The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a lifetime requirement that certain juvenile sex offenders register online and elsewhere, saying it was cruel and unusual punishment.
Justice Paul E. Pfeifer wrote the majority opinion for the court and cited a growing national consensus in other states against imposing automatic lifetime registration requirements against juvenile sex offenders.
Pfeifer said legal analyses of cruel and unusual punishment often examine whether the punishment is disproportionate to the crime and “not whether a particular punishment is barbaric.”
“Before a juvenile can even begin his adult life, before he has a chance to live on his own, the world will know his offense,” Pfeifer wrote. “His potential will be squelched before it has a chance to show itself.”
A state law passed in 2008 requires that some of the most dangerous juvenile sex offenders be required to register with law enforcement and have their photos, addresses and criminal histories distributed to neighbors, schools and other places. The offenders’ information also would be publicly available on a state database of sex offenders.
In a 5-2 opinion, however, the court said the punishment violates the Ohio and United States constitutions because it is cruel and unusual, and because it violates a defendant’s right to due process. Juvenile courts could still impose registration requirements in light of the ruling, but not under provisions of the 2008 law.
Justices Terrence O’Donnell and Robert Cupp disagreed with the majority opinion. The registration requirements “are civil in nature and part of a regulatory scheme designed to protect the public from sex offenders,” O’Donnell wrote in the dissenting opinion.
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