CO- Sex-convict database perplexes

9-22-2008 Colorado:

When President Bush signed the Adam Walsh Act into law, it required states to contribute to a national database of sex offenders with more current and stringent registration requirements.

But states and American Indian tribes are having a tough time implementing some of the requirements of the 2006 law — such as making the names and addresses of juvenile sex offenders available on the Internet.

In Colorado, officials have met for more than a year to decide whether to comply with the Adam Walsh Act by July or lose $240,000 in federal funding.

And it may be worth losing the money since it could cost more to fulfill the law's requirements.

"I think at this point, the committee has not reached a final conclusion," said Chris Lobanov-Rostovsky, program director of Colorado's Sex Offender Management Board. "We are looking at the fact that this is an unfunded mandate. The other issue is that the committee and the state are committed to doing what is best for safety and victim protection. And looking at this act, is it going to further the cause?"

The Justice Policy Institute, a Washington think tank that promotes alternatives to prison incarceration, has estimated that the law would cost Colorado $7.8 million to implement.

Lobanov-Rostovsky said that figure sounds too high — unless it figures in the cost to all local law enforcement statewide — but he has not come up with his own cost estimate yet.

This fall, the committee is expected to present a preliminary recommendation to Gov. Bill Ritter to decide on compliance.

"The money is not necessarily there, and does it make sense above and beyond that even if the money were there?" Lobanov-Rostovsky asked.

The Adam Walsh Act was named after a 6-year-old Florida boy who was kidnapped and murdered in 1981. His father is John Walsh, host of television's "America's Most Wanted."

Under the law, sex offenders classified as the highest risk must update their registration every three months for life or face felony prosecution.

The Colorado U.S. Attorney's Office has filed seven cases against people charged with failing to follow the restrictions of the Adam Walsh Act — most recently, the case against Alden Yelloweagle, a 49-year- old sex offender from Montezuma County.

In 2005, Yelloweagle was convicted of abusive sexual contact and was ordered to serve a year and a day in federal prison. When he got out, Yelloweagle was instructed to register with the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office and did, but he failed to re-register as required under the law, according to court records.

Yelloweagle faces up to 10 years in federal prison if he is convicted, more time for failing to re-register than he got for his original conviction.

Erin Runnion, whose 5-year- old daughter Samantha was kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed in California in 2002, says it is absolutely essential to complete the national database.

"By and large, once convicted, sex offenders move, and they move a lot," Runnion said. "And if sex offenders move, they are going to states where states don't keep on track, so the interstate communication is absolutely critical to knowing where they are."

Runnion says states can apply for grants through the Department of Justice's Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking.

She also said citizens should get involved.

"They can and they should write to their congressmen and senators," she said. "Tell them, 'You passed it. Now fund it.' Give states the appropriations they need to come into compliance with the registry."

The law not only mandates an updated national database, it also requires classification of sex offenders based on their conviction.

In Colorado, sex offenders are classified based on risk to the community. And not all states have the same charges or same coding for offenses, but they all have to become uniform under the act.

For example, Colorado does not have a specific charge that identifies an offender whose victim was under age 12.

"We would have to shift over to a charge-based system," Lobanov-Rostovsky said. "We would have to change our sexual-assault statutes, and those are some of the challenges."

Also under the law, American Indian tribes were forced to decide whether to let states take over registration of sex offenders or get their own databases in compliance with the national system.

"A lot of these policies are drawn and dictated out with American Indians," said Janelle Doughty, director of the Department of Justice and Regulatory Affairs for the Southern Ute tribe. "We are used to it. Tribes really do not get consulted at all. Congress passes a law, and we have to figure out how we are going to be proactive and make it work."

Doughty says there are federal grant funds available to tribes, but the money may not stretch far enough.

The Southern Ute Indians decided to maintain their own database and purchased computer software without grant funding, she said.

One of the biggest controversies for states to deal with is whether to upload information about juvenile sex offenders into the database, such as their address, the school they attend and a photograph.

Currently in Colorado, information on juvenile sex offenders can be obtained from individual police departments that keep the registration on file or by ordering the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's CD-ROM of sex offenders.

But the public cannot access information about juveniles in Colorado on the Internet.

"The legislature felt that juvenile offenders should be given a second chance and not identified in such a public way," said Lance Clem, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.

Nastassia Walsh, a research assistant at the Justice Policy Institute who analyzed the costs and requirements of the Adam Walsh Act, strongly opposes juveniles being listed on the national database.

"We are extremely disturbed that we could be putting kids as young as 14 on this database," she said. "What we would like instead is for people on the registry not to get this sort of ostracism and get them the services and opportunities to help reduce recidivism."

Nastassia Walsh said a national sex-offender registry is not the answer and that money should be spent on rehabilitation or other crime-fighting programs.

"There really is no evidence to show that this is an effective way to enforce public safety," she said. "It is just political rhetoric to keep kids safe, but it is turning into a logistical nightmare." ..News Source.. by Felisa Cardona, The Denver Post