Last Wednesday, the Hawai’i Supreme Court, depending on your viewpoint, either struck a blow for personal liberty or put the state’s children at risk. The state’s highest court struck down Hawai’i’s sex-offender registration law, declaring it unconstitutional and shutting down
Last Wednesday, the Hawai’i Supreme Court, depending on your viewpoint, either struck a blow for personal liberty or put the state’s children at risk.
The state’s highest court struck down Hawai’i’s sex-offender registration law, declaring it unconstitutional and shutting down the Web site containing information on registered sex offenders in the state.
The state’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter hailed the site’s shutdown late Wednesday afternoon.
There were more than 1500 registered sex offenders listed on Hawai’i’s site.
This shutdown took place in the same state that only this year finally raised the age of consent for minor children having sex with adults to 16 – Hawai’i’s age of consent was 14, the lowest of the 50 states as of January 1, 2001.
The Hawai’i Supreme Court ruled that the so-called “Megan’s Law” (named for a young New Jersey girl, Megan Kana, who was raped and murdered by a convicted sex offender) which notifies neighbors when a sex offender is released from prison, and moves in, failed to determine if the offender was a danger to the community prior to notification.
New Jersey passed the first state version of Megan’s law in 1994.
The federal version of Megan’s Law was passed by the full House and Senate in 1996.
Hawai’i’s statute, passed in 1997, is similar to statutes still in effect in the other 49 states.
In fact, the latest issue elsewhere, vis a vis Megan’s Law, is in states where the information on sex offenders has been put on the Internet.
Child protection advocates in Oregon are backing a proposed State Police Website that intends to provide names, photographs and other detailed information about approximately 8500 registered sex offenders in Oregon.
In 1997, Tennessee posted sex offender registry information on the state’s official webpage. That information was relocated off the state’s official Web site after a legal challenge.
The state of Texas provides definitive information on its Web sites that includes the sex offender’s shoe size.
Currently 12 states provide sex offender data bases on state-run sites. These include: Alaska, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Michigan, North and South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
These sites vary in the quantity of information provided.
Alaska and Florida, for example provide photographs and physical descriptions, Virginia provides home and work addresses of the offenders, while Indiana only offers the city where the offender lives.
Hawai’i’s law required all sex offenders to register.
The court ruled after an appeal was filed by Eto Bani, a convicted sex offender.
Bani admitted to grabbing the buttocks of a teenage girl he did not know on Waikiki.
Bani claimed the notification portion of Hawai’i’s Megan’s Law violated his rights to due process, privacy, equal protection and was cruel and unusual punishment.
Local and state law enforcement officials expressed outrage that the law has been struck down.
Kaua’i County Deputy Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, who prosecuted sex crimes for the county for the past four years, wasn’t pleased.
“I think it is unfortunate. You know, every state has one of these statutes. In Hawai’i, we have the right to privacy written into the state Constitution, which other states don’t have, but citizens have a right to be protected too,” she said.
Veteran Kaua’i Police Chief George Freitas, currently on a paid leave while allegations against him by other officers are investigated, has been a police officer for 35 years, 30 of them in California, which has a strong sex offender notification law.
“This (striking down Megan’s Law) just makes things harder for law enforcement,” he said.
Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Peter Carlisle also approved of Megan’s Law.
“The whole purpose (of Megan’s law) … To be forewarned is to be forearmed. The Legislature looked at the paramount interest of people to protect their children…from sex offenders … the Legislature (here) … weighed in favor of public safety. And that safety was essentially given to the public by their ability to know who was a sex offender and where they lived. That safety is no longer in existence,” Carlisle said.
Governor Ben Cayetano said the Legislature must fix Hawai’i’s version of Megan’s Law in next year’s session if it wants the registration and notification program to be restored.
– ACLU – www.aclu.org
– Parents for Megan’s Law -www.parentsformeganslaw.com
AP contributed to this report
