Man dies of COVID in ICE custody held for a registration violation.

In 1985, at age 19, Martin Vargas Arellano was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor under 14. The victim, according to his attorney, Margaret Hellerstein, was his stepsister, and the relationship was consensual. In 1993, Vargas was convicted of domestic violence, but has had no other convictions for violent crimes since then. Vargas was arrested in April 2019 for

Read more

Disabled Man on Sex Offender Registry for Prank Gone Wrong Will Get a New Hearing

An intellectually disabled young man placed on the sex offender registry for doing his friend’s bidding has been granted a new hearing. The Illinois Prison Review Board will review his case, most likely sometime this summer. His mother is asking, on his behalf, for executive clemency. He deserves it. Adam is 34 years old and still must be reminded to

Read more

GH-S: Illinois Bill Will Literally Let Sex Offenders Move Into Your Home With You… Not really, though.

Over at the fantastic Posse Comitatus — a substack on sheriffs — Jess Pishko, wrote about ways in which sheriffs (and other law enforcement) often frame themselves as being on the side of victims even as those narratives are (a) often incoherent and (b) demonstrably false beyond their rhetoric. So it was timely that I saw an article with the

Read more

Patty Wetterling and the Highjacking of the Sex Offender Registry

Weekly Update #141 Dear Members and Advocates, So much respect is deserved by Patty Wetterling. In 1989, Patty’s son Jacob was abducted and killed near their home in Minnesota. Three years after Jacob’s abduction, Minnesota enacted a registry in his memory and a couple years after that, the federal government did the same. In fact, the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against

Read more