Everyone Keeps Asking Me, Why Don’t You Take a Vacation?

This article really nails it. It is so true for many of us, and it takes out the fun of taking a vacation anywhere. Most don’t know all the rules each State, County or City has, and this holds true for Law Enforcement and Lawyers, too. Try asking lawyer or police officer about a State’s, County’s or City’s ordinance, and you will get a lot of head shaking. Nobody knows! One county or city may have presence restrictions, when others don’t. It is hard enough to keep up with your own State, but adding any State you may want to travel to is near impossible. I am sure many have traveled and innocently broken the “law” by just not knowing or being expected to know. Still, one wrong move like running a red light, etc might attract attention and further investigation once it is know that person is an SO. These “laws” are too vague and too diverse depending on where you go, they HAVE to be made illegal once and for all.

Remember how the 2003 Smith decision says there are no restrictions to travel? Apparently, there is and it comes with a penalty. Freedom to travel unmolested.

Seems punitive in result. And, according to Mrs Devoy, the compliance check when they’re abroad also is a probationary/parole trait of being under custody, which is another word for being supervised.

Is this another “separate, but equal” idea? “Not probation/parole (under custody), but regulatory intent to keep under custody for public safety.”

What about murderers, DUI’s, arsonists, those convicted of assualt and battery, bank robbers, burglars, speeders, reckless drivers, etc. who are more of a threat to society then RSO will be. More repeat offenders in those catagories then the RSO community??

I think Mary’s post and frustration is true for many of us.

Travel is possible, but it is a task, not a joy…and other people don’t understand, not really.

Some very best friends want to go to Mexico surfing this weekend…I say I can’t go…they say why not?…I explain again even though they know…they argue I’ll be in a car, they probably won’t check at the border…I say I have to give 21 day notice…they say Unbelievable….I say, Yes, but true…they are friends but they seem aggravated by this absolute refusal of mine to commit a felony for their fun.

On the other hand, Hawaii is 10 days, Utah 10 days, both great destinations, and all of Europe is available. (as is Hong Kong/Macau)

We put self restrictions on ourselves…barriers in our minds….and this is the most pernicious aspect of the Registration scheme. Even state to state, and this should be certainly unconstitutional under the free movement provisions under the Commerce Clause.

Well…good luck to everyone.

Best Wishes, James

Thank you Mary for articulating what a lot of us quietly endure every time summer rolls around. I too am the spouse of a registrant , and our last vacation was 5 years ago to Europe. Haven’t even entertained the thought since. A vacation is suppose to be a respite from routine, and mostly it is suppose to be fun. How can you enjoy a vacation while trying to dodge all the penalty triggering restrictions? Sometimes I feel fortunate that we live in California, because it’s a large state with diverse landscapes and a lot of places I still haven’t explored, but even then, we have to consider hotels, federal park lands that might consider my (non-disclosed) husband some kind of liability and turn us away.

I am always asked by work colleagues, friends and family why I don’t take a vacation, and I just try to change the subject. I have been tempted to launch into a lengthy explanation about sex offender laws- but have restrained myself. (One day I might- because this stuff needs to be exposed for the folly that it is)
Thankfully, my husband and I have so much fun just being together that escaping to a far away place isn’t that important anymore , but if a
tiered registry relieves him of his status, we will ride the asphalt as far as it takes us without having to worry about minion enforcers on our tail.

Freedom may be just around the corner.

I understand that travel is fraught with danger for registered citizens and their loved ones, but I know people who have traveled, so it is possible. ‘Whether it is worth the risk or not I think depends on the situation and person.

Some people like to travel around the country and see how many states they can visit in their lifetime. Some have managed to visit all 50 states. I think a fun challenge would be to travel to as many states as possible…to see who can be the first person to become a registered sex offender in all 50 states.

What we have here is Sex Offender Law Abuse. It is time to move SO from villain status to sex offender law abuse victims.

@Mary

Thank you Mary, for a well written article.

For those of you that brag about ignoring the laws and just doing what you want to “under the radar”…sorry…I’ve got 2 young kids and the idea of missing 2-10 years of them growing up on the off chance that I get pulled over speeding, or some cop figures out from someone else’s FB post that I wasn’t where I should be, and they prosecute for failure to register, isn’t an option.

Sure, there are ways around a lot of the problems, but Mary is accurate that if you try to do things the normal way an American should be able to do them, you’ll get banned from places. For AirBNB and Disney, you have to have another family member make the purchase. For what states you go to, yes, we can work around it by going to those with longer periods before registration, but we shouldn’t have to.

This is the type of situation that is the perfect argument as to why the entire scheme is a Bill of Attainder and violation of Substantive Due Process. Those with nefarious intent will not abide by a law that will toss them in jail for a few years when they plan on committing a crime that could get them up to life in prison. Therefore, the laws do NOTHING toward their intended goals and shouldn’t hold up to any level of scrutiny. There aren’t even examples of how all of these registration requirements have ever been used to solve or prevent a crime. Again, that makes it so they shouldn’t pass “rational basis review”. As long as we don’t get the right case with the right clients in front of SCOTUS, lower judges (even appointed ones) aren’t likely to side with a sex offender when they will have family and friends to deal with. They know the laws are bad, but they’ll continue to think SCOTUS can fall on its sword and do the work to fix things.

I think the best evidence in a case against the registry for its travel restrictions, would be to outline a fictitious trip from LA to Miami with kids and no second parent. Pick the shortest route, and show city-by-city how impossible it is. At the end of it, explain how when you arrive at Miami you have to stay with your kids in a tent in a warehouse district full of hundreds of sex offenders and if there is a hurricane you can’t go to the hurricane shelter with your children. Explain how if you stay more than 48 hours, you will be registered there for life and even when you get off in your state, you still won’t be eligible for Government assistance with housing and will still be affected by IML because of still being listed in Florida. Now there’s a story that is unfortunately totally accurate.

That why I decided to WORK 24/7 on webdesign and hosting business.