Thousands Could Be Freed From The Michigan Sex Offender Registry

Let's start by saying that the Criminal Justice System is in dire need of overhauling on many levels.  One recent recommendation, now that marijuana is legal is to release some low-level convicts.  Certainly there is an incarceration problem across the county and many believe that the non-violent offenders should get a second look. But when it comes to sex offenders and the sex offender registry, those same people might have a different take on the situation. 

In an article on wxyz.com, word has it that there is a hearing in Michigan today that could reshape the sex offenders registry.  A judge could rule to take thousands of people off that list. Depending on what happens today, this will impact nearly 40,000 people currently on Michigan’s sex offenders list.  It was back in 2016 that many of the requirements for Michigan’s sex registry were ruled unconstitutional, stating the requirements were retroactively applied to people whose convictions happened long before the law was put into place. The ACLU of Michigan and University of Michigan’s Clinical Law Program were the ones to originally file a case.  At the center of that lawsuit are lifetime registration requirements, loitering restrictions, reporting requirements and residency exclusions.  Now nearly four years later, the ACLU of Michigan is fighting today’s second case to try and get the state to stop enforcing the law for those 40,000 people.