Lawsuit challenges sex registry

1-28-2008 Ohio:

A local legal watchdog group has filed a class action lawsuit saying Ohio’s new requirements forcing thousands of sex offenders to register their names and addresses on a public registry for longer than originally told is unconstitutional.

The lawsuit, filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court by the Ohio Justice and Policy Center on behalf of convicted sex offender Jerome Sewell and another unnamed female sex offender, seeks to stop the reclassification.

Last year state lawmakers passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act, a law all states are being asked to implement in a national effort to standardize sex offender registries. The idea behind it is to make communities safer, a premise critics have attacked as false.

The law means as of Jan.1 nearly one third of the state’s 25,000 sex offenders now have to register longer than they had previously thought and in many cases more often.

At least 250 sex offenders in Hamilton County have filed individual complaints. The lawsuit seeks to make a single claim on behalf of all Hamilton County sex offenders.

The case will be heard next month by Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Ethna Cooper.

“The law makes no sense,” said Margie Slagle, Ohio Justice and Policy Center staff attorney. “Labeling thousands as ‘worst of the worst’ offenders dilutes the registry and renders it meaningless to inform the public of the most dangerous sex offenders.”

She called the law “fiscally irresponsible” and “potentially harmful” to the community. ..more.. by SHARON COOLIDGE