{ "id": "R42691", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R42691", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "SORNA: An Abridged Legal Analysis of 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2250 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender)", "retrieved": "2021-11-29T04:04:11.419856", "id": "R42691_10_2021-11-05", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2021-11-05_R42691_1f8b24a6eb07ec9cbfd7cb702a833b8ce1d87c7d.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R42691/10", "sha1": "1f8b24a6eb07ec9cbfd7cb702a833b8ce1d87c7d" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2021-11-05_R42691_1f8b24a6eb07ec9cbfd7cb702a833b8ce1d87c7d.html" } ], "date": "2021-11-05", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "R", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R42691", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 458332, "date": "2017-01-17", "retrieved": "2017-01-24T16:59:00.373660", "title": "SORNA: An Abridged Legal Analysis of 18 U.S.C. \u00a72250 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender)", "summary": "Section 2250 of Title 18 of the United States Code outlaws an individual\u2019s failure to comply with federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) requirements. SORNA demands that an individual\u2014previously convicted of a qualifying federal, state, or foreign sex offense\u2014register with state, territorial, or tribal authorities. Individuals must register in every jurisdiction in which they reside, work, or attend school. They must also update the information whenever they move, or change their employment or educational status. Section 2250 applies only under one of several jurisdictional circumstances: the individual was previously convicted of a qualifying federal sex offense; the individual travels in interstate or foreign commerce; or the individual enters, leaves, or resides in Indian country. The Supreme Court in Nichols v. United States held that SORNA, as originally written, had limited application to sex offenders in the U.S. who relocated abroad. The International Megan\u2019s Law to Prevent Child Exploitation and Other Sexual Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders [Act], P.L. 114-119 (H.R. 515), however, anticipated and addressed the limit identified in Nichols.\nIndividuals charged with a violation of Section 2250 may be subject to preventive detention or to a series of pre-trial release conditions. If convicted, they face imprisonment for not more than 10 years and/or a fine of not more than $250,000 as well as the prospect of a post-imprisonment term of supervised release of not less than 5 years. An offender guilty of a Section 2250 offense, who also commits a federal crime of violence, is subject to an additional penalty of imprisonment for up to 30 years and not less than 5 years for the violent crime. \nThe Attorney General has exercised his statutory authority to make SORNA applicable to qualifying convictions occurring prior to its enactment. The Supreme Court rejected the suggestion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that Congress lacks the constitutional authority to make Section 2250 applicable, on the basis of a prior federal offense and intrastate noncompliance, to individuals who had served their sentence and been released from federal supervision prior to SORNA\u2019s enactment, United States v. Kebodeaux, 134 S. Ct. 2496 (2013). \nThe Fifth Circuit\u2019s Kebodeaux opinion aside, the lower federal appellate courts have almost uniformly rejected challenges to Section 2250\u2019s constitutional validity. Those challenges have included arguments under the Constitution\u2019s Ex Post Facto, Due Process, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Commerce, Necessary and Proper, and Spending Clauses. \nThis report is in an abridged version of CRS Report R42692, SORNA: A Legal Analysis of 18 U.S.C. \u00a72250 (Failure to Register as a Sex Offender), without the footnotes or the attribution or citations to authority found in the parent report.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42691", "sha1": "ecc3da7e8a5fd6e23c6875fa341a822ebde526cd", "filename": "files/20170117_R42691_ecc3da7e8a5fd6e23c6875fa341a822ebde526cd.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42691", "sha1": "16476280284f96ec743eafdcb06f5fd6e78bdb28", "filename": "files/20170117_R42691_16476280284f96ec743eafdcb06f5fd6e78bdb28.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 411727, "date": "2012-08-30", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T21:42:43.330024", "title": "Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: An Abridged Legal Analysis of 18 U.S.C. 2250", "summary": "Section 2250 outlaws an individual\u2019s failure to comply with federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) requirements. SORNA demands that an individual\u2014previously convicted of a qualifying federal, state, or foreign sex offense\u2014register with state, territorial, or tribal authorities. Individuals must register in every jurisdiction in which they live, work, or attend school. They must also update the information whenever they move, or change their employment or educational status. Section 2250 applies only under one of several jurisdictional circumstances: the individual was previously convicted of a qualifying federal sex offense; the individual travels in interstate or foreign commerce; or the individual enters, leaves, or resides in Indian country.\nIndividuals charged with a violation of \u00a72250 may be subject to preventive detention or to a series of pre-trial release conditions. If convicted, they face imprisonment for not more than 10 years and/or a fine of not more than $250,000 as well as the prospect of a post-imprisonment term of supervised release of not less than 5 years. An offender guilty of a \u00a72250 offense, who also commits a federal crime of violence, is subject to an additional penalty of imprisonment for up to 30 years and not less than 5 years for the violent crime. \nThe Attorney General has exercised his statutory authority to make SORNA applicable to qualifying convictions occurring prior to its enactment. The impact of that decision has been mitigated somewhat by an opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: Congress lacks the constitutional authority to make \u00a72250 applicable, on the basis of a prior federal offense and intrastate noncompliance, to individuals who had served their sentence and been released from federal supervision prior to SORNA\u2019s enactment, United States v. Kebodeaux, 687 F.3d 232, 253 (5th Cir. 2012). \nKebodeaux aside, the lower federal appellate courts have almost uniformly rejected challenges to \u00a72250\u2019s constitutional validity. Those challenges have included arguments under the Constitution\u2019s Ex Post Facto, Due Process, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Commerce, Necessary and Proper, and Spending Clauses. \nThis report is an abridged version of a report entitled CRS Report R42692, Failure to Register as a Sex Offender: A Legal Analysis of 18 U.S.C. 2250, without the footnotes or the attributions or citations to authority, found in the longer report.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R42691", "sha1": "52cba8c898dde6fb0345d0298965235f578e236c", "filename": "files/20120830_R42691_52cba8c898dde6fb0345d0298965235f578e236c.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R42691", "sha1": "6cfe845a364be82379a5484fa1bd3194269339b1", "filename": "files/20120830_R42691_6cfe845a364be82379a5484fa1bd3194269339b1.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "American Law", "Constitutional Questions" ] }