People who are convicted of a sex crime are required to register as a sex offender and their names appear on a sex offender registry. The registry made public.
Some people who are on the registry are restricted from living near schools, playgrounds and anywhere children congregate. There are strict rules that those on the registry must follow, or they will end up back in prison on a parole or probation violation.
Now, The Marshall Project reports a North Carolina sheriff, Danny Millsaps, is extending the list of places those on the sex offender registry in his jurisdiction cannot go—church.
Millsaps controversial edict has raised the questions “Is it right?,” and “Is it legal?” Some critics of Millsaps’ ban argue that those on the sex offender registry need all the support they can get, and banning someone on the list from going to a religious service is just another obstacle to successful community reintegration. The ban also calls into question the Church’s commitment to provide religious services for all that want to attend them, or will it allow law enforcement or other lay people to make the decision of who can attend and who cannot.
Read The Marshall Project article on this controversy here.
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