Sex Predator Residency Restrictions Likened to Japanese-American Internment

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that sex offenders can't be banned from living near parks and schools, The Boston Globe's Michael Levenson reports. The court said those restrictions are like the eras in American history in which American Indians were removed from their lands and Japanese Americans were interned during World War II: "'Except for the incarceration of persons under the criminal law and the civil commitment of mentally ill or dangerous persons, the days are long since past when whole communities of persons, such as Native Americans and Japanese-Americans, may be lawfully banished from our midst,' Justice Geraldine S. Hines wrote."

Daniel M. Filler, a Drexel University law professor, told Levenson that statewide rules restricting where sex offenders can live would pass constitutional muster. However, the problem is when muncipalities pass laws that force convicted sex offenders to move to another town.