Which Sex Offenders Can’t Go Certain Places

The premises restrictions of G.S. 14-208.18 have been in the news again lately. Here in Chapel Hill, a registered sex offender charged with being unlawfully on the premises of the public library had the charge dismissed on constitutional grounds. Meanwhile, the Graham County Sheriff made national headlines went he sent a letter to every registrant in the county prohibiting them, under the 300-foot rule, from going to church. The constitutional issues raised by these scenarios are interesting, but my first reaction in both cases was this: That law doesn’t apply to all registered sex offenders! Most sex offender restrictions apply to all registrants, regardless of the particular crime that got them placed on the registry. That is the case for the residency restriction of G.S. 14-208.16, and the work and volunteer restrictions of G.S. 14-208.17, for example. Not so for the premises restrictions of G.S. 14-208.18. They apply only to two sub-categories of offenders. G.S. 14-208.18(c). The first category is the easy one: defendants who committed an offense in Article 7A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes. That article includes all rape and sexual offense crimes, sexual battery, and intercourse or sexual offense with certain victims. If a defendant is on the registry for one of those crimes, he or she is subject to the premises restrictions of G.S. 14-208.18. The law does not explicitly cover offenders on the registry for attempts, conspiracies, or solicitations to commit the crimes listed in Article 7A. For now, there is no “substantial similarity” clause extending the prohibition’s [...]