poor misunderstood sex offenders sue
Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2005 6:41 pm
this beleagered group of sex offenders sued to prevent their DNA being taken........i wonder what their legal strategy meetings were like---and how they managed to find each other to form a class action. public restrooms perhaps?
Court Upholds State's Sex Offender Registry, DNA Test
POSTED: 9:09 am EDT June 7, 2005
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Two Florida laws requiring sex offenders to register their addresses with the state and to submit DNA samples for a state database don't violate the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court has ruled.
Sex offenders suing as a group challenged the laws as violations of five federal constitutional rights, but a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta disagreed in a 27-page opinion issued Monday.
The law requiring sex offenders to register with law enforcement -- which puts their pictures and addresses on a public Web site -- was enacted after the 1994 slaying of Megan Kanka. The kidnap, rape and murder of the 7-year-old New Jersey girl by a convicted sex offender spurred the creation of similar laws nationwide.
Writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. concluded the requirement was "rationally related to a legitimate government interest."
"It has long been in the interest of government to protect its citizens from criminal activity, and we find no exceptional circumstances in this case to invalidate the law," Birch wrote.
Lawmakers also have a valid reason for keeping better track of sex offenders than other criminals because of their increased likelihood of committing more crimes, he said.
"The increased reporting requirements based on evidence of increased recidivism among a class of felons is rationally related to the state's interest in protecting its citizens from criminal activity," Birch wrote.
The DNA collection law requires samples from people convicted of a variety of sex crimes as well as non-sex crimes including any offenses using firearms, along with murder, burglary, carjacking and elderly abuse.
DNA databases are used in a number of states, which compare genetic material collected at new crime scenes to those on file from criminals required to give samples. Just last week, a man in California was charged in a 12-year-old murder and rape after police linked the crime to his DNA in a statewide felon database established by voter initiative last year.
In Monday's appeals court decision, the judges upheld U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley's dismissal of a lawsuit filed on behalf of sex offenders suing anonymously under the name John Doe.
Calls for comment to attorneys on both sides Tuesday were not immediately returned.
The state's defense of the laws was argued by lawyers in the office of Attorney General Charlie Crist, who coincidentally was in Washington Tuesday to testify before the a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee about Florida's efforts to reduce sex crimes against children.
On The Net: 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Court Upholds State's Sex Offender Registry, DNA Test
POSTED: 9:09 am EDT June 7, 2005
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Two Florida laws requiring sex offenders to register their addresses with the state and to submit DNA samples for a state database don't violate the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court has ruled.
Sex offenders suing as a group challenged the laws as violations of five federal constitutional rights, but a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta disagreed in a 27-page opinion issued Monday.
The law requiring sex offenders to register with law enforcement -- which puts their pictures and addresses on a public Web site -- was enacted after the 1994 slaying of Megan Kanka. The kidnap, rape and murder of the 7-year-old New Jersey girl by a convicted sex offender spurred the creation of similar laws nationwide.
Writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. concluded the requirement was "rationally related to a legitimate government interest."
"It has long been in the interest of government to protect its citizens from criminal activity, and we find no exceptional circumstances in this case to invalidate the law," Birch wrote.
Lawmakers also have a valid reason for keeping better track of sex offenders than other criminals because of their increased likelihood of committing more crimes, he said.
"The increased reporting requirements based on evidence of increased recidivism among a class of felons is rationally related to the state's interest in protecting its citizens from criminal activity," Birch wrote.
The DNA collection law requires samples from people convicted of a variety of sex crimes as well as non-sex crimes including any offenses using firearms, along with murder, burglary, carjacking and elderly abuse.
DNA databases are used in a number of states, which compare genetic material collected at new crime scenes to those on file from criminals required to give samples. Just last week, a man in California was charged in a 12-year-old murder and rape after police linked the crime to his DNA in a statewide felon database established by voter initiative last year.
In Monday's appeals court decision, the judges upheld U.S. District Judge Daniel Hurley's dismissal of a lawsuit filed on behalf of sex offenders suing anonymously under the name John Doe.
Calls for comment to attorneys on both sides Tuesday were not immediately returned.
The state's defense of the laws was argued by lawyers in the office of Attorney General Charlie Crist, who coincidentally was in Washington Tuesday to testify before the a U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee about Florida's efforts to reduce sex crimes against children.
On The Net: 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals