Opinion ID: 1232067
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Criminal Behavior

Text: Next, Welvaert contends that SORA imposes punishment because the behavior to which it applies is already a crime. As we noted in Worm, supra, the U.S. Supreme Court in Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84, 123 S. Ct. 1140, 155 L. Ed. 2d 164 (2003), concluded that this factor received little weight in analyzing the effect of Alaska's registry statute because the statute's concern was recidivism, and therefore, the offender's past criminal conduct was a necessary starting point. Relying on the Court's determination in Smith, we concluded that the criminal behavior factor was not relevant to determining whether a criminal registration statute imposes punishment. Worm, supra . Because Welvaert's past criminal conduct is also the necessary starting point for SORA's notification provisions, we again conclude that this factor is not relevant for such a determination.