Law Commons^™

Sex Offender Residency Restrictions: Government Regulation Of Public Health, Safety, And Morality, John Kip Cornwell

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Sex offender residency restrictions have proliferated throughout the United States over the past decade. A number of commentators have likened these laws to medieval banishment, when political outcasts and undesirables are exiled to remote areas where they cannot threaten civilized society. This Article argues first that likening modern residency restrictions to “banishment” largely misconstrues this practice as it has been practiced historically. Instead, these statutory initiatives are better understood as an assertion of governments’ police power to protect public health, safety, and morality. Seen through this lens, this Article evaluates the laws’ constitutional sufficiency with attention to their allegedly punitive …