Less than 10 years after many cities rushed to draw restrictions and boundaries on where registered sex offenders could live, the trend is now reversing after a court case ruled one city's restrictions in conflict of state interests.
Englewood's 2006 ordinance restricting where sex offenders can live "impermissibly conflicts with the application and effectuation of the state interest in the uniform treatment, management, rehabilitation and reintegration of sex offenders," wrote U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson in his order.
The order was published in August after a lawsuit on behalf of a sex offender who bought a house in Englewood. The order states that restrictive "not in my backyard ordinances" can have a domino effect, eventually forbidding any sex offenders from living anywhere in Colorado.
The Englewood city ordinance stated that sex offenders convicted of a felony had to be at least 2,000 feet away from schools, parks and playgrounds and at least 1,000 feet away from any day care, recreation center or public swimming pool.
In the city of almost 7 square miles, that made 99 percent of the city's residences off limits.
"Our ordinance was not changed. It's essentially unenforceable now," said Michael Flaherty, Englewood's deputy city manager.
Hoping to avoid a similar lawsuit, Greeley changed its rules in February to scale back on some restrictions.
On Monday, Commerce City has a second-reading vote to approve a new ordinance.
Greenwood Village, among the first to enact restrictions and the basis for Englewood's laws, is waiting to see how the Englewood case plays out in court.
Flaherty said Englewood filed an appeal in September and also has asked the Colorado Supreme Court to advise the appeals court. The court responded last month, accepting the case.
The lawsuit against the city was filed when Stephen Brett Ryals, who bought a house in Englewood with his wife, was later told he couldn't live there.
The same thing happened later to another man in Commerce City.
"We didn't know whether we wanted to wait or whether we wanted to change the ordinance, so we worked with the ACLU," Commerce City Deputy City Attorney Karen Stevens said.
The American Civil Liberties Union had stepped in to help the men in both cases, and provided studies and resources for Commerce City as city officials drafted the new ordinance that council is expected to approve Monday.
As part of the changes, Commerce City now will have an application process for sex offenders who aren't sexually violent predators to seek exception from the rules. Officials would evaluate the request and the public safety threat on a case-by-case basis. ..Source.. by Yesenia Robles
No comments:
Post a Comment