Lifetime placement on sex offender list unconstitutional, SC Supreme Court rules

COLUMBIA — The S.C. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled the state’s lifetime sex offender registration requirement is unconstitutional and people who demonstrate a low risk of reoffending should be able to petition a judge to have their names purged.

The June 9 order demands the General Assembly change the law to bring South Carolina in line with other states that provide offenders a path off of similar Megan’s Law-type registries.

The law is named for a 7-year-old in New Jersey who was sexually assaulted and murdered by a neighbor, prompting states around the country in the 1990s to tighten their laws around sex offenders.

Decades later, South Carolina’s law, one of the nation’s strictest, remains largely untouched. It requires lifetime registration in a public database — displaying each subject’s name, home address and a photo — no matter the degree of the offense.

Read more: https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/lifetime-placement-on-sex-offender-list-unconstitutional-sc-supreme-court-rules/article_897733b0-c932-11eb-b5f1-6348f734d73e.html