Legal

American Legal Institute and Model Penal Cord

In March of this year, the American Law Institute (ALI) approved recommendations to revise its Model Penal Code (MPC) as it relates to sexual crimes and the sex offender registry. The MPC was first published in 1962 to encourage states to standardize their criminal codes. Although it is not legally binding, most states have adopted it either in part or in whole. This current revision has taken nearly a decade to complete and is intended to guide the states in updating their laws based on the empirical knowledge we have gained since 1962.

The changes recommended by ALI look at four areas:

1. ·      limiting registrable offenses to the more dangerous ones
2. ·      providing registry access only to law enforcement
3. ·      modifying registration terms, especially abolishing lifetime registration and         the ability to register children
4. ·      abolishing blanket restrictions that automatically curtail all registrants’                  rights and freedoms.

The revised ALI recommendations are based on more than 30 years of empirical, peer-reviewed data and will bring justice and fairness to both victims and offenders. We now have a vast body of evidence showing that every premise upon which registration was built is false. It does not reduce sexual recidivism, neither violent nor nonviolent; it does not reduce first-time sex crimes. Furthermore, the purported high rate of re-offense is non-existent.

NARSOL sent the following letter to major newspapers in all the affected states and to some of the attorney generals  NARSOL sign on (1).

2021 Changes to AZ Sex Offender Registration Laws:

The following changes that made in 2021 to the Arizona Registration requirements were presented  by representatives of the Maricopa County Public Defenders Office at our Feb 2022 Fearless Meeting 

Modified Registration Requirements in 2021

Maricopa County Guidelines for Early Termination of Probation

In Maricopa County the following are criteria considered by the Adult Probation Department (APD) in deciding whether to propose or support a petition for Early Termination (ET) of probation with sex offender terms. Officers and supervisors will consider suitability of early termination on a case-by-case basis. Before applying for early termination, probationers are encouraged to talk with their probation officer/team to discuss whether they are suitable candidates and to discuss any outstanding case plan goals. Regardless of APD support, the Court makes the final determination as to whether grant a petition for early termination. See A.R.S. § 13-901(E).

Probation’s ET Criteria

Legal Challenges:

One of our members has filed the following legal challenges:

• This petition is a challenge to Arizona Revised Statute (A.R.S.) § 13-3825(D), which gives to local law enforcement unbridled discretion to determine an individual’s “notification level” for purposes of applying Arizona statutes applicable to sexual offenders.   UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT COMPLAINT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT COMPLAINT

• This petition is a challenges the extent to which the State can bar a probationer from the Internet  https://drive.google.com/file/d/18J-SOmNlazPkJv5kaZkwU0faMJkpFb1Q/view?usp=sharing