"Sex-offender law unfairly restrictive"

November 21, 2008 |
Valor

The San Francisco Chronicle reported today that the Fourth Court of Appeal in Santa Ana issued a ruling on Proposition 83, Jessica’s Law. The ruling is a first “by a California court to find that the residency restrictions in Proposition 83, a November 2006 initiative, are not just public safety measures but also would punish ex-offenders by forcing them out of their homes.” In addition, the court said Jessica’s Law imposes “traditional banishment under another name.”
The court’s ruling will leave the law in effect, but “could limit its application. The U.S. Constitution forbids laws that retroactively impose criminal penalties or increase punishment for past offenses.”
Jessica’s Law, is a “voter-approved law prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or a park amounts to additional punishment for the offenders’ original crimes, a state appeals court has ruled in a case that could affect thousands of parolees.”
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