News & Updates

As of this week, a new law in Queensland will make it a crime to “not report a belief of sexual offending against a child to police. While that might seem like a well-intentioned law to crack down on sexual abuse of children, the threat of criminal punishment for not reporting a “belief” is a pretty scary thing. Especially when

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona filed a federal class action lawsuit challenging the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) policy of making plea offers “substantially harsher” if people assert their rights to a preliminary hearing or a trial. This “retaliation policy” coerces thousands of guilty pleas per year and violates the Constitution. Moreover, the retaliation policy

An East Stone Gap community is concerned after learning a sanctuary for registered sex offenders might be intentionally relocated to their neighborhood. https://wcyb.com/news/local/neighbors-concerned-about-plans-for-a-registered-sex-offender-sanctuary-in-wise-county?video=5305a22bf86640d184d2bbaba1cd4a38&jwsource=cl

On June 8, the American Law Institute, arguably the most prestigious non-governmental law reform organization in the country, concluded its national meeting. One of its agenda items was to have its thousands of elected members—top federal appeals judges among them, who enjoy lifetime appointments after being confirmed by the United States Senate—vote on a draft of the revised chapter of

A very interesting decision was handed down in a Pennsylvania Superior Court, this week. A man convicted of, among other things, “disseminating explicit sexual material to a minor” had his conviction overturned after a three judge panel found that text messages do not constitute “material”. The court reasoned, “Here, even assuming that Alexander’s texts were obscene under the Miller test,

Tennessee lawmakers passed a “Truth in Sentencing” law that requires certain violent or sexual offenders to serve 100% of their sentence. The law affects offenses such as rape, sexual battery, continuous sexual abuse of a child, sexual battery by an authority figure, incest, promoting prostitution, aggravated child abuse, domestic assault, aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and trafficking for a