Online sex offender registries, which all 50 states maintain as a condition of federal funding, stigmatize the people listed in them long after they have completed their sentences, creating obstacles to housing and employment while exposing registrants to public humiliation, ostracism, threats, and violence. Three years ago, a federal judge ruled that such consequences amounted to cruel and unusual punishment of three men who challenged their treatment under Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act. Last week a federal appeals court overturned that decision, saying the burdens imposed by registration do not…
Read MoreTag: Millard v. Rankin
CO: Decision in Millard v. Rankin (10th Circuit US Court of Appeals)
Plaintiff-Appellees David Millard, Eugene Knight, and Arturo Vega challenge the constitutionality of Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act (CSORA). The district court held CSORA was unconstitutional as applied to the Appellees because the statute inflicted cruel and unusual punishment and violated substantive due process guarantees. Additionally, the district court held that the state courts’ application of CSORA’s deregistration procedures to Vega violated his procedural due process rights. Defendant-Appellant, the State, appeals from the entirety of the district court’s decision. Because the district court’s ruling contravenes binding Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit…
Read MoreHow the Use of Improper Statistics and Unverified Data Corrupts the Judicial Process in Sex Offender Cases
We begin this Article by sharing something about our past legal practice careers, as we believe that is so relevant to the topic that we focus on in this Article. When Michael L. Perlin was a rookie Public Defender in Trenton, New Jersey, in the early 1970s, he regularly visited the Menlo Park Diagnostic Center where some of his clients—those who had been found, in the phrase used then, to be “repetitive and compulsive” sex offenders—were housed. When Heather Ellis Cucolo was a rookie Public Defender in Newark, New Jersey,…
Read MoreFL: Approves Database to Publish Details of People Who Pay for Sex
The Florida legislature passed legislation within the past week, Senate Bill 540 and House Bill 851, to establish a public database that tracks people convicted of, or who have pleaded guilty to, soliciting paid sex. While the legislation’s bipartisan authors consider it to be a step toward ending human trafficking, critics call it a means to publicly shame clients and others associated with people who do consensual sex work. The Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database will include anyone convicted of or pleading guilty to “soliciting, inducing, enticing, or procuring another…
Read MoreCO: Judge Matsch On SORA: Cut The Crap, It’s Unconstitutional [UPDATED]
UPDATE: Oral Argument – Thursday, November 15, 2018 – Courtroom III https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/clerk/oral-argument-recordings 9/2/2017: In Millard v. Rankin, an as-applied challenge, Colorado Senior District Judge Richard Matsch rejected the pretty ribbons the legislature wrapped around the Sex Offender Registry Act. Applying the “intents-effects” test to the law, the court held that it was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. Full Article
Read MoreCO: Weld officials discuss constitutional questions surrounding sex offender registry
From the outside, Robert’s life looks stable. He’s a private contractor who works in equipment financing. He has a home and a dog in Littleton. He dates regularly. In his spare time, he mountain bikes competitively and travels — most recently, he went to Iceland. But he believes his life is fragile. So fragile, in fact, Robert is not his real name; he was so concerned about widespread publicity he only agreed to speak with The Tribune on condition of anonymity. Not long ago, he made a shorter trip, this…
Read MoreCO: Why One County Took Its Sex-Offender List Offline
Montrose County, on Colorado’s Western Slope, has pulled its sex-offender list offline, reportedly because of a recent court ruling in which U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch found that such registries constituted cruel and unusual punishment in the case of three plaintiffs. The action was taken despite the fact that the ruling is specific to the complainants in question, rather than everyone on the roster, and Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has announced her intention to appeal. Full Article
Read MoreThe Politics of Defending the Sex-Offender Registry
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch recently ruled that Colorado’s sex-offender registry violates the due-process rights of three plaintiffs, thereby amounting to cruel and unusual punishment. Boulder attorney Alison Ruttenberg, who’s kept the case going for the past four years, lauded this decision because it acknowledged that treating every person on the registry like a violent child predator was patently unfair. But she’s not surprised that Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman has announced her intention to appeal the decision, especially given rumors that she’s weighing a run for Colorado governor in 2018. Full Article
Read MoreCO: Coffman will appeal federal ruling declaring sex offender registry unconstitutional
Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman will appeal the recent federal ruling declaring the state’s sex offender registry unconstitutional. Full Article Related Colorado AG to appeal federal court decision declaring state’s sex offender registration unconstitutional
Read MoreCO: Judge Finds Colorado Sex Offender Registry Unconstitutional
A federal court judge in Denver has called the public sex offender registry in Colorado “cruel and unusual punishment.” Full Article Also see: Millard-v.-Rankin-13-cv-02406-Colorado Federal judge holds Colorado registry is punishment; violates Eighth Amendment http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/crime/article/Judge-Colorado-sex-offender-registry-12166975.php https://ijr.com/discuss/posts/964736/colorado-federal-judge-makes-head-turning-ruling-declares-sex-offender-registry-unconstitutional/ Federal Judge in Colorado Rules that the Sex Offender Registry is Unconstitutional http://blogs.findlaw.com/tenth_circuit/2017/09/federal-court-finds-colorado-sex-offender-registry-unconstitutional.html
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