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38 results for

How Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry Traps People in Debt and Homelessness

I was arrested in 2011 after engaging in sex work to survive and later forced to register as a sex offender. Since then, social stigma, footage laws, and crushing monthly court debts have made it difficult to get back on my own two feet and succeed after prison.

Christina Lynch

Federal Judge Blocks Michigan From Enforcing State’s Sex Offender Registry ‘Until COVID-19 Crisis Has Ended’

Michigan was one of several states requiring registrants to report to local police stations in person despite the risk to public health from coronavirus.

Dawn R. Wolfe

Sex Offender Registry Requirements Leave Some Facing Stark Choices As Coronavirus Risks Grow

Inconsistent rules nationwide mean some people are still registering and reporting in person despite public health directives meant to control COVID-19.

Dawn R. Wolfe

Alabama Sex Offender Registry Is Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Teenagers, Lawsuit Argues

Young people convicted as adults face a ‘life sentence’ of registry restrictions, attorneys say.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

Florida County: People On Sex Offender Registry Should Shelter From Dorian in Jail

Barred from other shelters, registrants were left with few options as the hurricane approached.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

New Law Forces Dozens on Tennessee’s Sex Offender Registry From Their Homes

The legislation also makes it illegal for many ex-offenders to be alone with their own children.

Steven Yoder

Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Proves Inescapable

Critics say the state's policy of keeping non-residents registered bloats the list—and harms public safety.

Steven Yoder

Punitiveness of the sex offender registry ‘negates public safety justification,’ Michigan AG says

High Schooler Faced 25 Years on the Sex Offender Registry–For Engaging In Oral Sex

At a Pennsylvania school, an 18-year-old female student was arrested for a consensual sexual act with a 16-year-old boy.

Joshua Vaughn

Sex Registries as Modern-Day Witch Pyres: Why Criminal Justice Reform Advocates Need to Address the Treatment of People on the Sex Offender Registry

Guy Hamilton-Smith

Simon Liu Isn’t A Sex Offender. But He’s Still on the Registry For Life.

California’s expansive registry law forces people to pay for crimes they didn’t personally commit.

Kyle C. Barry

As Florida’s Unhoused Sex Offense Registrant Population Booms, Group Asks UN for Help

South Florida's political leaders have celebrated their commitment to the unhoused—but won't admit that those placed on offense registries are increasingly becoming unhoused.

Steven Yoder

Why the U.S. Marshals Spend Millions on Sex-Offense Registrant Sweeps

The real aim of these operations might be to boost support for cops.

Steven Yoder

In A Florida County, Sex Workers Are Ensnared In ‘Trafficking’ Raids

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister’s stings, conducted under the guise of targeting human trafficking, netted the largest number of arrests there since 2008. Sex workers say the operations put them at risk.

Molly Minta

Five Cases Could Significantly Reform Pennsylvania’s Sex Offense Registry. The State’s Attorney General Is Pushing Back.

Josh Shapiro has warned that changing the state’s sex offense registry requirements threatens public safety. But experts say his fears are unfounded and the registry provides little to no public safety benefit.

Joshua Vaughn

Wisconsin Came Close To Changing A Rule That Often Leaves People On Sex Offense Registries Homeless

Republicans are leading an effort to get rid of blanket restrictions on where some people with sex-offense records can live. A Democratic governor is blocking them.

Steven Yoder

What Is The Purpose of Sex Offense Registries?

Sarah Lustbader

Black Men Disproportionately Represented On Sex Offender Registries

Even though it’s unlikely that they commit sexual assault at higher rates than other ethnic or racial groups, nearly one of every 100 Black men is on a sex offender registry, a rate double that of white men.  

Debbie Nathan

Case Of Intellectually Disabled Teen Falsely Accused of Sex Offense Reveals Registry Flaws

Before Edgar Coker was exonerated in a rape case, he underwent therapy meant to prevent sexual reoffenses. Thousands of kids involved in sexual offenses are forced into therapies like “relapse prevention” that experts say are ineffective.

Joseph Darius Jaafari

Failure-to-Comply Arrests Reveal Flaws in Sex Offender Registries

In one Pennsylvania county, more than three times as many people on the registry were charged in 2016 with failing to follow registry requirements than were charged with a new sexual offense

Joshua Vaughn

Why Sex Offender Registries Keep Growing Even as Sexual Violence Rates Fall

Lists that include out-of-state visitors are inflating the numbers and keeping fear at a boil.

Steven Yoder

We’re Putting Sex Offender Stamps on Passports. Here’s Why It Won’t Curb Sex Tourism & Trafficking.

Guy Hamilton-Smith

Court holds that retroactive extension of sex offender registration is punitive

Bidish Sarma

The Coronavirus Response: Spotlight on State & Local Governments

Can We Banish Our Way to Public Safety?

Kyle C. Barry

In Leaked Audio, Prosecutor Admits Locking People Up Is Not About Public Safety

Sarah Lustbader

Criminal Justice Reform in the States: Spotlight on Legislatures

California Legislature Adopts a Flurry of Criminal Justice Reforms

New laws signed by Governor Newsom target private prisons, and fines and fees, the power of DAs, and more.

Daniel Nichanian

The Appeal Podcast: The Rise of Registries

With Appeal contributor Guy Hamilton-Smith and Elizabeth Letourneau of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Adam H. Johnson

In Pennsylvania, a Kidnapping Law Could Unravel a Life

A Shippensburg man faces 15 years on the sex offense registry for offering a girl a ride.

Joshua Vaughn

The Push to End ‘Punishment Fever’ Against People With HIV

Advocates say laws that land people with HIV on the sex offender registry are outdated and dangerous.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

Legislative Round-Up (week of Jan. 24, 2019): from Arizona, California, Connecticut, Virginia

Daniel Nichanian

Larry Krasner Quit Pennsylvania’s DA Association. What Does Group Stand For?

Daniel Nichanian

When Stealing Legos Adds To A Lifetime of Consequences

A petition argues that people seeking to escape the sex offender registry, including those put on it as children, deserve more than a single shot.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

When Handing Out Candy To Trick-or-Treaters Means Risking Arrest

Lawyer seeks end to Halloween restrictions that target people convicted of sex offenses.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg

The Endless Punishment of Civil Commitment

Prosecutors can subject those convicted of sexual offenses—and sometimes, those with no conviction at all—to an indefinite period of civil punishment at the end of their criminal sentence.

Guy Hamilton-Smith

Expert: Crime registries turn people into pariahs with ‘very little to lose’

New types of registries are being created around the country, despite research showing they don’t work.

Jessica Pishko

The Shadowy World of Jailhouse Informants: Explained

Alexandra Natapoff

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