By NARSOL Larry and Sandy . . . Not since the initiation of International Megan’s Law (IML) has anything raised such a level of anxiety, confusion, and questions as have the new federal SORNA/AWA guidelines that will become effective January 7, 2022. The only consensus seems to be that whatever happens, it won’t be good. These recent amendments are…
Read More
By Stephen H . . . On October 21, 2020, the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) made an internal policy change that doubled many inmates’ sentences with sexual offenses and removed them from parole eligibility. All sentenced inmates in WV receive obligatory Good Time credit (WV Code §15-4-17) unless the credit is revoked for disciplinary problems. For…
Read More
WVRSOL joins NARSOL in calling on Justice Armstead to acknowledge the error of his statement and retract it from the record. By NARSOL’s Sandy and Michael S. . . . Nobody today references the daily price of whale oil. Why? Because given the presence of modern-day petroleum, whale oil is not relevant to everyday life. So why do some judges…
Read More
By Dr. Ira Ellman . . . The prestigious American Law Institue recommends sweeping changes to the registry, including no public dissemination. On June 8, 2021 the membership of the American Law Institute gave its final approval to a revision of the Model Penal Code’s chapter on Sexual Assault and Related Offenses. This project was initially authorized by the ALI…
Read More
By Meg Kinnard . . . South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a state law requiring sex offenders to register for life, without prior judicial review, is unconstitutional. In a unanimous ruling, justices wrote that “requirement that sex offenders must register for life without any opportunity for judicial review violates due process because it is arbitrary and cannot…
Read More
By NARSOL (Sandy and Robin) . . . In Wisconsin, a new battle is being launched in what is getting to be an old war. Civil rights attorneys Adele Nicholas and Mark Weinberg, seasoned soldiers in this war fought on behalf of persons forced to live as someone on a sex offender registry, have launched this latest skirmish due to a…
Read More
By Larry . . . NARSOL is excited to announce the filing of an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of Stephen May’s Petition for a Writ of Certiorari. It is important to understand that the Supreme Court declines to hear most cases in which review is sought, which means all petitioners face very long odds. As a…
Read More
By Michael Karlik . . . Prosecutors will soon receive an answer to a question the state Supreme Court created in 2019: are hundreds of sex offender sentences in Colorado actually illegal? Following the Court’s unanimous ruling in Allman v. People that criminal sentences are impermissible if they include both prison and probation, the justices have agreed to hear two appeals from the Denver…
Read More
By Larry… After years of legal wrangling, there has been a favorable decision in an important case in Tennessee (see previous WVRSOL post). The case was initiated on November 8, 2016, along with a motion for a protective order. At that time the governor of Tennessee was named William Haslam, so he was the defendant in his official capacity along…
Read More
By Travis Loller . . . NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that parts of Tennessee’s sex offender registration act should not be applied retroactively to two offenders who sued over the law. Monday’s ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee was narrowly written to apply only to the two plaintiffs. But it…
Read More