MA: SJC Ends Lifetime Parole for Sex Offenders

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The Supreme Judicial Court today ruled that lifetime parole for sex offenders violates the state’s constitution, The Boston Globe reports. In a 6-1 decision where Justice Robert Cordy was the dissenter on some issues, the state’s highest court said judges alone have the power to sentence people. The state law that created “community parole supervision for life” for sex offenders unconstitutionally gives the Parole Board that same power. Full Article

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Can we use this as a legal precedent against a lifetime registry? Being on the registry is a form of parole/probation. A rose by any other name right?

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This is amazing! We can only hope that the California courts can learn from this decision. And perhaps this decision can lead us to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Smith v. Doe, which continues to deny the civil rights of registered citizens.

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I’m not sure what I see is so great about this. Sex Offender Registration is JUST LIKE being on parole or probation and that law is still on the books

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Expand upon this and push for removing life time probation, parole, and supervised release for everyone. Those who previously committed sex offenses are not the only ones who can be given some type of life time supervision. I want to keep extremely dangerous people from doing more harm as much as the next person, but if someone is at such a risk why are they being released in the first place? This is why life sentences, death row, and the federal supermax exist to keep the most dangerous people out of society. Then specifically for sex offenders is civil commitment. Not that these methods actually solve anything or are even effective long term measures.

Anytime the government has to spend money on someone over a long time, if enough people are involved the scale eventually tips and the cost begins to outweigh the benefits. More and more frequently people are seeing what happens when money gets thrown into a black hole, other “important” areas suffer.

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