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New Jersey court rejects municipal sex offender residency restriction

By Douglas A. Berman

As detailed in this Newark Star Ledger article, a state intermediate appeals court ruled yesterday that local towns cannot enact their own sex offender restrictions within New Jersey.  Here are details:In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel said Megan's Law is the exclusive law governing the treatment of sex offenders.  Municipal ordinances restricting where they can live "interfere with and frustrate" statewide efforts to monitor offenders and reintegrate them into society, the judges said. "The far-reaching scope of Megan's Law and its multilayered enforcement and monitoring mechanisms constitute a comprehensive system chosen by the Legislature to protect society from the risk of reoffense" by convicted sex offenders "and to provide for their rehabilitation and reintegration in the community," wrote Appellate Division Judge Joseph Lisa...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on July 16, 2008 (boomark / email).