Court considers challenges to state sex offender laws

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court considered Wednesday whether some states unconstitutionally punish convicted sex offenders twice, first with jail time or probation, then with putting their pictures on the Internet.

Many justices seemed to support the online registries as the court reviewed its first challenges of what are known as Megan's laws, although some questioned whether the statutes stigmatize non-dangerous convicts as predators.

In a companion case, justices will decide if states should give offenders a chance to prove they aren't dangerous to avoid having their picture and address put on the Internet.

Every state and the federal government have sex-offender registry laws. Information is available online in some states.

"What is irrational or unconstitutional about warning people about categories of people who may be dangerous?" Justice Antonin Scalia asked the attorney for two Alaska sex offenders.

Personal information

Darryl L. Thompson said Alaska unfairly requires all sex criminals to give police personal information four times a year or risk more prison time. He said police insinuate an offender is dangerous and to be avoided.

"Maybe he deserves stigmatization," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said.

Justices are trying to balance the public safety interest in keeping tabs on people who may commit more sex crimes with the rights of offenders.

Some court members appeared concerned that offenders listed on the Internet have trouble finding jobs or a place to live.

"This is a face plastered on the Internet," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, comparing it to the practice of shaming someone at a town square.

"It is different from the historic shaming penalties," responded John Roberts Jr., the lawyer for the state of Alaska. "Here the purpose is to inform."

The challenges before the court involve laws in Alaska and Connecticut named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl kidnapped, raped and killed in 1994 by a convicted sex criminal who lived in her neighborhood.

Solicitor General Theodore Olson said states should be allowed to require offenders to report to police every 90 days to provide information, including their addresses, and to have their pictures taken. He said all Americans have to fill out paperwork to vote, get married, register a car, or get a divorce.

"Most of those do not involve shame or ridicule. This does," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy told Olson.

The cases are Connecticut Department of Public Safety vs. John Doe, 01-1231, and Otte vs. Doe, 01-729.