MLM Counties News. Notices. Need-to-know Information.
A defendant convicted of drug trafficking could be required to register as a sex offender based on a rape conviction 20 years before the enactment of the federal sex offender registration statute, the 11th Circuit has ruled in affirming judgment.
Congress enacted the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) in 2006. The statute generally requires criminals who have been convicted of a sex offense to register with local authorities as sex offenders.
In this case, the defendant was convicted of drug trafficking in 2009. In sentencing, the trial judge required that he register as a sex offender under SORNA as a condition of supervised release. The registration requirement was based on a 1987 rape conviction in Alabama.
The defendant argued that application of SORNA to him violated the Ex Post Facto Clause.
But the court decided this month that SORNA’s registration requirement is civil in nature for ex post facto purposes and, therefore, there was no constitutional violation of the defendant’s rights.
The court explained that “when it enacted SORNA Congress did not intend to impose additional punishment for past sex offenses but instead wanted to put into place a civil and non-punitive regulatory scheme. Given that intent, the question under [U.S. Supreme Court precedent] is whether there is ‘the clearest proof’ that SORNA is so punitive in effect, as applied to those convicted of sex offenses under [state law], as to negate the intention that it be a civil regulatory statute. …
“That ‘clearest proof’ is lacking, as our application of the [Supreme Court’s] guideposts makes clear. Therefore, we reject [the defendant’s] ex post facto attack on SORNA’s application to him.”
The case is U.S. v. W.B.H., No. 09-13435.
present it to the Court, and force the Court, on the record, to acknowledge his vocal claim the Sexual Offender Statute is “arbitrary and capricious” and “creates an arbitrary class of persons” in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
I would beg anyone and everyone who believes that sex offender registration is NOT punitive in nature to do any one of the several hundred acts that will require you to register as a sex offender before you express an opinion as to whether it is or not. You don’t have to molest anyone. Just urinate in public where you might be seen, or “flash” or “moon” someone, or, if you are 18 or 19 and have a girlfriend 2 or 3 years younger, just grope her butt in public, or if you have a child you are willing to sacrifice to the cause of determining the truth, have him or her play “doctor” with a friend a year or two younger. Once on the registry, give it a few months; then you will be able to accurately judge the issue.
Lawyers, bleed em and plead em. That’s about all you can expect from one these days. If these laws affect you. You need to get your behind on a computer and study law. There is NO one that has your best interest in hand when it comes to S.O.’s. Most people have no idea these laws are “for profit’ created, designed, passed with the intent “for profit” for all involved. All under the disguise of (to protect the children). If the people were so interested in that protection, why would they over look the 1500 + children that DIE each and every year in the U.S. at the hands of their parents? Look it up. Your sitting in front of a computer. Why are the 40 a year that die from the hands of a stranger/sex offender more important than the other 1500? It’s simple, they can’t PROFIT from that bunch other wise you wouldn’t hear the end of it. As of now, you hardly hear about them at all. Go figure!
Also ignored, Mr. Alan, are the child victims of over 90% of the sexual abuse of children, that committed by those in the circle of family and family acquaintances and friends. No one is proposing legislation intended to protect them. No one is screaming and yelling that some money be spent to put some programs in place that just might do some good. No one is organizing bike-a-thons for them. Everything is directed, focused, and spent on those on the registry, and they are not who are molesting our kids. I have done the research, and this is most interesting and fits right in with what you have said:
Based on a report from the U.S. Department of Justice, National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children, for the year 2002, 40 children nationwide were taken and killed by definite or probable sex offenders, some registered, some not. 40 is 40 too many, but that same year
1296 children were shot by someone else
145 were stabbed to death
89 were strangled
37 were burned alive
17 were poisoned.
The greatest majority of the above deaths were committed by family, usually parents.
603 shot themselves
559 hanged themselves
6132 were killed in traffic accidents.
So, in 2002,
Your child was 1500% more likely to shoot himself than be killed by a sex offender.
Your child was 3200% more likely to be murdered by firearm by you than by a sex offender.
Your child was 15,300% more likely to be killed in a car crash than snatched and killed by a sex offender.
( http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/comments/view?f=/c/a/2010/08/01/MNGO1EM09T.DTL#ixzz0wJlEPL9G)