Saturday, May 22, 2010

Give them what the law requires and not one whit more

Okay.

Give them Due Process then label them as sex offenders if warranted and prosecute them when they fail to comply with the terms of Chapter 62 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which governs the registration and reporting requirements for sex offenders.

There, now that was easy wasn't it?


Sex offender label requires due process
By R.G. Ratcliffe - Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN — Texas has been unconstitutionally designating some prison inmates sexual criminals without giving them an appropriate hearing, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

The ruling could affect as many as 6,900 inmates who have never been convicted of a sex offense although they may be sexual predators.

The lawsuit was brought by Raul Meza, who was convicted in the 1982 murder of a 9-year-old girl. He was released from prison in 1993 under the state's mandatory supervision law and then reincarcerated until 2002.

The rest of the story: