CO: Lifetime sex offender registration not ‘punishment,’ for Sexually Violent Predators Colorado justices say
The Colorado Supreme Court concluded on Monday that lifetime sex offender registration is not cruel and unusual punishment because it is not “punishment.”
At the same time, two members urged lawmakers to heed the advice of the Sex Offender Management Board and adopt a new, more accurate system of measuring a person’s risk of recidivism. Under Colorado law, “sexually violent predators” are subject to lifetime sex offender registration. To qualify, they must be 18 years or older, convicted of certain offenses, commit the offense against certain types of people and, finally, be “likely to subsequently commit one or more” sexual offenses. Although the legislature has not deemed lifetime registration to be “punishment,” Colorado’s justices were confronted with the question of whether lifetime registration still exhibits clear hallmarks of punishment. No, they concluded.
The legal requirement to notify the community about sexually violent predators and the difficulty finding employment or housing, wrote Justice Brian D. Boatright, do not transform lifetime registration into punishment. “Public shaming is typically understood to involve confrontation that is both ‘direct’ and ‘face-to-face,’ yet nothing in the community notification statute mandates such face-to-face confrontation,” he wrote in the April 27 opinion. “Additionally, any shaming that occurs via ‘vitriol and threats’ in the comment sections of social media posts is not government sponsored.”
Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez wrote separately for herself and Gabriel, observing the Sex Offender Management Board has warned the legislature that the tool used to designate someone a sexually violent predator does not do “a good job of accurate assessment of risk to reoffend.” The board also cautioned that mislabeling someone as high-risk can lead to unnecessary marginalization.
“I respectfully urge the legislature to review the relevant research and consider whether the SVP designation continues to serve its intended purpose,” she wrote.
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Yes it’s not punishment, unless you are on it, then it is….
Rick
This is the official meaning of punishment from webster dictionary.
“The infliction or imposition of a restriction, financial penalty, form of suffering, or other undesired consequence for an offence:”
After reading that, how can anyone state that the registry is not punishment. And if it is not punishment, why are we on it for life? Is the Mafia running the darn thing? We can get out of jail or prison, can get off house arrest and probation, but can’t get off the registry?
And what about that clause, “Cruel and unusual punishment”? Unusual because no other crime in the U.S puts people on a lifetime registry with no path to be removed, in some instances, even if you die it doesn’t go away.
It is punishment because it is based exclusively on the conviction of the actions that caused that conviction. What is worse, even after 10 years one is not the same person. How can one still be labeled this if that person can demonstrate that label no longer applies?
Any rules handed down by a court as a result of a criminal sentencing, particularly those that will never be lifted and any violation therof has a high likelihood of imprisonment is basically the definition of being “under supervision.” If someone is under supervision of law enforcement or the state under penalty of imprisonment is serving a sentence. I suppose that technically, if you’re no longer on probation, it would constitute parole in some manner of that definition. This becomes more true if you’re required to have GPS monitoring even after your sentence is completed. It’s a lifetime sentence, folks. These arguments need to make their way in front of juries, not judges.
As long as the supreme court(s) (State or federal) continue to ignore that the registry, is in fact punishment, they can get away with just about any so-called non punishments. This includes new ideas, factors and or other restrictions we have to absorb at each new law makers sessions.
Don’t they have something better to do to make America better for “Everyone” and not pick on just us as their personal punching bags. It may take a judge or law makers kid or family member to get on the registry for change to happen. However, we also know they would probably find some kind of loophole for their loved one to be exempted and swept under the rug.
Let’s put the label on all these judges for awhile and let them experience the consequences they continue to support and see how they think about it. These judges are failing because they refuse to see this from a different perspective or put the brain power into the issue.
if it is anything like Florida where anything is a felony how can it not be cruel as a person with dementia or Alzheimer’s that is bound to forget some tiny little thing goes to prison how is that not cruel or someone that lost mobility and making them go to the police to tell them im here, etc… causing pain and suffering how is that not cruel i guess someday the Governments will have to pay out to the family’s that these cruel laws brought harm and suffering to!