SUPREME COURT VOIDS SEX OFFENDER CONVICTION

The United States Supreme Court reversed a conviction for violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). SORNA, passed by Congress in 2006 makes state sex offenders registration laws more uniform and effective. It makes it a Federal crime for 1) people who are required to register as a sex offender to (2) travel in interstate or foreign commerce, and (3) knowingly fail to register or update a registration.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a conviction could be upheld even though the required travel occurred prior to the passage of the act as long as the defendant had sufficient time after the passage of the act to register. The Supreme Court ruled that since the restriction on interstate travel only affects those who are required to register and since the Federal requirement to register did not occur before the passage of the act in 2006, the travel had to occur after the act’s passage. Furthermore the act uses the present tense to indicate the travel requirement and Congress thereby indicated that the travel that the travel could not occur before the act was imposed.

In May 2004 Thomas Carr plead guilty to first-degree sexual abuse in Alabama. Later that year or in the beginning of 2005 he moved to Indiana and failed to comply with Indiana’s registration requirements. Even though SORNA did not take effect until 2006 the United States Attorney charged him with violating the act when he failed to register after the act took effect. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction based on the pre-enactment travel and the Supreme Court reversed.

By holding that the law requires that the travel occur after the enactment of the act the Court avoided considering whether or not the law violated the Constitution’s ex post facto clause which bans punishing people for acts committed before a law is passed making the act illegal.

In either case the decision is for the best. Otherwise people could be punished for acts that occurred many years ago. State registration statutes have been in effect for many years and the states are capable of punishing people who failed to register prior to 2006.