New Legislation on Sex Offender Registration for Out-of-State Offenses

In a post last year, here, I discussed some of the issues related to sex offender registration for out-of-state offenses. Among other things, I noted a federal case in which a registrant challenged the constitutionality of North Carolina’s process (or, really, lack of process) for determining whether a conviction from another state is substantially similar to a North Carolina crime requiring registration. A subsequent case prompted a legislative change that is the main subject of today’s post. The background rule at issue is in G.S. 14-208.6(4)b.—a conviction from another state is a reportable conviction in North Carolina if it is “substantially similar to an offense against a minor or a sexually violent offense,” which are the main categories of North Carolina crimes that require sex offender registration. A version of the same rule applies for federal convictions, including convictions by court martial. G.S. 14-208.6(4)c. In general, when a person with an offense that potentially falls within those rules moves to North Carolina (or comes home to North Carolina after being convicted of an offense elsewhere), an employee of the county sheriff’s office makes a determination as to whether that offense is substantially similar to a North Carolina crime that requires registration. In Meredith v. Stein, 355 F. Supp. 3d 355 (E.D.N.C. 2018), a federal judge said that approach violated a registrant’s due process rights and enjoined the state from putting him on the registry without giving him notice and an opportunity to be heard. A more recent case, Grabarczyk v. Stein, [...]