On the heels of a highly successful Restorative Justice Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, led by Dr. Alissa Ackerman, Dr. Jill Levenson, and other notables, sponsored by our Connecticut affiliate One Standard of Justice, NARSOL presents a four-part series of one person’s story told by him. The author describes his journey as, “In and through the pain — an offender, victim,…
Read More
By Giulia Lowe and Gwenda Willis The present study examined the effect of offense-based labels on community members’ willingness to volunteer with people convicted for varying offenses and any priming effect of labeling language. Participants (N = 310) were randomly assigned to a label condition or a neutral condition and completed an anonymous online survey about their willingness to volunteer…
Read More
By Elizabeth Weil-Greenberg . . . Every five years, Mark Hunter has to pay around $300 to have his picture displayed in the newspaper and notices mailed to his neighbors, informing them that he is a sex offender. While on parole, he said, he pays about $60 a month in fees and has to attend a sex offender treatment class. His…
Read More
By Dwayne Daughtry . . . When it comes to sex offender restrictions, some legislatures have taken unusual steps to either ban registrants entirely from the internet or restrict access to various social platforms. Convicted sex offenders aren’t allowed to use Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat as per company policies. As Facebook acquires, monopolizes, and removes registrants from its platform, it…
Read More
By Aaron J. Marcus . . . Two years ago, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shook up long-settled orthodoxy by ruling that the state’s sex offender registration law, otherwise known as SORNA (Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act) was punishment. The case, Commonwealth v. Muniz, 164 A.3d 1189 (Pa. 2018), presented the Court with two questions: whether people who committed their crimes before the…
Read More
By Sandy . . . At NARSOL, each of us wears many hats. Robin Vander Wall is the organization’s vice-chair, president of its foundation (Vivante Espero), sits on several working committees, and is chair of the marketing and finance committees. It is in that last role that he left his home state of North Carolina, where he is also the…
Read More
By Michael . . . As a senior citizen recently qualifying for Medicare, I was excited to learn that my new Medicare Advantage plan allowed me free access to the YMCA. Since our local “Y” has a great pool, I was really looking forward to getting the exercise I need with a low impact work out. I took my paperwork…
Read More
By John R. Ellement . . . Convicted sex offenders retain a constitutional right to privacy, and those rights are being violated by a state law mandating that everyone convicted of some sex crimes wear a GPS monitoring bracelet as part of their sentence, the state’s highest court ruled Tuesday. In a 7-0 ruling, the Supreme Judicial Court decided that…
Read More
By John Moritz . . . Carla Swanson sat waiting for nearly two hours Tuesday, watching as the House Judiciary Committee deliberated one bill after another. The lawmakers discussed legislation affecting the implementation of the death penalty, then turned to a bill dealing with child custody laws. Members later took up two bills that would raise court fees. About an…
Read More
By Sandy . . . In 1999, a young man of 17 met a young lady of 16. The details of the development of their relationship are murky; some reports indicate they were not sexually involved on the day for which he was charged but were later. There seems to be no question about her willingness to engage in the…
Read More