Constitutional Law

La. Gov. Claims New Laws Needed To Punish Sex Offenders

Louisiana’s governor is pushing new legislation purportedly aimed at cracking down on sex offenders that the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog tags as a “manic panic” approach on sex offenders. The Blog cites an article by the Shreveport Times that Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) is calling on lawmakers to pass a bill that would hold day care owners liable for knowingly allowing registered sex offenders to come onto their property. Jindal, the newspaper reports, is also asking for a new law that would require some sex offenders to continue undergoing psychiatric evaluations after their prison terms end.

The Sentencing Law and Policy Blog concludes that, “This story provides yet another example of the one-way ratchet of criminal laws and the potential harm of legislative reactions to one awful crime. Unless carefully crafted and limited, a law making it a felony for a day care owner to even allow any registered sex offender to come onto the facility’s property could (and likely would) have a lot of unforeseen consequences for both day care operators and families.”

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 02, 2009 (boomark / email).