VA: Cost of sex offender program shocks lawmakers

Lawmakers expressed shock Friday over the exponentially rising cost of a program to keep some sex offenders locked up after they complete their criminal sentences. The annual operating cost of Virginia’s Sexually Violent Predator Program is projected to hit $32 million next year – more than a tenfold increase in eight years. The General Assembly created the program in 1998

Read more

Deadline to send comment to the US Sentencing Commission extended!

A couple weeks ago we let you know about the US Sentencing Commission’s proposal to amend section 4B1.2 to include non-production offenders in the definition of “violent offender” as well as many other amendments in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in Johnson. The original deadline was November 12, 2015. But the deadline has been extended to November 25,

Read more

Ohio Supreme Court upholds sex offender registration laws, rejecting cruel and unusual punishment argument

COLUMBUS, Ohio — State laws requiring that certain sex offenders register with local authorities and verify their address every six months for 25 years do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The case involved a 21-year-old defendant, Travis Blankenship, who pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor between 13 and 16 years

Read more

Bogus Sex Stings Make Forbes' Magazine's Top 10 Internet Law Developments Of 2014

That’s Right! The following was #9 Top 10 Internet Law Developments of 2014: #9: Online Sex Stings and Entrapment. I’m glad that officers are on the Internet beat busting sexual predators. Unfortunately, we’re seeing too many cases where undercover officers entrap people who weren’t looking for underage sex partners. I first blogged this issue in 2013. This expose by a

Read more

Tide turns against US residency restrictions on sex offenders

Nearly two decades have passed since Josh Gravens, then 12 years old, was playing with his 8-year-old sister and touched her body in an inappropriate way, landing himself on a sex offender registry. His sister forgave him long ago but Gravens still worries that the incident could force him out of his Dallas home. Concerns about sexual predators have led

Read more

John Oliver Slams the Criminal Justice System for Setting Former Prisoners Up to Fail

On Sunday, John Oliver dedicated his show to exposing yet another aspect of our broken criminal justice system, this time focusing on what happens to former offenders once they leave prison and attempt to re-enter society. As the Last Week Tonight host explained, it’s an especially timely issue that comes on the heels of the government’s recent release of 6,000

Read more