Sex Crimes

Around the Web

Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer has an article mentioning a segment on the Jim Lehrer News Hour regarding the difficulties sex offenders have obtaining housing.  The report also included a quote from San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, the first openly lesbian District Attorney in the county, who said, "the real intent of Jessica’s Law is to put people that violate children and others in prison and keep them there."

The Salt Lake Tribune has an interesting editorial which concludes that the Adam Walsh Act will do little to protect children from sexual violence.

Georgia Legislative Watch has a post noting that the Georgia House Judiciary Committee has passed a new version of Georgia’s sex offender bill through its first legislative hurdle.  The bill is "designed to appease the state’s top court, which overturned the strict new residency requirements in November."  This is part of the reason why I thought the Georgia Supreme Court decision wouldn't have significant long term effect.

A Kentucky legislator has filed a bill that would allow police and prosecutors to recoup funds from the sale of forfeited property in sex offender crimes involving children. 

Around the Web

CNN is reporting that MySpace has reached an agreement with more than 45 states to "help prevent sexual predators and others from misusing it." The agreement was announced in Manhattan by attorneys general from New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.  A helpful reader also sent in coverage from the Washington Post.

Sentencing Law and Policy has news about U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' 2007 year-end report.  Of note, "[s]ex offense filings jumped 31% to 2,460 cases, and defendants in such cases climbed 30% to 2,572."  Additionally, the growth in sex offense filings "stemmed primarily from filings related to sexually explicit materials, and to a lesser degree, from all other sex offenses."  I expect this trend might continue as AWA prosecutions ramp up.

A helpful reader sent this article about the Town of Cicero's decision to add a grandfather clause to its residency restriction ordinance.  I think after the Georgia Supreme Court decision, this will be the norm (and was largely the norm already).

Crime and Consequences reports that Jesse Friedman, who pled guilty in 1988 to 13 counts of molesting children in the basement of his Long Island home, has lost his bid to have his conviction overturned. Friedman was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film "Capturing the Friedmans."

A Wisconsin lawmaker is trying to ban sex offender housing restrictions.  The lawmaker said that sex offenders are pushed out of cities and villages into rural areas where they are harder to track and where there is less law enforcement.

A helpful reader sent this article about a civil forfeiture bill in Kentucky for sex offenders.  Civil forfeiture is already a problematic area of law for drug crimes and I imagine the problems will be even more severe in the sex crime context.

Around the Web

After a seven-month investigation, the Associated Press is reporting on the widespread problem in sexual misconduct by teachers.  They found 2,570 educators whose credentials were "revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned from 2001 through 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct".  Also, the Chicago Sun-Times has an interactive chart that displays the results of this study for each state and the District of Columbia.

The Kentucky Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of a state law mandating that sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 yards of a school or playground after a Kenton County judge declared it unconstitutional.

Here is a news report about the Utah federal judge's decision to throw out the AWA conviction because his move to Utah predated the date the act went into effect.

Sentencing Law and Policy highlighted an interesting Los Angeles Times article which examines the practical difficulties of extensive tracking of sex offenders.  Also, at SL&P is coverage of CNN's Florida trailer park that I previously mentioned.

Feminist Law Professors has a post about a new study that explores "nonconsensual sexual experiences of young people in developing countries".  According to the study, "as many as one in 10 young men and one in five young women [] have experienced nonconsensual sex".

From CrimProf, we see that some universities are joining the crackdown on sex offenders by banning offenders from campus housing.

Setback for Residency Restrictions in Kentucky

A local news report has the details:

A ruling Tuesday from a district court judge could change the law limiting where sex offenders can live. Last October, Kentucky passed new laws prohibiting convicted sexual offenders from living within 1,000 feet from facilities with children. WAVE 3's Caton Bredar has the latest from an attorney involved in the case.

Kentucky's new sex offender laws took effect last October, and almost immediately, Kentucky State Police identified and charged more than three dozen sex offenders for violating residency restrictions.

Attorney Mike Goodwin's client was arrested the same night the new law took effect. Goodwin says the problem, legally, is that the new law amounts to a second punishment for the original crime, which is ex post facto, or unconstitutional.

"The Legislature decided that this is punishment," Goodwin said, referring to the new law. "They named it that in the title of the bill, and they said this is an act all about punishing sex offenders. And the Constitution couldn't be clearer that you can't punish people twice for the same thing."

According to Goodwin, his client was found guilty of a sexual offense nearly 10 years before being found in violation of new residency restriction laws. Those laws, passed last summer, dictate that convicted sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school, day care, or public playground. It's a law Jefferson District Judge Don Armstrong deemed unconstitutional, dismissing Goodwin's client's case.

It sounds to me like Kentucky may have made the mistake of being too honest about its residency restrictions.  Most states take the restrictions out of the criminal code and do everything possible to avoid calling the restrictions punishment.  And this court case is exactly why legislatures go through the effort to change the appearance of their residency laws.

HT: SexOffenderIssues

Victory Against Residency Restrictions in Kentucky

I missed this decision the first time around when I was traveling, but a helpful reader brought it to my attention.  From a local news account:

A ruling Tuesday from a district court judge could change the law limiting where sex offenders can live. Last October, Kentucky passed new laws prohibiting convicted sexual offenders from living within 1,000 feet from facilities with children. WAVE 3's Caton Bredar has the latest from an attorney involved in the case.

Kentucky's new sex offender laws took effect last October, and almost immediately, Kentucky State Police identified and charged more than three dozen sex offenders for violating residency restrictions.

Attorney Mike Goodwin's client was arrested the same night the new law took effect. Goodwin says the problem, legally, is that the new law amounts to a second punishment for the original crime, which is ex post facto, or unconstitutional.

"The Legislature decided that this is punishment," Goodwin said, referring to the new law. "They named it that in the title of the bill, and they said this is an act all about punishing sex offenders. And the Constitution couldn't be clearer that you can't punish people twice for the same thing."

I think the retroactive element of residency restrictions is the hardest to justify under existing court doctrines (although that hasn't stopped most courts).  It is interesting to see if the tide will turn on the ex post facto analysis.