Indiana Bill Would Violate the Constitution
The right to travel is a part of the ‘liberty’ of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment.
Indiana House Bill 1687 proposes that if a sex offender wants to move to another county, the supervising court in the transferring county has to issue an order authorizing the move and the supervising judge in the receiving county must issue an order approving the transfer. The receiving county judge has to explicitly agree to accept the sexual or violent offender in the community. The Bill recently passed out of the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee 13-0 and out of the full House 95-0.
FAC reminds our members and readers of our forum who reside in Indiana to contact their
Legislators and oppose this bill.
Thank you!
I don’t disagree. I’m merely ignorant of any right to travel in the Constitution. The term “liberty” is open to interpretation as to its extent. Does anyone have a reference to a Supreme Court decision that covers the constitutional right to travel? The requirement that judges on both ends must approve the transfer is virtually the same as for a felon on federal supervised release moving between states. Supervised release is imposed as part of punishment imposed by a court for a crime. Certainly this requirement applies only to those on probation or parole and not merely to registrants, which is a civil regulatory matter; at least, that is my hope. In any case, this is an abomination.
Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618 (1969).
The Court stated that the right to travel encompasses the freedom to move between states and to establish residency in a new state without facing penalties or restrictions.