This my objection to the SORNA Law and DOJ Proposed Rule changes.Since my misdemeanor plea I have been on STATE SOR for over 19 years. It has dramatically effected, my ability to provide adequate support for my children, two of my children deny my existence due to their positions as teachers, I have lost several career opportunities, which would have contributed to my childrens health, wellbeing and education and societys through tax monies on that income, any position has become increasingly more difficult to obtain as ex post facto legislative changes, I have been harassed out of a few jobs when coworkers used STATE SOR to advance their own position, I have been the victim of vigilantism, all the apartment complexes in this city refuse to rent to anyone on the Registry, I have had landlords tell me to move after they found that I was on the Registry, The Registry greatly effects travel into other states as one has to Identify ones motel or hotel, I have been harassed in recreational, outright simple shunning that greatly effects the stability of a Registrant, The restriction on Living, Working and Loitering within a School zone is prohibitive even if one could determine where the boundaries lay as there are so many as, where can I go to Church as many have schools nearby, or Political Activities may be impacted by The Registry My health is impacted as I have had more than a few medical care givers refuse to give me care for my critical condition, as I age I note that adult communities as well as assisted living facilities along with nursing homes refuse to allow individuals on The Registry.
I pray that you let SORNA die in Committee and not enact the DOJ Rule changes of 10/2020 so that a reasonable and scientific based SOR can be written in conjunction with the ACLU and allies and the State of Local-State and US Government.
Consider:
The system is broken. Its overwhelmed and I think the public is starting to realize that. You cant paint sex offenders with a broad brush. John Walsh, father of Adam Walsh**
The harm the Registry does to families is incalculable. Breaking up otherwise good stable families.
Most sex crimes are committed by a person well known to the victim yet the Registry seems to be based upon stranger danger.
A person who is on a registry and they are doing good and complete all terms of the Court and no other convictions there is no path off the registry.
Consider the money and lost Law Enforcement time spent on this program with little return value, in fact that this money used on the registry could be used for victim treatment and public education.
Im worried that were focusing so much energy in naming and shaming convicted sex offenders that were not doing as much as we should to protect our children from other real threats. Patty Wetterling, mother of Jacob Wetterling**
the behavior to which it applies is already a crime, [6] whether an alternative purpose to which it may rationally be connected is assignable for it, and [7] whether it appears excessive in relation to the alternative purpose assigned.
In Does v. Snyder, the court accordingly found that the Local-State law was punitive in effect and could not be imposed retroactively. The Snyder court forcefully explained:
A regulatory regime that severely restricts where people can live, work, and loiter, that categorizes them into tiers ostensibly corresponding to present dangerousness without any individualized assessment thereof, and that requires time-consuming and cumbersome in-person reporting, all supported by -at best- scant evidence that such restrictions serve the professed purpose of keeping Local-State communities safe, is something altogether different from and more troubling than Alaskas first-generation registry law. SORA brands registrants as moral lepers solely on the basis of a prior conviction. It consigns them to years, if not a lifetime, of existence on the margins, not only of society, but often, as the record in this case makes painfully evident, from their own families, with whom, due to school zone restrictions, they may not even live. It directly regulates where registrants may go in their daily lives and compels them to interrupt those lives with great frequency in order to appear in person before law enforcement to report even minor changes to their information.**
Isnt it time lawmakers consider the statistics and listen to the experts?
In closing I ask that the DOJ Rule Changes STATE SOR, SORNA law be stricken as unconstitutional and thus allow Registrants to fully reintegrate into society without the media Myths and fear mongering based upon antipathy of a disfavored class.
Sincerely,
T. Mercier
**Does v. Snyder from Documents
https://ww1.womenagainstregistry.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/DOJ-OAG-2020-0003-0479_attachment_1.docx