Virginia bill would require court hearing before sex offenders can visit schools
Under a bill being considered by the Virginia legislature, registered sex offenders would be required to face a public hearing before entering a public school,
House Bill 1366, which was approved unanimously by a subcommittee Monday, would require offenders to pay for a newspaper ad publicizing a personal court hearing at which anyone could appear and testify against them, WAVY.com reports.
Delegate Jeff Campbell, the bill’s sponsor, says the measure is motivated by safety concerns.
But the American Civil Liberties Union says the bill goes too far.
“The public hearing is simply an invitation for an angry mob to gather at a school and get in the way of a parent’s right to be involved in the education of his or her child,” ACLU of Virginia’s Executive Director Claire Gastanaga said.
Gastanaga said there is no proof that such restrictions are effective. She also voiced concern over the costs of such an ad.
But Campbell said the bill would give parents a say in who is around their children, which trumps an individual’s right to access a school.
Ohio State University law school professor Douglas Berman, who posted the WAVY story at Sentencing Law and Policy, said the bill would pose a “significant and notable” burden on state court personnel.
By his reckoning, there are about 20,000 registered sex offenders in Virginia. If only 10 percent of them want to visit a public school, he said, the Virginia court system would have to handle an additional 2,000 hearings a year.
