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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Can Sex Offenders Be Barred From Social Media? Justices Lean Toward No

It was, to be blunt, sex day at the Supreme Court. The justices heard two cases, both involving men who had been punished for having consensual sex with a minor. In one case, a 21-year-old legal resident of the U.S. was ordered deported after he pleaded no contest to having sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend. That would not be a crime in 43 states or under federal law, but it was enough to get him deported for having committed an "aggravated felony" in California.

In the second case, a North Carolina man was convicted first for having sex with a minor, and arrested again seven years later for violating a state ban on social media use by sex offenders.

The U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to invalidate the North Carolina law he was arrested under, which makes it a crime for registered sex offenders to use Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. At oral arguments Monday, at least six justices indicated serious doubts about the statute.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hard to ban people from a social media when many companies like Comcast have shared IP addresses. Anytime you block an IP address, you could be blocking multiple people who aren't sexual predators as well as the perpetrators.