President Janice Bellucci Website californiarsol.org | Vice President Chance Oberstein | |
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Type Non-profit organization Purpose Civil rights advocacy, Reforming sex offender laws Headquarters Los Angeles, California | ||
California Reform Sex Offender Laws, also CA RSOL, is a civil rights, legal reform, and support organization, based in Los Angeles, for people required to register as sex offenders, and their families. CA RSOL is one of more than 50 reform organizations movement to reform sex offender laws in the United States, and an affiliate of the national Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc.
Contents
Purpose
CA RSOL advocates for registrants' constitutional rights and for legislation that is based on scientific research instead of fear and panic. The organization is dedicated to restoring the civil rights of those convicted of sexual crimes. To achieve this objective, CA RSOL initiates and supports legal action, legislation and public outreach. It aims to educate law-makers and public that sex offenders are diverse group of individuals; that contrary to popular belief, general recidivism rate of 5% over 5 years is the second lowest of all offender groups; and that residency restrictions and public notification have no demonstrable effect on recidivism and might actually undermine public safety, thus making onerous restrictions and stigmatizing effect of public sex offender lists unfair and unfounded when applied broadly to all offenders without considering the individual risk and underlying facts of individual cases.
CA RSOL condemns all sexual offending, but holds that current sex offender registration laws and policies that paint all sex offenders with one broad brush, without considering actual facts of individual cases and the risk posed by the offender, are counterproductive, waste law enforcement resources and taxpayers money, while causing needless harm to many registrants and their family members. They say, the money spend on further punishing ex-offenders who have served their court imposed sentence, should be used for prevention, healing, and rehabilitation.
Lawsuits
CA RSOL has engaged in legal battles challenging local Halloween ordinances, and residency restrictions aimed at registrants in federal court across the state of California. During 2014 over 20 municipalities has been sued by CA RSOL. As of October 11, 15 of the lawsuits had been settled, 38 cities had avoided litigation by revoking their sex offender ordinances, and 6 cities had chosen to discontinue enforcing the ordinances. At the time, sex offender ordinances were under review in 18 additional cities. CA RSOLs efforts culminated in March 2015 when Supreme Court of California struck down part of the California Proposition 83 (2006) declaring San Diego Countys blanket residency restrictions imposed on all offender regardless of the facts of individual cases unconstitutional. Court cited restrictions unfairness and counterproductive effects, stating that blanket policies "infringed their liberty and privacy interests, however limited, while bearing no rational relationship to advancing the state’s legitimate goal of protecting children from sexual predators." CA RSOL is currently planning to sue other municipal ordinances that go further than states Jessica’s Law.