AZ - Arizona’s Naked Photo Law Makes Free Speech a Felony

Original Article

09/23/2014

By Lee Rowland

Which of the following could land you a felony conviction in Arizona?

• Showing images of naked prisoners tortured at Abu Ghraib;
• Linking to the iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of “Napalm Girl,” showing an unclothed Vietnamese girl running from a napalm attack;
• Sharing a close-up photo of a woman’s breast with a breastfeeding support group;
• Waving a friend over to see a cute naked baby pic — like the one you see on this page.

Unfortunately, the answer is all of the above. That’s because Arizona recently passed a law that makes it a felony — and potentially a sex offense — to share any image of nudity or sexuality before you get consent from every person pictured.

Protecting personal privacy is, without doubt, a laudable goal. Indeed, the ACLU works tirelessly to protect your private data. But Arizona’s “nude photo law” is a seriously misguided attempt to achieve that goal. This new crime is broad and confusing. It applies to anyone who shares a nude image, not just to bad actors who intentionally invade another’s privacy. A prosecutor need not demonstrate that a person had an expectation of privacy in an image before charging you with a crime for sharing it. And the law applies equally to a private person’s hacked naked photo and a beautiful nude at a photography exhibit — because the law’s breadth encompasses truly newsworthy, artistic, and historical images.

As a result, the nude photo law creates bizarre and troubling burdens on speech fully protected by the First Amendment.

Rest of the story

OK - Oklahoma Senate bill makes it harder for sex offenders to hide past

Original Article

02/11/2014

By Jay Dillon and Phil Cross

OKLAHOMA CITY - Sex offenders are using a loophole to help get around the state's registry requirements and some Oklahoma lawmakers say it is putting the public at risk. Now there's a plan to close the loopholes and make the state's sex offender registry more reliable for the people of Oklahoma.

One proposal from Senator Kyle Loveless (R-Oklahoma City) would make it illegal for registered sex offenders to change their name. "There was a gentleman in Lawton who had changed his name like 20 years ago and then again recently and he had worked for the Lawton public schools as a school bus driver," Loveless told Fox 25, "If he had kept his original name he wouldn't have been employed because they would have caught him in the first place."

Loveless says some districts rely on searching by names or dates of birth when they do their own background checks and having multiple names makes it more difficult to find a person's past. "Here's a gentleman who purposefully tried to go around the system and this way that would prevent them from doing so."

On the other side of the fifth floor, Senator David Holt, (R-Bethany) has his own proposal to strengthen the sex offender registry. His idea came from one of his voters who kept a close eye on the sex offender registry and discovered pictures of offenders were outdated.

"The current law only requires taking a photo the very first time," Holt said, "After that is says may take another photo and may turns into never."

Holt's proposal would require offenders to have a new picture taken every time they check in with local law enforcement. He told Fox 25, it is now much easier to take and upload photos than it was two decades ago when the law was passed. "Common sense makes sense, I think it would have been done in the beginning if they had been thinking ahead."

"The legislature keeps fixing problems that don't exist," said defense attorney David Slane, "They keep piling on law after law after law and the fear is that once you get so many laws in place you're just going to run these people underground and they're not going to register and you're not going to be able to find them."

Slane represents many sex offenders and has successfully won cases pulling a large number of offenders off the registry. He says both proposals are concerning and could violate the rights of people who have served their prison time. "People have been targeted as the victims of violence and murder because they were on the registry and there may be a good reason why a person would need to change their name."

Both senators say their proposals are not final and could be amended to address the concerns of law enforcement, but neither believes their bills would have a negative impact on sex offenders. Instead they say they are most concerned with improving public safety. Both bills passed a Senate committee and are headed to the Senate floor.

See Also:

• New Bill Requires Updated Photos For Sex Offenders

OK - New Bill Requires Updated Photos For Sex Offenders

Original Article

02/09/2014

By Heather Hope

OKLAHOMA CITY - An Oklahoma mother is now pushing to make a change with the state's Sex Offender Registry. She says the pictures on the website are so old you can't recognize the people who could be a danger in your neighborhood. Now lawmakers are getting involved.

The bill is basically the same as the current Sex Offenders Registration Act. The only change is instead saying law enforcement "may" take a photo each time, it says they "shall".

"It started when I was 9 and half almost 10 and lasted until I was 12," said bill supporter, Chantal Morris.

Morris says she'll always remember how her ex-stepfather and his nephew sexually abused her and her brothers. Now a PTA mom of two, she says she still checks the Sex Offender Registry to make sure her two abusers aren't living anywhere near her. And she noticed their pictures are 10 years old.

"I'm not going to forget their face ever, but for someone who's looking on their website looking at their photo, they may not see the red flags or anything," Morris said.

Morris brought up the issue to Sen. David Holt, who wrote Senate Bill 1444, requiring that sex offenders take a current photo every single time they have to register.

"Some of these people are on that list for life, so you could have a 50-year-old photo, and the law is very clear that they only may take a photo," said Holt.

Attorney David Slane, who represents many sex offenders, thinks the law would be a waste of resources.

"And when you take and have about 5,000 people now that you're going to take they're pictures every three to six months to a year, you don't think that's going to take time. I bet you if you ask law enforcement, they'll tell you that it is going to take time," said Slane.

"If the pictures are updated yearly, then every year, you have a potential to save a child from abuse," Morris said.

The bill would require sex offenders take a new photo either every three to six or 12 months, based on their offense level. The bill passed out of the "public safety" committee last week, and is moving on to be heard on the Senate floor.