Members of the American Law Institute (ALI), the most important and prestigious organization of legal scholars and prominent attorneys in the nation, will consider a proposal next week that could significantly change the nation’s sex offender laws. The most significant of those changes would be the elimination of public registries in all 50 state. The proposal also includes, but is not limited to, recommendations to abolish all public notification laws as well as most residency restrictions, internet restrictions and GPS location monitoring.
“The ALI drafts model laws that often become statutes as well as restatements of the law that are widely cited as authority in judicial opinions,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “ACSOL thanks ALI for focusing its attention on the plethora of laws that harm registrants and their families and that do not increase public safety.”
The outcome of the ALI members’ voting is uncertain. As of today, there appear to be at least three different groups of members — those who support the proposal, those who oppose the proposal because it goes too far and those who oppose the proposal because it doesn’t go far enough.
One organization that opposes the proposal because it goes too far is the U. S. Department of Justice. The federal agency stated in a formal comment that, if adopted, the proposal “would attempt to unravel sex offender registration and notification systems nationwide, severely limit law enforcement information-sharing capacity, weaken youth-serving organizations’ ability to conduct background checks to protect children, and strip victims’ and the public’s right to know if convicted sex offenders live, work, or go to school in their communities.” The federal agency sharply criticized the ALI proposal because the agency believes the proposal “relies on questionable and discredited research regarding the effects of sex offender registration and repeatedly draws conclusions that are unsupported by scientific evidence.”
In his reply to the U.S. Department of Justice comments, ACSOL board member as well as ALI member Ira Ellman, stated that “what is discredited by the clear and rather overwhelming consensus of the peer-reviewed scholarly work are the central factual assumptions…that are usually offered to justify the registry system.” Ellman explained that there are three kinds of studies that establish the limited value of a public registry. He also pointed out that a study commissioned by the federal SMART office concluded that residency restrictions are ineffective.
“It is important to keep in mind that the registry is not and cannot be justified or explained as punishment for the crime that triggers its imposition. Everyone required to register has already been punished,” Ellman stated. “No similar regime has ever been imposed on any other group of law-abiding former felons who have fully served the sentence for the crime they committed years earlier.”
Those who oppose the proposal include journalist William Dobbs because he believes the ALI proposal does not go far enough. Instead of restricting the registry only to law enforcement officials, Dobbs advocates the total elimination of all sex offense registries.
Download PDFs:
TD 6 (most recent draft as of May 17, 2022
Final Approved Black Letter Sept 2022
Huge news! Amazing! A huge crack in the seemingly-impenetrable registry wall, just as water in the crack of a big boulder can split it after enough freezing winters.
No, things won’t change tomorrow. Just ask any group of people who are fighting for justice and their civil rights.
But if we don’t give up, we will eventually succeed.
We show up! We stand up! We speak up!
The fact that this is even being discussed by upper echelon groups is huge. Thanks ACSOL for keeping the pressure on.
This is extremely important. After all, no other group is treated this bad and registration length is based on crime alone and not actual how dangerous one may be. Then, states that allow you to appeal registration make you pay thousands of dollars just to be told no. Register hurts people to include their families years after a conviction. Putting someone on a worthless registry in no way protects victims, so it’s asinine for the government to state so.
Bless the ALI for treating this issue. We’d do well to systematically encourage law students to think new thoughts about registries. Significant resources would be needed to do so.
This is probably the biggest registry news ever.
I think we are uniquely qualified to speak on the “effectiveness” of the registry. What has it accomplished in my almost 30 years on it? Lost jobs, lost friends, ostracized in the community. That’s it. Prevented me from traveling, and keeps me on the edge of sanity every year knowing I am one misstep away from 5 years in prison because I forgot to register. It is the biggest waste of tax payer money, the most bloated and ineffective scheme ever foisted on anyone. It’s a life sentence that does nothing to help anyone. It was a bad idea that has been built upon with a structure of lies, misinformation, propaganda and fears.
WOW!!!!
Could this really happen?!
This is almost as unbelievable when the first state considered making weed legal as recreational. Who would have ever thought that could happen even just 20 years ago. Or the US Supreme Court ruling on Gay Marriage just 7 years ago striking down DOMA making gay marriage legal in all 50 states.
Its a nice gesture, but unfortunately abolishing the registry will never happen because people have been conditioned to believe that registries make communities safer and those people far outnumber those of us who are forced to be on it. People don’t want to hear the truth that registries only exist to further punish, harass, and stigmatize people who only want to go on with their lives to be productive members of society. People are led to believe that registrants lurk in the bushes waiting to pounce on school kids, and that having our personal information posted all over the internet will prevent that. I’m not even going to explain how that is not true, because we all know what the truth actually is.
Its such hypocrisy to say people have a right to know who the sex offenders are in their communities, but what about my right to know who the drug dealers, murderers, home invaders, drunk drivers, etc. are in my neighborhood? I am more concerned about knowing if there is a habitual home invader in my neighborhood than someone who made a stupid mistake years ago by having consensual sex with a 15 year old.
This is Bigly!
What state legislator will sponsor, co-sponsor or vote for any bill that even in the tiniest way changes anything for the better? I’m not negative, just a realist. That would be political suicide as that person’s next opponent would say the politian is in bed with rapists and he/she wants rapists roaming your neighborhood.
Wow look at the DOJ all proud of their nationwide SORNA database
I dont think The federal government plans on taken their boot off sex offenders necks anytime soon but at least their talking about it.
Good luck 🥱
@ACSOL
It says above…”strip victims’ and the public’s right to know if convicted sex offenders live, work, or go to school in their communities.”
I ask of those who claim this: 1) Where’s this right stated?; and 2) What’s the background of it?
The answer from the courts is usually the safety of others (the public) is greater than the safety of those who have committed alleged “sex” crimes against others, real or virtual; therefore, this already public information should be made available in an easier fashion to all regardless of what the gov’t sponsored registry tool enables, e.g. homelessness, vigilantism, etc.
Again, this alleged “right to know” is against one specific type of person, a person forced to register, but where is it stated the “people” have the alleged “right to know” this information?
This alleged “right” is not documented as I understand it like the right to travel is for those who live in this country (as we’ve discussed here previously in this forum and shown where the historical right comes from with internet citations).
It is imperative, IMHO, those who claim this “right” answer these two questions above to give any sort of foundation of credit on their position.
As a side – If they can provide those, then they should be able to answer: 3) Why doesn’t it extend to other people who have committed crimes against others, real or virtual?; and 4) Why shouldn’t it extend in the same manner to everyone that has committed a crime against another and is covered by those who have an interest in exercising this right for whatever criminal topic is of interest to the public?
I would say this is the largest registry challenge since smith vs doe. If we can have a victory here,judiciary committees all across the country will have a stronger footing to say no to senators trying to pass obscene bills. There will be more victories in courts for us challenging these scarlet letter laws. I pray and hope for this. Is there anyway we can support this? From letters or anything? Thank you to anyone who’s been fighting for this! I pray it proves fruitful next week.
Why’s this a big deal? I never heard of ALI. Do they have any influence in the legislature? Have they gotten any laws changed?
This panel does not make law. This panel can not repeal law. This panel can only make recommendations to Congress. Sex offenders were the first Americans sold out to big data, the rest however, soon followed.
IMO these are probably the very same folks who advocated for the sex offender and kidnapper database in the first place. Now the social geniuses are walking it back attempting to thwart big tech power.
Too late for that, humans are and have been enslaved to database property upkeep since 1995.
Questioning the research is one thing, because skepticism is healthy. But where did Garland get the idea that the public has a right to know where these people live? Where is that in the constitution? The right to privacy, however has been clearly established.
Wait……”sharply criticized the ALI proposal because the agency believes the proposal “relies on questionable and discredited research regarding the effects of sex offender registration and repeatedly draws conclusions that are unsupported by scientific evidence.” What research do they have to support their claim that “conclusions are unsupported by scientific evidence”?? I don’t believe they have any. Conversely, there is loads of research that says the registry is harmful, punitive, and doesn’t keep anyone safe.
Kudos to Bill Dobbs for being one of a too-small group of advocates pushing to abolish registries altogether.
Thank you, ACSOL, for keeping all of us updated on the American Law Institute’s consideration of this proposal.
The comments made by the U. S. Department of Justice were particularly disturbing considering the power they yield in our country.
The DOJ suggests that the recommendations make by ALI rely on discredited research. The U. S. Department of Justice May of 2019 Recidivism Report found that released inmates in 30 states, whose most serious offense was rape or sexual assault, had a re-offense rate (committing another sex crime) of 7.7% over the 9-year period from 2005 to 2014. That means that 92.3% did NOT re-offend. This study only considered the most violent of sex crimes. When all sexual offenses are included, the rate is lower.
Karl Hanson, one of the leading researchers in the field of risk assessment and treatment for people who have committed a sex offense, compiled data from many different research studies on re-offense rates for people on the sex offense registry and found the following to be true: The lifetime re-offense rate is anywhere from 10% to 30%, depending on which study you use, with the larger studies having the lower rates. (Dr. Hanson’s research results were recently shared at the Connecticut’s One Standard of Justice January 2021 Webinar: “Sex Offender Recidivism Risk Not What You Think”.)
Radley Balko stated in The Washington Post, “The Big Lies About Sex Offenders”, March 2017: “In the most comprehensive single study on re-offense rates to date, the U. S. Department of Justice followed every sex offender released in almost 15 states for three years. The recidivism rate? Just 3.5%. These numbers have been subsequently verified in study after study…What we’ve done is allowed sex offenders to be released from prison, but then made it impossible for them to live anything resembling normal lives…Casting them off and marginalizing them after they are out…”
From SOSEN.org, 2014: The Department of Justice: Re-offense rate averages, for auto theft – 78.8%, possession/sale of stolen property – 77.4%, burglary – 74%, robbery – 70.2%, larcenist – 74.6%, sex offenders – 3.5% (with treatment – 1%).
According to the American Journal of Public Health: “Sex Offender Laws and Prevention of Sexual Violence or Recidivism” (2011), a 2.1% recidivism rate for a second sex crime over 16 years in New York state; a 5.5% recidivism rate over 14 years in Ohio. “…most new sexually based crimes are committed by someone NOT on the registry.”
All of the above research is just a drop in the bucket of the research that refutes the DOJ’s statement that ALI is relying on discredited research.
Additionally, over 90% of FUTURE sex crimes will be committed by people NOT on the registry: “Why Sex Offender Registries Keep Growing Even as Sexual Violence Rates Fall”, Steven Yoder, July 2018; “Rethinking Sex-Offender Registries”, National Affairs, Eli Lehrer, 2016; “Sexual Offender Laws and Prevention of Sexual Violence or Recidivism”, Am J Public Health, March 2010, Kelly K. Bonnar-Kidd, NCBI.
The DOJ states that residency restrictions are not part of SORNA. True, but as a result of SORNA, there are draconian residency restrictions all over the nation. In Florida, there is a 1000-foot residency restriction around schools, day cares, and playgrounds. According to Aaron & Delgado Associates, April 2020, “currently there are more than 160 municipalities in Florida that impose greater residency restrictions on convicted sex offenders than required by state law.” Many municipalities in Florida have residency restrictions of 2500 feet.
According to “Sex Offender Residence Restrictions: Sensible Crime Policy or Flawed Logic?”, Federal Probation (a journal of correctional philosophy and practice), Jill Levenson, Kristen Zgoba, Richard Tewksbury, “Using GIS mapping technology in Orange County, Florida, researchers found that 95 percent of over 137,000 residences were located within 1,000 feet of schools, parks, daycare centers, or schoolbus stops, and virtually all housing was within 2,500 feet of such venues. The number of dwellings available for sex offenders outside the 1,000-foot buffer zones was 4,233 and only 37 properties existed beyond 2,500-foot buffer zones.”
Thank you, American Law Institute and ACSOL, for standing up for a group of people whose punishment never stops.
Media Chair for Florida Action Committee
It’s unfair to be registered as sex offender when a consentual relation is in place. When no victim is pointed. No aggression of any kind is named just because the girl was under 18 . Now she is more than 18 with new partners and he still in prison on top of this have to be registered as sex offender?? HE IS THE REAL VICTIM!!
There should be an investigation into who in the DOJ is pushing the false narrative regarding the statistics and studies quoted by them in their response, why they are deliberately misleading ALI and the public, and if there is any criminal or administrative penalties that can be levied for this very serious and devious conduct. And i believe ACSOL should use their influence and contacts to try to push for this investigation as this is a very important subject and time in the whole of this registration fiasco.
I know off the subject, my b-day is July 31st, will have 23 years on registry, I called local police inquiring or if they knew about, police was & have always been super chill towards me *thankfully* so asked if they remembered me *same person* that registers me annually, so asked if still needed to register this year, police said yes but still need to do that live scan to make sure I have not got arrested because that could delay/add more time, but police stated I should be fine with no problem, so police stated after register & scan is good I will get paperwork than would need to go to the court house & that would take 3 to 6 months, police is knew to this tiered system so I basically going to be the test subject, I will be the 1st to petition at that particular station., but need to call next month to make registration appointment and go from there.
Talk about hypocrisy! Law enforcement doesn’t want private groups going around “hunting” sex offenders, but is against the elimination of the public registry. Make up your minds you bunch of ignorant A holes.
This still wouldn’t stop private sites from posting, but it might make it harder for them to get the info. Of course some crooked cop would feed them what they needed.
I hope they get rid of the public registry and housing restrictions. I was the victim of a ghastly crime because this sick group of vigilantes saw my sons name on the public registry and went after me, “The mother that bore a sex offender” This was on March 15 2018. They terrorized me and said if I went to the police they would kill my son. I did call the FBI a few months later.
My son just turned 18 at the time and met up with some girls on facebook that planned out they were going to have sex with my son and when the mother found out she ruined my child’s life so she could be the victim and not face the fact that her daughter is wild and out of control. She was way to advanced for her age and my son was a dumb virgin. He lost his virginity and went to jail and life on the registry because of nature.