Court Opinion

ID: 9630236
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:05:58.862458+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:40:50.323513
License: Public Domain

RICHARD B. TEITELMAN, Judge,
concurring.
I concur fully in the principal opinion and write separately only to suggest that Mr. Holden’s conviction and sentence unintentionally may undermine future enforcement efforts. In exchange for voluntarily renewing his registration, Mr. Holden was arrested and sentenced to four years imprisonment because he did not inform the authorities that his new address was a car parked on a riverbank. Had Mr. Holden realized that voluntary re-registration would land him jail for four years, he would have been faced with a significant incentive to abscond. If the purpose of the registration requirements is to permit the authorities and the public to stay apprised of an offenders’ residence, then it may prove un-wise to impose harsh punishments on those offenders, like Mr. Holden, who undertake good faith but technically erroneous efforts at compliance. Although one could argue that the prospect of imprisonment generally will encourage compliance with the registration requirements, there is little evidence that criminal sanctions cure innocent oversights in the face of overwhelmingly unfortunate circumstances.