Weekly Updates

Weekly Update #13 Dear Members and Advocates, This past week, I had to do a double take when reading court filings… Twice! On the 9th, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed an amicus brief arguing that Michigan’s sex offender registration and notification requirements are punishment and just yesterday, U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins wrote an order saying that “sex offenders

Weekly Update #12 Dear Members and Advocates, On Sunday we watched the New England Patriots beat the LA Rams in Superbowl 53. For reasons having nothing to do with football or an affinity for New England, I was rooting for the Patriots. My reason was purely for criminal justice reform. The Patriot’s Owner, Robert Kraft, is among a group of

Weekly Update #11 Dear Members and Advocates, On our site this week we featured some reminders to registrants. There is a distinction between ‘probation violations’ and ‘registration violations’. For one, conditions of your probation need to be complied with in addition to conditions of registration. Also, conditions of probation may differ from one registrant to another, while registration requirements are

Weekly Update #10 Dear Members and Advocates, As we begin a new year and the FAC family continues to grow, it’s a good time to remind all members of our Member Code of Conduct and some general principles for dealing with the public. The Member Code of Conduct can be found here (towards the bottom of the page) and is

Weekly Update #9 Dear Members and Advocates, Today, a new administration will be sworn in to govern our State. Ron DeSantis will become Florida’s 46th governor and his arrival will have an immediate impact on the State. Because three of our seven state Supreme Court justices are required by law to retire this week, he will be the one to

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