The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 abolished parole in the federal system and in its
place created supervised release, a new type of sentence which could be added following a
prison term. Johnson v. United States
, 529 U.S. 694, 696-97 (2000). Unlike other forms of
community supervision, supervised release was not intended as an additional means of punishing
or incapacitating a defendant for a crime. See
Stephen Breyer, The Federal Sentencing
Guidelines and the Key Compromise Upon Which They Rest
, 17 Hofstra L.Rev. 1, 125 (1988).
In fact, revocation was never contemplated. Instead, the primary goal of a term of supervised
release was “to ease the defendant’s transition into the community after the service of a long
prison term for a particularly serious offense, or to provide rehabilitation to a defendant who has
spent a fairly short period in prison for punishment or other purposes but still needs supervision
and training after release.”

I think shortly after that Wisconsin adopted something similar...

From that paper "We have long held that a term of supervised release is part of a defendant’s sentence. . .
and, like imprisonment, restricts a defendant’s liberty and fundamental rights. . . . As a
result, when the government seeks to restrict a defendant’s liberty through a term of
supervised release, it shoulders the burden of proving that a particular condition of
supervised release involves no greater deprivation of liberty than is reasonably necessary
to serve the goals of supervised release"

Also - even tho many states have a supervised release (on paper) when you think about it the registry (off paper) is a supervised release also -

The registry is just a form of "virtual probation" to keep tabs on offenders, but the government has been able to legally get by with it by calling the registration scheme a "civil scheme to protect the public." Unfortunately, the majority of judges have agreed with this government stance on registration.

In both probation and registration, the offender must adhere to certain "buffer zones"---usually 500 feet----from schools, daycare centers, playgrounds, parks, and places where children regularly congregate.

In both probation and registration, the offender cannot reside within a certain distance from schools, daycare centers, etc.

In both probation and registration, the offender must check in with local law enforcement on a regular basis.

In both probation and registration, if an offender does not follow the rules he can be sent to prison. In probation they call it a revocation and with the registry they called it a FTR---or failure to register.

Even though the registry is considered civil in nature, please note that a FTR is usually a felony. What we have is a punishment written in the criminal code for a civil violation, which seems strange.

In both probation and in some states with the registry, the offender cannot live in the same household as a minor child. This law preventing an offender from living under the same roof as a person under 18 years of age was passed in Oklahoma a few years ago and I am sure other states have adopted this measure.

In both probation and registration, there are compliance checks. In the case of probation, the PO conducts the checks and in the case of the registrant, the checks are done by local law enforcement, sometimes with the aid of Federal Marshals.

I could go on and on with the similarities of probation and registration, but suffice to say both schemes are much alike.

Yet some people still insist that the registry is not punishment. Once you break it down, that argument is ridiculous.

rewdiazepam

That is an excellent source of information, where did you find it?

doesn't this all have to do at the time of sentencing? if so, this would all be moot afterwards. or when they get out of prison.

amynmesa: I went to see a lawyer last week to possibly hire him. He's a genius when it comes to the courts.. unfortunately he's also an ass and treated my son like he was an idiot so I didn't hire him. But then he mailed me the article and said he's available if I have any questions. It's from a lawyer magazine that is not for public. I've heard of this magazine before The Champion but am unable to get a suscription or I would.
It really hits those points that I need at this time. Maybe I can chip away at my son's restriction. Funny how you don't think there's anything you can do and then you get shown that there is a hidden truth or untruth to all these laws.

Echo: I think it's a warning and a push for these lawyers to actually do something at sentencing, like object, which our lawyer didn't to any restrictions other than treatment. I'm going to see if I can use them now tho.

I can't say that I disagree with you, but I also try to remember that sometimes they know the 'system' and how it could react to that kind of pushing. With all great rewards there are great risks, most of that risk is on the defendant and their life.

It would appear that you can become a member even if you aren't an attorney but that is $189 subscription it would appear.

oh, $189... maybe that's why I didn't subscribe.

Yes, we all have our own story to make. Every movement we make on earth is a risk. and there are also rewards.

it totally sucks that for the most part PD's don't give a shit and that families don't understand the ramifications when the judges are rattling off restrictions at the time of sentencing. the judge at my daughters sentencing spoke like a over used recording and he spoke quietly and was very next to impossible to understand or hear.