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State v. Druktenis1/30/2004
ve dug but not unearthed a clear historically- or traditionally-rooted interest in freedom from the government dissemination of information such that the interest should be denominated "fundamental."
Second, although through very careful planning an individual might, in this society, still be able to keep his residence address and place of employment from unhindered citizen discovery, or at least be able to significantly minimize such discovery, the likelihood of success in doing so seems insubstantial. See Paul P., 92 F. Supp. 2d at 416 n.4 (stating that persons can have only a low expectation of privacy with respect to their home addresses, and that "those seeking to hide their home addresses are a distinct minority"). In this information, information reporting, and Internet age, persons or groups interested in flushing the information out are likely to find it and can easily disseminate it. Thus, notwithstanding that the government's notification presents the sex offender as a likely recidivist, a sex offender's expectation of privacy as to the information is significantly diminished. Based on the mood of society today in regard to sexual abuse, there undoubtedly exist a number of citizens who have a serious interest in knowing where convicted sex offenders live and work. In addition, a sex offender has no reasonable expectation that his conviction can be kept secret from a prospective employer. Government-facilitated public availability of a sex offender's conviction does not run afoul of constitutionally protected interests. Employers concerned about employees can check the conviction status of sex offenders as part of the hiring process.
Third, we cannot divorce the private interest at stake from the class of individuals asserting the interest. The purpose for and process of information gathering and its dissemination relating to convicted sex offenders is significantly dissimilar to the disfavored proscription of, and prosecution for, the type of intimate family decisions and relationships, and of certain other consensual sexual adult relationships, the restriction of the privacy of which has been held unconstitutional. See Lawrence, 123 S. Ct. at 2484 (holding unconstitutional a statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in private, intimate sexual activity); Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 624-26 (1996) (invalidating class-based legislation directed at homosexuals); Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 851 (1992) (confirming that " ur law affords constitutional protection to personal decisions relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, child rearing, and education"); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 170 (1973) (holding unconstitutional certain restrictions on abortion as violating a woman's right to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy); Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438, 443 (1972) (invalidating a law prohibiting the distribution of contraceptives); Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 485-86 (1965) (setting out various specific privacy interests and holding a statute forbidding use of contraceptives an unconstitutional intrusion on marital privacy); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35 (1925) (upholding the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children).
One convicted of a heinous sex offense starts a quest for constitutional protection from a much different and clearly less favorable position than those who to date have obtained privacy protection in the United States Supreme Court. See Tribe, supra, ยง 15-16, at 1397 (stating that the Supreme Court in Paul [424 U.S. at 713] stressed that its "prior privacy decisions had related not to such matters as arrest
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