Supreme Court rules mandatory sex offender registry is unconstitutional [Canada]

[sl8]

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/supreme-court-mandatory-sex-offender-registry-unconstitutional

Supreme Court rules mandatory sex offender registry is unconstitutional

The decision means an Edmonton man who molested a sleeping woman will not be subject to a mandatory lifetime listing on the sex offender registry

Author of the article:Joseph Brean
Publishing date:Oct 28, 2022 • 5 hours ago

Mandatory listing on Canada’s sex offender registry is, for some offenders, an unjustified infringement on their liberty that is not rationally connected to the goal of investigating or preventing sexual crimes, the Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Automatic lifetime listing in the case of multiple sexual offences is similarly “overbroad,” the court decided in striking down both laws to permit discretion by sentencing judges.

The decision means Eugene Ndhlovu, an Edmonton man who molested a sleeping woman and groped another at a party, will not be subject to a mandatory lifetime listing on the sex offender registry. Having served a two year sentence and probation, he will be free of its many reporting requirements, surveillance schemes, and non-compliance penalties that include jail time.

Imposing those automatically, with no regard to an offender’s circumstances or risk of re-offending, is not justified by any rational connection to the goal of investigating and preventing offences, the court ruled. The legislative purpose of the lifetime listing in the case of multiple offences was to target offenders with greater risk to re-offend, but it catches people, like Ndhlovu, “who are not at an increased risk of committing a future sex offence,” the Supreme Court decided.

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[SergeStorms]

1. Open season on women!

Courtesy of the right-wing controlled Extreme Court.

[Scrivener7]

2. Yup. Now it will spread.

[sl8]

3. Note that it's Canada, is their Supreme Court right wing? nt

[canuckledragger]

10. To be a judge in Canada takes a LOT of money...

...so judges tend to come from rich, right-wing families.

Pretty good chance this is a right-wing judge protecting their own.

[Haggard Celine]

4. Nice to know that their Supreme Court is fucked up, too.

Just kidding. It's not at all nice to know that.

[getagrip_already]

5. that seals it.. I'm moving to canada.....

Wide open spaces. Really tolerant policies regarding abuse of indigenous peoples and woman, and no registry marking me as a habitual abuser.

What don't you love about that?

Next up, no DNA evidence can be used in court. No compelled testimony. No testimony from anyone not present during an assault. No testimony that can't be corroborated by an independent third party. No contested testimony in a sex assault case.

Gotta love freedom (to crime away)!

[SergeStorms]

8. Don't give them any ideas.

Although they've probably got a list a mile long of ways to make criminals more comfortable with themselves. To hell with the potential victims.

[SergeStorms]

6. Wait. This is 🇨🇦 Canada.

Ahhhh, what does it matter. It's a stupid ruling in either case, U.S. or Canada.

How does the court know this guy won't do it again? Are they psychic, like Abbott is about rapists?

This is another blow to the safety and security of women as far as I'm concerned.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. How do they know what a defendant will or won't do in the future

Did they cite statistical evidence, psychological opinion? I don't know how to predict the future, do you? I can't even forecast the direction of Intel stock next week.

[getagrip_already]

12. there is a lot of data.....

That sex offenders don't quit after their first offense. In many, it is psychopathic and they are driven to seek out victims.

That is the basis registries were founded upon. Don't let people convicted of certain crimes blend back into society and stay under the radar of police.

Does it work? Does it burden people unnecessarily? Is it unfair? Is it any worse than the rescitevism rate for other crimes?

Topics for debate to be sure. But there is data to support it. I'm sure there is also data to dispute it.

And in the end it's politicians that warp it for their own uses.

[Bev54]

9. Don't like this at all as a Canadian but then again the registry really did not

do much for the public as we were unable to access information on those that were on the list.

[canuckledragger]

11. I'm not surprised by this.

Our legal system tend to protect it's own corrupt pedophiles...like a police officer in my home city named Curtis Borel.

He was caught screwing a 15 old...and received a slap on the wrist, left OUT of the sex offender registry (where anyone NOT a cop caught doing the same thing would have been added) a white-washing of his facebook page, and a new career as a real estate agent in Toronto a year later, no mention of his sex crimes anywhere.

ACAB, and that includes the judges.