Residency Cases
People ex rel Negron v. Superintendent (N.Y. App. Div. 3rd 2019)
New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, holding that SARA-related housing restrictions did not apply to individual who was serving a sentence for a non-sexual offense.
Doe v. City of San Diego (S.D. Cal. 2019)
Federal trial court order denying motion to dismiss lawsuit regarding San Diego’s residential banishment laws, alleging various constitutional violations.
Bostic v. D.C. Housing Authority (D.C. Ct. App. 2017).
District of Columbia Court of Appeals opinion holding that the eviction of an individual who was convicted of a 1982 offense and subject to lifetime registration as a sex offender was proper in that it was not contrary to HUD regulations, and was not otherwise preempted.
Residency Secondary Materials
[Criminal Justice Policy Review] – Sex Offender Residence Restrictions and Homelessness: A Critical Look at South Carolina
Deanna Cann & Deena Scott, Sex Offender Residence Restrictions and Homelessness: A Critical Look at South Carolina, Criminal Justice Policy Review (2019) Abstract Sex offender residence restrictions (SORRs) have been widely implemented across the U …
Residency News
The Marshall Project: When People with Intellectual Disabilities Are Punished, Parents Pay the Price
Carol Nesteikis, 66, has never committed a crime. But for two years, from six in the evening to six in the morning the next day, she lived under de facto house arrest with her 32-year-old son, Adam. It wasn’t because she wanted to. The home itself was a kind of punishment, she says. …
Posted: September 13, 2019The Appeal: The Rise of Registries (Podcast)
Earlier this year, lawmakers in New York proposed a bill that would bar people convicted of multiple sex offenses from ever using New York City’s subway system again. The plan, which would inflict a form of banishment in the name of public safety, is part of a broader pattern. Sex offender registries increasingly include children under the age of 18, and some states permit children as young as 7 to be registered. But a growing body of evidence suggests that our reliance on registries—not just for sex crimes but also for terrorism, gun, and drug offenses—may allow politicians to look like they’re taking action while actually doing little to curb abuse. To discuss the rise of registries, we are joined by Appeal contributor Guy Hamilton-Smith and Elizabeth Letourneau, professor and director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Posted: September 12, 2019The Appeal: People On Sex Offender Registry Should Shelter From Dorian In Jail
For some people convicted of sex crimes in Florida, the only shelter open to them during Hurricane Dorian was the county jail. In some counties, people on the registry were barred from shelters set up for those evacuating, and told to go to separate locations, away from children and other community members. If they attempted to stay with friends or relatives, they faced daunting residency and registration requirements, according to the Florida Action Committee, which advocates for reform of sex offender registry laws. Failure to comply can mean a felony conviction and incarceration. In Osceola County, a separate shelter was set up at the housing agency for “sex offenders,” meaning people on the registry, according to a local news report by WKMG-TV. And in Flagler County, registered sex offenders were directed to go to the sheriff’s office for shelter, according to a WJXT-TV report. The Nassau County Board of Commissioners website advised people on the sex offender registry to seek shelter in the county jail. “It was such a traumatic experience to be incarcerated. I’m not going to subject myself to that voluntarily,” a representative with the Florida Action Committee told The Appeal. “I’d rather tie myself to a tree.” …
Posted: September 4, 2019