A female sex offender is challenging a court decision that she be electronically monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the rest of her life.
Her case was argued Wednesday before the Missouri Supreme Court. Her attorney, Michael Gross of St. Louis, said his client is not likely to reoffend because she’s a woman.
“There is no basis for expecting a high rate of recidivism among women sex offenders after their sentence has been served and their parole has been completed,” Gross told the judges. “Therefore, the state can’t show and hasn’t shown a legitimate interest in lifetime monitoring without the possibility of judicial review.”
The woman in question, identified by the initials F.S., was paroled four years ago after being convicted in 2015. Michael Patton, Deputy Solicitor General with the Missouri Attorney General’s office, said the parolee needs to be monitored for life.
“The fact that F.S. raped an 11-year-old specifically, is important,” Patton argued before the High Court. “Sexual offenses against children are just different. They suggest a different level of dangerousness for purposes of the Fourth Amendment analysis, and that goes to the state’s interest in imposing GPS monitoring.”
Patton also said the trial court found that sex offenders are prone to repeat their offenses. But Gross disagreed and argued that lifetime monitoring violates his client’s Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.
The Missouri Supreme Court will issue its ruling at a later date.
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