Reforming Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Laws
Under two different Illinois laws, people charged with sex offenses are subject to indefinite detention. More than 500 people are currently being held under the procedure known as civil commitment. This story examines the law that continues to hold people after they’ve served their sentences, sometimes for decades. WTTW News also looked at the law that holds people who’ve only
Read moreOn April 9, a federal judge issued a permanent injunction blocking the Department of Justice from prosecuting California residents under a federal sex-offender registration law without first confirming with the state that those individuals are required to register in the first place. PLF represents a group of plaintiffs who are caught in a bind created by conflicting federal and state
Read moreWe say it all the time. If you don’t challenge one city’s bad ordinance, the neighboring cities will pass laws too. It’s essentially a domino effect when it comes to residency restrictions. One city concocts a law to restrict people on the sex offender registry from living there, and then the cities adjacent to it has to pass a similar
Read moreA recent Spectrum News story, “Homeless families placed in motels find unwelcome neighbors: sex offenders” sounds exactly like the kind of headline meant to stir people up. But if you get past the headline, the story tells a very different truth. Buried in the article is something lawmakers rarely admit: people on the registry can’t find housing. Not because they
Read moreIn Northampton, Massachusetts, a man identified only as John Doe has brought a legal challenge against the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, asking a Superior Court judge to examine not just his classification, but the constitutionality of the system that labeled him. Massachusetts does not follow the federal tier-based model used in many other states (which is offense-based). Instead, its
Read moreAn online petition is circulating in Chippewa Falls that would change important city ordinances towards sex offenders. If approved, it would increase the distance a sex offender can be around areas where children gather. Right now the city ordinance states a sex offender must not loiter within 66 ft. of playgrounds, parks, pools or day care centers. The new petition
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