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VT - Putting laws to the test

View the article here 04/19/2009 By BRENT CURTIS While three Vermont communities prepare to defend local laws defining where sex offenders can live, key cases have been fought - even at the federal level - and precedents have been set. Nationwide, federal courts have shot down constitutional arguments that residency laws prohibiting sex offenders from living in certain areas violate an individual's rights. "At the federal level, it's been almost a complete loss," said Corey Rayburn Yung, assistant professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. "At the state level, it can be harder to judge, and I don't know all of the cases. But they've sustained challenges in a number of states." "The key rationale that the courts hone in on is that these laws aren't punitive, they're regulatory with penalties that are civil in nature," Yung said...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sex Offender Issues on April 19, 2009 (boomark / email).