Opinion ID: 2680019
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Excessive in Relation to Alternative Purpose

Text: [¶43] The seventh and final factor requires us to determine whether the statute appears excessive in relation to its public safety purpose. The Does contend that requiring an individual previously convicted for a sex offense to register if he is later convicted of a non-sex-related offense punishable by more than one year is excessive. We analyze excessiveness as it relates to the increased burdens on individuals who were originally sentenced before any statute requiring registration of sex offenders had been enacted and are now retroactively subject to ten-year or lifetime registration on the State’s sex offender registry. “The excessiveness inquiry . . . is not an exercise in determining whether the legislature has made the best choice possible to address the problem it seeks to remedy. The question is 21 whether the regulatory means chosen are reasonable in light of the nonpunitive objective.” Smith, 538 U.S. at 105. [¶44] Although the statutory reporting requirements of SORNA of 1999 are less stringent and oppressive than those we considered in Letalien, we nevertheless conclude again that we have insufficient information upon which to determine whether they are reasonable in light of the law’s nonpunitive purpose of public safety. Letalien, 2009 ME 130, ¶ 52, 985 A.2d 4. The record does not allow us to determine whether a less demanding regimen would serve the objective of public safety equally well. We accordingly treat this factor as neutral. See id. ¶ 55.