SJR 3 a proposal to place a question before the voters, in the next election, to decide if they wish to amend the state constitution and -for sex offenders alone- allow retroactive application of the sex offender registry law. SJR 3 has passed the Senate but has not passed the House as of today. see link below. This failed in prior legislatures.
4-8-2009 Missouri:
The registry would include offenders who committed crimes before 1995.
A constitutional amendment approved by the Missouri Senate on Thursday will add about 5,000 sex offenders onto the sex offender registry.
The constitutional amendment would expand efforts to keep children safe from sexual predators, according to a news release from the office of Sen. Jason Crowell's, R-Cape Girardeau.
The new resolution would add 4,800 Missouri sex offenders who committed crimes before 1995 to the registry, Senate Majority Caucus spokeswoman Farrah Fite said.
Fite said senators voted 32-1 approving the amendment.
Fite said Missouri law states sex offenders who committed crimes before Jan. 1, 1995, are not required to register their address with state authorities and do not have restrictions on where they can live.
"Many sex offenders who committed crimes before 1995 will live with the same regulations sex offenders after 1995 have," Fite said.
(Posted by eAdvocate)
Senate Joint Resolution 3 would give voters the power to uphold the original intent of Megan's Law, which went into effect in 1995, requiring all convicted sex offenders register with local sheriff's departments, the release stated.
Fite also said this constitutional amendment is retroactive by including people who committed sexual crimes before the sex registry was created.
"Missouri does not have many retroactive amendments, which makes this constitutional amendment much more rare," Fite said.
Fite said this registry is not a complete list of all the sex offenders in Missouri, but it is a much more complete list than the previous one.
"Although it's not a complete list, it is close to the actual number of sex offenders in the state, which allows parents and law enforcement to see the majority of offenders in their community and state," Fite said.
The sexual offender registry is open to the public and available through the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the release stated.
The list provides names, alias names, dates of birth, alias dates of birth, physical description, addresses, offenses, vehicle information, pictures and offense dates of registered sex offenders in the state.
Fite said the problem with the sex offender registry is it's very broad.
"The list is very broad and some of the crimes on there people may think these are crimes that involve violent crimes, however, some of the offenders on the list are on there for crimes such as statutory rape," Fite said.
Fite said 18-year-olds who are seniors in high school might be placed on the list for dating a freshman in high school.
"The new amendment created a bigger risk for teens over 17 who are dating someone who is in high school younger than them," Fite said.
In 2006 the Missouri Supreme Court ruled it is unconstitutional to force sex offenders to register if they were convicted before the enactment of Megan's Law in 1995 because of language in the Missouri Constitution, the release stated.
Sen. Charlie Shields, R-St. Joseph, said this list could make the sex offender registry so broad people would not know who to avoid or be afraid of.
The resolution would allow Megan's Law to be applied retroactively, the news release stated. The Missouri Constitution is one of only five in the nation that includes wording that essentially protects pre-1995 convicted sex offenders.
Crowell, who has worked on this bill for a number of years, said this legislation gives Missouri voters the chance to amend the constitution so Missouri is not a safe haven for sex offenders convicted before 1995.
"Despite when the crime was committed, these sex offenders were convicted and the community deserves to be aware of where they are," Crowell said.
Maj. Tom Reddin of Boone County Sheriff's Department said this new constitutional amendment would provide more information to the public about sex offenders in the state.
"Parents and law enforcement can be more aware about individuals in their area who are sex offenders," Reddin said. ..News Source.. by John Gass
April 8, 2009
MO- Mo. legislature considers sex offender amendment
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2 comments:
Three things got my attention in this: First, if this Registry scheme is not punitive but instead only regulatory - as the US Supreme Court has held in "Sith v. Doe" and as so many other lower Courts happily and freely cite - then why is there a problem at all? Unless MO has some sort of State Constitutional prohibition of any retroactive laws, even civil or regulatory or 'non-punitive' laws whatsoever, then this current gambit seems to be presuming that Registration is indeed a "punitive" thing (which is precisely what the Supremes and so many other Courts have been twisting themselves into pretzels to deny).
Second, as so many say, there is a vast gap between the stated aim of "protecting children" and the presumed necessity of registering ALL sex-offenders. This is either verrrrry sloppy thinking or else there is some sort of shell game going on wherein under the public rubric of "protecting children" the government is seeking to register a much larger number of persons who had nothing to do with children at all.
Third, as best I can make out in my reading, it is only the genuine "pedophile", a very small percentage of the 'sex offender' category, that studies indicate have a high and extended (the infamous "twenty years later" elemenent) of reoffense.
Quote from Publion...."State Constitutional prohibition of any retroactive laws, even civil or regulatory or 'non-punitive' laws whatsoever, then this current gambit seems to be presuming that Registration is indeed a "punitive" thing (which is precisely what the Supremes and so many other Courts have been twisting themselves into pretzels to deny)."
This is the first "Correct Thought" about what the courts are really doing that I have ever read!!
You have my applause for clearly defining what is going on in this once great country.
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