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.
Important News / Announcements
Janice's Journal
General News Feed
20
Apr
2015
California Attorney General Kamala Harris is refusing to release an unpublished opinion that is being cited by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for changing sex offender release policies. A recent state Supreme Court ruling that struck down a blanket ban on registered sex offenders living near schools or parks in San Diego County has muddied the issue of residency restrictions for prison...
18
Apr
2015
The rural communities on the edges of the High Desert have higher percentages of residents who are registered sex offenders when compared to larger cities in the area and to similarly sized communities elsewhere in the state, Megan’s Law website statistics show. Data also show that smaller local communities have larger percentages of sex offenders than the overall average in the state. Full Article
The Nebraska Supreme Court won't be asked to weigh in on whether the way a state law is written should result in a 12-year-old boy ending up on the state's Sex Offender Registry. The question specifically is whether, by the letter of the law, minors listed on another state's sex offender registry should be put on Nebraska's list when they move to Nebraska, even...
Florida State College at Jacksonville has implemented a policy that mandates sex offenders go through an additional application process while baring sexual predators from enrolling. Full Article
Estimates of the number of entries with crucial mistakes run into the tens of thousands. One man—and pretty much only one man—is trying to fix them. Full Article
16
Apr
2015
***Senate Public Safety Committee Hearing on May 12*** - The California legislature yesterday struck a blow against all registered citizens. That blow is passage of Senate Bill 267 (SB 267) by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee. Despite testimony in opposition to the bill from the ACLU, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Alameda County and California RSOL, the Committee passed the bill unanimously. If...
Josh Gravens is trying to figure out how he’s going to tell his five children that he might be going to prison for a very long time. Gravens, 28, is a one-time convicted juvenile sex offender facing a possible 25 years to life sentence for a felony related to a crime he committed in his childhood, and for which he has been to prison...
Since originating in the early-mid 1990s, sex offender registration and community notification laws have swept the country, now affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals. The laws require that individuals provide, update and at least annually verify personal identifying information, which governments make publicly available via the Internet and other means. Typically retrospective in their reach, and sweeping in their breadth, the...
SAN FRANCISCO - California cities and counties are grappling with how far they can go to restrict where sex offenders can live amid a shifting legal landscape. The California Supreme Court last month struck down San Diego's blanket enforcement of a state law banning registered sex offenders from living near schools or parks. The Supreme Court said sex offenders can still be banned from...
HELENA, Mont. A plan to keep high-risk sex offenders from living near children advanced out of a Montana Senate panel Tuesday. The bill restricts adults who victimized young people from living within 300 feet of an established daycare center, playground, park, athletic facility or any place where children live. Sponsor Rep. Jeff Essmann said his constituents have repeatedly told him they don't want known...
14
Apr
2015
Lake County >> Even though the county has the highest number of sex offenders when compared to its neighbors, the recent loosening of housing restrictions will not cause any notable change in Lake County. “The supreme court’s decision doesn’t affect us,” Lake County Chief Probation Officer Rob Howe said. “With the current supervised population, there is no affect in Lake County, not to say...
Chris Hansen is going back into the predator-catching business, but this time he's asking his fans to help him. The veteran network news correspondent, known for the "Dateline NBC" investigative series "To Catch a Predator," is turning to crowd funding to support a new hidden-camera operation to capture men who use the Internet to find underage sex partners. The results will become the basis...
Typically, the courts find that the retroactive application of sex offender registration statutes does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause, because such statutes are found to be nonpunitive. See, e.g., Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003). Recently, however, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine held that particular amended provisions of the Maine Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORNA"), as applied to...
The National Journal, an elite newsmagazine that claims to be "regarded as the most influential publication in Washington," is trumpeting a big scoop about Social Security on its homepage. "Social Security Doles Out More Than $500,000 to Sexual Predators," the Journal reports. Since the National Journal also claims to be "fiercely honest and scrupulously non-partisan," this sounds like something worth looking into. Full Article Related http://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-06-14-14087.pdf...
12
Apr
2015
With the more people coming to St. Augustine Beach, the police department thinks it’s time to consider a sexual offender ordinance. ... “We’ve seen the crowds double in the past couple years, and the ordinance will protect both the residents and tourists,” Parker said. He also said the city needs to adopt a sexual offender ordinance because there have been two related incidents within...
11
Apr
2015
UPDATED with Opinion: Make sex-offender rules uniform There are more than 4,500 people on Delaware's sex offender registry – about 1 for every 200 citizens in the state. In most of Delaware, sex offenders are not permitted to live within 500 feet of a school. But eight towns have written rules expanding that zone five or sixfold, effectively banning sex offenders from their borders....
London (CNN) A new study has concluded that genetics as well as environment can influence the likelihood that a person will become a sexual offender. Full Article | Study [html] [pdf]
Registered citizens are being trapped in the U.S. by the federal government. They are not allowed to travel overseas for business reasons, to visit family members, or just to relax on vacation. The reason given for this entrapment is to prevent the international sex trafficking of children. We do not support international sex trafficking of children which is a heinous crime. However, the U.S....
RIVERSIDE (CNS) - The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to nullify an ordinance prohibiting convicted sex offenders from living in close proximity to schools and parks. On a 4-0 vote, with Supervisor John Tavaglione absent, the board followed a recommendation from Riverside County Counsel Greg Priamos that Ordinance 902 be invalidated effective May 7. Priamos proposed the repeal based on a California Supreme Court...
08
Apr
2015
In the 20 years since Michigan decided it would be a good idea to keep tabs on sex offenders with a record of targeting children, the state's sex offender registry has swelled exponentially. Full Opinion Piece