The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) is dedicated to protecting the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of registrants and their families. In order to achieve that objective, ACSOL will educate and litigate as well as support or oppose legislation.
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Janice's Journal
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A registered sex offender previously able to attend his son’s school activities per a trial court-granted request was denied that exception Monday when the Indiana Court of Appeals determined an amended statute barred him from entering school property. Full Article Article
Committees within the California legislature have begun the process of scheduling consideration of bills of importance to registrants and their loved ones. Click on the bills to see what you can do: SB 145: Click here to learn how to SUPPORT SB 145 AB 884: Click here to learn how to OPPOSE AB 884
03
Mar
2019
Like many of you, before I knew someone on the registry or became involved in advocacy, I never gave much thought to how our justice system worked. I knew very little about how or why state bills were proposed and even less about who was responsible for getting them pushed through to a vote. I naively assumed my state representatives were looking out for...
For a federal court to consider a habeas petition, the petitioner must be “in custody” at the time the petition is filed. Past cases have found custody to include parole restrictions, own-recognizance release pending appeal, and community service obligations. Today, the Third Circuit held that the requirements that come with registration under Pennsylvania’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act satisfy the habeas custody requirement...
[eastcountytoday.net - 2/27/19] A bill introduced last week by Assemblyman Tom Lackey would call for the State of California to create a website which would list parents who owe more than $5,000 in child support. According to Assembly Bill 1498, it would showcase delinquent parents who have not been making court-ordered child support payments. The website would publicly display: Obligor’s name photograph amount of...
[news9.com - 2/26/19] POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY, Oklahoma - The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal shooting near Macomb. A gunshot victim, 60-year-old Harry L. Venosdel Jr., was found around 5 p.m. Sunday, February 24, at his home located off White Oaks Lane. Venosdel Jr. was discovered by others who live on the same plot of land. 911 Caller: “I just got home and...
[state.ar.us - 2/26/19] Click on each of these bills to read the details: SB 10: Prohibiting a registered sex offender from participating in certain Halloween-related activities. HB 1279: To amend the offense of sexually grooming a child. SB 183: To prohibit certain registered sex offenders from holding a position of public trust. SB 8: To prohibit a registered sex offender from recording a...
26
Feb
2019
This morning the Supreme Court heard oral argument in a dispute over the constitutionality of a federal law that requires convicted sex offenders to return to prison for at least five years – and possibly for the rest of their lives – if a judge finds that they have committed certain crimes. The defendant in the case, an Oklahoma man who served time for...
Creating safer and more equitable communities — both in real life, and online — is an important undertaking. Undoubtedly we are in agreement that those who cause harm and havoc should be stopped and made accountable for their actions. The broader (and more difficult) question comes in what we do next. To make this less abstract, in “real world” parlance, this is often called re-entry: the process of...
26
Feb
2019
The CA state legislature began a new two-year session just last month. And in that short period of time, legislators are already heading down the wrong path. What path? The path which identifies all individuals convicted of a sex offense as dangerous and likely to commit a new sex offense. For example, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty who is known for his compassion for those who...
Assembly member Melissa Melendez has introduced a bill (AB 884) that would expand the requirement to register for a lifetime to anyone convicted of Penal Code Section 288(a) when the Tiered Registry Law takes effect in 2021. As currently written, the Tiered Registry Law authorizes individuals convicted of the same penal code section to petition for removal from the registry after a minimum of...
[wmtw.com - 2/25/19] UGUSTA, Maine — A proposal at the Maine State House would add living restrictions to Maine's sex offender law. The bill would ban a convicted sex offender from living in a multiunit building that shares an entrance with a unit occupied by a minor. Specifically, a sex offender who committed a crime against someone under the age of 14 would be...
[tallahassee.com - 2/25/19] Ron Book, one of Florida's most influential lobbyists who also represents the city of Tallahassee, has been arrested on DUI-related charges in Broward County, several South Florida news outlets have reported. Book, 66, was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol Sunday after crashing his Lamborghini near his house, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He was charged with a first-time DUI,...
24
Feb
2019
Back in 2017 I wrote a piece on the Women Against Registry website titled “No More Suicides, Please!” So, I was surprised when almost 2 years later, someone commented on that blog piece, someone who after 25 years on the registry still felt that he “wishes he would have ate a bullet long ago.” He had lost his family, his job, his home, his...
23
Feb
2019
A new bill making its way through the Missouri House is seeking to track some of the state’s most dangerous sex offenders when moving between counties. Sponsored by Missouri Rep. Randy Pietzman of Troy, Missouri, House Bill No. 2653 would require offenders who have been convicted of first-degree child molestation to wear an electronic monitoring device. “I come from a district that is kind...
[usmarshals.gov] The frightening aspect involves reporting of non-compliant sex offenders. There are so many things wrong with this. First it perpetuates the myth that former sex offenders represent a heightened danger. Also, people are free to report what they, as untrained private citizens, consider to be non-compliance. Any unsubstantiated report of a technical violation of registration requirements will cause considerable discomfort to a registered...
UPDATE 2/23: Removal from the Registry (below) Original Submission 2/9: Last month, I received my Certificate or Rehabilitation, thus ending my duty to register and bringing to a conclusion a decade filled with challenges and a sense of utter hopelessness and despair. When this all began, I asked myself repeatedly, “How am I ever going to get out of this?” At my first ACSOL...
A local mom and alleged sexual assault survivors blasted a bill Friday that would get rid of the state's deadline for reclassifying sex offenders. "It's important to do it in a timely manner because it's in the interest of public safety and this is what people wanted," Christine VanOrder, a mother and activist, told KATU Friday. Full Article
22
Feb
2019
[arkansasonline.com - 2/22/19] The Senate on Thursday approved a bill that would allow people convicted of sex offenses not to register with the state if their victim was under age 18 and the offender was no more than three years older, under certain conditions. Read more
22
Feb
2019
[legalaidnyc.org - 2/21/19] The Legal Aid Society applauded a ruling rendered today by the New York State Appellate Division – Third Department, rejecting the New York State Department of Correction and Community Supervision’s (DOCCS) interpretation of the statutory residency restrictions faced by individuals with prior sex offense convictions. Specifically, the court held that people whose sex offense sentences had already expired were not subject...