Paul P. v. Farmer, Civil Action No. 97-2919 (JEI).

• Decision Date: 11 April 2000
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 97-2919 (JEI).
• Citation: 92 F.Supp.2d 410
• Parties: PAUL P., et al., Plaintiffs, v. John J. FARMER, Jr., Attorney General of New Jersey, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

Page 410

92 F.Supp.2d 410

PAUL P., et al., Plaintiffs, v. John J. FARMER, Jr., Attorney General of New Jersey, et al., Defendants.

Civil Action No. 97-2919 (JEI).

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

April 11, 2000.

Susan L. Reisner, Public Defender for New Jersey by Michael Z. Buncher, Deputy Public Defender, Edward Barocas, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, for Plaintiffs.

John J. Farmer, Jr., Attorney General of New Jersey by Stephan Finkel, Senior Deputy Attorney General, Trenton, NJ, for Defendants.

OPINION

IRENAS, District Judge.

Presently before the Court is plaintiffs' motion to enforce this Court's injunction of January 24, 2000. For the reasons set forth below, this motion is denied and the injunction is vacated.

I.

On March 16, 1999, the Third Circuit held that New Jersey's Registration and Community Notification Act, N.J.S.A. 2C:7-1 et seq. ("Megan's Law") was constitutional on its face. Paul P. v. Verniero, 170 F.3d 396 (3d Cir.1999). However while the case was pending before the Third Circuit, the parties filed several motions to supplement the record. The Circuit Court declined to consider these motions and instead remanded the case back to this Court so that it could consider the material contained in the motions to "determine whether any action is appropriate" in light of Third Circuit precedent. Id. at 406. Specifically, the Third Circuit directed this Court to consider its previous holding in Fraternal Order of Police v. Philadelphia, 812 F.2d 105 (3d Cir.1987). In that case, the Third Circuit held that "the fact that protected information must be disclosed to a party who has a particular need for it ... does not strip the information of its protection against disclosure to those who have no similar need." Id. at 118.

On January 24, 2000, this Court held that the Megan's Law notification procedures were unconstitutional because they did not adequately safeguard against the unauthorized disclosure of protected information. The Court noted that, as it was then administered, the law contained no uniform method of disclosure which ensured that Megan's Law information was disseminated to those "with a particular need for it" while avoiding disclosure to those who had no similar need. Paul P. v. Farmer, 80 F.Supp.2d 320, 325 (D.N.J. 2000). The Court directed defendants to redraft the Attorney General Guidelines to "reasonably limit disclosure to those entitled to receive it." Id. Also, the Court issued an Order enjoining defendants from commencing any further notifications until the Attorney General promulgated Guidelines which complied with the Opinion of the Court. The Court stayed this injunction pending appeal to and decision by the Third Circuit. However, by Consent Order dated March 23, 2000, the stay was modified "to provide the Attorney General with 45 days to promulgate revised Guidelines."

On March 22, 2000, this Court received a copy of the Attorney General's revised Guidelines captioned "Attorney General Guidelines for Law Enforcement for the Implementation of Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Laws." The revised Guidelines, effective March 23, 2000, depart from the original Guidelines in several respects. Most significantly, the revised Guidelines now provide two versions of notice forms: an "unredacted" form and a "redacted" form. The unredacted notice form contains the exact home address of the Megan's Law registrant ("registrant") along with the registrant's name, photograph, description, license plate number, vehicle description, and sex offender status. (Rev.Guid., 24). The redacted version contains all of the latter information, but replaces the exact street address of the registrant with more general information such as the block number or intersection nearest the offender's residence. (Id.)

Under the revised procedures, only those individuals who sign a receipt form may receive the unredacted notice. (Id. at 43). Members of the community who are within the scope of notification, but who decline to sign the receipt form, receive the redacted notice. (Id.). The receipt form states, in pertinent part:

I will comply with the Order of the Court which allows me to receive the sex offender information provided to me;

I will comply with the Megan's Law Rules of Conduct which have been provided to me;

I will submit to the jurisdiction of the Court.

(Defs.' Ex. Q).

The Guidelines state that persons who do not sign the receipt form and therefore receive the redacted rather than the unredacted form are told that they are, nonetheless, bound by the applicable "Rules of Conduct." (Rev.Guid., 43). The Attorney General has created four types of "Rules of Conduct" forms. One form is tailored for school personnel, one for community organization officials, one for community members and one for businesses. (See Defs.' Ex. H, I, J, K). The "Rules of Conduct" for community members states that "[d]oing the following is inappropriate and may result in court action or prosecution being taken against you" and lists the following prohibitions:

1. Do not share the information in this notification flier, or the flier itself, with anyone outside of your household or anyone not in your care. Do not share the information in this notification flier, or the flier itself, with the media.

2. Do not make any copies of this notification flier, or reproduce it in any way.

3. Do not post this notification flier in a public location, or display it in a place where it is visible to persons who are not members of your household. Do not attempt to harm the offender or his/her property. Do not attempt to harass the offender or make unsolicited, unwanted contact. If you believe the individual is a physical threat to you or children in your care, please contact your local police.

4. Do not take any action against the offender's family, household members or employer that may in any way harm or harass a person or property.

(Defs.' Ex. J). Each of the Rules of Conduct forms also states, "[i]f you are not certain whether sharing the notification flier with a particular individual or disclosing the notification information would be appropriate under particular circumstances, you should contact the Megan's law unit in the County Prosecutor's Office." (Id.).

Under the revised Guidelines, businesses authorized to receive notification under Tier 2 receive only the redacted notice. (Rev.Guid., 43-33). In community organizations receiving Tier 2 notices, a responsible official is vested with discretion to distribute either the redacted or unredacted version to staff members depending upon the nature of the organization's activities or its proximity to a sex offender's residence. (Id. at 40). Similarly, school principals are authorized to share the redacted notice with those staff members who are in a position to observe unauthorized persons on or near school property. (Id. at 35). Principals may share the unredacted version only with those staff members whose job duties require specific knowledge of a registrant's exact home address, such as security guards or bus monitors. (Id.). Every recipient of the unredacted notice, either in a community organization or a school, must sign the receipt form.

The revised Guidelines have also changed the method of delivery of Megan's Law notices in several ways. Under the revised Guidelines an initial attempt is made to hand deliver Tier 3 notices. (Id. at 42). If an adult resident aged 18 or over is not present to receive the notice, a letter or door hanger is left which directs the resident to contact the local law enforcement agency or County Prosecutor's Office to receive important public safety information. (Id.). Also, where Tier 3 notification is authorized for the parents and guardians of children attending a school within the zone of notification, notices are no longer sent home with students. Under the revised Guidelines, a redacted notice is sent directly to the parents or guardians by regular mail along with the signed Court Order and a copy of the Rules of Conduct. (Id. at 44-45).

Plaintiffs acknowledge that the "Attorney General has gone to great lengths in the [r]evised Guidelines toward ensuring uniform distribution of Megan's Law information." However, they argue that the revised Guidelines remain deficient in two respects. (Pls.' reply, 1). First, plaintiffs argue that the revised Guidelines are deficient because they do not require the issuance of a court order which would make the recipient of sex offender information subject to contempt of court sanctions for subsequent unauthorized disclosures. Second, plaintiffs argue that a person's block of residence is constitutionally protected information which will be disseminated without any safeguards against its improper use in the "redacted" notices. The Court will consider each argument in turn.

II.

In this Court's Opinion on January 24, 2000, the Court emphasized the importance of the "adequacy of safeguards" in upholding a statute against a privacy challenge. The Court stated:

Defendants ask the Court to overlook any deficiencies in the current system in light of the compelling purposes served by the Act. However, the procedural safeguards contained within the Attorney General Guidelines are crucial to maintaining the constitutional balance between plaintiffs' privacy interests and the goals of the statute. See Fraternal Order of Police, 812 F.2d at 117 ("One of the crucial factors in weighing the competing interests referred to in Westinghouse is `the adequacy of safeguards to prevent unauthorized disclosure.'") (quoting United States v. Westinghouse Electric Corp., 638 F.2d 570, 577 (3d Cir.1980)). If, in practice, these safeguards fail to limit the release of plaintiffs' home addresses to those persons with a statutorily defined need for this information, a different constitutional balance would result.

Paul P., 80 F.Supp.2d at 325. Plaintiffs argue that the...