In NM, First PL Sex Offender Ban

In what is apparently a first, sex offenders have been banned from the 17 libraries in the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Library System, NM, setting up a potential legal challenge. Albuquerque mayor Martin Chávez has taken a hard line on sex offenders, previously launching a city sex offender registry with data reaching further back than the state registry and issuing other stringent rules, some of which have been struck down in court. Recently, the city sent 100 sex offenders with library cards letters telling them they were no longer welcome in the library.

The policy is aimed at keeping predators away from kids, online and off. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico said it would review the policy, which may be too broad. The Albuquerque Journal called the move a “solution in search of a problem—an unenforceable solution at that.” The newspaper questioned who would issue the criminal trespass warning to sex offenders at the library.

Assistant city attorney Greg Wheeler, to whom library director Julia Clarke referred LJ, said the law was based on others banning sex offenders from public parks. Given that a park is a traditional public forum, under legal doctrine, there's arguably more of a right to use parks than public libraries, considered a limited public forum, he said.

While librarians would not be expected to monitor everyone entering their buildings, however, they would have to check the sex offender registry if someone behaved suspiciously around children or was seen accessing pornography on the Internet and contact police. A first episode would generate criminal trespass notice, a warning; a repeat visit would constitute a misdemeanor, with penalties up to $1000 and six months in jail.

The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) noted that New Mexico law prohibits disclosure of patron records. “We're not disclosing patron records to law enforcement,” said Wheeler in response. “We're using sex offender registries.”