Opinion ID: 1435229
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: History and Traditions as Punishment

Text: The practice of requiring sex offenders to wear global monitoring systems for the purposes of continuous monitoring is fairly new. The recent origin of satellite-based monitoring suggests that the statute was not meant as a punitive measure, or, at least, that it did not involve a traditional means of punishing. See Smith, 538 U.S. at 97, 123 S.Ct. 1140. However, a closer look at the satellite-based monitoring program, though new, shows that it bears a striking resemblance to historical forms of punishment. According to Doe, forced enrollment in the satellite-based monitoring program require[s][him] to carry . . . at all times when not at his residence a relatively large box which contains the electronics necessary for the monitoring to take place. This box must be worn on [his] person outside any coat or other outer garment and therefore is obvious to any onlooker. [3] Accepting Doe's allegation as true, as I must (under a Rule 12(b)(6) review), the monitoring device is visible to the public when worn and must be worn everywhere Doe goes. Indeed, this would serve as a catalyst for public ridiculeridicule likened to the punishment of public shaming or humiliation. Public shaming, humiliation, and banishment are well-recognized historical forms of punishments. See Smith, 538 U.S. at 97-98, 123 S.Ct. 1140; Femedeer v. Haun, 227 F.3d 1244, 1250-51 (10th Cir.2000); Cutshall, 193 F.3d at 475; E.B. v. Verniero, 119 F.3d 1077, 1099-1100 (3d Cir.1997). Therefore, because, in the necessary operation of the Surveillance Act, Doe is required to wear a plainly visible monitoring device at all times in public as well as in private (except in his home), the satellite-based monitoring program results in public shaming and humiliationboth of which are historical methods of punishment. This factor weighs in favor of finding the Surveillance Act effectively punitive.