Sex Offenders May Challenge Miami Residency Restriction

Several sex offenders challenged on Ex Post Facto grounds a Miami ordinance that bans any “person who has been convicted of any one of several enumerated sexual offenses involving a victim under sixteen years of age from ‘resid[ing] within 2,500 feet of any school.’”

Attribution: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia

The Eleventh Circuit held that the sex offenders had adequately alleged a violation of the Ex Post Facto Clause because the ordinance appeared “excessive in comparison to its public safety goal of addressing recidivism.” The court further noted that plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that “the County’s residency restriction not only fails to advance, but also directly undermines, the goal of public safety.” Doe v. Miami–Dade County, Florida, No. 14-14336 (11th Cir. 2017).