Mitchell Hamline School of Law is pleased to announce the creation of a center devoted to tracking litigation and encouraging effective public policy related to sexual offenders.
Directed by Professor Eric Janus, a leading national expert on sexual violence law and policy, the Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center collects and disseminates information about cases related to sex-offender policy and laws. Supported by a grant from the Vital Projects Fund, the center seeks to facilitate communication, sharing, and the development of strategies among lawyers, advocates, and academics who seek a more sensible and effective public policy on sexual violence prevention.
“Our aim is to create a national network of lawyers and social scientists dedicated to holding our sexual violence policies accountable both to the Constitution and to the growing body of knowledge about effective prevention strategies,” said Janus, who has written extensively and participated in impact litigation on sex-offender laws. The former president and dean of William Mitchell College of Law, a predecessor to Mitchell Hamline, Janus is the author of two books on this subject: “Failure to Protect: America’s Sexual Predator Laws and the Rise of the Preventive State” and “Sexual Predators: Society, Risk, and the Law” (with Prentky and Barbaree).
Laws aimed at controlling sex offenders have proliferated in the past two decades. Politicians have been reluctant to modulate these laws even in the face of strong critiques over their efficacy, fairness, and wisdom. Litigation, therefore, has become a significant potential source of change in this area, and some courts have issued decisions in the past several years finding aspects of these laws unconstitutional or otherwise illegal. The center tracks cases in state and federal courts that implicate important sex offender-related laws including those dealing with civil commitment, registries, zoning restrictions, and privacy issues.
The center had planned to host a symposium on residency restrictions on Feb. 8 at Mitchell Hamline, but that symposium has been canceled.
To learn more about the Sex Offense Litigation and Policy Resource Center, go to mitchellhamline.edu/sex-offense-litigation-policy/