In a new law that took effect January 1, 2017, around a dozen different types of sex offenders are now required to be supervised by the State Board of Probation and Parole for the rest of their natural lives. Along with the lifetime supervision, they are also subject to mandatory electronic monitoring through the use of an ankle bracelet, at the expense of the prior sex offender. Adding additional fuel to the inevitable legal battle regarding the Constitutionality of the new bill, the state legislature made the law retroactive to August 28, 2006. What this means is that anyone who plead guilty to the roughly 12 types of sex crimes, even all the way back in 2006, now suddenly have this new obligation regardless of how well they did on probation or how productive and law abiding they have been in life following their arrest. Many of these crimes that require the lifetime registry and electronic monitor are non-contact offenses.
Understandably, sex offenders are not a group of people who are going to garner a lot of sympathy. However, this new bill seems far over-reaching even in today’s society which treats sex offenses as a modern day scarlet letter. The new law, RSMo. 217.735, includes offenses such as sexual misconduct involving a child. Although titles of all sex offenses sound incredibly dangerous to most, sexual misconduct involving a child could include behavior such as urinating in public when a person less than 15 accidentally observes the act. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which that crime should lead to lifetime supervision and lifetime electronic ankle monitor.
This bill is highly likely to be challenged in short order. The Missouri Constitution forbids laws that ex post facto in nature, meaning laws that require a new obligation based on a prior act. Appellate Courts across Missouri and across the country have made exceptions in the case of sex crimes, calling the new obligations civil in nature, rather than punitive. Either way, this new bill is certain to be appealed an the Missouri Supreme Court is likely going to have to settle the debate as to whether or not these new requirements are Constitutional.