Opinion ID: 775532
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Connecticut Law

Text: 3 Like every other state, 3 Connecticut has enacted a version of Megan's Law, 4 which requires people convicted of certain criminal offenses, most of them sexual in nature, to register with the State upon their release into the community and provides for disclosure of information gathered through this registry. 5 As amended most recently in 1999, Connecticut's version of the law requires registration of people who have been convicted of crimes that fall within four statutorily defined categories: criminal offenses against a victim who is a minor, 6 nonviolent sexual offenses, 7 sexually violent offenses, 8 and felonies committed for a sexual purpose. 9 See Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 54-250(2), (5), (11), (12), 54-251(a), 54-252(a), 54-254(a). 10
4 Registration requirements vary depending on the type of crime for which a particular person is convicted and thereby becomes subject to the registration law. A person convicted of a criminal offense against a minor or of a nonviolent sexual offense must register with the Connecticut Department of Public Safety (DPS) for ten years beginning within three days following his or her release into the community. 11 See id. § 54-251(a). In addition, a person convicted of a felony committed for a sexual purpose can also be required to register for ten years at the discretion of the sentencing court. See id. § 54-254(a). Finally, a person convicted of a sexually violent offense must register for the remainder of his or her life. See id. § 54-252(a). 5 Each registrant must provide the DPS with his or her name, identifying factors including fingerprints, a photograph, a list of other identifying characteristics, and a blood sample for DNA analysis, see id. § 54-250(3), criminal history record, and his or her residence address, see id. §§ 54-251(a), 54-252(a), 54-254(a), which must be verified once a year, see id. § 54-257(c). A person convicted of a sexually violent offense also must provide documentation of any treatment received for mental abnormality or personality disorder, see id. § 54-252(a), and must verify his or her address once every ninety days, see id. § 54-257(c). 6 A person convicted of a sexually violent offense, by contrast, must register for the remainder of his or her life, see id. § 54-252(a), and, in addition to the standard name, address, criminal history, and identifying factors registration, must provide the State with documentation of any treatment received for mental abnormality or personality disorder. Id. § 54-252(a). Such a person must verify his or her address once every ninety days. See id. § 54-257(c). 7 Certain additional obligations apply to all registrants regardless of their underlying conviction. Anyone subject to the law who moves to a new residence must inform the State of his or her current address within five days. See id. §§ 54-251(a), 54-252(a), 54-254(a). If a registrant regularly travels into or temporarily resides in another state, he or she must register with the responsible agency there and comply with whatever additional duties that state imposes on sex offenders. 12 See id. Each registrant must abide by the statute's address verification requirements by completing and returning to the State within ten days of receipt a nonforwardable verification form. See id. § 54-257(c). Finally, anyone subject to the law must submit to having his or her photograph taken at a specified location whenever the State so requests, see id. §§ 54-251(a), 54-252(a), 54-254(a), at least once every five years, see id. § 54-257(d). Failure to comply with any of these duties constitutes a class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. See id. §§ 54-251(d), 54-252(d), 54-253(c), 54-254(b).
8 The statute also obligates DPS to compile the information gathered through the registration process in a central registry and to share that information with local police departments, state police troops, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and coordinate agencies in other states in which registrants reside. See id. § 54-257(a). 9 The DPS must also make the registry available to the public during normal business hours. Id. § 54-258(a)(1). And the DPS is required to post registry information on the Internet, see id. § 54-258(a)(1), something it did until the practice was enjoined by the district court in this litigation. The DPS, also pursuant to statutory prescription, [n]ot less than once per calendar quarter... [is required to] issue notices to all print and electronic media in the state regarding the availability and means of accessing the registry. Id. Local police departments and state police troops are required to make the registry available for public inspection during office hours. See id. The following warning must be posted wherever the registry is open to public view: Any person who uses information in this registry to injure, harass or commit a criminal act against any person included in the registry or any other person is subject to criminal prosecution. Id. § 54-258a. 10 The primary means of disseminating registrant information to the public was the Sex Offender Registry Internet database maintained by the DPS, 13 which, until it was shut down pursuant to the injunction issued by the district court, could be reached through the websites of several television stations, as well as through the official homepage of the State of Connecticut, http://www.state.ct.us. 14 Anyone with access to the Internet was able to search the database by zip code or town name, which produced a list of all registrants within the scope of the search, or by last name or first letter thereof. Every name that was produced through such a search yielded a direct link to another page entitled Registered Sex Offender containing the registrant's name, address, photograph, and physical description. 11 Sometime between December 1998 and May 1999, the following statement was added to the first page of the Sex Offender Registry website: 12 This information is made available for the purpose of complying with Connecticut General Statutes § 54-250, et seq..... The registry is based on the legislature's decision to facilitate access to publicly-available information about persons convicted of sexual offenses. The Department of Public Safety has not considered or assessed the specific risk of reoffense with regard to any individual prior to his or her inclusion within this registry, and has made no determination that any individual included in the registry is currently dangerous. Individuals included within the registry are included solely by virtue of their conviction record and state law. The main purpose of providing this data on the Internet is to make the information more easily available and accessible, not to warn about any specific individual. Anyone who uses this information to injure, harass, or commit a criminal act against any person included in the registry or any other person is subject to criminal prosecution. 13 For part or all of the time it was accessible, the website contained the message: This information is made available for the purpose of protecting the public.
14 Certain people who would otherwise fall within the scope of the law are eligible for relief from these provisions. Two narrow categories of offenders need not register at all if a court so orders upon a finding that registration is not required for public safety: anyone who was convicted of engaging, while under nineteen years of age, in sexual intercourse with a victim who was between thirteen and sixteen years old but at least two years younger than the perpetrator; and anyone who was convicted of subjecting another person to sexual contact without the victim's consent. See Conn. Gen. Stat. § 54-251(b), (c). 15 A court has discretion to order the DPS to restrict public dissemination of information about two other classes of registrants -- those who were convicted either of sexual assault in a spousal or cohabiting relationship or of any crime involving a victim under the age of 18 to whom the offender is related -- if the court finds that publication is not required for public safety and would reveal the identity of the victim. See id. § 54-255 (a), (b). A registrant who has committed one of several specified offenses between October 1, 1988 and June 30, 1999 may petition the court for an order limiting the dissemination of his or her registration information to law enforcement purposes, provided that the court finds that such a limitation would not threaten public safety. See id. § 54-255(c). This right of petition is also afforded to a person who had been convicted between October 1, 1988 and September 30, 1998 of a crime within the purview of the sex offender law provided that he or she did not serve jail time for the original conviction, has not subsequently been convicted of another crime covered by the law, and has registered with the DPS. See id. 16 Apart from whatever determinations are made in the course of these proceedings, neither the DPS nor any other agency responsible for administering the registration law affords a person subject to the law an opportunity to be heard on the issue of whether he or she is dangerous or a threat to public safety before requiring that person to register and disclosing the information about him or her to the public.