It's a start ,thank you for posting

For the folks here that do not understand the law or this decision, this decision will affect any sex offender registrant in any state; this was a United States Supreme Court decision, so it affects each and every state.

Any sex offender registrant will be affected unless they are on probation and parole. If they are on probation or parole, the probation officer may limit internet access, but once the offender is finished with probation, he or she should be able to access one of these social networking sites.

The decision includes not only Facebook, but other social networking sites, such as Twitter. The particular decision in this case involved Facebook, but the ruling includes all networking sites.

Here is a synopsis of the Court’s decision----

“The North Carolina statute, which makes it a felony for a registered sex offender "to access a commercial social networking Web site where the sex offender knows that the site permits minor children to become members or to create or maintain personal Web pages," impermissibly restricts lawful speech in violation of the First Amendment.”

Hope this clarifies this decision somewhat.

rewdiazepam

I thought I would mention this-----

“But keep in mind, Facebook is a private provider and they currently have a policy that bans ALL Registered Sex Offenders(RSO. It doesn’t matter if the conviction was a misdemeanor or a felony or if it was 2 months ago or 20 years ago.

“Facebook is legally allowed to prohibit service to who they select, just like Six Flags prohibits all RSO’s.

“So while this is a real win for arbitrary crimes against RSO’s it does not mean Facebook is going to allow RSO’s to join or not close their account.”

So, the bottom line is this----While the government cannot prevent RSOs from accessing and / or having a Facebook account according to this ruling, the management of Facebook can still ban RSOs.

rewdiazepam

Is this for all states? I know once a sex offender is released they find themselves under a micro scope . I have a son who was convicted of a repeated sex offence but was only given a 4 1/2 year sentence. One day in prison for something that you didn't do is so unjust. I've tried to start a petition in regards to how this sex offender list is totally unjust. Guilty or not guilty, anyone who was convicted of a sex crime should not have to spend the rest of their life looking over their shoulder. If you've served your time and have no more convictions you should be removed from the list after within a few years after your probation is over. I very much disagree with the law that says a felon cannot poses a gun or vote. These are rights that we as Americans have. You are no less an American because you may or MAY NOT have committed a crime that you've paid for. There is a site you can go to a site called petition the US Government but you need to be more computer knowledgeable than I am to get it started. Need to get so many people to sign within a certain period of time and then it goes viral.

Yes, this is for every state in the United States, as it was a United States Supreme Court ruling---a federal ruling. Now it is legal for ANY sex offender off paper time---a registrant---to create an account on any social networking site, provided that it is not against the Terms of Service of the site.

Previously, registrants were being violated with FTRs---a Failure to Register---charge for having such accounts.

More and more courts---both district and federal courts---are acknowledging that the sex offender registry is punitive and many of the rules are being struck down by these courts. We ARE making headway in the fight for our rights as sex offenders. Yes, it is slow, but sure.

I have been in the support area since the year 2000, and things are ten times better than what they were around 2005 or 2006. New people in our situation do not realize that we are making progress through the courts since they have no idea how bad it was several years ago.

God bless you all who help in our movement.

rewdiazepam

I wish we could get a petition in favor of limiting the amount of time anyone has to be on a sex offender list. Those who have been convicted, guilty or innocent, who have served their time and are no longer a threat should not have to be under the threat of being harassed or otherwise being made to pay over and over for the rest of their lives. I also believe in these people not loosing their rights as an American citizen to VOTE or to have a fire arm. The government has taken many freedoms away if you really stop and look and these are just two of many.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do?

I agree! my 19 year old son was dating a 16 year old.... yes, very foolish to date someone under 18. He at that point was already on probation for breaking into a place of business (he turned himself in the next day after he realized the seriousness of what he had done while under the influence) He has struggled with drug addiction for the past 7 years and every bit of trouble he has found has been while under the influence. Her parents knew about the relationship and everything was fine until things started to go downhill between the two of them. He decided they should part ways for a bit and she freaked out. I was with him when they were texting back and forth. She texted him, and said, and I quote ,"I'll go to the cops and tell them you raped me, who are they going to believe, a criminal like you or me?" I told him not to erase any of her texts. But it does not matter, age of consent in Wisconsin is 18. She did just what she threatened to do. He was extremely lucky to get a deferred judgement of 3 years probation, he would have been "free" after that. Guidelines were to not have contact with anyone under 18, no social media, had to stay clean and sober. He also had to go to a sex offender class that just sickened him.
He could not stay clean and sober, couldn't do it for more than a couple of months at a time. He broke probation more than a few times and this time they are looking to revoke probation. Doing that will bring all the past charges back that the judge can now try him on. He will also have to register as a sex offender and i also feel it is not fair to have this title and stigma follow him around the rest of his life because of one very bad choice. It will affect every area of his life. I will do some research and see if t here is a petition or some way of making our collective voices heard.

Petition.whitehouse.gov Easy and comprehensive site for starting a petition. A title is needed for starting a petition to remove names from the sex offender list for those no longer a threat and that have served their time. Anyone with a loved one in this situation have any suggestions? I will get it started but need some feedback

I tried to get a petition going a couple times already. I'm sure there must be others who have heard of the Petition the White House site. I didn't know how to get it going as you first have to get at least 100 signatures and then it goes public (I believe that is how it goes). Have to know how to get around all the "what you have to do's". You would think that we could get one going with all those in this country that are being treated unfair because of this sex offender list. As a matter of fact I received a letter from my son today and he included in it his "bill" from the state for his $100.00 payment for his registration on the sex offenders list. I've read an article from one of the law schools here in Wisconsin. The bottom line is, if you did or didn't commit a sex crime you paid your debt and should be able to start over and live a happy life.

You know me and the story of my son. I contacted the innocent project here in Wisconsin and even though they may not agree that my son is guilty because he has only 2 1/2 years they can't help and that is understandable. I have another son who is a police officer and his advice to me was "you have to let it go now". Not going to happen, Justice is justice. Sex offenders, guilty or not , deserve a second chance. Life, Liberty and to be happy. I found on face book a couple weeks ago someone who put a notice that a sex offender was released and gave his address and even his Apt # here in our town. I thought this was bull and I let them know it

I will try to answer all these replies in one single post, but I will divide the post into sections to make it easier to follow.

@lpad,

Petitions will not help. Politicians will just laugh at any petition regarding sex offenders. All the advocacy groups that I am aware have never had any luck with petitions.

Lpad, you said, “I wish we could get a petition in favor of limiting the amount of time anyone has to be on a sex offender list.”

Limiting the time a person is on the registry has already been achieved in several states and we are working on getting it accomplished in more states. These reforms have to be done on a state-by-state basis, as at the federal level in the Smith vs Doe case out of Alaska in 2003, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the registry is civil in nature and not punitive. So we are pretty well stymied at the federal level.

http://tinyurl.com/yczohn5s

We may not be able to accomplish any court wins on the federal level, but we have been doing very well at the state level. Please understand that not only does our country have a United States Constitution, but each individual state ALSO has a state constitution. We cannot attack the registry at the federal level, but we can attack portions of the registry at the state level and file lawsuits that parts of the registry violate the STATE constitution.

This is what happened with the Williams case in Ohio and the Starkey case in Oklahoma. Also in the recent Pennsylvania case I posted. The offenders attacked the state constitution rather than the federal constitution----and they prevailed.

Lpad, you said, “Those who have been convicted, guilty or innocent, who have served their time and are no longer a threat should not have to be under the threat of being harassed or otherwise being made to pay over and over for the rest of their lives.”

There should be no registry PERIOD. The registry is just more punishment to add on to a person’s sentence retroactively---after the fact---which does nothing but enhance one’s sentence. For example, when I was convicted in 1992, the jury imposed a 20 year sentence on me to be served in prison. Nothing was said about the registry as there was no registry in existence at the time.

When I was released in 2000, then then told me I had to register and follow all its rules. THE JURY AND MY SENTENCE DID NOT MANDATE ANYTHING BUT A 20 YEAR SENTENCE IN PRISON; NOTHING WAS SAID ABOUT A REGISTRY. But the problem is that we have problems getting the courts to rule that the registry is punitive and a law that is non-punitive in nature can be applied retroactively.

When a person’s court mandated sentence has been completed, IT IS OVER. This business of coming up with the registry after one has served his prison sentence is unconstitutional in my opinion. This is one of the issues we are fighting.

Lpad, many felons can vote after a period of time. It depends on the state. I got my privilege back to vote in 2012.

@psih,

You said, “I agree! my 19 year old son was dating a 16 year old.... yes, very foolish to date someone under 18.”

A 16 year old female is NOT a child and she knows exactly what she is doing when she agrees to have sex with an older male. In most cases, a 16 year old is just as culpable as the 19 year old. A 16 year old female is NOT an eight year old who can be coerced into doing things she does not want to do.

The Age of Consent in all states needs to be lowered to 16 years of age.

By convicting 19 year olds who have sex with 16 year olds, we are criminalizing normal teen behavior. Teens like to have sex and nothing we can do will ever stop them. Yes, your son received a bad deal. I have worked on several of these cases and here is what usually happens----An older male will be in a consensual relationship with a younger female.

Everything is going hunky dory until dad or mom finds out or until the female gets into trouble or until the relationship starts to falter. Dad or mom----usually dad----finds out about the relationship and he cannot bear to think that his little angel---his little princess--- is out having sex, so he heads straight to the DAs office. Or the female will get into trouble at home and bring up the fact that she has been having sex with a much older boy. The poor guy pays the price. Note I am referring to a CONSENSUAL relationship between two teens approximately the same age.

Some states have passed “Romeo and Juliet” laws---R&J laws----which stipulates that the male has to be at least four years older in a sexual relationship than the female before they can file charges. Apparently that did not happen in your son’s case, but it should have.

@lapd,

As I said, petitions are not the answer. The problem with all these laws are that the politicians continue to placate the “tough on crime” crowd by passing all these restrictive laws against sex offenders. They are not about to stop what keeps getting them elected.

If they did soften their stance on a certain sex offender law, at the next election his opponent would say, “Look at my opponent over here. He coddles sex offenders by weakening the laws, and he is putting your children in danger.” This is what would happen if he is anything other than tough on sex offenders. Politicians are not stupid and they know what issues are too hot to touch, and sex offender legislation is one of those issues.

Advocacy works much better. Educate people, show them how unfair these laws are. When enough mothers and fathers have a son who is unfairly on the registry, things may change, but not until then.

@lpad,

You said, ““You know me and the story of my son. I contacted the innocent project here in Wisconsin and even though they may not agree that my son is guilty because he has only 2 1/2 years they can't help and that is understandable.”

The Innocence Project will not usually accept a case unless there was some DNA evidence or hard evidence to prove there has been a false conviction. Their resources are limited and they are picky about what cases they accept. I had two prison buddies who I helped with their criminal case, and in both instances there was DNA to exonerate them. They contacted Barry Scheck’s Innocent Project and was able to be exonerated.

I hope I have clarified or answered some of your questions. If not, feel free anytime to message me.

rewdiazepam

Hi rewdiazepam. I am a RSO. Thank You for pushing hard to get us non harshed SO off list sooner. I wish I could be of help. My case was stupid. My victim lied about her age to me. She was on a chat web site where you had to be 18 years old to be on and we started talking and saw each other. I was in my young 20s. After we had ment and clowned around. When she had gone back home. She opened her big mounth and either her mom or older Sister called the cops on me. I got a surprised visit by them. They go by here story not mine. So here I am today a RSO. Which I tgink is wrong. I was not after anyone under 18. This was all Consensual. So any how I am living in Florida now this happened in Oregon when I was living there. I returned home to my home town. Florida has a rule that you have to be RSO for 25 years after probation. Before you try to ask to have name off RSO list. That so stupid. Way to long. I am not a high risk at all. I been clean and following the rules to stay safe. With this wholke deal. Its hard to travel other countries and even go on Cruise ships. Which I want to do. I want my name off list so bad. It sure hunts us SO. What can you do to get Florida to lower man date. Its been 7 years since i been released from probation. I had to do 5 years probation. I paid my time. I think I shoiuld have been off SO list after probation. They if you look into wanting to get off SO list. It all depends on state you live not where the case happened. Any thought on how to petiton in Florida. I am not a threat.

Jesuslovesyou,

Unfortunately, you reside in the worst state for sex offenders---and it isn’t even close. Florida is toxic to sex offenders. The entire Bible Belt is bad for sex offenders----especially the states bordering on the Gulf of Mexico---but Florida is the worst place for a sex offender to live.

At one time, someone vacationing in Florida for only a few days was forced to register and they were not removed from the registry when they left the state and went back home. Also, Florida did not even remove registrants that were deceased. Any state that forces a bunch of people who have served their court mandated sentence to live under a bridge b/c of the residency restrictions is just a horrible excuse for a state.

I understand your plight along with the situation regarding your crime. All too often a young lady lies about her age and the guy has to pay the price. A young lady lying about her age is, unfortunately, not a defense in most states. This is a problem that needs to be fixed. Any young lady who misrepresents her age to get on an 18 only chat site either needs to be charged with a misdemeanor or in your case, her lying should prevent the guy from being charged. But, in these teen sex cases, the young man usually carries the burden of punishment.

You would have been better off staying in Oregon, as it is one of the better states for sex offenders, but we are where we are.

You said, “With this wholke deal. Its hard to travel other countries and even go on Cruise ships.’

Yes, I know. They are now stamping passports of registrants and many cruise ship companies will not allow sex offenders to travel on their ships.

http://tinyurl.com/y9wttgue

Not only are passports marked, but many countries will not allow sex offenders to even enter their borders, so traveling abroad is almost impossible.

The only way to get off the registry earlier is for the Florida politicians to change the law or parts of the registry to be overturned.

If something comes up that might help you, I will certainly message you.

rewdiazepam