Experts: Recast sex offender bill unconstitutional

1-30-2013 Indiana:

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Lawmakers working to rewrite an overturned Indiana law that banned sex offenders from social networking sites could still have trouble passing constitutional muster.

Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would reword the law within guidelines set by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The court last week overturned a federal judge's decision upholding the 2008 law, saying the law was too broad.

Constitutional law professor Ruth Robson at the City University of New York said Wednesday that the new version would ban sex offenders from sites like Facebook even if they didn't try to use it to contact a child.

Indiana Public Defender Council Executive Director Larry Landis says the bill mistakenly focuses on which sex offenders are covered rather than how much speech is restricted. ..Source.. by CHARLES WILSON