Juvenile Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act JSORNA

In Louisiana, the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) establishes the requirements that those convicted or adjudicated as sex offenders must live by. These requirements are extremely harsh and make life very difficult for those on the sex offender registry. Those convicted of sex offenses as adults must register and abide by these requirements for usually 15 or 25 years. However, per Louisiana law, juveniles adjudicated for sex offenses must remain on the sex offender registry for the rest of their lives. Despite the fact that juveniles’ brains still have significant changes to undergo before reaching adulthood and social science has shown time and again that juvenile sex offenders are extremely unlikely to recidivate, the draconian SORNA requirements apply for life to kids adjudicated as young as 14.

The SORNA requirements are extensive. For example, they prevent registrants from being able to live or work within 1,000 feet of a school or park. This creates massive and often insurmountable hurdles to finding housing or work, especially in a city such as New Orleans where schools and parks are around every corner. These juveniles must register their home address with local police every three months, and if they do not have a viable address, then they can be arrested for a “failure to register.” A failure to register is a felony offense and carries a fine of up to $1,000 and up to 10 years in prison. Finding work and a place to live is often very difficult for those on the registry because they routinely fail background checks and the stigma of being on the registry makes landlords and business owners hesitant to house or hire them.

Additionally, juvenile registrants are not allowed to use social media websites of any kind. Their driver’s license must have “SEX OFFENDER” written in bold orange letters. They must also carry an identification card with the “SEX OFFENDER” branding, and If caught without the identification card at any time, then they face up to 10 years in prison for a failure to register. The juvenile registrant’s photo and identifying information is posted on online sex offender database that comes up when the person’s name is Googled. This leads to intense anxiety about being discovered by community members and potential employers.

On December 11, 2020, PJI filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the registration requirements for those adjudicated sex offenders as juveniles. The claims assert that SORNA as applied to juveniles violates the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, the right to be free from ex post facto punishment under Article I, due process under the Fourteenth Amendment, the right to trial by jury under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, and the rights to have intimate association and be free from compelled or chilled speech under the First Amendment. Click here to read the complaint and to learn more about this case.