While the court ruled that the state does, in fact, have the right to require out-of-state offenders to register, it found the registry law too sweeping, penalizing rehabilitated sex offenders without offering them any relief from the registry’s consequences.
“ASORA is overbroad because it imposes its requirements on all persons convicted of designated offenses without affording them a hearing at which they might show that they are not dangerous,” Senior Justice Warren Matthews wrote in the majority opinion.
The decision represents a victory for Daryl L. Thompson, Doe’s attorney, who has been waging battle in the courts for 25 years to allow offenders the opportunity to challenge their placement on the registry.
“There is something fundamentally wrong with one size fits all,” he said.
Women Against the Registry – Fighting the destruction of families
