In Mann v. Georgia Department of Corrections,653 S.E.2d 740 (Ga. 2007), the Georgia Supreme Court held that a state statute prohibiting registered sex offenders from living or working within 1,000 feet of any facility where minors congregate, see Ga. Code Åò42-1-15, constituted a taking of property as applied to a sex offender who was forced to move after a child care center opened a facility within 1,000 feet of his home. … The Seventh Circuit just came to the opposite conclusion in an opinion written by Judge Diane S. Sykes.…
Read MoreTag: State Supreme Court
IA: Supreme Court – registration for juvenile sex offenders is punishment
The boy’s lawyers argued that the fact that registration as a sex offender was mandatory constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The court’s majority opinion written by Chief Justice Mark Cady found that registration for juvenile sex offenders is punishment, but is not cruel and unusual. Article – towards the bottom Decision
Read MoreNH: Critics call for change to outdated computer sex crime law
[UPDATED LINKS 6/4/18] When he was 18 years old, ____ ____ propositioned a 15-year-old he knew for sex. Had the two teenagers actually engaged in consensual sex, ____’s crime would have been a Class A misdemeanor with no requirement that he register as a sex offender. They didn’t have sex, but because _____, of Nottingham, used a computer or the internet to make the request, he was charged and ultimately found guilty of a felony that will ensure he is on the registry for life. Full Article State Supreme Court…
Read MoreWI: Supreme Court rules sex offender can be tried as adult for crime committed at age 9
A convicted sex offender in Wisconsin seemed to believe he was off the hook when police learned that he allegedly committed a sexual assault at the age of 9. Full Article Decision Related In Wisconsin, we can send people to prison for things they did when they were 5
Read MoreIL: Writing Sex Offender Laws Based on Fake Recidivism Numbers Is Rational, Court Says
Last week the Illinois Supreme Court upheld a state law banning sex offenders from public parks, overturning a 2017 appeals court ruling that deemed the statute “unconstitutional on its face because it bears no reasonable relationship to protecting the public.” The seven members of the higher court unanimously disagreed, saying, “We conclude that there is a rational relation between protecting the public, particularly children, from sex offenders and prohibiting sex offenders who have been convicted of crimes against minors from being present in public parks across the state.” Full Article…
Read MoreIL: Public Parks Ban is Constitutional (Supreme Court Reversal)
The Illinois Supreme Court reversed an appeals court ruling and found that the state’s ban on sex offenders entering public parks is constitutional. Other Media Quick Take on Illinois Supreme Court Opinion Issued Thursday, April 5 Supreme Court of Illinois rejects claim that state prohibition on sex offenders in parks is violative of substantive due process
Read MoreIN: Justices to decide if sex offender dad can go to son’s school activities
The Indiana Supreme Court must decide if a Howard County father can attend his son’s school activities despite his serious sex offender status after hearing arguments Thursday on an ex post facto claim. After being convicted of child solicitation in 2010, _____ ____ was sentenced to 18 months of probation and was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years. However, the Howard Superior Court granted ____ special permission to continue attending his son’s school activities on school property, despite his sex offender status. But when the Unlawful…
Read MoreMI: Supreme Court Hearing Sex Offender Registry Case
[UPDATED LINKS 3/30/18] The Michigan Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the case of a man who was placed on the sex offender registry for touching a girl’s breasts, even though his case was dismissed in 1997 after successful probation and community service. Full Article RELATED LINKS: Change.org petition: Allow “Romeo-Juliet” convictions to apply to expunge their records in Michigan [3/30/18]
Read MoreIN: Indiana Supreme Court – Sex with minors is OK, but it’s illegal to sext them
In Indiana, it’s legal for adults to have consensual sex with minors aged 16 and 17. But it’s illegal to sext those same minors, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled this week. The decision reinstated sexting charges against an adult who texted nude images of himself to a girl he knew was 16. Full Article
Read MorePA: Pennsylvania Supreme Court finds state sex offender registration law punitive and thus unconstitutional to apply retroactively
In a big opinion today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided its state’s sex offender registration law, though civil in design, was punitive in practice and thus cannot be applied retroactively. Full Article
Read MoreSC: Teens can be kept on sex-offender registry for life
South Carolina can continue to require some teens convicted of serious sex crimes to appear on the state’s public sex-offender registry and wear an electronic monitor for the rest of their lives, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. A boy from Spartanburg County who was 15 when he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old boy and ended up on the registry challenged the law. Full Article
Read MoreNJ: NJ Supreme Court – Sex Offender Can’t Be Banned From Internet Without Due Process
Does the state of New Jersey have the right to enact a lifetime internet ban for a sex offender without giving them due process? That was the question facing the New Jersey Supreme Court, which reversed an earlier appellate ruling on Tuesday and declared that imposing a lifetime internet ban without due process for “J.I.” – an admitted sex offender sentenced to community supervision for life – would be arbitrary and “unreasonable.” Full Article Opinion
Read MoreCA: State high court upholds post-prison rules for sex offenders
Sex offenders in California who have completed their prison sentences must comply with strict monitoring conditions while on probation, including undergoing lie-detector tests about their conduct and receiving treatment from therapists who can reveal their secrets to a probation officer, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday. Although offenders must take part in the lie-detector interrogation and therapy, none of their answers can be used to file or prove new criminal charges against them, the court said. The goal, instead, is to monitor the former inmates and prevent future crimes, the…
Read MoreDE: ACLU loses appeal in challenging sex offender GPS monitoring
Delaware’s Supreme Court has rejected a challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union to a law requiring GPS monitoring of certain sex offenders who have been released from prison and are on probation. After hearing arguments Wednesday, the court issued a two-sentence order Friday upholding a Chancery Court decision in favor of the state. Full Article Related Search de: DE: Supreme Court weighs sex offender GPS monitoring
Read MoreDE: Supreme Court weighs sex offender GPS monitoring
An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware is arguing to the state Supreme Court that it is unconstitutional for some sex offenders to automatically be required to wear and pay for GPS monitoring while on probation. Full Article
Read MoreGA: Sex offender argues mandatory ankle monitors are unconstitutional
As opposing attorneys argued the constitutionality of the Sex Offender Registry Review Board on Monday, several Georgia Supreme Court justices kept focusing on an aspect of the law that applies to the most dangerous predators: they must wear an ankle monitor for life but face no punishment if they don’t. Full Article
Read MoreIL: Sex offender internet law constitutional
SPRINGFIELD — The state’s highest court has upheld a law that requires sex offenders to disclose information about their internet identities and websites. In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Charles E. Freeman, the Illinois Supreme Court held that a provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act survived First Amendment scrutiny because it bolsters the government’s interest in protecting the public without restricting more speech than necessary. In an 18-page opinion issued this morning, the court critiqued a handful of federal district courts who have found similar statutes unconstitutional and…
Read MoreAZ: Supreme Court asked to reinstate no-bail law for some sex offenses
Prosecutors are asking the Arizona Supreme Court to reinstate a law that allows some people accused of sexual abuse of minors to be held without bail. Deputy Maricopa County Attorney David Cole said the constitutional provision limiting access to bail was adopted by voters in 2002. He said the state Court of Appeals, in overturning the law enacted by lawmakers to implement that amendment, failed to give “due consideration to the overwhelming will of the people.” Full Article
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