WV: New law requires registrants to pay annual fee
A new law going into effect in West Virginia this week requires people on the sex offender registry to pay an annual fee of $125. The law, which can be found here, will hopefully be challenged.
Since the registry is supposed to be non-punitive, it is questionable whether a fee imposed as part of a criminal sentence or as a consequence of a criminal conviction can be considered anything but a punishment.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Only the people who use the registry should be forced to pay registry fees
Well for those situations, Martin County Florida has now started charging $10 fee. Can you pay with a credit card service? It was like $11.25 which the sheriff had asked the county commission to approve to offset the expenses of the registration on my cell can afford to pay the $11.25. I know there are some that may not be able to so I have a concern about constitutional rights again in the way the state of Florida is handling these issues and I get it. It’s hard for the lawyers to step up and defend us at some point somebody else say the constitution is the constitution
Larry
Paying fees to register is the exact thing we had to do on probation. It is NOT and administrative fee because we owe the sheriff’s office nothing. We are NOT on probation (Those that are not) and most of us were retroactively applied to the registry.
Is there no end on what they can do to people on the registry? And the registry did not have these fees mentioned in the original plan but started being applied retroactively years later. Calling it an administrative fee doesn’t make it constitutional (In my understanding). Hey, let’s start charging a fee to families whose loved ones died on the registry. That way the families can be punished as well, that’s fair right? And if they don’t pay up, they can be sent to a maximum-security prison.
Anyone who doesn’t follow what I am saying, this is the insanity we go through each new law makers sessions. But as we all know, many who come on here praise anything that can done to us for punishment, even well after we have served our time.
People dislike sex predators primarily because their actions cause severe harm, trauma, and lasting damage to victims, and they violate fundamental societal norms about consent, safety, and respect for others, especially children. Sex predators exploit vulnerabilities and betray the trust placed in them by victims, often targeting those who are dependent or in positions of less power. This betrayal of trust undermines the sense of safety and security that individuals should be able to expect in their communities and relationships. Hope that answers your question Cherokee
Nancy
The issue at hand is the registry. The registry doesn’t protect children. The majority of sex crimes are committed committed by people not on the registry. Not all sex crimes have physical victims. Not everyone on the registry is a predator. Murder has no equivalent registry. Yes, there is the death penalty. But only for a few.
Banishment, and some of the other restrictions placed on registrants doesn’t fix the issue. We don’t place enough emphasis on healing victims.
@Bwj
Well written reply.
Also, not everyone on the registry labeled as a predator is actually a predator, but only labeled one because the state law requires it according to the crime.
Some people have to register for life because 19 year od boy (a) had consentual sex with 15 year old girl (a).
DVC, I have to register because I missed the romeo and juliet by one month. I just turned 20 and my girlfriend was 1 month away from her 16th birthday 😢
Nancy, your reply describes about 5% of people on the registry and doesn’t address the topic of why punishments and fees are added every year to the registry without justification.
Anon
Just keep paying fees
Or why in West Virginia the fees Don’t go towards the maintenance of the registry. They go to law enforcement for their benefit.
Actually, failing to pay your yearly $150 here in Tennessee is a violation and will result, for the first offense 30 days in the poky. Second violation it’s 90 days in the poky and a third offense is 5 years in prison. Yep, it’s the law here in TN whether or not it is considered punishment or not … though I too would like to see it go by the wayside along with the Registry. Just part of the Borg Continuum … Resistance is Futile.
The CAC( Council Accountability Center) has also filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States on June 30,2025 supporting Ellingsworth that any form of restitution has been held as punitive for thousands of years.
https://www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/ellingburg-v-united-states/
It is a horrible attrocity that now we have lawyers and even judges that take what is written so clear and throw argumentative speculation or ‘mumbo-jumbo mud’ into the water and then say ” Look, it isn’t as clear as it is written”.
Correction:
The CAC is the ‘Constitutional Accountabilty Center’.
DVC
You mean the same way many judges state, “The registry is not punishment”, knowing damn well it is the epitome of punishment.
Even Satan himself knows it’s punishment but am sure he is happy that it is.
There was an article a year or so ago someone wrote on FAC stating a judge somewhere ruled the registry punishment. Well, what ever came of that?