The Homelessness Problem

A Maryland court was forced to confront the issue of how homeless sex offenders can comply with the requirements of that state's registry requirements.  Their answer?  Homeless sex offenders are exempt:

Sex offenders who are homeless are exempt from laws requiring them to register a change of address with state officials, Maryland’s high court ruled Wednesday.

The Maryland Court of Appeals said in a pair of unanimous rulings that it would be impossible for the homeless to comply with provisions of the state sex offender registry.

I wonder how this problem is addressed in the probation context (if anyone knows, please email me).  The article notes that Washington has specific statutory rules governing homeless sex offenders.  I expect we will see other states without specific homelessness provisions (which I think is most states) confronting similar lawsuits.

Thanks to eAdvocate for letting me know about these cases.

Update:  You can find the decisions here and here.