News & Updates

Below is a letter FAC sent to the Tampa Tribune in response to a story they ran last month. We’ve tried to get them to print the letter but they have not, so we are sharing it here:   Dear Editor Tampa Tribune,  In response to the Feb. 15 front page article “Sex offender’s Home a Parking Lot” this is

Today the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the residence restrictions automatically imposed on sex offenders by state law are unconstitutional, violating fundamental rights protected by the 14th Amendment. At issue was the Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act (a.k.a. Jessica’s Law), which was approved by voters as Proposition 83 in 2006. The law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within

Since the publication of my blog post “Do Sex Offender Registries Reduce Recidivism?,” a question I have been asked is “Paul, isn’t it a good thing that I as a parent knows who is a sex offender living in my neighborhood so I can tell my child to stay away from that person?” My responses are that such knowledge is

In recent years, a number of state courts have struck down local sex-offender residency restrictions on a number of different legal grounds.  As this AP article reports, another state Supreme Court is now part of this group: “California’s Supreme Court ruled Monday the state cannot prohibit all registered sex offenders in San Diego County from living within 2,000 feet of a school

Paul Heroux, a Massachusetts State Representative, asks the question, do sex offender registries reduce recidivism? He answers the question immediately. No. Or at least that is what the empirical evidence and research on this issue shows. Seems clear enough but Heroux is a lawmaker with a constituency that could turn on him so he tries to hedge his bets. But

Russell Speigle: Man Discovers Sex Offender Is Moving To His Neighborhood, Allegedly Burns Down Home, Arson Sparks Debate Russell Speigle wasn’t too pleased to learn that a sex offender would be moving into his neighborhood. He, along with several other neighbors, reportedly voiced concerns about their fairly awkward new neighbor at a local neighborhood watch meeting, but to no avail.