“What the City has done here is effectively to declare an entire class of persons to be a public nuisance…”

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Many cities and states have restrictions on registered individuals can live.  When several registrants were going to be forced from their homes by the ‘Child Safety Ordinance’ in Rutland, Vermont, here’s what a judge had to say:

“The city declares plaintiffs [the registrants challenging the law] nuisances for no discernible activity but drawing breath.  What the City has done here is effectively to declare an entire class of persons to be a public nuisance, by simple virtue of their physical existence.  Plaintiffs have been convicted and punished; the City cannot now say to them, any more than they could to any other citizen, “we don’t want your type in our town.”  The boldness and breadth of this assertion is virtually without precedent.”

Those are the words of Vermont Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar, Jr. This link will take you to his 2017 inspiring ruling overturning the ordinance, Doe v. Rutland:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4328605-Docket-No-261-5-16-Rdcv-John-Doe-1-Et-Al-vs-City.html

Here’s a terrific overview of laws that banish registrants from community:  

There’s Literally No Evidence That Restricting Where Sex Offenders Can Live Accomplishes Anything

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2014/08/sex-offender-housing-restrictions-are-pointless.html

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