On September 10th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declared in US v. Juvenile Male, No. 07-30290 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2009) that part of the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) relating to former juvenile offenders is unconstitutional. Although this decision does not directly affect Wisconsin, it is the first of various cases challenging the retroactive requirement for former juvenile offenders in SORNA.

Currently, Wisconsin only uses confidential juvenile registration in instances when a Judge deems it necessary to protect the public. Title 1 of SORNA, known as the Adam Walsh Act, requires states to put children as young as 14 on publicly accessible registries and face broader notification procedures.

In the unanimous Ninth Circuit Court opinion, Judge Reinhardt states “We must decide as a matter of first impression – in our court and in any other circuit court – whether the retroactive application of SORNA’s provision covering individuals who were adjudicated juvenile delinquents because of the commission of certain sex offenses before SORNA’s passage violates the Ex Post Facto Clause of the United States Constitution. In light of the pervasive and severe new and additional disadvantages that result from the mandatory registration of former juvenile offenders and from the requirement that such former offenders report in person to law enforcement authorities every 90 days for 25 years, and in light of the confidentiality that has historically attached to juvenile proceedings, we conclude that the retroactive application of SORNA’s provisions to former juvenile offenders is punitive and, therefore, unconstitutional.”