Court Opinion

ID: 9529281
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:49:27.941001+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:43.403985
License: Public Domain

Agid, J.
(dissenting) — I agree with the majority that the correct test for determining whether a new enactment is an ex post facto law is the test set forth in Collins v. Youngblood, 497 U.S. 37, 111 L. Ed. 2d 30, 110 S. Ct. 2715 (1990), despite some indication to the contrary in In re Powell, 117 Wn.2d 175, 185, 814 P.2d 635 (1991). However, I agree with Taylor that RCW 9A.44.130 is, as a practical matter, additional punishment. I would therefore hold that it cannot be applied to him or other similarly situated persons convicted of sex offenses prior to the effective date of the statute.
The sole argument Taylor advances here is that the sex offending registration law is an ex post facto law because it inflicts greater punishment on him. As the court in State v. Noble, 171 Ariz. 171, 829 P.2d 1217 (1992) recognized, a new law that "will promote the traditional aims of punishment — retribution and deterrence" may not be applied retroactively. Noble, 829 P.2d at 1221. The problem with the majority's analysis is that, in rejecting Taylor's argument, it ignores the very real practical impacts of the registration requirement. Those impacts convert the registration requirement *359from a regulation into a law designed to further "the traditional aims of punishment — retribution and deterrence".
One such impact is that all of the registration information is readily available to anyone — not just a limited group of entities with a need to know, as was the case in the Arizona statute upheld in Noble. The mere fact that bits and pieces of the information appear in various public records does not answer the concern that, through registration, a sex offender is denied privacy rights such as an unlisted telephone number and address that other convicted felons enjoy. A person or group wishing to find and publicize the location of sex offenders in a given community would have ready access to all the necessary information. Such efforts are commonly reported in the news media and add immeasurably to the "stigma attached to one who has committed a sexual offense." Majority, at 357.
I agree that a registered offender "has all of the due process and constitutional protections enjoyed by any other citizen and cannot be arrested simply because of his past conviction." (Italics mine.) Majority, at 358. However, that conclusion ignores the very frightening and often disabling impact on an individual when official suspicion is focused on him or her. One who is watched, investigated, questioned and accused, albeit informally, lives in fear of the moment of formal accusation and its aftermath. People tend to think that if he did it once, he will do it again. The recognition of this human trait underlies former ER 404(b) prohibiting the use of evidence of other crimes "to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith." It is unrealistic to assume that because a registered offender cannot be arrested without probable cause, he will not be the focus of prearrest suspicion and investigation when information about him and his prior crime is readily available.
Finally, it seems obvious that the registration requirement, again as a practical matter, will impede the constitutionally protected right to travel. See Shapiro v. Thompson,
*360394 U.S. 618, 22 L. Ed. 2d 600, 89 S. Ct. 1322 (1969), overruled on other grounds in Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 671, 39 L. Ed. 2d 662, 94 S. Ct. 1347 (1974). In Shapiro, the Supreme Court held that the right to travel was protected by the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution. The Court invalidated state laws conditioning eligibility for welfare benefits on residency for 1 year in the state on the ground that such a requirement has a chilling effect on that right. 394 U.S. at 631. While a registered sex offender, like the welfare recipients in Shapiro, is not barred at the gates of a new community, the requirement that he register, like the residency requirement invalidated in Shapiro, surely will have a chilling effect on his freedom of choice to move to a new place. It is inconceivable to think that one who must, as his first act, go to local law enforcement and announce that he is a felon convicted of a sex offense will not be deterred from moving in order to avoid divulging that ignominious event.
While I agree that RCW 9A.44.130 has a significant regulatory purpose, I do not think we can ignore the very real punitive impacts of the law in deciding whether it may be retroactively applied. Where, as here, punishment is a very significant aspect of the law in addition to regulation, we should hold that its application to Taylor is prohibited because it is an ex post facto law.
Review by Supreme Court pending November 1, 1993.