PA- ACLU sues county over sex offender restrictions

10-7-2008 Pennsylvania:

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit over Allegheny County's restrictions on where registered sex offenders are allowed to live.

The American Civil Liberties Union says that the county's ordinance, passed last October, "not only violates sex offenders' constitutional right against increased after-the-fact punishment and other federal and state laws, but that it interferes with Pennsylvania's carefully constructed system for tracking and supervising sex offenders and undermines public safety." The PA Institutional Law Project joined the ACLU in the suit.

The ACLU says in the suit, filed late this afternoon, that "it is believed that, if and when published, the map will reflect that registered sex offenders will not be permitted to live virtually anywhere in the County,including the City of Pittsburgh."

The lawsuit was filed in federal court on behalf of six sex offenders, five who are already living in the county and one who is still in prison because he cannot find a place to live.

The ACLU is seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the ordinance from taking effect. It was supposed to take effect March 1 with the publication of a map showing where the restrictions for sex offenders would be, but that still hasn't happened. It was passed in October 2007.

Allegheny County has not yet responded to a message seeking comment. ..News Source.. by Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette