Category: Sex Crimes

At the beginning of November, the North Carolina Supreme Court rejected a First Amendment challenge to a provision of state law that prohibits registered sex offenders from using Facebook and other social media sites that children under 18 can join. The justices, in a split 4-2 opinion with one justice not participating, reversed a North Carolina Court of Appeals ruling that found a 2008 law too general and vague, and subsequently unconstitutional.

In 2008, the North Carolina General Assembly passed a comprehensive law package, N.C. Gen. Stat. 14-202.5, banning registered sex offenders from [...]

 

An epidemic.

That’s how experts are describing North Carolina’s problem with child pornography. According to a report from the Charlotte Observer, local law enforcement officials have identified 14,000 computers in our state featuring illegal images of young children being sexually exploited.

Lawmakers and law enforcement officials are not standing idly by. Governor Pat McCroy has requested two million dollars to fund anti-child exploitation efforts in North Carolina. If lawmakers approve the request, half of this money would go to hire child pornography investigators for the state’s Internet Crimes against Children Task [...]

When discussing America’s educators with reporters from WNCN, State Superintendent June Atkinson maintained, “99 percent-plus of our teachers behave in a very ethical manner.” That number may be true, but the small percentage of teachers that do taken advantage of their position of trust can cause big problems.

Across the state, lawmakers, advocates, and parents alike are speaking out against sexual misconduct between teachers and students. According to reports from Stop Educator Sexual Misconduct, one in 10 students is affected by sexual misconduct from their teacher between kindergarten and the 12th grade—roughly [...]

Click through the hundreds of photographs of sex offenders in the North Carolina online sex offender registry, and the effect is chilling.

The faces of men and women alike stare back at you, some of them older, many of them young. Some of them wear blank or undecipherable expressions, while others wear undeniable expressions of fear, anger, and shame. Click on a photo of one of the offenders, and you’ll be taken to a page with detailed information on their appearance, address, and criminal history.

This is the fate of sex offender convicts [...]