Jerry Keen: Supreme Court Ruling Last Week Makes Georgia A Safe Haven For Sex Offenders

(11/26/07) House Majority Leader Jerry Keen said Monday that Georgia has been left a safe haven for sex offenders as a result of a state Supreme Court ruling last week throwing out a key part of the 2006 sex offender law.

“Even if we come back early in January, which I think we intend to do, and put some restrictions in place ... they have given a grace period where if sex offenders are able to establish residency before we pass another bill, they are grandfathered in,” he said.

The court last Wednesday threw out a provision of the law that prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of where children congregate. The court found the provision a “regulatory taking of appellant’s property without just and adequate compensation.”

The ruling came in the case of a registered sex offender who bought a home in Hampton that initially put him in compliance with the law because there were no schools, day care centers or other such gathering points for children nearby. But after a day care center was established within 1,000 feet of his home, he found himself in violation of the law.

Keen said the 1,000-foot residency requirement predates the 2006 sex offender law. “We just expanded it,” he said. But with the Supreme Court’s ruling, the residency requirement now is gone until lawmakers can see if it can be replaced.

“The net effect is that, this morning, any convicted felony sex offender can live anywhere in Georgia they want to with no restrictions,” he said. “Florida has a residency requirement. Alabama has a residency requirement. Where do you think those people are going to go to?”

Keen said he’s looking at a new law that would re-establish the residency requirement except for those who could prove they were in compliance with the law when they initially moved to a location, even if subsequent developments put them out of compliance with the law.

“I hope we can fix this. I’m waiting on a call from the attorney general. I would hope the state would appeal this - quickly - if for no other reason than getting it to the U.S. Supreme Court,” keen said.

Meanwhile, he said he is working with Rep. David Ralston, chairman of the Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, to try to craft a patch for the law.

“I received calls and e-mails all weekend from people concerned the ruling could make Georgia a safe haven,” he said.

Here is a link to the court's ruling.