Massachusetts Knocks Out Residency Restrictions

Another state to defeat municipal sex offender residency restrictions is the State of Massachusetts.

 

 

LYNN — Sex offenders can legally live wherever they choose, according to a court ruling that nullifies the city’s sex offender ordinance.

“A decision came down last week that no city can enforce a sex offender residency requirement,” said city attorney James Lamanna Friday.

Lamanna said the decision stated that because the state has such complex laws regarding sex offenders that only it could approve a residency requirement and thus far it has not done so.

Lynn’s sex offender ordinance had barred any Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender residing in the city from living within 1,000 feet of a school, park or other private or public recreation facility. In 2012 the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of five registered sex offenders challenging the legality of the restriction. At the time there were about 15 Level 3 sex offenders living near a school or park.

Lamanna said letters were drawn up notifying violators they would have to move but when the ACLU filed its suit the letters were put on hold. “So we never enacted the ordinance,” he said.

ACLU officials argued that the restrictions “extend to most of the geographic areas of the city and virtually all of its available housing,” thus putting an unfair burden on the individuals.

ACLU Legal Fellow Miriam Mack said one of the largest flaws in the city’s ordinance and others like it is that it does nothing to protect or prevent. What it does do is drive sex offenders underground, into homelessness or into another community that has yet to establish a sex offender residency requirement, she said.

The state has a comprehensive scheme to track and monitor sex offenders aside from just the registry, she added.

The Sex Offender Registry Board is a state agency that classifies offenders according to risk. A Level 3 sex offender has been classified by the state as most likely to re-offend and most dangerous to the public. A Level 2 is someone with a moderate risk of re-offending.

According to the Lynn Police Department’s website there are currently 88 Level 3 sex offenders registered as living or working in the city of Lynn.

Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said the verdict does not surprise her. When the ordinance was first established she cautioned that it would not hold up to legal scrutiny.

Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi was hopeful in 2012 that the ordinance would hold up in court; now he is frustrated.

“It leaves us to once again rely on our legal department to research and determine what would pass legal muster,” he said. “We have to do everything and anything to protect our children.”

However, Lamanna said there is not much action the council can take unless it decides to file a home rule petition asking the state to allow the ordinance to stand and there is a chance that lawmakers might get involved.

Legislators willing to look at amending state law to allow cities and towns to establish their own residency requirements have approached representatives for the city, Lamanna said.

“They’re not local legislators, but they are interested in making changes,” he said.

Lozzi said he liked the idea of the issue being taken on by the state but he would prefer it if the state would make its own ruling.

“I would encourage the state to do this so we could satisfy that concern but make it more uniform rather than have different communities each have their own rules,” he said. “That way it would pass legal muster with everyone.” ..Source.. by Chris Stevens