Learn More about RSOL
I am pleased to join Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc. (RSOL) to work toward their vision of “effective, fact-based sexual offense laws and policies which promote public safety, safeguard civil liberties, honor human dignity, and offer holistic prevention, healing, and restoration.” Learn more about the group and the their Vision, Mission and Goals here.
Mission:
RSOL will promote laws and programs:
- limiting registry access strictly to law enforcement agencies;
- terminating registry requirements upon completion of a court-imposed sentence;
- reversing retroactively applied restrictions;
- reforming civil commitment processes;
- rehumanizing, rehabilitating, and reintegrating former offenders;
- increasing public safety by reducing sexual offenses; and
- reducing acts of discrimination, hatred, and violence directed at sexual offenders.
Goals:
RSOL will:
- promote laws targeting harmful acts rather than entire classes of people;
- promote limiting registry access to law enforcement agencies only;
- support removal of residency and proximity restrictions against registrants after their court-imposed sentence is satisfied;
- support litigation and legislation which remove or prevent retroactive increases in registration requirements and restrictions;
- advocate to limit post-prison civil commitment strictly to extraordinary cases where the state proves that the person presents a danger to the community;
- promote treatment of civilly committed persons with the goal of reintegration back into society;
- advocate for review and removal of currently committed persons who do not meet the dangerousness criteria, without imposing an additional financial burden on those persons;
- promote laws which replace lifetime supervision/parole with a system that includes ongoing assessments for termination of supervision;
- encourage fair and balanced trials, proportional sentencing, reasonable statutes of limitation, and the elimination of mandatory minimum sentencing;
- discourage discrimination, violence, and vigilantism toward those accused or convicted of a sexual offense;
- seek out and support programs which effectively reintegrate and rehabilitate former offenders;
- seek out and support programs which effectively prevent new sexual offenses through intervention and community education; and
- promote healthy, trusting human interaction by replacing fear and panic with solid facts and reason.
Assertions:
- Sex offender registries were originally presented as a means for tracking persons convicted of the most heinous offenses, but their reach has expanded exponentially to include even teen sexting and consensual relations between young people;
- Public registries provide no measurable protection for children or the general public yet endanger the well being of children and family members of registrants;
- Public registration, proximity restrictions, and residency restrictions that are extended beyond an individual’s sentence are punitive and thereby violate protected constitutional rights;
- Evidence-based policies and programs can reliably reduce new sexual offenses and thus make our communities safer.
- The misinformation and stigmatization used to justify harsh sexual offense laws undermine the welfare of society, creating unnecessary panic and distrust;
- Choosing to set apart any group of people and deny them civil, constitutional, and human rights threatens the rights of every person in our nation.