Families of SOs Community Group
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I have been looking at the subsidized housing laws and it seems to me that the provisions they added to prevent sex offenders from qualifying are not constitutional. The rules simply state that anyone who is required to register for life in any state they do or have lived in are not eligible. Because the money for subsidized housing is federal money and there is no federally enforced registration system, two people who have been convicted of the exact same thing can have completely different outcomes for qualifying for subsidized housing simply based on where they do and have lived. To me this appears to fail the test of equal treatment under the law. If it's federal money, then anyone convicted of the same crime should have equal access to that money as anyone else who has been convicted of the same thing. It should not be up to the states to be able to make draconian registration rules and deny people access to federal money.
The biggest problem is that sex offenders are not considered a protected class and can be discriminated against rather easily. Remember, nobody likes sex offenders, so nobody complains when society treats us badly.
Race, gender, sexual identity, age, and other factors are considered a protected class, but not sex offenders. I assume the reason is that sex offenders became sex offenders b/c they chose to commit a crime, while such things as race and gender are not the result of any offense or any choice made by the person.
You said, “Because the money for subsidized housing is federal money and there is no federally enforced registration system, two people who have been convicted of the exact same thing can have completely different outcomes for qualifying for subsidized housing simply based on where they do and have lived.”
There actually is a federal law which mandates registration-----SORNA. SORNA is content to allow the states to enact and enforce each state’s registry, but SORNA is absolutely applicable if a registrant crosses state lines, engages in interstate commerce, and does not update his registration status in the new state. In fact, it is a crime for any registrant to fail to keep his registration current according to SORNA. This is why so many FTR—failure to register---prosecutions out of state involve the United States Marshals apprehending the registrant and arresting him. A federal crime, not a state crime, is committed when a registrant crosses state lines and fails to register in the new state.
Follow the link----
https://tinyurl.com/y8rt8vbl
“What are the requirements for keeping registry information current?
“A sex offender must, not later than three business days after each change of name, residence, employment, or student status, appear in person in at least one jurisdiction in which the sex offender is required to register and inform that jurisdiction of all changes in the information required for that sex offender in the sex offender registry. This information must immediately be provided to all other jurisdictions in which the sex offender is required to register. Jurisdictions must also require a sex offender to provide notice if he or she is leaving the jurisdiction prior to the move; the sex offender must provide information about the jurisdiction to which he or she is going.”
See Part X of the Final Guidelines for more detail.
As far as finding a Pro bono attorney to take such a case, your chances are almost zero. I am on your side and on the side of every sex offender and their loved one’s but I don’t know of any attorneys that will do pro bono work for sex offender registrants.
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