Civil rights attorneys Mark Weinberg and Adele Nicholas are on a path to restore constitutionality to Wisconsin by knocking out sex offender residency restrictions (SORRs).
The two attorneys last week filed a federal lawsuit against Kenosha, Waukesha, Yorkville and Milwaukee challenging the constitutionality of their municipal laws that restrict where those registered as sex offenders can go. Fueled by their recent wins in Kenosha County and Pleasant Prairie, where judges ruled the SORRs unconstitutional, they are not stopping.
SORRs have been widely proven ineffective by social scientists and experts on sex offender recidivism. In fact, studies have demonstrated them to be counter-productive. From a legal perspective, the lawsuit argues that the exclusion zones constitute banishment, and banishment is unconstitutional. Further, they also violate “the ex post facto clause of the constitution which basically says governments can’t retroactively impose new punishments for past crimes.”
A local news affiliate, Fox6 found that there are fewer than 60 addresses in the city of Milawukee where a sex offender looking for housing can live — and all of them our single family homes, way beyond the financial reach of most registrants.
The Florida Action Committee sends our appreciation and support to Mark Weinberg and Adele Nicholas for doing such a great job fighting for the constitutional rights of ALL INDIVIDUALS and making Wisconsin a safer place!
When they’re finished up there, we should hire them to come down here and do the same for us!
AGREED!
Many thanks to those who fight for the Constitution and civil common sense. If passing more and more laws was the solution to the problem this would be the safest country in the world. What we need is not more laws and restrictions, but moral leadership on the part of our leaders…leadership that strives to reinstall Christian moral values…and ,yes, even forgiveness and restoration if at all possible. For some politicians it is just looking for an easy mark, writing another law with no factual backup, and then claiming they are making our communities safer. How’s that working out. RSO’s are the least of our problems.