A Victory of Sorts

Judge drops ban blocking Georgia sex offender law

Jill Young Miller, Nancy Badertscher - Staff
Wednesday, July 26, 2006

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that he cannot continue to block enforcement of a new law intended to keep sex offenders away from children.

But his ruling suggests a technical flaw in the law makes it unenforceable --- at least for now.

The law forbids sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of school-board approved bus stops, but U.S. District Court Clarence Cooper said he could find no evidence that any local school board had ever formally signed off on its share of the thousands of school bus stops that exist across the state.

The law --- which the Legislature passed this spring --- defines a school bus stop as one "designated by local school boards of education or by a private school."

Cooper, who did not comment on the constitutionality of the bus stop provision, said his ruling will probably cause school boards to officially identify school bus stops.

"This ruling, therefore, may only result in delay, confusion, and inconsistent actions at the local level," he wrote, adding that his court "is powerless to alter this result."

On Tuesday afternoon, it was not yet clear how Georgia sheriffs would react to the ruling.

"I think right now, consistent with Judge Cooper's ruling, we do nothing," said Forsyth County Sheriff Ted Paxton. "Until the board of education ... specifically designates bus stops, right now, as Judge Cooper has indicated, the law is unenforceable, anyway."

DeKalb County Sheriff Thomas Brown, who had criticized the bus stop provision as impossible to enforce, was out of town Tuesday. He said through a spokeswoman, "We respect the judge's ruling, and we will enforce the law as it is written."

House Majority Leader Jerry Keen (R-St. Simons), the bill's chief sponsor, and Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) issued a joint statement Tuesday saying they expect local school districts "will take whatever steps necessary to officially designate school bus stops with the goal of locating those stops as far as possible from the residences of convicted sex offenders."

They said, "Going forward, we hope that the courts will join us in protecting the children of Georgia from the vilest offenders."

Gov. Sonny Perdue said in a written statement that he appreciated Cooper's order. "The state's foremost obligation is to keep the people of Georgia safe. This includes doing everything within our power to keep sexual predators away from children."

Laura Reilly, director of communications for the Georgia School Boards Association, said she doesn't anticipate that local school boards will rush to respond to Cooper's ruling.

"I don't think that's the way our local boards operate," Reilly said. "Before anybody goes out and starts making policies and things, there needs to be some rational thought and [time to] step back a minute and look at what we have, what all the state board rules and regulations are, and what they need to do."

She said association and the school boards' attorneys are available to help. "There have been rulings in the past that have come down where you needed a new policy, and they've been able to handle it without mass confusion."

The school bus stop provision is being challenged in a federal lawsuit filed June 20 by lawyers from the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. It contends that enforcement of the bus stop rule would drive thousands of now law-abiding sex offenders from their homes. Violators face at least 10 years in prison.
A trial date has not been set.

Lisa Kung, director of the Southern Center, said Tuesday: "The good thing about the ruling is it made it clear that law enforcement can stop wasting its time trying to enforce an unenforceable law. For that, we can celebrate."

She said that under Cooper's ruling, "school boards themselves would have to take an additional step if they want to kick people . . . out of their homes." School boards should "stay away from this mess because that's the rational thing to do," Kung said. "But if they do try to wade into the morass, they're on very, very shaky legal ground."

In June, Cooper granted a temporary restraining order as to enforcement of the bus stop provision, and on July 11 extended it for an additional 10 days so the court could consider evidence and arguments from both parties and rule on the motion for a preliminary injunction.

As of last week, 10,592 registered sex offenders lived in Georgia, with 1,996 of them behind bars, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Staff writer David Simpson contributed to this article.