COVID-19: Strategies for Reducing Transmission
In response to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, the Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center has published a set of guidelines for law enforcement, policy experts, and others with respect to law and policy focused on those with past convictions …
Posted: March 28, 2020Reason — Sex Offender Laws Are Broken. These Women Are Working to Fix Them.
By Hallie Lieberman | Feb. 2020 Sandy Rozek is the polar opposite of what comes to mind when you hear the word activist. A 78-year-old great-grandmother and retired high school English teacher who lives in Houston, Rozek is not woke, doesn’t post on Tw …
Posted: January 25, 2020The Appeal: What Is The Purpose of Sex Offense Registries?
By Sarah Lustbader | December 10th, 2019 Two days ago, the Union-Recorder in Georgia published a bizarre editorial. The editorial board noted that the state’s sex offender registry system drives people into homelessness and deprived them of counseling …
Posted: December 14, 2019The Philadelphia Inquirer: Sex offender registry law in Pa. facing life-or-death test at Supreme Court
By Angela Couloumbis | December 5th, 2019 The landmark Pennsylvania law that for nearly a quarter of a century has required a public registry of sex offenders and community notification about their whereabouts is facing a life-or-death challenge before …
Posted: December 5, 2019NJ.com — Female juvenile sex offender, abused as a child, challenges law putting her on Megan’s List
By Joe Atmonavege | November 17, 1029 The state’s Public Defender’s office is hoping to join a federal lawsuit that is seeking to eliminate Megan’s Law registration for all juvenile sex offenders in New Jersey, a move the attorneys hope will strengthen …
Posted: November 18, 2019Boston Review: Halloween and Stranger Danger
By Christine Hume | October 31, 2019 Do you believe in the boogeyman? This is the pivotal question of the Halloween movie franchise. The tension around naming the movies’ antagonist foregrounds the problem of seeing him: “it” or “him,” “thing” or “huma …
Posted: November 11, 2019The Outline: What Follows Punishment?
When people convicted of sex offenses in the United States finish their criminal sentences, they generally face a slew of regulations and restrictions — from offender registries to residency restrictions to the possibility of lifelong civil commitment — that leave them isolated, stigmatized, and surveilled. But while Richard knew that living in the free world as a convicted sex offender wouldn’t be easy, nothing prepared him for the reality. …
Posted: September 27, 2019The Appeal: Alabama Sex Offender Registry Is Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Teenagers, Lawsuit Argues
Southern Poverty Law Center and Juvenile Law Center asked a federal court today to strike down Alabama’s sex offender registry requirements for young people who were convicted in adult court. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, argues it is cruel and unusual punishment to impose mandatory lifetime registry restrictions for conduct that occurred when someone was still under age 18. …
Posted: September 19, 2019The Marshall Project: When People with Intellectual Disabilities Are Punished, Parents Pay the Price
Carol Nesteikis, 66, has never committed a crime. But for two years, from six in the evening to six in the morning the next day, she lived under de facto house arrest with her 32-year-old son, Adam. It wasn’t because she wanted to. The home itself was a kind of punishment, she says. …
Posted: September 13, 2019The Appeal: The Rise of Registries (Podcast)
Earlier this year, lawmakers in New York proposed a bill that would bar people convicted of multiple sex offenses from ever using New York City’s subway system again. The plan, which would inflict a form of banishment in the name of public safety, is part of a broader pattern. Sex offender registries increasingly include children under the age of 18, and some states permit children as young as 7 to be registered. But a growing body of evidence suggests that our reliance on registries—not just for sex crimes but also for terrorism, gun, and drug offenses—may allow politicians to look like they’re taking action while actually doing little to curb abuse. To discuss the rise of registries, we are joined by Appeal contributor Guy Hamilton-Smith and Elizabeth Letourneau, professor and director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Posted: September 12, 2019The Appeal: People On Sex Offender Registry Should Shelter From Dorian In Jail
For some people convicted of sex crimes in Florida, the only shelter open to them during Hurricane Dorian was the county jail. In some counties, people on the registry were barred from shelters set up for those evacuating, and told to go to separate locations, away from children and other community members. If they attempted to stay with friends or relatives, they faced daunting residency and registration requirements, according to the Florida Action Committee, which advocates for reform of sex offender registry laws. Failure to comply can mean a felony conviction and incarceration. In Osceola County, a separate shelter was set up at the housing agency for “sex offenders,” meaning people on the registry, according to a local news report by WKMG-TV. And in Flagler County, registered sex offenders were directed to go to the sheriff’s office for shelter, according to a WJXT-TV report. The Nassau County Board of Commissioners website advised people on the sex offender registry to seek shelter in the county jail. “It was such a traumatic experience to be incarcerated. I’m not going to subject myself to that voluntarily,” a representative with the Florida Action Committee told The Appeal. “I’d rather tie myself to a tree.” …
Posted: September 4, 2019Stateside: ACLU’s Miriam Aukerman on Sex Offender Registries
In 2016, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Does v. Snyder declaring Michigan’s sex offense registry unconstitutional. The ACLU has since gone back to federal court seeking to enforce the 6th Circuit’s decision. Miriam Aukerman appeared on NPR’s Stateside to discuss the litigation, ongoing efforts to achieve reform, and sex offense policies more generally.
Posted: September 2, 2019KTUU — Without guidance, Alaska judges to ‘muddle through’ sex offender registry removal decisions
Without guidance, Alaska Superior Court judges will have to “muddle their way through” decisions over how a person can apply to be removed from the sex offender registry, says John Skidmore, the director of the criminal division with the Department of Law. In June, the Alaska Supreme Court determined that people on the sex offender registry had a right to due process, effectively meaning they could apply to be removed from the registry if they can prove they are no longer dangerous. Currently, there are roughly 3,500 Alaskans on the registry. Depending on the severity of the crime or past criminal history, some people are on the registry for 15 years, some for life. …
Posted: August 12, 2019[NPR] – The Inequity of Sex Offender Registries
The Takeaway | July 17th, 2019 As the trial of Jeffrey Epstein unfolds, more and more details of his life have come under scrutiny, including the fact that he was embraced by high society despite having to register as a sex offender in New York and Flo …
Posted: July 18, 2019[Huffington Post] — Sex Offender Registries Don’t Keep Kids Safe, But Politicians Keep Expanding Them Anyway
By Michael Hobbes | July 16th, 2019 The first time Damian Winters got evicted was in 2015. He was living with his wife and two sons in suburban Nashville when his probation officer called his landlord and informed him that Winters was a registered sex …
Posted: July 16, 2019[Reuters] Conservative U.S. Justice Gorsuch again sides with liberals in criminal case
By Lawrence Hurley | June 26th, 2019 For the second time in three days, conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch on Wednesday sided with his four liberal colleagues in a 5-4 ruling in favor of a criminal defendant, on this occasion an Oklah …
Posted: June 29, 2019[SCOTUSblog] Opinion analysis: Court refuses to resurrect nondelegation doctrine
By Mila Sohoni | June 20th, 2019 The Supreme Court today refused to resurrect the nondelegation doctrine, the long-dormant principle that Congress cannot transfer its power to legislate to another branch of government. The case, Gundy v. United States, …
Posted: June 29, 2019Sex Offenders Need Not Disclose Facebook Accounts to Law Enforcement, NY Court of Appeals Rules
By Dan Clark | June 27, 2019 Persons convicted of sex offenses in New York do not have to specifically disclose to the state that they have, and use, an account on Facebook, so long as they register their email address and don’t use a fake name, the st …
Posted: June 29, 2019Detroit Free Press — Michigan lawmakers ordered to revise the Sex Offender Registry Act
May 24th, 2019 | By Aleanna Siacon A U.S. district court judge is giving Michigan lawmakers 90 days to change the state’s sex offender registry law, almost three years after it was first ruled unconstitutional by federal appeals court. U.S. District Ju …
CCRC — PA high court will again review sex offender registration
April 9, 2019 | By Aaron 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 pun …
Posted: April 10, 2019[The Appeal] Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Proves Inescapable
By Steven Yoder | March 1, 2019 It was the kind of headline guaranteed to generate clicks even over the winter holidays and amid a federal government shutdown: “Number of Sex Offenders Living in Florida Is Growing,” warned the Associated Press. In Dece …
Our cruel, counterproductive sex offender laws: Anthony Weiner is a window into what’s wrong with our system of punishment
NY Daily News | By Emily Horowitz Last week, Anthony Weiner was released from federal prison to a Bronx halfway house after serving 21 months for sending sexually-explicit messages to a 15-year-old girl. Next, like approximately 4.5 million others on p …
Posted: February 20, 2019Michigan AG Dana Nessel Does the Unthinkable: Argues the Truth about SORA
By Guy Hamilton-Smith Michigan’s Attorney General has entered the cultural and legal conflagration of how we reckon with sexual violence in our society with a remarkable (and compelling) argument: Michigan’s sex offender registries are not effective at …
Posted: February 20, 2019Editorial: Sex Offender Registry afoul of constitution
The Detroit News, January 24, 2019 Michigan lawmakers seem keen on making important reforms to the state’s criminal justice system, which should expand protections for civil liberties. Another item they should add to the list: Revamping the state’s Sex …
Posted: February 4, 2019When Stealing Legos Adds To a Lifetime of Consequences — The Appeal
By Elizabeth Weill-Greenburg Seth (not his real name) describes himself as an outcast as a child. “I was the fat kid with glasses that got picked on ever since first grade,” said Seth, now 40, who grew up in New Jersey, where he still lives. “I was alw …
Posted: December 9, 2018Failure-To-Comply Arrests Reveal Flaws In Sex Offender Registries [The Appeal]
Joshua Vaughn, August 1, 2018 — In January 2015, Franklin Barrick packed his bags and moved out of his home near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, leaving his wife behind. For most, the end of a marriage would bring divorce proceedings in civil court, but f …
Posted: August 3, 2018Expert: Crime Registries Turn People into Pariahs With ‘Very Little to Lose’ [The Appeal]
Jessica Pishko / The Appeal – On November 19, 2009, Brittany Passalacqua and her mother, Helen Buchel, were found brutally murdered, slashed multiple times with a boxcutter, in their Geneva, New York, home. Prosecutors charged John Brown, Buchel’s boyf …
Posted: July 25, 2018[Detroit Free Press] Treatment of sex offenders depends on whether they’ve challenged rules
WASHINGTON – Eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court effectively upheld a decision saying parts of Michigan’s sex offender registry law — one of the toughest in the nation — were unconstitutional, thousands of former sex offenders who thought they’d …
Posted: June 8, 2018[The Appeal] Sex Registries as Modern-Day Witch Pyres: Why Criminal Justice Reform Advocates Need to Address the Treatment of People on the Sex Offender Registry
Perhaps the most irrefutable statement that can be made about modern day America is this: we have a penchant for putting people in cages. More than any other nation on the planet, we rely on incarceration as the fix for our social ills. America’s unpre …
Posted: June 1, 2018The Supreme Court’s Mixed Signals in Packingham
American Constitution Society Blog Post- “The Supreme Court’s Mixed Signals in Packingham” (July 10, 2017)