Sex offenders object to having names publicized

The measure has been challenged in Ohio.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Eager to protect children from sexual predators, Nevada and other states across the nation are adopting laws that publicize the names of offenders on the Internet.

But sex offenders say they have rights, too, and they argue authorities are wrong to lump those guilty of minor offenses in with the worst offenders.

“People think that imposing these Draconian retroactive laws are a way to keep their children safe,” said Margaret McLetchie, an American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada lawyer.

“These laws don’t provide public safety, they only demonize a particular group,” she said.

McLetchie and Robert Langford, who represent 27 unidentified plaintiffs in a federal civil rights lawsuit, want to block two sex offender laws from taking effect in Nevada.

The laws, which they say are unconstitutional, were tailored to meet standards under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which President Bush signed in 2006.

Implementation of similar laws has also been challenged in some other states, including Florida and Ohio. Texas lawmakers criticized the federal measure as an unfunded mandate. Vermont legislators also worried about how much it would cost.

Nevada was among the first to pass the laws that would allow the state to post the names, photos, home and work addresses and vehicle descriptions of offenders who’ve served probation or prison sentences on convictions as far back as 1956.

McLetchie, who said the measures put top-level offenders together with low-level offenders convicted of misdemeanor offenses such as public nudity, could subject them to violence from neighbors who see their names and photos posted on the Internet.

U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan is scheduled to hear arguments Sept. 10 in Las Vegas in the lawsuit, which names state Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and top state law enforcers as defendants.

He is being asked to make permanent a temporary ban he imposed June 30 to stop the law from taking effect July 1.

A ruling is expected to be watched closely states that have or are considering adopting provisions of the Adam Walsh Act, named for a 6-year-old Florida boy abducted and killed in 1981. He was the son of John Walsh, star of television’s “America’s Most Wanted.”

“We’ve objected since it was first introduced in the Legislature,” said Amy Borror, spokeswoman for the Ohio public defender’s office in Columbus. “We believe it’s unconstitutional when it’s applied retroactively. Even going forward, it’s bad policy.”

Borror noted similarities between the Ohio and Nevada laws, and said officials in Ohio were watching the Nevada case with interest.

The Ohio registry went into effect Jan. 1 despite challenges on grounds that it punished offenders twice, that the Legislature overstepped separation of powers lines by deciding sex offender classifications, that it broke plea deal contracts between offenders and prosecutors, and that the mandate from Congress violated the state’s rights.

The federal law sets a July 2009 deadline for enactment, and threatens states with the loss of federal grant money if they fail to adopt it.