ME- Sex offense registry changes left to die

Apparently there was a question of the method to use to determine whether a person should or should not have to register (or appear on the registry, not sure which). However, there does seem to be a consensus that not everyone currently appearing on the registry belongs there, which means some folks are being placed at risk for being murdered as were two registered offenders already.

It appears that the 2005 changes added a bunch of former offenders to the registry simply based on the dates of their conviction, and Gov doesn't want to lose them (they mean money to the state). The recent change, now vetoed, would remove those whose crimes were not "serious sex crimes" in the Gov's words.

In the first paragraph the Gov. says the registry should be a list of "serious sex crimes" but then wants a system to determine a "registrant's risk" before removing. The problem is, that the seriousness of a crime committed in the past will not tell you if that offender is a risk today, those factors simply do not equate. Likewise are risk assessment tools, which simply determine if a person was a risk when they committed the crime, in the past, the tools do nothing to tell one about "risk today."

5-1-2008 Maine:

AUGUSTA — Gov. John Baldacci on Wednesday refused to sign a bill that he says would have removed more than 500 names from the state's sex offender registry, saying the state should "err on the side of caution" before making any changes to the list designed to publicize the whereabouts of those convicted of serious sex crimes.

The changes were approved by the Legislature in the last days of the session on the recommendation of the Criminal Justice Committee and would have affected a relatively new section of the law requiring those convicted of sex crimes going back to 1982 to register as offenders. They were prompted by pending court cases that question the constitutionality of the current registry.

"The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee spent a year trying to im-prove the Maine sex offender registry. They have worked thoughtfully and diligently in their efforts to better define who should be required to register as a sex offender," Baldacci said. "I cannot, however, support this legislation."

"It would remove from the sex offender registry perhaps as many as 580 people who have been convicted of a sex crime. While the committee applied safeguards to make sure repeat offenders will remain on the list, we do not know which individuals will be removed from the registry and what level of risk they present," the governor said in a prepared statement.

Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, who chairs the Criminal Justice Committee, was disappointed by the governor's decision.

"I understand where he's coming from because we went through all the same emotions," Diamond said. "We were able to go through the process. He didn't have an opportunity to do that.

"This would have made our registry a lot tighter and a lot more reliable," he said of the changes the committee proposed. "Now we're in the same position we were a year ago."

Diamond said the committee's proposed changes, approved by the Legislature with little floor debate, were an attempt to make the registry more efficient and fair and give it a chance of passing muster in court.

"I think we had made that whole registry a lot tighter. Hopefully, it would have been tight enough to withstand the scrutiny of the court. Now we're back at square one," he said.

The court challenges stem from a Maine Supreme Judicial Court decision handed down last year that gave merit to a claim brought by a man, identified only as John Doe, who said his constitutional rights were violated because the requirement to register didn't exist when he pled guilty to his crime back in the mid-1980s. Since then a dozen more cases have been filed challenging the law, including eight in the last three weeks.

The changes in the law the governor essentially vetoed address the look-back period that was added in 2005 requiring those convicted of a serious sex crime between 1982 and 1992 to register. Previously, the law only applied to people convicted as of July 1992.

The look back to 1982 was added because of the notorious case of Joseph Tellier of Saco, who raped and left for dead a then 10-year-old girl in 1989. When he was released from prison, he did not have to register as a sex offender because Maine's law then only went back to those sentenced as of 1992. Tellier died last August. A month later, the Supreme Court ruled on the John Doe case, setting in motion the process to change the law.

While the governor said as many as 580 people could be removed as a result of the changes, the state's Bureau of Identification, which oversees the registry, said the number was anywhere between 200 to 800 because the review process was being done case by case.

Diamond said Wednesday the Criminal Justice Committee will move ahead with plans this summer to recommend a tier system for the registry based on a risk assessment rather than just what the person was convicted of in court.

Baldacci said that work should come before any names are taken off the list.

"This summer the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will convene to study issues related to the sex offender registration laws, including better ways to classify offenders based on risk. It would be premature to change the current law with this important review about to commence," Baldacci said.

"I have no doubt that there are people on the registry who shouldn't be required to register because they no longer pose a risk to public safety. But until we have a better system to judge who those people are, we should continue with our current law. When it comes to sex offenders on the registry, we should err on the side of caution," he said.

By simply refusing to sign the law rather than veto it outright, the governor does not have to bring the Legislature back in for a special session to decide whether it wants to override his veto. This way the bill simply dies. ..more.. by Victoria_Wallack@TimesRecord.Com