Should Sex Offender Registration Be Changed ?

There are currently 62,000 names on the sex offender registry in Texas. There are those who say it has gotten so large that it can no longer effectively serve its original purpose -- to warn the public of sex offenders living in their neighborhoods. I don't agree with that, but I do think there are probably some on the list who don't belong there because they don't pose a serious risk to the public.

It's just a fact that all sex offenders are not the same (and not all of them are dangerous). Take for instance a 19 year old boy who dated and had sex with a 15 or 16 year old girl. This is not something the general public would like to see happen and it is against the law, but it doesn't generally mean the offender is a predator who poses a danger to the community. He certainly shouldn't be put in the same class as a violent rapist, stalker or abuser of small children.

In the last legislative session here in Texas a law was introduced and passed by both houses that would have given judges discretion on whether to place a person on the offender registry if the person was 18 or 19 years old and had sex with a person not over four years younger (it was called the teenage lovers bill). Governor Perry vetoed the bill.

I agree with the governor's veto for several reasons (although it makes me very uncomfortable to agree with this governor about anything). I'm sure he did it to avoid making his right-wing supporters angry, but there are some valid reasons for vetoing the bill. Some of these are:

1. It should not be up to a judge whether a person goes on the registry or not. Some judges are very strict and some are not, but people committing the same crime should get the same treatment from the court. It is simply not fair that one person goes on the offender registry because he was unlucky enough to get a strict judge while another is not put on the offender registry because he was lucky enough to get a lenient judge.

2. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (a federal law) take effect in about a year and require all states to have uniform kinds of sex offender registry which would rate the offenders according to the crime committed. Any state that does not conform to the rules in this federal law will lose federal funds to offset the cost of keeping the sex offender registry (about $2.2 million for Texas). Texas cannot afford to bypass any more federal funds (because they are already looking at a huge deficit for the next biennium).

3. All states need to use the same rules for registering sex offenders. This would prevent sex offenders (especially the dangerous ones) from shopping around for a state with lenient registration laws. It would also let the offender know what the registration requirements are if he did move to a different state and remove the excuse of "I didn't know this state required me to register".

There probably are people being required to register that really don't pose a risk and should be removed from the list. However, it would be a mistake to address this on a state-by-state basis. If the law must be changed, then it should be changed on the federal level so all the states are still doing the same thing.

Dangerous sex offenders should be registered and tracked by law enforcement officials. There is no doubt of that. But it should be done the same in all states. Texas should change its law, but only to bring it into compliance with the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act (and all other states should do the same).

Changes Are Coming For Sex Offenders

I apologize for the light posting for the last few days. I was in San Antonio attending the Juvenile Sex Offender Management Conference. Since I don't have a laptop yet, the only posts I was able to do were those few I did ahead of time (which my daughter was kind enough to post for me each day). I'm back now, and I hope to be posting more often.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in San Antonio. What a great city! If you've never been, by all means go. San Antonio is growing by leaps and bounds these days, but it still has its own unique flavor. Also, let this Mavericks fan offer congratulations to the San Antonio Spurs for their fourth championship in the last nine years -- a marvelous accomplishment!

Now for the topic at hand. Many in the general public think that all sex offenders are required to register, and are listed on the public sex offender web sites. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The public web sites only contain those offenders that are required to register, usually those that could not afford to hire a high-dollar attorney to defend them. The sad fact is that many many sex offenders in our state are able to hire a good attorney, and then get their registration deferred or waived by a judge.

That means you will not find them on the public web site, and they are not required to check in regularly with the local police agency or sheriff's department. But that is fixing to change.

Last year, Congress passed and the president signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. This new law does many things like mandating a public web site of sex offenders in all states. It also provides grants to help establish these, and to do research.

But one of the main things it will do is take away the ability of judges to defer or waive registration. It creates a new three tier system of rating sex offenses, and demands the registration of all adult sex offenders. Here is how it defines the three tiers of sex offenses:

Tier I are those other than a tier II or tier III.

Tier II are those other than Tier I with an offense punishable by imprisonment for more than one year and comparable to or more severe than the following federal offenses involving a minor: sex trafficking; coercion and enticement; transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity; abusive sexual contact. Also includes any offense involving use of a minor in a sexual performance, solicitation of a minor to practice prostitution, or production or distribution of child pornography.

Tier III are sex offenses punishable by imprisonment for more than one year and comparable to or more severe than the following federal offenses: sexual abuse or aggravated sexual abuse; abusive sexual contact against a minor less than 13 years old; offense involving kidnapping of a minor (parent or guardian excepted); or any offense that occurs after one has been designated a tier II sex offender.

Those found guilty of Tier I offenses will be required to register for 15 years (although this could be reduced to 10 years if a clean record is maintained). They will be required to renew their registration every year with the local police or sheriff's department.

Those found guilty that fall into Tier II will be required to register for 25 years. They will be required to appear at the local policing agency to renew the registration every 6 months.

Tier III offenders will be required to register for life, and they must appear at their local policing agency every 3 months to renew their registration.

Offenders falling into all three tiers will not only have to register, but will have their picture and information posted on the public sex offender web site. Juveniles will also fall under this law, if they are at least 14 and the crime rises to the level of Aggravated Sexual Assault.

This new federal law is much more restrictive than current Texas law. Texas will have to change it's laws to come into compliance with the federal law by 2009. If they don't, they will lose a large chunk of the federal law enforcement dollars they receive. I doubt they'll want to lose the money, so look for these changes to be passed in the next legislative session.