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Provisions That Kept Sex Offenders From Attending Church Held Unconstitutional

By Howard M. Friedman

In State of North Carolina v. Demaio, (NC Super. Ct., Dec. 17, 2009), a Chatham County North Carolina trial court dismissed charges against two registered sex offenders who had been indicted for attending church at a congregation that also had a nursery for children on premises. Authorities claimed that this violated provisions barring registered sex offenders from being within 300 feet of an area intended primarily for the use, care or supervision of children, or on premises where children's programs are regularly scheduled. (NCGS 14-208.18(a)(2) and (3)).

The court held that these provisions impose an unconstitutionally broad infringement on associational rights. It concluded further that "there are a host of protected religious activities abridged by this statute which do not serve the compelling governmental interest." The court also decided that the provisions are unconstitutionally vague. Authorities could not agree on whether they barred a registered sex offender from being on the premises of a church when no children were actually present in the church. It was also unclear how the area from which the offender was banned was to be calculated. WRAL News reports on the decision. (See prior related posting.)

Full post as published by Religion Clause on December 18, 2009 (boomark / email).