Typically, the courts find that the retroactive application of sex offender registration statutes does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clause, because such statutes are found to be nonpunitive. See, e.g., Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003). Recently, however, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine held that particular amended provisions of the Maine Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), as applied to Doe, the registrant in the case before it, Doe v. Anderson, 2015 ME 3, 2015 WL 149030 (not yet released for publication), were punitive and that…
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VA: ACLU denounces governor’s signing of new sex offender registry bills
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia today condemned Governor McAuliffe’s action on two bills that will create a new sex offender registry, SB 1074 and HB 1353. The new law will require the Virginia State Police to create a supplemental sex offender registry that includes all persons convicted between July 1980 and July 1994 for a crime that would mandate sex offender registration if it occurred in 2015. The supplemental registry will contain a name, year of birth, date of the conviction, jurisdiction in which the conviction occurred,…
Read MoreVA: Sex offender registry – Bad idea (OpEd)
Virginia lawmakers introduce many bad ideas, but they also wisely dispense with a good proportion of them. One of those that has escaped the ax comes from state Sen. Ryan McDougle, and would establish a supplemental sex-offender registry. The supplemental registry, which would be published on the State Police website, would include the names of persons who committed various offenses between 1980 and 1994. Full OpEd Piece
Read MoreIA: Expanding sex offender registry is unworkable (Editorial)
____ ____’s anger is understandable. In 1983, she was raped in Des Moines by ____ ____, who served less than five years in prison for the offense. In 1997, ____ was convicted of robbery and served an additional 17 years behind bars before being sent to the Fort Des Moines Community Corrections Center last month. ____ ‘s conviction on the rape charge predates Iowa’s 1995 creation of the state sex offender registry by almost 12 years. As such, he is not required to register with the state as a sex…
Read MoreMD: Court ruling upends Maryland’s sex offender registry
___ is among 1,155 sex offenders who have been removed from the registry since February. … Most have been stripped out because of a decision by Maryland’s highest court. That ruling handed a victory to advocates who said the registries were unfairly punitive, but has troubled legislators and upset victims. Full Article
Read MorePA: Megan’s Law mandate unfairly punishes offenders, court rules
[Updated with Decision] Some of Pennsylvania’s latest sex offender registration requirements run afoul of a constitutional ban on laws that create new penalties for people who have already paid for their crimes, the Commonwealth Court has ruled. The panel of seven Commonwealth Court judges also found, however, that requiring sex offenders to reveal their email addresses and other online aliases is not a violation of the First Amendment right to anonymous speech. Full Article Decision: http://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/214MD13_10-14-14.pdf
Read MoreSex-crimes convict says registration has ruined his career, endangered his life
____ ____ lives a relatively quiet life in the San Luis Obispo County city of Grover Beach. For 35 years he’s kept out of trouble, but his one conviction in 1979 for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 continues to haunt him: He is required to register as a sex offender in California for the rest of his life, which has permanently branded him. He is limited in where he can live and where he can go due to restrictive state and local laws,…
Read MoreNY: Judge rules on difficulty for sex offenders to live in Brooklyn
Forcing sex offenders to stay 1,000 feet away from schools, playgrounds and daycare centers if they were convicted before that state law was enacted is unconstitutional, a new Brooklyn Supreme Court ruling has found. Full Article Also see: Devine v Annucci (decision)
Read MoreNY: Judge Finds State Limits on Sex Offender Moves Illegal
A judge has found the state’s 2005 restrictions on sex offender movement violate constitutional bans on retroactive punishment when applied to a man convicted of sexual abuse in 2002 and effectively banished him from many parts of Brooklyn as a result. Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Yvonne Lewis determined that Executive Law §259-c(14)—which forbids sentenced offenders from “knowingly entering into” publicly accessible areas within 1,000 feet of school grounds and other institutions where minors are present—violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution in the case of ____ ____, convicted…
Read MoreNJ: Supreme Court – Sex offenders who served their time can’t face penalties under new laws
Sex offenders can not be subjected to punishments under newly created laws if they committed their offense and served their time before the legislation was passed, the state Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision Monday. In 1986, ____ ____ was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a minor and given a 20-year sentence. About six months after his release in 2009, when ____ was under no form of parole, the parole board said he would have to comply with the 2007 Sex Offender Monitoring Act meaning that he would have to…
Read MoreIN: Court – Sex offender doesn’t have to register
MUNCIE – A Muncie man convicted of sex crimes in Florida does not have to register locally as a sex offender, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled. In a 3-0 ruling, the appeals court also ordered local authorities to dismiss two criminal charges pending against 44-year-old ____ ____ ____ that stemmed from his failure to register with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office. Full Article
Read MoreThe Supreme Court Renders Another Decision Interpreting the Ex Post Facto Clause
June 2013 – The national drive to identify and punish child predators took a step backward this week. While on its surface, the Supreme Court’s decision this week in Peugh v. United States does not deal with sex offenders, its impact will surely be felt in the sex-offender cases. As with the Court’s decision ten years ago in Stogner v. California, the Ex Post Facto Clause has once again been interpreted to make it more difficult to incarcerate criminals, and particularly sex offenders, as I will explain below. Full Article
Read MoreKS: Supreme Court hears arguments on constitutionality of state’s offender registry
TOPEKA, Kansas — The attorney for a convicted child molester on Thursday challenged the constitutionality of the Kansas offender registry before the state’s highest court, arguing social media has made the Internet the new town square for public shaming. Attorney Christopher Joseph urged the Kansas Supreme Court to uphold a decision by Shawnee County Judge Larry Hendricks that removed the name of a Lenexa man from the registry. The judge ruled the retroactive application of the Kansas Offender Registration Act when the Legislature amended the law in 2011 violates the…
Read MoreMA: SJC sex offender ruling another affront against Massachusetts residents (Op-Ed)
The state’s highest judicial entity; the Supreme Judicial Court reached another stunning milestone in delivering an affront to the sensibilities and protections of law-abiding citizens on July 11th. In a 6 to 1 decision the justices ruled that life-time parole for sex-offenders is unconstitutional. Full Opinion Piece
Read MorePA: Donegal sex offender fights lifetime registration
A Donegal man convicted of assaulting a 14-year-old girl on a walking trail is challenging the constitutionality of lifetime registration with police ordered for certain sex offenders. _____ _____’s contention that he should not be required to register for life because it exceeds the maximum prison sentence for his offense is one of several such appeals filed through the Fayette County Public Defender’s Office. Full Article
Read MoreMD: Court Rules Sex Offenders Who Committed Crimes Before 1995 Removed From Registry
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — A major and controversial court ruling could strike a quarter of all names off Maryland’s sex offender registry. It’s now just a question of when. Full Article
Read MoreMD: Ruling could scrub quarter of sex offender registry
One-fourth of the names on Maryland’s sex offender registry could be removed after the state’s top court expanded Monday on an earlier ruling that adding offenders from before the list was created violated the state constitution. The Court of Appeals declared last year that the state could not require the registration of people who committed their crimes before October 1995, when the database was established. State officials removed the one name in question in that case but maintained that federal law required them to keep older cases in the database.…
Read MoreNY: Second Circuit rejects array of challenges to lengthy extension of sex offender registration requirement
For a number of years, sex offenders consistently lost in state and federal courts when challenging various sex offender registration requirements and other restrictions on various grounds. In recent years, however, it seems at least a few registered sex offenders are having at least a little success with court challenges to new sex offender registration requirements that seem especially punitive or onerous. But a Second Circuit panel ruling today in Doe v. Cuomo, No. 12-4288 (2d Cir. June 16, 2014) (available here), provides a useful reminder of the uphill battle registered…
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