Bill in Congress - HR-2612 and S-1146

5-29-2009 National:

`Sex Offender Registration Tips Program Act of 2009' or the `SORT Act of 2009'

Two bills contain essentially the same thing:

Sponsor: Rep King, Peter T. [NY-3]
Introduced 5/21/2009 HR-2612

Sponsor: Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY]
Introduced 5/21/2009 S-1146


The STATED intent of the bill is:To direct the Attorney General to provide grants and access to information and resources for the implementation of the Sex Offender Registration Tips and Crime Victims Center Programs.


My Summary:
The intent of this bill is to authorize Parents for Megan’s Law (PML) to start a public tip line concerning sex offenders, and gather and verify evidence as the result of those tips. The bill authorizes PML to access to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) data base, and other public data bases, and who knows what else not mentioned to determine if the sex offender is in violation of a law (not necessarily a registration law). Then if the sex offender is in violation of law report same to local police. The essence of this idea is a legalized bounty hunter, somewhat a vigilante operation subsidized by the federal government. Why anyone feels the world needs an unregulated private investigative non profit corporation, to perform police functions (which at times they would be prying into the private lives of sex offenders) just to decide if the offender has violated a law before reporting them to the real police, is beyond comprehension and may violate the 4th Amendment. Further, at times this may be a dangerous job for which PML is ill equipped to handle. i.e. think of the TV Show “Dog the Bounty Hunter” which does –on a private basis pursuant to a warrant- exactly what PML would be doing and without a warrant. Except PML would not be arresting the person. Then, PML would pass on the evidence gathered to the police who would have to verify it (and methods used to gather it to prevent 4th Amendment issues) before an arrest could be made. I would oppose this bill as it duplicates efforts and wastes taxpayer money, and does nothing that the police would still have to do again before an arrest, if the person had violated a law.



My Analysis:

Important Findings to Highlight:

Sec 2.
(5)(A) With limited resources, the National Megan's Law Helpline has provided the public with a resource for confidentially reporting registered sex offenders failing to comply with registration requirements, supervision, or employment restrictions or who are in positions of trust where potential child victims can be accessed. Confidential tips are triaged, crime victim support is provided, and referrals are made to the appropriate criminal justice agency for follow-up action.

(B) In fact, because of anonymous tips to the Helpline, actions have been taken to mitigate potentially dangerous situations, including--

(i) sending a registered sex offender back to prison after he was identified as residing in a registered child day care center where he could access potential child victims;

(ii) preventing a convicted former middle school teacher required to register as a sex offender and give up his teacher's license, from gaining employment as an in home children's tutor for a reputable tutoring company where he could gain unsupervised access to potential child victims;

(iii) having a registered sex offender who targeted a child, and subsequently was barred from using the Internet to develop online relationships, removed from an Internet Dating service where he attempted to develop a relationship with whom he believed was a single woman with children;

(iv) sending a registered sex offender, who was on parole for a weapons charge and restricted from entering school grounds, back to prison for entering school grounds and drug possession;

(v) identifying and reporting a registered sex offender, convicted of sexually victimizing a 4-year-old boy while baby-sitting, who had absconded and failed to register; and

(vi) identifying, locating and reporting registered sex offenders in violation of conditions of probation, parole, local employment or other restriction laws.

(6) A national Sex Offender Registration Compliance survey conducted by Parents for Megan's Law, Inc., in 2003, indicated that, 24 percent of (or over 100,000) registered sex offenders were not complying with sex offender registration laws. Sex offender registry information provides parents and community members an opportunity to protect themselves, their children, and their communities from sexual victimization, but that information, in order to be of value, requires labor intensive follow-up intervention and proactive maintenance to be kept current.

(7) Access to the National Criminal Information databases is necessary for Parents for Megan's Law, Inc., to effectively evaluate the veracity of tips received, proactively research noncompliant registrants or registrants engaged in criminal activities and provide law enforcement with viable accurate information for follow-up action.

While PML mentions cases above where the person had violated a law and as the results of PML investigation were apprehended, we do not know how many OTHER tips it had received and whether the investigation of those violated constitutional rights, as PML keeps no records of their investigative efforts.

As valuable as current information is, gathering it should not be in violation of constitutional rights of those who are the subject of the investigation. Referring to the highlights above, "proactive maintenance," would permit PML into every facet of a sex offender's life without any sworn warrant or probable cause shown. PML is not a police agency!

Finally, since the goal is to find those not in compliance, or those who are involved in criminal activities (not necessarily sex offenses), it is clear PML will be investigating some folks who have violated no law and maybe a false tip (i.e., maybe an angry spouse in a divorce proceeding), constitutional rights clearly pertain here. What will happen to any evidence gathered, Sec. 3 allows PML to provide ALL information to victims which is plain wrong.

Sec. 3
(b) Sex Offender Registration Tips Program Described- For purposes of subsection (a), the Sex Offender Registration Tips Program is a program to reduce sexual victimization and support victims of violent crime by--

(1) providing up-to-date and accurate sex offender registry information to Federal, State, and local law enforcement entities through the National Megan's Law Helpline staffed by Parents for Megan's Law, Inc., and the Internet website of such organization;

(2) enabling the analysis and coordination of community tips relating to sex offenders who fail to register in the sex offender registry maintained by the jurisdiction involved or who engage in activities in violation of conditions of their probation or parole or other criminal activities;

(3) using existing Internet sex offender registries, public information, and the National Criminal Information databases to compare and contrast information and proactively identify high-risk registrants who are out of compliance, in violation of conditions of supervision, and identify the location of wanted registrants in order to ascertain the need for follow-up action by law enforcement;

(4) providing crime victims support, information, and referrals; and

(5) supporting community members with up-to-date sex offender registration, notification, and sexual abuse and abduction prevention and Internet Safety information.

Referring to the Sec. 3 highlights, PML would be unregulated as to use of information gathered and it appears may even be authorized to disseminate it to the public or crime victims or potential crime victims. Again a slippery slope to further constitutional rights violations.

Finally, since this bill would make PML a quasi-police agency with governmental backing the bill must also provide for some form of Internal Affairs complaint system, and or, a Grievance system so that those affected by the actions of PML can express their dis-pleasures with PML personnel according to 1st amendment right to grieve government actions. On the outside chance that some disgruntle PML employee does violate constitutional rights the issue, of suing PML must be addressed as well, none of this is.

Just because sex offenders are the target of a bill, does not mean that constitutional protections should be ignored, as this bill has does. Further, since evidence and the methods it is gathered is crucial in this bill, lets not forget that Perverted Justice (a self proclaimed vigilante organization) is in court over its evidence gathering methods right now, Congress should clear up these issues before finalizing this bill, if ever!

I would OPPOSE this bill for reasons mentioned above, specifically that, Parents for Megan's Law is not a law enforcement agency and any TIP they get should be properly investigated by law enforcement personnel. Further that, if this bill passes it amounts to Congress subordinating Vigilantes or Bounty Hunters, call it what you wish. Contact lawmaker, with your views, by clicking on his/her name above, as well as your own folks in Congress.

Folks can contact the Committee Members working on this bill, by simply clicking on the bill number above, going to the "Congressional Actions" section and find the name of the committee. Once you have the committee name, contact the correct committee here: House Committees or Senate Committees

Thanks,
eAdvocate

Note: To see all bills concerning sex offenders or their families currently in Congress simply click here. At the present time I do not review sex offender bills concerning Immigration or Appropriations, they get very involved and are time consuming.

Note: Full bill text WILL NOT be included in this blog because as time goes on bills are amended by Congressional Committees and also on the floor of either house, and it is too easy to confuse folks who may not realize that. Further, links to the bill in Congress will be provided so folks can always see the latest version of the bill.