The Georgia Supreme Court has tossed out a law similar to California's Jessica's Law, approved by voters in 2006, which restricts where sex offenders can live after leaving prison.
The Georgia law is more restrictive than the California law in types of places where offenders are barred.
From the AP:
The law had been targeted by civil rights groups who argued it would render vast residential areas off-limits to Georgia's roughly 11,000 registered sex offenders and could backfire by encouraging offenders to stop reporting their whereabouts to authorities.
State lawmakers adopted the law in 2006, calling it crucial to protecting the state's most vulnerable population: children.
Georgia's law, which took effect last year, prohibited them from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of just about anywhere children gather - schools, churches, parks, gyms, swimming pools or one of the state's 150,000 school bus stops.
The AP story notes, "Twenty-two states have distance restrictions varying from 500 feet to 2,000 feet, according to researchers. But most impose the offender-free zones only around schools, and several apply only to child molesters, not all sex offenders."
The California law imposes a 2,000-foot barrier near schools or parks.
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