Sex Offenders Not Even Welcome at Church

by Matt Kelley · 2009-10-07 15:36:00 UTC
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Once again, sex offender restrictions are doing more harm than good.

People with sex offense convictions in Georgia and North Carolina are challenging state laws in court that restrict them from going to places of worship if they also have daycare centers or schools.

James Nichols was arrested on a Sunday in March after he got home from church services. He had no idea a state law banned him from entering the church because it also had a day care center. In fact, he had been invited and welcomed by the church pastor. Now, he's suing the state with the help of the ACLU, arguing that his rights were violated by the state law. He told the AP:

"I just started asking the question, 'Why? Why am I being treated this way after trying to better myself?'" said Nichols, a 31-year-old who was twice convicted of indecent liberties with a teen girl and again in 2003 for attempted second-degree rape. "The law gives you no room to better yourself."

I've written repeatedly in this space that overzealous sex offender restrictions and registries stop people from improving their lives - limiting their job options, breaking up families and even driving some to homelessness. A restriction from practicing religion is about as clear cut as this Catch-22 gets.

But some people just don't get it.

"I'm not denying him the right to go to church. He denied himself that," said state Sen. David Hoyle, the Democrat who sponsored the North Carolina bill. "If they are a convicted pedophile, they have given up a lot of their rights."

Photo by PhillipC

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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