A Day Care Worker Who Says She Was Documenting Diaper Rashes Got 126 Years for Taking 8 Photos
The Maryland Supreme Court deemed the evidence sufficient to convict the defendant on sexual abuse and child pornography charges.
Sex Offender Registry
HIV-Positive Sex Workers No Longer Required To Register As Violent Sex Offenders In Tennessee
Selling sex while HIV-positive will still be a felony.
Disabled Man on Sex Offense Registry Pardoned by Illinois Governor
Adam Nesteikis didn't even understand what he had done wrong.
This Rape Victim Wants To End the Sex Offender Registry
"A lot of people on the registry are on there for consensual behavior, things I think many people agree shouldn’t be crimes," says Meaghan Ybos, the president of Women Against Registry.
An 18-Year-Old Had Consensual Sex With a 16-Year-Old. He Went to Jail for 6 Years.
In her new book From Rage to Reason, Emily Horowitz explains what's wrong with the sex offense registry.
New Lawsuit Challenges New Jersey's Lifetime Child Abuse Registry
"Lifetime registries are wrong," said the plaintiff's attorney. "They're wrong based on the science and they're wrong based on the reality that risk is not static. It is dynamic."
How SCOTUS Promoted Pernicious Myths About Sex Offender Registries
Twenty years ago, the justices deemed registration nonpunitive, accepting unsubstantiated assumptions about its benefits and blithely dismissing its costs.
Is Investigating a School Sexting Incident the Same as Possessing Child Porn? A Judge Says No.
Bradley Bass' case in Colorado says a lot about just how powerful prosecutors are.
A Federal Judge Says the DOJ's Sex Offender Registration Rules Violate Due Process by Requiring the Impossible
Justice Department regulations threaten people with prosecution for failing to register even when their state no longer requires it.
Sex Offender Registry Prevents Dying, Bedridden Man From Spending Final Days at Home
"My opinion is no exceptions should be made," says the chief of the police.
Why Is Texas Requiring a Guy Who Stole a Car To Register as a Sex Offender?
When states misuse sex-offender registries and apply them to any crime that involves a child, individual rights are abused.
An Iowa Jury Awards $12 Million in Damages to a Man Who Was Wrongly Imprisoned for Sexual Abuse
A former guidance counselor served six years of a 25-year sentence thanks to a public defender's incompetence.
18-Year-Old Faces Possible 70 Years in Federal Prison for Snapchat Sexting Crime
"I'm not saying my kid should get nothing," says Eric Beyer Jr.'s mother. "But to take an 18-year-old kid and put him in jail for longer than he's been alive?"
The County Where Businesses Can Self-Identify As Parks in Order to Keep Sex Offenders Away
"There's currently no way for me to even know where that buffer zone is."
The DOJ Says a Man Whose Record Was Expunged Still Must Register As a Sex Offender, Which Is Impossible
A federal lawsuit argues that the department's regulations violate due process, the separation of powers, and the First Amendment.
Josh Hawley's Attack on Ketanji Brown Jackson Illustrates the Emotionalism She Criticized
The senator argues that questioning sex offender policies "endangers our children."
Here Is What Ketanji Brown Jackson Said in the Harvard Law Review Article That Josh Hawley Found 'Alarming'
The Supreme Court nominee raised serious constitutional concerns about laws that punish sex offenders after they complete their sentences.
Josh Hawley Absurdly Suggests That Ketanji Brown Jackson Has a Soft Spot for 'Child Predators'
The Missouri senator's attack on the Supreme Court nominee elides crucial distinctions and ignores widespread judicial criticism of child pornography sentences.
He Spent an Extra Two Years in Prison Because He Could Not Find a Place Where He Was Legally Allowed To Live
New York's residence restrictions for sex offenders raise the question of how irrational a policy must be to fail "rational basis" review.
11th Circuit Says a Sheriff Violated the First Amendment by Posting Warning Signs on the Lawns of Registered Sex Offenders
Butts County, Georgia, Sheriff Gary Long cited no evidence to support his pre-Halloween stunt.
Man Imprisoned for 16 Years for Raping Lovely Bones Author Is Exonerated
Anthony Broadwater, now 61, had no idea his accuser achieved fame and fortune while he has been living as a pariah for over 20 years on the sex offender registry.
Federal Judges Are Increasingly Rebelling Against 'Overly Severe' Penalties for Nonviolent Sex Offenders
People convicted of possessing child pornography receive long sentences, but new data suggest they are rarely arrested for contact offenses after their release.
Supreme Court Declines To Hear Louisiana's Defense of a Law That Stamped 'SEX OFFENDER' on Driver's Licenses
The policy imposed an additional form of ritual humiliation on a reviled category of people without any plausible public-safety justification.
Former Staffers Condemn Cruel Treatment of Inmates at a Texan Prison for Sex Offenders
The men must keep masturbation diaries, wear ankle monitors, and even use penile circumference gauges.
He's on Montana's Sex Offender Registry for Consensual Gay Sex—and the State Wants To Keep Him There
Plus: Cult panic, what the AT&T merger means, and more...
Intellectually Disabled 33-Year-Old Man Lands on the Sex Offender Registry After Trivial Incident
"Residence restrictions do not decrease and are not a deterrent for sexual recidivism."
Pennsylvania Sex Offender Registry Act Unconstitutional as Applied to Low-Risk Non-Sex-Offender
The court relied on the right to “possess[] and protect[] ... reputation,” secured by the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Publishing Registered Sex Offenders' Home Addresses Before Halloween Is Gratuitous, Unethical, and Reckless
A petition urges Patch and other news outlets to reconsider the practice.
The Onerous Burdens of Sex Offender Registration Are Not Punishment, the 10th Circuit Rules. They Just Feel That Way.
According to the appeals court, the relevant question is what legislators were trying to accomplish.
'Literally Hitler' Election Mailer Is Protected by the First Amendment
Plus: Trump talks COVID-19 numbers, more demands for TikTok, how the media might blow the 2020 election, and more..
Sex Offender Laws Are Broken. These Women Are Working To Fix Them.
Standing up for the rights of a widely reviled group isn't for the faint of heart.
Federal Judge Orders Georgia Sheriff To Stop Ritualistically Humiliating Registered Sex Offenders on Halloween
Citing the First Amendment, the judge tells the sheriff he may not force certain homes to display signs warning trick-or-treaters to stay away.
Florida Cops Went to Absurd Lengths to Entrap Man Who Showed No Interest in Underage Sex
Sarasota deputies violated best practices and ethical standards for sting operations.
Manchester Teen Faces Sex Offender Status for Touching 17-Year-Old on the Arm, Waist
"Touching someone's arm to get their attention, I would have thought was normal."
Dental Hygienist Labeled 'Sexual Abuser' and Loses License for Treating His Wife
The case is a bizarre example of occupational licensing woes and backward regulations.
Sexting as Child Pornography
The highest court in Maryland finds that the State's statute prohibiting "child pornography" applies to minors who sext videos of their own sexual activity to friends.
A Troubling Supreme Court Decision on Non-Delegation
Today's ruling in Gundy v. United States allows Congress to delegate to the executive broad power to create new criminal offenses. But there is hope the Court might reconsider Gundy in the future.
Florida Is Creating a New Sex Offender Registry Just for Prostitution Customers
The bill also targets strip clubs
Florida Cops Re-Arrest 26 Sex Offenders in 'Operation Karma.' Their Crime? Not Updating Their Car Info.
Most of the perpetrators committed offenses decades ago, and pose no danger to the community.
'Sex Offenders Are Not Second-Class Citizens,' Says Judge While Nixing Alabama Rules on First Amendment Grounds
The decision rejects driver's licenses labeled "CRIMINAL SEX OFFENDER" and a broad demand for reports on internet use.
Georgia Sheriff Says Registered Sex Offenders Aren't a Danger to Trick-or-Treaters, Will Humiliate Them Anyway
The sheriff's over-the-top "no trick or treat" signs might make him feel better, but they're actually harming more people than they're helping.
Libertarian Halloween Tips: Reason Roundup
Plus: Halloween Netflix recommendations and a glimpse of Trump trick-or-treating.
Georgia Mayor Has Plan To Round Up Town's Sex Offenders on Halloween
Another Halloween, another unfounded freak-out over sex offenders.
Man Wrongfully Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison Goes Free After Dog He Supposedly Killed Is Found Alive and Well
Joshua Horner was convicted of sexual abuse-his victim claimed he killed her dog to keep her from talking. But the dog is fine.
Man Faces 30 Years in Prison on Child Porn Charges for Taking Sexy Photos of 17-Year-Old Girlfriend When He was 20
Since Ohio's age of consent is 16, it was legal for Edward Marrero to have sex but not to sext.
Lifetime Sex Offender Registration for 18-Year-Old Who Chatted Online with 15-Year-Old
Actually having sex would just be a misdemeanor.
Lifetime GPS Tracking Is Not Punishment, Says Wisconsin Supreme Court
The court relies on a debunked recidivism estimate to justify tagging and surveillance of sex offenders.
A Jury Rejected the Charges, but He Still Has to Register As a Sex Offender for Life
New York's highest court says accusations can be considered for registration purposes even when the defendant was acquitted.
