FAIR, Inc. is working year-round to educate Maryland’s lawmakers about the wide range of people on the public registry, and how damaging it is to innocent family members. We are also working to monitor and encourage legal challenges to the unconstitutional aspects of public registration laws as well as raise funds to support any legal injunction we may need to file, should our legislative efforts fail. We are especially busy during Maryland’s legislative session, from mid-January through early April.

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Registry and other restrictions on “sex offenders” serve punitive, not safety, purpose

By Jacob Sullum . . . The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear Louisiana’s appeal of a decision against its 2006 law requiring that people on the state’s sex offender registry carry IDs or driver’s licenses that say “SEX OFFENDER” in orange capital letters. A year ago, the Louisiana Supreme Court concluded that the requirement amounted to...

NARSOL E.D. Brenda Jones interviews on MO’s Halloween restrictions for registrants

By Liam Garrity . . . Across the nation and the Ozarks, police departments are checking in on sex offenders to make sure they are compliant with Missouri’s Halloween law. Buffalo’s police chief, Chris Twitchell, said the Halloween law in Missouri was put in place in 2008 to limit sex offenders from contact...

Person-first language takes hold in CO

By Colette Bordelon . . . A board created by Colorado’s state legislature, which develops standards for the treatment and supervision of convicted sex offenders, is changing the language surrounding the term “sex offender.” The Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB) was created in 1992 and works with around 500 treatment providers within the state,...

Eleventh Circuit agrees with NARSOL: Halloween signs are unconstitutional January 19, 2022
By Larry . . . NARSOL is excited to announce that the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals handed Butts County Sheriff Gary Long a stinging defeat today. The case is Cory McClendon v. Gary Long, No. 21-10092. This is a long-running case based on events that occurred on Halloween, 2018. At that time, two deputies from […]
Nation’s top cops curry favor with voters over safe policies for children January 17, 2022
Published 1/10/22 in The Tennessean with a first paragraph adapted to Tennessee. By Sandy . . . The attorneys general of 35 of the United States and two territories have signed a letter condemning recent revisions to the American Law Institute’s (ALI) Model Penal Code on sexual crimes. This is contrary to what evidence shows […]
NARSOL’s CT affiliate hosts restorative justice webinar January 12, 2022
Connecticut’s One Standard of Justice is hosting a webinar on the topic of restorative justice. Titled “A Different Approach to Sex Crimes: The Case for Survivor-Centered Restorative Justice,” the webinar will air January 25 starting at 7 p.m. eastern time until 8:30 p.m. Webinar presenters are Alissa Ackerman, Ph.D., Lara Bazelon, Seema Gajwani, and Nuri […]
How the media fans the flames of hatred for people on sex offense registries January 11, 2022
By Sandy . . . Fox News, a self-proclaimed conservative media outlet, had distributed this story out of Austin, Texas. While its overt message is that “defunding the police” puts the public in danger, the very strong subtext is that anyone with a sexual crime conviction is evil, dangerous, and only held in check from […]
In TN woman wrongly convicted and imprisoned in 1988 for rape, murder of child set free January 7, 2022
By Mariah Timms . . . A Nashville judge has overturned the convictions of two Nashvillians convicted in the late 1980s death of a child. They were innocent, she said. Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton on Thursday morning filed an order vacating the murder and child rape convictions against Joyce Watkins and Charles Dunn. […]
Why person-first language is right for those with sexual crime convictions December 30, 2021
By Sandy . . . Earlier this year the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board made the decision to adopt person-first language and change the nomenclature with which their clients are identified from “sex-offender” to “adults who commit sexual offenses.” Person-first language has value. It does away with the long-known dangerous practice of labeling people, and […]
Equality should be for everyone in New Jersey December 28, 2021
By Joe . . . In a speech right after his razor-thin victory in last year’s election, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that he and his administration would now move forward with a “deeper sense of fairness and equality.” However, the equality and fairness the Governor spoke of does not appear to apply to […]
Current sexual offense registration and notification policies are nothing but “window-dressing” December 18, 2021
By Meghan M. Mitchell, Kristen M. Zgoba, Alex R. Piquero . . . There are roughly half a million sexual assault incidents in the United States every year — and more than 11,000 in Florida alone. These numbers are troubling. So it’s no surprise that people search the sex offender registration website to make sure that no […]
What will the new federal SORNA regulations mean? December 18, 2021
By 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 […]
Why Person-First Language? December 15, 2021
By Sandy . . . The Colorado Sex Offender Management Board has instituted a policy that will replace the words “sex offender” when referring to their clients with “adults who commit sexual offenses.” This has met with a negative reaction from many. The editorial board of the Denver Gazette exhibits this negativity in an extremely […]