CO- Do all sex offenders deserve a Scarlet Letter?

4-12-2009 Colorado:

There are about 11,000 names on Colorado's sex offender registry.

The burgeoning list is growing difficult to manage and just about everyone agrees some of the names don't belong on it, but don't look for changes soon. The support groups for sex offenders don't have much clout.

Indirectly, last week's case involving two Air Academy High School students underscored the issue. The teens, a boy and a girl, exchanged cell phone images of themselves having sex with each other.

District Attorney Dan May could have pursued felony charges for the sexual exploitation of children. He made the right call in not doing so.

But a different district attorney could have pursued the case and the kids could have found themselves on the sex offender registry, a latter-day version of Hester Prynne's Scarlet Letter.

For most adult offenders (Colorado allows some flexibility for juveniles), the sex offender registry is a kind of life sentence. Serial rapists deserve it, but how about someone who streaks at a football game?

(eAdvocate Post)

Colorado Attorney General and former 4th Judicial District Attorney John Suthers acknowledged there are some who don't belong on the list. "There's an issue on the periphery, but I don't want to overstate it," he said. "What's driving the numbers is we have a lot of sex offenders."

A man flashing a woman in her apartment and a man streaking at a football game could be charged with the same crime: indecent exposure. Clearly one is more dangerous than the other, although some flashers are not even dangerous.

Suthers said it's unfortunate that some must register as sex offenders, but it "serves a greater good" by protecting everyone. He said good prosecutors will use their discretion to avoid miscarriages of justice.

Michael Dell of Colorado Springs disagrees. He is on the sex offender list for what he termed "non-contact voyeurism involving a niece." Dell volunteers for Colorado CURE (Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants) and says federal laws are making sex offender registries unworkable.

"When we enacted some of this stuff we didn't look at the unintended consequences," Dell said.

Colorado is one of many states that will not be able to meet a July 1 federal deadline for implementing the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 2006. Suthers confirmed Colorado asked the U.S. Department of Justice for a deadline extension.
California has decided it cannot afford to track everyone on a list created by a strict ballot initiative in 2006.

"What we really want do is protect people," said Chris Lebanov-Rostovsky of the state's Division of Criminal Justice. "Let's make sure that we classify these people based on risk."

Right. Because Hester Prynne was a danger to no one. ..News Source.. by BARRY NOREEN