SORN Cases
People v. Morger (Ill. 2019)
Illinois Supreme Court opinion finding that, as a condition of supervision, a total ban from access to social media websites violates the First Amendment.
People v. Buyund (N.Y. App. Div. 2nd 2019)
New York Supreme Court opinion vacating a requirement that an individual convicted of sexually motivated first-degree burglary be required to register, as registration was not mandated under New York’s statutory scheme.
Jackson v. United States (11th Cir. 2019)
11th Circuit Court of Appeals finding no ineffective assistance of counsel where, despite advice that plea agreement would not require registration as a sex offender, counsel could not have anticipated subsequent changes in the law.
SORN Secondary Materials
Fourth Amendment Constraints on the Technological Monitoring of Convicted Sex Offenders
More than forty U.S. states currently track at least some of their convicted sex offenders using GPS devices. Many offenders will be monitored for life. The burdens and expense of living indefinitely under constant technological monitoring have been well documented, but most commentators have assumed that these burdens were of no constitutional moment because states have characterized such surveillance as “civil” in character — and courts have seemed to agree. In 2015, however, the Supreme Court decided in Grady v. North Carolina that attaching a GPS monitoring device to a person was a Fourth Amendment search, notwithstanding the ostensibly civil character of the surveillance. Grady left open the question whether the search — and the state’s technological monitoring program more generally — was constitutionally reasonable. This Essay considers the doctrine and theory of Fourth Amendment reasonableness as it applies to both current and envisioned sex offender monitoring technologies to evaluate whether the Fourth Amendment may serve as an effective check on post-release monitoring regimes.
Challenging the Punitiveness of ‘New-Generation’ SORN Laws [Law Review]
Sex offender registration and notification (SORN) laws have been in effect nationwide since the 1990s, and publicly available registries today contain information on hundreds of thousands of individuals. To date, most courts, including the Supreme Court in 2003, have concluded that the laws are regulatory, not punitive, in nature, allowing them to be applied retroactively consistent with the Ex Post Facto Clause. Recently, however, several state supreme courts, as well as the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, addressing challenges lodged against new-generation SORN laws of a considerably more onerous and expansive character, have granted relief, concluding that the laws are punitive in effect. This symposium contribution examines these decisions, which are distinct not only for their results, but also for the courts’ decidedly more critical scrutiny of the justifications, purposes, and efficacy of SORN laws. The implications of the latter development in particular could well lay the groundwork for a broader challenge against the laws, including one sounding in substantive due process, which unlike ex post facto-based litigation would affect the viability of SORN vis-à-vis current and future potential registrants.
SORN News
NJ.com — Female juvenile sex offender, abused as a child, challenges law putting her on Megan’s List
By Joe Atmonavege | November 17, 1029 The state’s Public Defender’s office is hoping to join a federal lawsuit that is seeking to eliminate Megan’s Law registration for all juvenile sex offenders in New Jersey, a move the attorneys hope will strengthen …
Posted: November 18, 2019Boston Review: Halloween and Stranger Danger
By Christine Hume | October 31, 2019 Do you believe in the boogeyman? This is the pivotal question of the Halloween movie franchise. The tension around naming the movies’ antagonist foregrounds the problem of seeing him: “it” or “him,” “thing” or “huma …
Posted: November 11, 2019The Outline: What Follows Punishment?
When people convicted of sex offenses in the United States finish their criminal sentences, they generally face a slew of regulations and restrictions — from offender registries to residency restrictions to the possibility of lifelong civil commitment — that leave them isolated, stigmatized, and surveilled. But while Richard knew that living in the free world as a convicted sex offender wouldn’t be easy, nothing prepared him for the reality. …
Posted: September 27, 2019