2-16-2009 Massachusetts:
It’s the most sweeping sex offender tracking law in history - and it’s considered virtually illegal by the Bay State’s top court.
The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act - named for the brutally murdered 6-year-old boy whose father became a crusader against predators - was passed by Congress in 2006. More than two years later, there’s been little progress toward one of the law’s landmark provisions: establishing the first-ever national system to keep tabs on those who have committed sexual crimes.
So far, no state has been deemed compliant with that law.
To be sure, adopting the law is complex. It requires instituting a new, uniform federal system for classifying the creepy cons.
But the law would serve a serious purpose: putting states in contact to make it much more difficult for sex offenders to cross state lines and escape the system.
Gov. Deval Patrick’s Executive Office of Public Safety is working with Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office to find a way to institute the new rules in the Bay State. And while officials refused to comment publicly on their struggle to do so - no one wants to be seen as being soft on violent sex fiends - the powers that be privately acknowledge that the law is considered unconstitutional by the Supreme Judicial Court.
The SJC has ruled sex offenders have due process rights and are entitled to a hearing before they are classified by level. But Bay State officials believe that such rulings aren’t compatible with the Adam Walsh Act, which requires “immediate” classification and posting of information about offenders. Instead of the deliberative Sex Offender Registry Board taking into account past offenses and the age of the criminal, the federal law would lump offenders into one of the three tiers based solely upon their type of crime.
States have until July to prove they’re complying with the federal mandate, or they risk losing a portion of federal anti-crime funding. And for their part, Bay State officials insist they’re committed to complying with as much of the law as they can.
But victims’ rights advocates such as Laurie Myers don’t understand why it’s taking so long for the tracking system to get off the ground.
“It seems sex offenders always get the support from people who should be looking out for our interest,” said Myers, a member of the non-profit Community Voices. “Time and time again, sex offenders get breaks in this state. It seems like foot-dragging to me.” ..News Source.. by Jessica Van Sack / The Beat
February 16, 2009
MA- Perv tracking system stumbles in Mass.
February 12, 2009
DE- Del. court upholds offender registry
To say that the Adam Walsh Act does not violate rights is to stick one's head in the sand and ignore the very meaning of the words "further punishments" simply because, as a judge, you can and no one dare question you. Here we see the political decision not any real analysis of the facts as it affects the majority of cases. This case is not a good example of what is wrong with the law, it is clear he skirted the state law and they chose to prosecute him instead under federal law. Obviously because he would get a longer prison sentence which may ultimately bite the state.
2-12-2009 Delaware:
Judge: Adam Walsh Act doesn't violate rights
WILMINGTON -- In a ruling hailed as an "important victory" for advocates and prosecutors, a federal judge in Delaware upheld a federal law designed to track sexual predators through a national registry.
Chief District Judge Gregory M. Sleet dismissed a challenge by convicted pedophile Thomas Pendleton to the 2006 Adam Walsh Act, finding Pendleton's argument that Congress overreached its authority in creating the registry was not persuasive. He also said a criminal case against Pendleton for failing to register should go forward, likely to trial.
The decision is believed to be the first time a court in the third federal circuit, which includes Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has ruled on a constitutional challenge to the registration requirement.
The Adam Walsh Act was named for the son of victim advocate and television host John Walsh, whose son was abducted and murdered 25 years ago. It requires convicted sexual predators to register with local authorities when they move into an area.
Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which helped craft the law with then-Sen. Joe Biden, said Sleet's ruling Tuesday was an "encouraging decision" and "right under the law."
Allen said the law was designed to stop sex offenders who pose a significant threat from traveling between states to evade local registration and notification laws.
Associate Professor Geoff Moulton of Widener University School of Law, said the ruling on this comparatively untested law was, "an important victory both for the [Adam Walsh] law, the Department of Justice and those people who advocated this legislation."
Several federal districts across the country have upheld the act, but at least one federal court in Florida ruled that Congress overreached in creating the registry.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ilana Eisenstein said prosecutors are pleased the ruling "will permit this case to go forward against a serial sex offender."
Assistant Federal Public Defender Eleni Kousoulis, who is defending Pendleton, said the constitutionality of the sex offender registry "is a recurring issue," among federal courts and hasn't been ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court. She said this case is likely to be appealed "if necessary."
Allen described Pendleton, 66, as exactly the type of person the act was designed to stop and the reason why a national registry, not a patchwork of state laws, is needed.
"I don't think I could have written a better example," he said.
Pendleton was arrested in Delaware last year after federal authorities charged that he improperly claimed the state as a permanent address when he had never lived here.
Instead, according to court papers, Pendleton traveled the country after he was expelled from Germany in 2006, after serving an 18-month prison sentence there for the sexual abuse of a minor.
According to attorneys, Pendleton researched his options and decided to claim Delaware as home because of an apparent loophole in the state law that did not require him to register here because his convictions had all been overseas or were more than 15 years old.
Before his conviction in Germany, he was convicted in Latvia in 2001, and served a 3 1/2-year prison sentence there for molesting two boys, ages 9 and 13. Prior to 1993, he had convictions in Michigan and New Jersey.
Delaware legislators have since passed a law designed to close that loophole.
Prosecutors allege that Pendleton, on his return from Germany, traveled through Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan and California, often staying at youth hostels, and failing to register in any of those states.
U.S. marshals picked up Pendleton when he stopped by the false address he claimed as home in Wilmington to pick up his mail.
Pendleton's attorney asked Sleet to toss out the indictment against him, alleging the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act improperly draws its authority from the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, regulating interstate commerce. She said Pendleton's actions had nothing to do with commerce. ..News Source.. by SEAN O'SULLIVAN • The News Journal
September 10, 2008
MT- Federal judges disagree on sex offender registry
9-10-2008 Montana:
Two district judges in Montana have reached opposite conclusions about the constitutionality of a federal law that requires sex offenders to register with local authorities when they move to another state.
District Judge Richard Cebull in Billings ruled Friday that the Adam Walsh Act and the included Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) are constitutional. But District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula ruled in June that the act didn't pass constitutional muster.
The contradictory rulings mean the U.S. 9th Circuit Court will have to resolve the matter.
Montana U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer says his office will continue to prosecute sex offenders who fail to register in the Montana divisions where the act has been ruled constitutional. That includes Billings and Great Falls. No new cases will be brought in Molloy's division in western Montana. ..News Source.. by KX Net.com
