Sex offenders fight city Halloween ban


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A group of sex offenders is fighting back against a California city ordinance that bans them from opening their doors to children on Halloween, with their attorney comparing the ban to the discrimination faced by the Jews during Nazi Germany.

The Ventura County Star reports the federal lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of five registered sex offenders, three of their spouses and two of their children. It alleges the ordinance passed by the city of Simi Valley violates the First and 14th Amendments because it "suppresses and unduly chills protected speech and expression."

The ordinance requires the offenders to post signs on their front doors saying, "No candy or treats at this residence." It also bars them from displaying Halloween decorations or having exterior lighting on their property from 5 p.m. to midnight on Oct. 31. :huh:

Attorney Janice Bellucci tells The Los Angeles Times she plans to ask the judge for an injunction to keep the city from enforcing its new law this Halloween. Bellucci, who heads an advocacy group called California Reform Our Sex Offender Laws, says her clients were particularly upset by the requirement to have a sign in the front yard.

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So when some little sod hammers on the door asking for sweet you're not allowed to open the door? How utterly absurd!!

A sign on the front lawn as well, "Beware I try to **** kids!" God, I'm sorry, this can only happen in the US! :huh:

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I completely agree with them wanting to be able to give out candy. Sex offender is too general of a label and unfortunately classes rapists, child molesters with less violent acts, and acts that shouldn't be illegal to begin with. Just remember, there are several kids these days that are registered sex offenders simply because they sent a naked picture of themselves to their girlfriend/boyfriend. Because if you are under 18, that's consider distribution of child pornography.

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LOL

I find this immensely funny.

So, you hope they won't open the door, but you would expect the worst to happen if they were allowed to open the door?

If a sexual offender was set to rape a child, I guess not being allowed to open the door won't stop them in any way.

Glassed Silver:mac

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I say they should spend the night in Jail.. Or the rest of their lives.. but whatever..

LOL

I find this immensely funny.

So, you hope they won't open the door, but you would expect the worst to happen if they were allowed to open the door?

If a sexual offender was set to rape a child, I guess not being allowed to open the door won't stop them in any way.

Glassed Silver:mac

The police normally go and check all the registered sex offenders throughout the night.. If you are in violation, you're going for a ride..

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Aren't the location of sex offenders supposed to be secret? Putting a sign on the front door would blow that secrecy. They need to be consistent: no sign if it is secret. Sign if it is not secret. If it is supposed to be secret but they are making them put out signs then this will blow their secrecy and give these Pedos as leg to stand on to get the whole thing tossed out. Just take the provision of a sign out and disallow them from opening the door or putting out decorations or turning on outside lights and that would be sufficient. I'm sure parents will be adamant to their children to move on to any houses that don't have decorations or outside lights as this makes the resident a POTENTIAL sex offender (or it could be that they are not home), this is as opposed to being CONFIRMED by having a sign out, and makes the whole thing get tossed out.

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Aren't the location of sex offenders supposed to be secret? Putting a sign on the front door would blow that secrecy. They need to be consistent: no sign if it is secret. Sign if it is not secret. If it is supposed to be secret but they are making them put out signs then this will blow their secrecy and give these Pedos as leg to stand on to get the whole thing tossed out. Just take the provision of a sign out and disallow them from opening the door or putting out decorations and that would be sufficient. I'm sure parents will be adamant to their children to move on to any houses who don't answer even though they are home as this makes the resident a POTENTIAL sex offender (as opposed to a CONFIRMED by having a sign out).

You're not from around these parts are you? I have an app on my phone that tells me the name and address of every sex offender within 15 miles of me. And there's a lot of them.

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You're not from around these parts are you? I have an app on my phone that tells me the name and address of every sex offender within 15 miles of me. And there's a lot of them.

No I'm not. In this case, they should put out the signs at STFU since it is public knowledge anyway. In fact, firebomb their homes (sorry to the guys who messed around with 17 year olds when they were 18).

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For some reason this part of the article surprised me the most:

The Ventura County Star reports the federal lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of five registered sex offenders, three of their spouses and two of their children.

Although once it had sunk in it made sense, the joys of the media not following up on sex offender cases. We just imagine that anyone labelled a sex offender is destined for a life of loneliness, and that they are all bad people.

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You're not from around these parts are you? I have an app on my phone that tells me the name and address of every sex offender within 15 miles of me. And there's a lot of them.

I bet you visit them often. :shifty:

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I don't know, if you're officially recognised as a sex offender I'd think you should face whatever restrictions the county decides.

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I bet you visit them often. :shifty:

You enjoy those visits don't you? :p

Anyway I agree with Simon

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As far as I am concerned they lost their rights when they became sex offenders.

When you stay stuff like this, remember, you aren't just talking about rapists and such. As previously mentioned, **** out in public, you're a sex offender. Send a nude picture of yourself to a boyfriend when you are under the age of 18, even if he is... you're a sex offender. These people do not deserve to lose any rights. They shouldn't be classified as sex offenders but they are.

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The problem (not defending them) is that some people are labeled as a Sex Offender on the basis that they got caught with a Hooker or in some cases not even in the act but the bargaining of money for sexual services exchange and not with children.

Now some of those people have paid the fine, served the time in some cases , but would still have to do the same as a child sex offender.

Once you get the label it sticks... in fact there is a man who moved into a house that had a sex offender living there five years ago still gets the occasional harassment by people. This person is not on the list but bought the house in an auction when the offender quit paying on the house.

Now I am all for the no-light and no serve candy for the CHILD sex offenders...

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I agree that there are people on the sex offender list that probably shouldn't be there. However, how can we know who did what and how can we know it's safe for our kids to go to their house. Better safe than sorry for me.

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some years ago i might have said that sex offenders deserve whatever they get. The more I look at it though this is ****ed up. Not even murders are put up with these sort of restrictions in personal liberty after release from prison. They are allowed to reintegrate back into society for as much as they can. If the government really believes that these people are still such a danger to society that they can't give out candy on halloween then maybe they shouldn't have released them from prison to begin with. It's even more cruel to have a sex offender label that severely limits what kind of jobs you can take and where you're allowed to live and have to go door to door arounda a neighborhood annoucning your the new resident sex offender then to allow them to rot in jail and at least be guarunteed food, shelter, and medical attention.

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Aren't the location of sex offenders supposed to be secret? Putting a sign on the front door would blow that secrecy. They need to be consistent: no sign if it is secret. Sign if it is not secret. If it is supposed to be secret but they are making them put out signs then this will blow their secrecy and give these Pedos as leg to stand on to get the whole thing tossed out. Just take the provision of a sign out and disallow them from opening the door or putting out decorations or turning on outside lights and that would be sufficient. I'm sure parents will be adamant to their children to move on to any houses that don't have decorations or outside lights as this makes the resident a POTENTIAL sex offender (or it could be that they are not home), this is as opposed to being CONFIRMED by having a sign out, and makes the whole thing get tossed out.

In my part of the world, the police are OBLIGATED to notify the neighborhood that a sex offender is moving in. Each neighbor receives a flyer with the photo of the person. My state also has the same law - no trick or treaters and they must remain indoors during this time period. I know most agencies (parole/therapy) have mandatory sessions during this time frame as well.

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I agree that there are people on the sex offender list that probably shouldn't be there. However, how can we know who did what and how can we know it's safe for our kids to go to their house. Better safe than sorry for me.

I don't know. Reform the laws so only actual sex offenders are on the list?

Not little kids sending pictures to each other or drunks.

I agree that there are people on the sex offender list that probably shouldn't be there. However, how can we know who did what and how can we know it's safe for our kids to go to their house. Better safe than sorry for me.

I don't know. Reform the laws so only actual sex offenders are on the list?

Not little kids sending pictures to each other or drunks.

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I don't know, if you're officially recognised as a sex offender I'd think you should face whatever restrictions the county decides.

The sex offender title is grossly overused in the US.

If you had sex with your under 18 girlfriend (even if you were the same age as her) and got caught, you can be labelled a sex offender.

Go pee in the woods and get caught? Oh you're a sex offender too.

Sent a nude picture of yourself to your girlfriend and her dad saw it and reported you? Sex offender.

There was a story on reddit not too long ago about a kid (great grades, scholarship to an ivy league university etc) who got a ******* from his gf on prom night and the next day she was telling some friends and the principle overhead. He/she reported him and he was put on the sex offenders list, lost his scholarship, and now works some minimum wage job because nobody else would hire him or accept him into university.

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I grew up in Simi Valley the town that's featured in this article, I was actuallyy shocked on how many pedophiles actually lifeige there. I dont get why there ****ed so they cant hand out free oh oj Halloween get over it.

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I grew up in Simi Valley the town that's featured in this article, I was actuallyy shocked on how many pedophiles actually lifeige there. I dont get why there ****ed so they cant hand out free oh oj Halloween get over it.

Sex offender != pedophile. Try reading the thread. You can even get thrown on this list for taking a pee in the street whilst drunk...

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I say they should spend the night in Jail.. Or the rest of their lives.. but whatever..
As far as I am concerned they lost their rights when they became sex offenders.

I have a friend who WAS on the sex offenders register in the UK. What was he on it for? One night while out, he went down a side alley for a pee. He's not a yob, but it was 4am, needed to go and all the clubs were throwing people out - hence not letting him in. He used a dark alley, made sure nobody could see and we all loitered around outside the alley. A police woman came past and shone her torch down there, she saw literally the top of his butt crack as he hadn't pulled jeans down. She filed that he exposed himself to her and was masturbating. He then gets put on the same list as rapists and child molesters.

Think before you make such ridiculous comments!

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