Opinion ID: 1423570
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Balancing the Mendoza-Martinez Factors

Text: We acknowledge that § 13-3821 has both punitive and regulatory effects. See Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 96, 78 S.Ct. 590, 596, 2 L.Ed.2d 630 (1958) (The Court has recognized that any statute decreeing some adversity as a consequence of certain conduct may have both a penal and a nonpenal effect.). Moreover, we agree with Noble that the Mendoza-Martinez factors point in differing directions. 167 Ariz. at 446, 808 P.2d at 331 (quoting Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. at 169, 83 S.Ct. at 568). Although several of the Mendoza-Martinez factors suggest that § 13-3821 is punitive, our task is not simply to count the factors on each side, but to weigh them. The most significant factor in this case is our determination that, as noted, the overriding purpose of § 13-3821 is facilitating the location of child sex offenders by law enforcement personnel, a purpose unrelated to punishing Noble and McCuin for past offenses. In addition, potentially punitive aspects of the statute have been mitigated. Registrants are not forced to display a scarlet letter to the world; outside of a few regulatory exceptions, the information provided by sex offenders pursuant to the registration statute is kept confidential. See supra note 8 and accompanying text. Our decision is close. We nonetheless conclude that, on balance, requiring convicted sex offenders to register pursuant to § 13-3821 is not punishment. Consequently, the retrospective application of the statute to these defendants does not violate the ex post facto clause of the United States or Arizona Constitution.