THIS POST IS UPDATED DAILY
Daily Kos: The Treatment of Sex Offenders in This Country: Most felony level offenses having sex as an element, from lewd behavior to child molestation to rape, now carry mandatory lifetime registration, with permanent stigmatization and restrictions on where people can live. Many states are also regularly employing civil commitment for offenders whose incarceration term has expired, keeping them in state mental hospitals indefinitely without the need for a sentence from the court. The result is the creation of a permanent institutionally persecuted pariah class.
Citizens for Legislative Change: Adam Walsh Act Laws (AWA), SORNA, sex offender legislation.
Rights and Law Network: Adam Walsh Act Laws (AWA), SORNA, sex offender legislation.
The Liberty Papers: More sex offender insanity.
S.O. Laws Unconstitutional: A Father of 3, Husband of 1 who thinks their needs to be Sweeping, Immediate changes in the S.O. Laws in America. Retroactive laws that do not take into consideration how many years has gone by since a crime was committed, the age of the person, or any other relevant information only hurt a large number of people.We do need laws that protect our citizens, but just because a person commits a crime, does not make them a NON-CITIZEN.
AuthorsDen.com - New 2008 federal sex offender laws: ...Many legislators are now having second thoughts about some classifications of sex offenders. Many will tell you that the "strict" sex offense laws were made for the predators, like rapist and child predators, not video voyeurs and such. But in the past few years to "earn" the offender tag is quite easy to earn. As Senator Keith Kreiman of Iowa is quoted as saying " It is very politically risky to even hold hearings on repealing some of the sex offender laws" (USA Today).
News_Herald.com: New Law Targeted by Sex Offenders. The Adam Walsh Act has only been in effect since Jan. 1, but the petitions protesting the controversial new sexual predator law are already pouring in. As of March 20, 74 appeals have been filed in Lake County alone. "We put a stay on all hearings, pending a decision by the Supreme Court," the judge said. "For now, we're ordering them to keep registering (as they were before the law was passed)."
Columbus Dispatch: Thousands of sex offenders across Ohio are filing similar challenges. "If you call everybody a threat, nobody's a threat," said Margie Slagle, a lawyer with the Ohio Justice and Policy Center in Cincinnati.
Lorain Chronicle Telegram: In the first day of hearings on complaints from sex offenders who have been reclassified under a new state law, prosecutors and defense attorneys got through nine cases Tuesday. The law would be fair if it only applied to those who committed sex crimes after it took effect, critics have said.
Patterico.com: Texas officials may soon begin ignoring a new federal sex offender law that would require some juveniles as young as 14 to register on a national Web site. A federal community notification act approved by Congress and signed by President Bush is so sweeping, it’s raising concern among even those who traditionally have pushed for greater public sex offender disclosure. Scores of prosecutors, victims’ rights advocates and normally get-tough lawmakers say provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 are Draconian and costly and may end up harming the victims they’re supposed to protect. “We think our laws are strong enough,” said Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, a leading advocate of sex offender registration laws in Texas.” States risk losing federal funding if they don’t implement the new law by 2009. In addition, some are troubled by the lack of local control.
American Bar Association, ABA Journal : One in 100 adults in the U.S. is serving time in prison right now, reportedly the highest incarceration rate ever. And it is even higher for members of certain minority groups. They also add up to a lot of money spent on state and federal prisons. It costs an average of nearly $24,000 to house an inmate annually.
TheCourier.com: Court challenge prompts judge to stay cases. A Hancock County judge agreed Monday to put Ohio's sex offender law on hold in 11 cases until a federal court judge addresses constitutional challenges to the new law.
New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library: Facing Deadline, States Troubled by Federal Sex Crime Mandates.
WTVG TV Toledo: Sex Offenders: "Attorney General's office increased the number of sex offenders considered dangerous by 8000... The law is already costing tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars".
Philly.com: Sex Offender Law Ignores Real Harm. 87 percent of sex crimes are committed by people with no previous sex-offense convictions. While it may seem a good idea to place all convicted sex offenders on a registry, law enforcement officials and child-safety advocates say that expanding the registry to include all offenders reduces its usefulness in helping law enforcement to identify and monitor individuals considered a real risk to the community.
TheBriefcase: Commentary and Analysis of Ohio Law: What research has been done has not shown that sex offender registration laws have any effect whatsoever on the one thing they’re supposed to affect: the incidence of sex crimes. In fact, as I mentioned several months ago, there’s some basis for believing that they’re actually counterproductive, in that they force sex offenders “underground,” making them that much harder to track..
USAToday : Sex-offender residency laws get second look. "It does not differentiate between real predators and the type of men he recalls arresting for urinating in public, a sex offense in" many states. "We need to focus on people we're afraid of, not mad at," says Lamons, a Tulsa Democrat who wants the rules to focus more on high-risk offenders. Now a backlash is brewing. Several states, including Iowa, Oklahoma and Georgia, are considering changes in residency laws that have led some sex offenders to go underground. Such offenders either have not registered with local police as the laws require or they have given fake addresses. The push to ease residency restrictions has support from victims' advocates, prosecutors and police who say they spend too much time investigating potential violations. The surge in residency restrictions happened in the absence of research proving that they work.
APublicDefender.com : Sex offender residency restrictions getting a second, closer look.
Brendan's Commentaries: More Adam Walsh madness in Ohio.
Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati.com : Get Real on Sex Offender Rules. "Applying these laws retroactively is inhumane." There are more than 550,000 convicted sex offenders in the nation, more than 1,000 living in Greater Cincinnati. We urge the Ohio General Assembly not to waste time writing a new, specifically retroactive restriction law, but to instead work out a sensible classification system and invest in programs that would require released offenders to undergo continuing treatment rather just move down the road.
CentralOhio.com: Sandusky County Sheriff's Office has been sending out sex offender notifications to inform county residents if they have a sexual offender in their neighborhood... AGAINST the Federal Judge court order prohibiting this action.
TimesReporter.com: Sex offenders registered in Tuscarawas County will not have to change their reporting habits, at least for the time being.
SanduskyRegister.com : An obviously BIASED report but you can register your opinion on the page: A Feb. 6 order by a judge from the U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio will essentially allow the most serious sexual offenders convicted before Jan. 1 to move in next door to you and your family with no notification. The law is being challenged on the grounds it violates the Ohio Constitution and U.S. Constitution because it changes a defendant's sex offender status and reporting requirements without any hearing, without any regard for prior court decisions and without due process.
Seattle Times: The Harm Done by Sex Offender Laws.
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio's new sex offender law draws rebuke from judges.
Sentencing Law and Policy: Sex offenders and the city states: AWA's many trivial pursuits.
Salem News : The local lawsuits filed to challenge reclassifications of sex offenders will remain on hold for now, pending the outcome of a federal lawsuit challenging the changes.
Vindy.com: Youngstown — All five Mahoning County Common Pleas trial judges have signed an order halting action in their courts concerning protests filed by 60 registered sex offenders against their reclassification under a new state law. The stay, filed Thursday, halts action on the protests pending resolution of a case now before U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan of the Northern District of Ohio
WTVG Toledo: Right now there is a lawsuit; all 88 sheriff's offices are being sued
Blueshift: to distribute data on sexual offender registration laws.
Reformsexoffenderlaws.org: to protect society and its children from the dangers of sexual harm. We are also committed to preserve civil liberty and genuine criminal justice.
ROAR for Freedom: to educate society about the truths, rather than the myths about sex offenders, recidivism rates, and the effects that laws and ordinances have on sex offenders.
Sex Abuse Treatment Alliance:Dedicated to preventing sexual abuse through education, outreach, and community reconciliation of sexual abusers.
Sex Crimes: devoted to criminal laws regulating and punishing sexual violence.
Sex Offender Issues: the truth about sex offender laws, issues and how they violate the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights and Human Rights.
Sex Offender Research by A Voice of Reason: dedicated to research, studies and court cases related to sex offender issues.
Cleveland Free Times: Sex in the Time of Hysteria.
Cincinnati City Beat: Next Comes Burning at the Stake.
Voices for Ohio's Children: Implementation of the Adam Walsh Act in Ohio.
Davidson Justice: video.
Sex Offender Issue: Have We Gone Too Far?
Sex Offender Too: Willy, Registered Sex Offender.
Dayton Daily News: Constitutionality of Sex Offender Law Challenged.
News and Noteworthy: Articles concerning sex offender issues.
Sex Offender Support and Education Network: to advocate for positive sex offender policies and programs that include accountability, fair sentencing, and supportive community reintegration strategies.
Porkopolis: Blame the People who Wrote the Law.
Stateline.org: Anti-sex-offender zoning laws challenged.
Google News: Search terms Ohio "Adam Walsh".
OnceFallen: Through Knowledge and Wisdom Shall We Rise From The Ashes.
Sentencing Law and Policy: Professional Law Blog.
Helium: Is the Adam Walsh Act about sex-offender notification unconstitutional?
Sex Offender Issues: Sex Offender Laws may do more harm than good.
Sex Offender Issues: Ohio articles.
No Sex Offenders Need Apply: Counter-productive world of sex offender legislation.
Sex Gulag: Legal and Civil Rights issues.
Cincinnati Enquirer: Sex Offenders Face Tougher Rules.
Stateline.org: Will States say "No" to Adam Walsh Act?
WHIO TV: Adam Walsh Act requires sex offenders to register for life.
Ohio.com: A.P. Legal challenges mounting to sex offender law.
Huffington Post: Sex Offender laws may do more harm than good.
SexCrimeDefender: Adam Walsh Act.
Chillicothe Gazette: Data entry error causes worry ; residents thought sex offenders lived nearby.
Utah Daily Herald: Utah decides not to fully implement the federal Adam Walsh Act....calls the law "an unfunded mandate," "inflexible" and, "in some cases, not able to be implemented."
DailyPress: States can protect children without the problematic Adam Walsh Act.
OperationAwareness: Why The Child Safety Act Will Not Work
WKRC TV Cincinnati: High cost of new sex offender law. Deputy Adam Breeze, Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: "No free time to do anything else....In Hamilton County alone, 600 low level offenders are now high level offenders... same people, no new crime, just a new label... The Ohio Justice and Policy Center is suing to get Senate Bill 10 thrown out. The suit challenges retroactively changing someone's offender status But the group also says upgrading low level offenders adds fear, without adding safety. Margie Slagle, Ohio Justice & Policy Center: "What the politicians don't tell folks is that most of the people on this list are not child molesters."
Online Petition: To revoke Adam Walsh Act and Laws.
