California’s new sex offender law enjoined

As detailed in articles here and here, a federal judge in California today “blocked enforcement of key provisions of Proposition 83, the ballot measure passed overwhelmingly by voters that’s meant to crack down on sex offenders, including limiting where they may live.”  Here are some more details:

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, ruling on a lawsuit filed a day after the election, said the measure “is punitive by design and effect” and likely unconstitutional.  The so-called Jessica’s Law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park — effectively prohibiting parolees from living in many of California’s cities. It also would require lifetime satellite tracking for paroled rapists, child molesters and other felony sex criminals upon their release from prison….

The scope of the initiative’s impact largely hinged on whether it would apply retroactively to the state’s roughly 90,000 registered sex offenders. Supporters and critics had expected the expanded residency requirements to be challenged in court.  Judge Illston issued a temporary restraining order against the residency requirements of Proposition 83….

John Doe, as the plaintiff was named in court documents, argued that the measure could only apply to sex offenders registered after the law was passed.  Illston did not address whether it could apply to those who registered after Nov. 7. Another unknown is what to do with registered sex offenders who violate the law.  The measure does not add any crimes to the state’s criminal statutes. “There are a million questions left open,” said Dennis Riordan, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit.

Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, said the state would vigorously defend the law. “We won’t know the true scope of Prop. 83 until the courts have resolved all the litigation,” Barankin said. “Our goal is to make sure those questions get answered as quickly as possible.”

Under the measure’s language, most suburban and metropolitan areas of the state would be off limits to sex offenders. The proposition, according to the suit, “effectively banishes John Doe from his home and community for a crime he committed, and paid his debt for, long ago.”  The suit says the proposition forces the former convict “from the home that he owns with his wife and his community of over 20 years.”

It looks like California voters have ensured that the new Sex Crimes blog will have plenty of legal developments to cover and discuss.

UPDATE: Jonathan Soglin at Criminal Appeal has more here on developments in Califonia surrounding Proposition 83, aka Jessica’s Law.