New offender law is offensive

1-3-2008 Ohio:

A new, tougher Ohio sexual offenders registration law that went into effect Tuesday is bound to do far more harm than good, and actually could be a step backward in protecting the public. In requiring longer, more frequent and more widespread registrations, it burdens the legal system and hurts low-level offenders who are trying straighten out their lives.

The General Assembly passed the law last summer to reflect a recent federal notification law, the Adam Walsh Act of 2006. The federal law created a national electronic registry to better track offenders from state to state. But it also required states to conform to the federal code by 2009 or lose 10 percent of the funding available under the act.

Ohio is one of six states to pass such laws so far. Kentucky officials say they are still studying their options.

Ohio's new law reclassifies the state's 23,000 offenders into a three-tier system, instead of the previous eight categories. Many will be reclassified into higher levels, even some whose offenses were long-ago youthful indiscretions. This means that people who have obeyed the terms of their registration for years and have not offended since then are suddenly branded as more serious offenders, their addresses and personal information publicized, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

This retroactive action, if not technically illegal, is absurdly unfair. Offenders can appeal. Many should - and judges should hear the appeals carefully and decide fairly on each offender's status.

Re-classifying them upward also requires sheriffs to issue more notifications about offenders' whereabouts, adding administrative burdens with little payoff in public safety. In fact, it may be a case of "crying wolf." The more notifications are issued, the more meaningless they will be perceived as being.

Perhaps the system's greatest failing, however, is how it lumps all offenders together, in public perception at least, as evil people who should be shunned and cannot be "cured."

Citizens have the right to access such public information from the justice system. But without context, it becomes more like a scare tactic.

Part of the problem is the media's sloppy shorthand on "sexual predators," a term some politicians eagerly embrace. But most of these offenders are by no means "predators" - a limited, specific legal term applied to the most violent class of offenders.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge David Cain got it right in telling the Associated Press, "It's a mess created by politicians, and it's going to be a mess for the courts to sort out." We hope the courts sort it out patiently, and that the public demands common-sense changes. ..more.. Editorial The Enquirer