Sex offenders can go to church even with children present, appeals court rules

The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled that people who are considered sex offenders can attend church services, even if there are children present.

On Tuesday, the three-judge panel of the appeals court ruled in favor of three convicted sex offenders, who sued Boone County in 2015 after they received letters from the Sheriff's Office, saying they could not attend churches that have Sunday schools or offer childcare services.

The letter was sent after lawmakers passed a statute that bans "serious sex offenders" from access to school property, which was defined as "federal, state, local, or nonprofit program or service operated to serve, assist, or otherwise benefit children who are at least three (3) years of age and not yet enrolled in kindergarten."

The Sheriff's Office and the prosecutor's office interpreted the law to include churches if the church has Sunday school or child care for children at least 3 years old.

The Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented the three registered sex offenders, argued that the sheriff's interpretation of the law violated the freedom of religion of the plaintiffs. One of the plaintiffs noted that he could not go to any church in the county, as they all had Sunday school services.

The appeals court ruled that churches are not school property even if they offered Sunday school or child care services.

Judge Margret Robb noted that the law "does not say churches, Sunday school, or anything related to religious instruction for children is 'school property.'"

"To state the obvious, a church is not a school nor is it a child caring institution that is required to be licensed regardless of whether it offers Sunday school or child care services to children who are at least three years old but not yet enrolled in kindergarten," the judge wrote.

The court further argued that if the Indiana legislature wanted to include church's Sunday school services as "school property," it could have done that when writing the law.

Tuesday's ruling overturned a lower court decision in 2016 that accepted the state's argument that registered sex offenders could not attend due to churches having children present.

Under Indiana law, those who are found to be a sexually violent predator or convicted of certain sexual criminal offenses are considered "serious sex offenders." According to RTV6, none of the three men were restricted from being near children older than 3, under their sex offender registrations.

Sandy Runkle-Delorme, the director of programming for Prevent Child Abuse Indiana, says that despite the ruling, there should be protective policies in place wherever there is an organization serving families and children.

A spokesperson for the Indiana Attorney General's office said in a statement that the office is now reviewing the appeals court decision and it will decide on how to proceed with the case by the applicable deadline.