As some states reconsider sex-offender registries, an Alabama resident argues the state’s for-life requirements are too much
Note: The McGuire case is in the 11th Circuit, which is the same Federal Appellate Circuit as Florida. A decision in this case will be binding precedent for Florida. It is an important case to follow. The below article will give you some background.
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A lawsuit before a federal appeals court may have broad implications for Alabama’s sex offender laws, which some critics claim are the harshest in the United States.
Montgomery resident Michael McGuire is suing the state of Alabama for relief from the residency restrictions, travel limits, sex offender registration and other punishments that accompany a conviction of a sexual offense. The case is before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
McGuire was convicted of sexual assault in Colorado more than 30 years ago, before many of the modern punishments around sexual crimes were enacted into law, and his argument hinges on constitutional protections against punishments created after a crime is committed.
After serving three years in prison and another on parole, he was released in 1989. He did not find himself in trouble with the law again until 2010, when he moved back to his native Montgomery to be closer to his mother and family.
Upon returning to Alabama, McGuire went to a Montgomery police station to confirm if, as a convicted felon, he was in breach of any state laws. It was at the station he learned he had to register as a sex offender.
He couldn’t live with his wife, mother or brother in Montgomery, because the state required him to stay away from kids, schools and daycares. Soon he was jobless and living under a bridge, with “Criminal Sex Offender” stamped in red letters on his driver’s license.
“He feels like he’s in prison again, a prison without bars,” said Phil Telfeyan, McGuire’s lawyer. “He is restricted where he can live, where he can take jobs. It’s like being a permanent prisoner.”
Alabama’s sex offender laws are among the most stringent in the nation. Home to more than 11,000 registered sex offenders, Alabama is among four states that put sex offenders on a mandatory registry for life and the only state that puts the sex offender stamp on a driver’s license.
And while there’s little sign the state’s voters want to ease up on those restrictions, policymakers in other states are beginning to question whether their registries are doing what they’re intended to do: make the public safer.
“Very few people on the registry are going to commit another offense, and it has nothing to do with the public knowing where they are,” Sandy Rozek, communications director for National Association for Rational Sex Offense Laws, an organization that supports making sex offender registries accessible only to law enforcement.
Critics of registries say they’re based on a flawed perception of how often sex offenders reoffend and where they come into contact with their victims.
“They’re kind of ‘feel good’ laws,” said Emily Horowitz, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at St. Francis College in New York. “We’re all deeply disturbed when harm is done, especially sexual harm, and they came out of emotionally charged, high profile instances.”
She pointed specifically to a study by Ira Mark Ellman, a professor of psychology and law at Arizona State University, and Tara Ellman, who looked at sex offender recidivism in their 2015 study “Frightening and High.” They found the most common statistic, that up to 80 percent of sex offenders reoffend, is a baseless accusation that has been repeated to the point of being held as fact, even by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The likelihood of re-offense declines for each year after release without a new sex offense, even for offenders initially considered at the highest risk to re-offend,” the Ellmans wrote in their study.
Horowitz said that 95 percent of children who are sexually abused are hurt by someone they already know, making these lists highly unnecessary.
“They also destroy lives of people who served their time, were sentenced and are trying to get their lives together,”Horowitz said. “I’m not against punishment, but registries are like banishment, it’s beyond punishment. It’s forever.”
Only California, South Carolina and Florida also require permanent registry for every sex offense, and California is moving towards a tiered system that would allow those at a low risk for recidivism to have their names removed from the public registry if they remain offense-free for 10 or 20 years, depending on their crime.
“The state’s sex offender registry has lost significant value over time because it contains so many low-risk offenders with decades-old offenses,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in an emailed statement. “Our bill will improve public safety by creating a tiered system that will allow investigators to focus on those offenders who pose the greatest risk.”
Alabama is not the only state that puts “sex offender” on drivers licensed. Florida requires it also. It is very important that all details of a story like this are accurate.
Louisiana puts in red letter sex offender on drivers license and you must also have a state Id marked that way.. both are only good for 1 year, so you pay 4 times as much as another resident
Florida doesn’t put “sex offender” on the DL, it puts the state statute of the offense in the bottom right corner of the DL. That’s actually better than Alabama because if someone doesn’t know that the stamp is a Florida statute and that it is on there because the person is a SO, then it is meaningless to them. I believe most people won’t even see it. Having “sex offender” stamped on a DL is obvious what it is and there is no way to hide it.
WHL, I wish that were true and it used to be, but now it is written out in blue letters at the bottom right hand corner of the front of the drivers license. When just the statute number was on the license that meant it was there only for law enforcement purposes but when they started writing it out it became a way of inflicting additional punishment…sort of a DL ‘scarlet letter’.
When did they start that? I have to renew my license in 2 years and the last thing I want to see is that across the bottom of my license. I agree with you that the sole purpose is for further punishment through shaming. I cannot wait to leave this draconian state; our state government reminds me of the old Roman empire during the gospel era.
Last time I checked it was only predators that’s named on florida license
You are correct. Those designated “predators” say “Sexual Predator” on the bottom right corner of their drivers licenses or state-issued ID. Those deemed “offenders” have the statute number at the same position (by now most know what that means anyhow).
They started about two years ago. My situation involved my daughter in 1999 in Virginia. We have since made up and get along just fine. However, when I moved to Florida in 2003 to help my mother and ailing father I was declared a ‘sexual predator’ because of the case in Virginia…where I was not considered a predator. When I got my renewed license about two years ago, the statute number had been replaced with “Sexual Predator”. It’s crazy but what else can you expect in Florida. I built my retirement home in Florida and after 29 years of serving my country I’ll be ‘damned’ if I’m going to let some ‘two bit’ bureaucrats run me out of my home.
I don’t think that is entirely correct, Florida only puts or spells out sexual predator for those designated as a “sexual predator”. For those designated as a “sexual offender”, they still put the FL statute. You can read it on the FDLE website on the registration requirements section, under general requirements –
#3 drivers license.
It is the FDLE 2017 update.
I also would like to know when that started? I was under the impression it was only the statute number?
This is definitely the case to follow as you mentioned since the impact will affect Florida. This may very well replicate or recreate a Snyder case. The plaintiff is challenging everything as it seems.
Not sure who the attorneys are, but hopefully they can cite the Snyder case in their arguments. Nevertheless, I would think the 11th circuit is already aware of the Snyder case at this point.
The 11th circuit is fully aware of the Snyder case and has been influenced by that ruling made by its sister court (the 6th circuit). As a matter of fact, it even cited the Snyder case when they reversed the FL district court’s dismissal of does v. Miami Dade dealing with residency restrictions. But, I will still include it in the case argument for this McGuire case and make sure to let the 11th circuit, that they have already cited it in a former decision here in FL. These cases are far too important not to include these details, even if they seem repetitive. Nothing should be left out. Not when people’s violated lives and freedoms are at stake here.
This is a source of ‘worldly’ hope in a world where ‘do-gooder’ politicians and their cohorts feel no compulsion to follow the Constitution. They willingly ignore facts and let emotion and paranoia guide their decision making process. Very few ex-sex offenders are proud of their actions and just want a chance to prove that they are better citizens, spouses, parents, and neighbors than the media espouses. I truly hope that the court will start our nation and Florida back onto the ‘road’ to common sense and justice. It’s time to stop destroying families over one’s past failures.
That would be great if they pressed florida to follow suit with other states. I’m at 7 years since and a very low offense. I could actually move back with my wife without having to sell my home of 20yrs.