MA- Perv tracking system stumbles in Mass.

2-16-2009 Massachusetts:

It’s the most sweeping sex offender tracking law in history - and it’s considered virtually illegal by the Bay State’s top court.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act - named for the brutally murdered 6-year-old boy whose father became a crusader against predators - was passed by Congress in 2006. More than two years later, there’s been little progress toward one of the law’s landmark provisions: establishing the first-ever national system to keep tabs on those who have committed sexual crimes.

So far, no state has been deemed compliant with that law.

To be sure, adopting the law is complex. It requires instituting a new, uniform federal system for classifying the creepy cons.

But the law would serve a serious purpose: putting states in contact to make it much more difficult for sex offenders to cross state lines and escape the system.

Gov. Deval Patrick’s Executive Office of Public Safety is working with Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office to find a way to institute the new rules in the Bay State. And while officials refused to comment publicly on their struggle to do so - no one wants to be seen as being soft on violent sex fiends - the powers that be privately acknowledge that the law is considered unconstitutional by the Supreme Judicial Court.

The SJC has ruled sex offenders have due process rights and are entitled to a hearing before they are classified by level. But Bay State officials believe that such rulings aren’t compatible with the Adam Walsh Act, which requires “immediate” classification and posting of information about offenders. Instead of the deliberative Sex Offender Registry Board taking into account past offenses and the age of the criminal, the federal law would lump offenders into one of the three tiers based solely upon their type of crime.

States have until July to prove they’re complying with the federal mandate, or they risk losing a portion of federal anti-crime funding. And for their part, Bay State officials insist they’re committed to complying with as much of the law as they can.

But victims’ rights advocates such as Laurie Myers don’t understand why it’s taking so long for the tracking system to get off the ground.

“It seems sex offenders always get the support from people who should be looking out for our interest,” said Myers, a member of the non-profit Community Voices. “Time and time again, sex offenders get breaks in this state. It seems like foot-dragging to me.” ..News Source.. by Jessica Van Sack / The Beat