Court Opinion

ID: 9710435
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:09:50.810059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:56.785169
License: Public Domain

BRADFORD, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I believe requiring Jensen to register as a sexually violent predator for life does not run afoul of the federal and state ex post facto clauses. In Spencer v. O’Connor, 707 N.E.2d 1039, 1044 (Ind.Ct.App.1999), a panel of this court, in finding a ten-year sex offender registration requirement did not violate the ex post facto prohibition, noted a significant portion of the information contained in the registry is already in the public domain.
As stated in Spencer, I believe the inclusion of a person in the registry is intended to monitor the whereabouts of the offender, not to punish the offender. 707 N.E.2d at 1043. Law — abiding citizens are required to register or file various forms for long periods of time, the duration of which can include a lifetime. Such filings include voter registrations, driver’s licenses and income taxes. Further, absent an ex-pungement, adult criminal histories are stored in data bases for life and beyond.
Given the public interest in certain informational filings, it is my opinion that requiring a sexually violent predator to maintain his current address in the registry, even for a lifetime, does not rise to the level of being so punitive as to overcome its non-punitive legislative intent, that is, to monitor the whereabouts of a violent sexual predator, the necessity of which does not diminish over time.
I would affirm the trial court on this issue.