Missouri Supreme Court addresses sex offender registry

As detailed in news articles here and here, the Missouri Supreme Court on Friday issued a major decision addressing the state’s sex offender registry.  The full ruling, which upheld the state’s Megan’s Law against a range of constitutional claims concerning, can be accessed here.  This news account provides some highlights:

While the high court upheld the constitutionality of the state’s sex offender registry law, it ruled that the statute should not apply to nearly all of those convicted of crimes prior to 1995, when the law took effect.  One key exception is sexually violent predators, who will stay on the list regardless of when their crimes occurred.

Just how many of Missouri’s more than 11,000 registered sex offenders would be affected by the ruling was unclear Friday….  But Arthur Benson II, the lawyer who brought the case, estimates that thousands would no longer have to be registered as sex offenders.

Currently, the registry includes offenses from 1979 to the present.  Crimes committed during more than half of those years would not be included in the registry.  Benson said the ruling addresses “the height of unfairness” in the current law, which requires people to register even for crimes they committed years before the registry law was conceived. 

Eleven of Benson’s clients claimed their inclusion on the sex offender registry was unconstitutional on numerous grounds. The high court rejected nearly all their claims, affirming the constitutionality of requiring offenders to register even after they had completed prison sentences. The court ruled —  as it and others have in the past — that the registration requirement does not represent an additional criminal punishment.