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42 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 483 (2007)
Next-Generation Sex Offender Statutes: Constitutional Challenges to Residency, Work, and Loitering Restrictions

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl42 and id is 487 raw text is: Next-Generation Sex Offender Statutes: Constitutional Challenges to Residency, Work, and Loitering Restrictions Chiraag Bains* On April 26, 2006, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed the most restrictive sex offender law in the country.' Commonly called HB 1059, the measure prohibits all current and future registered state sex offenders from residing or loitering within 1000 feet of any child care facility, school, church, or area where minors congregate, including parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, skating rinks, neighborhood centers, gymnasiums, and school bus stops. The law also bars such individuals from being employed by any entity within 1000 feet of a child care facility, school, or church.' The law will force thousands of sex offender registrants to leave their homes and search for new residences that meet these restrictions. While the Su- preme Court has never ruled on the constitutionality of residency or work restrictions on sex offenders, it has upheld an Alaska registration law against an ex post facto challenge3 and a Connecticut registration law against a procedural due process challenge.4 Including Georgia, twenty-two states have now gone far beyond registration requirements5 and several others are poised to join them.6 * J.D. Candidate, Harvard Law School, Class of 2008; M.Phil., University of Cam- bridge, 2004; B.A., Yale College, 2003. The author thanks Professors Carol Steiker and Rich- ard Fallon for invaluable advising on this Article, Sarah Geraghty and the staff of the Southern Center for Human Rights for exposing him to this issue, Professor Jon Hanson for encour- agement throughout law school, and Tara Ramchandani for her support on this project and in life. Thanks also to Scott Levy for excellent editing and management and to the other editors of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. GA. CODE ANN. § 42-1-15 (2006). 2 Id. Furthermore, a knowing violation of the residency, work, or loitering restrictions constitutes a felony punishable by a minimum of ten and a maximum of thirty years in prison. Id. § 42-1-15(d). The new statute also extends the registration requirement, retroactively, from ten years to life. Id. § 42-1-12(f)(7). These restrictions go well beyond those imposed by GA. CODE ANN. § 42-1-13 (2006), which prohibits registrants from living within 1000 feet of schools, child care facilities, and places where minors congregate. I Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003). 4 Conn. Dep't of Pub. Safety v. Doe, 538 U.S. 1 (2003). 1 ALA. CODE ANN. § 15-20-26 (2006) (prohibiting sex offenders from residing or working within 2000 feet of a school or child care facility and prohibiting them from loi- tering or working within 500 feet of a school, playground, park, or athletic facility); ARK. CODE ANN. § 5-14-128 (2003) (prohibiting Level 3 and Level 4 sex offenders from resid- ing within 2000 feet of schools or daycare facilities but exempting those who resided on property they owned before the law was enacted); CAL. PENAL CODE § 3003(g) (West 2007) (prohibiting certain sex offenders on parole from residing within a quarter mile of a pri- mary school); DEL. CODE ANN. tit. 11, § 1112 (2006) (prohibiting sex offenders from re- siding or loitering within 500 feet of school property); FLA. STAT. ANN. § 947.1405(7)(a)(2)

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