civil rights challenges, lawsuit updates, and court rulings
By Howard Fischer…. Registered sex offenders who become homeless can’t be jailed for failing to immediately report their new address to law enforcement, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Friday. The justices acknowledged state law spells out that anyone who is required to register as a sex offender must inform the sheriff of a new address within 72 hours of moving. But Justice Clint…
Read More
By Olivia Covington . . . Shortly after the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act went into effect in Indiana in 2015, the unlawful entry by a serious sex offender statute, which prohibits certain sex offenders from accessing school property, also became law. Now, those two statutes are at odds with each other as the Indiana Court of Appeals decides whether…
Read More
By Kirk Mitchell . . . Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman announced Wednesday that she intends to appeal a decision by a federal judge in Denver who ruled that Colorado’s sex offender registration law violates the constitutional rights of three sex offenders. “As Attorney General, protecting victims is one of the most critically important parts of my job,” Coffman said…
Read More
By Robin . . . Splitting two-to-one in a case out of Oklahoma, a panel of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that 18. U.S.C. 3583 (k) violates the 5th and 6th Amendments by requiring a revocation judge to impose a longer sentence for the original conviction based on the facts presented for purposes of revocation (and upon which…
Read More
By Larry and Sandy . . . NARSOL is joining the fight against strict liability offense schemes. An important case from Arizona, May v. Ryan, is pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case has the rare distinction of having already been successful in a lower court for the plaintiff, May, who was convicted in Arizona state court of…
Read More
By Robin . . . Claiming that the Solicitor General’s amicus brief is unpersuasive, Michigan’s Attorney General, Bill Schuette, has filed a supplemental brief in reply. The Solicitor General filed a brief in early July at the request of the Supreme Court which sought to hear the federal government’s perspective on Snyder v. Doe (a pending petition from Michigan seeking…
Read More
By Joshua Vaughn . . . Roughly two weeks ago the Pennsylvania Supreme Court deemed the state’s current sex offender registration law to be punishment and ultimately barred by both the state and federal constitutions when applied retroactively. That decision may now end up under review from the highest court in the country. Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said Friday…
Read More
By Larry Neely . . . What follows was composed utilizing portions of an analysis written by Aaron Marcus of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. We will endeavor to answer some of the most common questions that arise after a favorable decision has been handed down. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the current (2012) version of Pennsylvania’s Sex Offender…
Read More
By Cameron Kiszla . . . A lawsuit before a federal appeals court may have broad implications for Alabama’s sex offender laws, which some critics claim are the harshest in the United States. Montgomery resident Michael McGuire is suing the state of Alabama for relief from the residency restrictions, travel limits, sex offender registration and other punishments that accompany a…
Read More
By NARSOL’s editorial board….. Breaking and exciting news comes today from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. This is, as far as we know, the first published analysis of the case: http://ccresourcecenter.org/2017/07/19/pa-high-court-holds-sex-offender-registration-unconstitutional/ The NARSOL contact in Pennsylvania reached out to someone who is knowledgeable about the case, and he sends us this analysis: By Jerry Berardi…. In a 6-1 decision, the Pennsylvania…
Read More