Sex Offender Registration Penalty Changes Cannot Affect Offenders Retroactively

Amendments added to Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act that retroactively apply to sex offenders violates their constitutional right against ex post facto punishments

Does v. Snyder, 2016 BL 276689, 6th Cir., No. 15-1536, 8/25/16.

   The Sixth Circuit ruled that Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA) and its new amendments could not retroactively affect offenders in the state because it would violate the Constitution’s Ex Post Facto Clause. The clause prevents the changing of punishment for actions that have already happened, after the fact. While civil and regulatory laws like SORA cannot violate the Ex Post Facto clause on their own, if a plaintiff shows there is a criminal penalty then the clause comes into play. The court found that certain amendments in the past ten years have changed how the state “imposes punishment,” rather than affecting civil penalties, thereby violating the Ex Post Facto Clause.

   The court made sure to distinguish its decision from Alaska’s sex offender registry law, which was upheld by the United States Supreme Court. The circuit court found that SORA went beyond what was decided by the Supreme Court because it regulated where “registrants may live, work, and ‘loiter.’” The restrictions put significant burdens on the registrants, not the “minor and indirect” effects found in the Alaskan registry.

http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/Does_v_Snyder_No_15153623462486_2016_BL_276689_6th_Cir_Aug_25_201.