8th Circuit Deems Failure to Register a “Crime of Moral Turpitude”
The US Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit ruled yesterday that Failure to Register as a Sex Offender constitutes a crime of moral turpitude.
In Bakor v. Barr, the Petitioner, a permanent resident of the United States, challenges his deportation back to his native country. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Attorney General may remove an alien “who at any time after admission is convicted of two or more crimes involving moral turpitude.”
In 2001, Bakor had been charged with Fifth Degree Sexual Assault, which in Minnesota is a misdemeanor punishable up to 1 year in prison and a fine up to $3000. (Since the offense was not a felony, he was not deported). Bakor was required to register as a sex offender because of his offense, In 2015, Bakor failed to comply with registration, after which the Government sought to remove him under the Immigration and Nationality Act, alleging his failure to register constituted his second “crime of moral turpitude”. He appealed his removal.
Unfortunately, the 8th Circuit found that a FTR is a crime of moral turpitude.
The Dissenting opinion, however, did point out that “[their] court is not the first to consider whether a violation of a sex offender registration statute qualifies as a CIMT. Until today, every circuit that has addressed the issue has rejected the BIA’s conclusion and decided that such an offense is not a CIMT. See Mohamed v. Holder, 769 F.3d 885, 889 (4th Cir. 2014); Totimeh v. Att’y Gen., 666 F.3d 109, 116 (3d Cir. 2012); Efagene, 642 F.3d at 926; Plasencia-Ayala v. Mukasey, 516 F.3d 738, 747 (9th Cir. 2008).
Another important point to make is that in Florida (unlike Minn.) FTR is a strict liability offense.
😠 Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t numerous fascist MFs (read: politicians/legislators/lawmakers, judges, prosecutors) stated that the Registry is merely administrative/civil and is not punitive??? This sure as Hell sounds punitive to me!! 😠
David, it depends on who the politicians are trying to appeal to.
I looked up the definitions of ‘moral’ and ‘turpitude’ and here’s what I found…’moral’: dealing with, or capable of distinguishing between right and wrong (adj). ‘turpitude’: baseness; vileness. This comes from Webster’s New World Dictionary.
How can failure to register fit this definition? It looks as though the justice system is grasping for ‘straws’ to justify its actions.
The justice system grasps at straws in everything.
As always only those employed by our government are allowed to commit “crimes of moral turpitude”. Case in point, those judges are employed by our government.
So as I understand it, his original offense didn’t involve enough “moral turpitude” to deport him in the first place, but FTR did? I guess Betty WHite’s portrayal of Minnesotans in the Golden Girls was pretty accurate…
Moral turpitude?
Boy you know the republic is dead when the purveyors of truth hold that refusing to update the governments database registry ( the property’s maintenance) a ” moral crime. ”
The actual moral crime here is clearly the plain indenture of man to machine subservience for life. It is the relative disposition between a humans’ sovereignty and machine that counts.
hmmmmm…sooooo.. failure to registry is a “crime of moral turpitude” ..Failure to register is a crime…I thought registry was civil not penal? If it truly is “not a punishment” then how can it warrant a sentence?
I find it interesting other CCOAs have not reached this conclusion but the opposite of it. Then again, this is the upper Midwest gov’t judicial folks where their definitions of things are different than the rest of society. Wonder if it will be appealed to SCOTUS since there is dissension among the CCOAs, 3rd, 4th, & 9th v 8th. One can only hope.
If there is a circuit split as to whether FTR constitutes moral turpitude, then I can surely see Bakor applying for cert.
So if the requirements of a sex offender registry are merely “ministerial“ in nature, how can Technical violations, in some cases ones that are strict liability offenses, the crimes of moral turpitude? Would it not follow that driving on an expired license would be a crime of moral turpitude or failing to inform the DMV that you had moved. If you are a regular run of the mill “civilian” Who is not required to register?
I guess when I don’t renew my Price Club membership in a timely manner I have committed a crime of moral turpitude.