“Your Life on the List”: A Survival Guide for those Forced to Register Upon Release
Since 2015, OnceFallen.com has provided the Informational Corrlinks Newsletter (ICoN) and other prisoner outreach services. In an effort to provide numerous resources for prisoners, those new to life on the registry, and those potentially facing life on the registry (many of whom may not have access to the Internet), OnceFallen has compiled the best information from our website and past issues from the ICoN and created “Your Life on the List”, a registry survival guide.
Your Life on the List covers many of the most common questions those new to life on the sex offense registry may have. Topics include an overview of sex offense laws and terminology, finding housing and employment, travel issues, compliance checks, dealing with vigilantes, disaster preparation, and other issues a person may face while listed on the public registry. “Your Life on The List” also lists numerous resources for treatment, support, activism, and housing for Registered Persons.
In addition, “Your Life on The List” contains a comprehensive summary of sex offense registration, notification, proximity/ residency restrictions, and other laws a registrant may endure while on the registry. This valuable section compiles data from multiple resources and expand on it to offer the most comprehensive overview of the laws of all 50 state plus the US territories.
A free PDF version of the guide can be found at:
http://www.oncefallen.com/files/Your_Life_on_The_List_PDF_Free_Version_08302020.pdf
For those who desire a printed copy of “Your Life on The List”, the book can be ordered from Amazon.com for $12.95. The link to the printed copy is at:
https://smile.amazon.com/Your-Life-List-Derek-Logue/dp/B08JB1XL3X/ref=sr_1_1
All proceeds from sales of the print copy of the book go to Reset Missouri, an organization using the proceeds to establish residential housing for Registered Persons in Missouri.
Derek W. Logue of OnceFallen.com
Thanks Derek!
http://www.oncefallen.com/files/Your_Life_On_The_List_Free_PDF_Version_10092020.pdf
As an FYI, my latest edits to the PDF version is now available at the link I posted.
I’ve also been told that these changes can be made to the books too since Amazon prints on demand, so and edits made to the book will be reflected in future editions to print copies once the edits are submitted to Amazon.com
Appreciate the time you took to compile all of that information Derek.
I have been doing prisoner outreach for a while now and this book is part of that effort.
Even at this low rate, prisoners may not be able to buy copies, so would anyone be willing to sponsor a project to buy copies of this book for indigent inmates?
Derek
A Tireless Soul, that NEVER EVER STOPS Working for all Registrants!
Thank You Mr. Derek!
This guide is fantastic, Derek. Thank you! Thank you!
Derek, reading what you have gone through just to put a roof over your head is unconscionable to me, knowing that you live in the United States of America.
A ray of hope is what a New York City councilman is proposing the “fair chance” housing bill which would bar landlords’ criminal record checks. This would also include released murderers and those on the sex offense registry. The sponsor, Steve Levin, says there is strong support for the bill. The article in the NY Daily News pointed out that one in three black males in the U. S. has a felony conviction, making it difficult for them to access a basic human need like housing. This precludes a huge number of black males from getting housing. This is an issue that Black Lives Matter needs to hear about and promote. So how do we get in touch with them?
GOOD WORK DEREK!!!
I read through it and you did a good job. Well done and well thought out.
SarahF.
The bill would do little good as long as there is a public registry. I own several houses and am a member of the landlord association. They do our credit checks for us. As part of their checks, they check the state department of corrections websites and the sex offender registry. Most registrants convictions remain on for profit sites after removal which show up on credit checks. In some states, former registrants have a cause of action to sue these sites after being removed from the state sites, and some registrants have successfully sued.
Even if the landlord’s association discontinues searching public sites, landlords still have access to this public information.
Some registrants have been successfully removed from the registry through various lawsuits. FAC, ACSOL, Ilvoices and other groups have filed a multitude of challenges and have gotten some hard fought victories. A small group of attorneys specializing in registration are emerging and learning which arguments are successful and honing their skills in these various lawsuits and are getting more creative in their arguments. It is only a matter of time before these laws are stricken in their entirety and states will be forced to repeal their current registration schemes. The current schemes are too infirm to save. Legislatures will be forced to rewrite these laws from the ground up. To make these schemes constitutional they cannot force registrants to sign registration forms against their will and must give them a hearing to make an individual determination of dangerousness.
The problem right now is the novelty of these laws and the paucity of case law on registration and incompetent attorneys who got some bad decisions. There is very significant case law to prove that these registration schemes are unconstitutional on the books. But these cases are decades even centuries old. They must be argued in the context of modern times and modern technology. Time and technology have changed, but not the underlying constitutional principles that our nation was founded on.
I am encouraged by the victories in Michigan and even have participated in the legal research and the development of the arguments in one of these cases, so have a pretty good idea of where these laws stand. I am confident that these laws will be overturned within the next decade or so. Some less than competent attorneys and foolish in pro per registrants have gotten a lot of bad case law on the books. We have to overcome some of this bad case law that affect the underlying principles.
Capt. Munsey gets flack on this site because of his optimism, but he is absolutely right. It is only a matter of time before the vast majority, if not all current registrants, will be removed from the registry.
Anyone who believes that the registry will be abolished forever doesn’t know anything about human nature or how our laws are made. The registry in it’s current form will be abolished but politician’s will rewrite the laws giving sex offenders counsel and giving them the right to a hearing to determine their danger to society and if placing them on a public or non-public registry is necessary. This will remove probably somewhere between 90 and 95% of current registrants from the registry. The other 5-10% probably will be removed on due process grounds. The future registry will most likely only encompass those whose offense date is after the new registration laws take effect.
Have faith. The registry in it’s current form will come to an end. Keep an eye on Michigan. The registry is on the ropes in Michigan and some very good things are in the works that will make Michigan the first state to take down the registry in it’s entirety, and then other states will follow.