Recently I wrote a piece on Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin’s denying and then limiting a father who also happens to be a registrant, access to visit his ill child in the hospital. A father who was doing right by his…
Category: In The News
How To Eat An Elephant
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. That’s how solving an enormous problem has often been described. You just keep at it, taking one small bite at a time until the entire problem is devoured. That’s…
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin RX Is “Cruel & Unusual Punishment”
Having a seriously ill child is heartbreak enough, but a father prevented from visiting his sick child makes this story even more tragic and it should never have happened in the first place. This is “bad medicine” at it’s worst! Stuart…
Registrants: Uncompensated Research Subjects
Are registrants uncompensated lab rats? TN sex offender treatment includes the use of VASI/Visual Assessment of Sexual Interest screening. From the little amount of information available online regarding VASI, it’s similar to the AASI/Abel Assessment for Sexual Interest developed by…
Do Conditions of Parole Violate the First Amendment?
For those registrants under parole, commonly referred to as “supervision”, it comes as quite a shock when you are first informed that you can’t have a smartphone or access to the internet, all violations of parole for most registrants. Access…
You’ve Got A Friend, But It’s Not U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions !
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke at a conference for the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Nashville, TN on Thursday, his focus, increasing the prison population! You would think that government would be more interested in decreasing prison…
Sex Offense + Civil Commitment = A Second Prison Sentence
Time served should be just that, a sentence of time decided by the court that has a beginning and an end. Apparently this is not so for sex offenders. Some sex offenders seem to be getting caught up in the…
One More Suicide Is One Too Many
Fear of life on the registry may be responsible for another life cut short. On Tuesday, 1/30/2018 the news reported that former “Glee” TV show” actor, Mark Salling died of an apparent suicide. Mark had been found guilty of possession…
TN TBI Blames Partial Budget Shortfall on “Uncollected Sex Offender Fees”
Thank you TN for dropping this blog piece right in my lap, it makes my job so much easier! The state of TN Comptroller of the Treasury/ Jan.2018 Audit is complete and it’s not looking good for TBI. Although there’s…
The Age Factor: Accused Adults vs. Adolescent Accusers
Hawkins County Criminal Court/TN has an interesting criminal sex offense case in the works. Dr. Chris Calendine, a Rogersville pediatrician has been accused of sexual battery of a 12 yr old boy and a 14 yr old boy. From news…
TN US District Court Case May Be Pivotal for Registrants
A case filed in US District Court, Nashville, TN last week has the potential to be a pivotal point in changing the registry, not only for John Doe who is filing the suit, but for all registrants. Plaintiff John Doe…
If We Are Sex Offenders, They Are Sex Offenders !
Sexual Misconduct. Sexual Harassment. Inappropriate Sexual Behavior. Sexual Advances. Propositioning. Groping. Indecent Photos. Non-Consensual Sex. We are at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to those of power, fame and fortune being knocked off their pedestals for sexual…
Things That Go “Bump” In The Night
Does the idea of an audit scare you? How about an audit where states lose track of registrants? Out of the Boston Globe, Sept 27 is a great article by Jeremy C. Fox regarding Massachusetts having lost track of nearly…
Sex Offender Sentencing : The Eighth Wonder of the World
It’s one of those things that make you say “Hmmmmm, How do they do that?” It’s a mystery to me how sex offender sentencing is calculated. Here’s two recent examples of sex offender cases and their outcomes. Does it make…
One Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words!
According to one Missouri resident, the county has apparently made a few changes to their SO Registration policies. One of the changes is where one registers, it used to be at the jail, behind closed, locked doors and now it’s…
Louisiana Banishes Registrants in the “Eye of the Storm”
With Hurricane Irma bearing down on Florida, I got to thinking about the registrants in tent cities, living under bridges, under causeways, behind abandoned buildings. What’s going to become of them? Can they go to shelters? What’s the 1,000, 1,500…
Colorado Sex Offender Registration Statute Unconstitutional 8-31-2017
Colorado Sex Offender Registration Statute Unconstitutional 8-31-2017 MILLARD et al. v. Rankin A win following the Packingham v. North Carolina win Packingham v. North Carolina: Justice Kennedy writing for the majority noted parenthetically that “the troubling fact that the law imposes severe restrictions…
Who Wrote the Book on Homelessness?
WLRN/ Miami/South Florida ran an excellant article entitled “Sex Offenders Sent to Homeless Encampment told to Find Housing, But Where?” The encampment at Northwest 36th Court and 71st Street is at the edge of Hialeah and Miami. It’s the warehouse…
No More Suicides, Please!
Today I read about a Las Vegas Metro police officer who committed suicide by asphyxiation on July 24, 2017. He was facing up to 45 years in prison for child pornography charges. He was 24 when he was arrested and…
Analogy for The Supreme Court
An exellent article in “Collateral Consequences Resource Center” by Bidish Sarma addresses the question we’ve all asked, “hasn’t society’s war on sex offenders who have already completed criminal sentences, gone too far?” We all know the answer, of course it’s…