5th Amendment Sex Offenders Class Action.

Byline: Derek Hawkins

7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Donald Lacy v. Keith Butts, Warden

Case No.: 17-3256

Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and SYKES and SCUDDER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: 5th Amendment Sex Offenders Class Action

When the state wants to encourage suspects, defendants, or incarcerated offenders to admit guilt, it has many tools at its disposal. Before or during trial, prosecutors may hold out the prospect of a plea bargain. Judges may reward defendants with a sentence reduction for accepting responsibility. Prison rehabilitation programs may offer benefits and incentives by conditioning visitation rights, work opportunities, housing in a lower-security unit, and other privileges on an offender's willingness to admit responsibility for the crime of conviction. McKune v. Lile, 536 U.S. 24, 40 (2002).

But the Fifth Amendment draws one sharp line in the sand: no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." U.S. CONST. amend. V. (emphasis added). This case requires us to decide whether Indiana's Sex Offender Management and Monitoring (INSOMM) program crosses that line...