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Passports of Child Sex Offenders Will Note Their Convictions

November 19, 2017 in Georgia Sex Offender Registry Cases, Legal News

Individuals who have been convicted of a sex offense against a child will now have that information included on the back inside cover of their passports. To implement this change, the State Department will revoke the passports of these individuals and reissue the passport with the conviction information.

Smaller passport cards, which can only be used for travel to certain countries, will no longer be issued to these individuals because the cards are too small to contain this language.

This change stems from 2016 legislation called “International Megan’s Law,” which concerns notifying the neighbors of sex offenders about their convictions. The intent of that legislation was to protect children and others from sexual abuse including sex trafficking and sex tourism.

The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws sued the government and argued that the new passport measure violated the constitutional rights of registered sex offenders. A federal court threw out this challenge, but the Alliance plans to sue again, focusing on the application of the rule.

Other critics have pointed out that the United States’ sex offense laws in general can be overbroad and are sometimes used against perpetrators who were minors themselves when the incidents occurred. They point to the fact that many teenagers will fall under this law for merely having sent a nude photo of themselves to a friend.

Speaking for the Alliance, Janice Bellucci warned that this is a slippery slope and that “Today, it’s people convicted of sex offenses involving minors, but, given the current political environment, perhaps next it will be Muslims…” She and other critics assert that this law is without precedent.

More Posts in Georgia Sex Offender Registry Cases

Supreme Court Finds Sex Offender GPS Monitoring Unconstitutional

March 10, 2019

The Georgia Supreme Court has held that the requirement of lifetime GPS monitoring for all sexual offenders classified as Level 3 sexually dangerous predators is unconstitutional as it authorizes an unreasonable warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment. In Park v. State, it was argued by the defendant that the lifetime GPS monitoring requirement…

Court of Appeals Finds that Pardon Removes Registry Requirements

April 18, 2017

In Davis v. State, the Georgia Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s general demurer after the State charged him with failing to register as a sex offender because the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles granted the defendant an unconditional pardon which removed his obligation to register as…

Court Reverses Conviction in Sex Offender Registry Case

March 21, 2017

In Jones v. State, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the defendant’s conviction for failing to register as a sex offender, finding that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. O.C.G.A. § 42-1-12 (f)(4) requires each person on the sex offender registry to annually renew by reporting in person to the sheriff’s office where…

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