Published: July 09, 2008 12:24 am            

Balancing computers will be balancing act

Sex crimes are horrific. Sex offenders must be monitored. But once an offender serves time and is listed on the state’s registry, should the offender’s family members be subject to ongoing searches?

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana thinks they have a right not to be subject to search. The court struck down a provision of a state law that would have required searches of offenders’ homes.

The decision came a few days before the new law, authored by Rep. Scott Reske, D-Pendleton, was to go into effect July 1.

Reske supported the bill as a way to monitor sexual predators who use the Internet to prey upon youth.

Under the bill, sex offenders would have been required to submit to a search, at any time, of their personal computers as a condition of probation or parole. They would have been required to purchase hardware or software so their Internet usage could be monitored.

In a class-action lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana challenged the law as a violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable searches and requiring a probable cause for issuance of a warrant.

The ACLU cited two examples:

• A person has been released from prison, is not on probation, parole or any supervised release and is listed on either the sex or violent offender registry. The offender now owns a business and works from home. The offender doesn’t want anyone outside his home to have access to bank records.

• Another offender in a similar circumstance is married. His wife doesn’t want her banking information in the hands of investigators.

As much as we hate sexual or violent crimes, offenders who have served their time should be allowed to return to society while adhering to court-ordered monitoring. On the other hand, these offenders have already lost some rights due to the nature of their crime; for one, they must be listed on the state’s registry of sexual or violent offenders, available through the Internet.

Reske has asked the Indiana attorney general to seek an appeal. And we believe him when he says he wants a better understanding of what language can be used in next year’s General Assembly for another attempt at the law.

Writing the law will be a tricky balancing act. The safety of children should be of utmost importance in these debates.

– The Herald Bulletin, Anderson

        

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