The Liberty Bell, also known as the Pennsylvania State House bell, is one of history’s most famous symbols of freedom and justice. This month, freedom and justice were restored for Pre-SORNA registrants nationwide, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that registration requirements cannot be applied retroactively not only to people whose offense occurred in Pennsylvania (as had previously been determined in Commonwealth v. Muniz), but cannot be applied retroactively against people whose offense occurred anywhere and moved to Pennsylvania.

A footnote to the case spells it out perfectly, “What is at the heart of this case is the question of whether Muniz applies equally to Santana. As outlined above, on all material aspects, the cases are the same. Both Santana and Muniz committed their offenses before SORNA was enacted. Both had SORNA applied retroactively years after the commission of those offenses. Both were subjected to the same exact requirements under SORNA. The only difference between the two is that Santana committed his triggering offense in New York, while Muniz committed his here... There is no constitutionally justifiable basis to hold that a scheme is unconstitutional for Pennsylvanians, but that exact scheme, applied the exact same way, is constitutional as to New Yorkers.”

You can read the full opinion below:

sex-offenders-pennsylvania-1

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