SORN Cases
Mathews v. Becerra (Cal. 2019)
California Supreme Court Opinion holding that a lawsuit brought by therapists challenging a state law that mandated reporting to authorities whenever a client disclosed viewing illegal images to them stated a cognizable privacy claim under the California state constitution.
McClernon v. State (Ind. Ct. App. 2019)
Indiana Court of Appeals finding that a statute that requires people compelled to register to submit information on vehicles they operate “on a regular basis” was not void for vagueness.
State v. Jackson (Wis. Ct. App. 2019)
Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinion finding that state statute that required disclosure of internet identifiers was not facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
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
The Appeal: What Is The Purpose of Sex Offense Registries?
By Sarah Lustbader | December 10th, 2019 Two days ago, the Union-Recorder in Georgia published a bizarre editorial. The editorial board noted that the state’s sex offender registry system drives people into homelessness and deprived them of counseling …
Posted: December 14, 2019The Philadelphia Inquirer: Sex offender registry law in Pa. facing life-or-death test at Supreme Court
By Angela Couloumbis | December 5th, 2019 The landmark Pennsylvania law that for nearly a quarter of a century has required a public registry of sex offenders and community notification about their whereabouts is facing a life-or-death challenge before …
Posted: December 5, 2019NJ.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, 2019