ME- Sex offender listing defended

Throughtout this article various reasons why the registry is important to folks are mentioned. Yet, one thing amazes me, why do those reasons not apply to offenders who have committed murder, DWI type offenses esp. those involving accidents where folks were hurt, domestic abuse cases where children have been hurt, even cases handled by Child Protective Services where the annual number of child fatalities averages 1,500. None of these offenders seem important to the public. How does the general public find safety in not knowing that information?

9-21-2008 Maine:

AUGUSTA -- While lawyers argue over the Internet posting of names, photos and addresses of people convicted of sex offenses decades ago, the state's registry is adding an average of 50 offenders a month.
Administrators at the State Bureau of Identification, which posts the information, say the easy availability of information about sex offenders offers reassurance to victims, comfort to community members and data for prospective employers, landlords, romantic interests and others.

"We want to provide folks with facts about the registry," Lt. Col. Bob Williams of the Maine State Police said in a recent interview. "There's a lot of misinformation out there."

"The registry is a public safety tool, one tool parents can use to try to keep their family safe and children safe," Matthew R. Ruel, director of the State Bureau of Identification, said. Williams and Ruel say almost three-quarters of the victims of sex offenders are under 18 years old. "Half the victims are under 14," Ruel said. "They're our most vulnerable population. We're taking public information and putting it in one place for them to go to."

The officials at the registry hear occasionally from people who use the register, including victims of the offense.

"We hear that they do use it as a way to track where the perpetrator is," Williams said. "They use it to avoid the offender."

In other cases, he said, "parents are checking to see if their child's boyfriend or girlfriend is an offender. We get a fair number of calls from neighbors keeping track or people calling for say 'so and so works here now.'" The calls come from family, friends and ex-girlfriends.

As of mid-September, the registry had 3,736 active registrants. About a third of them -- 1,245 people -- were convicted of sex offenses prior to the passage of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 1999, which established the registry.

The law says "the purpose of the registry is to protect the public from potentially dangerous registrants by enhancing access to information concerning those registrants." The Legislature has changed the law since enactment, and now requires registration of those convicted of certain sex offenses as early as 1982.

A fifth of the active registrants are classified as "10-year registrants."

A 10-year registration is required for "a person who is an adult convicted and sentenced or a juvenile convicted and sentenced as an adult of a sex offense," according to the law. A lifetime registrant is defined generally as someone convicted of a sexually violent offense or when the person has a prior conviction for a sex offense.

The sentencing court determines which sex offenders must register for 10 years or life.

After the initial registration, the offender must verify the information. The bureau sends verification forms to lifetime registrants every 90 days and to 10-year registrants annually. Registration is also required of sex offenders, convicted of their crimes after 1982, who move to Maine.

Ruel, of the identification bureau, said federal authorities recommend the state add a "deceased" category to the registry, in the interest of victims.

During the almost 10 years of the registry's existence, 5,155 offenders registered. Some committed crimes that required them to register for 10 years after conviction, and their information was then removed. Others have died.

The Internet registry site can be searched by town or zip code, by first or last name. It also carries passport-style photographs of offenders. To get work or home street addresses, registry users have to identify themselves. The address is sor.informe.org/sor/.

The bureau maintains the only official electronically accessible database of offenders. However, local police departments occasionally keep a paper registry in-house and sometimes photos of registrants are posted in public places.

Ruel said he gets a half-dozen questions a week asking how to get different pieces of information about an offender.

He also hears complaints from those convicted between 1982 and 1992 who are now being told of the requirement to register. "The majority of the calls are 'Why do I need to register? This isn't fair,'" he said.

Lawyers for two dozen Maine men who were convicted of sex offenses prior to 1999 have filed a lawsuit against the state claiming that back-dating the registration requirement penalizes the offender twice. The case is pending in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Public interest in the registry Web site includes 13 million views of offenders, according to Deputy Attorney General Paul Stern's filings in the court case.

When the Legislature returns, state police Lt. Col. Williams said he expects a review of the registry with an eye to making some changes, possibly involving risk assessment, a tiered system and retroactivity. ..News Source.. by BETTY ADAMS, Staff Writer