The Dobbs Wire: New SORNA regulations issued – effective Jan. 7, 2022
Headsup! New SORNA regulations were issued today â take effect Jan. 7, 2022. They will impact everybody on a sex offense registry.
In the last months of the Trump administration the Department of Justice (DOJ) suddenly issued draft regulations under the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).  The draft regulations were published as required and hundreds of comments received.  After the comment period ended there was no response from the government. The silence continued as Trump exited and Biden took office. Any hopes that Biden might simply do nothing and leave the regulations in limbo evaporated. Todayâs Federal Register has the finalized regulations. Theyâre lengthy and complicated, lots of questions as to what they mean and how they will be enforced. Without a doubt these federal regulations will make life even more hellish for the hundreds of thousands (900,000+ in 2018 according to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) listed on state sex offense registries –counting their families and significant others, several million people will be impacted. While the states are at the center of registration matters, these changes expand the responsibilities that registrants have under federal law, creating more trip wires and opportunities for prosecution. The screws are being tightened, again. The existing registry regime has produced no benefit to public safety. A more draconian regime will not change that.  As of 2021 every state has had a registry for 25 years. Thereâs still no coherent cry to get rid of these ineffective, destructive laws. I hope these SORNA changes will bring more people into this fight.
The regulations are linked below as published in the Federal Register. Theyâre online here:
Registration Requirements Under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (OAG 157; RIN 1105-AB52)
Also attached is a letter from Daniel Hansmeier, Appellate Chief of the Kansas Federal Public Defender to the Department of Justice that gives perspective on the changes. Excerpt: âThe proposed rule defines crimes Congress never envisioned. It seeks to punish offenders who are plainly compliant with SORNA. The regulations do not interpret SORNA; they expand SORNA by defining lawful acts (or impossible acts) as crimes.â
Bill Dobbs, Publisher The Dobbs Wire info@thedobbswire.com 85 Fed. Reg. 49332 - FPD Comment 2021-26420
Sorry little confused how this will work but Iâm level 1 New York do not show up online will this change the New York State registry will they have to follow this ? Will it affect my level on the new York registry? And can a state choose not to follow this?
I thought the state of Kansas did a decent job of explaining some of the problems with the registry but the federal response didnât even touch on some . Like the use of the term sex offender . Instead of changing anything they only added more mumbo jumbo to the already smorgasbord of garbage. Making it even more difficult to understand and impossible to follow.
In fact they made it so complicated I doubt any that voted to pass this even read it ,or if they did couldnât understand it ,so just passed it so someone else wouldnât accuse them of being ignorant.
Another problem that was not even addressed was that each state has there own interpretation of who is included in each of the tiers.
I was a tier one in Kansas but moved to Missouri and according to there definition of the tiers I âm a tier 2. So what the Hell. Was removed from the registry in Kansas in 2007 but living in Missouri now I m on year 25 and will apply for removal soon ,if they donât change laws again. Each state takes the federal laws on the registry and try to change it to there own liking with no consideration as to the difficulty this will make for the register or law enforcement to even be able to understand or follow the requirements.
Also question on the timeline on the tiers. Is there start from the time of offense or time of conviction? Or does this change from state to state too?
A couple things with this.
1). The Michigan 6th circuit Wilman case couldâve been easily avoided. Yes, many Registrants in Michigan were upset because they didnât get immediately removed. However, The MI ACLU explicitly warned Registrants not to submit individual petitions, because it could cause terrible precedent. Because of the guy that appealed with the 6th Circuit, this court decision in Wilmer was mainly relied on by the AG in these new rules. Just think, what all would he have to go on if it wasnât for that case?? The MI ACLU even pleaded with the defendant and his attorney to NOT do it! They even wrote a brief to the 6th circuit saying to disregard his case, because they knew this would happen. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WITH BEING HARD-HEADED! To all those in Michigan who was upset(rightfully so), that you didnât get removed, you now are stuck in regards to SORNA for life!
2). The Assistant AG(no, it wasnât Merrick) who revised these new updated regulations, quoted Justice Scaliaâs dissent in Reynolds vs the US in that SORNA applied to pre-act offenders, but yet, he failed to quote Justice Goursh dissent in Gundy (which was much more RECENT
.. 10 years later), that the AG should NOT have this type of power to decide who SORNA applies to. The legislature NEVER said it applies to Pre-Act offenders. How does a prosecutor get to add additional retroactive conditions not agreed to in the initial plea deal. If thatâs the case, can we withdraw our pleas and go to trial??
2). The AG addressed a lot of the comments that was submitted. I will give him that. If you look at it, he did address the comments. He also left out an important one that was submitted multiple times, which is, SORNA should be based on an actual CONVICTION, and NOT a PLEA of guilty. I know a plea would apply to Aliens when it pertains to deportation, but should NOT to US CITIZENS. Expungements, set asides, and deferred judgements, and
Sealed records should NOT be included in the definition of conviction, especially if the STATE does not make those with this type to register. I know Florida and Texas makes defendants still register, but please be aware, that there are many states that DO NOT! The US Supreme COURT has NOT ruled that this is acceptable!
Wouldnât it be possible for someone in the 6th circuit to sue the feds for ex-post facto violation s? Since theyâve already won in that circuit wouldnât it negate the ex-post facto aspects of a national registry for that circuit also?
ACSOL expects to prepare a legal challenge, according to their website.
So much for chipping away at this monstrous piece of sh!t registry. All this falls with one swoop of a pen. Their reasoning for each criticism of different aspects of the registry borders on laughable. Going one case at a time, reasoning with the media and reaching out to the public is a waste of time.
Hard for me to understand, in the day of instant communication, why attorneys cannot reach out to other constitutional attorneys and attack this head on. I am sure there has to be at least 3 or 4 thousand lawyers and appellate lawyers you can recruit and they share all the same concerns about the constitutionality of a good portion of the registry. Could it be that it would take a steady flow of revenue from them????
It seems like the constant attacking of the judicial branch has finally weakened the spineless judges nationwide. In effect, they have given up their equal third of power granted in the constitution. Very sad to see this.
The next step should be a full on attack at the same times from attorneys all over the country at the very core of the registry.
I am a tier 3 in the state of Missouri without a conviction. My inappropriate touch was 1993….recieved 2 years probation and raised my daughter (victim), their term not hers. Something is fundamentally wrong with this scenario. To put it mildly, I am sick of this bullsh!t.
Do the rules appear to say that you are “prptected” if the state in whihc you reside does not have a setup to do some things? I am thinking about say Vermont or Georgia where they technically have no way to register you if there if you are no longer on their registry. Likewise, I appears that it might be a legal impossibility to register your internet adresses/names in a state that does not require that. Their still doesn’t appear to be a “Federal sex offender registry” for state convictions. The “national” registry is still populated mostly by information provided by the states. So how would you “federally” register say if you were in Vermont and you qualified for removal 10 years after end of sanctions? I am not even sure how you maitian your registry if you were convicted in Federal, military or Tribal court. I guess you go to the same place where the lowly state offenders have to register. You don’t have to ask to be removed. It is automatic and if you show up from elsewhere and you qualify for removal, you don’t even register. These questions, are relevant because unlike the Great State of DeSantis, the Federal rule makers seemed to have provided for cases of impossibility.