Federal district judge enjoins part of new Nebraska sex offender law
As detailed in this local article, Sentencing Hall of Famer Judge Richard Kopf has issued a notable preliminary ruling concerning Nebraska’s new sex offender law. Here are the basics:
A federal judge has blocked portions of Nebraska’s new sex offender registry law, but is allowing the bulk of it to take effect, as scheduled, Friday. In a ruling issued Wednesday, Judge Richard Kopf said lawmakers have mostly done what Congress wanted in revising the law.
Kopf is restricting enforcement of a provision that prohibits sex offenders from using social networking sites used by children. Affected as well is a requirement that sex offenders agree to searches of their computers. Convicted sex offenders who’ve completed their sentences and aren’t on parole, probation or court-ordered supervision won’t be subject to those two provisions.
The full ruling by Judge Kopf can be downlaoded below, and here is how it gets starts:
Plaintiffs attack amendments to Nebraska’s Sex Offender Registration Act that become effective January 1, 2010. With exceptions noted below, I decide that a preliminary injunction is unwarranted. By and large, Nebraska has only done what Congress (and the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to a delegation from Congress) permitted or required.
The exceptions: In the interim, Nebraska will not be allowed to enforce the following statutes against persons who have been convicted of sex offenses but who have completed their criminal sentences and who are not on probation, parole, or court-ordered supervision, to wit:
(1) Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-4006(2) (West, Operative January 1, 2010) (requiring consent to search and installation of monitoring hardware and software) and
(2) Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-322.05 (West, Operative January 1, 2010) (making it a crime to use Internet social networking sites accessible by minors by a person required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act).