The power of labels, letters, and marks

On October 5, 1938, the Third Reich directs its Ministry of Interior to invalidate all passports held by Jews until the letter “J” was affixed to them.   Less than 80 years later, and on February 8, 2016, the American Congress directs the Department of State to invalidate all passports held by sexual offenders until a “unique identifier” is affixed to…

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RSOL Chair to Mass lawmakers: registration is government-sanctioned prejudice, segregation of citizens

By Katie Lannan, State House News Service . . . A host of bills dealing with sex offender registration encountered pushback Tuesday from advocates and offenders who urged lawmakers to consider whether the measures were meant to prevent recidivism or to serve as additional punishments. Legislation now before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary includes measures that would establish restrictions…

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Mass. Supreme Court strikes down residency laws; Compares them to Japanese internment camps

This morning the highest court in Massachusetts struck down residency restrictions in Lynn, Massachusetts! Kudos to the ACLU of Massachusetts who filed suit to challenge the law in 2012. National RSOL was right beside them—criticizing the law in a friend-of-the-court (amicus) brief and joined by the Florida Action Committee, the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center and two sex offender treatment groups–the Association for the…

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