Affiliate for Rational Sexual Offense Laws responds to Pa. Supreme Court decision

NEW FREEDOM, Pa. (WHTM) — The Pennsylvania Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws announced they are highly disappointed in the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Pa.

The association said in a statement, “Butler overturns the Superior Court’s finding that our state’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) lifetime registration, notification, and counseling requirements (RNC requirements) were unconstitutional. The Supreme Court found that these requirements are not punitive in nature but instead are a collateral consequence of one’s actions and mental fitness and advance public safety.”

The statement continued saying, “The Court seriously erred by finding that public notification of SVPs is constitutional, and this decision will affect over 2,000 PA registrants as well as their families and friends. Being listed on a public registry as an SVP is an unjust and dehumanizing experience. Justice Wecht said at the hearings of Commonwealth v. Thomas Reed, Commonwealth v. Claude Lacombe, and Commonwealth v. Michael Witmayer that being listed on a public sex offender registry is “the mark of Cain.” The ruling in Butler has left intact the mark of Cain for those labeled SVP.”

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