Criminal Law

U.S. v. Valverde Roundup

Posted on February 19, 2009
Last week, I blogged about U.S. v. Valverde, the Eastern District of California decision that dismissed a SORNA indictment on Commerce Clause grounds. Afterward, the Sacramento Bee published an article about the opinion. Unfortunately, it misstates the legal landscape concerning...

Wisconsin Town Hears Evidence and Decides that Maybe Residency Restrictions Don't Work

Posted on February 19, 2009
A Green Bay, Wisconsin city official who questioned a proposed local residency law has apparently been heard by the city leaders in nearby Manitowoc. Manitowoc officials are now looking for other ways to handle sex offender residency. From WBAY:The City...

Another Polanski Update

Posted on February 19, 2009
It seems like every few days there is a Roman Polanski article. And they alternate between sounding like defense lawyer press releases and prosecutor press releases. Here is the latest news from CNN:Attorneys for the 75-year-old Academy Award-winning director will...

Nevada Legislative Committee Kills Bill Over Due Process Concerns

Posted on February 19, 2009
A Nevada bill affecting the lifetime supervision requirements imposed on sex offenders has been scrapped over due process concerns. From MSNBC:A legislative committee has killed a bill that would have changed lifetime supervision requirements imposed on convicted sex offenders...

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Three Flashes And You're Out?

Posted on February 19, 2009
Utah's serial flashers may soon find themselves labeled as sex offenders under a new bill passed yesterday by the state's House of Representatives. The bill only affects persons convicted of flashing their private parts three or more times. You can...

Sex Offender Madness

Posted on February 19, 2009
I'm a bit slow in responding to apublicdefender's call for help regarding a story about sex offender madness (I blame my cold that will never go away). From the original post:Sex offender hysteria is well documented. Apparently, the Federal Government...

House Republicans File Amicus Brief Concerning AWA Mandatory Minimums

Posted on February 18, 2009
In response to a federal judge's ruling that a 30 year mandatory minimum prison sentence was cruel and unusual under the Eighth Amendment, a group of House Republicans have filed an amicus brief in the Eleventh Circuit arguing that the...

Alabama House Passes Bill Banning Sex Offenders from Living Near Colleges

Posted on February 18, 2009
Alabama's elected officials are at it again. The Alabama House yesterday unanimously passed a bill which would restrict sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of any college or university. You can read the text of the bill here. From...

Illinois Legislature Considers More Sex Offender Restrictions

Posted on February 17, 2009
From one of my colleagues, I learned that the Illinois Legislature is considering a number of new sex offender bills. From the St. Louis Post-DispatchEvery year, Illinois' list of registered sex offenders grows. And every year, the Legislature introduces a...

Law Enforcement Portions of the Stimulus Package

Posted on February 17, 2009
Grits for Breakfast has an excellent post concerning the law enforcement portions of the newly signed stimulus package. The most relevant items for our purposes include "$225 million for Byrne competitive grants," which will be cutback for states that fail...

States Stuggle With Adam Walsh Act Compliance

Posted on February 16, 2009
There has been a lot of Adam Walsh Act related news lately. The State of Wisconsin has requested an extension on the deadline to comply with the Walsh Act. From MSNBC:The state of Wisconsin wants an extension on the deadline...

Virginia Bill Seeks to Require Sex Offenders to Provide Online Information

Posted on February 16, 2009
The Virginia House of Representatives, looking to join at least the twenty other states with similar provisions, unanimously passed a bill requiring sex offenders to register their online identifiers with the authorities. From the Chatham Star Tribune:A bill sponsored by...

Alabama Legislator Wants Death Penalty for Child Rapists

Posted on February 16, 2009
Although the Supreme Court held in Kennedy v. Louisiana that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the death penalty for commiting the crime of raping a child, one Alabama legislator apparently wants to press the issue (or is oblivious to the Court's...

Iowa Seeks to Comply With AWA, May Scrap Residency Restrictions

Posted on February 13, 2009
Legislators in Iowa are looking to change the state's sex offender law in order to bring the state in compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Act. Some lawmakers are proposing removing the state's harsh residency restrictions. From Radio Iowa: Iowa...

First Person Civilly Committed as Sexually Dangerous Person Under AWA

Posted on February 13, 2009
Thanks to a helpful reader, I see that a Maine sex offender became the first person in the nation to be civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person under the new Adam Walsh Act. The man was committed to the...

District Court in Third Circuit Upholds SORNA

Posted on February 12, 2009
A federal judge in Delaware has issued an order dismissing a constitutional challenge of the Adam Walsh Act. The decision is believed to be the first time a court in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled on a...

NY Town May Ban Sex Offenders From Living Together

Posted on February 12, 2009
Town officials in Colonie, New York are considering a new law which seeks to prohibit certain sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of each other or where children typically congregate. David Giacalone over at the f/k/a blog has an...

WikiLeaks Releases Two Adam Walsh Act Reports

Posted on February 12, 2009
WikiLeaks, a wiki-style website that distributes sensitive documents anonymously, has released thousands of reports authored by the Congressional Research Service, including two reports discussing the Adam Walsh Act from April 2007. The first is entitled: Adam Walsh Child Protection and...

New Article About Prison Rape

Posted on February 11, 2009
A helpful reader sent along an interesting article entitled Prison Rape in Context. Unfortunately, viewing the article requires a subscription, but you can view the abstract here. From the abstract: Fear of sexual violence is a defining characteristic of the...

Possible Gender Discrimination in Statutory Rape Charges

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has issued a ruling discussing why a 14 year old boy who was accused of statutory rape was charged, but not the three under-aged girls with whom he allegedly had sex. The opinion (available here)...

Editorial: Hawaii's Sex Offender Registry Laws Must Be Changed

Posted on February 10, 2009
The Honolulu Star Bulletin has an excellent editorial calling for Hawaii's sex offender registry law to be changed. Specifically, the editorial notes that the July deadline for states to comply with the federal Adam Walsh Act "has become even more...

Maine Supreme Court to Consider Retroactivity of Sex Offender Registry

Posted on February 10, 2009
Although many states have had no problem applying their respective sex offender registry laws retroactively, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court is hearing argument on the issue. From the Associated Press:The issue of whether Maine's online sex offender registry can be...

North Dakota Votes Down Residency Restriction Bill

Posted on February 10, 2009
North Dakota's House of Representatives recently voted down a residency restriction bill. From the Grand Forks Herald:The House defeated a bill Monday that would have restricted convicted sex offenders from living near or being near schools, day care centers and...

Another District Court Dismisses SORNA Indictment on Commerce Clause Grounds

Posted on February 10, 2009
In U.S. v. Valverde, the Eastern District of California held that Congress lacked the authority to enact SORNA because the Act could not be justified under by the Commerce Clause. This is how the order addressed the jurisdictional limitation of...

Alabama Bill Calls For Surgical Castration of Sex Offenders

Posted on February 09, 2009
A bill before the Alabama House of Representatives would require male sex offenders, who are convicted of sexual crimes against victims under the age of 12, to undergo surgical castration. From the Tuscaloosa News: A bill introduced in the Alabama...

Illinois Busts Sex Offender for Having Internet Access and a MySpace Account

Posted on February 09, 2009
Now that MySpace has handed over the names of 90,000 registered sex offenders on its site to every state attorney general, an Illinois sex offender faces charges after he failed to tell the authorities that he had the Internet at...

States Resistant to Adopt Federal Sex Offender Registry Standards

Posted on February 09, 2009
The New York Times has an excellent article discussing the problems facing state governments who are trying to enact Adam Walsh Act-compliant laws. Citing the article, TChris at TalkLeft calls for the repeal of the Adam Walsh Act altogether. From...

Sex Offender Laws in New Jersey & New York Both Ineffective

Posted on February 06, 2009
A recent study (which I cite in my new article) published in Psychology, Public Policy, and Law claims that New York's Sex Offender Registration act had no effect. According to the study, over 95% of all sex offenses (as determined...

Feds Change Course, Upset Judge

Posted on February 06, 2009
Prosecutors in the Northern District of California would be well advised to not bring charges for failure to register under SORNA, only to drop the charges shortly after extensive briefing on the matter. That does not make for a happy...

Council of State Governments Opposed To Registering Juvenile Offenders

Posted on February 06, 2009
Recently, the Council of State Governments has adopted a resolution stating its opposition to SORNA, as it applies to juveniles. You can read the resolution here. From the Resolution:WHEREAS, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) requires that juvenile...

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