By Mary Sue Molnar, Texas Voices E.D. Every legislative session, we find ourselves on the defensive –trying to kill bills that were filed with the intent to increase and allow more and more residency restrictions to be imposed on people who are required to register. Next session will be no different, and we have already been informed that certain legislators…
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They Say It Isn’t Punishment
By John “Bay” Haralson, Guest Blogger . . . In a 2003 Alaskan case, the highest court in the land heard arguments pertaining to states’ rights to retroactively list sex offenders on a public registry. At issue was the violation of constitutional protection against ex post facto, (punishment after the fact) and public safety. In a split ruling the high court…
Read MoreBoogie man is still out there!
By Sandy…. Byron Deweldon is not the poster boy for one-trial learning. He has several sexual assault convictions behind him and was civilly committed for eight years. But he was released from civil commitment last year. That means that he was found no longer to be at a dangerous risk of re-offending. He could live in the community, monitored, as…
Read MoreAlabama sex offender statutes turn productive citizens into homeless pariahs
By Steve Yoder…. The Constitution’s ex post facto clause prohibits passing a law that retroactively increases the punishment for a criminal act that an offender committed before the law was passed. But in an ingenious 2003 Supreme Court ruling, a 6-3 conservative majority held that retroactive placement on a state sex offender registry–being put on a registry that was created…
Read MoreInternational Travel
If you or someone you know was denied entry into another country as a consequence of registration, we want to hear from you. A new group, supported by RSOL National, is examining the issues related to registered citizens traveling, including the practice of the US Government notifying receiving countries that a registrant is traveling there. A representative of FAC will…
Read MoreRSOL Conference: Public Registration–Untold Collateral Damages
The Public Sex Offender Registry–A Perpetual Shame Amanda Hess has written a brilliant piece about the re-emergence of public shaming using the tragic example of a father’s punishment of his daughter. For disobeying a house rule, he filmed his cutting off her hair, chastising her all the while, and posted it online. She was only 13, unable to deal with…
Read MoreEmily Horowitz, RSOL conference speaker
Emily Horowitz, PhD, Professor in Sociology and Criminal Justice at St. Frances College in New York, is making news by speaking up and speaking the truth about the state of our current sex offender system. She deliberately stirred a hornet’s nest with the publication of her article, “In defense of Josh Duggar’s parents: It’s no secret why a mother and father would…
Read MoreWe’ve come a long way…and have a long way to go
“The most important thing I got from last year’s conference was a sense of just how much progress has been made in the past few years. Sheri and I still vividly remember the first conference in Boston. The thing was conducted in relative secrecy (or at least discretion) because nobody was sure what would happen if our presence became known…
Read MoreWhat will be at the conference for me?
“The most valuable part of the conference experience for me was knowing that there are other people out there who think and feel the same way I do and are trying to make a difference. Bless their hearts.” Jan in Florida “I attended the Los Angeles conference, and one thing that I learned is that I’m not alone and smart…
Read MoreStop the sex offender registry panic
By Tracy Clark-Flory . . . Lenore Skenazy came to fame for letting her 9-year-old son ride the New York subway home by himself. Or rather, she came to fame by letting him ride the subway home alone and then writing about it for the New York Sun. The piece led to an outcry — she was dubbed “America’s worst…
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