State Supreme Court rules in favor of sex offender who wants off public registry list

The Manchester Union Leader reported that,  Last week, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled in favor of “John Doe” — an anonymous sex offender — and will allow him to petition for his removal from the public sex offender registry list.

This decision is considered a landmark decision by many who are in favor of reforming the public sex offender registries.

“We think the registry is a form of retroactive punishment for many offenders,” said Chris Dormin, the founder of Citizens for Criminal Justice, an organization that has actively been seeking public sex offender registry reform.

Click here to view the court decision.

John Doe, of Manchester, pled guilty in 1987 to two counts of felonious sexual assault. He was sentenced to two and a half to five years in prison and was placed on probation for four years. Part of his sentencing included attending sex counseling, which he did until his probation was terminated in 1990.

In 1994, the state enacted a public sex offenders registry, on which John Doe was required to register. In 2005, John Doe had planned to move in with his son, but members of his son’s building petitioned the landlord not to allow him to because he was in the sex offenders registry. As a result, John Doe did not move into the building. In 2006, according to court documents, John Doe was injured and became permanently disabled and his doctors suggested he move to public housing so that he could have help with his medical needs. He was initially approved for housing, but his request was eventually revoked because of his name’s existence in the sex offenders registry. He currently lives in a single room in a boarding house.

Court documents indicate John Doe is asking to petition for his removal from the list partly because of his failing health but also because his crimes occurred — and he completed probation/counseling — almost 10 years before the sex offender registry was enacted. In this time, according to documents and the release from the Citizens for Criminal Justice Reform, John Doe has complied with all registry requests, never violated probation and has “remained a law-abiding citizen.”

According to Dormin, the organization is not against a private registry — in fact, Dormin said, studies have found that private registries are more useful to law enforcement and communities rather than public registries.

“The New Hampshire Supreme Court is to be applauded for finally taking this honest look at years of increasingly punitive laws based more on hysteria than fact,” reads the Citizens release, which was drafted by Dormin. “But, until the Leglislature is equally ready to deal in fact instead of fear, New Hampshire will continue to struggle with this contentious issue.”

According to Jill Rockey, the executive director of the Crisis Center of Central NH, the decision could mean a tremendous amount for all tier three level sex offenders like John Doe who could now also petition to be taken off the registry.

Rockey, who is a former New Hampshire state trooper, ran the state’s sex offender registry in the late 1990s. She said the hope with this type of ruling would be for the court to ensure that the process for evaluating whether an offender could be removed from the list was “thorough and thoughtful.”

For example, Rockey said sex offender treatment programs aren’t regulated in New Hampshire, which means that in these petition trials, it should be determined whether the program was run by a qualified provider.

Rockey said part of this “thoughtful” process also includes making sure judges are trained and up to date on offender evaluation strategies and ensuring that proper notice is given about the hearings so victims and lawyers can attend and be part of the process if they want to be.

“We are very concerned,” said Rockey.

- SOURCE: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150219/NEWS21/150219049#sthash.hS0w...

February 18, 2015
By AMANDA BELAND
New Hampshire Union Leader
New Hampshire Union Leader
By AMANDA BELAND
New Hampshire Union Leader
By AMANDA BELAND
New Hampshire Union Leader
By AMANDA BELAND
New Hampshire Union Leader