Great Smokey Mtns. Nat. Park:
An update with good news!
From the 50 State Visitor Guide (North Carolina):
N.C. Gen. Stat. 2019 Art. 27A, §§14-208.5 through 14-208.45
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
3 business days for initial reg. and updates. §§14-207, 14-208.9. New residents: w/in 3 business days of establishing residence, or whenever present in the state for 15 days, whichever comes first (“residence” not defined). §14-208.7. “Employed” means more than 14 days or more than 30 days in a calendar year. §14-208.6
Per Rolfe Survey, visiting registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residence restriction: 1,000 ft. of school or child care center, with exceptions. §14-208.16. NC law includes a very expansive definition of “child care” that includes e.g. Boys & Girls Clubs. §110-86. However, “school” does not include “institutions of higher education” or “home schools” as defined in §115C-563.
Presence restrictions: For offenses involving a victim under 16 and other offenses, may not be present on “place intended primarily for the use, care, or supervision of minors,” or w/in 300 ft. of such a place if it is located on another property such as a mall. Also may not be present “where minors gather regularly for scheduled educational, recreational, or social programs.” Various exceptions for parents on school business, or in need of medical care. §14-208.18.
Duration & updates:
30 years to life. Petition to remove – 10 years. Tier III updates every 90 days; all others every six months. §§14-208.7A, 14-209A
From the 50 State Visitor Guide (Tennessee):
Tenn. Code Ann. 2019 §§40-39-201 through 40-39-306
AWA Compliant
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
48 hours for initial reg. and updates, but “within 48 hours” is defined to not include weekends and holidays. §40-39-202(32).
Visitors must register “within 48 hours” of entering state. Per Tenn. SOR office, the 48 hour clock starts upon crossing the state line but will be interrupted from midnight to midnight on weekends and holidays. Also, per SOR office there is no limit on number of repeat visits per week, month or year.
“Primary residence” established after 5 consecutive days. “Secondary residence” means any residence for 14 or more aggregate days in a calendar year, or 4 or more days in a month. “Residence” means physical presence. §§40-39-202, 40-39-203.
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
Residence & Employment Restriction: 1,000 ft. from school, day care center, child care facility, public park, playground, recreation center or athletic field, or the offender’s victim or victim’s family. §40-39-211. In 2019 TN applied new restrictions to residence with any minor; these restrictions are under a Temporary Restraining Order pending trial (see NARSOL Digest 8/19 p. 5).
Residence restriction: Violent offenders and those with convictions against minors may not reside in on-campus housing of any institution of higher education.
Presence restriction: 1,000 ft. from school, day care center, child care facility, public park, playground, recreation center or athletic field, with exceptions. §40-39-211. Tennessee libraries have authority to restrict access by Registrants. §40-39-216.
Per Tenn. SOR office, these restrictions DO apply to visitors during the 48 hour grace period.
Duration & updates:
Life. Petition to remove – 10 years from end of probation. §163A.125.
Violent offenders update quarterly; all others annually. §40-39-207
Most recent visit: June 2022
I’m writing this special update about Great Smoky Mountains National Park because of concerns I raised in my previous blog post (July 7, 2022) about whether you need to fear being arrested for a Tennessee registry violation (a felony!) for the crime of entering Great Smoky Mountains National Park. See TN Residence/Presence restrictions above.
In my July 7 post I promised that when I updated all my research this summer I would call the Tennessee SOR office and ask specifically about national parks and historic sites.
Now I am pleased to report that:
(a) I have completed all my state-by-state research and updated all my charts and graphics. Yey! I will be updating all the charts and graphics on my main page by the end of September, once I get back from my road trip to the Dakotas for which I am leaving later today (!).
(b) As part of this research update I did in fact call the Tennessee SOR office to ask specifically if I can visit Great Smoky Mountains National Park without committing a crime. Of course, being the idiots that they are they had no idea. Instead, they suggested I call the Sevier County Sheriff Department. Sevier County has the largest amount of the National Park of any Tennessee county.
So I did call and asked to speak to the Sex Offender Unit Supervisor. I was transferred and an officer answered promptly. I asked, "Am I as a registered offender allowed to go to the National Park?" The officer replied, "Of course you can. It's a national park, not a public park."
With that happy answer in hand I decided not to pursue the philosophical question of whether a national park is public or not. I did want to make sure this guy really meant what he said so I asked, "So should I understand from what you said that because it's a national park it's not in your jurisdiction?" Answer: "Yes."
Yey! So my message today for all of you fellow registrants is - Go enjoy our great national parks and forests! Peak leaf color in North Carolina is mid-October, just a month away. Have a good time!
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