It’s bad enough, both for substantive as well as factual reasons, that the Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe held that sex offender registration was not punitive, but civil, and therefore beyond the reach of the Ex Post Facto Clause. Not only was it grounded in utterly baseless statistics of recidivism, but it indulged in the fantasy that rhetoric was an adequate substitute for inquiry before destroying the future of an entire class of people. Full Article
Related posts
-
Sex Offender Registration Doesn’t Help Victims, Hurts Young Offenders
Jason was 14 years old when he met his first girlfriend, a 13-year-old neighbor of the... -
KS: Offender registry changes needed in Kansas
Do offender registries make us safer? The Kansas Legislature is tackling that question in the current... -
Letter: The punishment must fit the crime
About 100 U.S. teachers, mostly women, are charged with sex crimes each year, although many others...
“… risk of danger to the community provides a reason to deny bail, but as the Supreme Court held, that must be determined individually, based on the specifics of any given accusation and the individual charged.”
How can THIS same reasoning not be used in front of a judge to argue everyone off of the Registry, or challenge an individual’s required status on it?
If you cannot designate a level of ‘community danger’ to an entire class of people for bail, then how the HELL can they apply registry requirements to every single person by default??
“If you cannot designate a level of ‘community danger’ to an entire class of people for bail, then how the HELL can they apply registry requirements to every single person by default??”
Excellent point that was answered by the tier system most states have enacted (but aren’t doing) and ultimately make no difference anyway, in terms of risk assessment or discrimination against the registrant.
I am surprised equal protection and seperation of powers dont have more challenges.
There is plenty of precident already set that a judge must taylor the punishment AND special restrictions that protect the public to the individual and the circumstances. The legislation is not meant to be a more powerful branch nor should they interfere with the judiciary, therefore they should not be able to enact laws that bypass these protections criminals receive during a judicial process. It doesnt matter if the legislature brands the laws civil or punitive as either way they pertain to a judicial and criminal process with established rules that have already been through over 100 years of constitutional fine tuning and challenges.
Administrative is just another word for Punitive……M’erica!