by Kelly Piercy

Created on: July 26, 2008

The Adam Walsh Act (AWA) violates so many parts of the Constitution that those who support it must either have never read the Constitution or believe it should be vacated and their own version be substituted.

The AWA violates the Fourth Amendment, the Eighth Amendment, the Tenth Amendment, the Separation of Powers Clause, and the prohibition against Bills of Attainder and Ex Post Facto law to name the grossest violations.

Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibits Congress from passing a Bill of Attainder or enacting an Ex Post Facto law. That is:
A bill of attainder is a legislative act declaring the guilt of an individual or a group of persons and punishing them. Only the courts may determine whether one has violated a criminal statute. An ex post facto law declares an act illegal after it has been committed, or increases the punishment for an offense already committed.

The AWA was declared a Regulatory act in an attempt to avoid this Constitutional conflict. This reasoning fails by the penalties imposed for violating the terms and conditions of the act.

Analogously, Congress attempts to mix apples and oranges. Traffic laws reach two levels. On one level, a traffic regulation may be punished by fine or loss of privilege, i.e. speeding is an infraction of a regulation. Exceeding the posted (or safe) speed results in the imposition of a fine. Such a violation of this regulation cannot result in a criminal penalty such as imprisonment or denial of a right. Driving while under the influence reaches the level of criminal behavior and can be punished by loss of privilege, fine, and imprisonment.

On the same order, to maintain that the AWA is constitutional requires that violation of its terms and conditions may only reach the level of infraction of a regulation and be punishable only by fine and or loss of privilege. The moment the result of violating the terms and conditions of the AWA reach loss of liberty or other criminal result, the AWA becomes void under Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States.

Amendment IIX of the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. That is:
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The AWA sets all sex offenders as a general class. On the surface, this seems to make sense. Only the barest superficial inspection will allow this sense'. Criminal behavior must be assessed by the order of harm done. (See the United States Sentencing

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