MT Supreme Court: The Registry is Punitive

Montana has joined a small but growing list of state supreme courts that have ruled that their states’ registries are punitive and cannot be imposed retroactively.   Selected excerpts: “A growing body of research into the effectiveness of sex offender registries has cast significant doubt on their capacity to prevent recidivism.”  And “the burdens and intrusiveness of SVORA have increased substantially

Read more

FAC Affiliates in the Media: AZRSOL Educates Arizona Readers on Sexual Offense Laws

Studies show that your child is more likely to be placed on the sexual offender registry than to be harmed by someone on it.  At a time when The American Law Institute, all available research and public opinion are recommending reducing registry restrictions, we all should demand the same from our leaders.  Read more of the contribution of AZRSOL’s Vicky

Read more

The Sex Offender Registry Failed Them: Women and Girls Exposed to State Police Academy Locker Room Hidden Camera

If you, as a member of the public, seek to identify West Virginia residents who have been convicted of a sexual offense, you can simply search the Sex Offender Registry website run by the West Virginia State Police. But what if that website does a poor job of identifying who presents a risk?  And what if, even worse, the agency

Read more

Weaponization of Florida’s Legal System Being Used Against People on the Sex Offender Registry

In recent days, we are hearing of the weaponization of the U.S. Department of Justice along with the uneven application of the law depending upon political affiliation.  What about the weaponization in the state of Florida that is used against tens of thousands of law-abiding citizens that are labeled as sex offenders, with Florida being considered by many people to

Read more

Utah: Sex Offender Shares His Story with the Media

See an example of what happens when people forced to register on the sex offender registry get out there and speak to the media, even anonymously. In this case, a registrant spoke to the Utah news outlet KSL, resulting in more balanced, less hysterical coverage. The outlet also spoke to the Department of Corrections treatment director and accurately represented the

Read more

Journalist lays out the research to counter myths about sex offender registry

Kelsey Turner with InvestigateWest shows readers that what we are doing to prevent future sex crimes against children is NOT working. “Researchers say sex offender registration and notification laws can be counterproductive for public safety by keeping registrants on the streets: Tenino cited as example” According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a Michigan study “found lack

Read more

The State Attorney Who Declined to Pursue Sex Offenders for Voting

At least one State Attorney last year declined to prosecute six people forced to register on the sex offender registry in cases similar to those later brought against 20 ex-felons by Florida’s election police unit and statewide prosecutors.  This State Attorney determined instead that, as the Orlando Sentinel summarized it, the fraud was not willful. Read more from the Orlando

Read more

Sex offender in Alachua County, Florida, sentenced to 3 years in prison for alleged voter fraud

A 53-year-old man on the sex offender registry was sentenced to 36 months in prison after “willfully” voting in the 2020 election while “not qualified” to do so.  The problem, though, is that no one in an official capacity was able to determine that he was not qualified.  Sandra McDonald and Maria Fernanda Camacho with WUFT News in Alachua County

Read more

The need for nursing home care for people forced to register as sex offenders is in crisis mode

Actually, the need for nursing home care for people forced to register on the sex offender registry is beyond a crisis state – it is catastrophic. Before the Florida legislative session began this year, some of our FAC members organized to send letters to certain legislators, informing them of the critical situation that so many registered persons and their families

Read more