State judge questions piling on sex offenses, just because
News abounds of cases where individuals charged with specific criminal activity also see efforts to attach a sex offense charge and regulate the individual through a state run SORNA regime.
In People v. Brown in the state of New York, a defendant was convicted of robbing his aunt in front of his 10 year old niece. The “unlawful imprisonment” aspect of that charge required that Brown also be registered under New York’s SORA (Sex Offense and Registration Act).
There were no disputes about the non-sexual nature of the crime. There were no disputes about the risk of a sex crime being committed by the defendant. Yet, New York SORA still compelled lifetime management of this individual under this regime with no relief. Lower courts saw no room to navigate the grab of the law and a court precedent (People v Knox).
Knox was decided in 2009. The Court indicated today’s awareness of the “loss of liberty” and stigma of being on a registry is substantially different. The Court further cited that being on a registry is a “determination of status that can have a considerable adverse impact of an individual’s ability to live in a community.”
The State of New York Court of Appeals considered this case a violation of due process and vacated the individuals requirement to register. More importantly, the State of New York deemed this ruling “compelling justification” to set a new precedent for this situation moving forward.
Then there is this guy who just made the news for being in prison for 35 years for a sexual assault. He was just found innocent after spending more than half his life locked up.
https://www.aol.com/man-wrongfully-convicted-sexual-assault-203411167.html
Law enforcement doesn’t believe in innocence. They believe in filling jails and making you the judge’s problem.
Ben
Well at least I am glad he got a nice settlement. It won’t give him back his life but I have seen similar situations where someone was released after being found innocent and they got nothing other than an “Oh well, we all make mistakes right?”
I think every law maker should spend a month in prison and see just how dangerous it is. The prisoners these days are so violent that even the guards have been quitting.
The fundamental problem is that legislators are generally not good at writing targeted laws, and prosecutors have too much unchecked power. It is easy to write a law that may emotionally satisfy constituents, but with no regard to unintended consequences. While judges may control the courtroom, prosecutors determine the outcome. Given the highly competitive environment in a district attorney’s office, it is little wonder that some prosecutors ignore the concept of justice.