A setback for First Amendment protection for anonymous speech

Continuing the one-step-forward, one-step-backward pattern that has characterized the cases examining the constitutionality of state sex offender registry statutes, the Illinois Supreme Court has upheld the provisions of the Illinois sex offender statute compelling disclosure of all “Internet identifiers” just a few weeks after the district court in Florida struck down, on First Amendment grounds, a virtually identical provision in the Florida statute. Here’s the background: Mark Minnis...

Legislative Advocate Training in Las Vegas

Training Workshop - Friday, October 21, 5-8pm FCNL - Friends Committee on National Legislation FCNL is holding a workshop to train and organize anyone who wants to be legislative advocates. Where: Conference room of Friend Richard 801 S. Rancho, Suite E. Las Vegas, NV 89106 Contact: Maiya Zwerling, FCNL Advocacy Team Trainer - Maiya@fcnl.org Who is FCNL? Read about Friends Committee on National Legislation here: - A Quaker...

Sex-offender registry adds costs without protecting public

From the Columbia, SC 'The State' newspaper, an editorial by Don Thurber The Justice Department study also demonstrated that re-offense rates of sex offenders are actually far below other offense groups: Only 3.5 percent of child molesters were convicted of another sex crime during the three-year study period. South Carolina mandates lifetime registration, but a long-term study released last year by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation...

Idaho Sex Offenders Challenge State Registry Laws

Over 100 Sex Offenders sue Idaho over constitutional challenges The constitutional challenge is on the following grounds: Due Process: Assessed new restrictions without a trial. Equal Protection: Burdens an unpopular group of citizens. Religious Freedom: Restricts some offenders from attending church services. Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Excessive punishment imposed by community notification. Double Jeopardy: New conditions placed on offenders after conviction. Contracts: New non negotiated conditions placed after...

Metamora Films

Metamora Films, an independent film company that covers social issues surrounding the sex offender registry and other social justice topics. Matt Duhamel, a former TV news and radio personality, has turned his attention to helping others through the power of independent film. He agrees with the idea that film can help individuals, communities and entire societies by increasing compassion, tolerance, understanding and forgiveness. By learning from his own...

EDITORIAL: Registering sex offenders

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL "The registries should be for true predators and repeat offenders." The number of Tier 3 offenders jumped from around 300 to more than 3,000 with the change. Now, even Tier 1 offenders will be publicly identified. While well-intentioned, this is where the Nevada law and others like it run off the rails due to an often overly broad definition of a sex offense. Stupid and...

Sex offenders challenge Nevada supervision law

Las Vegas Review Journal Article By Carri Geer Thevenot, Las Vegas Review-Journal / Posted August 25, 2015 - 6:38pm More than a dozen sex offenders are challenging the Nevada Parole Board's authority to impose conditions on their lifetime supervision. The offenders, identified only as Does 1-16, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against several state and local officials, including Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt. "The state of Nevada should...

50 State Survey of Relief From Sex Offender Registration

COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES RESOURCE CENTER 50-state survey of relief from sex offender registration By Margaret Love May 14, 2015 We have prepared a new 50-state chart detailing the provisions for termination of the obligation to register as a sex offender in each state and under federal law. This project was inspired by Wayne Logan’s recent article in the Wisconsin Law Review titled “Database Infamia: Exit from the Sex Offender...

Static-99: The 10 Question Checklist That Can’t

BuzzFeedNews These 10 Questions Can Mean Life Behind Bars An article by Peter Aldhous, BuzzFeed News Reporter More precisely, what the Static-99 predicts — with modest accuracy, at best — is the risk that men within a group of sex offenders will commit a new sex offense, compared to other members of that group. Experts agree that it’s a useful tool for managing sex offenders in prison —...

Jacob Wetterling Found At Last: R.I.P.

Free Range Kids Mom Talks About Jacob's Legacy By Lenore Skenazy Sept. 3, 2016 Jacob Wetterling Found At Last It is painful in a more intellectual sense to contemplate the effect that Jacob’s unspeakable fate had on American families. Not only did it grip us with dread, but that dread — and anger — directly paved the way to sex offender registry. As Jennifer Bleyer explained in this extraordinary...

6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Rules on Michigan SO Laws

From the Detroit Free Press: Court: Michigan's toughened sex offender rules cannot be retroactive The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed part of a lower-court ruling, saying the state could not impose harsher restrictions enacted in 2006 and 2011 on offenders who were convicted before the law was changed. The court said the revisions, which include restricting offenders' movement near schools, penalize sex offenders as "moral lepers."...

Sixth Circuit panel concludes Michigan sex offender registration amendments “imposes punishment” and thus are ex post unconstitutional for retroactive application

[caption id="attachment_243" align="alignnone" width="300"] Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals[/caption] In a significant panel ruling today, the Sixth Circuit has concluded in Does v. Snyder, No. 15-1536 (6th Cir. Aug. 25, 2016) (available here) that Michigan's amendments to its Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) "imposes punishment" and thus the state violates the US Constitution when applying these SORA provisions retroactively.  Here is some of the concluding analysis from the unanimous panel decision reaching...

Illinois Proposes Sex Offender Task Force

Synopsis As Introduced Amends the Department of State Police Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois. Creates the Sex Offenses and Sex Offender Registration Task Force to ensure that law enforcement and communities are able to identify and monitor high-risk sex offenders. The Task Force will hold public hearings to receive input from the public and give recommendations to the General Assembly to effectively classify sex offenders...

Dealing With Depression

The road to depression recovery begins with a single step It’s the Catch-22 of depression: recovering from depression requires action, but taking action when you’re depressed is hard. In fact, just thinking about the things you should do to feel better, like going for a walk or spending time with friends, can feel overwhelming. That’s why it’s important to start small and slowly build from there. Reaching out...

Class Action Law Suit on Behalf of Registered Sex Offenders Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Visit Women Against Registry Class Action Lawsuit FAQs WAR Class Action Lawsuit FAQs Q: Who is behind this initiative? A: A group of registrants, family members, and believers in due process. Q: What is the premise of the law suit on behalf of registrants? A: Even though the laws impacting us are passed by the state and federal legislatures we will be asking the courts to rule on...

The Good, the Bad, and the Incomprehensible: Typifications of Victims and Offenders as Antecedents of Beliefs About Sex Crime

The Good, the Bad, and the Incomprehensible He pointed to an array of typical descriptors of sex offenders—“degenerates,” “sex fiends,” “creatures,” and “sexual psychopaths” (p. 543)—all of which, per Sutherland, highlight that sex offending is perceived as pathology or a dispositional “mental malady”—in turn, the only solution would be to “segregate such persons preferably before, but at least after their sex crimes” (p. 544). Here again, public opinion...

Prosecutors who falsify or withhold evidence could become felons under proposed state legislation

Prosecutors who intentionally withhold or falsify evidence could be charged with a felony under a new bill winding through the state Legislature. The proposal by Assemblywoman Patty Lopez, D-San Fernando, comes as prosecutors in Orange County face accusations that they’ve routinely misused jailhouse informants and withheld information from defense attorneys. But the problem of prosecutorial misconduct predates Orange County’s snitch controversy. A 2010 study by Santa Clara University...

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