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New Law: Sex offender residency restrictions

Published (7/15/2011)
By Hank Long
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A young girl was molested by her next door neighbor. The juvenile offender received treatment as part of a plea bargain and was released to his family. The victim’s family asked for a residency restriction order, but were told by the judge hearing the case that nothing could be done to prevent the offender from living next door upon his completion of treatment.

Apparently the judge was wrong.

A new law authorizes a court to bar a juvenile found guilty of a sex crime from residing within 1,000 feet, or three city blocks, of the victim.

Sponsored by Rep. Keith Downey (R-Edina) and Sen. Geoff Michel (R-Edina), the law inserts permissive language to ensure the court system fully understands that a judge has the option to issue such restraining orders in cases where the juvenile offender is over age 15 and does not live in the same home as the victim.

The law also states that the residency restriction could be ordered for all or part of the time that the offender is under court jurisdiction.

The law is effective Aug. 1, 2011.

HF229*/ SF76/CH72

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