No Address Means Life Sentence
A homeless man who is unable to register his address as a sex offender faces a life sentence under a Georgia law.
The lawyer for Larry Moore Jr. of Augusta says an appeal will assert the sentence is cruel and unusual punishment, the New York Times reports. Moore was convicted this past week of failing to register, his second offense. The conviction requires a life sentence.
A suit by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union uncovered documents showing that at least 15 sex offenders have been arrested in Georgia for being homeless under the law since it took effect in July 2006. A lawyer for the center said it’s nearly impossible to find a homeless shelter willing to take sex offenders.
Problems have surfaced in other states with tough sex-offender registration laws. Florida allowed five offenders to live under a bridge in Miami when they could find no affordable home.
