civil rights challenges, lawsuit updates, and court rulings
By Olivia Covington . . . Six men required to register as sex offenders after moving to Indiana can have their names removed from the sex offender registry, the 7th Circuit has held, finding that the state’s registration law discriminates between offenders who have consistently lived in Indiana and those who more recently moved into the state. A dissenting judge, however,…
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Associated Press . . . The California Supreme Court ruled Monday that inmates who have been convicted of nonviolent sex crimes may be eligible for early parole consideration as part of a ballot measure that nearly two-thirds of voters approved of four years ago. “The initiative’s language provides no indication that the voters intended to allow the (Corrections) Department to create…
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By Michael Karlik . . . The Colorado Supreme Court has clarified that no matter how many pornographic images an individual possesses, sexual exploitation of a child merits a single charge, which prosecutors had derogatorily deemed a “volume discount on child pornography.” Following the decision, multiple state legislators agreed that the guidelines for prosecuting the crime should spark a conversation…
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By Larry . . . This case consisted of a group of 134 plaintiffs who had filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of Idaho. Their complaint raised a number of claims challenging many aspects of Idaho’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA). The trial judge granted the state’s motion to dismiss the complaint. The case…
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By Larry . . . These two appeals were consolidated as a result of unfavorable outcomes at the trial court. New York’s highest court considered constitutional challenges to the practice of temporarily confining level three sex offenders[1] in correctional facilities, after the time they would otherwise be released to parole or post-release supervision (PRS), while the person remains on a…
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By Larry . . . On September 24, 2019, NARSOL engaged an attorney and filed a lawsuit a suit in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia challenging the Butts County Sheriff’s Office’s practice of placing warning signs at the residences of registered persons before Halloween. The court granted a request for a preliminary injunction which prevented…
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By King Alexander . . . This week the Louisiana Supreme Court handed the forces of onerous registration an unexpected defeat on federal First Amendment grounds. The court in a six-to-one ruling struck down two statutes requiring registrants to carry state identification bearing at bottom center the words “SEX OFFENDER” in orange block letters, on grounds that the statutes impermissibly…
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By Joe Kelly . . . CHICAGO (CN) — The Seventh Circuit on Friday weighed the intrusiveness of a Wisconsin statute that institutes lifetime GPS monitoring of certain convicted sex offenders against the necessity of preventing further offenses from that particular class of criminals. The underlying suit was first filed as a federal class action by eight registered sex offenders…
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By Larry . . . NARSOL is extremely disappointed to announce this long-awaited decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. To refresh your memory, in August 2017 U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch found that Colorado’s sex offender registration scheme was unconstitutional. The state appealed Judge Matsch’s decision to the Court of Appeals. Both NARSOL and a…
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By Larry . . . NARSOL is extremely disappointed to announce the long-awaited decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. To refresh your memory since this case has been pending for several years, U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch found that Colorado’s sex offender registration scheme was unconstitutional back in August, 2017. The state appealed Judge…
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