California Settles Sex-Offender Lawsuit Over Halloween Signs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's corrections department has agreed not to require sex offenders to post do-not-disturb signs on their doors during Halloween.
A sex offender from Chula Vista sued the state last year, saying he'd been ordered to post a warning that he doesn't participate in trick-or-treating.
The lawsuit argued such warnings violate offenders' due process and free speech rights and could make them targets for vigilantes.
Corrections officials say the signs were never a statewide policy. But on Tuesday officials said they agreed not to require the signs and to pay $14,000 in attorney's fees to a lawyer who filed the lawsuit.
The agreement affects California's Operation Boo, which aims to protect young trick-and-treaters from pedophiles by imposing a Halloween curfew on sex offenders.
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