News & Updates

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,

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

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

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

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

AUSTIN — Forty-six small cities across Texas are facing a new legal challenge to their ordinances that regulate where registered sex offenders can live, including several in the Houston area. Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, a statewide criminal-justice advocacy group, announced Monday it has” initiated action to compel, through litigation if necessary,” the repeal of the ordinances in so-called