Template:Reform Sex Offender Laws News/News

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RSOL News

AL: Lawmaker introduces sex offender castration bill

An Alabama lawmaker has a plan to permanently and physically punish someone convicted of certain sex offenses against children. The bill, known as HB 365, would make sex offenders have to get surgically castrated before they leave prison. (Matt Fernandez, WIAT.com, US, March, 4, 2016)

We’re Rethinking Prisons. Is It Time to Rethink Sex Offender Registries?

When police arrived at her house to arrest her on May 8, 2013, Tammy Bond turned to her niece and said: “Aunt Tammy did something wrong.” (Erica R. Meiners, In These Times, US, February, 18, 2016)

• Janice’s Journal: The New Year Begins with a Frightening Roar.

A new year has begun and because it is an election year it has started out with a roar. A roar that should frighten us all.

Despite the fact that the year is only a few days old, we are already facing two pieces of legislation that could significantly… (Janice, CA RSOL, US, January, 3, 2016)

• RSOL Chair to Mass lawmakers: registration is government-sanctioned prejudice, segregation of citizens

State House News Service . . . A host of bills dealing with sex offender registration encountered pushback Tuesday from advocates and offenders who urged lawmakers to consider whether the measures were meant to prevent recidivism or to serve as additional punishments. (Katie Lannan, RSOL, US, December 3, 2015)

• Sex offenders not required to post signs on Halloween

• California Reform Sex Offender Laws Organization won a victory on October 26 when a compromise was reached to halt one of the restrictions enforced by the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation during “Operation Boo”. Sex offender parolees will no longer have to place a sign on their door saying, “We Do Not Participate in Trick or Treating" on Halloween night. (SAN DIEGO (CBS 8), US)

• The collateral damage of sex offender laws

How our sex offender laws punish more than just the convicted. ( Radley Balko, The Washington Post, US)

• The Pointless Banishment of Sex Offenders

“predator-free zones” put an entire town or county off limits, sometimes for life, even for those whose offenses had nothing to do with children. (The New York Times, US)

• Study: Sexual Assaults Lower in Neighborhoods With More Registered Sex Offenders

Sex offender registries are premised on the belief that there is a correlation between re-offense and victim proximity. The underlying assumption is that more sexual assaults will occur in places where sex offenders live. (David Booth - CSJ, US, August 27, 2015)