The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear a challenge to that state’s sex offender registration laws. The plaintiffs say the expanded law should not be applied retroactively.
Last week, the state’s justices agreed to hear appeals by three men convicted of child molestation — from Clearfield, Lancaster and Cumberland counties — who say they shouldn’t be forced to register for life, as the new law mandates of them.
When each was convicted nearly a decade or more ago, their offenses only required them to register for 10 years, and their attorneys argue that the new rules violate due process and are an after-the-fact punishment, which is prohibited in both the U.S. and Pennsylvania constitutions.
The courts have already ruled that registration is not punishment… They need to argue that registration violates their fist amendment protection of their right to “freedom of speech” (which includes not to speak) and their thirteenth amendment protection from “involuntary servitude UNLESS IT”S PUNISHMENT FOR A CRIME” which the courts have already established registration is not! Therefore they have no lawful standing to impose it on anyone if it was not part of the sentence!