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Judge sets deadline for revising Michigan sex offender law

Posted at 7:59 PM, May 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-25 19:59:46-04

DETROIT (AP) — A federal judge has set a 90-day deadline for Michigan lawmakers to revise the state's sex offender registry law.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Cleland this week gave the legislature until Aug. 21. The American Civil Liberties Union and others have pressed for changes to the law and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017 let stand a federal appeals court decision that found Michigan was treating people as "moral lepers" by saddling them with excessive restrictions.

In 2006, Michigan lawmakers changed the law to prohibit registrants from living, working or even loitering within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of a school. Five years later, the Legislature said registrants should be divided into three tiers solely on the type of conviction, not based on any individual assessment. The rules were made retroactive.