Let the Burden Fit the Crime: Extending Proportionality Review to Sex Offenders

Original Article (PDF)

03/2014

By Erin Miller

Draconian restrictions on the activities and privacy of convicted sex offenders are a new, and troublesome, trend. In 1994 and 2006, following a national dialogue about crimes against children sparked by several high-profile incidents, Congress passed two laws requiring states to register and regulate sex offenders residing within their borders. States and municipalities soon caught on, and deepened restrictions. In the last five years alone, local governments have forbidden sex offenders to live within 2,000 feet of schools; “be” within 500 feet of parks or movie theaters; enter public libraries; drive buses or taxis; photograph or film minors; and use social networking websites like Facebook. Others have required sex offenders to advertise their status on driver’s licenses or social networking profiles; wear GPS bracelets at their own expense; notify local police when present in any county within the state for longer than ten days; provide notice to all new neighbors within a roughly quarter-mile radius when they move; and pay up to $100 annually to maintain sex offender registries. These burdens typically last for a decade or for life, depending on the jurisdiction and the type of crime committed.

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MO - Area Counties to Charge for Sex Offender Registration (i.e. Extortion)

Original Article (Video available)

05/06/2014

By Alan Van Zandt

ST. JOSEPH - Sheriff's departments from nine counties across northwest Missouri will be taking advantage of a law allowing them to charge sex offenders for maintaining the Sex Offender Registry program.

Representatives from four of those counties met at the Buchanan County Sheriff's office Monday to talk about the charges.

Starting June 1, counties will begin charging $10 for a first time registry and $5 for each change to a sex offender's current registration.

In Buchanan, Andrew, Nodaway and Holt counties alone, that represents more than 400 offenders.

"I think what it does is it holds their feet to the fire and makes them understand that there are people watching and that it is their responsibility," said Nodaway County Sheriff Darrin White.

"I think all of us are share in the philosophy that they need to pay for the problem they're creating," added Buchanan County Sheriff Mike Strong.
- So when are you going to start charging all other ex-felons for the problems they are causing?

Strong said the small fee will not come close to paying for the cost of maintaining the sex offender program. He says his office spends more than $80,000 per year to register and monitor sex offenders.

MI - Sex Offender Fee Changes Take Effect Next Month

Original Article

03/24/2014

LANSING (AP) - Registered sex offenders in Michigan are required to pay an annual fee starting April 1.

Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation in November requiring Michigan's more than 40,000 registered sex offenders to pay an annual $50 fee. The new fees are intended to cover the $600,000 a year cost to state police to operate the sex offender database.
- 40,000 * 50 = $2,000,000 dollars.  So where is the rest going?  And why does it cost $600,000 for police to do their job and update the registry?  Isn't that extortion?

The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Rick Jones replaces the system under which sex offenders paid a one-time $50 fee.

The law only applies to registered sex offenders who are out of prison. People who prove that they are indigent can get a fee waiver.

Snyder says the law brings Michigan in line with neighboring states that require sex offenders to pay for the operating cost of sex offender websites.

TN - Sex Offender Notification Bill Advances In Tennessee Legislature

Original Article

03/18/2014

By Nick Banaszak

FAYETTEVILLE (WHNT) - A push for tougher sex offender notification laws in Tennessee came one step closer to reality Tuesday, part of an ongoing effort that originated in Lincoln County several months ago.

A committee in the Tennessee Legislature approved HB 1860 (Video), a bill that would allow municipal and county governments to mail written notices and post flyers in communities that convicted sex offenders move to.

Tennessee lists all of its registered sex offenders on a state website, the only legal method of notification the Volunteer State currently has. But Lincoln County Sheriff Murray Blackwelder said residents who don’t know about the site, or those who don’t have internet access, are vulnerable to potential danger. Blackwelder said issues with the current system came to a head at a community meeting in a rural part of the county last year.

“They [residents] were concerned because they weren’t notified that sex offenders were living in their communities,” said Blackwelder. “When we discussed the TBI website, it became evident that a lot of these people did not have access to the TBI website nor access to the internet.”

Sheriff Blackwelder decided to contact state legislators about the dilemma, a brainstorming session that gave birth to the Tennessee Community Notification Act. Blackwelder said it guarantees awareness for parents, and is cost-effective.

“This gives parents the knowledge of who is in their community,” said Blackwelder. “It doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime…In this bill there is an additional 50 dollar fee assessed to the sex offender. That 50 dollars will be earmarked for community notification.”

Alabama and several other neighboring states already have similar laws in place. Lincoln County officials said it’s one reason why several sex offenders have recently moved north of the state line.

Both bodies of the Tennessee Legislature are expected to formally vote on HB 1860 in the next few weeks.