Sex Offenders in Emergency Shelters

With Hurricane Harvey fresh in our minds, Hurricane Irma is bearing down on Florida. The storm could work its way up the coast to the Carolinas by early next week, possibly following a path similar to last year’s Hurricane Matthew or Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Governor Cooper has declared a state of emergency for all 100 counties, ordering state and local government entities to be prepared and temporarily suspending certain motor vehicle restrictions. A question that sometimes arises when the government sets up emergency shelters is whether registered sex offenders may use them. The sheriff of Polk County, Florida, tweeted yesterday that registrants would not be allowed in shelters there. What is the law in North Carolina? Some states have specific rules about sex offenders in emergency shelters. Louisiana, for example, has a law stating that sex offenders may not knowingly be housed or sheltered in the same area with other evacuees, and that any person who becomes aware of a registrant in a shelter must notify the sheriff and chief of police. La. Stat. Ann. § 29:726. Alternative shelter for sex offenders should be provided if possible. Id. North Carolina does not have any specific provisions like that. In fact, I don’t think any law here sets out a crystal clear prohibition on a sex offender being in a shelter. There are, however, several provisions that could be read to limit registrants’ access to or activities within a shelter in certain situations. First, there is the residential restriction in G.S. [...]