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Changes in Model Penal Code accepted by ALI Council
March 5, 2022
By Sandy...

March 2 the Council of the American Law Institute approved the recommendations for changes to its Model Penal Code as pertains to the management of sexual crimes and the sex offender registry. The recommendations which were approved were modified from the committee’s final draft due to pressure from various entities.

The recommendations have been years in the making, and when the final draft was completed and released in late 2021, it created and polarized three distinct groups.

Many advocate and anti-registry groups, including NARSOL, as well as many individual advocates, supported the proposals as important steps toward the ultimate goal of abolishment of the registry.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice and a majority of our states’ attorneys general opposed the changes and wanted the MPC to remain the same, claiming that weakening the laws would put the nation’s children as risk.

Other anti-registry groups also opposed the recommendations on the grounds that they did not go far enough in abolishing the registry altogether.

ALI’s original recommendations centered around four areas:  limiting registerable offenses to the more dangerous ones, providing registry access to law enforcement only, modifying registration terms and abolishing lifetime registration and registration of minors, and abolishing blanket restrictions that curtail all registrants’ rights and freedoms.
Be sure you know about “sex offender” scams
August 5, 2021
This is Part I in a two-part “Be sure you know about…” series.

By Sandy...

Vigilante scams targeting those on sex offender registries are on the rise. Across the country reports are coming in. This activity bears all the hallmarks of other vigilante action. It targets those on the registry by using the registry to identify them. It uses tactics designed to create fear. Its purpose is to harm those on the registry in some manner. It takes many forms.

We learn from our Texas affiliate Texas Voices that Harris County, which is essentially Houston, issued a warning to registrants on August 3.

Texas Voices writes, “Harris County sent out a blast email this morning to registrants in their county. They should have done this sooner. Many registered people have lost money to this scam. The scammers use multiple scenarios as to why a warrant has been issued.  One of our members was told that the law had changed and that he was required to register twice a year instead of once a year.”

The email blast from Harris County says:
NARSOL asks administration to use them as resource in criminal justice reform issues
April 15, 2021
In late February, 2021, the NARSOL board members decided to appeal to key members of the new administration regarding sexual offense issues as they impact overall criminal justice reform. The resultant letter was mailed by U.S. certified mail on March 17 and then sent also by email to three individuals: Mr. Mike Donilon, Senior Advisor to the President; Mr. Steven J. Ricchetti, Counselor to the President; and Mr. Ronald Alan Klain, Chief of Staff. The text of the letter follows; as of yet there has been no response.

Dear __________,

The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) shares with you and with President Biden the vision for a better America for all people, the vision about which he spoke in his inauguration speech when he said, “. . . an American story of hope, not fear; of unity, not division; of light, not darkness; a story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness,” and Amanda Gorman, in like manner, spoke of, “. . . a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.” This is our vision for our country also. We share the wish of our president for just such an America.

NARSOL is a national organization that advocates for the rights of citizens who are and have been for many years systemically denied the opportunity for unity and healing, persons with previous sexual offense convictions, citizens required to affix their names to the sex offense registry and publicly bear the label of “sex offender.”
Sign petition that affirms the rights of former offenders to participate in life
February 10, 2021
Poetry Magazine is a prestigious publication, well known in the literary world, and it recently published a special edition, one containing exclusively the works of those who have been incarcerated. Among the offerings was a poem by Kirk Nesset, a former English literature professor who was released from prison last year after a sexual offense conviction in 2014.

When readers protested the inclusion of Nesset’s work and a petition was started asking the magazine to remove the poem, the editors affirmed their decision to keep it, issuing this statement: “People in prison have been sentenced and are serving/have served those sentences; it is not our role to further judge or punish them as a result of their criminal convictions. As editors, our role is to read poems and facilitate conversations around contemporary poetry.”

In response to the situation and specifically to the petition, Dr. Ira Ellman, a retired Professor of Law and Psychology and a Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, started another petition in support of Poetry Magazine and its decision not to exclude Nesset’s poem. In his petition, Dr. Ellman wrote:
“Operation Turkey Sweep” — for those on the registry, what will be next?
November 19, 2020
By Sandy...

As far as I can determine, prior to 2003 there were no articles linking persons on the registry with Halloween. Then, in 2003, from Bryan, Texas, Google finds this sole article: “Halloween can be a tempting time for sex offenders.” The headline comes from a quote by the county senior community supervision officer and is made with not an iota of evidence. His inflammatory rhetoric continues, “ ‘It’s very important that we go and make these checks on sex offenders. This would be a perfect night to be tempted . . . It’s like putting a bunch of minnows in a pond with piranhas. It’s just not good.’ ”

And so it begins. Fast forward to 2020 and try to count the articles linking registrants with Halloween. Patch alone is approaching a thousand.

And now, today, November 18, 2020 we have this: “Operation Turkey [Sweep] keeps sex offenders in check.” The story reports, “In Operation Turkey Sweep, West Virginia State Police and the U.S. Marshals visited 100 registered sex offenders in Raleigh County without warning.”

Is this the beginning of a new danger? Are persons with prior sexual convictions somehow a threat to public safety on Thanksgiving? How many years and how many articles will it take to make it so?
Can a “culture of entitled authoritarianism” be changed?
June 3, 2020
By Andy O...
of OKRSOL

I read an editorial from the Washington Post Saturday entitled “George Floyd’s death shows exactly what police should not do.”  One paragraph really stood out:

We’re still learning more about the case, but the episode suggests poor training, insufficient supervision, a dangerously adversarial mind-set, A CULTURE OF ENTITLED AUTHORITARIANISM, and a disregard for the lives and good opinions of people of color. Those are all values at odds with good police work — values that rigorous training programs and quality supervision seek to stamp out.

Note the phrase that I emphasized, “a culture of entitled authoritarianism,” as this phrase epitomizes the mindset of many police officers as well as correctional officers and others in law enforcement-related fields.  In prison I was regarded as almost but not quite human, and fortunately, that was long before COVID-19.  Now the disease is spreading in many of our state and federal lockups, and despite the typical reasons for not protecting inmates (lack of supplies, stupidity, etc.,) it really boils down to lack of concern.  They’re just inmates.  In “Staying alive, a doctor’s guide for prisoners on staying safe during COVID-19 pandemic,” published in Prison Legal News, there is this statement: “State agencies . . . cannot protect their staff and local communities without protecting the prisoners.”  One has to wonder if this is the only rationale for protecting inmates.

I remember in 2009 when I was first in treatment, I was required to take a class to learn about the deviant cycle.  The first thing the instructor told us was to turn off our cell phones so that we didn’t disrupt the class.  That was a reasonable request, and in any other context, it would have been completely sufficient.  But then he added, “And if your phone rings, I’ll make you dance to the tune of your ringtone,” the key phrase being, “I’ll make you.”  Implied but not stated was “. . . and if you don’t, you’ll be kicked out of treatment for non-compliance, revoked, and sent back to prison.”  I considered asking if the instructor had considered a second career as a prison guard but didn’t dare.
NARSOL demands the end to state-sponsored facilitation of vigilante murders
May 20, 2020
On May 16, in Omaha, Nebraska, James Fairbanks went to the home of Mattieo Condoluci, an individual on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry, and shot him to death. Fairbanks had identified Condoluci from the registry. He turned himself in and is awaiting charges.

This is a pattern we have seen played out over the years, registrants murdered by vigilantes using the online registry to find them. This is not the first time that NARSOL has demanded a cessation to this, and, sadly, we fear it will not be the last. See our press release that was distributed across the nation May 20 in response to this latest murder of a registered person.
Related:  NARSOL’s Vander Wall quoted in aftermath of Omaha registrant murder
Who Can We Believe?
May 8, 2020
By Sandy...

A democracy works as it should only when the people trust their elected officials. Trust is not a given; it is earned, and the key to earning it is truthfulness, honesty, and candor.

In this age of fake news, claims of fake news, and social media pundits who can spread both at the speed of lightening, how can the public know if their elected officials are being truthful and candid?

The question may be best answered by looking at the opposite.

For example, Orange County, CA, District Attorney Todd Spitzer, angry over the release of inmates due to the Covid-19 pandemic, criticized the release of those with prior sexual convictions, saying, “We do not want these people out on the streets because we all know registered sex offenders have the highest propensity to commit additional offenses.”

This statement may be believed by a certain percentage of the population, but the exact opposite has been known, proven, and reported too often and too long by too many in the way of both governmental and academic studies and reports to be accepted as truth by a large percentage of the population. What many know upon reading Mr. Spitzer’s words is one of two things: Either he is woefully ignorant about a subject on which he should be well informed, or he is lying.
Should “criminals” be left in prison to die of COVID-19? Some say yes
April 22, 2020
By Sandy...

“Prisoner release schemes,” pronounces the heading of a piece by Stacy Washington in a Project 21 publication, “are total nonsense.”

In this opinion she is joined by many state officials who, in spite of dire health warnings from the medical community, severely limit those eligible for early release or compassionate release to escape the almost certain ravages of COVID-19 as it rips through jails and prisons. Those with sexual offense convictions are almost universally the first to be excluded, based on the label alone. Texas governor Greg Abbott is currently embroiled in a battle with the federal courts over his refusal to release low-risk, pre-trial detainees. These are, primarily, folk who have not been convicted of the crime for which they are incarcerated but cannot afford the bail to be released.

Ms. Washington, in her tirade against the release of any prisoner during this health crisis, oversimplifies her arguments to the point of the ridiculous.
What keep us safe? It’s sure not the sexual offense registry
April 16, 2020
Published 4/16 at Life on the List

Guest post by Sandy Rozek

Sex offenders have always been with us. Those who are convicted of committing rape and sexual assault and child molestation have always been punished and then released into the community.

They were not registered. They did not have to “check in” with law enforcement once they were no longer on probation or parole. Their presence in the community as former sexual offenders was largely unknown. They lived and worked wherever they could with no restrictions on where; there were no imaginary lines drawn around parks or schools, no prohibition against trick-or treat or other Halloween activities, no requirement to notify law enforcement if their telephone number or place of employment changed.

According to the wisdom of today, reoffense should have been rampant. As each year more individuals, virtually all “first-timers,” are released after serving a sentence for a sexual crime, the sheer mass of these felons unleashed on an unsuspecting public, with no one tracking or constantly monitoring them, must have resulted in ever-increasing numbers of victims.

Stranger-rape victims must have been piling up in the streets. Those suffering from sexual assault must have overwhelmed the hospital system. Children must have been kidnapped from schools and parks in record numbers on a daily basis.

But none of those things happened.
Federal Judge stops enforcement of Michigan SORA during coronavirus crisis
April 8, 2020

A federal judge is commanding state authorities to stop enforcing rules under the Michigan Sex Offender Registry Act during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to an interim order U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland issued Monday, officials are “preliminarily enjoined from enforcing registration, verification, school zone, and fee violations of (the act) that occurred or may occur from February 14, 2020, until the current crisis has ended, and thereafter until registrants are notified of what duties they have under SORA going forward.”
Registrants face stark choices as coronavirus risks grow
April 3, 2020

A patchwork approach to the nation’s sex offense registry laws is leaving many of the 900,000 people on the country’s registries with a stark choice as COVID-19 sweeps the country: risk their lives or risk their freedom.

This week, a California man had to decide between putting his and his 65-year-old parents’ health at risk or potentially going to prison. Another is already in violation of his state’s law because he spent more than three days in the hospital with his pregnant spouse without first appearing at his local police department to report that he would be away from home. If he had left the hospital to try to report, he wouldn’t have been allowed to return because of the risk of spreading coronavirus. In Rochester, New York, a man on a registry called his local police department to tell them he had symptoms of COVID-19. He was told to report in person anyway.

While many of the country’s law enforcement agencies are finding ways to modify how they administer their sex offense registry laws, others are defying public health directives by forcing people to crowd into police stations in close contact with each other, members of the public, and law enforcement officials.

A survey by The Appeal of actions being taken by states and agencies across the country found what Mary Sue Molnar, an advocate for reform of Texas’s registry laws, called a “patchwork of registering requirements” that, in many cases, are leaving people with past sex offense convictions in a dangerous legal limbo.
Maryland high court says sex offender registry is punishment
April 3, 2020

BALTIMORE, MD — A sharply divided Maryland high court ruled Tuesday that a convict’s placement on the Sex Offender Registry qualifies as “punishment” for a sex offense, meaning that all elements of the crime required for placement – such as the victim’s age – must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial or conceded in a plea agreement before his or her name can be placed.

The 4-3 ruling marked the first time the Court of Appeals has held registration to be a punishment of the criminal rather than merely a post-conviction administrative act by a state official to alert the public to a convicted child sex abuser in their midst.

The Court of Appeals rendered its decision in holding that convicted human trafficker Jimmie Rogers’ name may not be placed on the Sex Offender Registry because he had not stated in his plea agreement that his victim was a minor. The high court said the head of the Maryland Sex Offender Registry had wrongfully added Rogers’ name, ruling that such a function rests with judges.
This time “No sex offenders allowed” could equal a death sentence
March 30, 2020
By Sandy...

What a wonderful thing the city of Tampa, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, is doing. Concern for the homeless during these days of stay-at-home orders and advisories from the medical community to wash frequently and use hand sanitizer is in many people’s minds, but they are actually doing something about it.

A homeless camp has been funded and erected consisting of “One hundred tents . . . fenced-off on a site that will also include mobile shower trailers, a mobile laundromat, and six portable toilets. Its residents will get three meals a day and, if needed, medical treatment.”

Electricity and water supplies are in place. All is ready for opening on Monday, March 30. Up to 100 homeless persons will be more secure in the weeks and even months ahead. Everyone coming in will be screened for the virus and those with symptoms referred to a medical facility for testing.

They seem to have thought of everything.

And then, halfway through the article, there it is.

“It will be open to any homeless person except for registered sex offenders.”
Wisconsin sheriff stresses facts about sexual offending and registry
March 10, 2020
Dispelling Sex Offender Myths


Kewaunee County is no different than other communities when it comes to welcoming back sex offenders. According to state statute, any person convicted of sexual assault or another related crime must register as a sex offender. Since 1997, law enforcement professionals have been required to alert the community when they are released, especially since also according to state statute, sex offenders have to return to their county of conviction. The “Why Here?” is where Kewaunee County Sheriff Matt Joski says many people get confused.

Joski says the community and law enforcement can work together to prevent further offenses. He adds that sex offenders have a recidivism rate of less than nine percent, and between 86 and 94 percent of the crimes were committed by either family members or close acquaintances of the victims.  . . . .

From Sheriff Matt Joski:

By state statute definition, a person who must register is any individual who has been convicted of a charge as defined in Wisconsin State Statute 301.45. These crimes involve sexual assault and include a variety of specific offenses. While these types of offenses have been committed throughout history, it was in 1997 that the Sex Offender Registry and the Community Notification Law went into effect, thus providing a means by which law enforcement and the community can work together to better inform and ultimately prevent further offenses from occurring. While no issue has the potential to create more anxiety, it is important to note that the recidivism rate among these offenders is only 8.8% and that in a majority of the cases (86%- 94%) were committed by either family members or close acquaintances.
NARSOL condemns Southern Baptist Convention as un-Christian
February 20, 2020
A press release
By Robin...

Expulsion of Ranchland Heights Baptist Church contrary to gospel

Raleigh, North Carolina—The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) strongly condemns the recent decision of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) to “disfellowship” a Midland, Texas church for having a registered sex offender as its pastor.

The SBC’s Executive Committee voted on Tuesday to expel Ranchland Heights Baptist Church of Midland for employing Rev. Phillip Rutledge as its pastor. Pastor Rutledge was convicted of aggravated sexual assault against two girls 17 years ago. In 2016, thirteen years after his conviction, he was called by the congregation to be its pastor even despite his criminal conviction from 2003.

In an interview by the local CBS affiliate in 2016, Deacon DJ Rambo said, “Our administration knew about Bro. Phillip’s history before the hiring, and the vast majority of the church knew about it as well. We believe that God can change people, and we believe that God has forgiven Bro. Phillip as well.”

The SBC has no power to control hiring decisions made by member churches because of its credal confession that believers in Jesus Christ are priests and that the “priesthood of believers” is sufficient ecclesiastical authority. SBC churches are “autonomous local congregation[s] of baptized believer[s]” and “each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.” (The 2000 Baptist Faith and Message)
Michigan judge declares part of state’s SORA to be unconstitutional
February 15, 2020

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (ACLU) applauds today’s decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland to provide relief for registrants on the Michigan Sex Offenders Registration Act (SORA). In today’s ruling, Judge Cleland ordered that if the legislature does not bring the law into compliance with constitutional requirements, the state will no longer be able to enforce the law against pre-2011 registrants.

“Unless and until decisive action is taken by the Michigan legislature, no provisions of SORA may be enforced against [pre-2011 registrants] ex post facto subclasses,” Judge Cleland wrote.

Today’s decision follows several prior rulings: two 2015 rulings by Judge Cleland which found many parts of SORA unconstitutional and a 2016 ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that it is unconstitutional to impose new severe restrictions on people who have past convictions. When the state continued to enforce the law despite the court rulings, the ACLU, with the University of Michigan Clinical Law Program and the Oliver Law Group, brought a class action lawsuit on behalf of Michigan’s registrants arguing that the state had to follow the earlier rulings.
For a link to read the full ACLU statement, the history and background leading to this ruling, and a copy of the ruling itself, follow the Read More link above.
Sexual offender residency restrictions: unscientific, wasteful, useless
February 14, 2020
By Sandy...

The Missouri legislature is in the process of considering HB2142, a bill that would prohibit anyone on the sexual offense registry from entering or being within 500 feet of any of the nature or education centers controlled by the Missouri Department of Conservation. The stated purpose is for the protection of children who are frequent visitors, with their schools and their families, to these venues.

A great many of the persons who are registered on sexual offense registries are family men and women with children of their own. Many are individuals who have lived in the community offense-free since being punished for a single offense, often many years ago. Research shows that the factors most closely associated with the successful rehabilitation of former offenders are connections to family and community.

In Missouri, parents who are on the registry are already forbidden from taking their children to playgrounds, swimming pools, and museums designed for children’s interests. They are unable to participate in Halloween activities with their own children. They are only able to be involved in their children’s school lives with special permission and under special conditions, permission which may not always be granted and conditions which label the parent as someone outside the norm, causing shame and embarrassment to the children.

This proposed bill would close one more activity to registered parents who know how important it is for parents to be involved in their children’s lives and to engage in activities with them. Closing off every avenue by which these children may participate in normal activities with their parents creates future generations of children who are at increased risk for poor self-esteem and emotional and adjustment difficulties.
Those Georgia sheriffs just won’t stop
January 28, 2020
By Sandy...

When the sheriffs of Butts County and Spalding County last Halloween announced they would erect signs at the homes of those on their sexual offense registries warning trick-or-treaters away from the homes, NARSOL sent letters advising them that they were overstepping their legal authority and to abandon this practice. This was not the first year they had engaged in the signage requirement. One of the counties voluntarily abandoned the signs for Halloween, 2019, while the other was stopped only due to a legal challenge and a restraining order issued by the court. Neither of the sheriffs responded to NARSOL’s requests to communicate with us, and the legal challenges are going forward.

Now comes Sheriff Neil Warren of Cobb County, Georgia. It recently came to NARSOL’s attention that the good sheriff and his deputies were enforcing several requirements against the registrants in their county that are not authorized in their state’s SORNA specifications.

On January 27, 2020, NARSOL sent a cease-and-desist letter to Sheriff Warren enumerating exactly where his office, under his direction, was overstepping legal authority. As with similar letters sent to the other Georgia sheriffs, NARSOL appealed to Warren to respond to us and open up lines of communication in order to avoid the possibility of legal action.
Women Against Registry offers valuable support service
January 9, 2020

Vicki Henry sits at the desk in her two-bedroom duplex on a recent Sunday morning and adjusts her phone headset, which she has nestled on hair with a deep magenta tinge, a rare bit of pizazz for the 72-year-old grandmother of three.

Everyone else in Henry’s working-class neighborhood of Arnold, a southern suburb of St. Louis, is probably at church or finishing up a pancake breakfast with the family. But Henry is on the clock for a job that pays her nothing.

She wears a baggy red T-shirt with “Women Against Registry” and the acronym “WAR” embroidered on it in white thread. Henry runs WAR, an organization whose goal is to abolish the public sex offender registries that exist in every state.

She dials a phone number that showed up as a missed call on WAR’s support line, which receives dozens of calls each month from registrants and families who are in search of emotional and practical support...
Is refusing registered former sexual offenders shelter and support our best choice?
December 8, 2019
By Sandy...

Gary Keith, city councilman and real estate agent of Clarksburg, West Virginia, has propelled himself into the spotlight by protesting against the policy of the Clarksburg Mission to extend their services to those in need indiscriminately, specifically to those who have a conviction for any one of a vast multitude of behaviors that causes one to be listed on a sexual offense registry.

He begins his op-ed, intended to amplify on his 30-minute video piece, with saying that he wants to educate the public. It is a shame that his attempts at education do not include what decades of studies show about those who commit sexual crime. Once punished and living in the community, their rate of reoffense is remarkably low, in the low single digits according to virtually every valid study. The factors most associated with rehabilitation and remaining offense free, this furthering the interests of public safety, are those things that the mission provides: a decent place to live, stability, support, acceptance, encouragement, and, in some cases, employment.

Rather than laud the mission for serving a much-needed role in the recovery and stability of these men, Mr. Keith chooses to criticize them for doing so and seeks to seriously damage their future operations by appealing to the public to cease their donations to the mission, donations on which the mission depends.
Nebraskans Unafraid, NARSOL, ask Nebraska legislature for registry reform
September 28, 2019
By Sandy...

On September 12, NARSOL was asked to submit written testimony regarding damages done by the sexual offense registry, with emphasis on recommended changes. We were asked to focus on two issues: the harm caused by retroactive application of registry requirements to those who had established stable lives and the importance of providing a clear path off of the registry.

I was honored to co-author the piece, along with Brenda, our executive director. We were pleased, actually proud, of our product, which can be seen here.

The testimony was submitted to Nebraska Senator Steve Lathrop for use in an interim study hearing about Nebraska’s sexual offense registry of the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee to be held September 27.

The hearing was held and went very well.
That has to be all
September 26, 2019
UPDATE: The school district has denied the details of the incident as reported in the article I linked and here. I am attempting to investigate further, but if I don’t get any further confirmation of the facts as they have been presented, I will remove the post.

By Sandy...

“That just has to be all.” One of NARSOL’s board members is fond of saying that when something has occurred that seems outlandish or over the top. What he means, of course, is this is as ridiculous as it gets; nothing can top this.

And then a week later, he will say it again because something even more outlandish and over the top has occurred. I have lost count of the number of times something has been declared to be “all” only to be replaced by something even more “all” in a month or a week — or a day.

But this time I am saying it, and this time, it really does have to be all.

The headline says, “5-year-old autistic boy ‘put on record as sex offender’ by school for hugging classmate and kissing another on the cheek.” Initially, knowing the media’s propensity for hyperbole, especially when the term “sex offender” can be used, I assumed there was more to the story. Surely he had an older accomplice who was running the show. Surely he held a gun to someone and forced them to disrobe. Surely … But then my “get real” side told my Pollyanna side to stop the nonsense, that there was nothing a five-year-old could do, especially an autistic five-year-old, that would justify using the term “sex offender” in describing him.
Who is a "sex offender"?
September 6, 2019
Names in quotation marks are pseudonyms; names with none are used with permission or are publicly known figures.

By Sandy...

“Evan” is 71 years old. He was charged with viewing illegal pornography, a federal internet crime. That was eight years ago. He did not come to trial for four years after being charged. He was sentenced to eleven and a half years, of which he has now served four. His wife visits him twice a week, spending a goodly portion of her meager income on gasoline, tolls, and vending machines. They have no children and no other family. She is in despair and fear every day. If he serves out his full sentence and is still alive, he will be almost 80 when he is released. He will then be on probation for ten more years and on the registry until he dies.

Tammie is a young grandmother who has legal custody of young grandchildren. Sixteen years ago, her son at age fourteen engaged in a sexual relationship with a woman in her mid-twenties. When Tammie became aware, she demanded that it stop and threatened to go to the authorities, which she did two months later when she discovered the relationship was continuing. Tammie was charged with failure to report a crime in a timely manner and incarcerated for eighteen months. Upon release she was told that her offense was a subset of a sexual crime, promoting the sexual performance of a child in a custodial position, and that she would be required to register as a sex offender for life. Due to that status, she is prohibited from having any involvement with the school activities of her grandchildren.
Don’t be scared! Get ready for Halloween
September 1, 2019
By Sandy...

NARSOL will once again this year host a Halloween Marathon. This will be the third extended program of this nature that NARSOL has done, and we hope that everyone will participate. The intent of the marathon session is to monitor law enforcement’s Halloween activities and carefully evaluate where we will litigate next. Last year we gained information that the sheriffs in two counties in Georgia, Spalding and Butts, had taken it upon themselves to require everyone on the Georgia sexual offense registry to display signs either on their homes or in their yards “warning” potential trick-or-treaters away from those homes. NARSOL sent letters of protest to both sheriffs advising  them that they were acting outside of what the law permitted. In the absence of any recognition of our letters, we are, through Georgia attorney Mark Yurachek, bringing litigation against them both and asking that such action not be permitted this year.

NARSOL is committed to ending Halloween hysteria and unconstitutional practices that prevent families from enjoying the event. Our previous programs have been successful, and we expect this year’s to be even more so. We need YOU to make this happen. We need the participation of our contacts and affiliate organizations in every state. We need you to call in and report on conditions and situations in your states. We need volunteer attorneys in as many states as possible to be on “stand-by” to take calls and answer questions or comment on laws or situations in the states you are in. And we need everyone who is reading this to participate by tuning in to as much of the call as you are able and calling in to report actions being taken by law enforcement against those on the registry, especially those who are no longer under community supervision.
Can we do better with our sexual offense prevention dollars?
July 29, 2019
By Sandy...

From Tennessee comes this all-too-familiar story: Law enforcement is patting itself on the back for a job well done in assuring that those on the sex offender registry in Meigs County are in compliance. All 35 of them.

Titled “Operation Rising Sun,” and occupying three days — Tuesday through Thursday, July 23, 24, and 25 — this major undertaking was a joint effort involving the Meigs County Sheriff’s Office, the Decatur Police Department, the Blount County Sheriff’s Office, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, the Knoxville Police Department, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

That’s eight agencies. Who knows how many individual law enforcement officers. All that in order to verify compliance in 35 individuals.

In the typical it’s-a-dirty-job-but-somebody’s-got-to-do-it style of reporting, the journalist lauds those involved and manages to include quotes from a couple of these heroic individuals stressing the importance of their work.

Congratulations, officers: it would appear that you are truly doing your share to keep people safe, but let’s just look at the science: A Dept. of Justice study of all released sexual offenders in 1994, almost 10,000 persons, shows that 96.5% did not recidivate. 3.5% were convicted of committing another crime.
NARSOL at work: consider yourself served!
July 27, 2019
By Sandy...

From Aurora, Illinois comes good news: Thanks to litigation filed, the city is backing off its threat to force nineteen registrants to leave Wayside Cross Ministries. Furthermore, a federal judge has ordered the men be registered as living at Wayside.

Even though the city insists that the actual threat of the registrants having to leave the ministry comes from the State Attorney’s office, the suit maintains that the impetus for the situation originated with the city of Aurora, and they have responded to the suit by saying they will not take action.

The Wayside Cross/distance restrictions suit is one of several filed in Illinois by NARSOL affiliate Illinois Voices’ attorneys Nicholas and Weinstein. Growing out of the Wayside case is one challenging the way the state defines a playground as opposed to a park for the purposes of establishing restricted living areas for registrants. Others still pending are cases involving presence and residency restrictions, mandatory supervised release which can keep a person in prison indefinitely, prohibiting contact with one’s own minor children, internet restrictions, and prohibiting a name change. Other registry-related suits have been filed independent of Illinois Voices. Illinois appears to be one of if not the most prolific state in challenging the registry and sexual offense related issues.

Each year sees a marked increase in litigation that challenges the registry, its scope and outreach, and its effect in the lives of everyone it touches. NARSOL and its affiliates are involved in a significant number of these cases, and we welcome cases being brought against the registry in all states.
The utter uselessness of sexual offense registries
July 16, 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 offender.

The previous year, when he was 24 years old, Winters had been arrested for downloading a three-minute porn clip. The file description said the girl in the video was 16; the prosecutor said she was 14. He was charged with attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and, because he had used file-sharing software to download the video, attempted distribution of child pornography.

Winters had no criminal record, no history of contact with children and no other illegal files on his computer. Facing an eight-year prison sentence, he had taken a plea deal that gave him six years’ probation and 15 years on Tennessee’s sex offender registry.
NARSOL speaks out against stranger-danger
June 26, 2019
Original article:  posted on HuffPost by Michael Hobbes
Read the full piece HERE.

“Research on child sexual abuse does not support these concerns,” said Sandy Rozek, the communications director for the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws. “Extensive research has documented that child sexual abuse risk overwhelmingly comes from individuals that children know, not strangers.”
Forced self-incrimination
May 15, 2019
By Larry...

Maybe authorities will finally accept that the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution really protects individuals from compelled self-incrimination. At least it does in the state of Indiana according to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The court made it clear that the protection against self-incrimination even extends to those convicted of sexual offenses See Lacy v. Butts, No. 17-3256 (U.S. Seventh Cir. 08/25/2019), ___ F.3d ___, 2019 WL 1858276, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 12414 (referred to subsequently as Opinion). This is fantastic news, and NARSOL sees this decision as significant in building the body of case law related to forced self-incrimination.

The case arose from the state of Indiana; that state requires all inmates convicted of a sex offense to complete the Sex Offender Management and Monitoring program (SOMM) before release. Even though this case specifically addresses Indiana’s SOMM program, many other states have similar requirements in order to be released from prison or while under supervision. This fact makes this case relevant throughout the country and puts it on par with the Tenth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Von Behren, 822 F.3d 1139 (10th Cir. 2016) which addressed self-incrimination during polygraph testing.
Redemption, forgiveness, restorative justice: whatever it’s called, it must be for ALL
April 23, 2019
By Sandy...

There’s a new phrase in town, and it’s catching on like wildfire.

April 29th is the start date for a new CNN program based on this phrase. It is called The Redemption Project, and you don’t have to read very far before – there it is: restorative justice.

It is based on the reality that the criminal justice system does only half of the job and often leaves things worse than they were before.

Like many “new” things, it isn’t really all that new.

Schools, industry, and civil litigation have utilized the concept for decades with peer or conflict mediation, bringing together two opposing parties to work out their differences by learning to understand the other’s point of view. Its primary tools are empathy and compassion. It will never work 100% of the time, but it is effective often enough to justify its availability as an option in virtually all adversarial situations. And in the criminal justice system, when it does work, it seems to work better than anything else in restoring offenders and healing victims.

It is an initiative among others in the ACLU’s arsenal in its “Smart Justice” program, a program taking hold in every state and designed to offer effective and realistic solutions to our serious over-incarceration problem.
“Y” discriminate?
April 2, 2019
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 down to the “Y” and told them I wanted to join; I was heartily ushered into the inner sanctum and to an enroller who gave me an enrollment package to fill out.

I filled out the information sheet, page one and signed the bottom, page 2, item 1: Physicians approval, no problem, I’m still alive and kicking, item 2 “Membership Policy,” “Any person supporting the purposes and mission of the YMCA may become a member…”

From the YMCA National Website: “Our Commitment to Inclusion: The Y is made up of people of all ages and every walk of life… We work to ensure that everyone, regardless of ability, age, cultural background, ethnicity, faith, gender identity, ideology, income, national origin, race or sexual orientation has the opportunity to reach their full potential with dignity.”
Lenore Skenazy on Registry Report Radio
March 27, 2019
Lenore Skenazy was once dubbed, “America’s Worst Mom” for letting her son ride the New York subway alone. In response, Skenazy founded the book and blog “Free-Range Kids,” with the aim of “fighting the belief that our children are in constant danger from creeps, kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, frustration, failure, baby snatchers, bugs, bullies, men, sleepovers and/or the perils of a non-organic grape.”
Justice or judgment: what will the judge do?
March 23, 2019
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 encounter or encounters.

He was charged in Michigan with sexual assault, and, again, details are murky. The age of consent in that state is 16 – her age — so regardless of what actually happened, the charge was not a statutory one. One source says that the charge was a misdemeanor and that he was legally advised to accept a plea offer. According to his listing on the registry for Texas, where he now resides, it appears he was sentenced to 3 years’ probation, and his Michigan registration requirement appears to have been for ten years.

Several attempts to contact the county clerk’s office in Genesee County, MI where he was sentenced, in order to verify facts and details, have failed. An attempt to use the appropriate section of their website to search for him by name resulted in no records being found.
No crime, charge, or conviction? No problem; you could still be punished
March 15, 2019
By Sandy...

Everyone will not agree, but it is my belief that much sexual offense policy is driven by a sincere desire to protect children and reduce the risk of harm to them. The fact that the greatest part of such policy is ineffective, often actually harmful, and at times appears to be blatantly unconstitutional is very often a function of ignorance of the facts.

However, when the town of Foxborough, MA, developed its Policy Addressing Sexual Predatory Behavior/Actions Against Minors, some of the stakeholders were aware enough of some of the very questionable aspects of the proposed ordinance to question it.

And no wonder.

Quoting from the policy itself, its purpose is to be able to address behaviors “which do not rise to the level of actionable criminal conduct.” In other words, it will enable the Foxborough Board of Selectmen to exercise power and authority in place of law enforcement in dealing with situations where no one has broken any law.
“Routine compliance checks” are anything but
February 28, 2019
By Michael M...

What would you do if you answered a knock at your door and were greeted by eight police officers and a television camera crew at your front doorstep?  Chances are, it’s not an occurrence that you would characterize as “routine,” even less so if you happen to be someone who is listed on a sexual offense registry.

It’s the sort of thing that happens on a regular basis every day, in practically every county and state in the country. This week, it’s happening to the 88 registrants and their families living in Mayes County, Oklahoma and being reported on in the local news media.

Imagine being a registrant who opens his front door to a large gaggle of police officers and TV cameras.

Imagine being the innocent parent, spouse, or child of a registrant who finds himself in those circumstances.

Imagine trying to explain to your six-year old child why something like this is happening.
Registeropoly: a game where everyone loses
February 20, 2019
By Michael M...

Remember “War Games,” the 1983 movie starring Matthew Broderick?  Its plot involves a teenager who hacks into a military computer network and finds a nuclear war simulation program that, when turned on, almost starts World War III in real-life.  To stop this from happening, David – the teen hacker played by Broderick – tracks down the rogue computer’s programmer Professor Stephen Falken to learn more about the simulation, which is named “Joshua.”  The following dialog ensues:

David: I’m not giving up. If Joshua tricks them into launching an attack, it’ll be your fault.

Stephen Falken: My fault? The whole point was to practice nuclear war without destroying ourselves; to get the computer to learn from mistakes we could not afford to make. Except, that I never could get Joshua to learn the most important lesson.

David: What’s that?

Stephen Falken: Futility. That there’s a time when you should just give up.
Media "sex offender" stories: missed opportunities to do some good
February 13, 2019
By Sandy Rozek...

“I’d like to talk to you about a situation involving a sex offender here in Georgia.” It was similar to dozens of calls I receive as communications director of NARSOL, and the soft voice explained what the situation was.

A man in Cochran, Georgia, a man on that state’s sexual offense registry, was being harassed by a neighbor who had signs in front of her property identifying him and his crime, signs with words like “pedophile” and “pervert” in them. The man was breaking no laws, explained the soft-spoken young reporter, and she asked me what I thought about the situation.

I told her about the research showing that the safest communities were created when former offenders were given the opportunity to re-assimilate and show their ability to be law-abiding, productive community members. I briefly referenced some of the more pertinent facts. I spoke of the lessening of safety when vigilante activities, such as putting up signs, existed.

When the reporter asked if I would do a Skype interview for a piece she was doing on the subject, I demurred — I don’t like the sound of my recorded voice; I am told no one does, but still — and referred her to Brenda, NARSOL’s executive director. They connected, Brenda was interviewed, and February 12 the story hit the air on 13WMAZ’s eleven p.m. news. I am an early riser, and I heard it and read the accompanying text at 6:05 a.m. on February 13, about thirty minutes before I started writing this.

What a disappointment. What a missed opportunity to do an actual community service.
Weaponizing social panic
February 11, 2019
By Michael M...

What happens when social panics are weaponized in order to create and persecute a leper-class in our society? Nothing good, according to history. But if that is so, then why do we keep doing it?

Let’s examine some examples of how social panics have been weaponized in America by revisiting the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, the “Red Scare” of the 1950s, and the “Gay Plague” in the 1980s. Perhaps they can shed some light on our current period of social hysteria surrounding sex offenders.

Most of us have heard about the Salem Witch Trials, the sordid episode of 17th century American history in which 19 people were executed by hanging and over 200 people imprisoned. That period of American insanity followed a time of widespread panic in Europe, during which tens of thousands of people – mostly women – were accused of witchcraft and executed.

“King William’s War” against France (1689) had caused many political and war refugees to pour into the Salem, Massachusetts area. Those immigrants included Caribbean slaves and other foreigners from French-speaking regions. The first three women to be accused of witchcraft were Tituba, a Caribbean slave; Sarah Good, a homeless beggar; and Sarah Osborne, an elderly impoverished woman.  This set the tone for future social panics which appeal to deep-seated biases and hate targeting racial minorities, immigrants, poor people, and the homeless.
NARSOL AR affiliate testifies at House committee; Halloween restrictions bill stopped – at least for now
February 2, 2019

A bill that would prohibit sex offenders from participating in certain Halloween-related activities had a setback Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.

Senate Bill 10 — sponsored by Sen. Trent Garner, R-El Dorado, and Rep. Rebecca Petty, R-Rogers — was knocked down by the committee after a lengthy discussion, but the vote was expunged, allowing its sponsors an opportunity to present it again later.

SB10 would bar a person required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act of 1997 and who is assessed as a level 3 or level 4 offender from distributing treats to a child or from wearing a mask or other costume as part of a Halloween-related event.
Related:  NARSOL Press Release
The verdict is in: sex offender registries don’t work
January 11, 2019

Calls for public access to information about convicted child sex offenders occur often in Australia. It may seem like common sense that allowing the public to know the whereabouts of dangerous people should increase community safety. As in many areas of criminal justice, the real story is more complicated...

Child sex offenders are required to keep police informed of their address and other personal details for a period of time (which varies across states and the nature of convictions) after they are released into the community. But in most Australian states, these details are not available to the public.

Besides the political appeal of being seen to crack down on crime, evidence shows public sex offender registers do more harm than good. The Australian Institute of Criminology recently reviewed the latest evidence from Australia and overseas on the effectiveness of public and non-public sex offender registries. The report concluded:
Salvation Army, practice what you preach
December 8, 2018
By Sandy...

Ah, it’s winter. Christmas and Hanukkah are approaching. Half the country has snow on the ground, and all the kids in the other half wish they did. Christmas lights, excited shoppers, special church services, and general joy and goodwill abound.

Oh – and the homeless. The cold, the poor, the shunned. Thank God for winter shelters – except when God turns His back on some who are most in need.

In Amarillo, Texas, where it does indeed snow every year, the nighttime temperatures for the next ten days will be at or below freezing, and history indicates that will be the case for months to come.

The Salvation Army has sprung to the rescue, as they are wont to do. They take the “Salvation” part of their name very seriously –except when it comes to those who for any reason whatsoever are listed on a sexual offense registry.
Sex offenders on Halloween are like zebras at church
November 10, 2018
By Sandy...

In 1996 the North Carolina General Assembly created the public sex offender registry and established the crimes, the requirements, and the consequences pursuant to it.

2005 is the first year that I am able to verify law enforcement action involving special requirements for those on the registry at Halloween.

A piece from Gaston County, NC, in 2011 speaks of registrants under supervision being ordered to spend three hours at the courthouse on Halloween evening for the sixth year.

Why did this action occur?

Had there, between 1996 and 2005, been a rash of sexual reoffenses committed by persons on the registry in connection with Halloween activities in Gaston County or anywhere in the state of North Carolina?

No, there had not.
Important survey
November 5, 2018
This is an announcement about an important survey being taken by researchers in regard to the economic impact of being on a sexual offense registry.

Hi everyone,

Our names are Dr. Jennifer Klein and Dr. Danielle Bailey and we are both Assistant Professors at the University of Texas at Tyler. We are committed to learning more about what experiences come with being a registrant and we are hoping to collect more information from you all. Specifically, we want to examine how life on the registry has impacted you economically. We have done work with Nebraskans Unafraid and with Texas Voices – two groups similar in mission to NARSOL and other advocacy groups.

We feel as though this is a very under-researched area when it comes to registry experiences. Many of our academic colleagues choose to focus on other experiences related to life on the registry (homelessness, harassment, etc.), but the economic impacts have largely been ignored. We feel like this has done you all a disservice and we should be focusing on this issue – it’s one of the most important parts of becoming successful post-conviction. Our survey includes questions focused on lost earning potential, interview experiences, lost jobs, discrimination at work, and your résumés.
Wrapping up Halloween for another year — and looking forward
November 1, 2018
By Sandy...

This has been an amazing Halloween season.

Overall, I sent emails to 73 Patch writers and editors in 25 states.

I sent emails to 27 other media outlets and/or journalists.

We sent out two press releases, here and here.

I engaged in conversation on several Facebook pages, most notably in regard to this piece about a little town in Georgia whose mayor had declared that “all” on the sex offender registry would be required to spend the hours between 6 and 9 p.m. “housed” in the city council chambers and “accompanied” by three probation officers and one law officer.

The Mayor’s statement was made on his Facebook page, and I wrote a factual comment there. Imagine my surprise when I very quickly received a private response from the mayor! He told me that what was happening was a joint effort with the Georgia Probation Dept. I wrote back asking if it involved only those under community supervision, or if, as he was quoted, all on the registry would be detained.
No increase in sex crimes on Halloween says NARSOL board member
October 9, 2018

A Boston Herald article is calling for a new Massachusetts law to stop registered sex offenders from participating in Halloween. Such a law would violate the rights of sex offenders, for no public benefit whatsoever.

The piece—as random as a piece can be, in that it is not tied to any actual news, crime, or person of note—quotes an attorney named Wendy Murphy, who states, “Halloween is like Christmas for sex offenders.” That’s a catchy phrase, but she never explains exactly what she means. Do sex offenders get gifts on Halloween? Gifts of children?

“They know they’ll have lots of access to kids and that they can’t get in trouble even though they’re required to stay away from children,” Murphy says.

That is simply not true. Murphy is repeating an urban myth that sex offenders snatch trick or treaters. No evidence of such a phenomenon exists.

“There is not a single recorded case of a child being abducted or harmed by someone on the sex offender registry during trick-or-treat or other Halloween activities,” says Sandy Rozek, communications director of NARSOL, an organization that advocates for saner sex offender laws. “And valid, reliable research shows no increase in sex crimes at all on Halloween.”
The Dobbs Wire: BANISHED from New York City — have a listen!
September 21, 2018
The Dobbs Wire
info@thedobbswire.com
By Bill Dobbs...

Last week the prestigious New York City Bar Association hosted an important live panel discussion, “Banished from New York City.”  A packed house heard about New York’s draconian sex laws including one with the innocent sounding name of SARA that has people in prison held *past* their release dates.  Kudos to Christina Wong and the panel organizers and everybody at the NYC Bar Association for bringing attention to this issue.  Here’s more information about the event and a link to the archived audio – have a listen!  Also below is a news story for background.

Banished from New York City:
The Legality, Policy Considerations, and Practical Implications of the Housing Restrictions Faced by People on the Sex Offense Registry

In New York City, there are hundreds of men and women on the sex offense registry who are subject to residency restrictions under the Sexual Assault Reform Act (SARA) that prevent them from living within 1,000 feet of a school.  This little known law has created enormous constitutional problems.  In densely-populated New York City there are virtually no residences that comply with these restrictions.  When no SARA-compliant housing available, prisons are holding people past their release date–a time period that usually extends longer than a year. This panel discussion addresses the  history and policy behind the residency restrictions, the impact of SARA on people who have committed sex offenses, and the legal challenges being made on behalf of people affected by SARA.
Warning: integrity of judicial process at risk
September 19, 2018
This may also be seen at Criminal Legal News

By Sandy Rozek...

Testimony from individuals at a sentencing hearing has one primary purpose: to give the court additional information on which to base a sentencing decision.

Victim impact statements focus on the harm done, while statements on behalf of the convicted are intended to paint as thorough a picture as possible of the person, with an appeal to mitigating circumstances.

A sentencing hearing recognizes that an individual is more than the crime for which he or she has been convicted, more than the harm that he or she has inflicted on another or on society. People are encouraged to give testimony that better gives the court a feel for the totality of the person about to be sentenced.

Kristie Torbick, through a plea agreement, was convicted in early July 2018 for the sexual assault of a student, one whom Ms. Torbick in her position as a guidance counselor at Exeter High School in Exeter, New Hampshire, was counseling.

At her plea-and-sentencing hearing, colleagues and friends did what colleagues and friends do at sentencing hearings: Some had written letters; others spoke on her behalf. They were not supporting her choice to commit a crime. They were not supporting her illegal behavior. They were supporting her as an individual whom they knew to be more than someone who had crossed a line that should not be crossed.
NARSOL’s AR affiliate: “limit registry access to LE”
September 18, 2018

Arkansas has about 15,800 registered sex offenders — 526 offenders for every 100,000 residents — the second-highest total in the country based on population, recent national research shows.

The manager of the state’s sex-offender registry says the numbers are misleading.

“It’s not like we have 16,000 sex offenders roaming loose around Arkansas,” said Paula Stitz. “It’s more like 9,000.”   . . .

As of Aug. 1, there are 16,049 people registered in Arkansas’ sex-offender database, Stitz said. Of those, more than 3,100 are incarcerated, about 3,400 are now outside the state, and 176 offenders have been deported, she said. . . .

State laws say that “sex offenders pose a high risk of reoffending after release from custody” and “the privacy interest of persons adjudicated guilty of sex offenses is less important than the government’s interest in public safety.”

Yet, research shows that sex offenders do not have increased recidivism rates.
How National Center for Missing Children exploits your fears
September 10, 2018
By Michael M...

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) ostensibly does good work. Their mission, according to their website, is to serve as a resource center for law enforcement, families and the public to help find missing children, reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent child victimization. These are all laudable goals, but in order to continue funding their work, NCMEC finds it increasingly necessary to stoke public fears and media hysteria about the largely mythical menace of “stranger danger.”

Take, for example, a recent social media post by NCMEC commemorating the disappearance four years ago of Jacob and Sarah Hoggle, who were two and three years old, respectively, at the time. The Twitter post features a big, bold red headline: “MISSING” and makes note of the fact that the children were last seen on September 7, 2014 in Clarksburg, Maryland. NCMEC also displayed a digitally age-progressed photo of what the children may look like now. They look like happy, healthy, good looking kids.

It’s what NCMEC isn’t telling us about this case that should raise a few eyebrows, however.
NARSOL to GoFundMe: take down that campaign!
September 1, 2018
By Sandy...

“Hero punches pedophile.” That’s the name of a campaign on GoFundMe, a campaign designed to raise money for the defense and as a “thank you” for Kevin Smith, a man who, in best vigilante style, leapt across the courtroom at the sentencing of Donnie Briggs in Medford, Oregon, who was being sentenced on a conviction of child pornography.

Mr. Smith proceeded to pummel Mr. Briggs in the face and continued until courtroom security pulled him off. Briggs’ injuries included broken bones and required hospitalization.

Mr. Smith’s two daughters were among those whom Mr. Briggs had surreptitiously photographed. One can sympathize with his feelings of outrage without condoning his own inappropriate, criminal behavior.

But most inappropriate of all is this campaign. It glorifies and promotes violent vigilantism. The campaign was created by one Jacob Elkin, a first-hand observer of Smith’s courtroom assault of Briggs and an obvious fan of vigilantism.
The real danger in stranger-danger
August 28, 2018

This summer in India, two dozen innocent people died at the hands of mobs convinced that they were meting out justice to kidnappers. One was a software engineer beaten to death after giving chocolates to children outside a school. One was a 65-year-old woman who got lost on a trip to a temple with her family and stopped to ask for directions. All five family members were stripped naked and beaten with fists, sticks and iron rods. One was hospitalized in a coma. A woman named Rukmani died in the street.

This is what it happens when stranger-danger runs rampant. It turns out that fear of strangers is far more dangerous than strangers themselves.

The panic began in April when a video that appears to show a child being scooped off the street by two men on a motorcycle went viral. The video was originally created in Pakistan as a public service announcement to teach parents to watch their children more closely. The end of the clip showed the child returned by the “kidnappers” who held up a sign: “It takes but a moment to snatch a child off the streets of Karachi.”
Ms. Skenazy is the president of Let Grow, a nonpartisan group promoting childhood independence and resilience.
A case of unchecked prosecutorial abuse
August 20, 2018
By Michael M...

Let’s talk about Bedford County, Pennsylvania’s former district attorney, William Higgins, Jr.  On August the 17th, 2018, Higgins was sentenced after being charged with using his power as a district attorney to coerce female defendants accused of drug offenses into sex acts. At least, that’s how the news media repeatedly framed it. There’s just one problem with that script. Prisoners and those accused of a crime cannot legally consent to sex with any law enforcement officer, district attorney, or other officer of the court.  So, let’s just call this what it really was – what the court and news media refuse to call it: rape.

It’s not as if the court is unfamiliar with the word or unaware of its definition. After all, courts routinely tout the legal principle that certain classes of people cannot consent to sex under any circumstances – minors under the legal age of consent, people under the influence of drugs or alcohol, people who are incapacitated while unconscious or sleeping, people who have significant mental illness, and yes, people who are in the government’s custody.
"Sex offenders should be shot"
August 18, 2018
By Sandy...

So stated an email written by a staff member of the Little Rock Police Department and sent to all staff. She was apparently irritated that phone calls by or concerning registrants were erroneously being sent to her office. The issue was reported at KARK.com as was the fact that the police department is not happy with the staffer and is acknowledging that such communication is very inappropriate.

I am quick to respond to the negative handling of matters concerning registered persons, and I try to be equally diligent when something is done properly. In that spirit, I immediately sent the following to the Little Rock police chief and a copy to KARK.com:

Dear Little Rock Police Department:

NARSOL – the National Assoc. for Rational Sexual Offense Laws – appreciates the Little Rock Police Dept. for taking seriously the inappropriate email sent by a staffer suggesting that those on the registry should be shot.
The cost of speaking good of a convicted sexual offender
August 16, 2018
By Sandy...

One of the most damaging attitudes toward those convicted of sexual crimes is that they can never again do anything noble or worthy, that they are forever  criminals. This is the underlying justification for registries and restrictions that block rather than encourage rehabilitative initiatives.

At least equally damaging, however, is the insistence that not only do their crimes make impossible any future worth but also wipe out any good, worth, or value from before the commission of the crime.

I have written on this subject before in the case of a war hero and Purple Heart recipient being treated as though his former heroism was totally negated by a subsequent act of sexual misconduct.

A month ago Kristie Torbick, a guidance counselor at Exeter High School in New Hampshire, received a sexual conviction for a situation involving one of the students she counseled. When some of her peers and colleagues wrote letters on her behalf and spoke favorable of her past at her sentencing hearing, they received harsh criticism, and I wrote about it then.

And now...
NC COA: satellite based monitoring unreasonable without evidence it works
August 15, 2018

North Carolina’s second-highest court says authorities can’t force a sex-offender to wear a monitoring device for decades because evidence fails to show that tracking protects the public.

A divided three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that because officials presented no evidence that satellite-based monitoring is effective, it violates the U.S. Constitution’s bar against unreasonable searches.

The U.S. Supreme Court set that constitutional standard in a 2015 North Carolina decision.

Tuesday’s case involved Thomas Earl Griffin, who spent 11 years in prison for abusing the pre-teen daughter of his live-in girlfriend. A Craven County judge in 2016 ruled he must wear a tracking device for 30 years.

Griffin did not challenge being ordered to register as a sex offender, but argued that the trial court violated his Fourth Amendment rights by ordering him to submit to continuous satellite-based monitoring for 30 years.

“After careful review of the record and applicable law, we are compelled to agree,” the Court of Appeals opinion reads.
NARSOL condemns civil commitment practices
August 14, 2018
By NARSOL...

In view of recent developments in the case of Galen Baughman in Virginia, NARSOL restates its unequivocal opposition to the civil commitment process occurring in at least twenty states and in the federal system. Paul Shannon, NARSOL’s board chair, states, “NARSOL opposes the practice of civilly committing sexual offenders to a locked facility after they have completed serving their prison sentence. If in fact the offender has a mental disorder, he/she should be treated in the mental health system rather than incarcerated.”

 Shannon’s remarks are in response to Virginia’s effort to designate Mr. Baughman a sexually violent predator (SVP), which would result in indefinite and possibly lifetime confinement. Shannon said, “Although NARSOL does not condone the violations of supervision established in Mr. Baughman’s case, we are deeply troubled by the effort to designate him as an SVP.”

NARSOL’s board of directors opposes the Attorney General’s petition for the following reasons:
Court decisions re sexual offense issues still based on myth, not fact
July 14, 2018

In the span of just one week, three courts have issued decisions that significantly harm registrants. Those decisions affect registrants’ marriages, homes and overseas travel.

It’s a lot to absorb in a short amount of time. It’s too much to fight at this time. But fight we must in the near future.

In the first of those decisions, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals validated a provision of the Adam Walsh Act that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for an individual convicted of a sex offense to sponsor his spouse for U.S. citizenship. That is because the individual must prove that he poses “no risk” to the safety of his spouse.

In the second of those decisions, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld residency restrictions adopted by the State of Illinois. In doing so, the Court relied upon the myth that there is a high risk of recidivism for anyone convicted of a sex offense as well as the wrongly decided case Smith v. Doe in which the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the requirement to register as a sex offender is not punishment.
Those on sex offender registries targeted for telephone scams
July 11, 2018
By Sandy...

Scams offering to get someone off the registry for a fee have been around for a while. A new scam has appeared within the past few months, and as of this writing has targeted registrants in some form in at least four states: Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, and New Mexico, with New Mexico being the most recent. All involve telephone calls to registrants claiming to be from someone at the registry office or police department and claiming the registrant is somehow out of compliance. From there the verbiage goes in one of several directions. Some are told to bring cash to the registry office. Some have details about the registrant and his past and his family and use threats. Some claim to have planted evidence of a new crime and threaten imminent arrest if instructions aren’t obeyed. Some haven’t asked for cash but told the registrant to go to the registry office immediately.

UPDATES:
7/2: Three reported attempts in Maryland.
6/25: A scam attempt reported in Connecticut.
5/30: Adding Virginia.
5/24: Now in Michigan.
5/21: We have just received word of a scam victim in Georgia.
5/8: This continues in various forms; new reports from Oklahoma and Texas; be aware!
4/4: We have just had a report that a Colorado registrant has been targeted.
This has now been reported in Nebraska.
Deadly collateral consequences of the “non-punitive” sex offender registry
June 18, 2018
By Michael M...

It is easy for some people to feel that no matter how oppressive the hardships imposed upon former sex offenders may be, they probably deserved it. The most common refrain we see posted by unsympathetic social media commentators typically contains some variation of, “He (or she) should have thought of that before they committed their crimes!” While such a response may be emotionally satisfying for the person who makes such a statement, the unspoken assumption is that any punishment, no matter how cruel, can be justified by the fact that you’ve committed a crime, no matter how trivial. Oh, so you were beheaded for jaywalking? Well, you should have thought about that before you stepped outside the crosswalk!

It also completely ignores the plight of the innocent bystanders who often bear the brunt of our country’s draconian sex offender registration laws. The families, friends, employers, landlords, and associates of former sex offenders often become the unintended casualties of the current wave of anti-sex-offender hysteria sweeping the nation. Recent studies have begun referring to these tangential victims as “collateral damage,” as if we were talking about accidentally backing the car into the neighbor’s mailbox, rather than the complete destruction of innocent people’s lives.
From Independence to Houston; NARSOL announces next conference
June 12, 2018
By Robin Vander Wall...

NARSOL’s Tenth National Conference has come and gone. The conference planning committee met on Monday immediately after the last day of the conference to evaluate its performance and prepare to give a preliminary report to NARSOL’s board of directors which meets on the second Tuesday of each month.

More than 150 people from across the United States, some from as far away as Washington, Oregon, Florida, and California, came together in Independence, Ohio, for the nation’s oldest national conference concerning registered citizens and remained there for three days of seminars and plenary presentations covering a range of topics from how to tell a story to how to become a more effective advocate at the state legislature.
The “Justice for Danyelle Act of 2018”: the shady tactics behind another Oklahoma knee jerk law
June 1, 2018
By Mark N...

Oklahoma’s “Justice for Danyelle Act of 2018,” an act that prohibits registrants from living within 2,000 feet of their victim’s home and loitering within 1,000 feet of the same, is a prime example of a knee jerk law. This law also demonstrated one of the deceptive tactics that Oklahoma lawmakers use in order to advance their own personal agenda using the public safety issue. To add insult to injury this law is going to be applied unconstitutionally to over 6,800 registrants in Oklahoma and the author of the bill knows it will be.

First, let’s see how this knee jerk law was created.

In 2003, Danyelle Dyer was molested by her step-uncle. Harold English was arrested, convicted and went to prison for the crime. Upon his release, Harold had only one place to go to, his mother’s home. She agreed to take him in until he could find a place of his own. His mother was also Danyelle’s grandmother, who lives next door to Danyelle’s mother. While the news media reports that the two were, “…next door,” Danyelle admits that the two houses are, “…about 100 yards…” apart. Furthermore, the main factor here is that Danyelle did not live next door (or even 100 yards away) from the house that Harold was going to stay in temporarily. Danyelle was just visiting her mother during her college summer break when she learned that Harold was staying with his mother, Danyelle’s grandmother.
NARSOL to sheriff: stop the fear-mongering
May 23, 2018
As have done politicians before him, Sheriff Manny Gonzales of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, is using the tactic of creating fear in the public in his bid for reelection. He has created a campaign ad showing individuals on the New Mexico sexual offense registry who are allegedly out of compliance and cautioning the public to beware of these potentially armed and dangerous men.

NARSOL, in a press release sent to New Mexico media and other pertinent individuals in New Mexico, calls upon the sheriff to cease such baseless fear-mongering.
Young innocent victims
May 14, 2018
By Anonymous...

I am 15 years old and have experienced far too much for my age. I have seen my father in handcuffs and seen him behind glass. I have sat in court and listened to all of his charges being listed, all of the terrible crimes he has committed. I see him for less than 39 hours in one year. People work for longer than that in one week. I have seen child pornography on his electronic devices, horrific enough to give me nightmares to this day. I have testified both for and against him. I have prayed and got nothing but silence.

The registry has done just as much damage. My family and I have been harassed. We’ve gotten animal feces smeared on our front door. Years ago, when my sibling was 11 or so, she was bullied due to something she had no involvement in. She was pushed down a flight of stairs. The bullying became severe to the point we had to move.
A victory in Michigan
January 24, 2018
By NARSOL...

In 1994 a young man in Michigan, Boban Temelkoski, pled guilty to touching a girl’s breasts. He was eligible for sentencing as a youthful, first-time offender under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act (HYTA), and in 1997, after successfully completing the program’s probation and community service, his case was dismissed. Nevertheless, he has been included on the Michigan sex offender registry ever since.

Boban filed suit, asking for removal from the registry as he does not have a sexual offense conviction. His case made it up through the court system, and in October of last year, 2017, was heard by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Predator panic preoccupies parents
January 8, 2018
By Lenore Skenazy

A mom just bought a toy for her 2-year-old that signals to pedophiles that the girl is ready to be traded for sex.

Wait, what?

I’d repeat it, but it still wouldn’t make any sense. And yet, this modern-day myth has gone viral, showing up on Headline News, AOL, local media, and, of course, it is all over Facebook. One mom there lamented, “I did not know that pedophiles have their own insidious silent language that is infiltrating society through pretty pink images … which signal to other pedophiles the child can be traded.”

Do we really live in that kind of hell for kids?
Ms. Skenazy is the president of Let Grow, a nonpartisan group promoting childhood independence and resilience.
NARSOL files amicus brief in premises case before Illinois Sup Ct
November 15, 2017

By Robin...

The National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL), in collaboration with its foundation and legal fund, Vivante Espero, has filed an amicus brief on behalf of the defendant-appellee, Marc A. Pepitone, in an important case before the Illinois Supreme Court concerning parks and premises restrictions against “child sex offenders” (720 ILCS 5/11-9.3 (f)).

NARSOL is represented by Attorney Paul Dubbeling of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Illinois Voices filed a separate amicus brief and is represented by attorneys Adele Nicholas and Mark Weinberg, both of Chicago, Illinois.

NARSOL’s amicus brief seeks to accomplish two fundamental objectives in support of the Attorney Katherine Strohl’s primary brief on behalf of Mr. Pepitone, who she defended below and successfully won a challenge against the statute before the Illinois Court of Appeals in February, 2017.

More information can be found about this and other cases in Illinois on the Illinois Voices website. Illinois Voices is a NARSOL state affiliate. For information about becoming an affiliate of NARSOL, please visit here.
“A sex offender wants to talk to you”; reporter’s journey leads her to Nebraskans Unafraid
November 14, 2017

By Julie Cornell...

I’ve made people’s stories my life’s work. I’m a person who talks to people sitting next to me on airplanes. I engage people at grocery stores, and even while sitting in those flimsy robes in the hospital, waiting for a mammogram. I generally like people. And I constantly “interview” them, even when I’m not working. I consider myself open-minded. I’d rather ask questions than answer. I try not to judge.

But one fall day last year, a random call to the newsroom caught me off guard: A co-worker shouted across the newsroom that a sex offender wanted to talk to me. Everyone looked at me. My first inclination was to bolt. Not only did I not want to talk to a sex offender, I certainly didn’t want him to have my phone number or know my name. I was slightly unnerved.

Registered citizen sues for the right to live in West St. Paul, Minnesota
November 10, 2017

By Susan Du...

Thomas Evenstad, 52, moved into a duplex in West St. Paul on August 21. Three days later, police called his landlord, demanding that he be evicted within 10 days.

That’s because Evenstad was convicted of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman in 1999.

As a Level I sex offender – the lowest risk category – he does not need to notify the public whenever he moves into a new community. But police keep tabs on him, and certain cities adopt ordinances limiting where he’s allowed to live. West St. Paul, for instance, doesn’t permit sex offenders to live within 1,200 feet of any school, daycare, or group home. Those who live with their relatives or lived in town prior to the ordinance are exempted.

But those restrictions cover so much of West St. Paul that there’s really no place left, Evenstad says. He believes the city’s rules amount to an effective banishment.

Source
Passport “identifiers” will not accomplish intended purpose
November 9, 2017

By Guy Hamilton-Smith...

On October 30th, the State Department announced that passports of people who are required to register as sex offenders because of an offense involving a minor will be marked with a “unique identifier” that will read:

The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor, and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212b(c)(l).

The law which occasions this requirement, International Megan’s Law (IML), was enacted in 2016 under President Obama. In addition to the identifier requirement, IML allows for existing passports of those on the registry to be revoked, and imposes criminal penalties on them for failure to provide the government with advance notice of international travel plans.

While U.S. law already provided for destination countries to be put on notice regarding the travel plans of those on the sex offender registry, IML ratchets things up by requiring the person to carry the government’s “identifier” with them wherever they go abroad.

Florida Action Committee fights absurd Miami-Dade ordinance
November 7, 2017

By Isabella Vi Gomes...

For 12 years, Miami-Dade’s registered sex offenders have been barred from living within 2,500 feet of any school, playground, or daycare. They’re effectively homeless by law, and today hundreds live in squalor in makeshift “tent cities” under bridges, near trailer parks, and on roadsides. After New Times reported on a camp near Hialeah, county officials called these encampments inhumane and unsanitary and promised a solution.

That solution, though, apparently isn’t to amend the law or to find transitional housing. Two commissioners now want to simply put the offenders back in jail.

This morning, the county commission considered an ordinance that would change Miami-Dade’s policy on what to do with homeless people who are found sleeping on public property. Currently, police are required to offer homeless people the chance to go to a shelter before arresting them, but under the proposed change, homeless sex offenders would be immediately arrested.

The sex offender registry: a many-headed monster
November 6, 2017

By Sandy...

What do these headlines have in common?

“U.S. Marshals protect trick-or-treaters from the threat of sex offenders.” 

“ ‘Operation Blackout,’ annual Halloween Tennessee sex offender sweep, underway”

“Operation Lights Out aims to keep your children safe on Halloween”

They all appeared in the week or so leading up to Halloween. They all connect Halloween, persons on sex offender registries, and danger to children. They all promise, directly or indirectly, to protect children from the dangers inherent in the situation.

Are they successful?

Passport requirement casts wide net, imposes badge of shame
November 3, 2017
By Jacob Sullum...

The notice, which will appear on the second-to-last page of U.S. passports, is officially known as an “endorsement,” but it is more like a badge of shame.

“The bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor,” it says, “and is a covered sex offender pursuant to 22 United States Code Section 212b(c)(l).”

The scary notation, which was revealed this week, is the State Department’s response to a 2016 law requiring that the passports of certain registered sex offenders include a “unique identifier” to help maintain their status as pariahs wherever they travel. Although the warning is supposedly aimed at stopping sexual predators from abusing children in other countries, it will mark the passports of many people who pose no such threat.

Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine.
Marathon efforts bolster NARSOL’s profile, strengthens movement
November 2, 2017

By Sandy...

From NARSOL’s point of view, there has never been a Halloween like this one! I scarcely know where to begin.

The Patch campaign was amazing in and of itself. Final analysis shows that the Patch organization posted one or more of the “Halloween Safety Maps” showing the homes of those on the registry and warning of their “danger” during trick or treating in 28 states. That means that 22 states did not display these maps or warnings, which is encouraging.

At the very minimum, 20 people from almost as many state groups and from NARSOL were involved, and an uncountable number of emails were sent to an equally uncountable number of Patch outlets, editors, writers, and executives. The collaborative effort was awesome and a positive model for future projects.

Sex offender registries endanger the lives they’re meant to protect
October 26, 2017

By Miriam Aukerman...

Our communities deserve effective public-safety measures that are based on facts and sound research, not wasteful and counterproductive measures born of fear. We all want to be safe. We have to demand our legislators pass laws that work and actually keep us safe.

That’s especially true when it comes to sexual offenses.

A Michigan man we’ll call John Doe met a woman in 2005 at a club open only to those ages 18 and up. He didn’t know it when they slept together, but she was actually 15. Today, 12 years later, they are married with two children. But John was also arrested and placed on Michigan’s sex offender registry for the rest of his life.

Source: The Hill
Miriam Aukerman is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Michigan and manages the ACLU’s West Michigan Regional Office. Aukerman litigates high-impact cases on a broad range of civil liberties issues, with a particular focus on immigrant rights, poverty and criminal justice. 
For a registered sex offender, how much rehabilitation is enough?
October 23, 2017

By Sandy...

Three years ago, a spokesperson for NARSOL, then RSOL, was interviewed for an article about a young man named Guy Hamilton-Smith. In 2011 Guy had graduated from law school in the top third of his class, applied to take the Kentucky state bar exam, and, in spite of numerous awards, supporters, and testimonials on his behalf, had just been refused by the Kentucky State Supreme Court. Guy was, and is, on the Kentucky sex offender registry.

In February, 2015, a suit was filed against the Commonwealth of Kentucky by John Doe, plaintiff. Doe challenged the state’s right to prohibit his access to social media on the basis of his status of a registered sex offender.

On October 20, 2017, a decision was filed in the U.S. District Court, Eastern Division of Kentucky, in favor of the plaintiff.

The Doe in the case and the hopeful young law school graduate are the same.

The same day Guy posted on Reddit, and what he wrote quickly made its way to other social media platforms. How fitting! Guy wrote: (For those not familiar with Reddit, AMA means “ask me anything” — and this is reprinted with permission by Guy.)

The sex offender panic is absolutely destroying lives
September 20, 2017

The video below tells the story of Shawna, an Oklahoma woman who is still in mandatory treatment because 15 years ago, when she was 19, she had sex with a boy who was 14. Over at the Marshall Project, David Feige has more about the unlikely people swept up in the sex-offender panic for offenses most of us wouldn’t associate with a typical sexual predator.
This opinion is republished from The Washington Post.
Federal judge holds Colorado registry is punishment; violates eighth amendment
August 31, 2017

By Robin...

In a far reaching opinion that is sure to send Colorado’s Attorney General scrambling to salvage that state’s registration and notification scheme, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard P. Matsch (a Nixon appointee who presided over the trial of Oklahoma City bombing defendant Timothy McVeigh) has held the entire Colorado Sex Offender Registration Act (C.R.S. §§ 16-22-101, et seq) unconstitutional as applied to three plaintiffs who sued the director of Colorado’s Bureau of Investigation (the state agency responsible for maintaining the state’s sex offender registry).

Using the seven factors set forth in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144 (1963) that were utilized by the Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003), Judge Matsch held that six of the seven factors weighed in favor of finding the state’s SORA requirements punitive in their effects and, therefore, in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Judge Matsch writes:

No! We don't need another sex offender law to fight
August 22, 2017

By Sandy...

A woman in Oklahoma has gotten the attention of state legislators after creating a Facebook page protesting that the uncle who was convicted for abusing her as a child was allowed to live next door to her. After his recent release from prison, Harold English of Bristow, Oklahoma, moved into his mother’s home. The mother of English and grandmother of Danyelle Deyer has said that her son had nowhere else to live.

The exclusionary zones in Bristow make English finding another residence very problematic; however, he is now under a temporary order forcing him to leave the home. Legislators have rushed to close this “loophole” in the law, and House Bill 1124 will be making its way through the Oklahoma legislature in the next session.

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