Weekly Updates

Weekly Update #8 Dear Members and Advocates, Happy New Year! 2019 promises to be an exciting year for sex offender reform advocacy. Two lawsuits we have spearheaded are in litigation; the “Ex Post Facto Plus” suit and the “In Person” challenge. A third, challenging registration of out of state individuals, will hopefully be filed in the coming months. In the

Weekly Update #7 Dear Members and Advocates: Sorry this is coming to you a little late in the week but there’s lots to report this week. The “In Person Challenge” was filed yesterday afternoon. The lawsuit challenges the requirement that persons required to register MUST report IN PERSON to register things like vehicle changes or travel of 3 or more

Dear Members and Advocates, Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States denied certiorari in Boyd v. Washington, a case out of Washington that challenged in-person registration.  Had the Supreme Court chosen to hear the case, our “in-person challenge” would have been argued for us. The fact that it won’t be heard by the SCOTUS means that our “in-person challenge”

Dear Members and Advocates: We’ve always said that until a politician has a family member in our situation, we’re not going to find much sympathy for our cause from the legislature. Well, we finally have someone with enough political clout that is close enough to influence the President, who is pushing for federal sentencing reform. It’s not exactly our situation,

Dear Members and Advocates, Each year I struggle to formulate a positive Thanksgiving message. While some of us might look forward to a festive holiday meal with family and friends, we can’t stop thinking about those of us who cannot. Some of us will be alone, under a bridge or otherwise isolated. It’s very hard to celebrate a day of

Dear Members and Advocates, Last night the election results came in. To remain impartial – that’s all we’ll say about that. What we can safely comment on is that Amendment 4 passed and now discrimination against persons required to register is entrenched in the Florida Constitution. That will be a tough hurdle to overcome. It was not unexpected, but no

Dear Members and Advocates: This week’s update is coming to you a bit early because the trial in the Miami-Dade Sex Offender Residency Restriction (SORR) challenge wrapped up on Friday. In all, the trial lasted approximately 20 hours over the course of 4 days. The team of ACLU and Legal Services of Greater Miami attorneys who represented us at trial

Dear Members and Advocates, Last week, the excitement over the filing of our Ex Post Facto lawsuit overshadowed a disaster that struck the Florida panhandle. Hurricane Michael was the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in Florida. It caused over 8 Billion Dollars in property damage and displaced tens of thousands of residents. We are only starting to hear

Dear Members and Advocates, It’s been filed! The “Ex Post Facto Challenge”, as we have come to identify it, has been filed in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida. This was the challenge that has long been in the works and we’ve been waiting for. Although it’s been dubbed an “ex post facto” challenge (challenging the

Dear Members and Advocates, No matter what side of the political fence you fall on or which cable news network you watch, this past week’s news has been riveting. A week ago, as I was awaiting the sentence of Bill Cosby, I couldn’t help but feel sad that “America’s Dad” had so disappointed us. I felt sad for the victim