Colorado’s sex offender registry is unconstitutional, judge rules

The registry makes offenders vulnerable to cruel and unusual punishment from the public in the form of vigilante justice, a federal judge found.

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Associated Press

A federal judge has ruled that Colorado’s sex offender registry is unconstitutional because it makes offenders vulnerable to cruel and unusual punishment from the public.

Denver’s CBS4 reports that U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch ruled Thursday in the case of three offenders who want to remove their information from the registry.

Matsch said that listing offenders’ names, addresses and other information on a state website gives the public the “power to inflict punishments beyond those imposed through the court.”

Colorado’s Bureau of Investigation posts the information.

Alison Ruttenberg is an attorney for the three offenders. She says the registry has not solved a single crime in Colorado.

Colorado’s attorney general’s office says it hasn’t decided to appeal the ruling.

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