are on the registry.”
Eisenberg repeatedly stated that it is not the court’s position to determine the legislature’s foundation for creating a public registry in his argument. Yet, the constitutionality of the legislation and the administration’s actions in enacting it is very much in the court’s purview.
“We continue to call on our legislators and policymakers to avoid supporting knee-jerk fear-based legislation and public policy and, instead, implement fact-based ones as recommended by the American Law Institute,” added Hayes. “These recommendations include ending the practice of public sex offense registries, restricting registry information to law enforcement and legitimate background checks, a standardized registration period, and clear definitions and penalties for misusing registry information.”
The Court hearing can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xB9LwPC7EI
Civil commitment facilities actually foster the traumatic and violent conditions that they are supposed to prevent.
As if serving a prison sentence wasn’t punishment enough, 20 states and the federal Bureau of Prisons detain over 6,000 people, mostly men, who have been convicted of sex offenses in prison-like “civil commitment” facilities beyond the terms of their criminal sentence. Around the turn of the millennium, 20 states, Washington D.C., and the federal government passed “Sexually Violent Persons” legislation that created a new way for these jurisdictions to keep people locked up — even indefinitely — who have already served a criminal sentence for a “sex offense.” In some states, people are transferred directly from prison to a civil commitment facility at the end of their sentence. In Texas, formerly incarcerated people who had already come home from prison were rounded up in the middle of the night and relocated to civil commitment facilities without prior notice. This practice, though seldom reported on, made some news in 2017 when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case from Minnesota after a federal judge deemed the practice unconstitutional. The Prison Policy Initiative has included civil commitment in our Whole Pie reports on U.S. systems of confinement, but here we offer a deeper dive, including recently-published data from a survey of individuals confined in an Illinois facility under these laws.
Some advocates call civil commitment facilities “shadow prisons,” in part because of how little news coverage they receive and how murky their practices are. In Illinois, for example, the Department of Corrections (DOC) facilities are overseen by the John Howard Association, an independent prison watchdog organization. But Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility, a civil commitment center that opened after Illinois enacted its own Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act in 1998, is not subject to the same kind of oversight because it is housed under the Department of Human Services and is not technically classified as a prison. This is true in many states that have “Sexually Violent Persons” laws on their books, and consequently, horrific medical neglect and abuse proliferate in these shadowy facilities. For instance, a New Jersey civil commitment facility was one of the deadliest facilities at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Similarly, Rushville is not held to the same reporting requirements as DOC facilities, so gathering data about people’s movement in and out of the facility is only possible by filing an open records request. Reportedly, the Bureau of Justice Statistics intends to begin collecting data about indefinite post-sentence ‘civil’ confinements in June of 2023. Until that happens, it’s only possible to get aggregated counts of how many people are civilly committed — nothing like the individual-level information prison systems are expected to provide in the service of transparency and accountability. This is true across the U.S., as civil commitment facilities are housed under different agencies from state to state, which makes it exceedingly difficult to measure the full scope of these systems on a national level. As a result, estimates about how many people are currently civilly committed vary from 5,000 to over 10,000 people. Increased accountability and oversight must be chief among efforts to address this broken turn-of-the-millennium policy trend.
Read the full article: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/civil-commitment-does-more-harm-than-good/
IL: Nearly 2,000 children in Illinois were sexually abused by Catholic clergy, state finds
Source: nbcnews.com 5/23/23 CHICAGO — An Illinois attorney general’s office investigation released Tuesday found that 451 Catholic clergy sexually abused nearly 2,000 children in the state over a nearly 70-year period, which was more than four times the 103 individuals the church named when the state began its review in 2018. Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a news conference that investigators found that Catholic clergy...: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/catholic-clergy-sexually-abused-nearly-2000-kids-illinois-state-finds-rcna85856
OR, WA: Housing restrictions are leaving more PNW sex offenders homeless
Source: crosscut.com 5/25/23 In his 15 years housing people coming out of prison, Mike Cross has had to turn many people away. Cross, director of Oregon City-based nonprofit Free on the Outside, which provides housing and recovery for formerly incarcerated individuals, knows what strings to pull to get people housed. While working in Hillsboro west of Portland, he successfully sheltered people of all criminal...: https://crosscut.com/news/2023/05/housing-restrictions-are-leaving-more-pnw-sex-offenders-homeless
Since I now have, practically; a doctorate in sex offences and what they entail, I notice more and more how everyday television, that people watch, can have multiple sex offences per episode. If all television shows and movies ect. were sued over depicting sex offences; as a every day accepted event, all of Hollywood would go out of business. I realize it would be impossible to go after every entertainment company for depicting sex offenses as socially acceptable: at least we should be monitoring future entertainment to stop this.:
CA: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Over Underage Nude Scene in 1968 Film ‘Romeo and Juliet’
Source: news.yahoo.com/Rolling Stone 5/26/23 Los Angeles County judge Alison Mackenzie confirmed she would grant Paramount Pictures’ motion to throw out a lawsuit over a nude scene in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, citing the First Amendment. Earlier this year, lead actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting sued Paramount for sexual exploitation and child abuse over the use of nude footage in the movie, which...: https://news.yahoo.com/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-underage-082226335.html
State v. Corey T. Rector, 2023 WI 41, 5/23/23 affirming a case certified by the court of appeals, 2020AP1213; case activity (including briefs)
Rector pleaded to five counts of possessing child pornography in a single case. He’d never been convicted of anything before. The sentencing judge ordered that he be placed on the sex offender registry until 15 years after the end of his sentence or supervision. The Department of Corrections then wrote the judge to say that, in its view, any two or more convictions of registry-eligible sex offenses trigger mandatory registration for life. The judge stuck to his guns and reiterated the 15-year registry requirement. The state appealed, and the court of appeals certified the case. The state supreme court now holds, 4-3, that Rector is not required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated June 23 2023
Sign the petition: Public Sex Offender Registration is Violation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
June 21, 2023
To: The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the United Nations, Complaint Procedure Unit, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Petition to Declare Public Sex Offender Registration in the United States a Violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
The Florida Action Committee, Inc. (FAC) is a 2,500+ member non-profit public safety organization that advocates for the rights of all persons. Included in our membership are people forced to register as sexual offenders in the United States.
Today, approximately one-million people in the United States are forced to register as “sex offenders”. It is a debilitating label that elicits a very negative social reaction and causes extreme harm to the person wearing the label and anyone associated with them.
In Florida, all persons forced to register are required to do so for life, and all are broadcast on a State sanctioned, publicly accessible and Google indexed website along with their name, picture, address, and other identifying information. They remain on the public registry even if they move out of the state, move out of the country, or die. Two-thirds of the people on Florida’s sex offender registry do not even live in Florida communities!
The publicly broadcast label leads to stigmatization, separation from society, loss of employment, loss of housing and even exposure to violence at the hands of vigilantes. The stigmatization extends to the spouses, children, family, friends, employer and anyone that associates with the registrant. The isolation, shame, stress, fear of violence, loss of income and other psychological effects are experienced by the entire household.
It would be one thing if the registry was effective at reducing sexual offenses, but it is not. A meta-study analyzing more than 25 years of research found that the registry does not reduce sexual or non-sexual recidivism at all (Zgoba, K.M., Mitchell, M.M. The effectiveness of Sex Offender Registration and Notification: A meta-analysis of 25 years of findings. J Exp Criminol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-021-09480-z
The United Nations expressly prohibits cruel or degrading treatment or punishment. The prohibition can be found, among other places, in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The act of placing human beings on a public shaming list for life, when that list has been repeatedly proven through empirical research to be ineffective at reducing sexual offending, is grievously cruel and degrading.
We respectfully request The High Commissioner of Human Rights to investigate this practice and take appropriate action.
Click here to sign the petition on Change.org: https://www.change.org/p/public-sex-offender-registration-is-violation-of-universal-declaration-of-human-rights
CA: Nicki Minaj’s neighbors petition for her sex offender husband to leave posh Hidden Hills
June 23, 2023
Nicki Minaj is facing a new line of resistance to her controversial marriage to childhood sweetheart Kenneth Petty, and it’s coming from her new neighbors in the posh city of Hidden Hills.
Since December, they’ve been gathering signatures on a petition that demands that Petty leave the city because he’s a sex offender, TMZ reported. “Say no to sex offenders in Hidden Hills,” the Change.org petition reads.
The petition notes that the rapper’s husband was convicted in 1995 of the attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl, which landed him in prison for four years. Petty, 45, also is serving a one-year sentence on home confinement, presumably in the $19.5 million Hidden Hills mansion Minaj, 40, purchased in December, per TMZ. He pleaded guilty in 2021 for failing to register as a sex offender when he moved to California, and TMZ reported that he recently changed his address on the Megan’s Law website to show that he lives in Hidden Hills.
“We, the residents of Hidden Hills, must put our resident’s safety first,” reads the petition, which doesn’t mention Minaj’s name, only Petty’s. “DO NOT allow this dangerous sex offender to live near you. SHOW that you are against sex offenders in our Hidden Hills neighborhood!”
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 07 2023
NY: Court of Appeals orders new risk level classification hearing for registered sex offender
Source: nydailyrecord.com 6/23/23 New York state’s highest court has ordered a new hearing to determine the risk level classification for a registered sex offender. The Court of Appeals ruled that the Sex Offender Registry Act (SORA) court deprived defendant Michael Worley of due process rights by changing his risk level assessment without giving him an opportunity to contest the determination. ... At the SORA...: https://nydailyrecord.com/2023/06/23/court-of-appeals-orders-new-hearing/
TX: Anti-Sex Offender Registry Group Holds National Conference in Houston
Source: thetexan.news 6/26/23 Welcome letters from the mayor’s office praised the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws for efforts on behalf of “marginalized citizens.” An organization advocating on behalf of accused sex offenders held its national conference in Houston last weekend to teach attendees how to lobby for criminal justice reforms, including the dismantling of sexual offender registries (SOR). The National Association for...: https://all4consolaws.org/2023/06/tx-anti-sex-offender-registry-group-holds-national-conference-in-houston/
FL: The liability of unreliable crime data in election season
Source: themarshallproject.org 6/20/23 In announcing his presidential bid, Florida’s governor relied on data from only half of the state’s law enforcement agencies. When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his bid for the presidency on Twitter Spaces last month, he touted Florida’s low crime rate as a proud accomplishment. “Claiming that Florida is unsafe is a total farce,” DeSantis said in the announcement. “I mean,...: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/06/20/desantis-florida-crime-rate-incomplete-data
Key document may be fake in LGBTQ+ rights case before US supreme court
Source: theguardian.com 6/29/23 Christian website designer says she received email request from same-sex couple but ‘author’ says he did not send it – and is not gay The veracity of a key document in a major LGBTQ+ rights case before the US supreme court has come under question, raising the possibility that important evidence cited in it might be wrong or even falsified. The...: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/jun/29/supreme-court-lgbtq-document-veracity-colorado
Book by Emily Horowitz: From Rage to Reason: Why We Need Sex Crime Laws Based on Facts, Not Fear
In this timely and extensively researched book, sociologist Emily Horowitz shows how current sex-offense policies in the United States create new forms of harm and prevent those who have caused harm from the process of constructive repentance or contributing to society after punishment. Horowitz also illustrates the failure of criminal justice responses to social problems. Sharing detailed narratives from the experiences of those on...: https://www.amazon.com/Rage-Reason-Crime-Based-Facts/dp/1440879397
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 22 2023
Italy: Italian man cleared of assault because grope only lasted ‘between five and 10 seconds’
Source: theguardian.com 7/13/23 An Italian judge has provoked outrage after clearing a school caretaker of sexually assaulting a teenage girl because the grope lasted only “a handful of seconds”. A 17-year-old student at a school in Rome complained of being groped by the caretaker as she walked up a staircase with a friend in April 2022. She said her trousers had fallen down from...: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/13/fury-italy-school-caretaker-cleared-groping-assault-lasted-seconds
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 26 2023
Updated 4:00 PM CDT, July 26, 2023
London jury acquits Kevin Spacey of sexual assault charges on his birthday
3 hours ago:
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 31 2023
This was a great men with such a tremendous creative ability; there may never be anything like him ever, till the end of this earth, as we know it. I will admire his work for the rest of my life. I never get sick of watching his works of art in movies and series.
Google News Top Stories Entertainment Paul Reubens, actor best known as Pee-wee Herman, dies at 70 49 minutes ago: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/paul-reubens-actor-best-known-pee-wee-herman-dies-70-rcna97343
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 1st 2023
Yes, heat can affect your brain and mood. Here's why NPR Published July 31, 2023 at 4:01 AM CDT.: https://www.keranews.org/health-wellness/2023-07-31/yes-heat-can-affect-your-brain-and-mood-heres-why
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 2nd 2023
I am sad to hear this. Charles Sandoval seemed to be incharge of the old court house 24/7. He did everything. When I went there for jury duty he was in charge of that too. You have to admire him for that. I think he wanted to question authority but I always sensed he would side with politics as a bottom line. My hat is off to him for trying. Sometimes I think we will be rewarded in the after life for at least, the effort to stand up for our fellow man. If he ever followed my blogs; maybe that is why I shall see him in heaven. Yet I am but a spec of sand to the Alpha and the Omega who is omnipotent. omnipresent and omniscient.
Dallas Morning News Obituaries
Charles Sandoval Obituary (1942 - 2023) - Plano, TX - Dallas Morning News
SANDOVAL, The Honorable Charles F. The Honorable Charles F. Sandoval of Plano, Texas passed away July 25, 2023, at the age of 81. He was born June 18,...
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 10th 2023
Woman catfishes herself, sends child sex abuse material through fake social media account: FDLE
A Springhill woman was arrested after making a fictitious account and pretending that someone was sending her child sexual abuse material through social...
.2 hours ago
Posted: Aug 10, 2023 / 12:23 PM EDT Updated: Aug 10, 2023 / 12:23 PM EDT: https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/hernando-county/woman-catfishes-herself-sends-child-sex-abuse-material-through-fake-social-media-account-fdle/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 11th 2023
TN: Registry to life sentence: TN courts remove dozens from sex offender registry after legal challenges
August 9, 2023
Source: newschannel5.com 8/9/23
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It’s costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars as more people file lawsuits claiming they shouldn’t be restricted by a registry that didn’t exist when they were convicted.
Dozens of people have since been removed from the registry as a result, with dozens more potentially on the way.
Thomas spent more than 20 years on Tennessee’s Sex Offender Registry but now considers himself a free man. His case is still being appealed, so we’ve agreed to stick with first names for his protection.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates first met Thomas in 2022, and that’s when he shared his story about being convicted of raping a family friend back in 1996, who died years later.
He was sentenced to the Lifelines treatment program, but then violated his parole and was sent to prison. Thomas was released in 2003, completed his parole, but remained on the sex offender registry.
Thomas has lived much of his life away from the public since then, but on this day, we sat outside his Nashville home as he clutched a green thermos from his late wife.
Dressed in his work clothes, Thomas waved and greeted neighbors passing by with their children. Most know his name by now, but not because they know his story.
It may seem ordinary and maybe even routine at times, but this is what Thomas has been searching for since we first met.
“Everybody is exercising. Everybody is living. I’m talking about, this is living,” Thomas said.
You may not know Thomas, but before April 4, you could find almost everything there was to know on Tennessee’s Sex Offender Registry.
Thomas accepted a plea deal in 1996 but says he was convinced by an attorney that his prior record would make it almost impossible to win over a jury.
Thomas says he accepted the plea agreement without understanding that this crime would now make him eligible for the newly established sex offender registry.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates doesn’t often hear from people like Thomas, because once you find out he’s been on the sex offender registry almost as long as it’s been around, we understand he’s not the easiest person to want to relate to.
We’re not here to say whether Thomas committed the crime.
What we know is that he’s been on the registry for years, only to now have his name removed in 2023.
“When I got that letter that it was off me, I couldn’t do nothing but cry,” Thomas said.
Civil rights attorney Kyle Mothershead represents Thomas and he’s using virtually the same argument he’s used for many others.
“This was not the law when you committed your offense, then they made it up after the fact and that’s against the constitution,” Mothershead said.
Read the full article: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/registry-to-life-sentence-tn-courts-remove-dozens-from-sex-offender-registry-after-successful-legal-challenges
Sooner or later our country will reap all that it has sewn with it's unconstitutional SOR; legacy. All because of fears and emotions; two things that should never be in politics.:
CT: It’s time to reform the CT sex offense registry
August 10, 2023
Source: ctmirror.org 8/10/23
This year will mark the 25th anniversary of the public Sex Offender Registry (SOR) in Connecticut.
The SOR – also called the sexual offense registry by advocates who want to move past the stigma of dehumanizing labels – is a publicly accessible internet database of individuals who have been convicted of a sexual offense and reside, work, or attend school in Connecticut. It is searchable and includes their name, physical description, addresses, photo, and offense details.
Twenty-five years has been more than sufficient for researchers to study the impact of the SOR on public safety. Since sexual harm is so damaging to the fabric of our communities, our state government needs to take a level-headed look at the research that is available so state resources can be focused on solutions that effectively reduce these crimes.
After dozens of studies, the consensus is clear: public sexual offense registries are ineffective; they do not reduce first time or repeat offenses and they don’t make our communities safer. There is even a growing body of evidence that the SOR can result in higher crime, because those on the registry have more difficulty finding employment and reintegrating into their communities.
The registry’s clearest impact is the harm it causes to those who are forced to register, their spouses, and their children. They often face unemployment, unsafe housing, and barriers to essential health care. As more begin to enter their senior years, all of these issues are becoming more acute. The harms can be hardest on children: 13% of parents who have a spouse on the registry report suicidal tendencies in their children as a consequence of the registry.
Unfortunately, when it comes to creating rational, effective policies related to sexual offenses, our political system can be blinded with emotion. Fears of appearing “soft on crime” can outweigh a politician’s desire to do the right thing. Some legislators have confessed to me that they know the registry doesn’t work, but they have difficulty supporting legislation to address the issue because they don’t know how to explain it to their constituents.
Read the full article: https://ctmirror.org/2023/08/10/its-time-to-reform-the-ct-sex-offense-registry/
Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 19th 2023
What most Dallas people do not know is when they cross the border into Collin County they enter a whole new world. This is a surprising head line as always from the Democrat city of Dallas.:
Dallas County Sheriff's sex-based schedule policy is discriminatory, court finds KERA | Published August 18, 2023 at 4:16 PM CDT
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday a former policy in the Dallas County Sheriff Department that allowed only male officers to take off weekends violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
A U.S. district court judge originally dismissed the case in 2020 because nine female officers who sued the department had not proved they faced an “ultimate employment decision” because of the work policy, like being fired or denied a promotion.: https://www.keranews.org/government/2023-08-18/dallas-county-sheriff-departments-sex-based-schedule-discrimination
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 31st 2023
GA: Georgia sheriff pleads guilty to groping TV Judge Hatchett
Source: yahoo.com 8/21/23 A Georgia sheriff pleaded guilty Monday to groping TV Judge Glenda Hatchett, who recalled being so stunned that she froze when the lawman grabbed and squeezed her breast at a hotel bar last year during a law enforcement conference. Bleckley County Sheriff Kristopher Coody pleaded guilty in Cobb County State Court to a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery and was sentenced.: https://www.yahoo.com/news/georgia-sheriff-pleads-guilty-groping-180430123.html
How the Supreme Court has promoted myths about sex offense registries
Twenty years ago, the justices deemed registration preventive rather than punitive. By Jacob Sullum Mar 1, 2023, 12:30pm CDT This Sunday, March 5, marks the 20th anniversary of Smith v. Doe, a U.S. Supreme Court decision that approved retroactive application of Alaska’s sex offense registry, deeming it preventive rather than punitive. That ruling helped propagate several pernicious myths underlying a policy that every state has...: https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists/2023/3/1/23620414/supreme-court-myths-sex-offender-registries-column-jacob-sullum
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 10th 2023
'That 70s Show' fans claim Danny Masterson's 30+ year sentence for raping two women vindicates Topher Grace from claims he was too 'pretentious' to hang with the cast FOR DAILYMAIL.COM PUBLISHED: 10:39 EDT, 10 September 2023 | UPDATED: 16:15 EDT, 10 September 2023: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12501499/That-70s-fans-claim-Danny-Mastersons-30-year-sentence-raping-two-women-vindicates-Topher-Grace-claims-pretentious-hang-cast.html
Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker 'is FIRED' amid investigation into sexual harassment claims... after activist and rape survivor alleged $9m-a-year coach 'masturbated on a phone call without her consent' Mel Tucker has reportedly been fired amid probe into sexual harassment claims He claims relationship with Brenda Tracy is 'mutually consensual and intimate' DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news FOR DAILYMAIL.COM PUBLISHED: 11:31 EDT, 10 September 2023 | UPDATED: 16:48 EDT, 10 September 2023: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/college-football/article-12501757/Michigan-State-football-coach-Mel-Tucker-investigation-sexual-harassment-activist-rape-survivor-alleges-masturbated-phone-call-without-consent.html
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 16th 2023
TX: Court Blocks Texas Law Aimed at Protecting Children From Online Porn
Source: theepochtimes.com 9/3/23 A federal judge in Texas has blocked a state law seeking to impose age requirements on adult websites, claiming the bill violates the First Amendment and is a threat to privacy. Texas’ HB 1181 (pdf) requires adult sites to verify the age of visitors to ensure they are 18 years of age or older. It was signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott...: https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/court-blocks-texas-law-aimed-at-protecting-children-from-online-porn-5485160
VA: Wrongfully convicted man says “Being on the registry itself has been a death sentence” and wants more restitution money
Source: wsls.com 9/6/23 MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Va. – David Kingrea lives in rural Montgomery County with his wife, Michelle, and their son, Dylan. David’s life hasn’t always been that simple. In 2011, his life was flipped upside down when his ex-girlfriend’s son accused David of sexually abusing him. “We had a very bad relationship to say, but nevertheless I never would have thought that this...: https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2023/09/06/montgomery-co-man-gets-55k-after-being-wrongfully-convicted-of-crime-but-for-him-its-not-enough/
ID: State ordered to pay more than $319,000 to wrongfully incarcerated Idaho man forced to register
Source: idahocapitalsun.com 9/8/23 The state of Idaho must pay more than $319,000 to an innocent man who was wrongfully incarcerated for five years and nine months. The funding is made possible through the Wrongful Conviction Act, which the Legislature passed in 2021. Compensation only goes to people who were incarcerated and later are found factually innocent. Joseph LaCroix was wrongfully convicted on Oct. 3,...: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2023/09/08/state-ordered-to-pay-more-than-319000-to-wrongfully-incarcerated-idaho-man/
CO: Musician who called out alleged sexual predators online for years pleads guilty to attempted sexual assault on a minor
Source: westword.com 9/6/23 Ross Swirling, a political activist and onetime prominent member of the local punk music scene, has spent years using the internet to call out alleged perpetrators of sexual assault — and anyone who associates with them. But this summer, Swirling himself was convicted of attempted sexual assault on a minor, and a condition of his probation sentence had him kicked off...: https://www.westword.com/news/denver-musician-who-called-out-sexual-predators-now-a-convicted-sex-offender-17578252
CT: ‘Just existing, not living’: CT residents retroactively added to sex offense registry seek reprieve
Source: ctmirror.org 9/10/23 Twenty-five years after Connecticut required them to register as “sex offenders” ex post facto, they hope the legislature will soon take action. During counseling programs he’s attended throughout adulthood, Aaron Kearney has been told not to let mistakes define him and not to let the past hijack his future. But for a quarter-century, the 52-year-old has worn a label making it...: https://ctmirror.org/2023/09/10/ct-sex-offender-registry-law-advocates/
KY: “Tough on Crime” Republican Attorney General Candidate Is Soft on Sex Offenders
Source: newrepublic.com 9/12/23 Russell Coleman’s bid to become Kentucky’s top lawyer has dredged up a troubling record of lenience. The Republican candidate for Kentucky attorney general, Russell Coleman, is campaigning on a promise to be tough on crime, particularly crimes against children. But before running for attorney general, he served as U.S. attorney for the western district of Kentucky—and a closer look at his...: https://newrepublic.com/article/175440/tough-crime-republican-ag-candidate-russell-coleman-sex-offenders
FAC and MCARE present to UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva Switzerland
Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 9/11/23 Dear Members and Advocates [of Florida Action Committee] , In September 2022, our Florida Action Committee president, Gail Colletta, filed a Complaint with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva Switzerland, entitled “PETITION TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO INVESTIGATE THE UNITED STATES’ SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY AS A VIOLATION OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.“. ... Specifically, for FAC, Gail...: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/fac-and-mcare-present-to-un-human-rights-committee-in-geneva-switzerland/
PA: Efficacy of sex offender residency rules questioned in Pa. House hearing
Source: pennlive.com 9/12/23 A bill that would restrict where certain sex offenders could live in Pennsylvania got a skeptical reception at a House hearing on Tuesday, with discussion centering around whether such measures actually increase public safety. The House Judiciary Committee held an informational session Tuesday on House Bill 77, which would require that anyone who has been adjudicated as a “sexually violent predator”...: https://www.pennlive.com/news/2023/09/efficacy-of-sex-offender-residency-rules-questioned-in-pa-house-hearing.html
CT: Connecticut disclosure rules for sex offenders deemed unconstitutional
Source: courthousenews.com 9/14/23 But the ruling only applies to the man who brought the case, since he did not file a class action. (CN) — Although he declined to grant class-wide relief, a federal judge determined Thursday that disclosure of online aliases chilled sex offenders' ability to communicate freely, and also pointed out Connecticut has yet to use the law to prevent or detect...: https://www.courthousenews.com/connecticut-disclosure-rules-for-sex-offenders-unconstitutional/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated October 6th 2023
Session: 2023-2024
Hearing: House Judiciary Committee | Hearing on HB 77: Megan’s Law residence restrictions
September 12, 2023 | 1:00 p.m.
Veronica Miller, Senior Policy Counsel for Criminal Legal Reform, testified on behalf of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.
To watch the hearing or read testimonies of all participants, click here.
Bill summary: House Bill 77 would prohibit an individual classified as a sexually violent predator (SVP) from residing within 2,500 feet of a public school, private school, parochial school or daycare center for the duration of their required registration period. For anyone classified as an SVP, this would be a lifetime prohibition. Additionally, the legislation would require any SVP currently living within the prohibited zone to move from the residence within six months of enactment.
Read the full article: https://www.aclupa.org/en/legislation/testimony-house-hearing-hb-77-megans-law-residence-restrictions
SCOTUS: Florida man subject to lifetime sex-offender registration requirements argues that he is “in custody” for purposes of federal post-conviction laws
By Kalvis Golde The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here. A person held in state prison can challenge the constitutionality of their criminal conviction in federal court through a legal tool known as a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas relief is available to anyone “in custody,”...: https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/09/florida-man-subject-to-lifetime-sex-offender-registration-requirements-argues-that-he-is-in-custody-for-purposes-of-federal-post-conviction-laws/
WA: Washington panel considers outlawing community notification of sex offenders
Source: thecentersquare.com 9/28/23 (The Center Square) - Earlier this year, a decision to house convicted sex offenders in cities such as Enumclaw without notifying the community drew outrage from local residents. Now, the State Sex Offender Policy Board is considering recommendations to the Legislature that could include making it illegal to notify communities when a sex offender moves into the area on the grounds...: https://www.thecentersquare.com/washington/article_46e927d8-5e3b-11ee-a853-6f76f76bbeab.amp.html
MT: Montana decision that Sexual or Violent Offender Registration Act (SVORA) is punitive and cannot be applied retroactively
Source: law.justia.com 6/14/23 The THE STATE OF MONTANA Supreme Court reversed the order of the district court denying Defendant's motion to dismiss the State's felony charge against him for failure to register as a sexual offender, holding that the Sexual or Violent Offender Registration Act (SVORA), as amended since 2007, was punitive in nature. Defendant was convicted of sexual assault in 1994 and served and discharged...: https://law.justia.com/cases/montana/supreme-court/2023/da-20-0197-0.html
FL: County and municipal codes stricter than state’s may not be enforceable
Source: mainstreetdailynews.com 9/26/23 The Newberry City Commission is looking for... ... Currently, Newberry’s code does not allow sexual offenders to reside within 1,000 feet, and predators 1,500 feet, of a state-defined “protected place,” defined to be schools, childcare facilities, parks, playgrounds and any other gathering place for children. The city of Williston limits both to live 2,500 feet away from protected places, while state...: https://www.mainstreetdailynews.com/govt-politics/newberry-safe-school-transportation-options
WA: Portland man arrested in Clark County sting acquitted of child sex abuse in new trial
Source: columbian.com 10/2/23 A Portland man was acquitted last month after being granted a new trial on appeal, nearly five years after he was convicted in connection with an undercover child sex sting. A Clark County Superior Court jury Sept. 8 acquitted Jace Hambrick, 27, of attempted second-degree rape of a child and communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. He was one of...: https://www.columbian.com/news/2023/oct/02/portland-man-arrested-in-clark-county-sting-acquitted-of-child-sex-abuse-in-new-trial/
ACSOL News Alert: Federal Lawsuit Challenges Missouri Halloween Sign Requirement
A lawsuit was filed in a federal district court this week challenging a state law in Missouri that requires registrants to post a sign on the front door of their home on Halloween. The plaintiff in the case, Thomas J. Sanderson, was arrested last year for violating that and other requirements of the state law at issue. The basis of the legal challenge is...: https://all4consolaws.org/2023/10/mo-federal-lawsuit-challenges-missouri-halloween-sign-requirement/
CA: Large Online Retailer Settles Suit for FCRA Violation
Source: pre-employ.com An online retailer recently announced it reached an agreement in a California federal court. This agreement ends a lawsuit with a former associate. According to the case, the associate accused the retailer of illegally using information about a past conviction to deny him a full-time job. The online retailer did not detail the terms of the agreement. However, it did file a...: https://www.pre-employ.com/newsblog/large-online-retailer-settles-suit-for-fcra-violation/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated October 29th 2023
OCTOBER 9, 2023
ME: Maine town residents tell leaders they want residency restrictions due to imaginary reoffense rates
Source: wgme.com 10/9/23 An Orrington Select Board meeting last month devolved into an explosive half-hour debate between residents and officials about where sex offenders should be allowed to live within the town. Residents assumed that restrictions on how close registered sex offenders could live to places such as schools and parks were set statewide. But it wasn’t until an offender moved to Orrington this...: https://wgme.com/news/local/orrington-residents-clash-with-leaders-over-proposed-sex-offender-restrictions-maine-crime-residency-orrington-select-board
OCTOBER 16, 2023
FAC President Speaks to UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva Switzerland
Source: Florida Action Committee 10/16/23 Today, our FAC President Gail Colletta addressed the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva Switzerland to call out the United States’ failure to address the inhumane Registry scheme and specifically the practice of allowing states to create Sex Offender Residency Restrictions (SORRs). Gail had only two-minutes to define the problem and ask the UN to hold the United...: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/fac-president-speaks-to-un-human-rights-committee-in-geneva-switzerland/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated November 4th 2023
OCTOBER 29, 2023 – 4 REPLIES
TN: Tennessee’s legal struggles with its sex offender registry could cost taxpayer
Source: tennessean.com 10/29/23 NOTE: since we posted this article the website blocked it with pay-only access Dozens of people have scored legal wins against Tennessee’s sex offender registry law since federal judges ruled it violates constitutional protections against retroactive punishment. The situation could cost Tennessee taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees. Judges have repeatedly ruled against the law, and a...: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2023/10/29/sex-offender-registry-tennessee-dozens-removed-state-could-pay/71319235007/
OCTOBER 30, 2023 – 3 REPLIES
DE: Hawkins: Bill allowing options for Sex Offender Registry removal is gift to children
Source: baytobaynews.com 10/26/23 Kudos to our legislators for passing House Bill 186 during Delaware’s 2023 legislative session and to Gov. John Carney for signing the bill into law. HB 186 will provide pathways off the Delaware Sexual Offender Central Registry for our children. It is important for Delawareans to know that the multitude of sexual offense laws in our state apply to every single...: https://baytobaynews.com/stories/hawkins-bill-allowing-options-for-sex-offender-registry-removal-is-gift-to-children,120077
Missouri good news! 8th Circuit Court of Appeals Upholds TRO, Denies AG’s Motion
In a terse two-sentence decision issued today, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) issued by the federal district court on Friday. As a result, registrants in Missouri are not required to post a sign on the front door of their home on Halloween this year. "We are grateful that the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to protect...: https://all4consolaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Missouri-Halloween-TRO-Upheld-Emergency-Stay-Court-Order-DENIAL.pdf
WA: Convicted Sex Offender Now a Licensed Attorney in Washington State
Source: prisonlegalnews.org 10/15/23 A divided Washington Supreme Court beat back prejudice with a November 2022 decision admitting a convicted sex offender to the state bar. Zachary LeRoy Stevens was charged as a teenager with four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for sending child pornography to a detective posing as a 14-year-old online. He pleaded guilty to reduced charges of voyeurism in 2012,...: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2023/oct/15/convicted-sex-offender-now-licensed-attorney-washington-state/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated November 17th 2023
Little light shining through; in this update. Good to know there is still hope for our justice system, that seems so motivated to take our constitutional and human rights away; making us destined to cease as a prosperous nation and speeding us to widespread misery and total *defeatism. Is the light shining through from great free states: like my 1st home state of Montana, because more democrats are in office? Forgive me for writing so much; I found something I wrote on a sticky note this morning from about a year ago and could not believe I wrote it; it was so good.
I hate to bring up the comparison of Nazis and our justice system. I was looking up the word defeatism to make sure I was using the word correctly and found this.:
Defeatism became a buzzword in Germany following its capitulation in 1918, particularly among the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler, who routinely blamed this loss on a "defeatist mentality". After seizing power, his obsession with denouncing opponents for "defeatism" grew more acute as time went on, and was widely noted.
During World War II, Hitler unexpectedly dismissed many generals for defeatism. More prudent military commanders such as Field Marshal Albert Kesselring felt constrained to present the Führer a rosier account of the battlefront situation than was realistic, to avoid being labeled "defeatist".
During the last year of war, the German people's court executed many people accused of defeatist talks or acts, and their names were announced weekly in a pink colored poster pasted on billboards around the country. In March 1945, as Red Army tanks were closing in on Berlin, Nazi officials worked feverishly to suppress "cowardice and defeatism" in their own ranks with summary death sentences. From here.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defeatism
I guess I am trying to compare the justice system as Hitler and me as a defeatist to their unconstitutional and inhuman treatment of our citizens through the guise of the Sex Offender Registry. It does not take away my resolve that our justice system completely self destructive against us all as a country concerning this issue. Whether or not our country and justice system becomes full on Nazis, I suspect we would be long gone before that could ever construct itself in America. I guess I still believe in the patriotism of our average American citizen; to ever let that take place.
MT: Montana Supreme Court: ‘Retroactive’ punishment for sexual, violent offenders is unconstitutional
Source: dailymontanan.com 11/5/23 Randall Menges has technically been a free man since 2015 – that’s when he completed his sentence in Idaho. That seven-year sentence in Idaho was for violating a ban on homosexual sex, even though court records show it was a consensual act between two minors. Even though homosexual sex has since been decriminalized, Menges wanted to put the incident in the...: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/11/05/montana-supreme-court-retroactive-punishment-for-sexual-violent-offenders-is-unconstitutional/
WA: Washington panel recommended treatment over jail time for child porn
Source: thecentersquare.com 11/10/23 (The Center Square) - The Washington Sex Offender Policy Board last year recommended the Legislature consider treatment rather than imprisonment for those convicted of possessing or viewing child pornography or caught in an internet sting operation. The recommendations among several contained in a report to the House Public Safety Committee regarding “treatment alternatives for certain sex offenses; lifetime supervision; failure to...: https://www.thecentersquare.com/washington/article_dbea4d38-7ffd-11ee-b50b-738ee736a302.amp.html
CO: Colorado Supreme Court to scrutinize parole requirements for juvenile sex offenders
Source: 11/10/23 The Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to answer whether the state law authorizing indefinite, potentially lifetime sentences for sex offenses makes room for the special considerations that must be given to juveniles who are tried as adults. In a rare move, the court accepted the question not through the usual appeals process, but following a request from the U.S. Court of Appeals...: https://www.coloradopolitics.com/courts/colorado-supreme-court-to-scrutinize-parole-requirements-for-juvenile-sex-offenders/article_2a3bb05a-7ff2-11ee-a37c-3314a6bfc959.html
Survey request to the mothers of individuals on the U.S. sex offender registry
Source: Kimberly A. Ingold, Graduate Student from the Criminal Justice Sciences Department at Illinois State University Dear mothers of those on the registry: Please consider taking this survey: If you are a registrant, please consider forwarding this email to your mother and encouraging her to take it. It will bring awareness to the mothers of individuals on the sex offender registry and the struggles...: https://illinoisstate.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9zYedtlArcQUf5k
Think about the taxpayers money this kind of action.:
GA: 73 Sheriff’s Offices Searched 9,232 Registrants to Find Only 3 Re-Offenses
Source: wnegradio.com 11/14/23 Thanks to an initiative involving 73 Georgia Sheriffs,... Due to the overwhelming success of the original initiative, Georgia’s Sheriffs have made this an annual operation... Preliminary reporting by the 73 participating sheriff’s offices reveals 12,092 registered sex offenders, 466 predators and 552 homeless sex offenders are currently living in their counties. During the one week operation, 9,232 residence verifications were conducted,...: https://wnegradio.com/scso-joins-operation-watchful-eye-viii/
IL: State Supreme Court weighs constitutionality of lifetime restrictions on child sex offenders
Source: ipmnewsroom.org 11/15/23 SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Supreme Court is weighing whether it is constitutional to impose lifetime restrictions on where a person can live after they’ve been convicted of a sex crime involving a minor. “It’s been 21 years – almost 21 years since my conviction,” Martin Kopf told the court’s seven justices on Wednesday. “I have been totally offense-free. Not even a...: https://ipmnewsroom.org/state-supreme-court-weighs-constitutionality-of-lifetime-restrictions-on-child-sex-offenders/
IL: Disabled Man on Sex Offense Registry Pardoned by Illinois Governor
Source: news.yahoo.com 11/16/23 In 2012, when Adam Nesteikis was 25 years old, his friend told him to pull down his pants in front of a young girl. Adam did exactly that. Adam is intellectually disabled, which means he didn't realize he had done something wrong. He also didn't understand what it meant when, after a trial, he was placed on the sex offense registry....: https://news.yahoo.com/disabled-man-sex-offense-registry-120027862.html
New Blogs Part 14 Updated December 2nd 2023
This Rape Victim Wants To End the Sex Offender Registry
Source: reason.com 12/2023 issue, Women Against Registry (W.A.R.) "A lot of people on the registry are on there for consensual behavior, things I think many people agree shouldn’t be crimes," says Meaghan Ybos, the president of Women Against Registry. When Meaghan Ybos was raped in 2003, it was the sort of assault you see more often in cinematic crime fiction than in reality. A...: https://reason.com/2023/11/16/this-rape-victim-wants-to-end-the-sex-offender-registry/
TN: Issues with the Sex Offender Registry
Source: newschannel5.com 11/16/23 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Local constitutional rights attorney Kyle Mothershead joins Levi Ismail on OpenLine to advocate for people who struggle with still being registered as a sex offender - even years after conviction. Watch the video: https://www.newschannel5.com/plus/openline/issues-with-the-sex-offender-registry
Canada: Macron’s wife admits her mind was ‘a mess’ when she dated her high school aged ex-pupil
Source: foxnews.com 11/19/23 French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte Macron revealed her relationship anxieties from the early days of dating the future French leader – including concerns he would "fall in love with someone his age" after moving schools. "My head was in a mess," Brigitte Macron said during a rare interview, given to the outlet Paris Match, and reported in the Daily Telegraph....: https://www.foxnews.com/world/macrons-wife-admits-head-was-mess-when-she-dated-her-high-school-aged-ex-pupil
Pedophile panic and coming political violence. What the Paul Pelosi case revealed
Source: LA Times on Yahoo.com 11/24/23 A unicorn costume, a hammer and a belief that pedophiles are using public schools to destroy democracy: The trial of David DePape for attacking Paul Pelosi was strange and disturbing. But take away the costume and the hammer, and the reasoning for DePape's vicious attack is alarmingly mainstream — pedophile panic. By that, I mean the outrageous effort...: https://www.yahoo.com/news/column-pedophile-panic-coming-political-110051169.html
TN: Class action lawsuit challenges retroactive placement on Tennessee’s sex offender registry
Source: tennessean.com 11/29/23 Eight people on Tennessee’s legally troubled sex offender registry filed a federal class action lawsuit last week asking that thousands of people with decades-old convictions be removed from the registry. The eight plaintiffs, who are using pseudonyms in the lawsuit, all have convictions from before or shortly after 2004, when the state’s current sex offender registry law, the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent...: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2023/11/29/tennessee-sex-offender-registry-class-action-lawsuit-filed/71730792007/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated December 22nd 2023
UK accuses Meta of empowering child sexual abusers with encryption rollout
Source: theguardian.com 12/7/23 Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has been accused by the UK government of empowering child sexual abusers after the tech firm began rolling out the automatic encryption of all messages on its Facebook and Messenger platforms. The home secretary, James Cleverly, described the move as a “significant step back” for child safety after Meta said it would introduce end-to-end encryption on the apps....: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/07/uk-accuses-meta-of-empowering-child-sexual-abusers-with-encryption-roll-out
NY: Convicted sex offender suing SLC, state over registry
Source: wwnytv.com 12/19/23 CANTON, New York (WWNY) - New York state’s sex offender registry is being challenged in court by a former Boy Scout leader. Because that man was convicted in St. Lawrence County, the county finds itself a defendant in a case that could have serious ramifications. Former Boy Scout assistant scoutmaster Michael Kelsey is suing New York state and St. Lawrence County,...: https://www.wwnytv.com/2023/12/19/convicted-sex-offender-suing-slc-state-over-registry/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated December 24th 2023
First, investigators have documented widespread rape and sexual violence by Hamas against Israeli women and girls. Yet the world remains silent. Human rights organizations, advocates for women and children, and feminist leaders have ignored or flat-out denied that these atrocities took place. The evidence of sexual violence has been widely documented by a civil commission, forensic scientists, eyewitnesses and Israeli police. The world must recognize and condemn the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war against Israelis.
We are grateful that a bipartisan group of 16 Senators has introduced a Senate resolution to formally recognize and condemn the use of sexual violence on October 7th. Please join ADL in asking your Senator to support the resolution.
Email Your Senator: https://adl.salsalabs.org/10-7-sexual-violence-res/index.html
New Blogs Part 14 Updated January 18th 2024
LA: Louisiana woman challenges Sorna using ADA angle
Source: courthousenews.com 12/21/23 NEW ORLEANS — A federal court in Louisiana denied the state police’s request to stay a convicted sex offender’s lawsuit alleging that Louisiana’s onerous sex offender notification requirements have resulted in an unfair cycle of arrest, imprisonment and release for noncompliance in violation of her due process rights. The state authorities did not offer any argument on the four factors required...: https://www.courthousenews.com/sex-offender-requirements-2/
I signed a bunch of petitions to see this through. It seems like the rest of the world is fine with sexual assault; as long as it is in the context of war, as a part of some kind of wide spread dementia. Nevertheless; as always, it makes me glad to be a American. Rape is even more disgusting when it is perpetrated by so called soldier. In America and other honorable countries a soldier found guilty of sex assault; is always prosecuted according to the law. I am still against the terrible unconstitutional, inhuman, sentences; people receive for sex offences; including the Nazi like SOR. The only difference between the Star of David as used by the Nazi's and the SOR; is, the SOR is foremost invented and promoted by our country. Pretty sad.:
‘Keep our honor clean,’ Sexual assault will now be tried outside military chain of command
Source: kktv.com 12/28/23 ASHINGTON (KKTV) - Starting Thursday, The U.S. Military has a new “Offices of Special Trial Counsel” (OSTC) to prosecute sexual assault and other serious crimes. The counsel will have general or flag officer leaders who report directly to the secretaries of the military departments. The authority was previously held by commanders. “This military justice reform is an important step in restoring...: https://www.kktv.com/2023/12/28/keep-our-honor-clean-sexual-assault-will-now-be-tried-outside-military-chain-command/
Canada: Registrants have the same low re-offense risk as the general public after about 10 years of being offence-free in the community
Source: utpjournals.press 7/3/2023 The public is justifiably concerned about the risk presented by individuals with a history of sexual crime. Given that recidivism risk varies across individuals and over time, what level is so low as to be indistinguishable from sexual recidivism risk in the general population (a desistance threshold)? T ... Other research has found that most individuals released from a sexual offence...: https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/cjccj-2022-0025
New Blogs Part 14 Updated February 16th 2024
WA Dems propose adding sex offender to policy board: ‘They have invaluable information’
Source: cbs12.com 1/22/24 OLYMPIA, Wash. (TND) — A Democrat-backed bill would alter Washington State’s Sex Offender Policy Board (SOPB) to extend membership to individuals with previous jail time for sex offenses. The SOPB was formed in 2008 to “promote a coordinated and integrated response to sex offender management.” The group is responsible for creating policies regarding sex offenders and navigating state and federal laws...: https://cbs12.com/news/nation-world/wa-dems-propose-adding-sex-offender-to-policy-board-they-have-invaluable-information-washington-state-sex-offense-tara-simmons-rodger-goodman-olympia-seattle
CA: Appellate Court Overturns Trial Court’s Denial of Petition
Source: ACSOL The Second District Court of Appeals has issued a decision that overturns a decision by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denying a registrant's petition for removal from the registry. According to today's appellate court decision, the trial judge's decision was improper because the District Attorney failed to prove that the registrant poses a current danger to public safety. "This decision is...: https://all4consolaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/People-v-Franco-Jan-2024.pdf
IL: Seventh Circuit Slams Illinois Civil Commitment Program but Reverses Injunction
Source: prisonlegalnews.org 1/1/24 “Very weighty interests are at stake when a state institutes a program of civil commitment for sex offenders who, though never tried for or convicted of a crime, are found too dangerous for release.” So began a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on July 24, 2023, in a challenge to a lower court’s order mandating...: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2024/jan/1/seventh-circuit-slams-illinois-civil-commitment-program-reverses-injunction/
Appellate Court Reverses Denial of Petition (Good News!)
Source: ACSOL The Second Appellate District Court today issued a decision reversing a trial judge's decision to deny a petition filed on behalf of a California person required to register. As a result of this decision, the trial court judge must grant that petition which will in turn terminate the person's requirement to register. "Today's decision is the third appellate court decision reversing a...: https://all4consolaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Appeal-Court-Decision-2024.pdf
New Blogs Part 14 Updated March 7th 2024
Doctors question use of ‘excited delirium’ to explain deaths of suspects in police custody
Source: abajournal.com 2/13/24 [ACSOL note: We are posting this since this concept could be used to excuse hatred towards registrants] In October 2023, three Tacoma, Washington, police officers went on trial for the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who died after he was punched, put in a chokehold and tased during a confrontation with police. In December, a jury acquitted the...: https://www.abajournal.com/web/article/doctors-question-use-of-excited-delirium-to-explain-deaths-of-suspects-in-police-custody
FL: Push to abolish sex offender registry picks up steam in Florida
Source: actionnewsjax.com 2/15/24 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There are tens of thousands of people on the sex offender registry in Florida right now, but there’s a growing movement from a group pushing to abolish the public list completely. Right now, you can check the public list to see who’s on it and why. They could be your co-workers, neighbors, or a person who comes by...: https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/push-abolish-sex-offender-registry-picks-up-steam-florida/L4O5ARTK2JF6LL6OF5467MGN5M/
Recently, two more asylum cases (brought by American asylum seekers), both initially denied and facing deportation, were decided by a German federal judge. We will examine the outcomes of both cases.
This is the first case of the two and it solidifies Germany’s stance against at least one of the torture methods that the Americans use on their victims they brand as “sex offenders”.
The redacted case file, dated 22 January 2024, can be viewed on our site Just Facts Not Fear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97jZm6QiW1E https://justfactsnotfear.com/international-legal-victories/
In the heart of Colorado’s judicial labyrinth, Derek Abram Dulac finds himself ensnared in a legal paradox that challenges the essence of justice and rehabilitation. His journey through the court system highlights a peculiar anomaly in the law, one that leaves a man tethered to a sex offender registry for charges that no longer stand against him. It’s a narrative that not only questions the efficacy of deferred judgments but also puts a spotlight on the rigidity of sex offender registration laws in the face of nuanced cases.
Read the full article: https://bnnbreaking.com/world/us/legal-paradox-in-colorado-dismissed-sex-offense-charge-leaves-man-on-registry
WI: Illinois judge who reversed rape conviction removed from bench after panel finds he circumvented law
Source: yahoo.com 2/24/24 CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois judge who sparked outrage by reversing a man’s rape conviction involving a 16-year-old girl has been removed from the bench after a judicial oversight body found he circumvented the law and engaged in misconduct. The Illinois Courts Commission removed Adams County Judge Robert Adrian from the bench Friday after it held a three-day hearing in Chicago...: https://www.yahoo.com/news/illinois-judge-reversed-rape-conviction-183126464.html
GA: Georgia lawmakers hold out hope for bill that would restrict publication of mugshots
Source: georgiarecorder.com 2/26/24 Sheriff’s offices posting mugshots of booked people has been a commonplace practice for a while now. It also has some blood on its hands. “An 18-year-old committed suicide because they did not have the money to get the mugshot removed, and he could not get a job,” said Tyrone Democrat Rep. Derrick Jackson. Georgians who have not been convicted of a...: https://georgiarecorder.com/2024/02/26/georgia-lawmakers-hold-out-hope-for-bill-that-would-restrict-publication-of-mugshots/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated March 21st 2024
More than 1,800 state and local police officers were arrested on charges related to child sexual abuse in the U.S. between 2005 and 2022, a chilling investigation by The Washington Post revealed Thursday. In most of the arrests, the Post reported that victims were not related to or acquaintances of their abusers, with some children reportedly being assaulted by the very officers who were sent to help them after they fell victim to a separate sexual assault. The Post reported girls, aged 13 through 15, were the most likely to be assaulted by officers, who often came in contact with them “through their jobs.”
New Blogs Part 14 Updated April 9th 2024
Sen. Ted Cruz says Coast Guard used illegal agreements to silence sexual assault victims
Texas Republican demands answers about requiring victims to sign nondisclosure agreements. 10:26 AM on Apr 9, 2024 : https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2024/04/09/sen-ted-cruz-says-coast-guard-used-illegal-agreements-to-silence-sexual-assault-victims/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 2rd 2024
I am posting a follow up article that came out yesterday for the Ted Cruz story although I still find it all kind of confusing. The reason I posted it here is because it is about sex offences.
Coast Guard clarifies use of nondisclosure agreements targeted by Sen. Ted Cruz
The shift comes after Cruz accused the service of using illegal agreements to silence sexual assault victims.:
Louisiana Residents Emergency 4/28 Call to Action (CTA): fight bills HB 166 (forced vasectomy) and SB 371 (forced surgical castration)
April 28, 2024 R H
Source of the email ACSOL received: UV4SOR.org (contact@uv4sor.org)
Fellow Advocates,
We have an Emergency Call to Action (CTA) and need your voice to oppose HB 166 (forced vasectomy) and SB 371 (forced surgical castration) currently before the Louisiana Legislature. We are doing both bills together as one CTA in the interest of time and the similarities (and heinous nature) of these 2 bills.
The Senate and House Reconvene Monday at 1:00 PM CDT, so we need your response to be sitting in their inboxes or on their voicemails by 4/29 Monday morning. Let’s stop these unconstitutional, cruel, and draconian bills before they pass and are copied by other states. Please tell your friends and families to respond. We need everyone to have their responses completed so they know we mean business!
Read the full article: https://all4consolaws.org/2024/04/louisiana-residents-emergency-4-28-call-to-action-cta-fight-bills-hb-166-forced-vasectomy-and-sb-371-forced-surgical-castration/
The American Kennel Club’s pedophile problem
Wilkerson died in March. But his was not an isolated case. For decades, members of the dog-handling community have clamored for the AKC to take action to prevent the sexual abuse of children, and they say their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
Read the full article: https://archive.ph/2024.04.23-143907/https:/www.businessinsider.com/american-kennel-club-akc-pedophile-problem-2024-4
Resource: Fact Checked by Woodhull to counter harmful misinformation about sex and sexuality
Source: woodhullfoundation.org 4/25/24 WOODHULL INITIATIVE FACT CHECKS S*X MYTHS AND MISINFORMATION WITH ANALYSIS AND DATA (Washington, DC, April 25, 2024) The Woodhull Freedom Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting sexual rights as human rights, is leading the charge to counter harmful misinformation about sex and sexuality that is rampant both on social media and in our political discourse. Woodhull’s newly launched Fact Checked by Woodhull program...: https://www.woodhullfoundation.org/our-projects/fact-checked-by-woodhull/
Country Music Star Jimmie Allen Says He Contemplated Suicide Following Sexual Abuse Allegations
Source: hollywoodreporter.com 4/24/24 Jimmie Allen revealed he contemplated suicide following the sexual abuse allegations against him last year as a way to financially provide for his family. In May 2023, the country music artist’s former manager, identified only as Jane Doe, alleged he raped and sexually abused her several times. In a statement released at the time, Allen claimed the two had a consensual sexual relationship that...: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/jimmie-allen-contemplated-suicide-sexual-abuse-allegations-1235880514/
Sextortion: A Growing Crime Against Men
Source: psychologytoday.com 12/30/23 Men are being targeted for sextortion at increased rates in the U.S. and beyond. Key points Sextortion is a form of image-based sexual abuse that is growing nationwide. During COVID-19, men experienced higher rates of sextortion than women. Sextortion has negative psychological, physical, and social consequences for victims. “And then all of a sudden I got messages late at night with...: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/power-women-relationships/202312/sextortion-a-crime-growing-against-men
It is a felony and a federal crime to impersonate someone else and intercept private communications intended for them, 18 U.S. Code § 2511. There is no exception for police, and no exception if written permission is obtained. Yet impersonating others online is the basis for police sting operations across the country. Law enforcement must be able to investigate criminal activity, but they cannot commit their own crimes while doing so. It is now customary for officers to violate Fourth Amendment law, and it is happening more frequently.
Without a warrant or report of a crime, male officers create fake profiles on adult-only dating sites using photos of attractive ladies (or young men). Men often see a profile and begin a conversation.
During the chat, the officer claims to be an underage 14-year-old girl/boy, even if it is obviously an adult pictured. The officer uses entrapment to lure the man to meet. The officer’s goal is to catch someone who might solicit a minor. Why not use a Disney site instead of an adult-only dating app? Since role playing is common online, most men believe they are talking to an adult. They agree to meet in a public place to confirm the person pictured is of legal age.
Impersonation differs from an officer wearing a disguise, which is legal. Executive Order 12333 clarifies the difference in its definition of electronic surveillance. If an officer can pull off a similar conversation while visibly present, the officer can be a lawful party to an electronic conversation. This definition formed the intent of the Electronic Communications and Privacy Act of 1986. It prevents cartoons, deepfakes, AI, or impostors from intercepting private communications. Interception Law requires that “such person is a party to the communication,” 18 U.S. Code § 2511. New York eavesdropping statutes require that only the sender or intended receiver obtain electronic communications, otherwise it is a felony, NY PEN § 250.00.
Read the full article: https://theopinionpages.com/2024/04/officers-cannot-violate-fourth-amendment-law/
QAnon Was Born Out of the Sex Ad Moral Panic That Took Down Backpage.com
Source: theintercept.com 4/27/24 For years, the political establishment opportunistically railed against sex trafficking. Then came Pizzagate. Americans adore a moral panic. During the Red Scare, we believed that Soviet agents were everywhere, having secretly infiltrated all levels of society. In the 1950s, the U.S. government banned switchblades over unfounded fears that we were in the throes of “West Side Story”-style knife violence. The Satanic...: https://theintercept.com/2024/04/27/backpage-com-sex-trafficking-qanon-conspiracy-moral-panic/
IL: DOC can’t outright ban parents convicted of sex offenses from speaking on the phone to their children while they are on supervised release
Source: courthousenews.com 4/19/24 CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit ruled that the Illinois Department of Corrections may not outright ban parents convicted of sex offenses from speaking on the phone to their children while they are on supervised release. The government may implement call monitoring to minimize the risk of abuse as an alternative to the ban. Read the full ruling (click on "Read the...: https://www.courthousenews.com/sex-offenders-and-their-kids/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated May 29th 2024
CA: L.A. County puts 66 probation officers on leave for misconduct, including sexual abuse, excessive force
May 15, 2024 R H
Source: nbcnews.com 5/14/24
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Probation Department announced Monday that it has put 66 of its officers on administrative leave in the past five months for alleged offenses including excessive force, sexual abuse and drug possession.
The department said the announcement was intended as an effort to “regain public trust” as it roots out employees who engage in misconduct at the nation’s largest probation agency with 2,800 sworn officers.
“We are releasing this information in the spirit of greater transparency and to assure our stakeholders — especially the families of youths in our juvenile facilities — that we will not tolerate anything that impedes our mission to provide a safe, nurturing and structured environment for those entrusted to our care,” Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa said in a statement.
The probation officers placed on leave since January 1 were assigned to both the department’s adult and juvenile operations.
Read the full article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/la-county-puts-66-probation-officers-leave-misconduct-sexual-abuse-exc-rcna152116
Get the Facts on Mass Incarceration
May 21, 2024 R H
Source: sentencingproject.org 5/22/24
Report highlights the growth in state and federal prison populations since the early 1970s, and its far reaching effect on families, communities, and society as a whole.
The United States is unparalleled historically and ranks among the highest worldwide in its dependence on incarceration.1 Over five million people in total are under supervision by the criminal legal system.2 Of these, nearly two million people, disproportionately Black, are living in prisons and jails instead of their communities. Compare this to the figures of the early 1970s when this count was 360,000.3
Mass Incarceration’s Reach
The social, moral, and fiscal costs associated with the large-scale, decades-long investment in mass imprisonment cannot be justified by any evidence of its effectiveness. Misguided changes in sentencing law and policy –not crime– account for the majority of the increase in correctional supervision.4
Mass incarceration instigates numerous poor physical, psychological, and economic outcomes for the people who experience imprisonment, for their families, as well as for the broader community.5 Imprisonment leads to declining prospects for employment and results in lower earnings in the longer term.6 Food insecurity, housing instability, and reliance on public assistance are also associated with prior imprisonment.7 Children of incarcerated parents suffer tremendously; imprisonment of a parent leads to significant declines in academic and health outcomes for children.8 High levels of incarceration also destabilizes entire communities, leading to dissolution of informal networks that are known to serve as barriers to neighborhood crime.9 Trust in law enforcement deteriorates as community members experience elevated levels of victimization and the loss of community members, friends, and family members to incarceration.10
The Surge in Prison Growth
In 1972, the imprisonment rate was 93 per 100,000 people.11 The prison expansion that commenced in 1973 reached its peak in 2009, achieving …
Read the full article: https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/mass-incarceration-trends/?emci=cd8fa0cd-2012-ef11-96f3-6045bdd9e096&emdi=33b7ae96-8b17-ef11-86d0-6045bdd9e096&ceid=10197738
Alabama Court Rules Residency Restrictions Violate Constitution
May 24, 2024 R H
Source: ACSOL
A federal district ruled yesterday that a state law in Alabama that restricts where registrants may live violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The court’s ruling was made in a 162-page decision that carefully reviewed the language of that state law as well as its impact upon more than 20,000 individuals required to register.
According to the court, one part of the challenged residency restrictions adversely could affect the ability of registrants to attend church, participate in political events, visit family and access public libraries. Another part of the challenged restrictions could prohibit registrants from spending the night in a hospital emergency room or run in a marathon. The penalty for violating either part of the residency restrictions is a felony conviction.
The court issued a final judgment in this case declaring both parts of the residency restrictions to be unconstitutional. However, in an unusual move, the court delayed the effective date of its decision for about 90 days, until September 30. The stated reason for the delay was to allow the state legislature an opportunity to revise the laws applicable to registrants.
In addition to the state law regarding residency restrictions, the court also reviewed several additional state laws applicable to individuals required to register. Those laws included but were not limited to, a loitering prohibition, identification on drivers’ licenses and the dissemination of personal information on the Alabama Megan’s Law website. The court did not strike any of those state laws, but instead decided in favor of the government by upholding them as constitutional.: https://all4consolaws.org/2024/05/alabama-court-rules-residency-restrictions-violate-constitution/
SC: South Carolina family of boy, 13, who died by suicide sues Snapchat over sextortion scheme
May 26, 2024 R H
Source: foxnews.com 5/26/24
A South Carolina mother is suing Snapchat after her 13-year-old son died by suicide last year.
The family says young Timothy Barnett took his own life April 6, 2023, at his Sumter home after he fell victim to a sextortion scheme on the social media app.
“On April 6 … it was a typical morning,” Betsy Hauptman, Timothy’s mother, told Fox News Digital. “My husband and I were waking up. The alarm went off at about 6:15. My husband got up first. He walked out the door. I was in the bathroom, and I got a phone call, and my husband’s like, ‘Hey, do me a favor, lock the door. Make sure the doors are all locked, and check on the kids.'”
Initially, Hauptman’s husband — Timothy’s stepfather — thought “someone was sleeping in the yard” but later realized it was Timothy.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated June 19th 2024
MAY 30, 2024 –
NY: RAA Applauds NYCLU & Plantiffs for Lawsuit Challenging Banishment Law
Source: restorativeactionalliance.org 5/29/24 Restorative Action Alliance (RAA) applauds the brave plaintiffs and legal professionals of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) who have recently brought a class action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of New York Executive Law § 259-c (14), known as “SARA.” This banishment law affects thousands of individuals with certain sex offense convictions preventing them from being in proximity to restaurants, stores,...https://www.restorativeactionalliance.org/raa_applauds_nyclu_plantiffs_for_challenge_to_unconstitutional_new_york_law
JUNE 12, 2024 –
Read the responses from convicted police officers and their agencies
A Washington Post investigation found hundreds of police officers have sexually exploited kids. The Washington Post obtained thousands of court filings, police records and other documents to report on law enforcement officers accused of crimes involving child sexual abuse. Read the findings of our investigation, Abused by the Badge. Information about some of the officers, including whom they worked for, what they were convicted...https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/06/12/police-officers-law-enforcement-agency-responses-child-sexual-abuse/...https://reason.com/2024/06/12/40-percent-of-police-officers-convicted-of-child-sex-abuse-dont-get-prison-time-investigation-finds/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated July 10th 2024
As a recent eruption between members of the House Oversight Committee demonstrated, Congress doesn’t always model good behavior. But beyond the theatrics and gridlock that make headlines, many Americans might be pleasantly surprised to find encouraging examples of serious lawmakers working together.
The bipartisan Safer Supervision Act is just that. The legislation, co-authored by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), aligns with the research on what works to make communities safer and provide second chances, building on the success of the First Step Act, on which a Democratic Congress and President Donald Trump found consensus.
The Safer Supervision Act, which is also encapsulated in similarly bipartisan House companion legislation co-authored by Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), parallels effective state reforms demonstrating that the success of probation and parole should not be measured by how many years someone serves. Instead, the benchmark must be whether the person desists from crime and emerges better able to positively contribute to their community. If a person on probation or parole can hold a job or care for their children, that strengthens our economic and social fabric.
Read the full article: https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/4723330-congress-can-score-another-bipartisan-win-for-safety-and-justice/
When someone claims to have been arrested in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech, what sort of evidence is necessary to make that case? Five years ago in Nieves v. Bartlett, the Supreme Court held that an arrest can violate the First Amendment even if it was based on probable cause, provided the claimant can present “objective evidence that he was arrested when otherwise similarly situated individuals not engaged in the same sort of protected speech had not been.” Today in Gonzalez v. Trevino, the Court said that showing does not require “very specific comparator evidence” indicating that “identifiable people” engaged in very similar conduct but were not arrested.
“This is a great day for the First Amendment and Sylvia Gonzalez, who has courageously fought against retaliatory actions by government officials,” says Anya Bidwell, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, which represents Gonzalez, a former Castle Hills, Texas, city council member who says her political opponents engineered her arrest on a trumped-up charge of tampering with a government document. The document in question was a petition that Gonzalez herself had spearheaded, calling for the replacement of City Manager Ryan Rapelye. Gonzalez had run for office on a promise to seek Rapelye’s removal, and she claimed his allies were determined to punish her for that position.
Read the full article: https://reason.com/2024/06/20/scotus-makes-it-easier-for-victims-of-retaliatory-arrests-to-vindicate-their-first-amendment-rights/
ACLU attorney Kimberly Buddin has agreed to speak at the ACSOL conference on Friday, September 20. Buddin is senior policy counsel for the justice division of national ACLU.
“Attorney Buddin is a dynamic speaker who is well informed regarding registrants, the challenges they and their families face as well as solutions to those challenges,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “She is a welcome addition to our annual conference.”
Ms. Buddin will make a plenary presentation at the ACSOL conference on Friday starting at 9:20 a.m. The topic of her presentation is the “Rise and Fall of the Registry.”
Attorney Buddin is licensed in Michigan and she specializes in civil rights policy and government affairs. Ms. Buddin previously worked for the ACLU of Michigan on criminal justice reform, immigrants’ rights, racial justice, women’s rights, privacy rights and prisoners’ rights. She currently serves as a commissioner on the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission and teaches public service and civil rights courses as an adjunct professor at Wayne State Law School.: https://all4consolaws.org/2024/06/aclu-attorney-to-speak-at-acsol-conference/
The Supreme Court took a sledgehammer to executive agencies’ power Friday by overruling a prominent precedent that bolstered their ability to implement regulations in wide areas of American life, including consumer and environmental protections.
In an 6-3 decision along ideological lines, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority upended a 40-year administrative law precedent that gave agencies across the federal government leeway to interpret ambiguous laws through rulemaking.
Known as Chevron deference, the now-overturned legal doctrine instructed judges to defer to agencies in cases where the law is ambiguous.
Now, judges will substitute their own best interpretation of the law, instead of deferring to the agencies — effectively making it easier to overturn regulations that govern wide-ranging aspects of American life.
This includes rules governing toxic chemicals, drugs and medicine, climate change, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and more.
“Chevron is overruled,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by his five conservative colleagues.
“Courts must exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority.”
Read the full article: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4745680-supreme-court-chevron-case/
Consider the following hypothetical: You are jailed for two years as you await trial for murder. You are facing the death penalty. You have cancer, which relapsed during your incarceration without access to adequate treatment. And it turns out you were charged based on a false witness confession, which the local prosecutor allegedly destroyed evidence to obscure.
Now imagine suing that prosecutor and being told you have no recourse, because such government employees are entitled to absolute immunity.
This is the backdrop for Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s opinion Tuesday arguing that the Supreme Court may need to reevaluate the confines of that legal doctrine—absolute prosecutorial immunity—which prevents victims of alleged prosecutorial misconduct from getting recourse in the vast majority of circumstances.
Read the full article: https://reason.com/2024/07/02/sotomayor-is-right-the-supreme-court-should-reevaluate-absolute-immunity-for-prosecutors/
BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Multiple different civilian groups have been credited with helping in the arrest of alleged child
On June 26, Daniel ____ was arrested and booked in the Sebastian County Detention Center for possession or use of child sexual abuse material.
An affidavit says that on May 26, officers responded to Rogers Avenue in Fort Smith for a disorderly conduct call.
On the scene, officers made contact with three people claiming to be part of a group called Oklahoma Predator Prevention. The men said that they created a fake profile on a dating app, claiming to be a 14-year-old boy named “Bryce,” according to the affidavit.
As the boy, the men were contacted and engaged in conversation with ____ , a 30-year-old, the affidavit said. During the conversations, “Bryce” told ____ that he was 14, and ____ reportedly sent pictures and videos of his genitalia.
____ ‘s phone was seized, and he was interviewed by detectives. He admitted to sending the videos and pictures to who he thought was a minor, according to court documents.
The affidavit says that detectives located the chats, pictures, and videos on ____ ‘s phone, as well as a Google search for “is it against the law to send nudes.”
As of July 5, Wagoner was still being held on a $50,000 bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 16.
Just days later, in a separate incident, a man was arrested in Rogers after another predator tracking group reportedly got him to admit on video that he was viewing child sexual abuse material.
Read the full article: https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/crime/civilian-groups-responsible-multiple-arrests-alleged-child-predators-arkansas/527-0934405f-1d79-41a3-a23c-3be4cad1c503
Mississippi coughed up more than $400,000 this year to attorneys who sued the state over an unconstitutional sodomy law that criminalizes oral and anal sex, and if a similar suit is filed in the future, it could pay even more money.
The Legislature appropriated and paid the fees to civil rights attorneys from multiple legal organizations after Mississippi Attorneys General Jim Hood and Lynn Fitch spent years defending the antiquated sodomy law—Mississippi Code Section 97-29-59.
But Mississippi could be on the hook for even more fees, according to Matthew Strugar, an attorney who helped bring the case. That’s because lawmakers this session let die in committee a bill to repeal the state’s “unnatural intercourse” law, which was primarily used decades ago to target LGBTQ+ Mississippians and sex workers.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated August 9th 2024
July 11, 2024
The United States is an outlier nation in that it strips voting rights from millions of citizens solely on the basis of a criminal conviction. As of 2022, over 4.4 million people in the United States were disenfranchised due to a felony conviction. This is due in part to over 50 years of U.S. mass incarceration, wherein the U.S. incarcerated population increased from about 360,000 people in the early 1970s to nearly 2 million in 2022. While many U.S. states have scaled back their disenfranchisement provisions, a trend that has accelerated since 2017, the United States still lags behind most of the world in protecting the right to vote for people with criminal convictions.
The right to vote is a cornerstone of democratic, representative government that reflects the will of the people. The international consensus on the importance of this right is demonstrated in part by the fact that it is protected in international human rights law. A majority of the world’s nations either do not deny people the right to vote due to criminal convictions or deny the right only in relatively narrow and rare circumstances.
This report highlights key findings since 2006:
Read the full article: https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/out-of-step-u-s-policy-on-voting-rights-in-global-perspective/
July 13, 2024
CA: Montgomery County man gets $431,000 for time wrongly listed on sex offender registry: https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2024/06/13/montgomery-co-man-receives-431000-for-time-wrongfully-spent-on-sex-offender-registry/
July 17, 2024
TN: ‘Disturbing’ recordings from inside child-predator sting shows police, MAGA operatives ignoring laws
Source: newschannel5.com 7/16/24 Recordings show police discussing luring predator suspect to a jurisdiction where he may not leave the jail alive NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — What happens when you give people with bizarre conspiracy theories a gun and a badge? Secret recordings from inside the troubled Millersville Police Department provide a sobering answer to that question. Those recordings — obtained from what was supposed...: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/franklin-politics/disturbing-recordings-from-inside-child-predator-sting-shows-police-maga-operatives-ignoring-laws
FL: Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor reportedly arrested again on felony charge over sex offender registration violation
Source: msn.com 7/19/24 [ACSOL is posting this due to it being a well-known figure dealing with multi-state registration laws] Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor was arrested on Wednesday on a felony charge for failing to report his residence change as a registered sex offender, according to The Athletic. Taylor, 65, turned himself into the Broward Sheriff's Office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Wednesday...: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/hall-of-famer-lawrence-taylor-reportedly-arrested-again-on-felony-charge-over-sex-offender-registration-violation/ar-BB1qfUZx
Dutch rapist Steven van de Velde’s partner issues staunch defence of Olympic selection
Source: yahoo.com 7/23/24 The playing partner of Steven van de Velde, the Dutch Olympian permitted to compete in beach volleyball at the Paris Games despite raping a 12-year-old British girl, has described him as being “like a second father to me”. Van de Velde refused to answer questions upon arrival in Paris where he was confronted by a Daily Mail journalist. Matthew Immers, the...: https://sports.yahoo.com/dutch-rapist-steven-van-velde-132927649.html
The Quiet Epidemic of Predators in Uniforms
Source: slate.com 7/23/24 A series of recent groundbreaking investigative reports unveiled what many advocates for police accountability have known for decades: Child sex abuse by law enforcement officials is far too common across our country. Systemic failures within policing—coupled with lax oversight by police departments, prosecutors, and judges—too often shield police officers from meaningful accountability. Child sex abuse is chronic and widespread, yet justice... https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/07/the-quiet-epidemic-child-predators-police.html
R. Kelly hopes key technicality will move Supreme Court justices to overturn convictions for sexually abusing teenage girls in the 1990s
Source: lawandcrime.com 7/30/24 Robert Sylvester Kelly, the R&B singer better known as R. Kelly, is looking to overturn his Illinois federal convictions for child pornography and the sexual abuse of teenage girls by making the case to the U.S. Supreme Court that Congress, when extending the statute of limitations on such offenses in 2003, did not “expressly” intend to retroactively punish him for conduct...: https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/r-kelly-hopes-key-technicality-will-move-supreme-court-justices-to-overturn-convictions-for-sexually-abusing-teenage-girls-in-the-1990s/
Lessons learned? I believe I was the target of a police sting – Atwo Zee
Source: Florida Action Committee By Atwo Zee, Registered Traveler . . . Not long after I returned to Iowa after the 2024 NARSOL conference in Atlanta, I received an email forwarded by the national NARSOL office. This message came to them on their main “Contact Us” email address, and whoever sent it was looking specifically for me, “whose story “Unwanted Images” hit home when...: https://floridaactioncommittee.org/member-submission-lessons-learned-i-believe-i-was-the-target-of-a-police-sting/
Congressional Democrats Take Aim at For-Profit Probation, Electronic Monitoring Companies
Source: theappeal.org 7/23/24 A group of nearly 20 federal lawmakers sent letters to two companies this week calling out abusive industry practices and requesting additional information about their profits, policies, and contracts with local governments. In letters sent Tuesday to Sentinel Offender Services, a for-profit probation contractor, and Attenti Group, an electronic monitoring services provider, more than a dozen congressional Democrats excoriated the companies...: https://theappeal.org/private-probation-electronic-monitoring-congress-democrats/
August 8, 2024
Embracing the Public’s Ideas to Improve Sentencing, Commission Unanimously Adopts Policy Priorities
Source: ussc.gov 8/8/24 Priorities Reflect Calls to Simplify Sentencing, Reduce the Costs of Unnecessary Incarceration, and Promote Public Safety WASHINGTON, D.C. — Each year, the bipartisan U.S. Sentencing Commission votes to adopt priorities that will guide its annual policymaking process. This summer, the Commission solicited priorities from the public, asking how the agency can improve federal sentencing. In response, the Commission received more than...: https://www.ussc.gov/about/news/press-releases/august-8-2024
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 6th 2024
Senate Bill 1128 Stopped in Committee Hearing
CA Senate Bill 1128 was stopped today during a hearing conducted by the Assembly's Appropriations Committee. The committee did not provide a reason for stopping the bill, but it has been reported that strong opposition to the bill by ACSOL and its leaders was an important part of that decision. "ACSOL thanks every person who showed up at the committee hearing on July.Please consider making a matching-gift donation to our fight for justice.: https://all4consolaws.org/2024/08/senate-bill-1128-stopped-in-committee-hearing/
A third designation of a sexually violent offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act in Chautauqua County has been reversed upon appeal.
Fourth Department Appellate Division judges reversed their third such case in three months in late July. Once again, the case cites precedent the court set in a June case involving a decision made by Judge David Foley – though similar cases haven’t yet begun to spring up from other courts in the Eighth Judicial District.
In the July case, a person pleaded guilty in a North Carolina court of sexual activity by a substitute parent, a section of North Carolina law dealing with aiding and abetting a felony offense. After the defendant in the case moved to New York state, the Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders determined she was required to register as a sex offender in New York and classified her as a presumptive level one risk, the lowest of three designations the board gives.
New Blogs Part 14 Updated September 9th 2024
The latest: Kentucky sheriff faces murder charge over courthouse killing of judge
Published 915am Sept 20th
Stines was expected to give a deposition related to a 2022 lawsuit on Monday, the Courier Journal reported. The lawsuit accused a former deputy sheriff of offering a woman "favorable treatment for sexual favors."Stines was expected to give a deposition related to a 2022 lawsuit on Monday, the Courier Journal reported. The lawsuit accused a former deputy sheriff of offering a woman "favorable treatment for sexual favors."
New Blogs Part 14 Updated October 6th 2024
NY: Third County Sex Offender Registration Decision Overturned
Source: observertoday.com 8/20/24 A third designation of a sexually violent offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act in Chautauqua County has been reversed upon appeal. Fourth Department Appellate Division judges reversed their third such case in three months in late July. Once again, the case cites precedent the court set in a June case involving a decision made by Judge David Foley – though...: https://www.observertoday.com/news/top-stories/2024/08/third-county-sex-offender-registration-decision-overturned/
MN: Minnesota Sex Offender Program marks 30 years of failure and injustice
Source: minnesotareformer.com 8/30/24 As Minnesota marks 30 years of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program this week, let’s think of its true impact: a waste of vast resources under the guise of public safety. MSOP supposedly provides residential treatment after prison for those convicted of sex crimes deemed too dangerous to release into the public, but it is actually an unconstitutional nightmare — a life...: https://minnesotareformer.com/2024/08/30/minnesota-sex-offender-program-marks-30-years-of-failure-and-injustice/
AZ: Arizona DOC Agrees to Pay $2,650,000 in Legal Fees and Costs in Long-Running PLN Censorship Suit
Source: prisonlegalnews.org 8/15/24 On May 3, 2024, Arizona’s Department of Corrections (DOC) settled a federal censorship lawsuit brought by PLN’s publisher,the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC). Under the agreement, DOC paid $2,650,000 to cover HRDC’s attorneys’ fees and expenses in connection with the successful litigation, the largest such award in a prison censorship case in U.S. history. Until 2014, DOC prisoners routinely received issues...: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2024/aug/15/arizona-doc-agrees-pay-2650000-legal-fees-and-costs-long-running-pln-censorship-suit/
NJ: N.J. S. Ct. Will Decide Whether Journalist May Publish Police Chief’s Home Address
Source: reason.com 9/26/24 The N.J. intermediate appellate court held such publication wasn't protected by the First Amendment law; the state high court just agreed to reconsider that. The question presented is, Is Daniel's Law, N.J.S.A. 56:8-166.1 and N.J.S.A. 2C:20-31.1, which prohibits disclosing the home addresses of certain public officials, including judges, prosecutors, and law enforcement personnel, unconstitutional as applied to plaintiff? Here's an excerpt...: https://reason.com/volokh/2024/09/26/n-j-s-ct-will-decide-whether-journalist-may-publish-police-chiefs-home-address/
MI: Federal judge rules on ACLU lawsuit over Michigan’s sex offender registry
Source: detroitnews.com 10/1/24 A federal judge in Detroit has ruled parts of Michigan’s Sex Offenders Registration Act are unconstitutional, ACLU officials of Michigan said Monday. It said the decision will affect tens of thousands of people and follows two recent rulings by the Michigan Supreme Court, as well as numerous federal court decisions dating back to 2013. Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith...: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/10/01/federal-judge-rules-on-aclu-lawsuit-over-michigans-sex-offender-registry/75468182007/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated November 3rd 2024
Tim Ballard files lawsuits against women accusing him of sexual assault
Source: thespectator.com 10/10/24 A number have alleged the subject of Sound of Freedom used the ‘couples ruse’ as a pretext to make unwanted sexual advances Timothy Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad and subject of the film Sound of Freedom, has filed lawsuits against seven women who are accusing him of sexual assault: Celeste Borys, Sashaleigha Hightower, Mary Hall, Kira Lynch, Krista Kacey,...: https://thespectator.com/topic/tim-ballard-files-lawsuits-women-accusing-him-sexual-assault/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated December 6th 2024
TX: Texas Cops Fired for ‘Inappropriate’ Sexual Contact With Massage Workers
Source: reason.com 11/13/24 [ACSOL note: This is posted to show a case of abuse of authority] As a result of the internal affairs investigation, three Lewisville officers were fired, one was demoted, and seven were suspended without pay. Eleven Texas police officers have been disciplined for misconduct related to prostitution stings at massage parlors. Some of the officers are accused of inappropriate physical conduct...: https://reason.com/2024/11/13/texas-cops-fired-for-inappropriate-sexual-contact-with-massage-workers/
SORNA Case Advances in Federal Court; PLF Files Motion for Summary Judgment
The Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) filed a motion for summary judgment on November 18 in its pending case that challenges current federal SORNA regulations. The U.S. Department of Justice is required to file its opposing brief to this motion no later than December 23. The PLF will have a final opportunity to support its motion in a response due no later than January 24,...: https://all4consolaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Motion-for-Summary-Judgment-Plaintiff-Nov2024.pdf
CA Dept. of Justice Statistics Reflect Changes in Registry
The California Depart of Justice (CA DOJ) has provided statistics to the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) that reflect changes in the number of people eligible to petition for removal from the registry. The statistics were accurate as of November 20 and were provided to ACSOL in response to several Public Records Act requests. According to CA DOJ, only 41 percent of...: https://all4consolaws.org/2024/11/child-pornography-and-criminal-justice-reform/
Junk Science and Judicial Arrogance Are Killing Us
Source: newrepublic.com 11/26/24 Too many jurisdictions continue to abide by wholly discredited forensic techniques and pseudoscientific nonsense, which are leaving legal mayhem in their wake. While they remain a singularly popular pop-culture genre, the police and court procedurals that draw the eyes and attention of television viewers on a daily basis have, unfortunately, given most people an idealized view of how our legal system...: https://newrepublic.com/article/188437/junk-science-robert-roberson-justice
SD: Sentence reduced for man convicted of possession of child porn
Source: keloland.com 12/2/24 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A jury found Michael ______ guilty in September of 2020. Monday a judge heard arguments for and against a lighter sentence. Investigators found more than a million images on Michael's phone and computer hard drive in 2018. A jury decided 15 of them were child pornography. A different judge sentenced him to 10 years with six...: https://www.keloland.com/news/local-news/sentenced-reduced-for-man-convicted-of-possession-of-child-porn/
New Blogs Part 14 Updated December 7th 2024
Arrest warrants issued for ex-Lewisville officer accused of sexual assault while on duty
Officer Filemon Perez resigned after learning he would be fired, police said. Dec. 7, 2024: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2024/12/07/arrest-warrants-issued-for-ex-lewisville-officer-accused-of-sexual-assault-while-on-duty/
