Sex Offender Law (Sex Offenders on Community College Campuses)
The North Carolina General Assembly has amended Article 27A of Chapter 14 of the North Carolina General Statutes to add a section entitled "Sex offender unlawfully on premises." The new section number is N.C.G.S. § 14-208.18. This amendment is known as the Jessica Lunsford Act and became effective December 1, 2008.
With respect to community colleges, the Jessica Lunsford Act prohibits certain types of sex offenders from "knowingly" being "at any place" where minors gather for "regularly scheduled educational ...programs" or "on the premises" of any childcare facility on campus. Sex offenders covered under the Jessica Lunsford Act include those convicted of first-degree rape, second-degree rape, first-degree sexual offense, second degree sexual offense, sexual battery, statutory rape, or sexual offense of a person who is 13, 14, or 15 years old. This means that sex offenders covered under the Act would be in violation of the law if they are knowingly "at any place" where minors on community college campuses gather for education programs or are knowingly on the premises of a child care facility.
North Carolina law (N.C.G.S. § 48A-2 (2007)) defines a minor as "any person who has not reached the age of 18 years." Therefore, pursuant to the Jessica Lunsford Act, covered sex offenders cannot be "at any place" where any person under the age of 18 years gathers for educational programs or be on the premises of any child care facilities on our community college campuses.
What constitutes "at any place?" The legislation does not define the phrase, "at any place." For community college campuses, the most restrictive interpretation of "at any place" for covered sex
offenders is that covered sex offenders would be in violation of the law if they were on community college campuses at all since minors gather for regularly scheduled educational programs on community college campuses. However, other sections of the same Article 27 A requires covered sex offenders to report to the sheriff's office with whom he or she is registered if he or she enrolls as a student or becomes employed in an institution of higher education. See N.C.G.S. §§ 14-208.9(c) and (d) (2007). These sections indicate that it may not be the General Assembly's intent to prohibit sex offenders from being students or employees on college campuses. Nonetheless, the language included in the Jessica Lunsford Act has the effect of excluding covered sex offenders from community college campuses.