New Jersey – The New Jersey Supreme Court today upheld a lower court ruling invalidating ordinances in Cherry Hill and Galloway Township that severely restricted where registered sex offenders could live.
The decision nullifies similar hundreds of ordinances passed in townships around New Jersey.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The Supreme Court said the state-wide Megan’s Law, a systematic law for dealing with paroled sex offenders, takes precedence over local efforts.
In a summary of its decision, the Supreme Court said Cherry Hill and Galloway’s ordinances were “precluded by the present, stark language of Megan’s Law.”
In 2005, the two townships passed nearly identical laws that banned convicted sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of schools, parks, churches, or other places where children might congregate.
In Cherry Hill, the ordinance rendered nearly the entire township off-limits to sex offenders.
Two sex offenders in Cherry Hill and one in Galloway – a Richard Stockton College freshman – quickly challenged.
Those challenges became test cases for municipalities across the state that sought to enact similar bans on sex offenders.
They took a valid concept and extended it to the point where ex-offendors were effectively not allowed to live ANYWHERE in the state with all the restrictions. They should go back to the original concept and provide for registration and a much narrower set of geographic limits or the courts will just keep rejecting these ordinances.
Though the law’s intentions may be good, it is obviously unconstitutional. I am suprised Megans Law has so far passed.
It’s pure double-jeapordy, plus the punishment often far outways the crime (I am talking about a small time offender). To have a lifetime restriction is an extreme punishment.
As for the claim that it’s not a punishment, just a protection, there is no such blankwt provision in the constitution. If cases would be assessed case by case, year by year, then it will hold much more ground, as they can be claimed as a public threat. But you cannot make a blanket law & take away a person’s freedom.
This is especially true for offenders who commited before the laws were passed.
Again, our kids need protection, but we cannot over punish others.