Kansas’ policy of requiring sex offender registries has survived an appeal in federal court involving policies from another state.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has reaffirmed the authority of states, including Kansas, to maintain the registries — and in the process, rejected a claim that registries are a form of punishment.
The ruling also reversed a lower court decision from 2017 that struck down Colorado’s registry as unconstitutional.
Kansas joined New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming in challenging the 2017 ruling. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the ruling is significant for the state because any future legal challenges to the state’s offender registry laws would be governed by the Tenth Circuit ruling.
