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"U.S. Courts Split on Internet Bans"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this Wired article, which highlights the split between arecent Third Circuit ruling and other circuit rulings on internet bans for certain sex offenders.  Here are excerpts from the piece:  A federal appeals court is reversing a lifetime internet ban imposed on a child sex offender also handed a 15-year prison term. The outcome highlights that appellate courts are all over the map when it comes to internet bans often imposed on defendants, especially sex deviants, once they have served their time. What?s more, the courts appear to be accepting the internet as a basic freedom to which convicts, even the worst of the worst, usually should not be denied permanent access.... In Heckman?s case, the appeals court noted that it had rejected a lifetime internet ban in 2007 for a pervert who displayed the naked buttocks of his 3-year-old daughter on a webcam...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 12, 2010 (boomark / email).