NJ- NJ Appeals court dumps town laws limiting sex offenders

Appeals Court Decision is here:

7-15-2008 New Jersey:

NEWARK, N.J. - New Jersey towns cannot ban sex offenders from living near parks and other places where children gather, a state appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The three-judge panel found that New Jersey's Megan's Law was "pervasive and comprehensive" and should be the only law governing how sex offenders are treated.

The court rejected laws in two New Jersey towns that placed tight restrictions on where sex offenders could live.

"The ordinances interfere with and frustrate the purposes and operation of the statewide scheme," Appellate Judge Joseph F. Lisa wrote for the court in a 42-page decision.

The ruling upheld findings by judges who invalidated ordinances in Cherry Hill and Galloway townships. Those laws banned adults convicted of sex offenses against a child from living within 2,500 feet of any school, park, playground, church or other place "where children might congregate."

Dozens of similar laws have been enacted in other New Jersey towns. Those would also be at risk if the latest ruling stands.

Some other states have enacted residency rules, but New Jersey's Megan's Law does not directly address that issue, and many question whether a statewide rule would be workable in New Jersey.

Cherry Hill Mayor Bernie Platt was considering whether to appeal the ruling and maintained that the ordinance "is valuable to our community," spokesman Dan Keashen said.

A message seeking comment from officials Galloway was not immediately returned.

The ruling was applauded by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Megan's Law is already accepted as constitutional and as the state's comprehensive approach to sex offenders. The residency requirements do not contribute to rehabilitation and may in fact undermine it," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the state chapter.

However, Richard D. Pompelio, a lawyer for the New Jersey Crime Victims' Law Center who had urged the court to uphold the ordinances, said he hopes the towns appeal.

He questioned how New Jersey's Megan's Law was pre-empted because it does not impose residency restrictions.

New Jersey's tradition of allowing "home rule" by its 566 municipalities favors allowing towns to impose their own rules, Pompelio said. And because some towns are small, and some are large, no state law restricting residency would be workable in all of them, he said.

State Public Defender Yvonne Smith Segars, who urged the appeals court to strike down the laws, agreed that a state law would be unworkable, especially in urban areas, because "everything is within 10 feet of everything."

"You can't impose unrealistic burdens on people and expect them to reintegrate. They paid their debt to society and are under supervision," Segars said.

The appellate panel says it did not have to decide constitutional issues because state law pre-empted the local laws.

The Cherry Hill law was challenged by two sex offenders convicted of violating the law after being placed in a motel by welfare officers with the approval of their probation and parole officers. The two men were considered moderate risks of committing another sex offense.

A 20-year-old college freshman at Richard Stockton College, in Galloway Township, challenged the law there after moving into a dormitory on campus. The student was considered a low-risk sex offender for an offense he committed when he was 15 against a 13-year-old girl.

Calls to their lawyers were not immediately returned.

The three men were among about 11,000 sex offenders registered in New Jersey, the first state to enact a Megan's Law. It was passed after a 7-year-old Hamilton Township girl, Megan Kanka, was killed in 1994 by a sex offender who lived in her neighborhood. Similar laws in other states and eventually the nation followed.

In New Jersey, neighbors of high-risk offenders are notified by police. ..News Source.. by JEFFREY GOLD