The Dobbs Wire: Flashback to 1996

The Dobbs Wire:  Flashback to 1996.  A Massachusetts father writes about his young son — an important matter requiring a trip to the police station.  It’s a powerful, poignant story that the Chicago Tribune published on Dec. 1, 1996.  The father inquires, “What will be done with this information?”  He asked that question shortly after the Massachusetts sex offense registry

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“The Book” on registration laws becoming available for purchase.

Professors Wayne Logan (Florida State University School of Law) and JJ Prescott (University of Michigan School of Law) have edited the textbook on sex offense registration laws, literally. The two professors, along with other professionals; Andrew J. Harris, Scott M. Walfield, Alissa R. Ackerman, Lisa L. Sample, Kelly Socia, Amanda Agan, Jill S. Levenson, and Elizazeth J. Letourneau, have written

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Australia: Judges push for more powers to control who is placed on sex offenders register

A group of County Court judges are urging the state’s law reform body to give them more discretion over who is placed on the sex offenders register. In a submission to the Victorian Law Reform Commission, the County Court of Victoria said judges should have more power to decide whether a convicted sex offender is placed on the register. Under

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When Animus Matters and Sex Offense Underreporting Does Not: The Sex Offender Registry Regime

ACSOL Board Member Ira Ellman has published a scholarly work that claims the registry regime is motivated by animus and should be stricken.  This conclusion is based upon an analysis of four relevant U.S. Supreme Court decisions in which the Court determined what constitutes animus and struck down existing laws on that basis. According to Ellman’s work, “(n)o similar regime

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The Marshall Project: The Language Project

Reporters and editors have long believed that terms such as “inmate,” “felon” and “offender” are clear, succinct and neutral. But a vocal segment of people affected by the criminal justice system argue that these words — and any other words that define human beings by their crimes and punishments — are dehumanizing. The Language Project serves three purposes. First, through

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