Has the United States Constitution been reduced to a mere piece of paper?
Posted: Friday, February 27, 2009
by Citizen4Change
A trend has been gathering popularity in just about every state of the union. That trend is to cast out the clear and simply written ban on ex post facto lawmaking for any reason. One can find in the United States Constitution the following:
Article 1, Section 9:
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
Through slight of hand and plays on words, the federal government and local state governments alike have gone against not only the United States Constitution but also the Constitution of their own particular state, to write, pass and implement laws which so clearly violate the rights of American citizens who have successfully completed any court imposed sentence and punishment many years ago. To the extent of adding punishments and restrictions upon men and women who committed their particular offense two, three or even four decades ago.
Is their no protection for runaway lawmaking in America? A famous person once said:
When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
When a group of American citizens lives in fear because the government is not held to the very rules and guidelines set forth within the Constitution, their is fear among the people. Fear that their is no way of knowing when some new law will be passed which places new punishment on any person who has served out their complete sentence for any type of crime whatsoever. Today, lawmakers are getting away with circumventing the constitution by attacking all who they can successfully label, "Sex Offender" with Retrospective, Retroactive, ex-post facto laws. This practice, unhindered, paves the way for new laws, bills and acts to be implemented upon Any citizen of America for Any thing which they seem fit.
What good is the United States Constitution if the government of America does not have to honor it?
The united states constitution and the constitution of every state in the union strictly forbids anyone from creating a new law which again punishes, or adds more punishment upon a person for for a crime which they have already served out their time.
That is called Ex Post Facto law, or Retroactive application of law.
The United States Constitution says:
Article I, Section 9,
No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.
In the Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court, Harvard's Professor Laurence H. Tribe has defined a bill of attainder as a legislative act "that inflicts punishment without a trial."
The late Edgar Bodenheimer, professor emeritus at the University of California, identified an ex post facto law as a statute "that prescribes a greater punishment for a crime already committed."
In 2003, the United States Supreme Court made a decision on the Retroactive Application of the Sex Offender Registration Laws.
Even though, as you read above in the United States Constitution, creating Ex Post Facto law is totally forbidden, our good Supreme Court Justices have the latitude to circumvent the Constitution via fancy wording. It ruled that basically, just going in and filling out a registration form 1 time a year is not punishment. So they allowed the Total Disregard of the United States Constitution to stand.
Just about every case brought before the courts after that has been denied, based on that one, out of date decision. Many new laws have been added to the requirements for registration.
It works like this. Some how, someone finds an old record of a crime of a sexual nature which occurred 20, 30 or 50 years ago. They find the record of conviction and look up that person. The locate where they live and then send officers or deputies to arrest that person for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. Once they are found guilty, or even before they are, they are forced under threat of re-arrest to Register as a Sex Offender. At this point, many state officials, label this person in one of three Risk categories, Tier 1, not much threat to society, Tier 2, Moderate Threat, or Tier 3, Very Dangerous. This being done not by professionals, but by whomever the court decides to appoint. Many states simply look at the initial conviction and place the person into the tier which seems to be related to the crime. Thus, a person who at age 18, 30 years ago, who may have had a sexual relationship with a girl of 15 and found himself in trouble with the law. Would now be classified as Tier 3, Very Dangerous. Not mentioned is the fact that this man actually ended up marrying this young lady and they now have 5 children and 7 grand children together. Under current legislation across America, this man would now be forced to move from his residence, be kept away from his grand children and possibly lose his job due to all the new punishments placed on him for a 30 year old crime.
Only one state supreme court thus far has agreed that the retroactive application of the sex offender registration requirements is in fact, unconstitutional. Alaska agrees and has revised their laws to reflect the adjustment. But as costs of supervising thousands of persons who are clearly No threat to society.
Persons are labeled Sex Offender, retroactively, unconstitutionally and forced under threat of prison to register. They go on to pass many new laws for all those who are Labeled Sex offender.
Some of the new laws since the 2003 U.S.S.C.Decision :
NOTE:FAILURE TO ADHERE TO ALL THE BELOW LISTED REQUIREMENTS WILL LAND YOU IN PRISON, SOME FOR LIFE.
- Felony Charges Applied to Civil Law
- Judicial threat: If one does not strictly adhere to the strict provisions of all the laws imposed upon them, once they are labeled as a sex offender, they will go to prison.
- Classified as level 3, most dangerous without a panel, or a court appearance. Based solely upon the conviction which may have been 50 years ago. No evaluation to determine if the person is a threat to society.
- Lifetime Registration Mandatory with No Way to Remove the Label or court hearing to protest the label or requirement to register.
- Reporting every 90 days.
- Police show up at the ex offender's house to make sure they live there every month.
- Must return a letter, in some states, a HUGE 15X10 flyer which is mailed to their home with huge letters that say: SEX OFFENDER NOTIFICATION...
- Banishment from whole neighborhoods through Residency Restrictions
- Banishment from Public Parks and Recreation Areas, even though they are still required to pay taxes on those parks.
- Made a target for vigilantes via name, photo, address, crime, place of work, and more listed on the internet for all to see.
- Families of those labeled Sex Offender in danger of vigilante attacks.
- Employer typically will not want to hire a Sex Offender as they do not want the public to know they have done so.
- Housing is denied, application for housing now asks if the person has ever had a sex crime.
- Children of persons who had formerly committed a crime involving sex, are now stigmatized, outcasts as there parent's photo, name and charges are on the internet.
- Housing Denied
- Work Denied
- Privacy Denied
- Rights Denied
- Ex Post Facto Constitutional Rights Denied
- Bill of Attainder Constitutional Rights Denied
- Cruel and Unusual Punishments, Constitutional Rights Denied
- Equal Protection Under the Law Violated, as Only Sex Offenders are treated thus.
The states are getting away with depriving the citizens of the United States by using fancy wording. They say that because they are not intentionally punishing people when they apply the Sex Offender Registration Requirements, that they are not punitive, but regulatory, or administrative.
Note Below is Quoted Text of S.O.R.N.A.
(Sex Offender Registration Notification Act)
Where the critical comments about the guidelines' treatment of retroactivity went beyondconsiderations that fail to distinguish sex offenders with pre-SORNA (or pre-SORNA implementation) convictions from those with more recent convictions, they tended to argue that
retroactive application of SORNA's requirements would be unconstitutional, or would be unfair
to sex offenders who could not have anticipated the resulting applicability of SORNA's
requirements at the time of their entry of a guilty plea to the predicate sex offense.
However, as non-punitive regulatory measures, the SORNA requirements do not implicate the Constitution's prohibition of ex post facto laws. Moreover, fairness does not require that an offender, at the time he acknowledges his commission of the crime and pleads guilty, be able to anticipate all future regulatory measures that may be adopted in relation to persons like him for public safety purposes.
So they are they saying, "no matter if you make an agreement, a plea agreement with the state or federal government, that the state or federal government does not have to honor their promise in the contract"?
That they can return 30 years later and add punishment to your 30 year old sentence?
Opinion: If
you have ever taken a plea bargain, or plan to do so in the future,
know this, The United States Government has reneged on THOUSANDS of
plea agreements and continues to do so as you read this article.
The comments received provided no persuasive distinction on these points between
the SORNA requirements and the sex offender registration and notification measures upheld by
the Supreme Court against an ex post facto challenge in Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003).
Thousands of new requirements have been added to the simple registration requirements which were ruled upon in that 2003 case.
In summary. How can Americans ever trust the courts when they agree to a sentence for any sort of legal issue, if the courts can come back 50 years later and nullify that agreement and heap a good many new punishments upon that person for that 50 year old crime, if all requirements of the court decision have been satisfied?
If anyone is allowed to circumvent the Constitution, then that document is but a mere piece of old paper.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Well written and informative article. Most of the laws of our land leave much to be desired and not all the new amendments are 'constitutional'. They will harass and demean a person (as you said) has done their time, and on the other hand will release a serial killer or dangerous sex offender on a technicality.Our justice system usually stinks to say the least.Thanks for a great and thought provoking article.SandraThank you very much for your kind words. I am quite sure, their are many, many errors grammatically and also in composition and train of thought....
I guess what I write is just a rant... but the heart of the message is a worthwhile subject.
Thank you so much. P.S. If ever you come across any of my articles, and have advice or criticism, please send it... I want to learn to write properly as I have a lot to say.
Thank you.
AS someone who works with abused children (Child Welfare) I have come to believe that sexual abuse of children is an incurable condition for those who have the desire. I was aware of some laws that would take people who served time for sexual crimes against children and then they went right from jail to a lock down treatment facility where the key was thrown away? I have had mixed feelings about these lock-down facilities AFTER time is served, and the registered sex offender stuff. While I agree if you serve your time you should be done and these extra punishments seem unfair, I also feel that the public and especially the children need to be protected. I think what I would prefer is longer sentences for these incurable crimes rather than serving out their time and then tacking on some additional punishments. I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about in your article. If I'm way off it's because I got up in the middle of the night and I'm a little sleep numb.Actually, I believe the article is primarily focused on the retroactive aspect of the Sex Offender Registry.
Example, a man who is now 48 years old and has 7 children and 10 grand children, who has lived an exemplary life in the community. Loved by many families at church, work and in social circles. Who, 30 years ago, when he was 18 had sex with a willing 15 year old girl. The police became involved and he had to serve 30 days in jail.
After jail, he married that girl when she became of age.
Now, scroll forward to 2006. The Adam Walsh Act is put into place, and in 2007, it became Retroactive.
This forced this man to register as a sex offender, and all his information is now on the internet. But it does not say, he had sex with is soon to be wife 30 years ago.. it says he had sex with a child.
It looks like he is a child molester.
Now, he is on the tv news,news paper and radio... the community is shocked that this man whom they all know and have trusted is actually a Child Molester.
That fake scenario is happening all across this nation, by the thousands.
Men who committed some type of sex crime 20, 30, 50 years ago, are now being branded Sex Offender and punished again for an old crime.
This destroys the lives of these persons children and families.
And the practice is totally against all constitutions of every state, and also the constitution of the united states of America.Is this a real and specific case? In my experience there may be charges of a sexual crime, but those people may carry the stigma on their arrest record but they don't become registered sex offenders forced to sign in with law enforcement in every community in which they move. I could be wrong, or it could be different from state to state. I actually have an abuse case right now where the husband was arrested for having sex with an under age girl, and immediately after getting out of jail the girl's parents signed the papers and allowed the girl to marry her boyfriend. Now the two of them have had their three children removed for domestic violence and beating the 2 year old. The man has the arrest on his record, but he is not required to register as a sex offender, not here in Oklahoma.
I agree that a crime between teenagers one who looks older than she actually is, is far different from an adult who prefers sex with little children. Smarter people than me should address the problem.This is NOT a real and specific case.
However, you can read Many Examples of how persons are placed on the Sex Offender Registry Wrongfully so... Just do a Google Search for:
Citizens for Change, America on that site is a link titled
What Is a Sex Offender?
There you will find quite a few examples of persons who are on the Sex Offender Registry for Life... You will be amazed.
When ever you hear the term, Sex Offender, you are not always hearing about a Child Rapist or pedophile.
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