N.J. bill restricting where sex offenders can live advances

[chanel]

Towns would have the power to ban sex offenders from living near schools and playgrounds under a bill that passed without opposition by the state Senate today.

The senators handed a victory to mayors across the state who had implemented tougher restrictions before they were overturned by the state Supreme Court two years ago.

More than 100 municipalities had bans in place, but the justices struck them down in 2009, saying no state law gave them the authority to decide where sex offenders could live.

The Senate bill (S837) fills in the blanks, letting towns set up 500-foot buffer zones around schools, playgrounds and daycare centers. Everyone convicted of a sex crime would be affected, including juvenile offenders.

N.J. bill restricting where sex offenders can live advances | NJ.com

I'm wondering if they will have to move if they already live there.

Comments?

 

[martybegan]

Towns would have the power to ban sex offenders from living near schools and playgrounds under a bill that passed without opposition by the state Senate today.

The senators handed a victory to mayors across the state who had implemented tougher restrictions before they were overturned by the state Supreme Court two years ago.

More than 100 municipalities had bans in place, but the justices struck them down in 2009, saying no state law gave them the authority to decide where sex offenders could live.

The Senate bill (S837) fills in the blanks, letting towns set up 500-foot buffer zones around schools, playgrounds and daycare centers. Everyone convicted of a sex crime would be affected, including juvenile offenders.

N.J. bill restricting where sex offenders can live advances | NJ.com

I'm wondering if they will have to move if they already live there.

Comments?

Another example of a well intentioned by, basically unworkable law. You can effectively ban a person from living in your town. Also if the scope of the law includes any sex offender, you could theoretically be forced to sell your house if you got caught using a prositute.

If a person has paid thier debt to society, including parole, adding extra stuff, while probably nessasary in some cases, runs into all sorts of consitutional issues.

If we really want to control the worst sex offenders, you have to make the change at the start, in the criminal code and the punishment. Make the punishment X years in prison, followed by X years at a facility that is less prision and more of a colony type place for those we know we can't safely release back to society.

This covers the due process required by the consitution.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Towns would have the power to ban sex offenders from living near schools and playgrounds under a bill that passed without opposition by the state Senate today.

The senators handed a victory to mayors across the state who had implemented tougher restrictions before they were overturned by the state Supreme Court two years ago.

More than 100 municipalities had bans in place, but the justices struck them down in 2009, saying no state law gave them the authority to decide where sex offenders could live.

The Senate bill (S837) fills in the blanks, letting towns set up 500-foot buffer zones around schools, playgrounds and daycare centers. Everyone convicted of a sex crime would be affected, including juvenile offenders.

N.J. bill restricting where sex offenders can live advances | NJ.com

I'm wondering if they will have to move if they already live there.

Comments?

Unconstitutional. Someone that has paid their debt is not supposed to continue to be punished it is illegal. Now if the fact is these people can not function in society then laws need to be changed on how we actually punish them not how we treat them after we let them go.

 

[waltky]

Dey's home countries won't take `em back...

ICE Released 2,837 Convicted Alien Sex Offenders to Comply With Supreme Court Ruling
September 13, 2013 – Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has released 2,837 convicted criminal alien sex offenders back into American communities in order to comply with a Supreme Court decision authored by Clinton-appointed Justice Stephen Breyer, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The 2,837 sex offenders represented five percent of the 59,347 deportable aliens released since last September under the supervision of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to the GAO report, which was released Thursday. “There are circumstances in which criminal aliens who have been ordered removed from the United States – including those convicted of a sex offense – cannot be removed,” the report states. “For example, a criminal alien may not be removed because the designated country will not accept the alien’s return.”

The GAO report refers to the 2001 Supreme Court case Zadvydas v. Davis to explain why ICE is required to release foreigners who have been convicted of sex crimes. In its 5-4 decision, the court ruled that the indefinite detention of removable aliens for greater than six months is unconstitutional unless there is “significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future.” “Freedom from imprisonment lies at the heart of the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause,” Associate Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the majority opinion.

But writing for the minority, Justice Antonin Scalia said: "Insofar as a claimed legal right to release into this country is concerned, an alien under final order of removal stands on an equal footing with an inadmissable alien at the threshold of entry: He has no such right." Justice Anthony Kennedy concurred, noting that "the authority to detain beyond the removal period is to protect the community, not to negotiate the aliens' return... An alien's admission to this country is conditioned upon compliance with our laws, and removal is the consequence of a breach of that understanding."

Of 4,359 sex offenders who were deported during the first eight months of last year, 220 (5 percent) “subsequently returned to the United States and were arrested for another offense,” GAO found. In addition, ICE officials were often unaware of the status of alien sex offenders until they “ended up back in the state criminal justice system,” GAO noted. About five percent of released aliens did not register as sex offenders as required by federal law. “The risk that alien sex offenders will reside in U.S. communities without being registered is increased,” the GAO concluded.

Source

 

[S.J.]

So, they get in their car and drive (or walk) the 500 feet to the playground. This law isn't gonna stop any crimes.

 

[RoadVirus]

I have a simplier solution: Automatic death penalty for sex offenders. Saves money on incarceration and resources used when they are released.